The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 58: Taking It Slow

After this, the game continued again with the ball for Hakodate Nishi. The supporters who were about to rush could only go back in disappointment, yet everyone was so excited as the game went quite violently here. After all, this kind of commotion was rare, especially in a high-school game like this.

"Tch! Damn, I really want to beat that smug bastard on his face!"

"I know, right?! I mean, don’t you see how shameless he was after getting up from the ground?!"

"Hell, with how loud he screamed, I thought his leg was broken, you know?!"

Hearing people talk about committing violence so easily, both Minami and Ayaka could only stare at each other, unsure of how to handle this thing. Honestly, at first, they were just glad that Higo wanted to join a club, thinking that this would help him socialize better with his peers.

Who would’ve known that the boy would stand so close to the crazy storm like this? Granted, they were not experienced supporters here, but the pair of mother-daughter knew that something like this could happen in any game that his son would play in the future.

"Shall I ask him to stop?" Minami asked hesitantly, her heart clenching in pain. After all, this was the first time she saw her son enjoying something outside of home, and she didn’t want to take it away quickly, even though it was just for the sake of safety.

Ayaka pondered for a moment before the sight of Higo clapping loudly to encourage his teammates flashed in her eyes again. "No, just let him be first, Mom. I will do a little bit of research first, trying to figure out whether this kind of incident happens a lot or not. At least, even though we know it is not a normal occasion, I still want to make sure that we have enough data for our peaceful mind."

Higo didn’t really know that his two family members were talking about him behind his back. No, his focus was back on the game again, as after a huge commotion a moment ago, everything finally went back to normal.

Unlike before, though, the pace definitely got slower, with both teams taking a cautious approach in this situation. Honestly, with how peaceful it was right now, the first minute of the second half really looked like a nightmarish dream that everyone had during their fever.

No one really wanted to test the referee’s patience here.

Of course, the one who reaped all the advantages would be Hakodate Nishi here. After all, they were currently in the lead, and the more time was wasted here, the better it would be for them.

Still, even in a monotonous game like this, several threatening attempts were flying, sometimes scaring the shit out of the surroundings here. Well, the threat didn’t come from the opponent, but from inside the Hakodate Nishi team itself. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

How so?

It was simple. To waste as much time as possible, the best way to do that was to keep the possession in their grasp as long as possible. That was why the ball often went to the back, leaving Jun, Makino, and the others playing with fire.

It wasn’t like they were bad, per se, but often, when Ritsumeikan’s pressure got overwhelming, they would send the ball to Higo, and that was when the trouble came.

The goalkeeper was good at protecting his area, not allowing even a single goal to get through him. However, with the ball on his feet, that was a completely different matter. Hell, with his crazy performance, people sometimes forgot that he was a newbie in this game, and Kumiko hadn’t trained him yet when it came to this situation.

It created a funny scene, as the first time Higo received a back pass, his first instinct was to catch the ball and waste more time here, especially when the opponent’s striker—Roshi, if he remembered it right—was rushing at his direction with full speed. It gave people a heart attack, and honestly, if not for Makino shouting for him to kick the ball away, he would’ve committed a stupid foul that would go viral tomorrow.

"Kazawa-kun, please remind me tomorrow to drill every basic rule in football into Ryukkun’s head, okay?" Kumiko sighed helplessly;her heart was still racing due to the fright her best friend gave her.

Kazawa, the only bench player that Hakodate Nishi had, just nodded silently, trying to hide the second embarrassment that he felt right now.

In hindsight, Kumiko knew that this was her mistake. She found that Higo was good at goalkeeping and focused solely on that, yet she ignored the other necessary aspects here, even believing that those were less important than keeping the goal save. She wasn’t wrong here, but she wasn’t right either.

’No, I cannot let Ryukkun become a laughingstock due to my negligence.’ Kumiko clenched her fist, trying to hide away her guilt here. Then, her eyes landed on Higo, and determination burned brightly there. ’Don’t worry, Ryukkun, I will never wrong you again!’

Higo himself didn’t know that he was in for another torturous lesson. If he could hear what Kumiko thought... Well, he would’ve gone already, locking himself in his room and would never want to see another day before she changed her mind.

Oh, don’t get him wrong, he loved doing anything with Kumiko. However, studying was another matter here, especially since she tended to be ridiculously strict as a teacher. It didn’t help that sometimes, she got really frustrated, finding the concept she found easy to be difficult for Higo to understand.

This was definitely the difference between a top student and an ordinary one.

Still, that was not his main focus for now.

No, Higo started to put more concentration on the game as exhaustion started to eat him slowly. He felt it. His reaction started to get slower, and his clairvoyance ability only flared one or two seconds before things happened, way shorter than the usual.

It didn’t help that Ritsumeikan High also intensified its pressure, and now, they had no easy possession again, ever. Everything culminated into a point where they managed to force Hori to commit a mistake, sending a miss pass to his opponent right in front of the penalty box.

The opponent reacted quickly, sending a through ball to Iwai, who managed to sneak from the flank. However, before the boy could take a shot, Ishinori acted first, pushing the boy from behind. As a result...

Fweee!

The referee blew the whistle, pointing his hand at the penalty spot.