"Oh! There it is!"

"We finally see Kawabe’s brutal tackling!"

"Come on, Kawabe! This is what you should do!"

Indeed, the culprit behind Hiroshi’s fall was Hiroki Kawabe, as the man suddenly delivered a sliding tackle to get the ball out of Hiroshi’s possession. He didn’t really show it in the first half since Hakodate Nishi didn’t go for offense, but one of Kawabe’s best traits was his tackling skill. He could intimidate his opponent like this while the referee still deemed everything as clean and legal.

Even Hiroshi himself couldn’t complain too much here. After all, he clearly saw the tackle was on the ball, and there was no additional excessive move that his senpai made in the process. He just fell on the ground from getting caught off guard, not expecting someone to send a dangerous tackle at the beginning of the second half.

"Damn, you okay, Hiroshi?" Hori asked while also helping the boy get up from the ground.

Hiroshi opened his mouth, and yet, words seemed to be stuck in his throat when his gaze met Kawabe’s. There, he saw that the boy didn’t have any playfulness in his eyes again. Hell, he didn’t even wipe all the dirt stuck on his precious Mohawk hair. No, the man exuded a dangerous aura, looking at Hiroshi as if he were trying to murder the boy.

’Damn, he is getting serious...’ Hiroshi gulped nervously, throwing his gaze away immediately from Kawabe.

It seemed the penalty failure at the end of the first half switched something inside Kawabe’s brain, because the boy was looking at all the Hakodate Nishi players like a hungry beast. This was enough to send shivers down everyone’s spine, making them less eager to get closer to him.

After checking that Hiroshi was okay, the game continued again. It was a throw-in for Hakodate Nishi, and since the blitzkrieg attack failed, they didn’t want to get entangled on that side for too long. With Kawabe being there, it would be dangerous to play around, so Hiroshi had half of his mind pushing the ball back to Jun so that they could switch to the other side of the pitch quickly.

Or... At least, that was what he originally planned.

What they didn’t take into account, though, was the hunger Hiroki Kawabe had inside him. Once Hori threw the ball to Hiroshi, the boy clearly passed it directly to the backline. However, Kawabe chased immediately like a ferocious beast, putting all of his speed to get the ball first before Jun could hold it.

"Shit! Jun, don’t wait!"

"NO!"

BAM!

Seeing that Kawabe was so close to him, Jun didn’t hesitate to whack the ball away. However, he was one second too late, as Kawabe’s right foot blocked the clearance here, making the ball bounce far into Hakodate Nishi’s own territory. Seeing that the ball was still within his reach, Kawabe hit his accelerator once again, running frantically as if his life depended on it.

"Shit! Jun, what the fuck are you doing?!"

"Go back! Go back!"

"Nori, slow him down!"

It was clear that all the Hakodate Nishi players didn’t expect this kind of development. Some players who were occupying the frontline rushed back immediately, trying to recover the defensive shape on the back. Higo also got ready, covering the near post while also observing Kawabe’s cheetah-like run on the right side.

"Nori, don’t get baited! Delay!" Higo shouted an instruction to his teammate. "Wait for Hori! Don’t rush!"

"I get it!"

As he got closer to the ball, Hiroshi also slowed down a little bit, lowering his stance while also opening his body to get ready for running back if Kawabe decided to use speed against him. Seeing that Hori and Hiroshi were tracking back to help him, the boy couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh.

However, he relaxed too fast here.

The threat from Kawabe was still there, and the boy calculated how the ball would fall quite well. The moment it bounced once on the ground, Kawabe got it immediately, pushing the ball once again with his header. Not only that, but he also added more speed, now running like the world’s best sprinter to pierce that side of the pitch.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! I LOST HIM!" Ishinori cursed, not even knowing how Kawabe broke his defense.

"I’ll cover!" Makino shouted, leaving his area to handle the situation.

Still, the boy recognized a more dangerous threat looming on the box. Three of Shohei High players were already there, and while Denji and Takaaki also covered for that spot, those two were too small for an aerial duel. They wouldn’t be able to help Higo that much, so in that split second, the captain finally made a crucial decision.

’He is already on the edge, right? Well, a yellow card is a good way to stop his momentum.’

With that thought in mind, he didn’t even aim for the ball. No, Makino let the ball slide through him, waiting patiently until Kawabe was close enough. Once the opponent’s captain was in the vicinity, he didn’t even hesitate, throwing his shoulder a little bit recklessly.

BAM!

The shoulder-check here was not that hard. It was quite light, and normally, no players would be thrown away by such a collision. However, Kawabe was running with an inhuman speed earlier, so any slight disturbance in his center of gravity would be enough to trash him away quite violently, and that was exactly what happened on the pitch.

"AAARGH!" The boy cried in pain as he didn’t expect the contact.

Right after that, all the Shohei High players also reacted, surrounding Makino with hostile eyes.

"What the fuck are you trying to do?!"

"Are you trying to kill him? Injure him?! Can you afford that?!"

"Dirty motherfucker! Get him out of here!"

Under his opponent’s pressure, Makino didn’t react. He just raised both hands in the air, admitting what he was doing. It was a professional foul, and the boy also recognized the consequences behind it. True enough, the referee soon arrived at the scene, and after checking Kawabe’s situation, the man finally took a card from his pocket.

Three minutes had passed since the second half began, and Makino had already been booked by the referee.