Chapter Text
After Isagi fainted from exhaustion when the game with Manshine ended… he couldn’t get a wink of sleep. Yes, he knows he needs more rest after the reckless actions he pulled during the game that pushed him past his limits, but he slept for too long!!!!
Being alone with his childhood idol, speaking with him, explaining meta vision … gosh, Isagi was thrilled to have an hour-long session conversing with his hero.
And the bids! Barou came on top, Nagi came second and Bachira placed third. Isagi needs to start training and analysing so he won't be left behind. He's going to be the number-one striker to surpass Noa.
Isagi pressed his lips together. Staring at the ceiling while his roommates slept.
He’s super awake.
He’s too excited to sleep.
Isagi hastily sat up.
Videos… Replays… The game. He needed to review the game again. He won't be able to settle down at this rate.
Quietly slipping out of the room, Isagi headed to the monitoring room. Just a little while wouldn't hurt.
Right when Isagi was about to turn around the corner of the corridor, his face came face first with something hard like a wall.
"Woah, ,"
"Ow," Isagi touched his nose and face before looking up.
Erik Gesner.
"Hm? Isagi?"
The German player seemed to have taken a shower given the wet hair and the towel that hung on his shoulders.
"Ah... Um, Gesner, right? Sorry, I wasn't looking... ah," Isagi noticed that he wasn't wearing his translation buds. "Oh... You wouldn't understand what I'm saying...well I'm not wearing mine either, so... " Well, it's not like we talked properly before... should I continue speaking? We wouldn't understand each other anyway.
"I'll be going now. Sorry again, Um, well, then, uh..."
How do you say good night in German again? Isagi did study a bit of the language because of Noa being in Bastard, but he'd completely forgotten the simplest greetings, too, when Blue Lock began.
He can vaguely recall...
"Um... Gutes... Gutes," He struggled. 'Night'. What was 'night' in German? "Ah, Frühstück! Gutes Frühstück, Erik!" Isagi said, with a smile, waving both his hands.
"Huh? Gutes Frühstück?" Erik stared at him...
Then he began laughing, taking Isagi by surprise. Huh? What?
"Nein, nein Isagi. Du hast es falsch verstanden," Erik said between his laughs, now he was bending over and holding his stomach. (No, no Isagi. You got it wrong.)
What was he saying? He only understood 'Nein' which means 'no' in German... Did he mess up? Wait, what the fuck did he say then if it wasn't 'good night'?
"Isagi, you can understand me if I speak this, right?" Gesner said, ah, English!
"Just a little, I'm... not good..." He said shyly.
Rin was better at speaking and understanding English than Isagi, he wanted to say, but that's too long of a sentence to translate.
Gesner cleared his throat and likely still has not recovered from his laughing fit. "It seems you're self-taught. You probably need a teacher." He said, holding back a chuckle, "I get what you were trying to say, but it wasn't 'good night'. You told me, 'good breakfast'."
...
Heh?
Breakfast?
Good breakfast?
He used a different word!!
He was more worried about the pronunciation, but it was more of a word he should pay attention to!! and he said it with such confidence! Is he an idiot?
Who the hell says 'good breakfast' to someone in the middle of the night?? He should have studied more!!!
Isagi's face reddened from embarrassment, he wanted to crawl into the hole and hide. Thank god he forgot to bid his farewell for the night to Noa in German. If he said it to his idol, he'd throw himself off a cliff.
"I'm... sorry," Isagi said in English with his hands covering his face.
Genser chuckled again. "Want me to teach you? "
"Eh?"
"German, I mean,"
--A month later--
Kaiser was on his way to the cafeteria. It was late as he was busy practising and lost track of time. Ness followed behind him quietly.
It was just a regular day in Blue Lock prison.
Nothing special.
Yeah, nothing special. But it will be.
For soon Kaiser was going to show Yoichi who the true clown was with their upcoming match against PXG. He'll show him, and only then would he look at Kaiser and bow to him. He finally found a weapon to take down Yoichi for good.
Kaiser's eyes caught a familiar blue sprout from the corner of his eye when he entered the communal area. How shall he ridicule the clown today?
"Oi, Yoich--" Kaiser turned his head and froze at the scene that was folding in front of him.
...
"Huh?" Ness looked in the same direction as him.
"Ness, tell me what you are seeing."
"It appears that Yoichi is... engaged in a conversation..." Ness couldn't continue as he narrowed his eyes, then rubbed them to see if he was hallucinating.
"I can fucking see that," Kaiser sucked his breath. "I'm asking you to clarify who Yoichi is conversing with..."
"With... Erik... they seem...friendly with each other..." Ness's eyes twitched. "A little too friendly maybe?"
"What the hell?" Raichi commented when Gesner and Isagi had their friendly exchange in front of everyone in the cafeteria.
"I think I have gotten blind already, and God decided to punish me with this in my vision," Yukimiya said, adjusting his glasses.
"You're not blind, Yuki, we all see the same thing," Hirori said.
"It's real, real," Kurona nodded.
"I'll see you later," Gesner said, ruffling Isagi's hair. They all tensed. Huh?
"Hey, I just got it brushed," but Isagi didn't stop him as he chuckled before waving him bye. It was only after Isagi pulled a seat next to them that he noticed his teammates' stares. "Uh, guys? Is there something on my face?"
"Isagi... if you don't mind me asking, did you and that German player get close recently?" Yukimiya asked politely
"Oh, yeah, a while back though after our game with Manshine City."
"For that long?" Raichi frowned, "That's... a long while... we would have noticed you guys getting chummy.
"Well Erik and I agreed that we'd keep our personal activities and soccer activities separate to not cause any complication. I guess we just didn't want Kaiser and Ness to come around and comment on it as it would get annoying."
They are on a first-name basis already?????!!! Since then???
And what PeRsonAl AcTivIties??? What the hell were they doing together?
"Is that so, Isagi..." Hiori said with less confidence... "The two of you together being normal all of a sudden... it looked like an abnormal scene to me."
"Me too,"
"I also think so,"
"It's freaky..."
"Is that so?" The oblivious boy tilted his head." Hmm, maybe it's because it's our first time interacting with each other in front of you all. Otherwise, we always meet alone. I guess we didn't think twice about talking right now because it felt natural... "
Don't say something so casually! You're making it sound like you've had a couple of date nights without us knowing!!!
"Sorry for not telling you guys, I guess I forgot," Isagi apologized.
“It's fine, fine. But Isagi, you’ll be taken, taken,” Kurona said, looking worried.
“What are you talking about, Kurona?”
“We’re all worried Isagi,” Hiori said, looking like a kicked puppy, “You’re already being harassed by Kaiser and Ness daily. And to have another player from Bastard eyeing on you... At this rate, those Germans might take you home with them.”
“Where did you come to this conclusion?” Isagi said incredulously. “No one is taking anyone anywhere. I’ll be here, jeez. You guys worry too much. I’m happy you all care, but I promise you, Erik isn’t like that. I guess our first meeting with him didn’t start on a good foot, but he’s a real nice guy.”
They had their doubts, Isagi could see it in their eyes.
“Isagi, I think you are the only exception here in Blue Lock,” Yukimiya said.
“Eh?”
This was just the beginning.