"Both captains, gather up!"

After having a break for about three minutes, the referee finally called out the captains from both teams to come. It was time for them to determine which one would get the first chance to shoot, a coin toss that was far more important than at the beginning of the game.

Higo himself didn’t really notice it at first. It wasn’t until Makino slapped his back that he finally woke up from his daydreaming. "Chibi, did you just forget that you are our temporary captain right now? Go there and meet the referee!" The boy shouted quite loudly.

Some of the boys snickered secretly as they watched Higo scrambling in panic. Not that they blamed the boy, of course, as usual, this was the task that Makino would handle as the team’s captain. It was unfortunate that the boy got a red card today.

On the circle spot, the referee had already waited for him together with Miki Yamane. Those two somehow looked at him strangely, with the latter having a complicated gaze toward Higo.

"Good game." Miki Yamane became the first to greet him here. "I know you are amazing, I can see it in our first encounter. Still, you have evolved so many steps further, becoming the most annoying and amazing goalkeeper I have ever met."

The praise was so high that Higo himself could only rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Thank you, but don’t think I will lower my guard just because you say those sweet words." He smiled, trying to crack a joke.

Well, it worked, as Miki Yamane chuckled while the referee just smiled wryly here. "Oh, don’t worry! I don’t expect anything less from you!" He said with determination burning in his eyes. It was clear that this was Miki Yamane’s war declaration on Higo.

"Okay, you can resolve everything later on the pitch. For now, we need to determine the coin toss first." The referee finally spoke. "So, heads or tails?" He asked those two.

"Tail." Higo nodded.

"Then, I will take the head." Miki Yamane followed.

The referee gave a nod before finally throwing the coin in the air and catching it immediately with the back of his hand. The man didn’t reveal the answer immediately, letting the tension grow among them. After a while, especially after seeing the impatience from the two captains there, he finally opened it, showing one side of the coin.

Tail.

"Yes." Higo clenched his fist tightly, not even hiding his little celebration. "Sorry, Yamane-san, but we will take the advantage first." He smiled not-so-apologetically.

"Tch! You are way luckier than your captain." Miki Yamane clicked his tongue in annoyance before offering a handshake. "Well, I hope you have the worst luck today! Don’t be too good, okay?!"

"Ha! Don’t dream too much about it!"

After throwing banter at the opponent’s captain for a while, Higo finally came back to the team. There, everyone had been waiting for his news, quite eager to listen. In the end, the boy just gave a big thumbs-up here.

"My luck doesn’t seem as bad as Teme’s, right?"

Makino felt the corner of his lips twitching as he didn’t expect to catch a stray bullet here. Still, the news of them having the first chance to score surely brushed off all the grievances here. "Ha! It seems you still have something in you, Chibi!" The boy laughed while slapping Higo’s back quite hard.

"Mind your strength, please. Unlike you, who have more time to rest, we have just fought a long battle, you know?" Higo flinched a little bit as he rubbed the wrong shoulder playfully.

"Why, you?!"

Before those two started bickering, though, Kumiko suddenly coughed, stopping any argument prematurely. Her glare was enough to take control of the situation, and once she was met with another silence, the girl finally spoke again.

"Our second penalty shootout. Some of you might have better confidence today, but let me tell you that anything could still happen here." Her tone was solemn. "Yes, Ryukkun is amazing, and yes, we all know about it. What you don’t know, though, is that in his last five penalties, Kang Do-Jin managed to save three of them. He is definitely on par with Ryukkun in this scenario."

Well, it was a bit far-fetched, because so far outside of the penalty shootout, Higo had never conceded a single goal from a penalty kick. No, everything always came from the rebound ball. Moreover, in the last shootout against Shohei High, he only conceded one out of four, making his record better.

Even though not a lot of media were brave enough to give him the title of the best goalkeeper in the generation, most had acknowledged that he was the best one in the penalty area. So, Kumiko saying that Kang Do-Jin was on the same level was more to warn her players not to underestimate this situation.

"We have Ryukkun on the back, yes, and he is our best guarantee. However, all of his effort will be for nothing if you cannot take the chance by yourself, do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma’am!"

"Good! So, our penalty order will be like this." Everyone straightened their back instantly. "First taker, Hiroshi-kun, you are the best one among us, so you set the tone for us!"

"Leave it to me, Senpai!" Hiroshi nodded solemnly.

"Kuroki-kun, Denji-kun, and Usami-kun, you are going to follow next." Kumiko continued.

Those three stared at each other for a moment before giving a similar expression to Hiroshi right now. "Don’t worry, Kumiko-chan, we will do the job well," Kuroki replied with eyes burning in determination.

Kumiko nodded slightly in approval before her eyes fell onto the last name on the list. "The final taker... Kenji-kun, you should be living for this moment, right? You are up for the task?"

All the eyes turned to Kenji immediately when they heard that. Even though they did it begrudgingly, the boys still admitted that Kenji was the best one to face that kind of pressure that could crush anyone there. No, the boy wasn’t just facing that. He thrived under that pressure, becoming stronger than ever.

Knowing that he got the best and somehow worst task at the same time, the boy just grinned widely, showing all of his white teeth to everyone here. "Heh, I have been waiting for you to say that, Senpai!"