The clean bill of health from the Regional League was a massive victory for the Graviton Ghosts, yet it felt strangely hollow to Kenji. The official clearance only intensified the atmosphere of suspicion and resentment around them. They were no longer just underdogs; they were pariahs, cleared of cheating but accused of black magic.
The next qualifier match was held in a hostile, packed arena. Their opponent, the Aura Knights, were known for their overwhelming defensive Grav-Walls and frustratingly slow, methodical play. They aimed to neutralize the Ghosts' agility and force them into energy waste, a direct response to the rumors of the Ghosts' "impossible efficiency."
"They're not trying to score," Hiroshi analyzed from the bench, his voice tight. "They're trying to exhaust Riku. They know he's our main aerial threat. Their Grav-Walls are purely defensive, forcing us to use high-energy Curving Echos just to break through their perimeter."
Kenji nodded, watching the action. Riku, despite his newfound control, was visibly frustrated. Every jump, every dash was met with an impenetrable shimmering barrier, forcing him to abort and waste a fraction of his Grav-Gauntlet Energy.
The Echo System pulsed a warning:
[ALERT: RIKU'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION: 15% ABOVE OPTIMAL TRAJECTORY EFFICIENCY. DEFENSIVE COUNTERMEASURE IS EFFECTIVE.]
Kenji frowned. He couldn't risk another overt Echo-nudge; Ryoma and his analysts were watching every flicker of movement and every energy spike on the broadcast. He had to coach them out of this trap.
"Riku! Don't commit to the leap!" Kenji shouted, forcing his coaching to be purely verbal. "Stop fighting the Walls! Go low! The Grav-Walls are high-frequency; they leave a blind spot near the floor!"
Riku hesitated, then dropped his trajectory, executing a lightning-fast, low-to-the-ground Grav-Dash that slipped under the Aura Knights' shimmering defense. The crowd gasped. It was a risky, almost reckless move, but it worked.
"Akari, now! Use the floor-current!"
Akari, catching the cue, redirected the Aetherball. Instead of a high arc, she used a technique Kenji had taught them: a Ground-Echo—a subtle gravitational pulse aimed at the floor that sent the ball ricocheting off the dome's surface, skipping past the baffled defenders and into the Gravi-Net.
GHOSTS: 1 - KNIGHTS: 0.
The Ghosts won the match, 12-10, purely by adapting and refusing to engage in a battle of attrition. They were proving that their "anomalous" style was reproducible and highly effective.
Ryoma's Countermove
The post-match analysis showed Kenji a terrifying sight. Ryoma Sato was on a news panel, not talking about the Ghosts' win, but about Kenji's past.
"Kenji Tanaka was the most talented junior player of his generation," Ryoma stated, his voice full of feigned respect that dripped venom. "But his career ended because of a severe Grav-Gauntlet malfunction. A catastrophic overload that caused permanent nerve damage. Now, he's back, coaching a team with techniques identical to his own lost style, achieving 'unusual efficiency' in energy use, and they use a coach's gauntlet that is supposedly 'inert'."
Ryoma leaned into the camera, his eyes cold. "I believe Kenji Tanaka hasn't healed. I believe he is still broken, and that he is using a new, black-market device to channel his shattered dreams through these players. It's not just about winning; it's about his own obsession."
The news segment then ran footage of Kenji's devastating "Collapse" six years prior—the explosion of energy, the horrifying fall. It was a brutal public shaming.
The Cost of the System
The next day, the pressure was too much. Akari was the first to confront Kenji.
"Coach," she said quietly, "are they right? Is the Echo System... dangerous?"
Kenji looked at her, then at Riku and Hiroshi, who were listening intently. "The system itself isn't dangerous. It's a tool. But every powerful tool has a cost."
He finally confessed the true burden of the Aether's Echo.
"To remain undetected by modern scanners, the system has to operate outside the modern energy grid. It doesn't draw power from a battery; it draws minute amounts of energy from the localized Aether field created by nearby active Grav-Gauntlets."
Riku looked horrified. "You mean... our gauntlets?"
"It's a negligible amount," Kenji quickly reassured them, "less than 0.1% of your output. You barely notice it. But it means the system relies on you to function. And that means if the League finds the system, they won't just ban me. They'll ban you, too, for being unknowing energy conduits for an illegal device."
Suddenly, the victory felt like a trap. Their brilliance was built on a foundation of dangerous secrecy.
"And there's more," Kenji admitted, pulling up a complex schematic on the Echo interface. "Ryoma's investigation into my past has activated a deep-level defense protocol within the ancient gauntlet. It's designed to protect the user's anonymity from any historical record search."
[WARNING: HISTORICAL DATA SCRAMBLE INITIATED. ENERGY SIGNATURE IS INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE.]
"The system is trying to erase all digital records of my injury and my failure. It's protecting me, but it's doing so by fighting the League's main servers." Kenji's face was grim. "It's starting an invisible, digital war. If the system is discovered in the middle of this high-level scramble, the resulting feedback loop could potentially overload a localized Grav-Gauntlet field nearby... like it did six years ago."
The air went cold. Kenji didn't have to say it. His victory over the technical review had triggered a desperate digital defense that put the Ghosts and potentially Kenji himself in real physical danger if the system was forcibly exposed. Ryoma wasn't just after his reputation; he was closing in on the core threat.
"So, what do we do, Coach?" Hiroshi asked, his voice steady despite the shock. "We can't stop playing. But we can't let them find the source."
Kenji looked at the glowing schematic, then at his team—the only family he had left. "We do the only thing we can. We win. We win so big, and so legitimately, that they can't afford to tear us down. And we teach you to move completely free of the Echo, so that when the inevitable confrontation comes, the Ghosts are still standing."