𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 || 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊

040

BEFORE THE GAME

Ai was sitting in the corner of the room, her legs criss-crossed, her hands forming a round, similar as if she was holding a soccer ball. "Ah, I don't think you should disturb her right now" Ai heard the faint voice of Isagi.

"Mm! Akacchin gets super concentrated, before a game" Bachira said, the older boy in front of him ignoring the two. "Get up" Ai felt her whole body freeze, hearing the voice of her older brother. Her red eyes make contact with purple eyes.

"What are–" She stopped seeing the look on Hiroto's face. She sighed before standing up and following Hiroto outside Blue Lock's personal waiting room.

"How long are you going to play this way?" Hiroto turned, looking at Ai with a questioning face "What?"

"The way you play, it's exactly like how dad did. Before you say you play two entirely different sports you still play as if he were the one playing" Ai furrowed her eyebrows unable to respond back to Hiroto.

"Why do you care?"

Hearing this, Hiroto looked away, unable to make eye contact with the female before finally speaking up. "You're not dad" Hiroto mumbled, Ai looking at him confused, unable to hear what he had just said.

"You're not dad and you will never be him" Hiroto winced hearing his harsh words "The longer you continue acting like dad, the harder it'll become for you to envision the world beyond."

"You know nothing–"

"But I do. I know that would scratch yourself out, out of all family pictures. I know that when you lie you avoid gaze, I know that you prefer sweeter things than bitter. I know you purposely choose to eat bitter things because you want to be like dad! Everything you've done until now has been to seek approval from dad and I!"

Ai felt her breath hitched, her eyes slightly trembling. Has she really tried to replicate everything she's done for approval? She hadn't noticed before. "Listen, I blamed you, I blamed you for taking mom away from me and because of that I ignored you and I know I shouldn't have. You had done nothing but I didn't come here to seek your forgiveness, I don't deserve it. But let me just give you this one piece of advice. The longer you try to become like dad, the longer you'll fail to realize, me and dad don't make your story. Only you can change your faith so stop trying to be like him when you're not because at the end, you are only shackled by yourself"

Ai closed her eyes, recalling her conversation with her older brother. If she could relate to Rin was that they both had shitty brothers. "You okay?" opening her eyes, she turned to meet red eyes staring right back at her. "I will be," Chigiri nodded.

"Why did you decide to change the whole strategy?" Chigiri finally asked what had been on his mind. "I mean, you could have easily scored, you even scored against the World Five, so why change a strategy specifically created for you to score?"

Ai sighed

"An empress. That has been my nickname ever since my debut into the world of football. Do you know why?" Chigiri shaked his head, a sign meaning no "My father was known as the Emperor. A prodigy of basketball. He ruled the court with an iron fist, my signature move—his move, was to make players fall onto their knees. I had gotten the nickname Empress because of him. He dictated his own team and the opposing team moves. If you believed you were two steps ahead of him, he was twenty steps ahead of you. I had become a replica of him, without even knowing it"

"Instead, I wanted to do something that went against the very mindset we are being taught. Something I've been doing consciously and unconsciously."

Chigiri's eyes widened hearing the words fall from the girl's mouth.

"To succeed, to push beyond the limits, I wanted you all to surpass me for my last play"