Blue Arbiter — Blue Lock Apocrypha: The Final Boss's Creed - Designer of the Rift

The morning supply ship always arrived in silence. To the harbor facilities of Termina Island——a small pier set at the southern tip——a cargo vessel made port twice weekly. A security guard confirmed the unloading, staff cross-referenced the manifest, and if nothing went wrong, it was finished in thirty minutes. The candidates didn't even register its existence. The morning of the eighth day was supposed to be no different. But a second small vessel followed behind the supply ship. One of the security guards approached with suspicion, but when the figure descending from the deck presented staff credentials, he immediately stepped back. Long silver hair. Pale aquamarine eyes behind glasses. A white jacket. In her hands, a black carry case and a thick document bag stuffed with files. Mikage Sara stepped onto the pier and first surveyed the entire island. Then, without hesitation, she began walking toward the central building of the facility. --- The intercom announcing a visitor rang in the glass cage on the seventh floor at 9:14 AM. Serinas Kai sat before the monitor. It was the time before morning training began, when he checked the operational status of each floor. On the first floor of the Forge, a handful of early-rising candidates were making their way toward the weight machines. The Iris system continuously updated each person's heart rate and muscle load in real time. He couldn't ignore the intercom. Given the seventy-two-hour deadline in last night's email, there was no need to wonder who it was. "Let her in," The door opened. When Mikage Sara entered the room, she offered no greeting. Kai did not stand. The two simply looked at each other for several seconds. It was their first meeting. Yet the air was not that of a first meeting. For Sara, who knew the relationship between Nexus and Kai, this man was already factored into her calculations. Sara opened her document bag and withdrew a file. She placed it on the desk. "This is the Secondary Evaluation Protocol," Kai looked at the file. He did not reach for it. "What's the content," "Additional psychological testing for all candidates. Stress tolerance, obedience, judgment tendencies under group pressure. The acquired data will be encrypted and sent periodically to Nexus's servers. Implementation frequency is twice monthly. The tests to be used are already designed, and I will manage them," Kai shifted his chair slightly. He turned toward the window. The morning sea spread out before him. The waves were calm. (They want me to turn a soccer development facility into a data collection apparatus for personnel selection.) "I refuse," His voice held no emotion. He spoke it simply, as a fact. Sara adjusted her glasses with her right hand. It was a composed gesture, as if confirming a response that had gone exactly as planned. "I see. Then there are several things I must tell you," She did not open the file. Instead, she looked directly into Kai's eyes. "If the protocol is not implemented, Nexus will cease all funding to Blue Lock. Sixty percent of operational expenses. Facility maintenance, medical team procurement, the player tracking system 'Iris'——everything stops," There was a pause. "And——unfortunately, there is one more point," Sara's tone shifted, ever so slightly. "Seven years ago. The playoff at Fortis Sagamihara. The contact play that shattered your left knee. Whether that was truly an accident——Nexus possesses materials that can confirm this. How we use them depends entirely on your answer," Kai remained facing the window. He said nothing. His right hand touched his left knee. Over the white shirt, unconsciously. Seven years ago. Twenty-one years old. A match where the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus of his left knee shattered simultaneously. Two surgeries. Still, he never returned. That contact——it may not have been an accident. That is what Sara was saying now. Kai's mouth would not open. The words to refute her would not come. Could not come. Sara quietly placed the file at the edge of the desk. "Please consider it," With only that, she left the office. The door closed. Kai did not move. He looked at the file on the desk. He did not reach for it. For a long time, he gazed out at the sea beyond the window. --- Something was wrong with the Forge that afternoon. The moment Fuyushima Ren entered the first floor weight area, he felt the heaviness in the air. The candidates were moving toward the machines, but their complexions were different. Not fatigue, not anger——a mixture of confusion and resignation. He checked the terminal menu and understood why. Today's training regimen had changed. The load had jumped dramatically. Recovery intervals were cut in half. Ren frowned at the numbers. This was different from yesterday, different from last week. Clearly, a different design. He checked the authorization field. ——Serinas Kai. Ren stared at those characters for a moment. (That man was alone in the Forge late at night, adjusting the players' regimens. And this——is this the judgment of the same person?) The discomfort lingered, but training had already begun. Ren moved toward the barbell. Forty minutes later. A sharp crack. A candidate working at the adjacent machine collapsed from his shoulders. Not the sound of the machine arm shifting. The sound of a human joint exceeding its limit. The fallen candidate lay on the floor, his face twisted, unable to make a sound. His right shoulder was at an odd angle. Dislocation. Ren understood immediately. Staff rushed over. They checked the fallen candidate. Then one spoke. "Everyone else, please continue," Ren's hands froze, still gripping the barbell. His teammate was down. His shoulder dislocated, lying on the floor. And beside him, training did not stop. The terminal screen caught his eye. Authorization: Serinas Kai. His hands began to shake. --- In the elevator, Ren took several deep breaths. He could feel his head burning with anger. He tried to calm himself. He could not. The seventh floor elevator opened. Beyond the glass office, he could see Kai's back. Ren walked. He opened the door. "Was that injury on your orders," Kai did not turn around. He was looking at the monitor. "It was my decision," "Why? That guy's shoulder came out. He's still lying on the floor," Kai slowly rotated his chair. He faced Ren directly. Deep brown eyes. Cold. There was none of that softness he had shown for just a moment in the late-night Forge. None of it now. "If your body can't produce results, there's no point being here. If you have complaints, leave," Ren stepped forward. "You came to the Forge alone at night and were eliminating injury risks for the players. My name was on that paper. What was that about," Something flickered in Kai's eyes. Just for an instant. A truly fleeting moment. Something passed through the depths of those eyes. But his mouth did not open. (I can't say it. If I tell him about Nexus, all the candidates will panic. The project will collapse. That would give Nexus the excuse to destroy everyone's dreams.) "Stop prying into things that don't concern you. You just focus on the next match," "——" Ren's words caught in his throat. He looked into Kai's eyes. For several seconds. Just looking. That sensation he'd felt in the late-night Forge——that this man had something. The slightly relaxed mouth he'd glimpsed across the monitor after the match. His own name written on the forgotten paper. All of it was now being crushed beneath anger and disappointment. "You really do see us as nothing but tools," He spat it out. He turned toward the door. The door closed. His footsteps receded and faded away. Kai turned his gaze back to the monitor. The image showed the dislocated candidate being transported to the medical wing, "Pulse." Kai's right hand fell onto his left knee. It pressed down with force. He hadn't noticed it himself. --- Deep in the night, after all the staff had left the glass cage. Only the 120-inch multi-display glowed. Images from each floor. The darkened corridors of the cell blocks. The sound of waves did not reach this high. Only the low hum of the monitor's operation filled the silence. Kai sat before the desk. The file Sara had left remained untouched since morning, right there. Slowly, he picked it up. He opened the cover. Implementation requirements for psychological testing. Sample questions. Detailed evaluation criteria. Server addresses for data transmission. A list of items to collect——stress tolerance scores, obedience-to-authority tendencies, individual judgment rates under group pressure, behavioral modification indicators from prolonged isolation. This was not a player evaluation program. It was a blueprint for a dataset that would classify players by docility and durability. A plan to use Blue Lock as an experimental apparatus for human selection. He turned the pages. When he opened the final page, Kai's hand stopped. The font was slightly larger than the other pages. A single additional line of text. 'In case of protocol non-compliance, immediate termination of Project Architect and contract invalidation of all candidates shall be executed.' Contract invalidation. An iron-clad clause——something all 180 candidates had signed upon entry. If the project were invalidated for any reason other than elimination, all 180 would permanently lose their path to the Japanese national team. If Kai refused. If Kai tried to protect the players. In that instant, Kai would be the one ending everyone's dreams. The right hand holding the document trembled slightly. He hadn't noticed. Hadn't noticed it was trembling. Beyond the window lay the night sea. The lights of the mainland twelve kilometers away were not visible. On the south side of the island, the lights of the cell blocks floated dimly in the distance. The place where 180 people slept. Those who had competed today, who had fought today against the fear of elimination, and among them, some who could sleep and some who could not. Kai did not close the file. He simply stared at that single line. He could not speak the truth. He could not tell anyone about Nexus. If he did, everyone would end. If he remained silent, the candidates would continue to see Kai as a cold administrator. Ren had left tonight with those words——you really do see us as nothing but tools. Kai had given no answer. He could not have answered. Even if it had been the right choice, even if there had been no other option, the answer remained the same. One of the monitors displayed today's medical wing log. The treatment record of the dislocated candidate. Right shoulder joint dislocation. Reduction completed. Three weeks of rest. Participation in the next match was impossible. Kai placed his hand on his left knee. This time consciously, deliberately. Confirming the shape of his seven-year-old knee with his palm. The final page of the file floated white in the light on the desk.

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Episode 4

Name: Blue Arbiter — Blue Lock Apocrypha: The Final Boss's Creed
Author: Novelia

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