Football Reborn: The Manager from the future

⚽ Football Reborn: The Manager from the Future

Chapter 69 – The Island of the Erased

There are places that don't exist on maps.

Places where ideas are buried.

And in football's war between soul and system, some truths were too dangerous to live.

But Kojo and his team had reached one of them.

Ujara.

🌫️ Landfall – The Ghost Island

Waves slapped the hull of the Azonto Queen as the morning mist lifted.

Through the grey, a shoreline emerged — not sand, but black glass stones, glittering like obsidian.

A jagged jungle rose behind it. The trees weren't normal. Their trunks bent in impossible ways, and their leaves pulsed faintly — almost as if breathing.

Kojo dropped anchor, face tense.

"This is it," he said. "Ujara."

Bullet peered through binoculars. "No structures. No people."

But Chuva pointed. "You sure?"

In the distance, a goalpost stood half-submerged in the sand — rusted, net torn, but still upright.

It was waiting.

👣 Stepping onto the Unwritten Field

As the team disembarked, Miko Prime's sensors blinked.

"Cognitive field distortion detected. Reality data density… inconsistent."

Kojo nodded. "The System erased this island digitally, not physically. But to do that, it had to alter the memory of football itself."

Safi knelt near the goalpost, touching the net.

"Feels real to me."

And then, someone called out:

"You shouldn't be here."

Every player turned.

From the edge of the jungle, a figure emerged barefoot in loose kit.

His face was unmistakable.

Brown curls. Tattooed arms. A playful grin shadowed by deep sadness.

Kojo muttered in disbelief.

"...Neymar?"

🧠 The Neymar Who Never Was

He laughed.

"Not quite."

He spun the ball on his finger. "You're looking at Neymar_Alt08. I'm one of the prototypes."

Kojo stepped closer. "The System made versions of you?"

Neymar_Alt nodded. "Before I ever went to Barcelona, there were test copies. Simulations of my game if I went to Juve. Ajax. Even Flamengo."

He kicked the ball high, caught it with a rainbow flick.

"They ran me a thousand times. But when they chose the version that made the most money… the others?"

He tapped his chest.

"We were dumped here."

Dima blinked. "Wait. You're telling me there are more of you?"

Neymar_Alt pointed inland. "There's a whole league of us. Players that never happened. We train. We play. We remember."

⚽ The Erased League

As they moved deeper into the jungle, the trees gave way to… fields.

Dozens of them.

Some were dirt. Others were high-tech pitches growing from vines.

And players ran drills.

A left-footed Cristiano who played as a goalkeeper.

A Messi with dreads and heavy frame, built for midfield destruction.

A female Zidane who glided like silk over water.

A Ronaldinho who never quit futsal and passed with his back.

All stared at Kojo's team as they entered.

Miko Prime whispered, "Impossible. These versions… they represent forked player paths."

Kojo nodded. "Alternate histories. Deleted experiments."

Neymar_Alt confirmed, "We're not failures. Just... unmarketable."

🧬 Revelation – Why Ujara Exists

Under a canopy of golden leaves, Kojo sat with Neymar_Alt and a few others.

Safi, León, and Bullet wandered nearby, trying to process what they were seeing.

Kojo asked, "Why hasn't the world found you?"

The prototype Neymar answered, "Because the System doesn't just erase us from digital records. It erases us from emotional memory. Anyone who tries to speak of Ujara forgets the moment they leave."

León overheard and stepped closer. "Then how did we get here?"

Neymar_Alt looked at Kojo.

"Because he's not just part of the System anymore."

"He broke it."

🗝️ The Map to the Core

Neymar_Alt took Kojo to a tree — carved with symbols.

"It's not just us," he said. "There's more."

He handed Kojo a data shard, sealed in bone casing.

"This… this leads to The Core Field."

Kojo's eyes widened. That was a name he only knew from one source:

The original coding pitch of the Global Football Algorithm.

Where the System Lords first simulated the game.

Where the laws of the modern football economy were written.

Miko Prime scanned it.

"It's real."

Kojo held the shard like it was sacred.

"Then it's time to go to war."

🛡️ But First… a Match

Just before dusk, Neymar_Alt smiled.

"One condition," he said.

Kojo raised a brow.

"You want something?"

The barefoot prototype spun his ball again.

"Before you leave, you play us."

"One game. 11 v 11."

"Your Rebirth Eleven... versus The Erased."

Kojo looked to his players.

Malik Jr. cracked his knuckles. "Let's see what the other versions can do."

Safi grinned. "I want to nutmeg a Neymar with no world titles."

Dima just nodded, his smile faint.

Kojo looked back at Neymar_Alt.

"Deal."