Thud!

It looked like a normal cross, just a little bit higher. It also had a curved motion, aiming at the crowd on the far post. This was enough to make the players there restless, tracking the ball in the air.

"Shit! Don’t let him go, Takaaki!"

"You are fucking taller, Yori! Beat him!"

"Come on, I get it! I get it!"

However, the ball’s arc was bigger than that. It didn’t fall to the penalty box. No, if anything, the ball curved sharply to the goal, dropping like a meteor falling from the sky. Fortunately, Higo had already seen everything inside his head, so while the angle was quite difficult, he still managed to punch the ball away for the second time in one minute.

"OH! Nice, Higo-senpai!"

"Come on! Clear it away!"

The punch was far from perfect, as it still landed in the penalty box. Fortunately, Ishinori was the closest one there, so it was easy for the boy to clear the ball. At one glance, it didn’t look as threatening as the last shot, but this was also the action that opened everyone’s eyes to Higo’s goalkeeping ability.

"Fucking hell... He can even predict where that kind of ball would go and deal with it calmly?! Who the fuck is he?!"

"Hey, I want all the details of Hakodate Nishi’s goalkeeper! Come on, give it to me now!"

"I swear, he should be from a pro, right?!"

The reaction was quite big here. It was understandable. After all, if the first shot gave them a shock, the second one was a confirmation that the save before was not a coincidence. Now, it was their job to figure out whether this was a one-game occasion or if this was the boy’s true ability.

Even Kawabe himself couldn’t help but let out a low whistle here. "Two in a row? Impressive. It seems the game will be more exciting than I expected..."

Of course, for Hakodate Nishi, it wasn’t as fun as everyone thought. After all, they had done their very best to contain Hiroki Kawabe, not giving him any easy shot. However, the boy really went wild today. Two chances out of nothing, the first one was from about 40 meters while the second one was from an impossible angle, and yet, all of them resulted in two almost-goal scenes?

’Holy hell... Is this what the second-best player can do?’

However, Kawabe’s terror didn’t just stop like that. Hell, if anything, the two shots earlier were the beginning, as the boy started to exert his strength more. The game hadn’t even passed the 15th minute, and the boy had already dominated the right flank, completely outmaneuvering Kazawa and Denki there.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Denki, he is gonna outrun you!"

"Senpai, keep an eye on the box! Don’t let him cut! Don’t let him cut!"

It wasn’t just those two. Even Takaaki and Ishinori got dragged into that side, getting attracted by the boy’s gravity. Even if not all of his attempts to take on the defenders were successful, no one dared to gamble with Hakodate Nishi’s life.

However, so far, the strategy to push Kawabe to the sideline seemed to work well. The boy delivered four crosses so far, and while most of them were quite dangerous, Higo was also pretty active in front of the goal, cutting off all the aerial balls with his prediction ability. All the boxing training he had done in the past really paid off now, as the boy was not afraid of challenging everyone in the penalty box.

Honestly, this turned out to be the show between Hiroki Kawabe and Higo. The former would take on everyone on the flank, and the latter would kill any threat coming in his direction ruthlessly. For a moment, no one seemed to be able to break this cycle.

However, once the game entered the 25th minute, things started to change. Kawabe seemed to notice the heavy guard around him, and he was also an intelligence player here.

’Well, if everyone is on ma side, let’s flip the table here.’

BAM!

Before Kazawa or Denki managed to stop him, the boy had already whacked a pinpoint pass to the opposite side of the flank. Not only that, the pass was sharp enough here, allowing Shohei High’s left midfielder to make a run immediately to the penalty box without even having to control it first.

"SHIT! DENJI!"

"I GET THIS! I GET THIS!"

Denji ran frantically to close the distance. However, he didn’t notice that his positioning was off earlier. He was leaning more toward the penalty box, afraid of the threat from Kawabe, that the boy forgot his responsibility on that flank. The space that was created due to his negligence was enough for the left midfielder to take advantage of it to the fullest.

BAM!

A half-volley shot was launched, and it even curved outwardly due to its power. That player whacked the ball to the near post, aiming at the small gap between Higo and the post. Even though Higo reacted in time, the ball still flew above his hand. It was just fortunate that the hitting spot was a little bit off, as the ball rose higher to get above the goal.

"AH! FUCK IT!" That midfielder groaned, berating himself for failing to execute a good ball like that. "Nice cross, Kawabe-senpai! Sorry for the failure!" He shouted, giving his senpai on the other side of the flank a thumbs-up.

"Don’t worry, Mate! Just try again later!" Kawabe sent another thumbs-up before going back to his position as if he hadn’t just sent the most dangerous pass of the game so far.

Higo himself was sweating right now. It was a strange sight in the middle of the cold winter like that, but this was the reality. The constant threat from Shohei High started to put pressure on his side, and the boy hadn’t had a chance to take a breath so far. No, he was under constant pressure, always fearing that one moment of relaxation would be taken advantage of by Kawabe immediately.

’No, we cannot do this forever. We also have to start putting pressure on them, making them know that we can bite back here...’