Chapter 8

Still stinging from the defeat, the players change out of their kits while Raichi pins the loss on Isagi, insisting the forward role failed them and that he should take it next. One by one the others claim the position for themselves. Isagi, off to the side, keeps circling back to Baro's parting words, unable to explain why instinct sent the ball to Kunigami rather than into the net.

Kuon shuts down the arguing, reminding everyone that a second loss wipes out the entire team, so there is no room left for selfish thinking. The talk shifts to what the opening round is really testing. Chigiri guesses it strips the sport back to its basics, while Isagi ties Ego's phrase about building football from nothing to a freestyle game, the same chaos Baro broke apart simply by scoring and then anchoring his side. Isagi decides Team Z needs a dominant talent of its own to survive.

Ego appears on the monitor, confirms their conclusion, and posts the day's results before steering the conversation toward the idea of a personal weapon.

The first selection is framed as proof that no side wins without a commanding striker at its core. Ego explains that each elite scorer wields a distinct weapon capable of unsettling the opposition and forcing them to yield. He caps the lesson by tasking Team Z with uncovering and sharpening those individual strengths.

The standings released after the match place Team V at the top, followed by X, then W, with Z fourth and Y last.

Message is the fourth chapter collected in Volume 2 and the eighth overall in the series, set during the First Selection Arc. It first ran in Japan on September 26, 2018, with the English edition arriving April 20, 2021. Its events are dramatized in the third episode of the anime.