The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 39: Ritsumeikan High’s Scout Report!

Honestly, Kumiko’s luck in drawing this tournament sucked. A lot.

I mean, how in the hell could she draw an opponent who managed to force the best team in the prefecture for a draw for the third round, and the best team itself if they managed to get into the fourth round? 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Also, for your information, there were only 32 teams participating in this prefecture tournament, so the fourth round meant it was a semifinal already. Yeah, this was indeed a short tournament, and that was why facing two strong opponents in a row was the worst outcome possible.

"Ritsumeikan..." Makino pondered solemnly. "It is that crazy team who will return the opponent’s punch with two more punches, right? The one who never shies away from going all-out attack, no matter who the opponent is..."

"Let’s wait until the others are here first, and then we can start talking about this." Kumiko smiled wanly.

As they waited for a while, one by one, the players started to come in. Some still groaning from the soreness yesterday, while the others were basically a bunch of idiots who didn’t know what it felt like to be sick.

"Tch! Shishida-senpai, why are we here again?! Would it be better to use this time to train?!"

That fool who didn’t know how it felt to be sick, Hiroshi, complained immediately the moment he entered the room. The others felt the corner of their lips twitching madly. Hiroshi was always a pure and innocent boy, yet whenever things related to football were brought up, he would turn into an annoying maniac who would bother everyone on the team.

"No, cannot do that, Hiroshi-kun." Kumiko wiggled her finger playfully. "What do I tell you about balancing training and rest? You don’t want to be injured and get sidelined for the rest of the year, right?"

Hiroshi shuddered immediately, shaking his head so strongly that Higo was afraid it would get off his neck in an accident. It seemed that being injured was the boy’s worst nightmare here, probably because he was afraid that he couldn’t play football anymore.

"Anyway, I know that Hiroshi is an idiot who cannot get sick—" Fujinaga chimed in.

"HEY!"

"—But Jun, I have never thought that you would be the same..." The defensive midfielder shook his head in exasperation. "How could you still have that much energy to come here running? I swear, I still feel numb after the game yesterday!"

All the eyes snapped at the tall defender, who just grinned foolishly. Even at first glance, they all could see that Jun was the same type of idiot as Hiroshi, the one who only cared about football.

"Well, the fact that you are numb just from one game just shows that our training is lacking, right?" Kumiko smiled, but this time, an evil aura surrounded her like crazy. "After today, we are going to up our physical training, okay? Anyone who lasts the shortest time cleaning everyone’s shoes for three days!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Not that again!"

"Don’t you know that the teachers are scolding me for sleeping in class?!"

"That’s your fault, Idiot!"

Everyone groaned instantly, knowing that they were going to be tortured later. Makino just shook his head, but his stern expression was enough to shut them all up. "Don’t complain. Kumiko-chan is right. If our condition is this bad just after playing the first round, that means we are not up against the top team like Sappotani. This is something that could only be fixed by training, so swallow it up and suffer silently."

That... Was a cruel word to say. However, everyone understood the assignment here. It was better to die in the training rather than collapsing in the middle of the game, where the stakes were the highest.

After everyone was there and Kumiko was ready with the laptop and the screen, she finally coughed, stopping all the chatters and noises in the room.

"As most of you might know, our next opponent in this tournament is Sapporo Kita High, a school that we have already beaten last year. Their lineup is basically the same, and I don’t think we have anything to worry about. So, I would like to skip to our opponent for the third round later."

Honestly, this move puzzled some of the players there. They all knew that Kumiko was not one who liked to underestimate the opponent, and now... This? However, out of trust for the girl, they decided to go along, knowing that she would give her reason for this.

"Ritsumeikan High... This is an ultra-attacking team, the one that manages to push Sappotani High’s defense to death. In the last winter tournament, they managed to stage an almost comeback game, from being down by 3 goals at halftime to tying the score 4-4, just to lose against them in the penalty shootout. They are the closest in Hokkaido to beat Sappotani, and the only reason they fall in this bracket is that their loss against Sappotani was in the second round of the tournament."

The atmosphere inside the room turned somber, with some of them cursing their luck to get drawn into the same bracket as this kind of team.

"Without saying this, I know that some of you will understand. This is not just an ordinary game for us. This is a clash of philosophy between an ultra-attacking team and a great defensive team. People will watch this collision, as it is not often they find a good rivalry here." Kumiko continued.

Even though none of them had ever met or even watched Ritsumeikan’s game, all the players there felt their blood boil. Indeed, the narration was too great. The offensive team that could break the best team’s defense four times just in a half, and a team that went to the final with their great wall strategy?

This was definitely going to be a cinema.

"However!" Kumiko suddenly raised her voice, snapping them from their thought. "That is not something that I want to show. No, instead, I want you guys to watch here, the recording of the game that Ritsumeikan High played in a sparring game last month."

"Um?" Everyone looked at each other confusedly. "Why?" Higo couldn’t help but ask.

"Because..." Her tone was somber. "In that game, Sappotani managed to show their dominance, beating them 8-0 without mercy."