If any artist could help me by making some art of Haise, I’d really appreciate it, even if it’s just a few pieces.
And I also don’t know if I’ll be able to pay, so please know that beforehand.
__________________________________________
It was noon, and Haise could finally rest, completely stretching himself across the grass of the field.
His chest rose and fell heavily while drops of sweat ran down his face and neck, partially soaking the BLUE LOCK training shirt.
They had trained for more than ten straight hours.
Ego had made him run, shoot, dribble, react, make decisions under pressure, control balls at absurd speeds, and repeat movements until his body nearly reached its limit.
All of that just to collect data.
“Ah…” Haise let out a heavy breath while staring at the gigantic ceiling above the indoor field.
“What a hell…”
Every muscle in his body seemed to ache at the same time.
Even so, a small smile still remained on his face.
Because for the first time in a very long while, he felt like he was evolving again.
“Silence, rough diamond,” Ego replied coldly while spinning a tablet around his index finger.
“Your results came in. And I must say…”
The glasses reflected the light of the room.
“…They’ve exceeded even my expectations.”
Haise slightly raised an eyebrow.
That coming from Jinpachi Ego?
Without warning, Ego tossed the tablet toward him.
Haise quickly raised his hand and caught it midair without difficulty.
The screen was already on, and Haise’s violet eyes immediately began analyzing the data displayed on it.
The very first result shown on the screen was his overall rating.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Haise Sasaki — Overall: S]
[OFFENSE: S]
[SHOOT: S]
[DRIBBLE: S+]
[SPEED: S]
[PASS: S]
[DEFENSE: B]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Haise let out a low whistle upon seeing the numbers.
“Not bad at all,” he commented calmly while sliding the screen toward the physical attributes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Stamina: 97]
[Acceleration: 92]
[Top Speed: 91]
[Jump: 90]
[Agility: 97]
[Kinetic Vision: 98]
[Reaction Speed: 98]
[Power: 90]
[Balance: 94]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Haise’s eyes slowly scanned through each stat.
Even he knew those numbers were absurd.
“Kinetic Vision… ninety-eight?” he murmured, almost amused.
That explained why the field always seemed slower to him.
“Most of these are above ninety points, which would already be considered amazing,” Haise commented while turning toward Ego.
“But it doesn’t seem like that impresses you.”
Ego remained standing exactly the same as always.
Neutral expression.
Straight posture.
Like a pole.
He was so artificially calm that Haise genuinely felt he looked like some kind of human mannequin.
Then Ego raised a hand to his glasses and slowly adjusted them.
“These numbers are incredible for a high school student,” he began.
“But I’m not searching for mere physical talent.”
His eyes locked directly onto Haise.
“What interests me…” his voice grew heavier, “…is finding out whether you can turn those numbers into something capable of destroying the other two hundred and ninety-nine players.”
The atmosphere suddenly felt quieter.
“And above all else…” Ego continued, “…I want to know whether you can keep evolving after reaching a level where most people would already slam on the brakes.”
Haise remained silent as he listened.
The weight of Ego’s words still echoed inside his mind while he once again stared at his own stats reflected on the tablet screen.
Even so, Jinpachi Ego looked at those numbers as if they were still insufficient.
Then, slowly, a small smile appeared on Haise’s exhausted face.
A genuine smile.
“You’re insane…” Haise commented with a faint nasal laugh.
“But fortunately for you… your insanity is contagious.”
Ego remained silent.
Haise then lowered his gaze back to the tablet in his hands.
“By the way…” His eyes narrowed slightly with curiosity.
“I’m curious about this experiment I’m participating in.”
He tilted his head, trying to remember.
“What was the name again?” Haise murmured before snapping his fingers.
“Ah… Right, I remember.”
His violet eyes focused directly on Ego.
“Legend Prospect.”
Ego then stared directly back at Haise.
“The name already says everything.” His voice sounded calm and heavy at the same time.
“To create the Legend born directly from BLUE LOCK.”
He slowly began walking toward Haise.
“The Legend…” Ego continued, “…whose light can dominate both hope and despair.”
After taking a few more steps and stopping in front of him, Ego simply took the tablet from Haise’s hands.
“But…” The glasses reflected the lights from the ceiling.
“…will this Legend become the solitary hero I’m searching for?”
Haise silently observed him for a moment.
Then suddenly, his smile widened, an emotion steadily growing within him now.
“We can only find out once we get there,” Haise answered calmly while rising from the grass.
“Betting everything on a future completely shrouded from view…” he commented while running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair.
“Doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
The mirror fragments quietly appeared around him once again.
Ego observed Haise in silence for a few seconds.
Then he turned his back to him and clicked his tongue.
“Very well,” Ego said as he began walking toward the field’s exit.
His aura felt heavier now.
“Let us begin…” The automatic door slowly started opening before him.
“…Phase 0 of Blue Lock.”
…
Anri tapped the tablet screen a few times.
At first, her expression was merely serious as she analyzed the data sent directly from BLUE LOCK’s central system.
But then—
Her eyes slowly began to widen.
“…Huh?”
She scrolled down the screen again.
Read it once more.
And then again.
As if she were trying to confirm that it wasn’t some kind of system error.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Subject Name: Haise Sasaki]
[Overall: 97 (S)]
[Physical (+)]
[Mental (-)]
• [Composure: 96]
• [Assertiveness: 82]
• [Spatial Awareness: 99]
• [Adaptability: 100]
• [Football IQ: 98]
• [Coordination: 97]
• [Tactical Comprehension: 97]
• [Reflexive Analysis: 99]
• [Ego: 99]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Anri’s fingers tightened slightly around the tablet.
This was already absurd.
But she kept reading.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Technique (-)]
• [Trapping: 98]
• [Ball Control: 99]
• [Heading: 91]
• [Dribbling: 98]
• [Tackling: 90]
• [Sliding Tackle: 90]
• [Direct Play: 97]
• [Positioning: 96]
• [Play Field Vision: 99]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“…”
Anri completely lost her words.
The technical analysis looked like it belonged to an already established professional player, not a high school student.
Then she reached the offensive parameters.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Offensive Parameters (-)]
• [Shooting Accuracy: 94]
• [Short Pass: 95]
• [Volley: 97]
• [Long Shot: 92]
• [Long Pass: 91]
• [Curve: 93]
• [Free Kick: 90]
• [Centering: 90]
• [Penalty Kick: 96]
• [Opposite Leg Precision: 99]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Anri’s hands began trembling slightly as she stared at the numbers on the screen.
“This…” Her voice nearly failed her.
“…This is ridiculous.”
Opposite Leg Precision: 99.
In other words, near-perfect accuracy with his non-dominant leg.
That alone was already abnormal.
But combined with everything else?
He looked like a player artificially created for offensive football.
“Ego…” Anri murmured slowly.
“What exactly did you find?”
SHIIIIIIIIK.
The automatic door to the monitoring room slid open.
Anri immediately raised her head.
Ego calmly stepped inside with his hands in his pockets, the lenses of his glasses reflecting the glow of the countless screens spread throughout the room.
His mere presence seemed to alter the atmosphere.
“Ah,” Ego commented upon seeing Anri.
“So this is where you were, errand girl.”
Anri immediately turned the tablet toward him.
“Ego, this isn’t normal!” she said, unable to hide her shock.
“These numbers are absurd even by Blue Lock standards!”
Ego only cast a brief glance at the screen.
Without showing surprise or any reaction at all, as if he had already expected exactly this.
“Of course they are,” he answered calmly.
Anri’s eyes widened.
“‘Of course they are’?!”
Ego slowly walked toward the giant monitoring screens in the room.
Ego’s eyes focused on that image.
“Haise Sasaki…” he murmured slowly.
“…is a talent born into the wrong environment.”
Anri remained silent as she listened.
“No money, no support, no structure, and no one refining his abilities.”
Ego’s aura seemed to grow heavier.
“And even so…” His glasses glinted faintly.
“…he reached this level completely on his own. A true genius.”
Anri looked back down at the data.
Adaptability: 100.
Football IQ: 98.
Spatial Awareness: 99.
Reflexive Analysis: 99.
It seemed impossible.
“Ego…” She spoke more quietly this time.
“Do you really think he can become the striker you’re searching for?”
Silence filled the room for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on Ego’s face.
“No.”
Anri blinked in surprise.
But before she could say anything—
“He still cannot become the striker I’m searching for…” Ego said while staring directly at Haise’s image on the massive monitoring screen.
Haise appeared to be walking alone across the empty field, completely unaware of the conversation taking place above him.
Ego’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“He’s still missing something.”
The room fell silent.
“There’s a lack of expression for all of that talent…” Ego continued calmly.
“And also a lack of expression for his Ego.”
Anri immediately frowned upon hearing that.
“Expression…?”
Ego rested his face against one hand while observing the data once again.
“Talent alone means nothing,” he stated.
“There are geniuses scattered all across the world. Players who are fast, intelligent, technical, and physically absurd.”
Haise’s numbers still glowed on the main screen.
“But what turns someone into a striker capable of dominating the world…” Ego murmured, “…is possessing an absolute weapon.”
His eyes reflected Haise’s mental stats.
Adaptability: 100.
Football IQ: 98.
Reflexive Analysis: 99.
All of it was monstrous.
And yet…
“Haise Sasaki still doesn’t possess a trigger,” Ego declared coldly.
Anri listened in silence.
“The premise of this experiment…” Ego commented as he finally sat down in the main chair of the room, “…is to help him discover his weapon.”
He let out a small, tired sigh.
“Although…” His fingers slowly tapped against the desk.
“Frankly, I’m not entirely sure he even has one.”
Anri’s eyes widened.
“The only thing working in his favor…” Ego continued, “…is his S-level intelligence, technique, and physical attributes.”
He then tilted his head slightly.
“But all of that is meaningless if you don’t have a trigger.”
Silence immediately consumed the room after those words.
Anri tightened her grip around the tablet.
“No way…” she said in disbelief while staring at Ego.
“We spent the rest of our money on a ‘potential’ striker?!”
Her voice started growing irritated.
“You literally bet everything on someone who might not even have a weapon?!”
Ego did not even look at her.
“So what?” The response came instantly.
“Stop worrying about something as useless as money.”
Anri nearly choked hearing that.
“‘As useless as—'”
“Now…” Ego interrupted while crossing his legs.
“…we’ll invest the next month into him.”
His eyes returned to Haise’s image on the screen.
His aura seemed to grow heavier.
“Haise Sasaki…” Ego’s voice turned cold.
“You will train, sweat, bleed, and die in this facility until I witness a real weapon with a trigger.”
Anri felt a chill run down her spine.
“If I fail to see that…” Ego continued without the slightest hesitation, “…then I’ll dump your body in the orphanage garden.”
“Huh?!”
Anri immediately turned toward Ego with a completely helpless expression.
He had adopted the boy only a few hours ago, and he was already threatening to throw his corpse into some orphanage garden?!
What kind of human being casually said something like that?!
A voice echoed through the room’s speakers.
“I thought it was supposed to be weeks.”
Anri immediately flinched in surprise.
Ego simply remained still.
On the main screen, Haise could be seen staring directly at one of the cameras installed around the field, as if he knew exactly they were watching him.
A small smile rested on his face.
“Some problems came up…” Ego replied calmly through the communication system.
“…So this will take a little longer.”
Haise stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then his smile widened.
“So that means I’ve got more time to become interesting to you?” His voice came through the speakers with amusement.
Anri blinked in surprise after hearing that.
But Ego…
He merely formed a faint smile.
“At the very least…” he murmured quietly while staring at the screen, “…he doesn’t run from pressure.”
NEXT CHAPTER → Blue Lock