Halftime locker room
Phoenix wasn't panicking
Not even close
Coach Akutsu stood before his players
Face unreadable
Then he spoke calmly
"Activate Project Crown"
The air shifted instantly
Phoenix players sat straighter
As if they'd been waiting for those words
Renji's eyes gleamed
He stood up and walked to the whiteboard
Drew a new formation
Not 4-3-3
Not 3-4-2-1
Something stranger
An asymmetrical 3-1-3-2-1
Designed to collapse and expand like a machine
At the heart of it
A name appeared in red ink
Noa Ryuzaki
---
Meanwhile in the Vortex locker room
The team celebrated their lead
But Reiji sat alone
He wasn't smiling
He was scanning the footage on a tablet
Slow-motion replays
Frame by frame
He saw it
Renji wasn't confused by his chaos
He was studying it
Learning from it
Coach Hiroshi walked over
"You look like you're preparing for war"
Reiji handed him the tablet
"Because I am
And he's about to drop a nuke"
---
Second half kickoff
Vortex held a high line
Same strategy
Control through unpredictability
But the moment Phoenix touched the ball
Everything changed
Noa Ryuzaki entered the pitch
Number 99
Long legs
Sharp eyes
Quiet aura
He didn't jog
He glided
Fans leaned forward
"Who is that?"
Commentator gasped
"We haven't seen Noa Ryuzaki since the Osaka Trials two years ago
He disappeared"
---
Reiji froze mid-run
That name
That gait
That rhythm
It couldn't be
But when Noa touched the ball
It confirmed everything
Perfect first touch
Minimal motion
Instant through ball that broke the entire Vortex midfield
Leo yelled
"Where the hell did that come from?!?"
Reiji whispered to himself
"Noa…you're alive?"
---
Flashback to four years ago
The Osaka Trials
Reiji
Renji
And Noa
Three prodigies
But only two names moved forward
One was erased
Reiji thought Noa had quit
Vanished
Lost interest
But now
Noa stood on the pitch again
Colder
Sharper
And clearly enhanced
---
Phoenix took control instantly
Their midfield didn't just pass
They predicted
They mirrored Vortex's chaos
Then countered with minimal touches
In the 58th minute
Noa sent a lofted diagonal to Renji
Who volleyed it into the net
2–1
The tide had turned
---
Coach Hiroshi shouted from the sideline
"They're not playing football
They're solving it like a puzzle!"
But Reiji wasn't rattled
He was studying Noa again
Their eyes met across the pitch
Noa didn't smirk
Didn't nod
Just stared
Reiji mouthed
"You're back
Why now?"
Noa didn't answer
But the next play was his response
---
Phoenix launched a sequence of 13 one-touch passes
All through Noa
He played like a conductor
Each motion meant something
Each silence held weight
In the 70th minute
Noa chipped a pass behind the line
Renji slipped in
Chipped the keeper
2–2
The crowd lost it
Commentators screamed
"Phoenix just matched Vortex's chaos with calculated madness!"
---
Reiji walked to the center
Ball at his feet
Heart racing
Not from fear
But excitement
He whispered
"So you survived
Then let's see
If your logic can outplay my ghosts"
He raised one hand
Signaled a new movement
Vortex didn't understand it fully
But they trusted
Because when the mastermind plays
You don't need the full picture
Just a spark