I arrived home, took a bath and as I walked to the kitchen preparing to make something to eat before I went to bed, I noticed a letter sitting on the kitchen table with my name on it. Thinking it was a letter left by my parents I picked it up, opened it, and scanned the contents of the letter.
[Japan Football Association]
-Player Improvement Program Invitation
As a part of the Japan Football Association's initiative to nurture promising talents.
We are pleased to extend an invitation for you to participate in our player improvement program.
You are scheduled to attend tomorrow at the designated facility.
Please be prepared to meet with the nation's brightest prospects
Details:
Location: Japan Football Association training facility
Time 8:00 AM, tomorrow
We look forward to your participation
Sincerely, Japan Football Association
"I hope these brightest talents aren't a waste of my time" Zen muttered under his breath.
[Time Skip]
I arrived at the Japan Football Association training facility and found myself among a large crowd of people. As I walked inside the building noticing many familiar faces who were all somewhat famous for their skills.
Feeling so many gazes staring at me I ignored them and walked towards a corner with not many people near it. after a sound of coughing from the stage drew everyone's attention, followed by a voice.
"Congratulations you diamonds in the rough according to my judgment all three hundred of you are the best strikers that are under the age of 18" Ego Jinpachi said. I looked over to the stage and saw a tall, skinny, pale man wearing black jeans with a belt, and a black shirt with a bolo tie on his neck. Ego continued "My name is Ego Jinpachi, and I was hired to make Japan win the World Cup."
"I'll be straightforward with you all. Japan only needs one thing to become one of the strongest teams in football, and the thing that Japan needs is a revolutionary striker. From the 300 strikers here I will make one of you the best striker in the world." He said with confidence as he gazed down at everyone.
"For this purpose, we have built this facility," He said as he pointed to the screen behind him, showing the players the facilities and the living conditions the 300 players will use.
"The last player standing will become the world's best striker." Ego exuded confidence as he said those ambitious words.
Many people in the crowd were shocked to hear the words of Ego, as they looked around to see the reaction of other people. Zen still had a calm expression on his face while also looking at the responses of others, but then suddenly a white-haired boy spoke up "For most of us, our team is still important to us. Also, some of us still have to participate in nationals, there is no way we can accept these terms. I cannot betray my teammates." He said with a determined expression on his face.
His words made the other players speak up showing their worries and dissatisfaction with the project.
Ego ignored the crowd's words as he said, "Football at its core is about scoring goals, even if you have to use and sacrifice your teammates. The best Football player is the one who scores the most goals. If you want to play the fake version of football, then get out." He looked down at the people who spoke up with disdain.
He then continued "Egoism is the one thing that Japan lacks. Only someone with a strong egoism can become the number one striker in the world. My purpose is to create a player with very strong egoism from the corpses of 299 people and that person will be the strongest striker of all time."
He then asked everyone to imagine themselves in the final play of the world cup getting a pass from their teammate. "It's one on one with the goalkeeper. there is a teammate wide open five meters to the right, if you pass the ball your team will score a goal, but you take it in your own hands and shoot."
"If that desire that egoism then walk through this door" he pointed behind him as the door opened up.
Without hesitation, I began to walk towards the door.