Sae wasn't exactly sure what he'd expected when it came to this whole Neo-Egoist League thing.

He hadn't slept too well on the night leading up to their first official training session with the new Blue Lock additions. Sure, he was used to travelling around and migrating from hotel to hotel, from country to country. He was certainly used to waking up in different beds each morning, something that Blue Lock shouldn't have differed from, shouldn't have resulted in a cramped neck even with the surprisingly comfy pillows he'd been provided.

But even still, he'd tossed and turned, woken up several times in the night to scroll mindlessly through his phone in the hopes that bright blue light scorching at his eyes would knock some sleep into him.

It hadn't. He'd been forced to swallow down his precious melatonin pills, knocking him out cold and finally allowing him a few hours of peaceful rest.

The next morning was arguably one of the stranger ones he'd had. Blue Lock served their breakfasts in the cafeteria, and each stratum appeared to have its own one for the sake of this new League set-up. Sae had been informed that there were now cameras installed in all public spaces save from the bathrooms, bedrooms and medical bays. They were there to record player interactions for fans across the globe to gawk at, to discuss their theories on who had the best friendships and chemical reactions when it came to the games.

Sae couldn't exactly say he was a fan of eating in front of cameras. He wasn't really a fan of doing anything in front of them, unless it was playing football or the occasional magazine shoot he often had to partake in. He'd opted for a very western breakfast, a healthy blend of poached eggs and a green energy juice that would hopefully vitalise his tired body as much as possible. He was going to need all the fucking energy he could muster if he was to spend the next several hours of this day teaching amature kids how to play football like pros. If that was even possible.

But the cameras were definitely a problem. Many of the new PXG members spent their time dancing in front of them, waving and jumping as if the cameras couldn't already fucking see them. Ego had only just informed the Blue Lock boys of their instalment and it seemed the guys weren't exactly used to this much global attention. Although Sae supposed they weren't international celebrities like he was.

Sae reached across the table and took a sip out of Julian Loki's strange carrot juice protein drink. It tasted horrible, and even though it was probably incredibly healthy - something that Sae liked, considering he treated his body like a temple - he made the effort of wrinkling his nose regardless.

"This tastes like shit," he commented, tone dead like it always was. Sae was usually a morning person, but today was an exception. He could thank his rather sleepless night for that.

Julian raised a brow at him. "You think?" He took a sip of the concoction himself and gave Sae a small shrug, clearly unaffected by the horrid flavour. "Tastes fine to me. Don't like carrots, huh?"

Sae stabbed a fork into his poached egg and watched the runny yoke leak out of the sides. It reminded him of the way blood leaked from a wound, as weird as that was. Maybe Sae really was in a mood today.

"Carrots are fine," he replied tepidly. "That juice is just plain gross."

Sae and Julian were getting along oddly well. Sae wasn't a fan of many people, and his arrogance usually pissed most of his teammates off. They hated how talented he was and how he actually knew this fact, how he acted accordingly with it. People were so afraid of confidence these days. Humility was so old-fashioned; they needed to grow up and accept the fact that gifted people existed.

But Julian was different in a way. He was also very confident, perhaps a tad more humble than Sae was, but being French and all he had that snarky Parisian superiority down-pat. And Sae was honestly a fan of it - mostly because Julian actually had the skills to back up his mentality unlike some players did. Sae was all for self-confidence if it was deserved, properly earned. But that didn't apply to the stars who played like shit and still thought they had the right to brag simply due to the amount of money they possessed.

"Question," Julian asked, gulping down more of that awful juice he had. He placed it back on the table and tilted his head at Sae, a slightly curious glint in his eyes. "Why'd you pick my team to play for? Thought you would've gone for Spain again."

Sae chewed on his eggs and contemplated how he should respond. Sure, he relatively enjoyed playing for the Real Madrid Youth Team. He was technically still a part of it, his contract only on a temporary hold while he endorsed this new Neo-Egoist League that was taking the world by storm. He wasn't exactly certain why he'd chosen Paris X Gen over Barcha. Perhaps it was simply because of that cocky Lavinho leading the Spanish team. He was too chatty and too festive for Sae's liking. It was really just a preference thing.

"Thought I'd try something new," Sae opted to respond, keeping it neutral for now. "I'm interested to see if France lives up to all the hype."

Julian chuckled a little at that, leaning back in his chair and glancing over at his teammates at the end of the table.

"We're alright. No team is perfect, though."

There it was, the humility that Sae didn't quite possess. Julian really was humbler than he should've been. It was kind of interesting given his Top 5 ranking at such a young age. Julian truly was a prodigy, and probably the only one among the 5 if you took into account how much older the others were compared to him.

Sae acknowledged him for that. He also kind of related to it, to a lesser degree. They were practically the same age and each regarded as prodigies in their country.

Breakfast ended 20 minutes later. The members piled out to make their way to the training field, and Julian took up his stance as the head coach of the team, the current PXG members - now including Sae - standing behind him as he greeted the new additions. Introductions were made, a few hands were shaken, but majority of the previous members didn't seem that thrilled to be sacrificing their positions for the newcomers. It appeared that the infamous French superiority complex was really coming into full swing, after all.

Sae hadn't really been paying attention to the line-up of new players. He probably should have been, but seeing how tired he was, he'd taken to sitting down against the wall, a leg propped up in front of him as he sipped at an iced coffee one of the French players had so generously offered him.

However, his attention was certainly caught by a specific set of words that came next.

"What the fuck is he doing here?"

It came from a voice laced with icy venom, a coldness only someone like Sae could procure, a coldness signature to two select individuals in this world.

Only an Itoshi knew how to speak like that.

And if it wasn't Sae...

Ah.

Good old Rin.

Sae lifted his gaze tiredly. It was a rather lazy motion, something he didn't bother putting much effort into as his spiteful younger brother came into view. Rin was standing a good couple of feet away, positioned at the centre of where the Blue Lock additions stood in a group before Loki.

Boy oh boy, Rin did not look happy to see Sae, that was for sure.

"'Sup, Rin," Sae regarded him lethargically, refusing to acknowledge the boy's acidic tone and chilled disposition. Rin was always so bitter, so dramatic. Someone ought to teach this kid how to relax.

The surrounding players turned their heads curiously toward Sae, exchanging glances between the siblings. The siblings that everyone was now realising would be playing on the same team.

"That's your little brother?" one of the French members asked him, brows raised in surprise.

Rin turned his icy glare toward Loki.

"When did he get here?" He demanded, his tone rather harsh considering the status of the guy he was directing it at.

But Loki didn't seem to mind. In fact, a flicker of amusement graced his features.

"Itoshi Sae was offered a position here pretty last-minute. Is there going to be a problem?"

Ha. As if that wasn't obvious.

Rin was staring at Sae like he'd just come up with seven different ways to murder him in his mind. Probably more, judging by the pure loathing Sae could read on his expression. It was kind of funny seeing his kid brother all worked up like this. From what Sae had been told, as of late, Rin tended to act pretty cold nowadays. Like nothing really affected him.

But that was clearly just a facade. This right here was the real Rin, the Rin that Sae had grown up with and been privy to his rather childish temper. Maybe now everyone else would get to see it. That is, if they hadn't already glimpsed it during the Japan U-20s match.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Rin seethed.

Sae slurped at the remains of his coffee, jiggling the ice around just to annoy the boy further.

"Joke? I'm playing for a world-class team, little bro. You know, how professional players are supposed to."

He was being cruel now, lathering on the personal attacks Sae knew would hit his sibling the hardest. Fuck it. He was kind of loving it. Hell, he'd had no idea that fucking Rin, of all the people in this program, would happen to select the same team as him. Perhaps he should've guessed his brother would find a way to follow him here, find a way to try and gain his attention like the little kid that he was.

How hilarious.

"Oh, this is so much better than what I signed up for," came a voice even more familiar to Sae, a voice that triggered a direct memory of the previous night's washroom activities.

Wait a second.

Sae had almost forgotten that the demon was going to be on this team. He'd almost forgotten about their heated exchange only hours earlier, the bath wall he'd shoved him up against while ordering him to chill out for two fucking seconds.

Shidou Ryuusei appeared behind Rin, draping a teasing arm over the boy's shoulders and leaning deep into Rin's ear.

"RinRin gets to play with his big brother again! Aren't you excited, underlashes junior?" He taunted, sarcasm dripping from his words like melted ice cream on a hot summer's day.

If Rin had looked angry before, he was certainly livid right now. Sae would pay good money to witness what he was seeing for a second time: the expression on Rin's face was priceless, and it was even more obvious to him that Rin and Shidou had some kind of history going on. Some kind of mutual hatred of each other that Shidou was seriously milking at this moment.

Huh. Perhaps the demon wasn't so irritating after all.

Sae could get used to watching this.

Rin shrugged Shidou off with a sharp elbow to the demon's chest. Shidou held up his hands innocently as if he hadn't been asking for the attack, a devious smile on his face that was all canines and white teeth.

"Something wrong, brother?" Sae questioned lazily, his head cocking to the side ever so slightly. With the razor-like glare Rin was giving him, Sae fought the urge to roll his eyes at his brother's immaturity. "Don't be like that. This is the big-boy leagues, Rin. Grow up or get lost."

There was a quiet chorus of damns from the surrounding Blue Lock newcomers, the boys shocked at the disrespect Sae was showing his sibling. This was the Rin they regarded so highly, the Rin they viewed as the best among them.

"Piss off, Sae."

Shidou whistled at Rin's bitter tone. Sae took another sip of his coffee, arching a brow at his brother's confidence.

"Who pissed in your cereal?"

Rin looked like he wanted to lunge him, but Loki decided to step in now.

"Hey. Lighten up, boys," he interrupted, taking back the reigns of the meeting. He was clearly attempting to control the situation before it got too heated. "I don't care what beef you guys have. Neither will the teams that you'll be versing. Learn to get along, or take it out on the field. Right now we've got work to do."

A ridiculous training course was revealed to the players in the room next to the one they were currently using. It was straight out of some ninja warrior type of show, a rollercoaster of physical challenges aiming to test and score each individual player's abilities so that they could be ranked accordingly.

"You'll be timed for this course," Loki informed the team, gesturing to the large clock displayed on the screen above them. "Let me see what you're capable of, Blue Lock. Don't disappoint me."

The training course was mostly for the sake of the newcomers, considering they didn't have any professional rankings to go off of at this point in time. Even still, Sae wasn't too thrilled that he'd have to participate, that he'd have to put so much effort into something this rigorous first thing in the morning. Looking at the ridiculousness of the contraption Ego had somehow managed to fund, he really wished he'd gotten a better night's sleep.

The buzzer rang out, signalling for the players to start running. Sae watched the timer strike 0 minutes and 1 second as he took off with the rest of the team, his legs propelling him to the front of the pack alongside the current PXG members.

What a drag this was.

He pushed his way through the stream of physical challenges with as little effort as he could manage while still tracking far ahead of the Blue Lock boys. Obviously, he wasn't going to end up last, but he wondered if there was any point in proving his worth when everyone here already knew how good he was.

Whatever. He'd play along, for the sake of the program. Only because he had to. And it wasn't like these activities were all that challenging, anyway. Most of this shit was what he incorporated into his daily workouts and personalised training routines.

Unsurprisingly, Sae finished first, followed quickly by five other French players. Apparently, the top eleven scorers of the course would be selected first to play on the team in their official match against Ubers. Sae was expecting none of the blue lock boys to secure a spot in the elevens on the first-try, mostly because they'd never versed European players of this calibre.

But to his genuine surprise, it was none other than Sae's precious little demon himself who scored the sixth goal in the final challenge of the course - the goal accuracy test - and finished before even some of PXG's renowned French athletes.

"Not too bad, huh?" Shidou panted, flopping down on the grass beside Sae's feet. "Fuck, these guys are slower than I thought."

Sae observed the sweat that trickled down Shidou's skin. He'd never really spent much time focusing on Shidou's tan, but now that he was looking at him, he was strangely thinking about how much it actually suited him. Perhaps it was the way his appearance mirrored that of a demon's, what with the sharp teeth and cat-like eyes. Shidou possessed a combination of unique features that would likely look plain stupid on anyone else, but Sae had to give it to him: he somehow managed to pull it off, and it actually made him objectively attractive.

Not that Sae was actively thinking about that. It was just a neutral observation. He tore his eyes away from Shidou, returned his gaze swiftly to the players coming up to the final test. Much to his irritation, Rin managed to pull through in seventh place, followed by the rest of the French players. The eleventh scorer was unexpectedly some Karasu kid, the third and final Blue Lock member to make the cut.

Sae wouldn't have guessed that there'd be three of Blue Lock's members landing a spot in the first match. He was kind of keen to see the looks on the remaining French player's faces when they realised they'd been beaten by kids with little to no experience in this area of football. Now that had to be embarrassing.

"Look at RinRin go," Shidou exclaimed, and despite how pleased he sounded, the mocking tone to his words was so brutally obvious.

Sae couldn't like, he was actually loving this. But he would not let his smirk show, even if he wanted to. Badly. It would only spur the demon on, make him think he was growing soft on him. And Sae was anything but soft.

Shidou's shared hatred of Rin had taken Sae by surprise for probably the fifth time now; the demon managed to challenge his expectations frequently these days. He didn't know what to make of it, but he wasn't exactly mad to have a companion when it came to putting Rin in his place. His brother deserved it, what with all that attitude he was giving him. Plus the silent treatment he threw Sae's way as he headed past him out of the exit was petty as hell.

Sheesh. Was it getting chilly in here? Someone needed to turn up the AC.

Sae gladly made way for Snowstorm Rin as he left a good distance between them, joining the rest of the team in the neighbouring room shortly after. Once everyone had completed the course, the scores presented themselves high up on the screen. Loki went over the players who'd made the official team, and now Shidou was a ball of energy beside Sae, his atoms practically reverberating against Sae's solid stance.

"Reign it in, Demon. We haven't even begun yet," he muttered, glancing side-ways at Shidou's excited figure.

Shidou was bouncing on the balls of his feet, somehow managing to appear this amped-up even after finishing such a strenuous course.

"Shit, how can I? I literally just beat half of the French football team, and I get to be your forward again," Shidou replied cheerfully.

Well, Sae supposed he had a slight point there. At least about that first part. Beating professional European players in a test based on physical abilities was bound to work up anyone's ego.

Very suddenly, Shidou's body came into Sae's peripheral, his nose hovering dangerously close to Sae's ear. His voice dropped strangely low, breath hot on Sae's skin as he spoke quietly, "Told you we'd play together forever, underlashes."

It was clear Shidou was just playing into their inside joke, but something about his proximity made it feel all the more real to Sae. It made it feel slightly different. Like he was referring to something else entirely.

Sae rolled his eyes, arms hanging low off his hips as he returned his attention to the screen.

"For one season, sure."

Shidou didn't seem to care about Sae's realistic response. He was still buzzing, now staring up eagerly at the screen like an excited puppy. In all honestly, Shidou really did remind Sae of a dog. He certainly had the stamina of one, and also the same energy. Shidou was lacking in the brain department, sharing that same mindless enthusiasm of a golden retriever.

Ha. A demon disguised as a golden retriever. It was kind of fitting. Sae wondered if that was why he had to keep such a tight leash on him. During the U-20s match, Shidou had been a lot like his pet. Perhaps he should consider investing in one so as to prevent Shidou from running so rampantly all over him whenever he got too excited. Him, and anything else he found the slightest bit fascinating.

"These are your overall rankings based on your scores in the test," Loki announced, individual statistics cards popping up on the screen.

Each player's scores in the individual activities had been represented on a graph, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. They were then totalled and averaged out of 100, with players such as Sae scoring an impressive 96.

Shidou's wasn't actually too far behind. He'd managed a whopping 90 for a player with zero experience prior to Blue Lock. Although, Sae noted how low he ranked in the defence category. Shidou only cared about offence and scoring, so those categories were his highest. But he wasn't too bad at dribbling, either.

Rin scored a point above him with a 91. Sae thought that was debatable. Sure, Rin was a more rounded player compared to Shidou - his defence was significantly higher. But even still, Sae knew that Shidou's potential outshone that of any of the players on the team.

Sae was a midfielder, a playmaker. He controlled all the activity that took place in a game, and he decided the trajectory that a match would take. That was what made him so good. That was what earned him his recognition.

Rin had proven himself old news. He was lukewarm, limited by his own childish fantasies, restricted by his attachment to proving Sae wrong.

Sae, on the other hand, knew better than anyone what a good player, what a talented striker, looked and felt like.

His demon was a star in the making.

And Sae would certainly make sure of that.