Chapter 31

Inside the facility's control room, Ego puts a question to Anri Teieri about what awakening really means. When she guesses it might amount to some superpower, he offers a different image, comparing the game to a puzzle whose countless scattered pieces let a player's ego blossom only once they settle into their rightful places. Awakening, he concludes, is the instant a striker grasps his true self and the full reach of his ability.

Out on the pitch, Yoichi Isagi replays Nagi's cutting words and steels himself to shoot, refusing to remain the forward who freezes before goal. Fed by Zantetsu, Reo cannot shake Raichi and marvels at his stamina, only for Raichi to jeer that without Nagi he is nothing but a flashy generalist. Stung, Reo throws a punch and earns a yellow card, and Raichi goads him to try it again and get himself sent off.

Play then swings to Chigiri, met by Zantetsu's boast of being the quickest on the field. Reasoning that his own higher top speed will beat Zantetsu's short burst over open ground, Chigiri lofts the ball far downfield as a pass to himself, outsprints his marker across a ten-meter stretch, and with thirty minutes left buries the finish to level the score at three apiece.

Ego walks Anri through the idea of a striker awakening, Reo lashes out at Raichi and is booked, and Chigiri wins his speed duel with Zantetsu before scoring the equalizer. The chapter sits in Volume 4 and the First Selection Arc across twenty pages, first published in Japan on March 20, 2019 and in English on June 15, 2021, with its events adapted in the anime's ninth episode.