Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters nor plot of Blue Lock.

Warnings: cursing, lethally embarrassing parents, classism, teens with insecurities.

TIMELINE: see prior chapters. He's still walking her home the morning after the Momoji festival

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*ALCHAZAR*

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ElvenMatter, Isagi loves thighs, schizosagi, 102602, WistfulWandering, K4S4N3, Nilenium, barbatosfavoritenun, OliviaStone, KindofScenic

You all are the reason this fic is still going, thank you so much for your support :'D Detailed responses in Chapter Notes below!

Onikko

{鬼っ子}

chapter 9 part two – the wall

She starts holding his hand normally again after they passed the turnstiles at Shibuya. Yoichi's unsure if he's disappointed or relieved that she's no longer pressing herself against him like before. "So why are you going to your family's place this weekend?" He asks once they exit Ebisu station. (Disappointed, he decides. He likes it went she's close to him.) "I thought you lived on campus?"

'Which is so fucking weird,' he muses,'since she said their house is only fifteen minutes away.' Yoichi wants to ask why she's boarding for school if her family lives so close. He has his suspicions… but he also figures that if she was comfortable talking about her reasons for living away from her family, she would. (It's not like talking is really an issue for her. For most things, anyways.)

Reina sighs. "Otousama is hosting a business party at our house tomorrow evening. He calls me back for those sorts of events, sometimes." Her voice lowers. "I thought I'd be free of them again since Sae-nissan came back, but… I guess not." She tightens her grip on his hand and steps closer, which he doesn't mind at all. "I hate when he hosts those house parties…" she hisses. "They're just… stupid and fake and boring and stressful." She pauses for a minute, before her mood seems to relax a bit. "I end up spending most of them in the library upstairs, anyways. Maybe I'll get lucky and can get away with it again."

'Your house has a library?'

"If they suck so much, just don't go," he suggests. 'You can watch me practice instead. I'd like that.'

She glances at her wrist, the one with the silver bracelet, and frowns. "Trust me Yocchan. If I could get out of it... I would."

The striker sighs in disappointment. It's his last weekend before Blue Lock restarts, so he's annoyed he doesn't get to spend more time with her tomorrow. After all, they only have seven days left together at best. 'Even less time depending on when Ego calls me back.' And once he's back in Blue Lock… Yoichi won't have time for her again until after the U-20 World Cup, which is still months away. But even after the U-20 World Cup, he'll be busy dealing with scouting (hopefully) and transitioning to a professional team (hopefully), so will he even have time for her then?

("No," the voice answers coldly. "She's just deadweight. Drop her already, will you?")

His gut twists, and the striker hears a clock ticking in the back of his head. "So are you, umm, busy the entire weekend with family stuff, or?" He asks nervously. "I mean, you know, just so I can get you that coffee and cookie that I might remember promising you." Should he have brought it up a second time? The last time he had asked her when she wanted to hang out again, she had tripped instead of answering. 'And what if she stumbled intentionally, just because she wanted to avoid the awkward conversation where she had to say no?'

(That would suck.)

She grimaces, which doesn't bode well. "Tomorrow I'll be housebound." She sulks. "I'll probably only be allowed outside just long enough to attend my Astro class."

"Oh."

She tightens her grip on his hand. "But, umm, once I get back to Otousama's house today," she nervously bites her lip. "I mean, I'll need to do some stuff, obviously. But then I can be free for a few hours! If you wanted, umm, I could be at the café for maybe around like four-ish?"

Yoichi immediately feels lighter.

She continues. "I… umm… we have a family dinner, I guess, tonight at seven-thirty. So I'll have to be back at Otousama's house for seven fifteen at the absolute latest." Her expression turns playful as she pokes his chest with her free hand. "But that still gives you plenty of time to load me up with caffeine, soccer star."

Yoichi's feels his mouth tug up at her answer, even as he raises a skeptical brow. "Caffeine that late?"

"It's never too late for coffee." She says with false solemnity, as if imparting some great wisdom, and then giggles at her own stupid joke.

He bites back a bigger smile, 'what a weirdo'.

"So, tentatively four?" She grins. "I can text you once I know for sure!"

("And when exactly are you going to train today?!" The voice roars. "You've already wasted yesterday evening and this morning on her!")

Yoichi squeezes her hand. "I was going to go to the gym for a few hours. But after that, yeah I could meet you at the café."

'I'll just go extra hard at the gym,' he defends. 'I'll do in four hours what I'd usually do in ten. And I can practice again at the park this evening after I drop her back off, until the field lights turn off. It'll be… it'll be fine.'

(It'll be fine, right?)

He shouldn't be surprised. His dad had said they were a rich, old family. But still, Reina never mentioned she lived in Kiniro.*

'Literally like the wealthiest neighborhood in the entire fucking city.' Honestly, probably the country. He's never seen it before in person. He's heard of it, of course, but the only reason he even recognizes the famous neighborhood is because of something he overheard during Christmas holidays last year. Back then, his dad had recruited Yoichi to help cover an event when some co-workers called in sick. The (then) first year Ichinan student had been busy washing dishes when he overheard one of the servers complaining about a prior event they catered for in Kiniro. ("Bunch of rich assholes who literally surrounded themselves with a huge marble wall to keep us 'peasants' out. They had me searched before they let me into the neighborhood! Can you believe it? Searched! I bet those dirtbag 'security guards' were totally just trying to cop a feel!")

"Here's good." Reina chirps from his side, bringing him back to the present. "Past that large pilaster is an electronic gate that I can key into. But after that, there's a second gate with guards, and they get really… umm… serious about non-residents being near it, or whatever. So, umm, you can just drop me off here."

"Uhh, yeah, okay." Yoichi shuffles his feet, feeling weirdly intimidated by the huge walls, and what the hell is a pilaster? 'Probably that huge chunk of wall sticking out?' He feels unusually small (and honestly, kind of stupid) as he releases her hand and quietly gives her back her backpack. "Bye, I guess."

She seems a bit put off by his abrupt farewell. "O-Oh, umm, y-yeah. Umm, bye." He's about to turn when she grabs his sleeve. "But, I'll still see you later… r-right?"

He nods. "Yeah. Four."

She gives him a small, relieved half-smile and lets go of his sleeve. Then Reina spins around and starts walking towards the 'pilaster.' The sight of her back, of her walking away from him, causes something heavy and sharp to curl and scratch into in his gut.

"Wait!" He grabs her elbow before she's even two steps away. "Can I…" he swallows thickly. "Is it okay if I, umm…" He hesitates.

'Can I kiss you goodbye?'

How lame. No way he can ask her that. Or even worse, 'what if I ask but she says no?'

(It'll be fucking mortifying. He'll never be able to meet her eyes again if she rejects him.)

"N-never mind," he croaks out pathetically. "See you later." He lets go of her arm and steps back, feeling embarrassingly inarticulate.

She tilts her head, and then slowly closes the distance between them. The next thing he knows, she's stepping into him, slowly and gingerly bringing her arms around his back. 'She's… hugging me?'

"Is this, umm, okay?" She whispers into his shoulder.

Yoichi's heart bangs against his ribcage as he tentatively circles his arms around her waist. "Yeah." He takes a breath and lowers his head until his chin lightly touches the juncture between her neck and shoulder. When she doesn't push him away, he tightens his grip around her and buries his face fully into her neck. He sighs in contentment. 'Her skin is just as soft as I thought it would be.' Holding her close like this, he feels the same warm feeling as last night on the sidewalk, back when she was smiling into his neck and the world went quiet.

Her phone buzzes loudly, interrupting the peaceful moment. It's the obnoxious and popular theme song from that anime she has taped all over her laptop. For a second it seems like she's going to ignore the alarm (fine by him) but then she's leaning back slightly to slide the phone out of her pocket. His grip on her lingers.

"Shoot," she mumbles, "it's 10:57." Reina looks up at him with a small, more genuine smile than before. "Got to go. See you later, soccer-star."

"Yeah." The striker has to force his fingers to release her. "See you later."

Then she's gone, swallowed by those big marble walls.

He feels cold again.

Yoichi's on the train, having just finished watching a 'Top Twenty Plays' reel from the last Champions League on his phone's WyeTube app. He's about to click the next video on the playlist, but has a sudden urge to coogle something else.

He opens up the internet browser app, and his cheeks flare as he types in 'Capricorn and Aries compatibility.'

The striker feels so stupidly middle-school looking it up. 'It's just a whim,' he reassures himself. 'I'm allowed to have those.' Other people look up stupider shit on the internet, he's sure. Yoichi scrolls to images and finds multiple charts. He clicks the one that looks the easiest to read. He finds Aries written on the top row and follows the column down until it intersects with Capricorn. He passes by multiple hearts and circles, so he's jolted when he sees the red X. He double checks and yeah, it's for her sign and his.

Yoichi remembers her words from last night. ("Unscientific trash.")

'That's right. It doesn't mean anything. And it's just one site, anyways.'

But if it doesn't mean anything, why does he click through five more images, and feel worse and worse with each one he reads.

'Incompatible.'

'Critical - will be hard to make this work.'

'30% compatibility.'

'Bad pairing.'

'Expect strife and discord.'

He exits the app with a harsh tap and returns to Wyetube. He clicks play on the highlights from the Bastard München game against their rivals, Berserk Dormund.

'It doesn't mean anything,' he tells himself, as he watches Noel Noa flawlessly trap a long pass from his teammate. 'It doesn't mean anything.'

As soon as Yoichi steps out of Saitama station, he remembers the mask. The one Reina gave him, and the one he forgot at the wayside shrine last night.

'Shit.'

He ends up jogging all the way to the festival grounds, and is surprised to find himself a bit nauseous by the time he reaches the shrine. 'Urgh,' he brings a hand to his stomach while he searches the engawa. 'Why do I feel so sick?'

("Because you ate a bunch of fried and sugary garbage yesterday with her and then made us stay up half the night for her." The voice hisses. "Did you really think we'd be in peak form to train today?")

Yoichi ignores the voice as he continues to look around the shrine. He starts to feel more nauseous and stressed when he can't find the mask. There's a sinking feeling in his gut. He turns to look on the other side of the shrine, and sighs in relief when he finds the mask sitting on a shelf. 'Someone must have come by this morning and put it there, thinking it was an offering or something.'

He plucks the item off the shelf, pulling it away from the other donations.

(The voice sniggers. "Isn't it inviting bad karma if you steal from the gods?")

'I'm not stealing,' he scowls. 'I never gave it up.' He looks down at the blue flames painted on the wolf's face. The mask looks less impressive in daylight, but… he remembers how she smiled when she gave it to him. His grip on the gift tightens. Then Yoichi glances back up at the shrine, and comes face to face with the slightly chipped images of Izanami and Izanagi painted on the wood atop the shelf. The judgment-filled eyes of the deities seem to follow him as he takes the mask from them, and starts to walk back down the forest path.

("When he saw how the underworld ruined his lover," the voice taunts, "Izanagi ran and abandoned her in hell. Even an all-powerful god knew better than to cling on to a corpse.")

Yoichi gut swirls. He's not sure if it can entirely be blamed on the junk from last night. 'I'm probably just hungry,' he tells himself. 'I haven't had breakfast.'

("When will you finally accept the truth? She's deadweight, a shackle; and she's going to bring the death of your dream.")

When Yoichi steps into the house, his rumbling stomach guides him to the kitchen.

Unfortunately, instead of his dad, it's his mom at the sink. "Your Tousan's in the shower." She answers the unasked question while drying her hands on a towelette. "We already ate, but he set aside some breakfast for his favourite son too. You sit, Yocchan. I'll heat it up for you."

"You don't have to," Yoichi grumbles, still bitter with his mom over every incident she's caused over the past twenty-four hours. "I can manage a microwave."

"Let me spoil you sometimes," she smiles at him as she presses start on the appliance. "After all, I only have one more year before you're eighteen and running away from me to play soccer somewhere fancy."

("Not at this rate." The voice hisses.)

"Sit down, sit down," his mom coaxes casually, as if she hasn't spent the past few days going out of her way to embarrass him in front of the girl he… the girl he… He shakes his head and plops down onto a chair. He's so distracted by his thoughts that he doesn't think to hide the mask that he offhandedly places atop the table.

His mom comes to the table with a steaming plate. He thanks her, and almost forgives her for the past few days when he bites into the tasty yakizakana.

"What's that?" She points to the wolf mask as she settles herself in the chair next to him.

"Nothing!" Yoichi immediately grabs the mask and slides it onto the chair on his other side, hiding it from her line of sight.

"Oh, my, my, my!" His mom croons, wearing a Cheshire cat grin. "Is that a festival gift from our lovely Reina-chan?"

(His mom must be a psychic. It's the only possible explanation for how she always exposes his secrets so easily, and how she pinpoints exactly what to say to humiliate him the most.)

"Don't you have to work or something?" He grumbles, cheeks burning.

"Nope! I'm caught up on all my orders. Actually, since I have the time, I'll probably finish Reina-chan's coat this morning; only a few stitches are left. It really is a nice piece, quality material and everything. A shame that you ruined it, my clumsy child." She pats his head like he's a toddler. "Though I'm glad you offered her a replacement drink and tried to clean it for her; that was very sweet of you, Yocchan," she coos. "It's easy to see why she fell for you."

Yoichi scowls, red-faced as he stuffs kobachi down his throat so fast it might legitimately be a choking hazard. 'No way normal parents talk like this to their kids.'

"Hey, Yocchan." Her tone changes. "How'd she really get that bruise on her face?"

"Some kid crashed into me and then I crashed into her." Yoichi grimaces. "My chin smacked against her face."

His mom snorts. "You know when they say to 'fall for someone', they don't literally mean to fall onto-"

"I know, Kaasan."

"Also, aren't you supposed to be a star athlete?" His mom looks entirely unimpressed with him. "What, you couldn't dodge her?"

"Well I wasn't expecting a surprise tackle from behind!" Yoichi snaps back. 'That clumsy brat. Besides, it's not like there was enough space between us for me to maneuver around her.'

She gives him a knowing smile. "Guess that means you were too close to move away in time, huh?"

Yup, he's convinced she's psychic. 'How annoying.'

His mom hums thoughtfully. "Well, although I'm sure it was embarrassing for you at the time, it seems like it wasn't such a big deal. So why'd she think she had to lie about it?"

He tenses, feeling defensive. "I didn't tell her to, if that's what you're asking." He roughly plops another piece of yakizakana into his mouth.

"Of course not." She pats his shoulder with a sharp grin. "You and I would be having an entirely different conversation if I thought that."

Yoichi's still chewing on a large bite of grilled fish when he responds. "So how'd you even-"

Kaasan cuffs the back of his head. "Chew with your mouth closed," she chastises.

He swallows before starting again. "How'd you even know she was lying?"

His mom lifts a brow. "That girl's always so obviously nervous about not saying anything wrong and she's constantly unnecessarily anxious over trying to impress me and your dad." His mom says. "I can literally see her thinking and worrying as she speaks to us. Then, all of a sudden, I ask her about the bruise on her face, and an explanation comes out smooth and cool as a cucumber. My mom-senses tingled. I knew she was lying, what I didn't know was why."

Yoichi chews on another bite of his food.

"Hey Yocchan… is she… safe at home?"

"She doesn't live at home."

His mother's voice sharpens. "She's only sixteen, what do you mean she doesn't live at home?"

"Calm down." Yoichi puts down his chopsticks. "I didn't mean her parents kicked her out or anything. She's boarding at her school."

"She goes to school in Shibuya though." His mom frowns. "I thought your dad said you were dropping her off in her family home in Tokyo."

"I did." 'In Kiniro of all places.'

"Let me get this straight. So she lives in Tokyo but her family's making her board at her school in Tokyo? She's only sixteen!" His mom reiterates. "Why on earth wouldn't they keep her at home with them?"

Yoichi feels a strange annoyance sparking in his gut, uncertain who it's directed towards. "She hasn't exactly been forthcoming with details, Kaasan." His eyes dart to the side. "I've known her for a week. It's not like she's told me her whole life story, we're just friends."

"Just friends?" His mom snorts. "Yeah, and I'm the queen of Sheeba."

Yoichi doesn't appreciate her mocking and starts eating once more, even faster this time, so he can get out of here soon. He needs to practice.

"Oh no…" Her tone turns pitying. "Yocchan, don't tell me you're serious? You really think that?"

"Can we not talk about this Kaachan?" He implores. 'Please.'

"So, friends, huh?" His mom continues to prod, despite his fervent wishes otherwise. "Well, I certainly don't think it'll stay that way for very long. I've never seen you warm up to anyone so quickly before. Ever."

"Stop. We're just friends," he repeats, before grumbling out. "You watch too many movies with dad."

"Not refuting your second point, but the first one?" His mom pokes his nose. "So, tell me, stubborn son of mine." She grins. "Do all boys your age so brazenly check out their just friends in front of their parents."

Yoichi chokes on a bean. "I-I d-didn't!" (He totally did. More than once.) "And for the love of… can you please not say things like check out? Do you know how weird it is hearing your mom say stuff like that?"

"Well, I suppose yesterday you were more starstruck than anything." She snickers. "But that first day you brought her over for dinner? I glanced up at you while she was bowing and your eyes were totally zeroed in on her bu-"

"Oh my god!" He yelps. "Stop, stop, stop!"

"Honestly, I almost called you out on it."

'Dear god.' He pushes his plate away, too nauseous from embarrassment to eat more.

"But the poor thing already looked so nervous, I didn't want to make her more uncomfortable." Then his mom abruptly yanks on his ear.

"Ow, Kaasan! Let go!"

"Still," she continues, entirely undeterred and unaffected by his protests. "We definitely raised you better. Did you forget how to be a gentleman? You should know better than to objectify a girl like that."

"I wasn't!" (He totally was.) His face burns.

She finally releases her pincer grip on his ear, shaking her head. "Then again, you are at the age where hormones start running rampant. I shouldn't be surprised that you're feeling lots of physical urges-"

He catches her meaning and nearly has a stroke.

She must notice the alarm in his expression. "Oh, is this something you'd rather discuss with your Tousan? I suppose you are already seventeen. That's about the age where talking to me about your body's reactions might make you feel awkward. But those impulses and urges you feel are very normal for a boy your age, Yocchan. You just-"

"K-Kaasan!" He's definitely choking on air right now, eyes darting to the exit.

"For the record," she refuses to stop, to his unending horror. "If you can't talk about sex, you definitely aren't ready to be having it!" She chimes.

He slams his face into his hands. Maybe if he can't see what's happening, then he can pretend that this isn't happening. "Why would you ever say something like that?!" The striker grumbles into his palms, absolutely mortified. He immediately regrets his verbal response though, well aware that engaging in this conversation will only encourage his mom to prolong this hell.

"Well," He hears her wicked smirk even if he can't see it. "I did come downstairs to see you two cuddling and looking very cozy. A more suspicious parent might even call it finding her teenaged son and his girlfriend both entangled and disheveled on our couch, sporting mighty big bags under their eyes and..."

"It's not like that!" He gripes into his hands. "We've only hugged!" (He refuses to call it cuddling.) "That's all!" Yoichi mentally reprimands himself for responding. He firmly wills his mouth to just shut up already, and stop feeding this conversation.

"Really?" Kaasan asks incredulously. "You've only hugged her?"

Against his better judgment, he looks at her through the gaps in his fingers.

"Colour me surprised…" (He narrows his eyes at her dramatic pause.) "…It's obvious she wants you to kiss her."

He buries his face in his arms this time, sinking against the table. "Please stop," he begs.

"Aww, so shy and cute. You really are different from your dad, you know?" And just when Yoichi thought the conversation couldn't turn more fucking humilitating, his mom continues. "Why, when we started dating, your dad couldn't keep his hands off of m—"

"Kaasan!" That is definitely something Yoichi would have happily preferred to live his entire life without ever knowing. A moment of silence passes and he glances up from his arms to see why she's paused again. He's surprised to see her expression has turned more serious.

"I think she's becoming special to you. But, you're too scared to admit it, and too hesitant to embrace it, because you're afraid of rejection."

The striker stiffens, sitting back up. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It could have been there before, but your dad and I only really noticed it ten years ago." His mom sighs, resting her chin on her palm. "We really didn't want you to try out for that team, you know. You were only seven, way too young for something so stressful." She sighs again. "But you begged and begged. So, we went against our better judgment and drove you down to Tokyo to audition for that big, fancy team."

'J-Youth,' he remembers. 'Fuck, that was a shitshow.' He'd been the best on his recreational team in Saitama. So, his coach had recommended he try out for J-Youth. At that point, Yoichi was invincible; he thought his acceptance was guaranteed. But then he got his ass handed to him at those tryouts. He was one of the absolute worst forwards there. He had never felt so useless, unworthy, rejected, and just so bad at soccer - the one thing he loved most in the world. His younger self had sobbed in his mom's arms the entire drive back.

"You didn't make it, and that was the last time I saw you cry. And after that, you became so scared to put yourself in a position where someone could judge you or deny you. So you started building up this… this wall to keep other's opinions out and your emotions in. Honestly, it was such a disproportionate reaction, and your dad and I couldn't make sense of why being turned down by that team affected you so much. It's just a silly game, we thought." She gives him a soft look. "But it's always been more than that to you, right? Even back then."

Yoichi nods, really hating the feelings that she's making him relive right now. He'd long since buried the painful emotions surrounding that stupid tryout deep in his brain. But maybe he's looking at it wrong. The experience had driven him to become better, hadn't it? The ugly feelings from that tryout had made it easy to say no to hanging out with classmates and say yes to extra practice. Younger Yoichi had never wanted to ever feel like he wasn't good enough ever again. And for all that the J-Youth experience had fucking hurt, it had been vital in pushing him to become someone good enough to be scouted as a forward for Ichinan, one of the best soccer schools in his prefecture. And all that training had ultimately been what turned him into someone good enough to be chosen for Blue Lock. 'Even if it was as number 299.'

"That wall stayed up for ten years. But your Blue Lock friends chipped away at it, and now Reina-chan's starting to break it down. But, that makes you feel vulnerable." His mom squeezes his arm. "Please don't deny yourself happiness because you're afraid of being hurt. You shouldn't stop yourself from loving someone because you're afraid they'll see you and reject you." His mom's voice turns softer. "Not that I think reciprocity will be an issue in this case."

'Love?!' Yoichi chokes. "I've known her for a week, Kaasan."

His mom shrugs. "I fell in love with your father within the first hour I met him. Love doesn't follow logic, Yocchan."

"We're just friends." The striker says again, admittedly rather weakly.

"Okay, okay; whatever you say!" His mom winks before smirking. "But gentle reminder… just friends don't get to kiss each other."

"Kaasan!" He yells loudly, face burning even redder than before. He's like a broken record at this point, really.

"Neh, neh, calm down, would you?" She closes her eyes and rubs her temple. "All your yelling will restart my headache."

He groans. "You know," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "most parents in Japan would much rather have their kids be single and focused on their careers."

"Your dad and I want you to finally have a genuine connection with someone." She pats his cheek. "We want our kid to be happy. She makes you happy. Easy math, Yocchan." She slides his plate back towards him. "And so we are absolutely clear on the matter: I'd much rather you be happy than be a famous soccer player. And," she pokes the striker's nose to stop his impending protest. "Despite what you may think now, those two things aren't mutually inclusive."

Yoichi gives a tired nod before he plops another bite of fish in his mouth, feeling even more drained than before. Maybe his mom feels the same way, because she stands up and announces that she's going upstairs to finish Reina's coat. While he takes a sip of water, she gives him a quick kiss on his forehead. The affectionate gesture is embarrassing enough, but she doesn't stop there. "Hugs and kisses are fine, but nothing more, okay?" She wags her finger at him. "I'm too young to be a grandmother."

He nearly spits his water onto his breakfast, the back of his hand only just blocking the explosion. Though, some of the liquid still manages to dribble out the sides of his mouth.

His mom laughs freely as she exits the kitchen.

Yoichi's room isn't very big, but on one wall he has a small floating shelf where he keeps his soccer trophies from over the years. He almost puts the mask up there, but the voice goes crazy when he tries, so he ends up just putting it on his desk instead.

("You only practiced for 6 hours yesterday morning. How long do you think Rin and Shidou practiced for?" The voice hisses. "Dawn to dusk, probably. At this rate, you'll never be able to devour them.")

Yoichi changes into his workout gear, and packs his sports bag. He makes sure to include a change of clothes, so he can shower at the gym before meeting Reina later. He's all ready to go, but instead of heading downstairs, he plops down onto his bed. The striker's head is still spinning from having his past brought up again. Kaasan had casually ripped open a wound that had never really healed, and now it feels just as raw as it was ten years ago. He sighs, leaning back on his bed and feeling another wave of tiredness.

("You barely slept last night because of her, remember?" the voice reminds him. "No wonder you're so fucking tired. How are you going to train effectively if you're this exhausted?")

'Just shut up already.' He responds, head sinking into his pillow as his eyelids grow heavy.

The next thing he knows, he's on the main Blue Lock field. Only instead of his Blue Lock Eleven uniform, he's wearing the bright orange scrimmage vest from J-Youth tryouts. There's a game going on in front of him. 'It's the U-20 versus Blue Lock Eleven game,' he realizes. Only, someone else is wearing his number. Someone with pure white skin and pure white hair. Yoichi tries to stand up from his cowed position, to take his rightful spot, but he can't move. 'What's going on?' He can't feel his legs or his arms anymore. When he looks down at them again, they're smaller than they should be. His limbs have shrunk back to what they looked like ten years ago, scrawny and trembling.

"I warned you, didn't I?"

Yoichi immediately looks up to see the tall, imposing form of Ego Jinpachi.

"Distracted strikers disappear." The bespeckled man intones. "I gave you the chance of a lifetime, but you squandered it. All that's left is to fade into obscurity."

In the distance, Yoichi sees the bleached creature in his uniform score a goal with a familiar direct shot. The pale being turns, and it's like seeing a corpse version of himself: white hair and white skin, but pitch black holes for eyes.

"I thought you could become something relevant," Ego says, pulling back Yoichi's attention. "Guess not. Seems like you weren't a diamond in the rough after all, just an ordinary pebble."

Yoichi looks back down to see his limbs fading before his very eyes.

"Lock off, Isagi Yoichi. You're no striker at all."

Yoichi wakes up with a jolt, chest heaving as he yanks himself out of bed. He hurriedly eyes the time on his phone and puffs out a sigh of relief when he sees he's only wasted 30 minutes, and not any longer. The striker quickly grabs his packed gear, more antsy than ever to start practicing. He abruptly opens his door, surprised to see his mom on the other side, arm raised and clearly just about to knock.

"Oh, perfect timing, Yocchan!" She smiles brightly. "Give this to Reina-chan the next time you see her, okay? Oh, and make sure to let her know she's welcome to come over whenever. Like if it ever tears, if she needs anything else fixed up, or even just to say hi!"

He accepts the folded jacket, stomach filled with lead.

("Little Miss Distraction is a leech, sucking up all your time and potential.")

"…gave me an idea, so I'm going to sketch for a bit. Have fun at the gym!"

Yoichi nods distractedly as his mom leaves.

The striker thinks about being rejected from Blue Lock… about how if it happened, it'd be a thousand times worse than J-Youth. Yoichi doesn't think he'd ever recover. He glances down at the heavy fabric in his hands. This coat is the last physical thing anchoring him to Reina. It hits him like a train: what's he even been doing? 'Have I gone crazy?' He's sabotaging the best opportunity he's ever had with every minute he spends with her instead of improving himself on the field.

The decision comes swiftly, easily, numbly.

He'll see Reina today to give her the coat back, but then… he'll tell her that he's too busy to hang out anymore. 'I need to focus, I can't spend any more of my time being distracted by her.' His grip on the fabric tightens. 'Today is goodbye.'

Yoichi recalls her expensive bracelet, and her fancy neighborhood, and all those big words she uses, and how pretty she is, and how she speaks a million languages, and … And it's not like they could have ever been more, anyway.

'She's the type of girl who ends up with a guy like Reo.'

His gut twists. He remembers how it felt this afternoon, seeing her back as she walked away.

'She'll understand.' She even said it herself, hadn't she? People always leave, but a dream is yours forever. 'She probably knew even then… that I never planned on staying.' So it's fine. Since it's not unexpected, she won't be hurt or anything; she'll understand why he couldn't choose her… right?

("What does it matter if you hurt her? She's a stranger. You've known her for a week. You don't owe her anything. In the end, she'll be what she always was: temporary.")

Yoichi walks into the kitchen to fill his water bottle, and runs into his dad. The older Isagi's working on his laptop while casually snacking on some umeboshi at the table. "Heading to the gym, champ?"

Yoichi just nods in response. Now that he thinks about it, he's been getting drawn into too many conversations with his parents lately, too. Wasting time that he should be spending training.

("That's right," the voice coaxes. "They're all just obstacles preventing you from being the best.")

"Will you be coming back for dinner, or did you want me to pack you something?" His dad asks.

"I'll grab something while I'm out," Yoichi says quietly, still facing the fridge as he waits for the water to reach the top.

"Looks like you have Reina-chan's coat sitting next to your sports bag." His dad observes while bringing his empty snack plate to the sink. "You're seeing her again today?"

'For the last time. Until Blue Lock restarts, I can't let anyone distract me anymore. Not her, not you, not Kaasan; not anyone.'

Yoichi nods absently, watching the water rise and rise. He starts feeling a bit queasy, and attributes it to all the garbage he ate at the festival.

("Just another reason she has to go. She's poisoning you every minute you spend with her.")

"So soon?" His dad teases from his left. "You two seem to be spending a lot of time together." ('That's exactly the problem.') "Sounds like it's getting serious?"

"We're not." The striker snaps, roughly screwing the lid on the bottle. "She's just temporary."

("Good Boy.")

Yoichi turns, half a step towards leaving, when his dad clamps a stern hand on the striker's shoulder. "And what exactly does that mean, Isagi Yoichi?"

Yoichi doesn't need to turn, the wariness in the older man's voice gives away his dad's expression. The striker bristles. 'Will you all just stop distracting me already? I don't need your coddling. All I need is to focus on being the best striker in the world.'

"I have to concentrate on Blue Lock." Yoichi shrugs off his dad's hand. "She and I are barely friends, and even that's just short-term." The striker turns to give his dad a cold look before hissing out, "so you and Kaasan need to stop putting stupid ideas into her head."

'And mine too.'

(Not when he doesn't trust himself around her anymore. Not after last night. Not after what he almost did.) Yoichi swiftly exits the kitchen. (But more than anything, not after he heard Ego tell him those fatal words. He was a fool for wasting so much time on her at such a crucial point in his career. He'll never get to his dream with her dragging him down.)

The older Isagi frowns, quickly following the younger into the foyer. "You should think hard about if that's what you really want, Yoichi. Because if it is, then you should clarify that with Reina-chan. Otherwise, what you're doing to her is just cruel. And I know we raised you better than to be so heartless. If you consider her just… temporary," his father spits out the last word with tangible distaste. "Then she deserves to know."

"I'm telling her today." Yoichi responds emotionlessly as he slides on his shoes. "So she won't be coming around anymore. I need to focus, and she's just a distraction."

His dad looks at him as if he's unrecognizable. Yoichi immediately darts his eyes away and turns towards the front door. He hates the distracting feelings stirring in his gut because of his dad. "Yoichi…" Tousan's tone softens from behind him. "I sincerely hope you really think this through." The man gives a heavy exhale as the striker twists the cold knob. "Some things, once you say, you can't take back."

Yoichi doesn't even pause. He just steps out and closes the door with a dull thud, erecting a familiar wall between them once more.

Please consider leaving a review if you're enjoying : )

Uh oh, uh oh, turbulence incoming O.O

Also – question for those aware of Japanese law/better at googling than me: what are Japan's laws re: intimacy for a 16 year old dating an 18 year old? I looked it up and from what I gathered, if someone less than 18 has sex with someone 18 and over, the older person can be tried for statutory rape even if it's consensual (which apparently involves parental consent for them to even be dating). Just curious if this is true or not – it's different from other countries like the US, where Romeo and Juliet laws cover these sorts of situations in certain states. Also I thought there would be like some sort of exception where it's like "two years age difference is fine," or something like that, but nope, can't find it.

Asterisk Notes

*kiniro – kin means gold. This neighborhood does not exist, entirely made up. Also, after WW2, there was a large tax placed in Japan to stop the wealth disparity. I.e apparently, most Japanese families "lose their wealth" in three generations (according to youtube, so you know, grain of salt) because of this 55% tax. Lots of the rich actually keep their assets in foreign countries because of the lower taxes, and it's actually considered culturally in poor taste to have the big show-boat types of houses you see in places like LA. Rather, lots of rich families actually go out of the way to make their homes as private as possible from the outside (even if they are insane on the inside). In fact, a lot of the "rich" apparently actually live in the super expensive tower-like structures (which function almost like gated communities do in the States). This was a long rant reminding you this is just a fanfic and not an accurate representation of the typical rich Japanese attitudes towards housing etc. I'm only emphasizing it in this fic because the whole rich/poor upper/lower class drama will play a big role in Reina's past and their future obstacles.

*Yakizakana = grilled fish

*Kobachi = vegetable side dishes

*Umeboshi = pickled plum

*Yes there are red riding hood references. Kudos to those who caught them : ) Even though from the official art, I know we all suspect a different animal for him, but in my head, his inner-animal is a wolf ; )

Responses to Reviews

ElvenMatter omg devious is right. Sae in chapter 10/11ish, Rinin ch 12/13ish (based on how it's going so far!) Okay I'm a total bandwagoner (and as a previous ManU fan you might hate me for this), but I totally loved Man City back when I watched (I haven't in a while) :( But I'm hoping to make more time for it this year!

KindofScenic Dw I promise i'll reference it's Spanish meaning too! (Not until Reina's POV though) I intentionally picked a name that had a meaning in Spanish and Japanese ;P (and German, hehe ;) )