The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 123: The Clairvoyance Ability Fails?!

Before the boy was this close... No, no, even before that, Higo knew that this troublemaker would go crazy. The man carried a strong aura, just like Yuwell Carlson from Sappotani or Tatsuya Iwai from Ritsumeikan, one that told their teammates that they were going to carry everything on their back and went berserk after that.

However, even he, himself, with his clairvoyance ability, still didn’t expect something like this. No, Riku was basically dancing, tearing apart all Hakodate’s defense like wet paper.

It was one thing for Yuji and Usami to fail, because they both didn’t really expect it. However, the five players after that were not a bunch of paper tigers. No, they were considered the best defensive line in the prefecture, so to see them getting toyed with so easily like that was a mind-boggling experience.

When he saw the ball was about to pass through the two fullbacks’ defense, though, Higo’s clairvoyance took over immediately. He saw Riku wanting to run past him as well before tapping the ball lightly when there was no one guarding, wanting to use this as a provocation.

Of course, Higo would never back down. In his mind, this was already set in stone, and to see the opponent still wanted to make a ruckus in his territory was unacceptable.

That was why, even one or two seconds before the ball was passed back to him, Higo had already made his run. He was ready to cover a wider area while also preparing himself to chase the ball once he was about to get passed by Riku.

While he was still confident in his ability, Higo didn’t want to risk it too much here. He still didn’t know the correct timing of when the boy next to him would start to change his direction for a better angle, so the best approach was to push the opponent into a more uncomfortable spot.

However, what Riku said next was enough to chill the boy down the spin.

"Huh? I swear, I was about to let go of that guy! Oh, well, not bad. See how it is going!"

Instead of continuing the dribble, Riku suddenly said such an outrageous remark. Then, he slowed down his speed, and the moment Higo went for his blood, the boy stopped for a second, and then launched a high chip that was enough to make everyone’s head in the air, following where the ball would exactly land.

Thud!

"Ah, fuck! It doesn’t work!" Riku groaned, both hands clutching his head as he saw that the ball’s trajectory was far from the goal. In the end, the ball just hit the net above the goal. "Just too much! If only I could control it better!"

Right after that, several Echigo players came to console him.

"Don’t worry, Captain! This is just your first attempt!"

"Heck, yeah! You will be able to score as much as you want later!"

Meanwhile, Higo himself was still stunned. His eyes moved rapidly from the ball back to the boy and back to the ball again. Seeing how pale the goalkeeper’s face was, Makino was worried and came to him immediately.

"You okay?" He whispered, tone full of concern.

"Yeah... I mean, no..." Higo shook his head so slowly, still in a dazed state. "He... He didn’t go as I predicted before..." He explained with a hint of despair, as if this was the end of the world.

Hearing that, Makino couldn’t help but sigh in relief. "Well, I thought it was a bigger thing. If it is just a failed prediction, it is not a big deal. All the best goalkeepers in the world make that mistake at some point in their career, just move on and face the next challenge better, okay?"

Well, it was easy for Makino to say that because the captain didn’t know the inside story here. He just thought that Higo’s prediction was based on the calculation inside his head, so it was no wonder a mistake like this could happen.

Only Higo knew that this was a bigger deal than what the captain portrayed.

’He can escape from my clairvoyance ability? How could he do that? Does he also have the same? Predicting me to run to him and chip the ball instead?’ The boy still blinked in panic and doubt as he started to question himself. ’This should be the first time, right?’

Yeah, before this, his clairvoyance ability had never betrayed the boy, always finding what happened in the next three to six seconds in the future correctly. This was the basis of his strength as a goalkeeper, the one that propelled him to the Golden Glove Award for the prefectural tournament two months ago.

Now, you’d tell me that the same exact ability made a mistake?

Even though it was just the first time since he received this metaphysical ability, Higo had all the reasons in the world to panic right now. However, he still took a deep breath, feeling a bit skeptical. Well, it was more like a denial, per se.

’No, that should be a coincidence.’ He shook his head strongly. ’Let’s try to put more concentration on him. If he can do that again, that’s when I can start panicking for real.’

As the game restarted, Higo started to put more attention on Riku. He watched every little movement that the boy made, wanting to see what was going to happen next.

To his surprise, though, Riku often operated in the middle, the spot where the biggest crowd gathered on the pitch. At first glance, it looked like a suicidal move, what with him being a short guy who was easily suppressed in the physical battle.

However, Riku proved that he was more than capable of handling the situation perfectly.

Not to mention his flawless dribble, his strength and body balance were definitely superior, so that even Fujinaga himself failed to take the boy down after a big clash in the middle. Riku was also good at controlling the tempo, knowing when to switch from holding back to an all-out attack directly to the opponent’s territory.

He was definitely a perfect engine for the team’s offense.

However, that wasn’t what Higo waited for here. No, he kept his eyes closely on Riku, and once the boy made a sudden infiltration move, he knew that it was his time to take action.

’Here we go! Let’s see if the last time is just a coincidence or not!’