In the dimly lit room, time passed quietly. Icarus estimated it was time, relaxed his bite, and licked the blood remaining on Mikage Reo’s neck as a finishing touch, coincidentally stopping the bleeding.
Sensing the moist tactile sensation once again on his sensitive neck, Mikage Reo shuddered, trying hard to control his body’s trembling. He wanted to open his mouth to ask if it was already over, but when he opened his mouth, no sound could be uttered.
“It’s already fine,” Icarus said softly, standing up straight from his leaning posture, watching Mikage Reo’s still-dazed and unfocused gaze.
It might be the aftereffects of being bitten for the first time. Whether it was Nagi Seishiro, Chigiri Hyoma, or Yukimiya Kenyu, everyone who had been bitten by him for the first time seemed a bit dazed.
“Rest for a while; I’ll take my leave first.”
Seeing that Mikage Reo had yet to regain his senses, Icarus kindly turned up the room temperature, opened the door a crack, and quickly slipped away after confirming that neither Nagi Seishiro nor Chigiri Hyoma was there.
It would feel quite bad if I were bumped into by Nagi Seishiro at a time like this.
Sensing his own somewhat delicate mood, Icarus slipped away on tiptoe.
The black-haired youth’s figure had just disappeared at the end of the corridor when Nagi Seishiro, hands in his pockets, strolled slowly to the door of the audiovisual room. He knocked on it casually; when no one answered, he pushed the door open and walked in directly.
The dimly lit room was filled with silence. Nagi Seishiro’s 1.9-meter height was full of oppression as he looked down at Mikage Reo, who was currently curled up on the sofa with unfocused eyes.
“Hey, Reo.”
Mikage Reo remained silent.
“Now you understand too, don’t you? That feeling.”
Mikage Reo’s heart stirred slightly.
“It’s a feeling that, once you’ve tried it even once, you can never forget.”
In a corner Nagi Seishiro couldn’t see, Mikage Reo’s right little finger twitched nervously.
A corner of his heart seemed to have collapsed. Mikage Reo looked at Nagi Seishiro, whose expression was obscured as he stood with his back to the room’s only screen.
“Since we both understand, let’s cooperate.”
“I should have said this before, but Reo looked very hesitant at the time.”
“But I think, Reo probably won’t hesitate now,” Nagi Seishiro said softly, watching Mikage Reo’s constantly trembling pupils.
“Because you are the same as me.”
“They are all longing to be demanded by that monster.”
…
Cold instruments touched his eyes through the gauze, and Yukimiya Kenyu held his breath.
“Very good; we can remove the stitches today.”
Yukimiya Kenyu suppressed his excitement and waited patiently. Icarus worked nimbly, removing the gauze covering his eyes in two or three motions.
Yukimiya Kenyu’s eyelids felt light instantly, and then the sound of light switches being turned on and off reached his ears.
“You can open your eyes slowly now.”
Yukimiya Kenyu followed the instructions. He first tentatively opened his eyes just a slit; what first caught his eyes were the staff ID badge hanging on Icarus’s chest and the dimly lit room.
Did Icarus turn off the lights specifically to take care of me?
His eyes, which had regained the light, felt no discomfort. Yukimiya Kenyu tentatively opened his eyes wider. His vision provided more information, and this was the first time in a long while that he had seen Icarus’s face again.
Icarus suddenly moved closer, and the distance between the two rapidly closed to just a palm’s length. Yukimiya Kenyu, suddenly impacted by such beauty, had his breathing hitched.
As a model, Yukimiya Kenyu had seen many people with superior looks. He dared to conclude that if Icarus were to debut, he would likely have a batch of fans in no time. He was the type of person every talent agency would fight to have. He wouldn’t even need to do anything; a faint, condescending glance would be enough to drive many people crazy for him. And the darkness and dim light only contributed to this ambiguous and dangerous atmosphere.
Vampires, truly a terrifying race.
At this moment, Icarus was sitting on the edge of his bed, his dark, ink-like pupils staring straight into his eyes without blinking. Influenced by the dimly lit room, this stare seemed to carry a unique meaning, causing Yukimiya Kenyu’s heartbeat to accelerate uncontrollably.
Although he knew rationally that Icarus might just be checking the state of his eyeballs, Yukimiya Kenyu still subconsciously lowered his gaze.
He clenched his fists, suppressed the inner fluctuations, and changed the subject, “I want to go play soccer and test it out.”
Being able to see was only the first step. Next, he needed to test if he could maintain a clear field of vision even under intense running and the high-pressure environment of a match. Before he could verify the effects on the field, he couldn’t set his heart at ease.
Icarus made a gesture of “be my guest.”
“I originally thought you would try to persuade me,” Yukimiya Kenyu said, surprised.
Don’t doctors usually demand that patients avoid intense exercise after surgery?
“I am your primary surgeon, after all,” Icarus tilted his head. “You might not be familiar with me yet. But since I say you can, then you can.”
Did you think the nourishing medicine you drank before was for nothing? That was all blood I painstakingly bled out. Every drop was imbued with my heart’s blood.
Yukimiya Kenyu hesitated no longer. After politely saying goodbye, he quickly returned to his room.
Before exercising, he still needed to change into his training uniform and warm up. Having been sick once, Yukimiya Kenyu knew better than anyone the importance of taking care of his own body.
Walking on the road to the field, Yukimiya Kenyu’s heart thumped.
He was waiting for a trial. He didn’t know the result of the trial yet. But he had a premonition—
His era was finally coming.
…
“Are there only the three of you?”
Yukimiya Kenyu watched Nagi Seishiro and Chigiri Hyoma playing soccer on the field, and greeted them with a smile.
Hearing the voice, the two slowly turned back.
This is… the person who had occupied all of Icarus’s time and energy during this period while he was avoiding them.
The clever Nagi Seishiro had discovered the black-haired youth’s anomaly on the very second day Icarus began avoiding him, and Chigiri Hyoma was not slow-witted either; he reacted right after. One day, when the two met in the corridor, who knows who spoke first, but they both quickly understood the fact that they were both being avoided by Icarus recently.
Nagi Seishiro originally hadn’t wanted to bother with the other party after figuring this out, but Chigiri Hyoma would always appear by his side whenever he was practicing alone. Seeing Chigiri Hyoma standing there as if his feet had taken root, Nagi Seishiro, finding it troublesome to chase people away, acquiesced to his actions. Thus, these two people who originally didn’t have much interaction had been playing soccer together recently.
Seeing the low-pressure atmosphere between the two, Yukimiya Kenyu didn’t mind.
Blue Lock was never a harmonious, happy place filled with a spirit of helping others; here, only those who were selfish could make it to the end. The other party seemed to be in a bad mood, but as long as they could play soccer, that was fine. And now, Yukimiya Kenyu urgently needed a soccer match.
“Sure,” to Chigiri Hyoma’s surprise, Nagi Seishiro was the first to speak. “1v1.”
Yukimiya Kenyu agreed instantly.
This suits me. In the realm of 1v1, Yukimiya Kenyu believed that there was no one in Blue Lock who was his opponent.
Those who met Yukimiya Kenyu for the first time might think he was a player who excelled in dexterity. But in fact, the exact opposite was true; his power-filled and high-speed dribbling and his spiral shot were his weapons.
Watching Nagi Seishiro blocking his way, Yukimiya Kenyu used a flexible speed change to quickly leave him behind. Nagi Seishiro reacted quickly and defended, only to be bypassed again by the skill-filled dribble. This 1v1 ended with a super-strong spiral shot from the former.
Nagi Seishiro stared at the shot ball. A sense of something he couldn’t quite put into words arose in his heart.
Although he had already seen the dribbling and shooting of Blue Lock’s No. 5 back during the adaptability selection, Yukimiya Kenyu, who could even bypass Itoshi Rin, was indeed capable… although he didn’t want to admit it.
Is this why Icarus has been paying so much attention to this bespectacled guy lately?
Wait, speaking of glasses—
At the same time, as if they had a telepathic connection, Chigiri Hyoma asked the same thing, “Yukimiya, do you not need to wear glasses this time?”
He didn’t want to win against Yukimiya Kenyu in a 1v1 only because the other party couldn’t see clearly without glasses.
Yukimiya Kenyu was currently steadying his breathing.
In reality, that 1v1 just now hadn’t consumed much of his stamina, yet he was still gasping for air. It was like a poor person who had suddenly received a fortune worth ten million, his heart thumping as it recounted the joy, reminding him of the fact that he was still alive.
Just now, whether sprinting or dribbling, his peripheral vision truly hadn’t gone dark again!
The narrowed field of vision during matches had previously hindered the spiral shot he was good at. But now, without the interference of his sight, his shooting was even more effortless!
Seeing Yukimiya Kenyu standing still without a word, staring blankly in the direction of the goal, Chigiri Hyoma frowned as he stood in front of him.
“Let’s start.”
If it were just a matter of speed, Chigiri Hyoma was confident he wouldn’t be completely left behind by Yukimiya Kenyu.
The 2nd 1v1 match began again. Although Chigiri Hyoma was faster in a sprint over a certain distance, in terms of dribbling speed, Yukimiya Kenyu was still a cut above.
Chigiri Hyoma gritted his teeth as he watched the tricky shot, slamming his fist into the grass in frustration.
He knew Yukimiya Kenyu was Blue Lock’s No. 5, but after resting on the hospital bed for so many days, not only had Yukimiya Kenyu’s athletic ability not declined, but his shooting had even become more precise!
Is this Blue Lock? Being able to compete with so many excellent people truly made his blood boil.
Yukimiya Kenyu turned around with long strides, ignoring the two with their varied expressions. Now, he had something important to do.
In the empty corridor, the cold-toned metal walls reflected the figures of people walking by in a hurry. Yukimiya Kenyu walked toward the route he already knew by heart.
The joy on the soccer field hadn’t dissipated yet; it was crashing against his brain in waves. The quiet environment made the sound of his jumping heart all the more distinct; his heart seemed to float lightly in the sky, happy with no sense of reality.
Yukimiya Kenyu felt his field of vision, clear as it had always been, and a touch of bitterness in his heart made his eyes moist.
The desperate mentality of treating every day as the last day to play soccer no longer existed. It was as if a prisoner sentenced to death with a reprieve had been released after serving his sentence. The Sword of Damocles above his head had finally disappeared, and Yukimiya Kenyu was finally able to breathe for a moment and take a good look at the world he was in.
His newly regained eyes stared greedily at the surrounding environment, until he stood still before a familiar door.
He knocked on the door.