The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 24: The First Round of the Tournament!

Higo was in agony right now.

It was the fourth day of the training session already, and he could feel every single muscle in his body screaming. It wasn’t exaggerated. No, the bruises and band-aids all over his skin were the big tell of how tough his training session was. Honestly, even though it started to get boring to say this, he was really regretting his decision to join this team.

"Hey, Chibi! Why are you walking like a drunkard?!" Makino suddenly hugged his shoulder playfully, which only made the boy suffer more.

"Ouch! What the hell, Teme! Be gentler, you know?! Not everyone has the strength of a gorilla like you!" He complained, rubbing his sore shoulder gently.

"... Tch, what a weakling." Makino sneered in disdain.

Higo didn’t really care about that, as he continued walking to the classroom. It wasn’t walking, per se, more like staggering. However, he had a valid reason to look like a zombie. After all, the training menu that Kumiko gave was inhuman.

In just three hours of training, he had to do so many drills, from the shot-catching one, the aerial duel one, the situational awareness one, to the hardest of them all, the physical drill. He didn’t know what the names of those devilish exercises were, but Higo still got PTSD from sprinting all over the cone, jumping through the box, the weird plank that killed his stomach, and so many more.

From a humble boy whose life only revolved around going to school and going back home, this sudden change of pace was enough to kill him.

The other side effect that he suffered from the arduous training was that his focus on schoolwork started to decline. It wasn’t like he was a smart one in the first place, and with this on the plate, there was a threat of him having to go to the remedial classes, which would only take up more of his time next holiday.

’No, no, no, I cannot let myself suffer more.’ Higo shook his head strongly, trying his best to stay awake during the class. ’I cannot let my grades slip even if it kills me!’

Fortunately, Kumiko was a model student, the best one in the class. With her as a friend, he only had to pay attention to the class, and later, he would be able to borrow her notes to study.

It was just another long day of school, and after the bell rang, Higo couldn’t help but groan, not looking forward to the training. It was strange, as he started to fear the bell that he always waited for in the past. Fortunately, this time, it was different. As he was about to walk out of the class, Kumiko’s voice suddenly greeted him.

"Ryukkun, there will be no training today. Just go to the club’s room, we will have a meeting in the next 15 minutes."

Higo’s eyes shone instantly at the news. "Thanks, Kumiko-chan, that is probably the best thing you said to me in the last couple of days!" Right after that, he scrambled immediately, afraid that the girl would change her mind later.

’Wait, I didn’t ask what the meeting is about, right?’ Higo paused for a moment. However, he shook his head quickly, continuing his humming. ’Not important. I will know about it later, anyway.’

It was still 4:00 PM, yet the sun had already had half of its body pass through the horizon. However, this state was still way better than a month ago, when the sun had already gone down at the same time. Still, even though it was almost dark already, the school was still bustling with chatter and laughter, with a lot of clubs preparing for most of the high school’s national tournaments next summer.

Fifteen minutes later, Higo found himself sitting comfortably among the other players, with Kumiko about to deliver her speech.

"Our opponent in the first round... Engaru High, a new high school. This is going to be their first time participating in the tournament." She introduced the team.

It was a common occurrence for schools in this prefecture to come and go in such a tournament, with only a few managing to survive for so long. Hakodate Nishi itself also appeared four years ago, replacing one of the old schools that withdrew at that time. So, no one really bothered about the fact that their opponent was a new school.

"There is no notable player that they have, but the problem... Is their head coach." Then, the screen showed the photo of a middle-aged man with messy facial hair, looking like a wretched old man going home after a long and painful night shift. "His name is Kosuke Takuya, and don’t look at his appearance! Just a year ago, he was the second assistant coach of Vissel Kobe U-19, so you can expect a great thing from him!"

As a newcomer here, Higo failed to understand the weight of this information, so he blurted out a question, "Why is his identity important?" At the ’are you stupid?’ gaze that he received, the boy’s face flushed red while he tried to defend himself quickly. "I mean, U-19 is the youth team, right? To be the second assistant of that team and leave for a new school like this, does that mean he is a failure?"

"Wow, you sure are not mincing your words, Chibi." Makino felt the corner of his lips twitch.

"In fact, if you are talking about him from the perspective of an outsider, someone who only watches the game from the Internet, yes, you are not wrong." Kumiko nodded. "However, now that you are going to face him... With his experience, it should be easy for him to dominate this field."

"It is like a pro player who suddenly plays an amateur game." To Higo’s surprise, Hiroshi suddenly chimed in, offering his insight. "People on the Internet might mock him relentlessly for stooping so low, yet for the opponent, his presence is like a Shinigami descended on the field just to kill them all."

Higo nodded silently, finally understanding the crux of the problem.

"Also, don’t forget that Vissel Kobe has been tightening their cooperation with Barcelona. Yes, that Barcelona from Spain." Kumiko nodded before her friend could even ask a question. "You can search about it later. But know, after that cooperation was formalized, Vissel Kobe had been trying to change their style into a Tiki-Taka one, and even though he was just a marginalized character in that team, we have to assume that Kosuke Takuya learnt a lot of things during his time there, so..."

"So...?"

"We all can expect a difficult game three days later, one where we might not be able to snatch the ball from their control. So, be ready mentally, because it will be a tough first round of the tournament."