Blue Arbiter — Blue Lock Apocrypha: The Final Boss's Creed - Break the chains

The pen tip was just about to touch paper. The door opened. Kai stopped. The tremor in his hand froze in place. Two people entered. One he recognized—deep green hair, sharp golden eyes, a star-shaped piercing on the left ear. Fuyushima Ren. The other was unfamiliar. A middle-aged man in a white coat. Thin silver hair cut short. Deep green eyes. A faint scar along the jaw. Eyes that were straight, unguarded in their anger. The man walked toward Kai's desk without a word and slammed the file he was holding down onto it. A sharp *crack* echoed through the quiet glass cage. "Look at this" His voice was low. Emotions were being suppressed, but not entirely contained. Kai looked at the file. There was a graph. The vertical axis showed number of injuries. The horizontal axis showed dates. Over the past 72 hours, the line had spiked sharply upward. At the top, a number. 3.2 times compared to the previous week. "This is data from the medical wing pulse" "I'm Sakaki Seiji—the medical director. Seventeen. In 72 hours, seventeen candidates were injured. This is the result of the training menu you authorized" His voice wavered slightly. The emotion of a doctor who could not accept this seeped through. Fuyushima extended a terminal from the side. "That's not all. I checked the change log for the menu" "Your name is in the authorization field. But the format is different from usual. The input timestamp doesn't match the time you were in the glass cage. Someone else entered it under your name" The golden eyes looked directly at Kai. Angry. But today was different. Not just emotion. They had brought evidence. Kai looked at both of them. Then at the file on his desk. There was an authorization form. Still unsigned. The pen remained gripped in his hand. No excuse came. Normally he could say something. "Data optimization." "Stop asking unnecessary questions." But not tonight. In their eyes was not emotion, but data. Logic. Something that could not be broken down. Kai set the authorization form on the desk. Set down the pen. Settled deeper into his chair. A long silence fell. Beyond the glass cage, the sound of wind from the night sea reached faintly. Only the 120-inch display glowed quietly. Kai opened his mouth. "Sit" --- Both sat. Kai stood and turned toward the window. The night sea. The lights of the mainland 12 kilometers away were not visible. Only the island floated in the sea. "Nexus Consortium—that's the official name" "On the surface, it's an investment fund for the sports industry. The reality is different. It's an organization that selects humans through sports and seeks to secure social influence" Fuyushima started to speak. Kai continued. "Nexus provides 60% of Blue Lock's operating budget. I've been running this place while drawing funds from Nexus. I've been walking a tightrope for three years" "Mikage Sara is a monitor sent by Nexus. She's in a position to send all the Iris System data, the Judgment evaluation criteria—everything to Nexus's servers. I knew that and used her anyway. I had no other choice" Sakaki furrowed his brow. Listening quietly. Like a doctor organizing symptoms. "Four days ago, Sara brought me documents. Something called the Second Evaluation Protocol. The content—conduct regular psychological tests on all candidates and send stress tolerance and obedience tendency data to Nexus. In other words, a plan to use 180 humans as data material" "And they said if I didn't sign the authorization within 72 hours, Nexus would freeze all funding to Blue Lock" The air in the room changed. "If funding stops, the facility can't be maintained. The medical team, Iris, everything stops. In that case—under the interpretation of the iron chain clause, forced termination of the project is equivalent to permanent expulsion of all candidates" "All 180 lose their path to the national team permanently" Kai turned back from the window. He looked at both their faces. "That's why I couldn't say anything. If I did, everyone would panic. It would give Nexus an excuse. I had to stay silent and bear it alone" Seven years. Always alone. That was everything about this man. Silence fell. Fuyushima said nothing for several seconds. His golden eyes were fixed on the floor. Then slowly, he raised his face. "—Don't screw with me" His voice was low. Quiet anger. "Then fight back. Don't carry it alone!! " Kai didn't move. He received that voice head-on. "If you think we're tools, I won't trust you from the start. But if you've been moving for the players all this time—why were you trying to do it alone? Are we useless?" It was an 18-year-old's voice. Anger mixed with wounded pride and something that still refused to give up. Something in Kai—loosened. In a man who had never relied on anyone for seven years. Something that had been frozen like iron, just slightly, came undone. Sakaki stood up. He spread the medical records file in front of Kai. "Kai, I have a proposal as well" "There is medical evidence here that Nexus's protocol significantly damages the candidates' health. Injury numbers, details, cause analysis—it's all compiled" "I've heard that within the JFU—the Japan Football Union—there are multiple board members opposed to this project. If we bring this data to them, we can create a legal basis that the funding freeze violates player protection agreements. It could become a means to stop the freeze. I think you should reconsider" Three pairs of eyes met. "Do it" --- Roles were decided immediately. Kai moved to the system terminal. Using Project Architect authority, he accessed it and began manipulating the evaluation algorithm for the next match. The parts that Judgment's Sara had rewritten—the settings that prioritized only personal aggression and obedience rate—he temporarily overwrote with the original Blue Lock standards. Technical points, judgment, growth curve. The rules Kai had designed from the beginning. An access complete message appeared on the screen. Sakaki had already opened the files. He began writing an emergency report to JFU headquarters while organizing all the Pulse data. His hands didn't stop. As a doctor, faced with this data, he couldn't stop. Fuyushima left the glass cage. He headed toward the cell blocks. To reach out to a few trusted people. To lay the groundwork for turning Nexus's evaluation AI against itself in the next match. There were no words. But something was being born between the three of them. A nameless solidarity. --- At the same time, in the monitoring room on the third floor of the facility. Mikage Sara was watching the screen. Her silver-long hair caught the light. The pale blue eyes behind her glasses moved across the display. The alert came right after Kai accessed the system terminal. An override operation of the match evaluation criteria using Project Architect authority—direct intervention into Judgment. Sara's expression didn't change. She adjusted her glasses with her right hand and operated another terminal. She composed an encrypted message to Nexus's liaison officer and sent it. The content was concise. The Architect is moving. After sending the report, Sara remained still for a while. The main monitor displayed surveillance footage from throughout the facility. Kai at the system terminal in the glass cage. Fuyushima walking down the corridor. Sakaki in his white coat continuing to write documents. Three places, three people moving simultaneously. Sara stared at that footage for a while. Something passed through her eyes. Just for a moment. What it was—joy or regret, or something entirely different—could not be read. Sara picked up the intercom receiver. She connected to the direct line to the glass cage. "Kai" Kai answered. A short voice. "What?" "You're wasting time" With just that, Sara cut the line. She set down the receiver. Quietly. The three people on the monitor were still moving. --- Deep into the night, when the preparations for counterattack had reached a stopping point. The glass cage door opened. Kai turned. It was Fuyushima. His deep green hair was more disheveled than usual. The breath of someone who had been running through the cell blocks. "I came to get the supplementary data to give to Sakaki" Kai operated the terminal and transferred the file. That should have been all. But Fuyushima's feet stopped. Because Kai was standing by the window. Looking out at the night sea. At some point he had stood from his chair. Backlit by the display's glow, simply looking out beyond the glass. Fuyushima looked at Kai's profile. "Why did you always do it alone" Different from the angry shout from before. A quiet question. A voice that genuinely didn't understand. Kai didn't answer. Unconsciously, his right hand touched his left knee. Over the white shirt, as if confirming its shape. The sensation of the surgical scar from the knee that had shattered seven years ago. Fuyushima saw that gesture. He said nothing. He simply stood beside the window. Next to Kai. Side by side, they looked out at the night sea. There were no words. Only the sound of waves. Distant, faint. Seconds passed. "…I still don't trust you yet" Fuyushima said that, then left the room. The door closed. Kai's eyes returned to the world beyond the window. The night sea remained unchanged, dark and quiet in its place. But Kai's eyes were slightly different from before. Not that frozen gaze. Something had, just barely, begun to thaw. The 72-hour time limit was still counting down. Nexus was already moving. Sara's report had been delivered. The next move would come soon. But Kai was no longer alone. It was a sensation he hadn't felt in seven years.

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Episode 6

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

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