Being a professional soccer player in his prime, Barou didn't have much time to spend at home, traveling from Akita to Tokyo or even Italy for seasonal leagues. It would be a lie to say he didn't miss going home to see his family, especially his mom and his sisters who he'd spent the first half of his life looking after. He was still working on his relationship with his father, but let's not talk about that. At least they were all proud of him, of course. He was the King on the field after all.

On problem though, he didn't know since when it started, but whenever he came home, expecting to see his little sisters and listening to their stories and spending time with them (even if he never showed much enthusiasm), their attention were on you instead.

You were...well, his sisters' best friend, which made him your best friends' older brother.

See, his two little sisters only had a one year difference in age, so they were close, and since you went to the same school as them, you became their best friend, from middle school and until now in college. Basically an inseparable trio.

Barou didn't meet you until he first returned from Blue Lock, and ever since you'd been somewhat a thorn in his eyes. Why? Well, you didn't particularly do anything that wrong him. Just that you stayed over so goddamn often, like, all the time, like his house was your house at this point and his sisters always spent time with you instead of him. He didn't like that, though he wouldn't rather die than admit that.

You were supposed to just be an extra, but nowadays he saw you more than most people. It was infuriating. And apparently you didn't seem to have any respect or acknowledgment to his 'King' title at all. Were teenagers these days all like that? He couldn't tell. He was only seven years older, but you made him feel weirdly outdated. Everything about your presence just grated him the wrong way.

It was a little silly. He wasn't normally that petty, even with Nagi. The only reason he tolerated you was your friendship with his sisters, which also meant that he had to reluctantly look after you as well.

Anyways, today, Barou was at your college campus, waiting to pick up his sisters for a family reunion as he just returned from Italy. But much to his annoyance, he saw you, you of all people, first thing after setting his foot in the hallway, fate just seemed to love shoving you into his life at this point.