For Shimizu Higashi players, time moved so quickly. One moment, they were celebrating their opponent’s captain getting sent off by the referee, and now, they were already ten minutes before the game was over. To make it worse, they hadn’t scored even a single goal yet, only having their lead disappear from the incredible knuckle shot earlier.

It was no wonder that they started to get anxious right now.

"The situation is getting worse, Mamoru. We need to do something." Park Han-Gyeol whispered furiously as they walked back to their original position. It was another goal kick for Hakodate Nishi after Han-Gyeol’s last attempt flew a few centimeters from the goal post, and looking at how Higo deliberately slowed down his movement to waste more time was enough to tick the Korean striker off.

"Well, can you give me an idea of what to do, Han-Gyeol-a?" Mamoru just smiled wryly, holding his knees from exhaustion. It wasn’t just from the physical one, but also from the mental fatigue after not being able to find any solution to break the opponent’s defense so far. "You know we have done everything we could, right? Is there any way we haven’t tried yet?" He asked sardonically.

This put a full silence on Han-Gyeol’s mouth, as indeed, they had done so many things in this game. Hell, in total, the Korean striker had already recorded 8 shots today, with 5 of them being on target. Hiroshi’s statistic was even more outrageous. Besides bagging 5 shots-on-target, the boy also made 7 attempted assists, 8 successful dribbles, and 6 break-through passes to the opposition’s penalty box.

Those stats alone would put his performance as one of the best in the tournament, and yet, none of them resulted in a goal that the team was waiting for.

"We still have one more path we haven’t walked through, Mamoru." Han-Gyeol suddenly spoke with a solemn expression, as if he were talking about a world-ending scenario here.

"Oh? Care to tell me?" Mamoru asked, feeling intrigued.

Taking a deep breath, Han-Gyeol said, "We haven’t tried to break everything on our own! We always try to rely on our teammates, our team’s tactics, which is nice, I can see. However, when we face an unbreakable wall like this, someone needs to step up to be the hero."

Mamoru felt the corner of his lips twitching furiously. While he couldn’t deny that the Korean striker had a point, why was it that the boy said everything so passionately like that?

"You have to remember, Mamoru!" Han-Gyeol added, not noticing the strange gaze that the boy gave. "In front of an absolute power, no amount of defense will be enough to protect them!"

...

Honestly, if this were not a serious occasion, Mamoru would’ve covered his face or even acted like he didn’t know the boy at all, probably also being followed by the second-hand embarrassment at that grand speech. He just stared at Han Gyeol for a moment, seeing that the Korean striker was dead serious before letting out a deep, tired sigh.

"What kind of anime did you watch with Do-Jin-a again last night?"

Han-Gyeol choked, not expecting to get a sarcastic remark here. "No, I am serious, Mamoru! With our individual abilities combined, we can do this!" He still tried to make his case.

Well, Mamoru had already walked further away from him, not wanting to get associated with that chuunibyou. Still, Han-Gyeol’s words rang quite loudly inside his head, and Mamoru couldn’t deny the truth in that.

"Using absolute power to destroy the unbreakable wall, huh?" He muttered unconsciously, before a wry smile followed behind. "What the hell am I thinking? Why am I getting carried away like that?"

However, in the next moment, once the ball landed on his feet again, the boy finally took another strong action.

First, he turned around quickly, getting rid of Kenji, who was shadowing him with a half-assed manner. Then, when his eyes caught Hiroshi and Denji coming at him, his feet moved with the agility that put everyone in awe. It was like him dancing around so gracefully, escaping from the tiny needle hole in front of him to give himself a space on the left side.

"FUCKING HELL!"

"Come on, Mamoru! Kill them all!"

Seeing that Mamoru had already taken an action, Han-Gyeol couldn’t help but grin, rushing forward to the penalty box as quickly as possible. ’Mamoru, you fucking hypocrite! You mock me earlier, but you yourself are the one who cannot wait to show off, huh?!’

The single sequence of moves from Mamoru was enough to disturb the whole of Hakodate Nishi’s defensive shape. Now that he had a room to create something on the left side, Ishinori had to go there to cover the leak. This gave more space for Shimizu Higashi’s strikers to move around inside the penalty box, increasing the danger for Higo on the backline.

"Fuji! Cover for Nori’s position! Hold your own ground and don’t get dragged into that spot as well!" Higo shouted at the defensive midfielder while his eyes were still locked on Mamoru on the flank.

"I get it!" Fujinaga shouted back, lowering his stance while also moving back little by little to prevent himself from getting taken on by the opponent.

However, Mamoru’s one-man show didn’t stop just like that. When the boy saw one more player coming, he moved quickly. The boy faked a touch to the right side with his right foot, and when he saw Fujinaga take the bait, he let that foot pass the ball, pushing it in another direction in one swift motion.

A beautiful stepover move.

"Oh, shit!"

After taking on four opponents in one go and escaping unscathed, Mamoru finally had all the time in the world to take action. However, the last stepover also cost him the best angle to take a shot, as right now, he was already on the edge of the pitch, having no choice but to send a cutback with his left foot.

Still, his eyes caught one movement inside the box, and without hesitation, he muttered, ’Well, Han-Gyeol-a, it is time for you to take over the show, right?’

Thud!