"OI, REF! RED CARD!"

"He tackles Kenji mercilessly like that?! What is this, a fucking American football?!"

"Send him off! Send him off!"

The moment everyone saw Kenji down on the ground, all the Hakodate Nishi players jumped immediately, launching a ferocious complaint toward the referee heatedly. They didn’t even care too much about Kenji, who was on the ground; their priority right now was to secure the massive advantage in front of them.

The advantage they were eager to get was the fact that Kenji was fouled so hard in a counterattack. Even though there was still one Shohei defender trying to slow the boy down, the foul itself was quite bad: a rugby tackle straight to Kenji’s body. There was no way in any football game that this wouldn’t get a red card.

That player himself also realized his wrongdoing here. His face was so pale from the guilt and adrenaline, and yet, he didn’t even have the guts to complain. The boy just had his head bowed deeply under his neck, not daring to meet his teammates’ gaze.

True enough, the referee didn’t hesitate. He came quickly to the crime scene, and his hand had already grabbed the card from his pocket. Once the man raised it in the air, all the Hakodate Nishi players roared simultaneously.

"Hell, yeah!"

"Come on! We are up by one player!"

"Kenji, you fucking did a good job! Come on!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

While celebrating, everyone finally remembered Kenji’s condition. Poor boy, he still rubbed his back with a wince, feeling the dull pain on his waist from getting slammed quite violently. However, the boy couldn’t help but grin here, knowing that he had just brought the team a massive advantage.

"Haha! Come on!" He laughed, letting the others help him get up from the ground.

Even though Kenji still felt that it was a pity they didn’t score from the attack, at least the red card would alleviate the pressure on the team by a lot. There was no way Shohei High would dare to go all out later, what with them losing one player already.

Meanwhile, the situation on the away team was quite grim. The culprit of everything, the DM with the jersey number 5, walked lifelessly while having his jersey covering his face. He was too ashamed to say sorry here, and honestly, no one really wanted to console the poor boy right now.

"Sano!" Kawabe suddenly called that boy, snapping the other Shohei players from their depression. The boy himself peeked from the edge of his jersey, but still did not dare to stare at his captain openly. Well, not that Kawabe cared, since he just said, "What ye did was the stupidest thing I have ever seen in ma life. I don’t care how ye feel right now, but after making that mistake, don’t ye dare run away from this game like that."

It was such harsh words to be said to a player who was already down. However, Kawabe needed to say that, not for that boy, but for the whole team who would have to fight for their life to live with the consequences here. It was a cruel thing to let the others vent their frustration on that boy, but the blame was completely on him in this case.

The boy paused for a moment, nodding slightly at the captain before walking out of the pitch.

"Damn! What a pity!"

"Yeah, right when they start to control the game, this accident happens!"

"Shohei High is definitely the unluckiest team in Japan! Last year, they had Kawabe injured, and now this? They cannot catch a break!"

"Wait, no! They still have a chance! Their opponent is just Hakodate Nishi!"

The crowd started to whisper at each other furiously. Everyone knew that this was going to be the moment that would define the rest of the game. While some believed that it was over for Shohei, most people still thought they had a chance, especially since the opponent was the weakest team in the tournament.

Soon enough, the commotion was finally over, and Hakodate Nishi was ready to restart the game with a free kick. Of course, Shohei High made a quick adjustment to combat this situation. Losing a defensive midfielder out of nothing, they subbed off one of their forwards to get a new midfielder, not wanting to lose the number at the center. This was a normal tactical change, and while that forward was reluctant to leave, he still followed the order.

The free-kick itself was quite close. The angle was tricky since it was still close to the flank, but with it being on the left side, Hiroshi could just send a direct curve shot with his right foot, trying to imitate Toni Kroos, the German’s maestro, when the man scored a goal against Sweden in the last World Cup.

Unfortunately, the scheme failed here. Hiroshi’s execution was far from perfect, resulting in the ball not even getting lifted in the air. As a result, it was easy for the Shohei High players to clear the ball away from their danger area.

After this, the game continued again, but this time, the intensity dropped immediately to the freezing point. Neither team rushed toward the opponent, just waiting patiently while also trying to probe here and there. They all knew that with Shohei High being one man down, this game would be a war of attrition, and whoever was more patient here would be rewarded later.

Of course, the happiest one here was Denki. After all, the boy didn’t really face his former senpai again since the red card incident happened. He didn’t know why Kawabe suddenly stopped probing, but whatever the reason was, the boy was quite grateful for another chance to breathe.

Well... At least, that was what he thought.

However, it seemed that Kawabe was trying to imitate what Kenji did earlier. He played dumb for a while, slowing down the tempo to lower Denki’s guard. The moment he saw the boy starting to drop his vigilance, the Mohawk boy finally took action. He didn’t even need to warm up first, hitting his accelerator from 0 to 100 in a second.

"TOUYA! SEND IT THERE!"