Three hundred and twelve of Japan's best scorers were gathered together, being transported through a mountainous road in buses with minimal knowledge of what was to come. Though the Blue Lock program was known by some after Japan won its first World Cup and Ego gave them a short breakdown, little was known about the mysterious program or its facility. It was under a strict NDA.

Gazing out of the window, looking at his own reflection, Jin reflected on himself. That dark, egoist aura was no longer clouding his vision and Jin returned to his normal, conceited self. "Should I have really taken that three?" the voice inside his head raised that very question once again as that very moment when Jin's team was sent home from the tournament replayed in his mind. As if his brain were a broken record, Jin could hear that dreadful clatter of leather striking steel repeating over and over in his brain, his own thoughts serving as a personal hell for his one mistake.

'Why…' he thought. 'Why did I pass him the ball… Why didn't I take the shot? Is it true? Do I need to become an egoist... What came over me back then? Why did I agree with him?' Though Jin was lost in thought, staring at his limpid reflection, his gaze swiftly darted upward and his pupils roused themselves.

Just above the mountain's trees, Jin spotted it: The Blue Lock facility, known for its pentagon shape, black walls, and the words 'BLUE LOCK' written across one of the walls with its logo at the center. 'This is it.' Jin's consciousness muttered. 'This is Blue Lock. The place where my basketball life will change.'

Jin's inner voice would be correct, as not only would his basketball career be completely transformed come a few months' time, but the careers of all three hundred and twelve players would be transformed for better, or more likely, for worse.

It wasn't long before Jin, along with the other players, were all lined up beside the buses parked in front of the Blue Lock facility, waiting for their names to be called. One by one, names were spoken until Jin found himself all alone beside his bus. "Jin Ikazuchi." a woman, holding up a jersey, spoke Jin's name.

She was rather pretty, Jin thought, as she looked at him with those amber-colored analytical eyes of hers. She had this serious look to her, wearing business attire with neat, shoulder-length brown hair. It seemed she was the only woman at the facility, which would soon become a sight for sore eyes for a lot of the boys staying at the Blue Lock facility, especially since she was so good-looking.

As Jin approached, the young lady held up a small bag before speaking to him with a sort of monotonous, yet soothing voice. "Phone, wallet, and any of your other belongings, please."

Doing as instructed, Jin placed both his phone and his wallet inside the bag before looking at the woman with a toothless grin. "The game system too." The woman extended her hand, signaling to Jin to hand the one thing still in his pockets to her. Jin didn't want to have his gaming privileges revoked, but Blue Lock was bigger than gaming…

Though just barely.

Reluctantly, Jin gave up his portable gaming system and placed it in the bag. The woman then took the bag from him and handed him the very last uniform. As the uniform exchanged hands, Jin noticed a sort of digital badge on the upper left sleeve. This badge was shaped like the very building they were standing in front of, a pentagon. The badge itself had a number on it: Three hundred and twelve. Beneath that number was a letter and number with a hyphen between them: 'Z-2'.

'What does this mean? I guess it's probably the group I'm placed in…' before Jin could bother asking aloud, the woman gave him his next instruction. "Please head to the room indicated by the letter on your uniform. Change into your uniform and wait for further instructions." And so, Jin did as he was told and made his way into the pentagonal facility.

Admiring, or more accurately, worriedly glaring at the metallic walls and cold corridors, Jin thought to himself about the building's interior design. 'It's like a prison… There's room A-1.' Jin walked past a room in the facility that had the letter A taking up half of the door. Just ahead, he could see an identical door with 'A-2' on it. 'I guess it goes in order.'

Though it felt like the corridors were infinite, never-ending, Jin eventually made it to his designated room, room Z-2. Standing in front of it, Jin took a deep breath. 'Here it goes…' As the automatic door opened in front of Jin, he continued to monologue internally. 'My journey at Blue Lock starts…' Jin's inner voice trailed off as he looked around the empty, metallic room with nothing more than a few lockers and five other boys who were mostly glaring at him with cold stares.

'This is the dorm? But… there are no beds… no TV…' Mentally, Jin fell to his knees and began pulling his hair, bellowing hysterically as tears fell from his quivering eyes. He'd never gone even a week without games or TV, yet the Blue Lock program took place over months. 'This is torture… I'm gonna lose my mind in here. I'm going to literally kill myself in here…'

As Jin's consciousness hysterically blared in his mind, a kid with a young face and a bowl cut approached him with a bright smile, the same kid who spoke up against Ego earlier that day. "Hiya! My name's Hiroki Higuchi. Nice to meet you." Jin's expression on the outside was flat and emotionless, however, internally, his inner self winced. 'Ugh, one of those friendly weirdos.'

"Hi. I'm Jin Ikazuchi." Jin spoke politely, yet plainly. He wanted the kid to fuck off, but he didn't want to make it too obvious. Jin was what most would call an introvert or a shut-in. However, once his feet touched a basketball court, it was as if that part of himself died, only to return once the final buzzer sounded.

"Nice to meet you, Jin! I'm a third year! How about you?" The subliminal message given by Jin to Hiroki was not received and the kid just kept talking. Jin would soon feel a sense of relief once someone placed their disgusting, sweaty shirt over Hiroki's face, blinding him for just enough time so Jin could slip away and swiftly walk to the opposite side of the room that was oddly around the size of half a basketball court.

"Hey!" Hiroki's arms blindly flailed as he attempted to remove the shirt from his face, only to be pushed to the ground by the shirt's owner. With his bottom to the ground, Hiroki removed the shirt, only to find an absolute unit of a man towering above him, his incredibly defined muscles bulging out as he clenched his fists. "This is a competition, not a meet 'n greet. No one wants to hear your goody two shoes, squeaky ass introduce yourself every time someone walks into the fucking room!" this massive boy spoke loudly with a chilling tone. His hair was short, nearly completely shaved off, and bleached blonde, giving him the look of a delinquent.

Jin watched from afar, putting on his uniform which was a full-body, skin-tight suit similar to what a scuba diver would wear. He then sat on the ground as he analyzed the rest of the boys in the room. Sleeping in one of the corners, a boy with long white hair lay unmoving, his body completely limp. Jin wondered if the boy was even alive, though he'd have his answer once the boy twitched and repositioned himself.

Inversely, in another corner, a boy with spiky and explosive, red hair was seen staring directly at Jin. He had dark circles around his eyes as if he hadn't slept a single night in his life. Despite the dark circles, his eyes were wide as they glared at Jin, sending a shiver down his spine. 'Another weirdo…' Jin thought to himself, looking back at the boy who didn't blink a single time until Jin couldn't take it anymore and looked away.

Without a care in the world, another boy was seen with his back against one of the walls, glaring forward at nothing before just his eyes glared at Jin for just a brief moment, darting back toward nothingness in almost the same instant. 'At least that one seems normal.' Jin assumed he was the introverted type as well, which was good news to him because that meant he wouldn't try to talk to him.

At that very instance, a TV emerged from behind sliding, metal panels on the walls. The screen then activated and Jinpachi Ego appeared on screen, his face was extremely close, making Jin and some of the others uncomfortable.

"Jinpachi Ego-San." Hiroki spoke the man's name quietly. He didn't care about any of the egoist stuff, he was just there to prove Ego wrong, to show him that being a team player was the key to becoming the best basketball player there ever was.

"Hi. Hello, all." the man on the screen waved zombie-like and awkwardly as he spoke. "The others in the room are your roommates. They're also your rivals and will push you to greater heights.

Using my own personal judgment to quantify your abilities, I have given you all a rank as seen by the numbers displayed on your uniforms. With one look, anyone could tell where you stand amongst the others."

'What!? I'm three hundred and twelve, that means I'm in dead last!' Jin thought to himself, looking around and feeling as if everyone else had grown ten feet and were looking down at him, or maybe he'd shrunk to the size of a cockroach.

Everyone else in the room with him was ranked within five points of him, the highest being three hundred and seven, which was the bowl cut boy.

"Your ranks will change by the day and will go up or down depending on training and games. The Olympic games are only six months away. Those in the top five will be guaranteed spots on Japan's own Olympic basketball team, you may even start if you're skilled enough.

However… those who fail Blue Lock will forever lose the right to represent Japan.

If you want to succeed, you need ego. And so, we will hold an entrance exam to measure your resolve.

For this entrance exam, we will play a game similar to Twenty-one. This game is called 'One', and as the name suggests, all you have to do is score a single point. However, unlike in the traditional game of Twenty-one, there will be five winners, the first five to score a point.

Your goal is simple. Score. Score using any means necessary. The last one to score…

Has to get the fuck out of my facility.

Even the pros play Twenty-one to warm up. This is an egoism test that I have devised to ascertain who has the essence of a scorer. Now, prepare yourselves for battle."

The screen then changed, showing the names of everyone in the room and their current score.

Jin Ikazuchi - 0

Hiroki Higuchi - 0

Shin Matsuyama - 0

Tatsu Yamanaka - 0

Akira Nakamoto - 0

Kaede Muranaka - 0

Every single boy in the room jolted as the sound of metal clashed and a basketball hoop shot down from the ceiling in front of the mounted TV, hanging at the regulated height. In the same instance, a basketball fell from a hatch in the ceiling.

Before the ball could hit the ground, the sleeping boy's eyes shot open, displaying his animalistic eyes, the eyes of a killer. Jin was unsure if he was hallucinating, but he swore he could see black steam resonating off of the boy's pupils as they scanned the room. Starting on all fours like a wild beast, the boy took off, his hands and feet could be heard patting the ground with each step in the same way one could hear their dog's feet upon opening a bag of treats.

The beast then rose to his feet and lept in the air with such power, his entire chest was higher than the rim. He then grabbed the ball before it even came close to the ground, showcasing his incredible leaping ability before spinning one hundred and eighty degrees and slamming the ball through the basket with such force, the glass nearly shattered and the basket trembled.

Jin Ikazuchi - 0

Hiroki Higuchi - 0

Shin Matsuyama - 0

Tatsu Yamanaka - 0

Akira Nakamoto - 0

Kaede Muranaka - 1

The score changed, showing that Kaede Muranaka, the sleepy boy, had scored a point. A green circle then appeared next to his name and a new number appeared toward the center of the screen: 1/5. 'Shit! There are already only four slots left!' Jin's inner voice muttered.

Still, with those bloodthirsty eyes, Kaede glared directly at Jin before scanning the room, making sure to make direct eye contact with every single player in the room as if he were sending a message. However, just as quickly as he appeared, the sleepy boy's eyes drooped and he walked away, back to his corner where he'd lay asleep for the rest of the game.

Mouths gaping, the rest of the five looked on with wide eyes. 'What the hell was that?' Jin thought to himself before he and the rest of the players glared at the ball as it rolled on the ground.

As the ball came to a stop at the center of the room, all of the boys glared at it with eyes that could only be described as enlarged and murderous. Each of them had that same flame in their wide eyes as Jin did back at the presentation. For Jin, all he could see was the ball shining in front of him as dark clouds surrounded everything else.  For all five of them, a dark version of themselves spoke inside their minds, encouraging them to win.

'Kill them all if you have to.'

'Tear them to shreds.'

'Show them what you really are.'

'They're all beneath you.'

'Do whatever it takes to score.'

𝙎𝙆𝙍𝙍𝙍𝙏!

Like drag racers' tires, their sneakers scraped the wooden floors, nearly leaving smoke trails behind them as they all dashed forward toward the single ball with only one thing on their mind:

Score.