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“Go! Go!” Yoichi hurried, giving Meguru a light shove in his shoulder to push him forward. “Move!”
Meguru was struggling with his tie, lashing it around over and over, struggling with the knot until it was tangled and twisted around his neck. “I’m going!” He snapped with a nervous little laugh, sprinting further across the parking lot as the rain lashed around them. “We’re not that late, are we?”
Yoichi paused his fiddling with the links of the cuffs of his blazer to squint through the drizzle at his watch. “Only twenty minutes!”
Meguru laughed again. “Twenty minutes? Kunigami is going to skin us!”
“If Barou doesn’t get to us first,” Yoichi muttered under his breath.
When they got to the front door of the event, Meguru flashed twin invites in the face of security, bouncing up and down in his feet as the invites were checked, then they were dogging past the guards and down the large hallway towards the Gala, racing like they were high schoolers late to lesson again.
“Wait!” Yoichi said, his hand whispering along Meguru’s shoulder. Meguru skidded to a stop and turned to Yoichi, somewhat expectant, to see a soft, chastising smile on his face. “Your tie.”
Meguru shrugged as Yoichi reached for it, then began to untie it from the horribly tangled knot, nimble fingers easing out the tangle.
“I never learnt.” Meguru grinned.
“And you never thought to ask?” Yoichi muttered as he began to retie the tie. “In a career like this, you never thought you’d need to wear a tie?”
“To be fair, I never thought I’d get this far.”
Yoichi paused, his eyes flicking up. Meguru thought they looked rather entrancing like that, dark and blue and caught between his long eyelashes. “Meguru.” He said, announcing every word with a sharp poke to Meguru’s shoulder. “You are one of the best strikers in the world. You are on the Japanese U-20 team. You are a millionaire. Do you think that’s not deserved?”
Meguru huffed to avoid the question, and once Yoichi finished with his tie, he took a step forward, pressing their bodies together and snaking his arm around Yoichi’s back, pulling them tight.
“I certainly don’t deserve you.” Meguru smiled.
“This again?” Yoichi huffed, somewhere between annoyed and affectionate, as he reached to fiddle with Meguru’s lapels. They were just a couple of paces from the door and beyond it, Meguru could hear chatter and laughter and the hum of classical music. Did Ego bring in a live orchestra? Somehow, that didn’t surprise him.
Tonight’s Gala welcomed back all of Blue Lock’s successful players, gathering like a high school reunion from their careers scattered across the world. Meguru had flown in a couple of days ago from Spain to Join Yoichi and spend some time in Japan before the Gala.
“Meguru, look at me.” Yoichi arched a brow as Meguru’s gaze finally skittered across to him. “Out of everyone in Blue Lock, I am so glad it was me that you decided to kick that ball to on the first day.”
Meguru searched his face for a long moment, then muffled his smile. He let go of Yoichi’s hips and instead reached for his cuff, taking a tender moment to tease the links together along the sleeve.
“There we go,” Meguru said, stepping back and spinning on his heel. “How do I look?”
“Wonderful as always.” Yoichi stepped forward to meet him, offering a quick peck to his lips. “Shall we go in?”
“Fashionably late as ever,” Meguru offered his arm out for Yoichi to take. Once their arms were interlinked, the pair made their way to the door and stepped across the threshold, into the large room that had been transformed into a ballroom dressed up, dramatic, for the Gala.
The room was busy, full of people that rippled and mingled around each other — not only for Blue Lock members, but also the association board that funded the entire collaboration, any and all of the investors, Ego and Anri themselves, as well as anyone who had any sort of input into the organization of either Blue Lock itself, the U-20 tournament, or the neo egoist leagues.
As the pair entered, a violin strung up on a high note, and Meguru felt Yoichi righten his shoulders beside him at the sudden influx of eyes that turned on them upon arrival. Meguru watched, warm-hearted, as Yoichi put up his hand and gave a shy sort of wave.
(Seriously, Yoichi was one of the best strikers in Japan and he still got a little nervous around the other players when off the pitch. (On the pitch was a completely different story.))
And then Ego was worming his way through the crowds towards them. He was as tall and thin as ever, dressed in his usual all-black attire, only this time, with a black waistcoat atop his long-sleeved black shirt. He eyed the pair of them critically, with that oh-so-familiar stoney look on his face.
Then, after a moment, he stuck out his hand to Yoichi, then to Meguru. “Nice of you both to finally show up.”
Meguru shot him a cheeky grin, “Evening, Ego. We’re only … what? Half-an-hour late?”
“Half an hour too late.” Ego huffed, and adjusted his thick-framed glasses, but Meguru could see the traces of amusement across his thin lips. “I thought the one thing I would’ve taught you at Blue Lock was my intolerance for tardiness.”
Yoichi looked sheepish. “Sorry, Ego. It was the traffic, so, not really our fault.”
Ego regarded him, then eventually said, “I’ll let it slide this once. It’s good to see you both. Isagi, don’t you ever think about being this late to training or I’ll have your head.”
“Of course, Ego.” Yoichi repressed his smile as Ego hummed and then slid away.
When Meguru looked at him, Yoichi blew out a shaky breath. “First hurdle down.”
Meguru nodded, and as a waiter came past, he snatched a pair of champagne flutes from the tray and handed one across to Yoichi. “To our success,” he toasted, and Yoichi smiled again, clinking their glasses together before taking a sip.
“Do you think Nagi and Reo are here yet?” Yoichi asked as they made their way along the edge of the crowd, overlooking the elaborate dance floor. Ego really had outdone himself this time, but Meguru should have expected something so grand coming from the maniac himself.
“Nagi probably fell asleep under a table somewhere,” Meguru hummed. “Reo’s probably on guard dog duty.”
Yoichi laughed. “And Chigiri? Kunigami?”
“We’ll be lucky if Chigiri isn’t atop the chandelier yet.” Meguru glanced around. “Who knows where Kunigami is. Probably lurking in the bathroom somewhere.”
Yoichi shot him a look as he reached out to take Meguru’s hand again. “We should go take a look, eh? Go find Rin and bully him into a corner?”
Meguru gave his hand a squeeze. “Sounds like the perfect way to spend the evening.”