The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 25: The Gameday!
A few days later, Higo found himself walking to the school, warming up his body a little as he tried to fight the weather. It was a nice Saturday to sleep a little bit longer or maybe warm his body under the kotatsu, but unfortunately, not this time. No, this was going to be the day that the team had been waiting for, the day when they would fight for the first time in the tournament.
"Higo-senpai, here!" A voice suddenly greeted him. When Higo turned around, Jun, the tall and clumsy defender, was waving at him. The boy walked alongside Fujinaga, the bald and tough guy in the midfield.
"Hey, you two, how are you doing?" He tried to make a small chat.
"Not bad, not bad... This is going to be our first test, so I cannot wait to be there!" The defender was shaking in excitement.
"Calm down, you dolt! You will exhaust yourself before the game can start!" Fujinaga sent a karate chop to Jun’s hips.
"Ouch! A little bit gentler, please! And why would you always aim at my hips?!"
"Because you are too fucking tall, Bastard!" Fujinaga scolded his friend, once again sending another strike to the hips. "Anyway, what about you, Senpai? Don’t you feel nervous? I mean, not counting the game against Esashi, this is going to be your debut in the official tournament, right?"
Getting reminded by that fact, Higo stopped walking for a moment, suddenly realizing the gravity of this situation. "... You are right. How in the hell didn’t I think about that?!" He slapped his forehead loudly.
"Eh, a normal reaction. I mean, no one really treats the first round of the tournament like it is a big deal." Fujinaga shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean... No one... But an idiot, right?" He added, glancing at his friend mischievously.
"Hey, it is not my fault that I got nervous! I was forced to become a goalkeeper at that time, you know?" Jun complained.
Higo could only watch silently, finding the dynamic between those two to be interesting. Based on their closeness, it was clear that they had already been friends with each other for a long time. He himself could understand that, as the boy imagined that this should be how it looked when he and Kumiko were bickering with each other.
’Yeah, a pair of childhood friends through and through.’ Higo muttered under his breath.
After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the school, and the pitch was already full of people. It seemed that their opponent had already arrived, even starting to warm up first. As for his teammates, Higo saw Makino leading some of the kouhai to play a quick one-touch pass, while Kumiko and Hiroshi chatted on the sideline with a whiteboard in her hand.
As he walked closer, Kumiko finally noticed his presence, and the girl perked up immediately. "Ryukkun, you are in time! Here, this is your jersey!" She picked up a green jersey from her bag and gave it to her friend quickly.
Higo scanned it for a moment, finding the jersey to be... Ordinary? There was no unique pattern in it, just a plain, dark green with the name of the school being put on the chest part. As for the back, the number 12 hangs so big there, yet no name was written there.
"Eh, don’t complain too much, everyone is the same here." Kumiko slapped his shoulder playfully. "The budget is quite tight, so this is the best that we can do. Later, when we can go further, at least to the national tournament, I will ask for more money, and we will etch everyone’s name on their respective jersey. So, before that, work hard first, okay?"
Higo had the corner of his mouth twitching speechlessly, knowing full well at this point how difficult it was for them to go to the national tournament. However, he just nodded quietly, changing into his jersey before joining the warming-up.
He also didn’t forget to take a glance at the opponent, yet somehow, he couldn’t find anything special about them.
"Don’t get fooled. They might not seem special physically, but technically, you will see that their basics are solid." Makino reminded him. "Their trap technique is top-notch, and their passing speed is also on another level. It will be hard for us to snatch the ball from their possession, so don’t lower your guard at any cost, right?"
For that, Higo nodded solemnly, not having anything to add. He himself had also done his research, finding that facing the Tiki-Taka strategy would be exhausting for him mentally. He wouldn’t know when the opponent would take the shot, and they would use the passing game not only to put pressure on Hakodate Nishi’s defensive line, but also to wear out all of Hakodate Nishi’s players mentally.
’Overall, they might not take a lot of shots today, but every one of them will only be taken after they make sure that they will be a huge threat for me. So, I need to keep my eyes open to everything.’
-0-
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pitch, Kosuke Takuya just rubbed his beard gently, staring at his players who were warming up in front of him. Then, his eyes turned on Hakodate Nishi’s players, and he couldn’t help but snort in disdain.
"So, this is the runner-up of the winter tournament last November, huh? It seems that there is nothing special about them."
"Urgh... Sensei, please lower your voice a little bit..." The player next to him, who overheard his words, reminded the man timidly. "We are in their home ground, let’s not provoke them too much..."
"Tch! Young man, you need to be a little bit more confident here!" The old man clicked his tongue in annoyance, scolding his player for his timidness. "At least, if you are not confident in your own ability, you have to trust your head coach! He knows the best here, and he will bring you guys to glory!"
That player just nodded rapidly, not daring to say anything about his head coach’s exaggerated boast.
Takuya himself nodded silently before asking the player to continue his warm-up. As his eyes fell on the opponent’s bench, his disdain only grew stronger, as he shook his head in disgust.
’You mean to tell me that a club that is coached by a little girl like her was able to get into the final last year? The level of football in this prefecture sure has already fallen, huh...’
