Kumiko was also on the same frequency here. The girl noticed that even Shohei High’s defender had already crossed the center line, getting too comfortable in Hakodate Nishi’s area. This definitely pushed the home team’s defensive line back so far, too close to the goal, that it suffocated Higo’s space right now.

’No, this wouldn’t do.’ She shook her head quickly, getting up and calling the closest player to receive an instruction. ’Even if we cannot start an attack, at least we have to push them back a little, pushing their defensive line back to their own territory.’

"Yes, Senpai?" Takaaki came while wiping the sweat on his forehead, taking a quick sip from the bottle of water that she offered.

"Tell Hiroshi-kun and Kenji-kun to get out of the five-midfield shape and start chasing the ball. We need more space in the middle, and we cannot allow them to occupy our territory for too long."

"Sure." Takaaki nodded before walking back to the pitch.

Still, this didn’t really address the real problem for Hakodate Nishi, which was the fear that Kawabe had put on their bones. The boy really showed why he was the second-best player in the country, wreaking havoc on their defense like the scene from an adult VS child game. It was embarrassing how Denki was already knackered in the first 30 minutes of the game, but no one could blame him for that.

"You okay, Denki?" Makino couldn’t help but ask, feeling worried when he saw the boy had already sweated so much when the game hadn’t even reached the break yet.

"Yeah... No, I am in hell right now..." Denki groaned, his chest moving rapidly while he was still trying to make his breath steady.

This wasn’t just physical exhaustion. No, if anything, the boy felt more tired mentally, as getting passed so many times by Kawabe really took a toll on his mind. The psychological shadow left inside his head was enough to burden him for the rest of the game, making his movement sloppy and slower when he faced his former senpai again.

The others weren’t so blind in this matter. However, except for those whose positions were close to Denki, the rest of the team couldn’t really help with this problem. They could only help alleviate the pressure in their own way, just like what Usami and Hiroshi were currently discussing on the pitch.

"Throw it away to that side?" Usami blinked confusedly.

"Yeah, once you get the ball, clear it to the left flank. I will handle the rest later." Hiroshi nodded.

It was before the corner kick was executed by Shohei High, and those two finally started to communicate for a counterattack. Before this, all of their focus was on helping the defense, but now, they knew they needed to bite back here.

Usami himself was still confused about why going to the left side, especially considering how rare it was for Hiroshi to go there. Normally, his cooperation would be on the right, coordinating with Denki to blow an attack from that flank. Still, Usami nodded, trusting his friend to know what he was doing.

Soon, Shohei High did their corner kick, and the scheme was still the same. Kawabe would run to that side immediately, and they would go for a short one. However, at this point, all the Hakodate Nishi players had already anticipated this as they had shut off all the open space for the boy to launch the ball directly to the goal. As a result, even with him delivering a dangerous cross, it was still quite easy for Higo to pick it up.

"Senpai, here!" Usami pointed at the space in front of him while he was running quickly, wanting to initiate a counterattack.

Well, this was probably the first time the front line asked for a ball, so Higo didn’t even think twice. Before anyone could react, he threw it as strongly as possible, and while the direction was a little bit off, since all of Shohei High’s defenders were still trying to recover from the corner kick, Usami had quite a lot of time to chase it. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"SHIT! A COUNTER?! NOW?!"

"Come back! Come back!"

"Defenders, slow him down! Don’t let him run!"

Two players were running frantically, trying to chase Usami from behind. However, the boy remembered well Hiroshi’s instruction, and while he could dribble the ball on his own, he didn’t take too much risk, whacking it far to the left side.

"Oh! Nice ball, Senpai!"

To the boy’s surprise, it wasn’t Hiroshi who received the ball, but Kenji. The boy grinned, and while the ball seemed to be a little bit far from him, he just jumped with one foot quite high in the air, stopping the ball easily.

"YES, KENJI! THAT’S IT!"

"COME ON! RUN!"

Kenji couldn’t help but grin as he started dribbling the ball on the left flank, trying to get a chance to cut back here. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but praise Hiroshi for his screwedness, seeming to know quite well what the opponent would do.

"Listen, Kenji, when you are not holding the ball, don’t try to do anything. Just act like you are a lazy player. Trust me, the more you make yourself look incompetent, the more they will forget about you. They will only pay attention to me, the player they know the best. So, try to get as far away as possible from my side, and when you see Usami receive the ball, get ready. That will be our chance to strike back."

It was a simple scenario, but Hiroshi managed to predict everything that Shohei’s defenders would do perfectly. Now, Kenji was in an open space, facing only one defender who was stepping back little by little like a crab in an attempt to slow him down, and yet, it was definitely not enough to stop Kenji.

’Now, how should I process this?’

However, before he could do anything, someone suddenly rushed with full speed, tackling him like a rugby player. Kenji didn’t know what was going on here. He just felt like he was hit by a fucking truck, and in the next second...

BRUGH!