3.24. Deal With The Devil (Part 2)

Y/N slumped against the hard wall.

Had he made the wrong choice? Again? Had he messed up yet again, by coming to Ascension? He was sick and tired of messing up everything. He just wanted something to go right for him. I just... Kuroi will train me. I'll get better.

It was two in the morning. Y/N had caught sight of the time, on a watch one of the uniformed staff wore. A full day of training, or torture, had left its mark on him. Maybe a single day for the other occupants of the facility wouldn't be bad, but the entire time, Y/N had been personally 'trained' by Kuroi. A sadistic psychopath of a coach.

His entire body ached, a deep seated, unpleasant heat in his bones. His eyes hurt, swollen and red-rimmed from crying. He'd done his best to stretch, get some of the tension out of his muscles, but everything still hurt. And on top of that, Y/N was pretty sure all the injections had done something to him. He kept getting dizzy, and his head pounded painfully.

And along his arm, a dozen red lines circled over his skin.

For Y/N's first day at Ascension, Kuroi had used the same device that'd been used last time. A metal ring, adjustable to fit anywhere on Y/N's arm from his wrist up to his bicep. Whenever Y/N did something Kuroi didn't like - like missing a shot from the full distance of the pitch - the ring would heat up to unbearable temperatures.

But he knew the marks would disappear in just a few hours. They always did. So he didn't bother nursing his arm, sitting propped up against the concrete wall of his room. They'd lowered the lighting a few hours ago, turning it from a harsh white to a darker, yellow-tinged glow.

If it was possible, the standard of living in Ascension had decreased. Y/N's room was a tiny concrete cube, a thin mattress on the floor and nothing else. No door, not even bars. Anyone could walk in and out as they pleased. Though, there looked to be some unspoken rule that people didn't want to break - nobody went into each other's cubicles.

Until there was a faint knocking on the concrete near him. Y/N cracked his tired eyes open.

A boy stood in front of him.

White haired. Golden eyed. Tall. Athletic. A boy that'd been praised for being one of the best soccer prodigies in Japan, only a year ago. Unlike quite a lot of the other people Y/N had seen, this boy didn't have any noticeable deformities. He looked healthy, save for the deep rings around his eyes, and the slight favouring of his right leg as he stood there.

Despite being healthy-ish, he wasn't dressed as a staff member. Instead, he was in the standard clothing for a subject, the same clothing Y/N was dressed in. A grey sort of coverall, buttoned up at the front. It had a few changes to it, like a smart collar on the top, and the logo of an altar printed on the breast. The logo of Ascension.

Y/N's eyes widened. I know him. He spoke with a tired, defeated voice. "Kira Ryosuke."

Once dubbed the 'Jewel of Japan', Kira was the same age as Y/N. He'd carried his team to Nationals right before Bluelock had started, and been the first to challenge Ego Jinpachi's mindset. And now he was here. In Ascension.

"Y/N L/N." The other boy replied, his tone just as downcast. For such a previously lively boy, his eyes were dark, and haunted.

I... fuck. I've only seen him on TV, and for like ten minutes at the very start of Bluelock. What am I supposed to say?  Y/N sighed. "I watched you on TV. How were high school nationals?"

"Not bad." Kira shrugged slowly, the small movement looking like a huge effort. He cracked a smile both of them knew was fake. "Bit hard to enjoy it when someone you beat is scoring against the Japanese U-20 team."

"Isagi?"

"Yeah."

They lapsed into silence.

Kira tilted his head, leaning against the concrete entranceway. "Why are you here?"

Y/N didn't have the energy to think of a lie. "I wanted to get stronger."

"Wanted, past tense?"

Y/N closed his eyes, tilting his head back. "Don't know if I still do." One leg was straight, the other one bent at the knee. He hummed. "What about you? Why're you here?"

Kira hesitated. Then he sighed. "I lost Nationals. Wanted to get stronger, but I didn't expect whatever this is."

"Huh." Y/N snorted weakly. "Nobody expects this. Kuroi tricks them all."

"Them."

"Yeah."

"So you did, didn't you. Expect it, I mean." It wasn't a question. "You knew what this place was, and you still came."

"Yeah." Y/N kept his eyes shut. He winced, trying to move his legs and feeling pain bolt up from his foot. "I did."

"Why...?"

"Like I said. I need to get stronger."

"But they don't let us leave." Kira murmured. "Nobody ever gets allowed out of this place. They torture people, they drug people, they experiment on us. And you willingly came?"

Y/N winced again, this time at Kira's incredulous voice. "Yeah." He opened his eyes, watching as Kira shook his head with frustrated wonder.

"You're an idiot."

Y/N wholly agreed. "Fair. But after two weeks, Kuroi is gonna make me a deal. I'll leave then."

Kira scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"Don't you wanna leave?" Y/N responded. "I'll try and take you with me too."

"Fuck no." Y/N frowned. Kira shook his head, holding up both hands. "You aren't taking me."

Frowning, Y/N almost didn't want to ask. "Why?"

"'Cause nobody actually leaves." Kira muttered. "Nobody."

"Huh?" Y/N focused on one word in particular. "Actually?"

"People die here, Y/N. If you cause trouble, they don't kick you out, they kill you. If you can't perform, they kill you. If you play badly, or if your body type isn't compatible with whatever experiment they want to do to you, they'll kill you." His voice grew softer and softer. Y/N was stunned.

"You're joking."

"You think I'm joking?!" Kira's whisper-yelled. "Look at me, Y/N. Look at me, and tell me I'm joking."

Y/N looked at him. He looked at the abject terror in his eyes, looked at the way his confidence had been reduced to nothing. Kira Ryosuke was a shadow of what he'd been before. Y/N attempted to tell him, but the words died in his throat before they could form properly.

In the previous Ascension, nobody had died. All the children left with mental scars and injures, true, but nobody outright died. Everybody got back to their parents in one piece - at least on the surface. Yet here... it wasn't the same? It was worse, somehow? "What happens if you, say, lose a game?" In the old one, it was no points. Or painful punishment.

"Punishment." Kira answered quietly. "It's not so bad, but if you lose a lot of games... you die."

"You're lying." Y/N swallowed. An uneasy chill settled in his stomach. "You have to be."

"I'm not." Kira hissed nervously. "They announce people 'leaving' the compound all the time. It's something that gets people excited, gets people working harder. But nobody leaves alive, you understand me?"

"H-how do you know?"

"I saw them." Walking into Y/N's room, Kira crouched to Y/N's eye level. "I fucking saw them. They hauled out one of the people sleeping near me. Her name was announced as a leaver. And I- I saw her body. T-They'd fucking... fucking sliced her open... some shit like that."

His eyes were utterly, terrifyingly sincere. His voice shook ever so slightly. Y/N's brain was in overdrive.

Would Kuroi actually let me leave...?

What is he planning...?

It was then Y/N realised. The deal he'd agreed to, the two choices that Kuroi had said he would offer him.

Kuroi had never told him what the choices were.

🥕🥕🥕

For what felt like the fiftieth time that day, Julian Loki checked his messages.

They were three days into the Neo Egoist League's break. As soon as it had officially started, he'd messaged Y/N, asking if the small boy wanted to meet anywhere, or do anything during the two weeks. But it'd been seventy hours, and he was yet to get a reply.

It was strange. He knew Y/N didn't check his phone often, and he knew that it would take time to reply, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Y/N never blanked him. So what was happening now?

He stood outside Ego Jinpachi's office, in the Bluelock facility. With the majority of the players away holidaying, it was practically a ghost building. Only a few players were left, alongside the typical cleaners and building staff. Loki had visited the few places in the building where he thought Y/N might've gone to. Found nothing.

But maybe he'd missed somewhere. Or maybe Ego knew where Y/N was. So he knocked on the office door.

A harsh voice called out from inside. "Enter." Loki pushed in.

Ego Jinpachi, for once not dressed in a black shirt, sat in the centre of the room. His feet idly tangled in the legs of his office chair, spinning him around and around as he stared at the floor. Loki noted his black hoodie and tracksuit.

Stopping his spinning, Ego looked at Loki. "Yes?"

"Do... you know where Y/N is?" Loki tried.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Have you looked?"

"Yes."

Loki frowned. "What? You've looked?"

"Yes." Ego shrugged. "His room still has all of his clothes and personal belongings, including his cell phone. He did leave Bluelock, on the morning that the break started. But he didn't take a single personal belonging with him."

Frown deepening, Loki prompted Ego to go on. "Why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Ego murmured. "Maybe he just wanted to limit his screen time."

Bullshit. He plays video games for hours. Loki immediately thought. "I don't think so."

Ego tilted his head. Then he pushed up his glasses. "Here's a question - why are you asking? Y/N is seventeen, practically an adult. He has money, and Japan is a safe country. There's no reason to worry."

"I guess." Loki conceded. He hung his head, letting out a quiet laugh. "Suppose I'm just not used to being left on received. Especially from him."

Ego didn't laugh with him, but just nodded. "It does help to sort of unplug from the internet. Maybe he's trying that."

He would've told me... also, Ego? Unplugging from the internet? Loki snorted. "Like you know the feeling."

Shrugging, Ego replied slowly. "I don't. But Anri says it worked wonders on her sleep schedule." The coach flicked his wrist, making a shooing motion. "Now leave. Y/N will return in time for the Neo Egoist League to restart, you'll see him then."

"What are you doing that's so urgent?" Loki asked. He did as Ego asked, though, standing by the door.

"Work. Lots of very important work." Ego quickly said. Loki raised an eyebrow, but left the room anyway.

He was sure, as he walked down the corridor, and the office door shut behind him, that he heard the sound of an anime playing.

🥕🥕🥕

Sae wiped the sweat from his brow, and stepped off the treadmill.

He sat down on the edge of it, breathing heavily. Even in the air-conditioned penthouse, he was boiling. His jersey and shorts stuck to his skin, and his hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.

Immediately, he snatched up his phone, choosing some random playlist before tossing the phone across the apartment onto a sofa. He sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

Sae never used to listen to music. He barely used electronics, pretty much only picking up his phone to look at soccer news, or answer a call from his assistant. But for the past month, he'd somehow gained the habit of playing music every opportunity he could. Without it, the apartment felt... too silent. Too empty.

He'd tried rearranging the open plan, putting up partitions and dotting a few potted plants around the rooms. He'd tried to change where he worked out, where he slept, where he liked to sit. It made no difference, the apartment always too big for him. He'd never had the issue before, but now...?

And so he used music. He filled the space with constant sound, never actually listening to the lyrics.

Of course, Sae knew what was causing this... mild discomfort. He had been used to being alone in the past. He'd forced himself to separate himself from everyone else, made it so that he never, ever needed to talk to people if he didn't want to. That was the whole point of him buying the penthouse - to distance himself from the world below.

But after the U-20 game, when Y/N L/N had returned to Bluelock, that had changed.

Sae wouldn't be caught dead admitting it. But he sort of... missed the younger boy. He missed his strange, incredibly fluctuating mood. He missed his bright smiles, chaotic conversations, and childlike wonder at literally everything Sae showed to him or did for him. He even missed Y/N's weird habit to never straighten his bedsheets, but be incredibly picky about having everything else in the apartment tidy and neat.

It'd been such a huge change, going from life with him back to being alone, that Sae couldn't get his head around it. He'd messaged Y/N, asking if the younger boy wanted to do anything during Bluelock's break. And when he hadn't gotten a reply, he'd added on that if Y/N came to the apartment complex, the reception staff had a full access keycard with his name on it ready.

Still no reply. Sae knew Y/N was responsible for himself, but he couldn't help but worry. He was a week into Bluelock's break, but there was no sign of Y/N.

So he waited for a message back, and played his music.