"Urgh... Sano-kun, what time is it?"

Higo groaned lightly as he was awoken by the sunlight piercing through his curtain. The boy didn’t know how long he had been asleep, but he knew full well that it should be quite late right now.

His first instinct was to check around, wondering why no one woke him up right now. That was when his eyes finally adapted to the surroundings, finding himself not in the hotel anymore. It took a few seconds for his brain to process, but once everything finally sank in, a little smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

’Yeah, I forgot for a moment that I am finally back...’

Higo himself didn’t know what time he slept last night. The moment he arrived at home, just to find that his mother was still working for her night shift, the boy fell into his bed immediately, not even having time to change clothes or clean himself.

Checking his phone, he noticed that it was already 9:30, and so many messages had popped up in his LINE account.

Hori: Guys! Look at these articles!

Hori: We are fucking famous!

Jun: Damn! They even have my profile there!

Kenji: Fuck! Higo-senpai has a whole fucking article dedicated to his achievement!

Kenji: This is so fucking ridiculous!

Higo felt one of his eyebrows arch a little when he read the group messages. He noticed so many links were shared there, and a lot of them came from the local news platform. The moment he was about to check them, though, the boy could hear his stomach grumble.

Gruuuuu~

"Oh, yeah, I haven’t eaten anything yet since that fucking expensive bento box in Narita...’ He laughed wryly. ’Hmm... The smell is quite good in the kitchen. It seems Mom also wakes up quite early today.’

With his steps still staggering from the exhaustion, he went down to the kitchen slowly, enjoying the savory smell spreading across the house. Once he finally arrived, though, Higo saw his mother stirring something in a big pot, cheerfully humming the latest pop song from the radio.

"Good morning... You sure are in a good mood today, Mom." He greeted casually.

The moment Minami heard his voice, her head snapped instantly because Higo was afraid it would injure her. However, the smile on her face spread wider than ever as she didn’t care about anything else right now.

"Ryukkun!" She hopped quickly like a rabbit, giving him the warmest hug she could muster. "I see the light in your room was on last night, and I know you were back already, but I waited until you were awake and fresh enough to greet you! Come here, I’m cooking curry for the welcome party!" She pulled a chair to let Higo sit there.

Seeing this, Higo couldn’t help but snort, looking amusedly at how Minami prepared with full enthusiasm a plate of curry. Sure enough, no matter what kind of storm and thunder outside, the first thing any mother would ask the moment a kid was back at home was about his stomach.

Still... "Curry in the morning? Isn’t it a bit heavy, Mom?" Higo couldn’t help but ask. "Not that I wouldn’t eat, of course." He added quickly, especially when the plate was already in front of him.

"Bah! Who cares about trivial matters like that?!" Minami waved off his concern nonchalantly. "No one will watch what we eat inside our own house! Come on, eat more! Two weeks of a trip, and somehow, you get so thin like this! How would you survive once you go to Germany later?" Her tone was full of distress.

Higo just stayed quiet, letting his mother gush over his well-being. The next few minutes were spent with him in complete silence as he just ate the curry in front of him, listening to his mother asking so many things in one go.

After she was done, though, the woman finally took a seat next to him, and that was when the real conversation could begin.

"So, the top eight of the tournament and also one of the hottest prospects in the country, huh?" Minami’s smile had been so wide since the beginning that Higo was afraid it would hurt her facial muscles. "Have I told you how proud I am of you?"

"So many times, but I will still be happy to hear it from you." Higo grinned goofily. "Oh, another piece of good news, Mom!" he perked up, remembering the meeting yesterday before they went back here.

Minami’s eyes widened as she heard what her boy said next. "...You mean to tell me that you and Kumiko-chan are going to be invited to the Young Samurai team? For the World Cup this year?!" She repeated the information in disbelief, as if wanting to make sure that her ears didn’t deceive her.

"Well, Makino-kun will also be there, and it is still a trial. Also, it is the World Cup U-20, not the biggest one that you know." Higo nodded in confirmation. "Still, you are basically right. Next April, they will invite us to Chiba for the last training camp before the event starts, so Kusakabe-san, the person from the federation, asked Kumiko-chan to supervise our conditioning during the waiting period."

Silence followed for a moment before Minami finally shrieked in joy. "My son is going to be in Samurai Blue! Kyah! This is a big occasion! We need to celebrate it!"

"Mom, stop it! You shake the whole table! The curry will spill there!" Higo tried to calm down his mother, only to find that his effort was futile.

"Wait a second, I will tell your sister first." She went to her phone immediately, scrolling through numerous contacts to find Ayaka’s name.

"Oh, make sure that you tell her to keep it secret first, okay?" Higo couldn’t help but remind her. "Kusakabe-san said that everything is not settled yet and we have to wait until the official announcement before we can post it on social media."

"I know, I know! Who do you think I am?!"

Seeing that his mother was so ecstatic like this, Higo couldn’t help but smile, taking a deep breath while leaning his back against the chair, relaxing. ’Yeah, damn... This sure is life, huh?’