Blue Lock: I, Ryōsuke Kira, Start With Thunder Breathing

"I remember you, you're a Bastard München player." Chris smiled when he saw Ashito and greeted him very warmly.

However, when he noticed Ryōsuke standing beside him, his expression instantly changed.

"Kira, good afternoon." Although he greeted Ryōsuke, his twitching eye revealed his inner displeasure.

Chris had wanted to use this opportunity to surpass Noel and become the world's number one player in front of everyone. Instead, Noel didn't even get playing time, and Chris himself was defeated by Ryōsuke.

He harbored deep resentment over this matter, even thinking about it the night before and unable to sleep.

Later, he deliberately had his PR team announce that he was playing while injured, wasn't in good condition, and wasn't playing seriously to give other teammates opportunities to perform. Yet discussions about "whether Ryōsuke has already surpassed Chris" still remained highly trending online.

Prince Mineral Water sales also saw a significant increase yesterday — not because of Chris, but because Ryōsuke had participated in the advertisement shoot.

"Good afternoon, Prince. I didn't expect to see you here." Ryōsuke greeted him very politely.

Because Jinpachi had warned him the day before, he wasn't particularly surprised by the appearance.

"I'm about to attend some activities, so I'll take my leave now." Chris didn't show much of a pleasant expression and, after a brief reply, he left — he had to attend his own exclusive event.

He had his own fan activities that had nothing to do with the Blue Lock project, and he didn't want to participate in the same event as Ryōsuke. Otherwise, his spotlight might be stolen by him.

After Chris left, Ryōsuke and Ashito returned to their respective rooms, prepared a little, and then headed to the hotel buffet for lunch.

To ensure the players' health, all the support staff in the hotel restaurant had been replaced with Blue Lock members, providing top-tier dining services to Ryōsuke and others at all times. This kind of treatment was something ordinary people could never experience.

The two arrived at the restaurant, where the self-service counter was filled with various dishes that made one's mouth water just by looking at them.

At that moment, Ashito seemed to notice something — the staff member at the counter looked familiar. Golden hair tied up, beautiful features set in a fair face with slight baby fat: Hana Ichijō.

Before Ashito came to Blue Lock, Hana had prepared very rich boxed lunches for him.

"Hana, what are you doing here?" Seeing her, he asked with surprise.

"Isn't our club in a partnership with Blue Lock now? All our support staff have been transferred here!" Hana smiled at him, then greeted Ryōsuke, "Kira-san, I've watched all your team's matches! Ashito becoming so skilled is all thanks to your help!"

After saying this, she bowed deeply to him.

"Not at all, it's all due to Ashito's own talent and hard work." Ryōsuke smiled in response.

Although he had indeed given Ashito a lot of guidance, the effort that the boy had put in at Blue Lock couldn't be ignored.

Ashito knew his fundamentals were much weaker than others, so he had to work harder than everyone else. Because of this dedication, he was able to shine in matches.

"We've prepared a sumptuous meal for you. You must be tired from traveling without eating! Hurry and have some food — everything here is yours to enjoy!" Hana quickly served them her most prized dishes, inviting them to taste.

Ryōsuke immediately took a small bite... In that moment, he felt as if his soul had been purified, like moving from hell to heaven!

Although the food at Blue Lock was already very good, he had to admit that Hana's cooking skills were excellent.

As he savored the food, Ryōsuke's eyes became moist, with tears rolling down his cheeks.

This sudden reaction startled Hana, who worried she had done something wrong to cause such a strong response from him.

"No, that's not it." Ashito shook his head solemnly at her. He clearly understood why Ryōsuke had such a reaction.

After all, Riko's cooking skills were at disaster level, forming a stark contrast with Hana's.

The three sat in the restaurant, eating and chatting.

After they were full, another person arrived at the restaurant. A girl with long black curly hair, not very tall, but emanating upper-class elegance in her every movement: Anri Kaidō.

"Miss Kaidō, it's been a while." Ryōsuke greeted her.

He had met her once before at the Esperion club, but they hadn't had much interaction.

This time, as the daughter of Kaidō Motors — the parent company behind Esperion — and due to the partnership with Blue Lock, she had volunteered to be the representative for this event, accompanying Ryōsuke.

Another reason was that Anri was very curious about him.

During his time at Esperion, she only knew him as a very skilled player, but like others, she at most placed him on the same level as Haruhisa.

But after Blue Lock's two matches were broadcast, Anri realized that Ryōsuke was far more skilled than she had imagined. He now deserved to be discussed on the same level as world-class stars.

This made her even more curious about him, wanting to learn more about his approach to the game.

Anri's original dream was to become a football coach, which was why she often watched Esperion club's training and matches. Now she hoped to gain valuable insights from Ryōsuke.

"It's been a while, Kira-san." Anri smiled and nodded at him, "I watched your team's match against England yesterday. It was truly brilliant. It seems Kuribayashi-san still has much to learn from you."

"I was just lucky. He also performed very well in the match. We had a brief exchange after the game."

After exchanging pleasantries, Anri informed Ryōsuke of the upcoming schedule.

They would interact with fans at the designated location, play some games, take photos, and then head to a nearby university for a speech. After completing these activities, they would be free to do as they pleased and could contact her by phone if they needed anything.

"Thank you very much."

Ryōsuke and Ashito nodded to her.

After a short rest, they got into her car and headed to the pre-arranged location. This time, when Ashito got into the car, he immediately fastened his seatbelt.

Kid got some reflexes now…

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

A few dozen minutes later, at a nearby sports arena, Chris was interacting with his fans.

However, this so-called interaction was just basic photo-taking and handshaking. He had canceled some of the planned mini-games, citing poor health as his reason.

Even so, Chris's influence as a world-class football star was evident. The venue was packed with people, the queue for autographs extending almost outside the arena, making the originally spacious venue feel extremely crowded.

Dozens of bodyguards surrounded him, preventing others from getting too close, while the table was covered with bottles of Prince Mineral Water.

The poster behind him originally featured both Chris and Ryōsuke together, but the posters hung in the venue had conveniently cropped out Ryōsuke's portion.

"It seems my popularity hasn't been affected after all." Chris mumbled to himself with a smile, nodding with exceptional satisfaction as he looked at the sea of fans before him, "Really, why should I be bothered by someone like that kid? No matter how good he is, he's just a rising star. How could he possibly pose a threat to me, the world's second-best player?"

While muttering to himself, Chris noticed a commotion among the fans in front of him. Some people were leaving the arena, heading elsewhere.

"Ryōsuke is here!"

"What? Ryōsuke is here too? Let's go see him quickly!"

"Let's go, waiting in line here is taking forever!"

Many people immediately left the venue after hearing about Ryōsuke's arrival.

Chris sat there dumbfounded. After a moment of confusion, he put on the translation earpiece that had been distributed earlier at Blue Lock, and only then understood what these people were saying.

"Ryōsuke is here?!" His brows immediately furrowed, as if he had just spotted a plague rat.

Although Chris's event had nothing to do with Blue Lock — it was his personal event — it was geographically close to where Ryōsuke and the others were.

For ordinary people, Ryōsuke had already become a world-class football star during this period, gaining a considerable number of fans worldwide who were growing at a rapid pace.

His flashy playing style naturally attracted many fans, and his handsome appearance and appealing personality in behind-the-scenes programs made his large fanbase completely understandable.

However, Chris was now starting to feel dejected as the number of fans in front of him had suddenly decreased significantly.

"Damn that kid!" He cursed Ryōsuke in his heart, his eye twitching slightly, the mineral water bottle in his hand completely crushed.

He never imagined that he, the world's second-best player, would have his spotlight stolen by Ryōsuke.

"This is wrong, this is wrong, it's completely different from what I expected!"

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ryōsuke and Ashito were interacting with fans under Anri's guidance.

This was a promotional event for Blue Lock, which also served as publicity for Kaidō Motors and Mikage Group.

Ryōsuke, completely unpretentious, quickly connected with the fans present. Ashito was the same, making the whole event highly successful.

Anri silently watched Ryōsuke from the side, discovering that his personality was even more approachable than she had imagined.

After finishing taking photos with fans, this part of the task was basically complete. After a short rest, they headed to their next destination — a nearby university, to prepare for the upcoming campus tour activities.

"This is the only university in the nearby area. It has good teaching facilities, a long history, and significant influence locally."

On the way to the school, Anri introduced them to the university's background.

"Ah, I've just started high school, and now I'm going to university... I haven't even seen what a university looks like yet." Ashito couldn't help but sigh.

If he hadn't met Tatsuya, he would probably have attended an ordinary local high school and gone straight to work after graduation, never attending university.

But now things were different — Ashito was very likely to enter a new stage of life as a professional football player.

"This school is currently preparing for the Spring Festival, which is a very important event. Several universities from other districts will also participate, so the campus activities are a crucial component. Today we'll just take you around to familiarize yourselves with the venue, to facilitate tomorrow's schedule."

Anri continued, explaining that they could use this campus tour opportunity to hold a recruitment event at the Spring Festival, bringing more talent into their group.

"Understood." Ryōsuke nodded.

Several hundred meters away from them, at another street corner, a group of people were just walking out of the school gate.

"Let's settle this once and for all tonight. You're just a loser to me."

"How ridiculous — someone was clearly drunk out of their mind yesterday!"

"You're acting like you weren't the same way!"

❖❖❖

T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!

For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)!

That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)

https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305258