052 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

"Eh~ but I don't want you."

Unexpectedly, Shinichi rejected him with a smiling face.

"After all, you're so weak. There's really no need for us to pick you specifically. In my view, it's the same no matter who we choose."

"Rin, look at him, he's even getting picky. You should really learn from Rin, who suffered the same crushing defeat by my hands. When I picked him, he didn't even say a single piece of nonsense."

Itoshi Rin, who had originally wanted to remind Shinichi to stop messing around and just pick someone and leave, cursed under his breath and walked away. Shinichi then turned his head toward Hiori Yo and Ranze Kurona.

"Do you two have anyone you like?"

"I actually think picking him would be pretty good. He's clearly the strongest in the entire team, and his potential is more worth looking forward to."

Hiori Yo didn't deliberately cater to Shinichi's bad taste and answered in a straightforward, proper manner.

"Shinichi, I'll listen to you."

Ranze Kurona had no particular opinion and handed the choice over to Shinichi. Shinichi helplessly spread his hands and took out his phone.

"Then let's be fair. We'll roll dice. I take 4–6, Hiori, you take 1–3. Whoever it lands on, we listen to. How about it?"

"How could I possibly object?"

"Hey, hey, hey! That's not right! This is way too strange! That guy deliberately made us go through so many rounds to regroup—there's no way it's just for selection. Later on, there will definitely be times when the whole team is needed, right?"

Just as Shinichi's group was about to finalize their decision, Reo Mikage couldn't sit still anymore. He didn't even know what kind of mindset he had right now, but seeing Nagi Seishiro actively requested to team up only to be rejected, and even have his talent denied, he still spoke up instinctively.

"Nagi is definitely the strongest among us! He was even willing to go with you—why don't you want him? Didn't you see his talent? And he only started playing football half a year ago. His potential—"

"Shut up, idiot."

Shinichi coldly interrupted Reo Mikage.

"Whether setting rules or breaking rules, both are privileges of the strong. Losers, get lost. There's no place here for you to speak."

"You losers have only one choice—kneel off the field and wait for fate. Don't get your position wrong."

Nagi Seishiro felt that when Shinichi said this, he deliberately glanced at him. Immediately after, Shinichi tapped the screen. The virtual dice began to roll wildly.

In an instant, both Nagi Seishiro's and Reo Mikage's hearts started pounding violently, as if their hearts had already been replaced by that dice.

Second by second passed, and the speed of the dice gradually slowed.

Finally...

It stopped.

1... 2...

Reo Mikage widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the screen in Shinichi's hand. But the distance was a bit too far—he could only vaguely see that the number was no less than three.

"It's 4 points. Looks like I win."

Shinichi smiled and showed the phone to Hiori Yo.

"So then, who should I choose?"

His scrutinizing gaze continuously swept over the four people with different postures. Shinichi first looked at Reo, who was slumped on the ground.

"A mediocre passerby. No distinctive traits at all. Terrible mentality, too much trouble. Don't want."

"Besides height, there's nothing to you. A big dumb guy. A fool who only knows how to run. A naturally white-haired guy who loses all autonomy once separated from others. This is really tough—every single one of you is so weak."

"Then, come here. The glasses-wearing idiot."

After maliciously commenting on them, Shinichi raised his hand and pointed at Tsurugi Zantetsu.

"You ran with all your strength, but the organizer in your team could only see one person. It must feel awful to have your efforts wasted like that, right?"

"Come to my side. Act as my chariot, and run for me."

"I'm not an idiot..."

Tsurugi Zantetsu adjusted his glasses and walked to Shinichi's side.

"But I'm looking forward to it."

"Then that's it. Ciao."

Shinichi smiled and waved at the stunned Nagi Seishiro and Reo Mikage, then turned around and took the lead into the passageway to the next stage.

Zantetsu fell to the back. He glanced at Reo Mikage, who had his head lowered, said nothing, then turned around and left.

...

"What the hell was that? That kind of self-righteous guy..."

Reo Mikage looked utterly confused. What kind of mood should he even have right now?

Was it the secret joy of being glad that Nagi wasn't chosen and that they could still team up together?

Or was it anger that his precious treasure had been treated as worthless trash by someone else?

More importantly, how should he get along with Nagi now?

Reo Mikage looked toward Nagi Seishiro standing to the side, only to see that there wasn't even any frustration on his face—instead, it was full of confusion.

"Was I... defeated by luck?"

Nagi Seishiro muttered softly to himself.

"Such a strange feeling... this feeling of having your fate decided by someone else..."

"Luck, huh. That's an interesting topic."

On the field, as well as on the screen in the room Shinichi had reached through the passage, the display lit up at the same time. Ego Jinpachi's kidney-deficient-looking face that seemed like it might die at any second appeared on the screen.

"Yo, yo, all you raw gems of talent. Hello there. First of all, let's celebrate the members of the first team clearing the second round of selection."

After applauding without any sincerity, Ego Jinpachi continued.

"From the results, it should look like this: Tsurugi Zantetsu advanced to the next stage because of luck. But what is the truth?"

"As a commendation, I'll specially tell you blank slates what luck really is."

"Isn't luck just something that happens randomly?"

Reo Mikage frowned. Ego Jinpachi merely cast him a disdainful glance.

"Defeated mediocrities can only twist reality this way with their stupid brains."

"Shut up and listen carefully. Luck is built upon success."

Ego Jinpachi raised his hand, summoning several images.

"Like lottery draws at festival stalls—if the shop owner never put winning tickets in from the beginning, are the people who didn't win unlucky?"

"This..."

Reo Mikage frowned and started thinking. Nagi Seishiro also lifted his head and listened seriously.

"Luck is not an omnipotent existence. It only descends upon places that can bear it."

"If you don't buy a ticket, it's impossible to win the lottery. Likewise, on the football field, it's the same."

"Think about it. In a full 90 minutes of football, how many chances and necessities will occur?"

"And during your time in Blue Lock, you continuously learn the equation of scoring goals and reproduce your own goals. That is necessity."

"When the necessities of both sides collide, unpredictable chance will naturally occur."

Ego Jinpachi looked at the constantly thinking Nagi Seishiro.

"And the same goes for you. If you had performed just a bit better—if instead of making Kōken Shinichi step off the field out of boredom, you had followed his rules and forced him off the field—then Kōken Shinichi might not have used dice at all, and would have chosen you directly."

"But your performance didn't create a qualitative gap with your teammates. In fact, because of you, Reo passed the ball that could have been distributed to other teammates to you, yet you failed to score."

"You didn't even manage to take a shot before being blocked. Otherwise, Ranze Kurona might have wanted you as well. That would have been two versus one, giving you a higher chance of being selected."

"In other words, regarding being chosen, your necessity collided with Tsurugi Zantetsu's necessity, and in the end, luck descended upon Tsurugi Zantetsu."

"Nagi Seishiro, you weren't prepared to be struck by luck."

"Accept the arrangements of luck, and continuously improve yourself to increase the chances of luck descending—that's what you need to do next."

Clap... clap... clap...

Sparse applause sounded.

Shinichi smiled as he clapped.

"A very interesting argument. But there's one point I need to refute."

Shinichi took out his phone and opened the dice again. The final result was still 4.

It was a GIF.

"The rules are made by the strong. And changing the rules—or even destroying them—is also a privilege exclusive to the strong."

"I never said I would rely on luck to make decisions."

"Or rather, all I need is absolute necessity."