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“Ah.”
Surprisingly, Kurona is the first to wake up. Feeling an itch on his head, he is roused awake, and brings an arm over to scratch it.
Huh.
There's something on top.
Oh. It's his dragon horns. They've grown back. Well, not too much surprise here, they were bound to grow back anytime soon, and Kurona has been waiting on it. Last time it happened was during the second selection, and he had to ask Shidou, Reo, Igarashi and Sokura to break them off. It was certainly a team effort, and they had to ask Anri for industrial grade pliers. It was a shock that Blue Lock even had those, but it was probably because his mother had told them beforehand about this.
It's just that Kurona's a little worried. The thing about dragon horns, at least from what his selected supervisor had told, was that every time you break them off, they grow back stronger. And while his supervisor had specially ordered pills to help reduce growth, it was still a while before they were ready to be received.
He really wants to play football. Unfortunately, these horns are a little bit of a walking hazard, especially on the field where players ran all over, crashed all over, kicked all over, to say the least.
So for now, he's resorted to just breaking them off.
Anyway, he's already awake, so he might as well get ready for the day. Kurona gets up from his bed, putting on his slippers before going to the bathroom to take a shower. He should ask Anri for those pliers too, but it's still 5.30 in the morning, and he's not too sure if she's awake yet, nor does he want to disturb her, so he'll take his time.
Breakfast, breakfast. He wants to eat bread.
–
“Hm, where's Kurona?” Isagi questions.
The rest of the three had woken up, ready to start the day. Isagi knows Kurona likes to sleep in, so he usually goes to wake him up, but is confused by the sight of an empty bed.
“Guess he woke up early today.” Yukimiya comments.
“What a surprise. I wonder what gives, ya know?” Hiori adds.
The three discuss amongst themselves as to what could have possibly happened, when suddenly, the door to their dorm slides open, and low and behold, there he is.
“Ehhh?? Kurona, what happened to your head?” Isagi exclaims, pointing a finger to his own head.
“Horns. My horns grew back, back.”
“How come ya have horns? “ Hiori asks.
“Kurona, are you a half-dragon by any chance?” Yukimiya asks. He remembers hearing about them before.
“Yep, yep,” Kurona nods in confirmation. “And I need your help to break them off.” He says.
Hahhh??
The three look in shock.
–
It's now a little later into the morning, a timing that Kurona is sure Anri would already be awake at, so he quickly walks to her office to request her for the pliers. Ringing the doorbell, he inputs his request. Anri immediately answers, and she opens the door to hand him them, telling him to be safe.
“If you can't break them off, you can come back here for help, o-” A phone rings in the distance of her office, “I’m so sorry, I have to pick up a call, you can go now!” Anri hurries back into her office, to do her duties. Kurona watches her pick up the phone, before getting ready to head back to the German stratum.
Busy, busy!
Pliers in hand, he walks down the hallway.
–
“Guys, I got the pliers.” He waves them to show them off, back in the dorm where the three were waiting for him.
“Guess we're really doin' this, huh.” Hiori huffs out.
“Are you sure, Kurona?” Yukimiya asks.
“Mhm.”
“If you say so.”
The three walk up to Kurona, and they get ready into position. Kurona sits down on the floor, holding his head–he’d learnt from last time, as Shidou had pulled way too hard and strained Kurona's neck really badly. Hiori, Isagi, and Yukimiya kneel around him; Hiori holds the pliers while Isagi and Yukimiya hold on to the handles to push.
“In 3, 2, 1, we push, okay?” Hiori instructs. Isagi and Yukimiya nod along.
And so, with the countdown, the battle to break Kurona's horns begins.
The effect is immediate. Kurona feels the force of them pushing, so he holds his head tighter in place. The three fight against the horn, pushing with all their might.
“Hrrrgh!” Isagi groans. Yukimiya squints his eyes in focus, and Hiori squeezes the handles with all his might.
And with a little bit more of pushing-
“Snap!” The horn breaks off, and the four tumble to the floor in victory. They huff out in relief, as they lie on the ground.
“Wow, yer horns are real tough, Kurona.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Guys…one more…”
“Ha ha..right..”
“Wait, let me lie for a moment, I'm kinda beat.”
“Tired, tired.”
After a little while of rest, the four get ready to repeat for the other horn.
Positions in place, they start the second battle.
“Push!!!” Isagi cries out.
The other two repeat their same motions as last time, adding more strength over the course of a few seconds.
But it just won't budge.
“Wait, why is it so hard now?!” Isagi exclaims in frustration.
“Maybe we should get help.” Yukimiya suggests.
He's right. Pushing recklessly can injure Kurona's neck, so it's better to get help instead of doing things improperly. So, they head over to the cafeteria, where more participants should be at.
They should get some breakfast too.
–
“Woah, Kurona, your horns grew back again?” Igarashi is the first to notice, getting up from his chair to shout out. The rest of the participants hear this, and look up to see the commotion.
“Are those real?”
“Damn, one's chopped off.”
“Again? This ain't the first time?”
Kurona walks towards Igarashi, nodding. The three quickly follow, as they gather at Igarashi’s table. Currently sat there were Raichi, Gagamaru, and Kiyora, who were eating breakfast together.
“Need help breaking off. Too tough, tough.” Kurona points to the horn still standing.
“No problem. These muscles ain't just for show, baby.” Raichi rolls up his sleeves, ready to help.
“I'm pretty sure Kunigami is stronger than you.”
“Oh shut up!”
The other few at the cafeteria had come over to gather around the table.
Surprisingly, Kunigami had walked by too, though he was just standing further apart, ominously. It was hard to read him these days.
Hiori quickly tells them the plan, and the rest get into motion without much question. This time, instead of just pushing, they had also divided the group into some pulling, hopefully generating more force to break Kurona's horn off.
“3, 2, 1, go!” Hiori gives a signal.
Right away, the large group struggle against the horn, with Raichi, Gagamaru, and Kiyora pulling against while Isagi, Yukimiya, Igarashi, and Teppei pushing into. Hiori remains in the middle, squeezing the clamps shut. It was like a game of thug-of-war, except they were aiming for the same direction rather than against, and Kurona was the neckerchief. Kunigami stood by, watching them in silence.
“Ughh!”
“Fucking hell-”
“Ah, ah my neck!” Kurona cries out at a particularly hard tug, which causes them to pause. Hiori goes to check on him, but Kurona gives a thumbs up, letting them know to continue.
“It's okay, it's okay.” He quickly assures them.
“This is harder than fighting a bear.” Gagamaru makes an offhand comment, which elicits a few turns.
“You fought a bear?” Kiyora asks.
“Yep.” Gagamaru answers, giving no further explanation.
“Aghh, why's it even stronger now?” Igarashi wails out. “It wasn't this hard last time!”
“Well maybe, we would have an easier time if someone decided to stop fucking standing around!” Raichi snarks, pointedly looking at Kunigami.
Kunigami stares back. Raichi continues to glare anyway, before Kunigami finally moves his feet to help. He places himself around the pulling group at the very front, and they get back into position to try once more.
“Hmphh!”
Even Kunigami is visibly straining against the horn, veins bulging on his hands and arms, which Kurona might have been staring for a little too long at, while keeping his head in place.
…Strong. Very strong.
Isagi did mention about Kunigami before, them being from the same building. Isagi insists that he was a super nice guy—still is, despite that hunkering demeanor. Either way, Kurona's pretty confident that they will make some progress, with him helping out. After all, those muscles are definitely not just for show.
...I mean, he did help out at the end, albeit reluctantly. Maybe Isagi's got a point, point.
“Wait, wait, I feel it budging- oomf!” Igarashi loses his footing, and falls over Yukimiya, which in turn falls over Isagi, and starts a domino chain reaction, as they all fall to the ground in a heap. Teppei, though behind Igarashi, was pulled along by the force, and landed on top of the boy.
“Help, can't breathe-” Kiyora wheezes, being crushed by the weight of rest.
“Oh, right.”
“Sorry, sorry!”
“Igarashi watch it you dumbass!”
“Hey! It was on accident, man!”
The group gather themselves as they get up from the ground. Hiori goes to take a closer look at Kurona's stubborn horn.
“Oh, there's a crack!” He points out.
“Well, some progress, at least.” Yukimiya sighs.
“Maybe we should ask for help from the german guys.”
“Like who, Kaiser?”
“Woah, someone's quick to mention his name.”
“Shut the fuck up Hiori-"
“Pretty sure he has an 80kg grip strength.” Kiyora remarks.
“What?”
“What!?”
Kiyora nods. He mentions how he saw Kaiser training once, and saw him using the hand grip dynamometer, machine flashing out an “80” on the screen.
Oh and, speak of the devil, Kaiser’s here.
“Hm? What's going on here?” Kaiser spoke, sauntered towards the group.
“We're breaking my horn off.” Kurona replies. “But it's super hard, hard.”
“I see, poor little Yoichi is too weak to break it off. I should have known.”
“Gay.” Hiori whispers. “Conveniently taking every chance ta talk about Isagi.”
“I know right,” Raichi whispers back. “He totally fucking ignored the rest of us.”
“Fuck off, asshole.” Isagi snaps back.
“But your friend here has so graciously begged for my help.”
Kurona did no such thing, but okay.
Kaiser peers at Kurona's horns, and reaches a hand out to touch and inspect it. Kurona flinches a little, but from surprise. It's not like there's any nerve endings on it, or it would have been a hundred times worse to break off. And incredibly painful. Kurona shudders at the thought of that scenario.
“Alright, I'll help.” Kaiser offers.
That was unexpected. Kurona had thought it would take more to convince him, but he won't complain. With that confirmation, Hiori quickly explains the new plan, and the rest get into formation for what would hopefully be the last time, with the addition of Kaiser squeezing the handles together with Hiori.
Honestly, if even this doesn't work out, Kurona might have to really call Anri for help.
“Okay, last time guys. In 3, 2, 1, go!”
The final (final) battle begins. With the help of Kaiser, they make even more progress, crack forming bigger in size, line shooting across the base of the horn before finally, finally, snapping off.
“Chak!”
The horn shoots off from the pliers, flying high up, and lands on the ground with a thump.
Fly high little one.
“Yes!”
“Ah, finally, it's off.”
“Hmph.”
“Dude, seriously, what the fuck is that thing made of?”
"Dang, my can't feel my hands."
“Done, done!”
A few of the guys lie on the ground, while some walk away now that the job was done.
But safe to say, mostly everyone is all too relieved that it finally came off.
Bringing a hand to feel the now smoother head, Kurona walks to pick the horn off the ground, for safe-keeping.
“Thank you, thank you.”
“No problem Kurona.”
“Ha! Take that, horn!”
The rest of the group disperse off to get ready for practice. Since Hiori, Isagi, and Yukimiya hadn't had breakfast yet, they lined up at the machines to grab some food. Kurona however, heads back to their dorm, wanting to keep his horn first.
“Eh, Kurona, where are ya heading to?” Hiori notices.
“Walking back to our room. Wanna keep the horn first.”
“Alright. I'll save some bread for ya, okay?”
“Ah, thank you, thank you.” Kurona leaves the cafeteria, into the hallway.
Holding the horn, he looks at it again.
Pills need to come soon. Really soon.