The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 104: Graduation Day
Author’s note: Hello, everyone, I am sorry for the inconvenient. Today, this story will have no normal update. I am uploading ten Chapters in one go, wanting to meet the requirement Chapter for my privilege page. Tomorrow, the update will be back to a normal one.
Also, please, support this story more by joining the privilege page, and help me pass the requirement for the Win-Win one! Thank you!
Federixo_01
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It was still spring break, but somehow, Hakodate Nishi High was packed with people. Not just students, but parents came here for a big celebration today. Yeah, this was the graduation day for the senior year students after they had taken their University Entrance Exam.
The crowd was quite big outside the school hall, with not only those who graduated, but also the students from the first and second years coming as well. Those graduated students were also members of school clubs, and their juniors were all here to celebrate their graduation and wish them luck for the future.
The sound of people crying, mixed with the last laughter for their high school day and the loud shutter of the camera, echoed throughout the surroundings, adding to the festive atmosphere in this hall.
Higo himself yawned big right now, somehow feeling detached from the overly emotional atmosphere around him. The boy didn’t really join a club until Kumiko dragged him a few months ago, so he didn’t really know any of the graduated students in front of him.
The only people he knew were the three scoundrels whom he challenged the first time he joined the team, and the boy couldn’t say that he was close to them here.
Still, since everyone on the team was here, he wouldn’t want to be left out, so Higo had no choice but to join the fun here.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait so long until the boy found the faces he was waiting for. The three former members of the football team, Junya, Ojiro, and Miyashi, finally came out of the hall, still being surrounded by their friends.
Not just him, but all the other football team members perked instantly, waving at them with the same enthusiastic level that all the kouhai here brought whenever they saw their graduated senior out of the hall.
"Senpai, here!" Makino greeted them all.
"Oh, Makino! You are here as well!" Miyashi grinned, exchanging a fist-bump with the boy. "Anyway, you fucking did a good job at Sapporo! We are so proud of you!" He praised the whole team with a little laugh, enough to make some of them blush in embarrassment.
"It is still not as good as when you are here, Senpai," Hiroshi spoke weakly.
"Bah! No need to be modest, Brat!" Ojiro, the violent one, slapped the boy’s back quite hard. "Even though you only got the third place, you did a fucking better job against Sappotani than when we were here! That just shows you are stronger than last year! Your luck in drawing is just terrible this time, okay?"
"Hey, my luck is quite good, you know?!" Kumiko, the one who was responsible for that, complained playfully.
"You? Good luck?" Junya and some of the boys snorted in amusement. "Kumiko-chan, no offense to you, but drawing is definitely not your forte. Remember how you always lost in drawing lots?"
"Yeah, yeah, you remember how you insisted on joining the game, just to lose four times in a row?"
"Hey, no need to bring that dark past here!"
Everyone was chatting and laughing, with only Higo feeling lost here. It seemed that the other senpai besides those three were the former members of the team as well, but they didn’t come often since everyone was busy with the entrance exam.
Right now, he tried his best to shrink his presence so that no one could notice him, joining the motion like a perfect NPC in the background. Unfortunately, it seemed his new achievement would never allow it, especially once Ojiro’s eyes shifted to him out of nowhere.
"Oi, you brat! Where are you going to hide? Come here!" The bald boy suddenly grabbed his shoulder, forcing Higo to be the center of attention out of nowhere.
The boy shrank instantly under everyone’s gaze, but he still tried to defend himself here. "What running away? Kumiko-chan is here, why would I leave her alone with you?!" He retorted back.
Some faces turned dark when they heard Higo bragging about his close relationship with the girl. Normally, Ojiro would also be in this group. However, this time, he couldn’t care less, just laughing out loud while turning his head at Miyashi.
"Oi, Miyashi! Look at him! Don’t you think that your successor is capable?! He even gets the Golden Glove Award of the prefecture, you know?! That’s the trophy that you are aiming for since your first year, and he gets it the first time he enters the tournament!"
Some of the senpai here whom Higo didn’t really know, their names gasped, probably from realizing the weight of that award.
"Damn, you even won against Sappotani’s goalkeeper?!"
"Hey, what is so special about Sappotani’s goalie? He just stays still comfortably because no one can attack him!"
"Yeah, don’t you hear that Higo has already made a name in Sapporo?!"
"That’s so fucking crazy... Never have I expected to see someone from our small school to achieve that!"
There was also a trace of jealousy in Miyashi’s eyes. As a goalkeeper, that award was something he eyed for a long time, so to see his kouhai get it felt like a sting in his heart. However, he didn’t let that feeling linger for too long, as his trademark wide smile finally appeared on his face again. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
"Ha! What are you bragging about, Ojiro?! This is my successor that we are talking about! I know what he is capable of the most!" He laughed, hugging Higo’s shoulder in a friendly manner.
"Bah! I am the one who knows him first, Bastard!"
"You mean, you are the first one he cursed out of all of us?!"
"Junya, you bastard! You want to fight?!"
The atmosphere was quite light here, almost like it wasn’t a graduation party. In the end, after bickering with each other, Kumiko finally stepped forward, coming with several boxes for each one of them.
"Ah! Is that our present?!" Miyashi perked up immediately.
"Have a little shame, will you?!" Junya slapped his friend’s back quite hard. Still, his hand also moved to get the box as well here; he couldn’t really betray his curiosity. "What is it, Kumiko-chan?" He asked.
The other senpai also received it, and they stared at Kumiko questioningly.
Instead of answering, though, the girl just smiled mysteriously and said, "Just open it together!"
They all looked at each other for a second, and in the next moment, the sound of paper getting ripped filled the air. All the retired members of the team tried to open their box, while their juniors were waiting impatiently, wanting to see their reaction.
As the one who got the box first, it was Ojiro who got the first look at his present. The moment his eyes caught it, though, the boy was so stunned, staring at Kumiko with his jaw dropped. "This..."
"What? What is it?!" The others hurried a little bit at Ojiro’s reaction here, just to find themselves having the exact same reaction here. "Holy fuck..."
There, inside everyone’s box was the new jersey of the team, complete with their name and number on the back. The proud black-and-white color was so familiar to them all, and the school’s name hanging proudly on the chest was enough to bring back all the memories of their time in the club, and some people started to shed tears from that.
"I know it is not much, Senpai...." Kumiko spoke gently. "However, these are all the presents that we prepared for you. Remember, no matter how far you go, you are still a member of Hakodate Nishi High Football Team, so hold your head high and be proud of your alma mater, okay?"
