In the Japan team's hotel conference room, Akutsu casually handed the tournament draw sheet to Akashi. The others quickly gathered around to look at the knockout stage bracket in Akashi's hand. Several of them fell silent.
"Alright! We've got three days of rest before the knockout stage begins. I've got an announcement about a roster change!" Mifune suddenly spoke up.
"Since Mitsuya needs to do further data collection and analysis, and will also be involved in tactical planning, he's officially withdrawing from the player list," Mifune said.
Everyone instinctively turned toward Mitsuya after hearing this, but seeing his smiling face, they knew—it was probably Mitsuya's own decision.
"His spot will be filled by the substitute, Kaji Kazena! As for the knockout matches, your first priority should be figuring out how to beat France. If you lose, Japan's World Cup journey ends here!" Mifune followed up with the substitution news and reminded them to focus on the upcoming match.
Akashi had no objection to Mifune's words, but something else had caught his curiosity. From what he remembered in the original storyline, one of the teams among the final sixteen was a religious nation called Aramenoma—and they were Japan's first-round opponent. But he didn't see their name on today's draw sheet.
So Akashi asked Kurobe for the group stage match results of the other groups. The staff soon brought over the results from the remaining seven groups. Akashi took one look and—well, it made sense. Thanks to the butterfly effect, Aramenoma had ended up in the same group as Argentina and Switzerland, which explained why they didn't make it through.
He also checked the U.S. team's group stage results. They had won all three of their matches. Even with world-ranked number fourteen South Africa in their group, the U.S. still dominated with a 3–0 score. Ryōma and Ryōga both played in that match—doubles.
Of course, Akashi wasn't actually concerned about Aramenoma. He'd just wanted to use their matchup to get a read on Spain's Seda. But now that wasn't going to work.
Meanwhile, the other countries had also received the knockout bracket. Some of the teams that didn't make it past the group stage chose to head home immediately, but a few players stuck around to watch the rest of the tournament.
Before long, people began to notice how brutal Japan's tournament path looked. In their very first match, they were set to face France, ranked third in the world. If they somehow pulled off a win, they'd most likely face second-ranked Switzerland next. And even top-ranked Germany was in their half of the bracket.
This wasn't just a "group of death" situation—it was way worse. No one expected Japan to get far. Most people assumed they'd be knocked out in their first match, especially since their opponent was one of the BIG4: France.
As for whether the draw was rigged behind the scenes, no one really questioned it. It was rare enough for three BIG4 nations to land in the same half of a bracket.
The next day, Mifune and the other three coaches started discussing the lineup for the France match. Midway through, Byoudouin entered the meeting room and asked Mifune to let Duke take a singles spot. Duke wanted to settle things with Camus.
But after thinking it over, Mifune refused. He felt Duke still carried guilt toward Camus and would likely lose if they faced off. However, he did agree to include Duke in the roster.
Byoudouin, clearly frustrated, left the room. But as he turned the corner, even he twitched at what he saw. Nearly all the high schoolers—except Duke—were lurking outside, eavesdropping. When they saw Byoudouin, they froze, embarrassed.
It was Mōri, Ōmagari, Tanegashima, and Oishi. Oishi especially looked like a mouse caught by a cat when he spotted Byoudouin. Luckily, Byoudouin didn't seem to care much.
But after turning the corner, Byoudouin couldn't help but twitch again. Aside from Duke, practically all the high schoolers had shown up. Clearly, everyone was invested in whether Duke would play singles.
Meanwhile, the junior high players weren't exactly behaving either. Kirihara actually suggested they all sneak over to France's hotel to check things out—only for Sanada to catch and shut him down with a good old-fashioned iron-fist warning.
Even so, no one expected what happened next. Kirihara still ended up near France's hotel that day, somehow dragging along Momoshiro and Jirō with him. No one knew how those three even ended up together.
That night after dinner, Camus personally escorted the three of them back. Sanada's forehead veins were practically bursting. Meanwhile, Akashi chatted with Camus calmly and even asked if he wanted to meet with Duke. Camus politely declined—after all, with a match coming soon, there would be plenty of time to meet.
Akashi didn't push the issue any further. When he returned to the hotel, he found Kirihara looking miserable as Sanada lectured him, while Yukimura stood nearby, watching with an amused smile.
Elsewhere, Momoshiro was staring in terror at a mysterious purple liquid in Inui Sadaharu's hand. Fuji, smiling cheerfully, urged Momoshiro to drink it, saying it was good for his health. At that moment, Momoshiro looked like he wanted to cry.
As for the sleepy sheep Jirō… well, he was out cold, snoring peacefully. Atobe didn't seem interested in punishing him either. In Atobe's view, the fact that they'd gone out to scout their opponents before the match was a good thing. They just needed to improve their methods.
So, the first rest day passed in a chaotic mess. On the second day, the three coaches gathered the junior high players to ask if they wanted to play in the match against France the day after tomorrow. Almost everyone expressed interest—especially those who hadn't had a chance to play during the group stage.
By early evening, the lineup for the France match was finally set. But in a secluded area where no one was watching, Kimijima was huddled with the high schoolers, confirming the details of a plan—they intended to sneak into Mifune-sensei's room later and switch out the lineup sheet.
Once night fell, the ridiculously over-the-top infiltration operation began.
Ōmagari Ryuji was the first to fall. The moment he entered Mifune's room, he stepped on a landmine and had to stay put, letting the others go ahead.
Next, Mōri was attacked by a lion. Thankfully, Ochi used a psychic death glare to scare it off, but they were also forced to abandon the mission. Everyone pinned their hopes on Oishi.
Unfortunately, things only got worse for him. After accidentally knocking over a line of dominos, he weirdly followed them along—and ended up face-to-face with a creepy teacup-shaped doll holding a bomb.
In the end, they failed to steal the lineup from Mifune's room. No one knew why that place was filled with so many bizarre traps, but apparently they were all from Mifune's wild younger days. By now, the sheet had already reached Kurobe's hands.
After the infiltration team was completely wiped out, Kimijima immediately initiated Plan B. Irie stepped up with a dramatic performance to try and trick Kurobe. Unfortunately, whoever wrote his lines clearly had no idea what they were doing. Claiming that contact lenses were a treasured family heirloom? Even an idiot wouldn't fall for that.
Kurobe instantly brushed Irie off and stepped into the elevator. But moments later, the fire alarm went off, and the ceiling panel of the elevator popped open to reveal Danji Date's face. Though the high schoolers did manage to save Kurobe, the lineup sheet ended up left inside the elevator.
After all the chaos, Tanegashima finally got hold of the sheet. Just as they were about to open it and make changes, a voice spoke up behind them:
"Late-night group jog, senpai-tachi? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"It's just you, Akashi-chan? You scared me for a second! See, the thing is…" Tanegashima let out a small sigh of relief when he realized who it was.
Akashi had already known about their plan. After all, this exact thing had happened in the original timeline too. But earlier that morning, Mifune had talked to him about Duke's placement, so Akashi already knew where Duke would be playing in two days.
"Why are you all so sure Camus will definitely be in the singles lineup?" Akashi asked calmly, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.