"Come on, guys! Run harder! You are the rock bottom of the list, you don’t deserve to slack off right now!"

"Makino-kun, that’s a sloppy challenge from you! What happened? If it was a striker from the higher-ranked team, they would definitely punish you!"

"Hey, hey, Hiroshi-kun! That’s not how you should approach this attack! If you cannot be decisive enough, we will not be able to beat anyone and step out of our bottom rock position!"

"Come on! Before the training session is over, let’s do another physical drill for three more sets!"

All the Hakodate Nishi players groaned instantly, wanting to voice their complaint right now. It had been several days since the article from the Daily Sports was published, and since then, Kumiko had really gone crazy with her training.

The physical portion would be doubled, forcing all the players to run. The simulation training was also the same, with the girl keeping a close eye on everything on the pitch. Honestly, at some point, it looked like she was nitpicking things, trying to find the team’s mistake even when everything went quite well.

The girl really vented out all of her fury toward the team, wanting to push them harder than ever.

"Ha... Ha... Ha... I think... This is enough... Kumiko-chan..." Makino asked, his chest breathing heavily, he felt like his heart was burning right now. "I think... Everyone cannot handle the intensity here..." He added, trying to save his teammates from this hell.

Kumiko paused for a second, glancing at all the players who had already fallen to the ground. Her gaze softened as she finally nodded. "Okay, take a break for thirty minutes. After this, we will be back to our simulation training."

Hearing that, cheers could finally be heard, although a little bit vivid, mixed with the exasperation from some of the players there.

"Ha... Finally, I can breathe!" Hori let his body lie on the ground immediately; his chest could be seen rising and falling rapidly. "This is... Crazy! This is going to kill me! I swear, someone is probably getting injured at this point!"

"Well, good try, Hori-kun, but I can assure you that all my training menus are scientific here. If you are not sure, I can accompany you all for a medical check-up tomorrow to search for any hidden injuries. But if none of you have that, the entire team has to do a double physical training, what about that?" Kumiko smirked challengingly.

Hori opened his mouth to answer the question, but the 15 pairs of glares directed at him were enough to make the boy shrink immediately. "Um... I don’t think that is necessary, Senpai..." He said weakly.

"That’s what I think..." Kumiko snorted before paying her attention back to the phone. Soon enough, her expression changed quickly from surprise, joy, confusion, and despair here, that even the boys themselves were curious. "Is there something wrong, Kumiko-chan?" Makino asked cautiously.

"Yup..." Kumiko nodded silently, her shoulder tense. "The tournament’s bracket has already been announced. Take a look at your own phone and go to the federation’s website."

Well, no one needed to be told twice here. The moment they heard this, everyone was so dumbfounded. But as everything finally sank in, they all jumped immediately, taking out their phone from their bag.

"Shit! Really?!"

"Who is going to be our opponent?! Fuck, I don’t have any connection!"

"Here! Here!"

Right within a second, all the eyes were locked into their respective phone, as everyone forgot about the tiredness they had just felt a moment ago. Well, it wasn’t that hard to find their school’s name, as it was located straight at the top of the list.

Toin Gakuen vs Hakodate Nishi High

"Toin Gakuen?" Higo couldn’t help but frown, unable to remember anything worth mentioning about that school from his memory. "Is it a strong opponent?" He couldn’t help but ask.

"Idiot! All the teams in this stage are definitely strong ones! They have basically won their prefectural tournament, after all!" Makino slapped him on the back. Well, he himself also didn’t know anything about their opponent, but that didn’t mean the boy would let his friend’s stupid remark slide so easily.

"Toin Gakuen..." Kumiko let out a deep sigh as her mood turned somber. "This is one of the two teams that advanced from the Kanagawa Prefecture. Their home base is also in Yokohama, so you should be able to connect the dots, right?" She asked wanly.

Well, the others didn’t need to be told twice. Even though there were still some slower ones, everyone realized what Kumiko wanted to say immediately.

"Wait, you mean we are going to play against the home team?!" Kenji shrieked in surprise.

Indeed, a single piece of information that slipped through their heads before suddenly emerged again. The national tournament next month will be held in Kanagawa, with the grand final to be played at the Nissan Stadium.

"Yup, we are going to play against the local here, and I can tell you that they are good." Kumiko nodded. "Oh, they are not the best ones or even the top five according to the Daily Sports, but they are another traditional team that has been participating in the national stage for so long. They are more famous in their baseball team, three times Koushien’s winner in the last ten years, but that allows them to have a huge fanbase in Yokohama. So, you can expect that we are going to be surrounded by the enemy’s territory on our first day."

Hearing this, they all couldn’t help but gulp, somehow feeling uneasy for their next opponent. "Ahaha... Why are you guys nervous? I mean, this is not the first time, right?" Jun smiled awkwardly, trying to lift the mood.

"Well, yeah, we have played against Sapporo Otani in front of their crowd three times at this point. However, we are already used to the Sapporo Dome by now. This time, we are going to Yokohama without knowing anything about that place, so this would be a challenge." Makino answered with the same solemn tone. Then, he turned to Kumiko and asked, "So, how is their strength?"