6:30 AM, Blue Lock dormitory.
Following Ego Jinpachi’s announcement, the second selection began. Watching the strikers enter the training room one by one in order, Icarus let out a huge yawn.
Through rushed efforts, Chigiri Hyoma’s leg had finally healed up just in time for the second round of training. After seeing the red-haired youth successfully pass the selection, Icarus looked at the current rankings on the board.
First place, Itoshi Rin. This wasn’t too surprising.
He lowered his gaze further and found Nagi Seishiro at 7th place. Mikage Reo was almost right behind him, at 10th.
Isagi Yoichi, the man who had sparked Nagi Seishiro’s potential, was at 15th, and Bachira Meguru, who often appeared with him, was at 16th. Karasu Tabito was at 69th, and that pink-haired weirdo was at 111th.
Watching as groups of three successively formed teams to challenge others, Icarus checked the clock on the wall.
It was about time.
He took Yuan to the entrance of Blue Lock. Just then, a bus pulled up at the gate. The first person to step off was a youth with golden hair and blue eyes.
Luna spotted the black-haired youth waiting at the entrance immediately. A trace of a smile spread across his beautiful green pupils.
“Oh my, is the little young master of the Cecil family here to welcome us in person?”
“Of course. You are all important characters that I specially invited to cultivate the world’s number one striker,” Icarus curled his lips into a smirk.
“Then I am truly deeply honored,” Luna raised his brows and bowed slightly in a half-ceremony. “For your sake, I certainly had to make this trip.”
A cunning Spaniard, always making his words sound so ambiguous.
“For my sake?” Icarus chuckled, “I clearly paid a not-insignificant reward.”
“If everything is attributed to monetary transactions, that would be far too heartbreaking for me,” the Spaniard laughed.
It was rare for the little young master of the Cecil family—the largest shareholder of RE.AL—to extend a special invitation. Even without the generous reward, Luna was happy to come just to give the young master some face.
Representative after representative stepped off the bus one after another. Following behind were England representative Blake, Argentina representative Cavazos, and Brazil representative Silva.
The last one to step off was the France representative, Loki. Seeing Icarus, the youth with deep bronze skin smiled. “Long time no see.”
“Long time no see,” Icarus nodded. After exchanging greetings with them, he led them toward the lounge area.
During the walk, Luna actively stepped to Icarus’s side. Looking at Yuan, who was two people away from them, Luna swept his eyes backward and asked, “Sent by your brother?”
Facing a topic he was unhappy about, Icarus pouted and didn’t answer.
“My fault, my fault,” Luna, who had intended to probe, changed the subject. “Let’s talk about something else. How many days until the match against us? Has the striker you wanted already been trained?”
Upon hearing a topic he was interested in, Icarus’s eyes lit up. “Of course. There are a few that are actually quite interesting.”
“Compared to you?”
Another voice sounded from behind the two. Icarus turned his head and saw Loki’s smiling face.
Icarus: “You’ll find out when you try.”
“Then what if they don’t score a single goal?” Luna followed up.
“Then you can make whatever demands you want,” Icarus cast a sideways glance at the cunning Spaniard, “provided it doesn’t violate ethics.”
“Of course,” Luna raised his hands compliantly, “I definitely wouldn’t put you in a difficult position.”
Rather, the number of things in this world that could actually put you in a difficult position were few and far between.
…
After settling the world-class strikers for the third selection, Icarus pivoted and headed toward the infirmary.
Spicy stick, here I come, hehe~
Humming a tune, Icarus rummaged out the blood of Chigiri Hyoma that he had stored in the incubator last time.
The blood, stored at a constant, suitable temperature, still looked fresh and appetizing. Icarus listened for footsteps at the door; hearing none, he picked a soft sofa, sat down, and used his fangs to carefully puncture the blood bag while holding it in both hands.
Oh oh, delicious!
As soon as the warm, cool, and tasty blood entered his mouth, Icarus’s eyes lit up.
Unlike Nagi Seishiro’s, Chigiri Hyoma’s blood tasted of a certain sweetness, as if it had been baked in an oven with dark sugar, tasting much more mellow.
Icarus drank slowly, intoxicated. In a place he couldn’t see, his fair skin had already flushed with a rosy hue from the feeding, and a hint of red faintly appeared within his black pupils.
…
Just then, Chigiri Hyoma had finished a match and was walking toward the player tunnel when he suddenly felt a faint discomfort in his knee.
He frowned, diverted his steps from the lounge, and headed toward the infirmary.
Better get it checked again, just in case.
Thinking this, Chigiri Hyoma pushed open the door to the infirmary.
And then, he saw Icarus, who was curled up on the sofa and drinking with abandon.
A pair of pink pupils locked gazes with red pupils. The room was silent for a moment.
Chigiri Hyoma’s pupils trembled constantly. He reacted quickly, glanced at the corridor to ensure no second figure was there, and then hurriedly closed the door.
Icarus remained in the dazed posture of being curled up on the sofa drinking blood. His red pupils were slightly unfocused; he didn’t react even when the red-haired youth stepped forward.
Logically speaking, upon seeing this abnormal scene, most people would choose to flee. But Chigiri Hyoma was very calm. Rather, he was currently experiencing a realization of “Ah, so that was it.”
He walked lightly in front of Icarus and half-crouched down, “Icarus? Are you okay?”
He didn’t drink his own blood into stupidity, did he?
Only then did Icarus slowly realize that the fact he was secretly hoarding other people’s blood as snacks had been discovered.
The main issue was that the flavor at the very first moment was truly too wonderful; it had made him completely lose his senses. Even though Chigiri Hyoma had caught him in the act by opening the door, Icarus’s brain was fully occupied by a tug-of-war between “Crap, I’ve been discovered” and “No, I still need to drink the very last drop,” successfully causing him to crash.
“Oh, I’m doing fine.”
Icarus treasured the final drop as he finished it before replying slowly.
For some reason, seeing Icarus’s lingering licking motion, Chigiri Hyoma felt his face grow a bit hot.
“Thanks for the treat,” Icarus said sincerely, seeing that Chigiri Hyoma was still very calm, neither screaming as he fled nor jumping up to interrogate him.
“So this was really what I gave that day…”
The black-haired youth nodded.
“I remember you said it was to contribute to scientific research,” Chigiri Hyoma asked euphemistically.
“I am the one mainly doing the scientific research,” Icarus tilted his head, “I only have the strength to do scientific research when I’ve eaten my fill.”
That actually makes some sense… ah, no, this is not the time to be thinking about that.
“So, Icarus, are you a vampire?” Chigiri Hyoma looked at the tiny fangs Icarus hadn’t yet retracted and asked softly.
“That is correct,” the black-haired youth couldn’t help but lick the fangs being stared at, “No one else knows about this yet… it counts as something practically no one knows, so don’t go telling anyone.”
Otherwise, it would make it seem like his motives for establishing Blue Lock weren’t pure. Heaven knows he truly only established it to cultivate the world’s number one striker!
Nagi Seishiro already knew. But that was fine; even with that, it was only these two people anyway.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Chigiri Hyoma said immediately. The fact that he could run and jump now was entirely thanks to Icarus; how could he be ungrateful? Rather…
“If it’s blood bags, is this tiny amount enough?”
Chigiri Hyoma still remembered that when he had his blood drawn back then, Icarus hadn’t taken much because he was in the post-operative recovery stage. Even though he didn’t know how much a vampire needed to eat, 200ml was obviously not enough.
“Hmm…” Although Icarus wanted to say it was enough, his still-unsatisfied stomach began to protest stubbornly.
Looking at the black-haired youth’s hesitant face, Chigiri Hyoma didn’t know where he found the courage, but in his half-crouched position, he casually brushed his hair aside to reveal the back of his neck.
“You can drink.”
What a proactive snack!
Icarus’s eyes stared straight at the fair back of Chigiri Hyoma’s neck, unable to help but swallow his saliva. This sound was infinitely magnified in the silent infirmary, making Chigiri Hyoma’s heart stir slightly.
The infirmary was silent for a moment, followed by the sound of rubbing fabric. Since he was facing away from Icarus, Chigiri Hyoma didn’t know what the person behind him was doing. But he could feel a small puff of air suddenly spraying onto the back of his neck, giving the skin in that area goosebumps.
It’s as if I’ve been targeted by some beast.
In a daze, Chigiri Hyoma’s breathing hitched. Just as he hesitated and thought about calling a halt, he felt a moist sensation against the back of his neck.
The skin on the back of his neck was first tentatively touched by soft lips, followed by a soft tongue. It was as if it were a ritual before a meal, a need to taste the flavor through the skin first.
A sense of itchiness stirred in Chigiri Hyoma’s heart as he was licked, and with a slight flutter in his chest, he felt a sharp object press against the area that had originally been covered by softness.
“Mmm…”
His sensitive neck was punctured by fangs, and the sensation of blood being drawn made Chigiri Hyoma unable to stop a muffled groan. The dense, prickling pain was soon replaced by more of an itchy, numbing sensation that made him unable to stop himself from becoming intoxicated by it.
His heart seemed to beat faster, powerfully pumping every drop of blood toward his four limbs, all of which gathered at the back of his neck. His whole body felt as if it had turned hot, and every breath he exhaled seemed to carry heat. In a place Chigiri Hyoma couldn’t see, his snow-white skin was stained with a crimson flush, and his pair of pink pupils gradually lost their focus.
The infirmary was utterly silent, save for the exceptionally audible sound of Icarus swallowing.
He didn’t know how long it had been. Estimating that it was about enough, Icarus cherished the final drop of his meal by licking it clean, just like last time, to stop the bleeding for Chigiri Hyoma.
Chigiri Hyoma, who had been released, didn’t react until he was helped by Icarus to lie down on the hospital bed, at which point he replied in a daze.
“Are we done?”
“Yeah,” Icarus, half-full, was in a very pleasant mood, “Since you’re here, I’ll take the opportunity to check your knee.”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor,” Chigiri Hyoma said foggily, “I originally intended to come find you for a re-check of my knee.”
The result was that he ran into Icarus cherishably sucking his blood the moment he opened the door, making him forget all about his knee.
So not only did Chigiri Hyoma not get his knee checked when he came to the infirmary, he was also caught and sucked on first.
Icarus: …Ah, feeling a bit guilty; my conscience is hurting.