The win over Ippongi shocked local media
Articles called Reiji a football demon
A puppet master in cleats
Some called him Japan's Ghost Playmaker
But none of it felt like victory to him
That night he sat under the bleachers
Not celebrating
Just staring at the cracks in the concrete
His fingers twitched
Like they were still calculating
Still analyzing
Yamato sat beside him
Holding two cans of juice
"You should be happy bro
We beat your evil twin
Everyone's calling us legends already"
Reiji didn't look up
"That wasn't football
That was survival"
---
At home he slept restlessly
In his dreams
There were no cheers
Only static
Repeating patterns
A maze made of tactics
He saw himself
Playing in a world of clones
Every move mirrored
Every idea stolen before it was born
He woke up
Heart racing
Looked at his hand
Trembling
"I'm losing myself in this game"
---
The next day
He skipped school
Took a train out of Tokyo
Disappeared into a quiet rural town
Found an old worn-down pitch
No lines
No goals
Just a kid kicking a ball alone
Reiji sat on a bench
Watched the kid miss
Again and again
The ball bounced off a rock
Hit the kid in the face
The kid laughed
Laughed like the world wasn't watching
Reiji stood up
Walked over
Gently fixed the kid's stance
"Try leaning a little to the left before the shot
Trust your weight
Not your eyes"
The kid nodded
Kicked again
Perfect shot
The smile that followed hit Reiji like a freight train
It was pure
Undefeated by pressure
---
That night he stayed in a cheap inn
No internet
No simulations
No tactics
Just silence
He thought back to his first ever goal
When he was six
It wasn't strategic
It was messy
Random
He slipped during the kick
But it still flew in
And he'd screamed
Like he'd touched the stars
He whispered to himself
"I miss that kid"
---
Next morning
He returned to Tokyo
Didn't tell anyone where he went
But his presence had already been missed
Minamino's coach pulled him aside
"Reiji
I know you're carrying this team
But you're burning out
The others follow your silence
Not your spirit
They don't know if you even care about the game anymore"
Reiji paused
Then looked the coach in the eye
"I don't play for applause
I play because I want to feel alive
But lately
All I feel is pressure"
The coach nodded slowly
"Then we need to bring you back to life
Not just as a player
But as a boy who used to love football"
---
That weekend
Minamino joined a non-competitive charity match
No refs
No rankings
Just random mix teams
Street-style
Reiji was thrown into a group of strangers
None of them skilled
None of them tactically trained
But the way they played
It was chaos
Beautiful chaos
A girl with no balance did a bicycle kick just for fun
A short kid tried to nutmeg a goalie five times in a row
They didn't care if they won
And for the first time in years
Reiji laughed
A real laugh
Messy
Uncontrolled
He dribbled past four players
Then passed the ball backward
To a boy who'd never scored
The boy missed
Then kicked the rebound in
They hugged
No cameras
No pressure
Just joy
---
Later that evening
Reiji sat in the grass
Sweaty
Breathing hard
Yamato sat beside him
"You're back huh"
Reiji nodded
"Yeah
I forgot what this felt like
Playing just to play"
Yamato grinned
"You're still a genius bro
But maybe now
You're a human genius"
Reiji looked at the sky
Smiled softly
"Let's build something new
Not just tactics
But stories
Moments
Things that can't be copied"
---
Far away
A man watched Reiji's charity match footage
Paused the screen on Reiji's smiling face
The man chuckled
"So the ghost bleeds after all"
He turned to a younger boy beside him
"Prepare the transfer
We're sending you to Japan
I want you to break him
From the inside"