Chapter 2: Mysterious App!

Beep!

The final whistle signaling the end of my historic first professional football match blew.

Regardless, the result was a 1:3 defeat for Tokyo Rebels, thanks to a late goal from the substitute Alex. Without it, the team might have suffered a humiliating loss.

Although we avoided a complete rout, the poor performance of the game left the players with gloomy faces.

I felt the same way.

Despite it being my debut, there was no time to celebrate due to the team's loss. I, too, walked towards the home fans with a somber expression, shaking hands with the opposing players.

At that moment, Yuto approached and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Congratulations on your debut."

"Congratulations? We lost the match."

In response to my words, Yuto looked around and, speaking cautiously in my ear, said:

"That's because our team played terribly. You did well. Even though senior was out with an injury, you played better than him today."

"...Thank you."

"It's just the truth."

I appreciated the compliment from a friend.

Our team indeed performed poorly. It seemed like they had no intention of giving their all for the remaining time. Alex's goal was merely due to the opponents losing focus.

The home fans were well aware of this. As the players approached to greet them, they were met with boos. From the fans' perspective, it was a match that deserved no praise.

The players' faces grew darker upon hearing the jeers from the crowd.

The team, receiving the fans' boos, completed their greetings and left the field.

Back in the locker room, Coach Yamada lashed out at the players.

"I'm disappointed in you all today! Is this how you behave as professional players?"

"..."

Under the coach's reprimand, the players lowered their heads.

"A professional player should be relentless until the final whistle! But from what I saw, you seem to be complacent!"

"..."

Most of the players looked remorseful, but some frowned in discontent. Coach Yamada was not oblivious to this.

"Over there, Kisuke shiba! Are you frowning now?"

Kisuke shiba, who was among the players, looked startled when the coach singled him out. He was one of those who had frowned during the coach's tirade.

"I clearly instructed to provide passes to the flanks. Yet you kept trying to force your way through the center. Fine, you can attempt dribbling. But you couldn't get past the opponents and kept losing the ball. Be thankful we didn't have a substitute for you today! Otherwise, you would have been the first to be replaced!"

Under Yamada's harsh criticism, Kisuke's face contorted. Receiving such a reprimand in front of many people would be hard for anyone to handle.

The rest of the players, including me, watched the scene with anxious hearts.

Seeing the situation getting grim, Coach Sawamura intervened.

"Senpai, or rather, Coach, how about we call it a day? The players worked hard, and you did too preparing for the match. Let's calm down and talk later, okay?"

"Hmm!"

Coach Sawamura's intervention prevented the situation from escalating further. He signaled to the players to leave, and they cautiously exited the locker room.

I did the same.

"Phew. That was intense."

I had heard that Coach Yamada rarely got this angry in a season, but seeing it firsthand was a new experience.

Yuto shared the same sentiment.

"That was the first time I've seen the coach so mad. But hopefully, after a day off tomorrow, things will calm down."

"That would be nice."

Typically, after a league match, the team gets a day off for rest before resuming with recovery training and other schedules.

"That said... Reo Kuze?"

"Ugh. You're suddenly speaking in that disgusting voice."

"Hehe. To celebrate your debut, let's have a treat, Reo Kuze."

Yuto insisted on treating me to a meal with a smarmy tone. I shook my head but eventually sighed and replied.

"Fine, fine. Let's go! I'll buy the meat today!"

"Okay!"

Yuto was thrilled by my response.

"I know a great barbecue place. Let's go there!"

He said, taking the lead, and I followed him, chuckling at his enthusiasm.

___________________________________

"Damn, Yuto Miyahara."

After eating barbecue with Yuto and returning home, I stared at the receipt with a frown.

"How can the meat alone cost 50,000 yen?"

At the barbecue place Yuto recommended, we ordered a lot of beef ribs. Since the money I earn as a rookie isn't much, Yuto ordered without hesitation.

Athletes eat far more than regular people, and Yuto even had the audacity to say, "I didn't eat that much. You know? I only ordered this much for your sake."

"I'll get him back next time he makes his debut!"

I vowed to get my revenge.

"Ugh."

I lay down on the bed, feeling the day's fatigue setting in as my hidden tension began to release.

I was on the verge of falling into a deep sleep when a sudden thought made it impossible for me to doze off. Struggling to stay awake, I grabbed my smartphone and opened a news app.

Entering the portal site NHK WORLD, I checked the latest sports news. I quickly searched for articles related to our team.

Though there were fewer articles compared to the top-tier league, it didn't take long to find one.

"Oh, here it is."

Seeing the headline, I frowned.

"Tokyo Rebels Loses 1:3 to Shimuzu S-plus After a Lackluster Performance at Home."

Clicking on the headline, I found the article filled with criticism.

The article harshly condemned the Tokyo Rebels players for their lack of organization and mental management, expressing skepticism about the team's early performance.

"Ugh. Huh?"

As I sighed and read through the article, I came across a section about me.

"...After side defender Daiki Fukazawa was injured and carried off due to a tackle from Shimuzu s-plus's midfielder Naoki Hayashi, Tokyo Rebels substituted in rookie Reo Kuze. Despite being a rookie, Reo Kuze played diligently for the remaining time, showing good performance along with the earlier substitute Alex. Although it's too early to judge from one match, his performance was promising... (continued)"

Reading the article, I felt a warm smile form. Despite the team's defeat, it was gratifying to see that I was being positively evaluated.

"Maybe I should check out some other articles."

"Let's check some other articles."

Since joining the professional team, I had made it a habit to check the news after every game. It was a way to gauge my team's performance and keep up with news about other teams.

Until now, since I had mostly been warming the bench, there had been no articles about me. My only hope was that one day my name would appear. And today, that hope was fulfilled.

Even though the team lost.

I checked some other team articles, then turned off my smartphone and set it aside before lying back down in bed.

As soon as I lay down, drowsiness began to creep in, and I quickly fell asleep.

___________________________________

That night, without any warning, thunderstorm raged, accompanied by torrential rain.

Crash! Boom!

A huge lightning bolt struck outside the window of the room where Reo was sleeping soundly.

At that moment, Reo's smartphone suddenly turned on.

Flash!

A line of messages appeared.

"Downloading the Future News app."

"...Installation complete!"

"The Future News System is now active! User identification in progress! ... Identification complete!"

"News programs will now be activated based on the user."

Various messages flashed and disappeared on the smartphone. Unaware of anything, Reo remained fast asleep.

Soon, the smartphone screen went dark as if nothing had happened. After a while, the torrential rain stopped, and the sun began to rise.

_____________________________________

"Ah~ I slept so well!"

I had fallen asleep right after checking the news and lying down in bed the previous night, and now I had just woken up. Without the bright sunlight streaming through the window, I wouldn't have known it was morning.

Habitually, I picked up my smartphone. I opened it, checked a few news articles on the portal site, and was about to close it when I noticed an unfamiliar app.

"Hmm? What's this?"

"Future News"

"...."

When did this get installed?

No matter how I thought about it, I didn't remember installing such an app. It seemed like one of those forced downloads from spam ads.

"I should just delete it!"

I tried to drag the app to the trash to delete it, but a warning message appeared.

"This app cannot be deleted."

"...What?"

An undeletable app?

What is this about?

Unable to understand, I tried a few more times, but the message about being unable to delete it kept appearing.

"Unbelievable."

Unable to delete it, my curiosity was piqued. What kind of app could it be that can't even be deleted?

Unable to resist my curiosity, I tapped the app to open it.

"Welcome to the Future News Channel. A news app that provides news tailored exclusively for you."

"Really a news app?"

The startup screen displayed the above message and then disappeared, revealing the main screen.

The main screen was filled with various news articles, all of which had a common theme.

"What? They're all sports news?"

The articles filling the screen were all sports-related.

"A sports news app?"

There are media outlets that focus exclusively on one subject, so having only sports news wasn't surprising.

However, some articles particularly caught my attention.

"2016 J2-League Round 11 Results"

"...Round 11?"

I was puzzled reading the article title. The game I played yesterday was Round 10. Round 11 was supposed to be played the next weekend.

"A typo?"

I thought it might be a journalist's mistake and clicked on the article.

"What? Round 11 is just a typo, and it's actually about the Round 10 game results, right? ...Oh? What's this!?"

My eyes widened as I read the article.

"2016 J2- league Results

Shimuzu s-plus 2:1 Iwaki FC

Okayama FC 1:1 Ehime FC

Yokohama FC 1:0 Oita Trinita

Gunma 2:1 Tokyo Rebels

Fujieda MYFC 4:0 JEF United"

"Wow."

The content written was unbelievable.

"Is someone playing a prank?"

That was the only explanation I could come up with.

Otherwise, how could they know the results of next week's games in advance and write them like this?

"Did the journalist place a bet or something? Or is it like some wishful thinking written as scores?"

Feeling a bit incredulous, I noticed that articles related to the game results had links.

"...."

Feeling uneasy, I clicked on the article link about our team's game results.

"Wow!"

And after reading the following article, I was astounded.