Episode 9

Team V surges into the lead as Nagi, itching to slack off, is told by Mikage to bury five more first. The sheer polish of Nagi's finishing convinces Isagi they are facing a genuine monster. When Team Z pushes forward, Mikage strips the ball from Kunigami and feeds another long pass to Nagi, who this time flicks it up and hammers a bicycle kick for his second strike. Isagi's attempt to unleash Chigiri's pace fails when Tsurugi matches him stride for stride, and with too many bodies swarming Nagi, Tsurugi is left free to make it three to nil.

Where his teammates see doom, Bachira sees a challenge. Grinning, he asks whether Isagi is afraid, then argues that beating something special means becoming something special. He slaloms through step-overs and a roulette turn to shed Mikage, floats an air elastico past Tsurugi, weaves through three more defenders, and finishes with a rabona to put Team Z on the board. Kunigami reminds everyone that the goal was no reckless fluke but the product of Bachira's dribbling weapon, and that each of them must forge a fresh formula or lose.

Isagi reorganizes the defense, pincering Mikage so his supply to Nagi dries up. Chigiri harasses Tsurugi enough to knock a pass off course, and when a Nagi shot deflects off Igarashi's face, the loose ball reaches Bachira. He lays it to Kunigami, who steels himself beyond his usual twenty-eight-meter range and drills a wobbling technical strike past the keeper to cut the gap to a single goal.

At the interval Team Z is buoyant, with Kunigami describing a brand-new sensation in how he struck the ball, while Mikage warns his side that they must adjust in turn. The second half sees Team V close down Kunigami faster, so he releases the ball to Bachira and then Gagamaru, whose scorpion kick is cleared off the line by Tsurugi. When the rebound falls to Isagi, he spots a shooting lane from twenty-three meters but hesitates, and the chance is snuffed out. Nagi mocks his inefficiency, needling him about why he keeps trying, and Isagi snaps back that the good part is only just beginning.

Watching alongside Teieri, Ego confirms the match is unfolding exactly as he foresaw. He likens awakening to assembling a jigsaw, the moment when relentless trial and error finally clicks every piece into place and a new self is born, the instant a player discovers who they truly are.

Raichi and Igarashi rattle Mikage by taunting that he is nothing without Nagi to finish for him, goading him into a reckless elbow that earns a yellow card. From the restart Chigiri realizes he cannot beat Tsurugi over a short burst, so he plays the ball into open space and races it down himself, knowing his stamina wins out over distance. He reaches it first and levels the score at three apiece, with half an hour still to play.

Airing on December 4, 2022, the episode draws on Chapters 27 through 31 within the First Selection Arc. Ego closes by declaring that the finest striker alive is the one who can rule this blue frenzy. The lighthearted Additional Time skit, Team Z Impersonation Championship No. 1, has the boys guessing each other's impressions, with Chigiri's unnerving take on Ego crowning him the winner.