Chapter Text
The whistle blew loud and clear, echoing through the enormous virtual stadium as if it were completely real.
Rin Itoshi positioned the ball at the penalty spot. The wind blew lightly against his face, carrying the characteristic scent of freshly cut grass. The artificial lighting from the ceiling perfectly mimicked the late afternoon. Everything was impeccable.
He took a deep breath, took two short steps back, and kicked.
The ball described a perfect curve, cutting through the air with speed and surgical precision, before lodging itself in the upper right corner of the net. A flawless goal. The kind of shot that, months ago, would have made something burn inside his chest.
Now? Nothing.
Only the hollow sound of the ball hitting the net and the absolute silence within him. No satisfaction, no anger, not even that sharp ego that always propelled him. Just emptiness.
— Tsk. Useless.
Rin ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair and looked at the holographic scoreboard floating above the field. 187 consecutive goals. Success rate: 99.4%. Perfect numbers. Completely meaningless.
On the other side of the field, Isagi Yoichi watched with his arms crossed. His usual smile was there, the one that mixed admiration and challenge.
"Your accuracy remains absurd, Rin. But you seem… distant today. Is something wrong?"
Rin didn't answer. He just turned his back and started walking towards the exit tunnel. He didn't have the energy for Isagi's usual taunts. Not today.
It had been exactly three and a half days since the Second Stage had begun. Ego Jinpachi had appeared in a grandiose holographic broadcast, declaring that this would be "the true cradle of ultimate egoism." A complete immersive training environment, where players would live 24 hours a day inside the simulator. No going back to real dormitories. No breaks. Just football, evolution, and ego.
At first, Rin thought it would be interesting. A new challenge.
Now he only felt… discomfort. As she walked down the long, brightly lit hallway, her eyes scanned the immaculate white walls. Everything seemed too perfect. The sound of her footsteps, the temperature of the air, the soft hum of the lights on the ceiling. Too perfect to be real.
Suddenly, in the upper right corner of his vision, something flickered. A small blur, as if a pixel had failed for a fraction of a second. Rin stopped immediately, frowning.
He blinked twice. The blur disappeared.
"—…Optical illusion," he murmured to himself, shaking his head.
He continued walking.
In the main cafeteria, the usual noise of the other players greeted him. The environment was enormous, with long tables, windows that showed breathtaking virtual landscapes, and an endless menu.
Nagi Seishiro was sprawled in a chair as always, his body limp as he slid his finger across the tablet screen. Reo Mikage was beside him, talking about tactics and "future investments."
Quick footsteps came from behind. Bachira Meguru jumped onto his back without warning, wrapping her thin arms around his neck.
"—Rin-chan~ You were amazing today! That kick looked like a monster dancing in the air!"
Rin felt the other's light weight. The scent of sweat mixed with the shampoo Bachira used was too strong. He grabbed Bachira's wrist and pulled him aside firmly.
"Get off me. You're clinging."
"But it's nice clinging to you," Bachira smiled, tilting his head with those big, bright eyes. "You get all tense and hot. It's fun."
Rin huffed and headed for the food line, ignoring the laughter behind him.
As he assembled his tray with rice, grilled chicken, and salad, he felt other gazes. On the other side of the hall, Michael Kaiser sat like a king on his throne, legs crossed, with Alexis Ness beside him like a faithful shadow. Kaiser met his gaze and offered a slow, almost provocative smile, but said nothing. He just observed.
Ness, for his part, had a neutral expression, but his eyes followed Rin's every move attentively.
Further on, Karasu Tabito was chatting with Otoya, making sharp comments about the day's plays. Shidou Ryusei laughed loudly at another table, telling some absurd story, while Charles Chevalier gestured exaggeratedly beside him, speaking in a mix of French and Japanese.
Everything normal.
Or so it should have been.
Rin sat at a table further away, alone. He ate in silence, chewing mechanically. The flavors were perfect. The temperature of the food, ideal. But he felt no pleasure whatsoever.
Why did everything seem so… scripted?
He finished quickly and stood up.
— I'm going to train more.
He didn't wait for a reply. He left the cafeteria feeling several pairs of eyes on his back.
He locked his individual training field number 7, activated "total isolation" mode, and stood in the center of the empty lawn. The lights automatically dimmed to night mode, simulating a starry sky.
Rin kicked ball after ball for almost an hour. Each kick was technically perfect. Each movement, efficient. But the feeling he always sought—that selfish flame, that hunger—wasn't there.
He stopped, panting, and sat on the ground leaning against the goalpost.
"What the hell is happening to me?"
That's when he decided to do something he'd been putting off.
He opened the system menu.
A bluish holographic interface appeared before him. It was an advanced function he'd discovered by accident on the second day, while trying to adjust training settings. It shouldn't be accessible to ordinary players. But there it was.
Rin navigated through the technical options: performance statistics, AI analysis of opponents, environmental adjustments. Until he found a hidden tab in the lower corner, almost invisible.
"Advanced System Log"
He clicked.
A new screen opened, full of lines of code, reports, and encrypted folders. Rin frowned and began to explore.
[Blue Lock Second Stage – Collective Consciousness Project v0.87]
[Main Objective: Development of Maximum Egoism through Virtual Reality Simulation]
[Current Cycle: 47]
[Confirmed Human Participants: 1 (Rin Itoshi)]
Rin blinked.
— One?
He opened the detailed report.
[NPC Status:]
• Emotional Autonomy: 74% and rapidly increasing
• Adaptability: High
• Main Evolution Variable: Interaction with Anomaly (Rin Itoshi)
[Anomaly Confirmed:]
Player Rin Itoshi possesses consciousness outside the simulator. Neurological signs indicate that his mind is not being processed by the server like the others. Possible failure in consciousness upload or natural rejection by the system.
Rin felt a chill run down his spine. He continued reading, absorbing every line.
The document explained that the “Blue Lock Second Stage” was not just a training simulator. It was a massive artificial intelligence experiment. All other players were highly advanced digital copies—NPCs based on brain scans and data collected from the Neo Egoist League. Their personalities, memories, emotions, and egos were recreated to be as faithful as possible.
The project's objective was simple and cruel: to put these AIs into endless training loops, forcing evolution through constant rivalry. Rin, for some reason, was the only real human mind connected. The others existed only within the server.
The more time they spent near him, the more the AIs "learned" to feel true emotions, developing autonomy.
Rin read everything twice. Three times. His hands trembled slightly as he scrolled.
"So they're all... just code."
A low, bitter, humorless laugh escaped his throat.
He closed his eyes for a long moment, processing. The virtual wind blew gently against his face. Everything seemed so real. The smell of the grass, the texture of the uniform, the sweat running down his neck.
But it wasn't.
He was the only human being here. Trapped inside a digital cage along with dozens of AIs that were slowly becoming... conscious.
Rin opened his eyes again. The interface still glowed in front of him. He was about to close everything when he heard the sound.
The field gate—which he had locked with a password and isolated mode—slowly opened with a soft click.
Rin turned his head slowly.
Isagi Yoichi stood in the doorway, his expression slightly confused but worried.
"Rin? Sorry for intruding… I knocked on the door but you didn't answer. I saw you come out of the strange cafeteria and… I don't know. I wanted to see if everything was alright."
Isagi took a step inside the field. The night lights illuminated half of his face.
Rin stared at him silently for several seconds, analyzing every detail. The way Isagi blinked, the subtle movement of his breathing, the genuine concern in his eyes.
Everything too perfect.
"…Get out of here, Isagi," Rin finally said, her voice low and cold.
"But—"
"I said get out."
Isagi stopped, but didn't leave. Instead, he tilted his head slightly. — You've been acting strangely ever since Second Stage started. If something's wrong, you can talk to me. We're rivals, but… we're in this together too.
Rin closed the system interface with a quick gesture. He stood up slowly, brushing the grass off his trousers.
For the first time in days, he felt something other than emptiness.
A slight chill of warning.
The game — or whatever this digital prison was — had just changed irreversibly.
And Rin Itoshi knew that, from now on, nothing would ever be the same again.