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Chapter 58 - The Brain That Broke The Board

The locker room felt like a pressure cooker

No one spoke

Not because they didn't want to

But because Keisuke had pinned something to the board before practice

A single line

"I already know what you'll do before you decide to do it"

At first they thought it was a joke

Then the session started

And it stopped being funny real fast

Coach had divided them into two teams

Keisuke would captain one

The other was made up of all the regular starters

Tactics were hidden

No pre-match huddle

Just kick off and chaos

But within five minutes

Everyone on Keisuke's team was exactly where they needed to be

Every run was met with a pass

Every trap triggered like a bomb

And every time the opposing team tried something clever

Keisuke had already shut it down

"You're reading us" the left winger muttered

"No" Keisuke replied

"I'm reading the coach"

Coach Matsuda narrowed his eyes from the sideline

He hadn't even shared tactics with anyone

Yet Keisuke had already flipped his plan inside out

The ball barely touched Keisuke's feet

But he was orchestrating it all

Like a puppet master with invisible strings

A surprise pressing trap on the third ball

A decoy run to bait the centerback out of position

Even a moment where he let the other team score

Just to watch how they celebrated

"That was intentional?" one of his own teammates whispered

Keisuke didn't reply

Just looked up at the ceiling like he was bored

The score didn't matter

The board on the sideline did

Coach walked over to it after the scrimmage

And saw that Keisuke had redrawn the entire team's structure

With names crossed out

New roles suggested

And question marks around the captain's name

"You think you can run this team better than me?" Coach asked

Keisuke finally smiled

"No

I already am"

Silence

Heavy

Uneasy

And for the first time

Someone muttered what everyone else had feared

"He's not just a player

He's becoming the system"

Practice ended early that day

Not because it was bad

But because no one knew if they were still part of the plan

Or just pieces in a blueprint they didn't understand

Keisuke walked out last

Dragging his bag

Looking like a genius who was already ten moves ahead

Except this wasn't chess

This was war

And the board wasn't big enough for everyone

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