Rafael’s mother read the paragraph without speaking. Then she raised her eyes.
"Why would you do the work for nothing?"
Moreau leaned back slightly.
"Because Rafael turns eighteen next year. If I do my job well now, I hope he will choose to retain me afterward."
"So this is an investment."
"In a relationship, yes. It guarantees me nothing. He could thank me on his birthday and sign with somebody else."
"Would that bother you?"
"Very much." A brief smile touched his mouth. "It would not give me the right to stop him."
Rafael’s mother returned to the document.
Bell had hidden his intentions beneath vague promises and clauses broad enough to mean almost anything. Moreau wanted something too. The difference was that he had placed the limits around it in front of them.
She checked two more sections with him, then closed the agreement without signing.
"Has anything happened since we last came here?" she asked.
Moreau’s attention moved to Rafael.
"One thing, but I want to be precise about what it means."
"Go on," Rafael said.
"A scouting contact of mine attended Sunday’s match. Afterward, he learned that another scout had requested footage of you from Metz."
His mother’s fingers tightened around the edge of the folder. "Which club?"
"I don’t know."
"Can you find out?"
"Possibly, but I have not approached the scout. Nobody from another club has contacted me, Rafael or, as far as I know, his mother. Metz have not told me that an approach exists."
Rafael understood why Moreau had started with the warning.
"So someone asked for footage," he said. "That’s all."
"That’s all. It means your recent performances placed your name in front of someone who may watch again. It is not an offer, and it may lead nowhere."
His mother’s grip loosened.
"Record anything genuine that reaches you," Rafael said. "But don’t contact clubs or encourage negotiations while Metz are still in the championship."
Moreau studied him for a moment. "You don’t want the distraction."
"I don’t want people using my name to create interest that isn’t there."
"Understood. I filter information and bring it to you. Nothing goes farther without permission."
His mother reopened the agreement.
This time, she picked up the pen.
She signed as Rafael’s legal representative. Rafael added his name in the marked places, and Moreau completed both copies before checking that every page had been initialled where required.
Moreau slid one copy into a plain folder and gave it to Rafael’s mother.
"Keep this. If you ever have a question about what I can do, the answer is in there."
She accepted the folder and placed it beside her bag.
Outside, the afternoon traffic had begun filling the street. Rafael and his mother walked half a block before she spoke.
"I feel better about that contract."
"Because the lawyer approved it?"
"Because I understood what I signed." She tucked the folder more securely beneath her arm. "That does not mean I trust Moreau yet."
"Neither do I."
"You seemed comfortable in there."
Rafael watched a bus pass through the junction ahead of them.
"He answered the questions. That earns him another meeting, not complete trust."
His mother gave him a sideways glance but accepted the answer.
The Moreau Rafael remembered had spent years proving himself. This younger version had been open about what he wanted and the authority he would possess. Past knowledge showed Rafael what the man might become; it could not do the work of trust for him.
At home, his mother stored the contract with their other important documents. Rafael went upstairs, closed his bedroom door and opened the System.
Pale blue light spread across his vision.
He skimmed the unchanged figures and stopped on the lines that mattered.
[PLAYER STATUS]
Name: Rafael Morales
Age: 17
Club: FC Metz
Squad: U19
Position: Striker
Secondary Position: Left Forward
Preferred Foot: Right
Overall Rating: 62
Unassigned Free Attribute Points: 2
Finishing: 67
Stamina: 60
Strength: 56
Finishing drew his attention first.
It had always been the simplest answer for a striker. More goals brought more attention, and both of Sunday’s finishes had shown what he could do inside the penalty area.
They had also shown what he could not do alone.
His teammates had created both openings. The opposition caused him far more trouble whenever a defender established contact before Rafael secured the ball. Against stronger centre-backs, intelligence could help him avoid some duels. It could not remove them from the sport.
Senior defenders would be heavier, quicker into contact and better at using their arms without conceding a foul. Rafael had learned that through years his seventeen-year-old body had not yet lived.
He selected Strength.
[ALLOCATE ONE FREE ATTRIBUTE POINT TO STRENGTH?]
[CONFIRM]
[CANCEL]
Rafael confirmed.
[ATTRIBUTE UPGRADED]
[Strength +1]
[Unassigned Free Attribute Points: 1]
[CLOSE]
The notification disappeared.
He left the final point unspent. Strength was the clearest weakness now, but another match might expose something more urgent.
Wednesday passed between lessons, recovery work and a technical session that placed little strain on his legs. On Thursday morning, Rafael returned the notebook and completed a practice paper before lunch.
That afternoon, Metz increased the tempo. The squad worked through tight possession games before finishing with short attacking patterns against defenders. Rafael noticed no dramatic change. He still lost one duel when a centre-back stepped across him. During the next, the defender drove a shoulder into his back. Rafael’s feet shifted, but the ball remained beneath him long enough to return it into midfield.
That was all one attribute point deserved.
At the end of the session, the coach dismissed most of the squad but asked the U19 starters to remain on the pitch.
Rafael joined Yanis and the others near the centre circle. Several reserve players were leaving a neighbouring field, their boots striking the paved path beside the grass.
"We have a closed training match tomorrow afternoon," the coach said. "Two halves of thirty-five minutes against a reserve group. Some unused substitutes will be involved, along with older academy players who need minutes."
The coach waited for the murmurs to stop.
"You will play as the U19 side."
His gaze moved across the group.
"They will close space faster than the teams you face most Sundays, and they will use contact better. Anyone trying to impress on his own will expose the rest of the team."
"Your schools have been contacted," the coach continued. "Check the adjusted timetable tonight and report here at one-thirty. Recovery immediately afterward."
He dismissed them.
Yanis fell into step beside Rafael on the way to the changing room.
"Think they’ll let us touch the ball?"
"Not if you take three touches every time."
"You’re meant to encourage me."
"Tomorrow."
That evening, the school message arrived while he was revising. His examination remained in the morning, but his final lessons had been moved so he could leave for the academy at noon.
He finished the page in front of him, packed the books he needed and opened the System once more.
[Unassigned Free Attribute Points: 1]
Rafael closed it without making another selection.
Friday would give him seventy minutes against older footballers.
By the final whistle, he would know whether the added strength mattered.