"what are you on about? i'm the best there is and you know it."
"maybe you should check where you are."
itoshi sae encounters an intern at blue lock who's the best in her field, and is brought to reality when he's forced to see there's more that lie...
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WITHIN the blue lock central meeting room took place the breakdown of the second selection to the rest of the japanese football union, otherwise known as the JPU.
y/n could tell she was just going to get bored, but it wasn't like ego got himself out of the meeting this time either. though, it wasn't a panel or anything and as the leader of the project, he couldn't get himself out of talking to these people either, no matter how much they annoyed him.
the adults with her, more specifically anri, were talking about what was going on in the second selection. but the chairman of the JPU, who was just this annoying old guy in y/n's eyes, always had something critical to say about it.
"i've got my usual complaints," the old man began, "but, in the end, isn't the soccer world all about talent? prodigies will still be amazing if we leave them alone, so do we really need to do something like this?"
other members sitting a level below y/n also added fuel to the fire, by making comments such as, "that's right, we want a new star to represent japan!" and "hurry up and give us the next high school star that everyone will talk about!"
anri seemed stuck for words to refute the multiple people who were speaking against her, and hesitantly replied, "but.. we're still in the second selection round, so we'll need a bit more time..."
it seemed like ego had something to say, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, y/n, who seemed more than a little ticked off, gestured for anri to sit down and took her place at the microphone to speak.
"do you want a star that badly? you losers can't think of anything bar your stupid profit."
the chairman sweatdropped at her words, not expecting such a crude expression on her face. it seemed he had forgotten her reputation when it came to interviews as that same attitude was showing its way here. the room had grown practically silent.
"how many prodigies have you crushed with the same approach you're suggesting right here, right now?" she asked, which made the old man question her.
"..what do you mean, l/n-san?" he asked.
y/n was in particular thinking about itoshi sae's situation. she had only recently heard of him, in particular from ushijima acknowledging him, and looked into his background as a footballer too.
from what she found were articles on his outstanding reputation in japan leading him to be scouted at 13 or so for a top-ranking youth academy in spain, only for him to get benched from his position as a striker.
the strange thing she found was his eventual uprising as a player within the next two years, but as a midfielder instead. as she saw it, sae had prevented a traditional 'prodigy's downfall', as she'd call it, by simply changing his goals, which she could respect.
"a 'prodigy's downfall'," she said, catching everyone's attention around her. "you waste your time declaring someone a 'prodigy' and the stupid bandwagon fans go crazy over them. people blow their money on tickets and jerseys, but then the poor 'prodigy' heads overseas to play."
