My Ultimate Gacha System-Chapter 296 - 285: After Bologna II

Centro Bortolotti — Recovery Room 8:27 AM

Inside the recovery room the bikes are already lined up against the near wall and ice baths are filled and waiting in the far corner where steam rises faintly off the cold water’s surface, and towels are stacked in even piles on the shelves beside them while two physios move between the stations making final checks on temperatures and equipment settings.

Starters from the Bologna match head directly toward the ice baths without stopping to check anything else, and Musso reaches the nearest bath first and lowers himself in with both hands gripping the sides before the cold hits and his breath comes out in a sharp controlled exhale through his nose while his jaw stays set. Scalvini follows on the adjacent bath and his entry is quicker, less ceremonial, the exhale shorter because he’s done this enough times that the shock has reduced to something manageable. Koopmeiners sits on the edge of the third bath with his feet already in, and he takes two slow breaths before pushing off with his hands and dropping in fully.

Demien moves past the ice baths toward the bikes and mounts the nearest one before setting the resistance at a low level and beginning to pedal at a controlled rhythm that he holds without checking the speed indicator, and across the room Lookman takes the bike beside him and starts at a similar pace with his eyes forward and his hands loose on the grips.

A physio moves between them asking about tightness or soreness from the match, and Lookman shakes his head once without slowing while Demien says nothing and continues pedaling at the same controlled rhythm.

Through the cracked window on the far wall the sound of the non-starters’ session on the secondary pitch carries in faintly — quick passes between players, sharp calls for the ball, a coach’s voice correcting spacing — while inside the recovery room the only mechanical sound is the quiet whir of bike wheels turning.

Centro Bortolotti — Main Gym 9:48 AM

Screens mounted on the walls of the main gym cycle through the morning sports channels, and on the largest one Sky Sport Italia runs their Friday morning show while highlights from yesterday’s midweek fixtures play across the lower third of the screen before transitioning to the Coppa Italia graphic that appears briefly before the Bologna coverage starts.

The match footage runs in sequence — Atalanta’s defensive shape in the first half, then the halftime graphic showing the aggregate, and then the second half plays through in fast highlights before the first goal appears and the frame slows for the broadcast replay. The commentator’s voice rises over the finish and the studio cuts back to the desk where the panel discusses the result while a graphic appears beside the presenter’s shoulder showing the final scoreline and aggregate. "Walter with a decisive performance off the bench," the presenter says while gesturing toward the screen, and one of the analysts begins talking about the specific moments where the match changed while tactical graphics appear beside him.

Near the water station a second screen shows the Gazzetta dello Sport website, and the headline across the top of the page reads: ATALANTA REACH COPPA FINAL — WALTER HAT-TRICK SEALS IT. Below it in smaller text a separate headline reads: GOLDEN BOY WATCH — ITALIAN YOUNGSTERS MAKING NOISE. Demien’s name appears in a list of five beneath that headline alongside names from other clubs.

Scalvini notices it while he’s refilling his bottle at the station and he reads the screen for two seconds before tapping it once with his finger, then he turns and glances across the gym toward Demien without speaking, and when Demien looks up briefly Scalvini nods once and turns back toward the tap.

Centro Bortolotti — Facilities 12:04 PM

At midday the recovery rotation transitions and starters finish their final ice intervals before moving to the massage tables along the wall near the physio office, where the physio staff works through shoulders and calves and hamstrings in sequence and players lie face down or face up without conversation while hands press into muscle and find the tightest points.

Demien finishes his bike session and heads toward the weight room on the far side of the building for light core work, and a few other substitutes from the Bologna bench follow in ones and twos and take the stations around the room while keeping the loads minimal because the day is about maintenance rather than load, and the routine is quiet and controlled while equipment adjusts and weights move slowly and without urgency.

Centro Bortolotti — Main Building Entrance 12:41 PM

The main doors open and Ederson walks through them wearing training gear with his bag over one shoulder, and his movement is unhurried while he scans the corridor with the expression of someone returning to a familiar place after an absence rather than arriving somewhere new.

Two players near the entrance notice first because they’re standing by the water station and they’re facing the door, and the reaction is involuntary — a shift in posture, a turn of the head — before Hateboer calls across from three meters away: "Finally."

Others in the corridor turn at the voice and register Ederson’s presence in the same moment, and a few call out without moving while others simply watch, and Ederson grins but says nothing yet because he’s been away long enough that a single word feels like it would require a speech to justify, and instead he keeps moving toward the medical office at the end of the corridor and pushes through the door.

He’s inside for ten minutes.

When he emerges a physio walks beside him with a clipboard in hand and they exchange a few words in low tones while moving down the corridor toward the rear exit that leads to the training pitches, and the physio checks something on the board as they push through the door and steps outside.

Centro Bortolotti — Main Training Pitch 1:03 PM

Players begin moving toward the pitch without instruction and the gathering is automatic the way it always is when something is happening that doesn’t need to be announced, because seventeen players separately deciding to walk in the same direction at the same time communicates everything about what’s expected without anyone needing to organize it.

Koopmeiners walks out through the rear door first and his cleats click against the concrete step before going quiet on the grass, and then de Roon follows, and then Scalvini and Lookman behind him, and within ninety seconds a loose circle has formed near the center of the pitch around Ederson who stands in the middle with his hands on his hips while he shakes his head slightly and his expression holds the suppressed smile of someone who knows what’s coming.

Tolói steps forward from the edge of the group and holds a bib in one hand, and when Ederson looks at him Tolói lets it drop toward him.

"Fifty shuttles," Tolói says. "Go."

The group claps once in unison.

Ederson laughs — a short, genuine sound — but his feet are already moving before the laugh finishes, and he turns toward the first marker and accelerates because standing and arguing with thirty players watching would be worse than running, and the shuttles begin with his boots cutting across the grass in quick turns while the group watches from the circle. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Dieci," de Roon calls when the count reaches ten, and others join for twenty and thirty, and by forty the voices overlap with each other while Ederson’s pace holds without dropping because his fitness has been maintained through the rehabilitation work even if match sharpness hasn’t been tested yet, and when he hits the marker for the fiftieth time and straightens up the clapping starts again louder than before while he bends forward with his hands on his knees and his breathing comes heavy and fast.

De Roon walks over from the edge of the circle and his hand comes down twice on Ederson’s shoulder with firm weight behind each contact.

"Welcome back."

Centro Bortolotti — Main Training Pitch 1:11 PM

The light session begins with Ederson integrated, and there’s no contact drill and no opposition pressure because the physio’s instructions were clear about what the first day back involved, and instead passing sequences and positional work fill the thirty minutes at reduced intensity while the group works through familiar patterns at a pace below match speed.

Ederson slots into the midfield without needing to be directed and calls for the ball from the moment the session starts, receiving it with clean first touches before distributing with the same efficiency that made his absence noticeable across the weeks it lasted, and though his rhythm is slightly slower than it would be in a match the accuracy is there and the sharpness in his movement between positions shows that the time away hasn’t taken the football out of him.

After thirty minutes the physio raises a hand from the sideline and signals him off with a single gesture, and Ederson jogs toward the touchline without argument before beginning his stretching routine while the session continues behind him.

Demien is at the far end of the pitch during a water break and he glances toward the touchline while lifting his bottle, and Ederson catches his eye briefly across the distance before nodding once, and Demien nods back before the drill restarts.

Centro Bortolotti — Locker Room 3:02 PM

The session ends at three and players head inside and the locker room fills with the quiet noise of boots being removed and showers running and conversations happening in short fragments — where someone’s going tonight, what time to arrive Monday, whether a specific physio appointment is confirmed for the weekend — while nobody lingers because there’s nothing left to do today and rest is the priority until Wednesday.

The training schedule for the next four days is posted on the board near the exit door and the sheet is printed cleanly with the schedule running Wednesday through Saturday, then MONZA — AWAY — SUNDAY printed in bold at the bottom with the kickoff time beside it and Gasperini’s signature across the bottom of the sheet.

Players read it in passing without stopping, and the ones who haven’t already begun leaving move toward the exit once they’ve seen it while the room empties gradually.

Centro Bortolotti — Locker Room 3:17 PM

Demien sits on the bench in front of his locker with his phone in his hand and the system notification that’s been waiting in his peripheral vision activates as he unlocks the screen.

「CURRENT BALANCE」 「TP: 720」 「SP: 4」 「MP: 479」

He closes it and stands from the bench, then reaches for his jacket on the hook and pulls it on before grabbing his bag and walking toward the exit door.

Outside the sky is still overcast and the grey sits over the facility the same way it did this morning while the light stays flat and the air carries the cool of late April without the warmth that afternoon usually adds when the sun is visible. The parking lot is half empty now and the spaces where teammates parked hours ago are filled with nothing and the tarmac shows the oil stains and white lines without cars over them.

Six days until Monza.

Then Roma.

Then the final.

He walks toward the main road.