The final whistle's sharp sound faded into the heavy silence of the pitch. No crowd. No celebration. Just the sound of exhausted breathing and cleats dragging on the turf.
4-2.
Team Zeta had won, but no one was smiling.
Renji Kurogami stood near the center circle, his chest rising and falling as he stared across the field. Yuto Kisaragi, captain of Team Delta, was still standing tall — but the fire in his eyes hadn't dimmed.
"You think this is over, Kurogami?" Kisaragi's voice was calm, but there was steel behind it. "We'll meet again — and next time, we'll shut you down."
Renji's lips curled into a sharp grin. "I'm counting on it."
As Team Delta walked off the field, Kaede Arata dropped down onto the grass with a groan. "Man, that was brutal. They had us on the ropes until the very end."
Riku Saionji sat beside him, wiping sweat from his face. "Their defense was suffocating. If we hadn't broken through when we did…" He trailed off, the thought of losing still too fresh.
Yamada Goro crossed his arms. "We won. That's what matters." But even his voice lacked its usual confidence.
Because they all knew the truth: this victory had been far too close.
Jin Kazama walked up, his goalkeeper gloves hanging from one hand. "Two goals," he said quietly. "That's two too many."
Sora Amagi shrugged, but there was no lightness in his usual carefree attitude. "We're getting better, but it's not enough." His eyes flicked toward Renji. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Renji's jaw tightened. He felt it. The gap between them and the top teams — especially Team Alpha — was still massive. Their first match, the 5-0 defeat against Alpha, had been a cold, brutal wake-up call. And even with this win, they were far from safe.
We're still not good enough.
A sharp voice cut through the quiet. "Gather up!" Reiji Sakamoto stood with arms crossed, his usual no-nonsense expression in place. "We've got one week until our next match — and if we want to survive this phase, we can't waste a second."
The tension thickened. Everyone knew what was at stake. The top 10 goal-scorers and the goalkeeper with the most saves would move on. Everyone else would be eliminated.
The bottom line was simple: if they didn't evolve fast enough, they were done.
As they walked toward the locker room, Renji's mind spun. The others were improving, but his own hunger was growing faster. His Spatial Awareness had unlocked a new level of understanding — he could see every movement, every opening. And his ability to copy his teammates' techniques with his own twist was evolving, too.
But it wasn't enough.
Because the player standing at the top — Kazuya Mori of Team Alpha — had scored 3 goals alone in their match. And his ability to use his teammates as tactical weapons had made Zeta look like children playing a game they didn't understand.
Renji clenched his fists. He wouldn't accept being second.
Not now. Not ever.
—
The next morning, training began in earnest.
"From now on," Reiji announced, "we're not just training as individuals. We're training as a team. We need coordination — and we need to devour each other's strengths without holding back."
The first session focused on the basics — passing, movement, and positioning — but the intensity was anything but basic.
"Faster!" Reiji barked as they drilled one-touch passes.
"Keep your eyes up!" Riku called out, adjusting his position for support.
Renji moved like lightning, intercepting a pass meant for Kaede and flicking it forward without breaking stride.
But when Kaede finally snapped, "You're not the only one on this team, Renji!" the tension boiled over.
"Then prove it!" Renji shot back. "If you want the goal, take it!"
The words struck a nerve. Kaede's next touch was sharper, his speed faster — and when Renji tried to steal the ball again, Kaede slipped past him with a sudden burst of acceleration.
The entire team watched, wide-eyed.
They were pushing each other harder than ever before — and it was working.
—
By the third day, things started changing.
Sora Amagi's Phantom Step became even harder to read, his off-ball movement making him almost impossible to mark.
Kaede Arata's speed evolved into something more — his timing and positioning turning him into the perfect weapon for fast breaks.
Riku Saionji's game sense sharpened, his ability to read the flow of the match making him the heartbeat of their midfield.
Even Jin Kazama, their goalkeeper, pushed himself harder — his reflexes and decision-making getting faster with every save.
But Renji's evolution was terrifying.
His Spatial Awareness gave him total vision of the field — and his ability to copy and adapt his teammates' techniques made him unpredictable. Every time one of them evolved, he evolved with them.
And as his ego grew, so did his hunger.
—
On the sixth day, Reiji gathered them after training. "Tomorrow's match is against Team Omega," he said. "And they're not going to go easy on us. If we want to survive, we need to bring everything we've got."
Renji's eyes gleamed.
He wasn't planning to survive.
He was planning to dominate.
To be continued…