The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 128: An Uneventful Second Half

"Clairvoyance... An ability to foresee the future for the next few seconds, huh..."

The second half had just started, and the game was quite lively with Echigo trying to take the initiative to attack. However, Kumiko didn’t really pay attention to it. No, she couldn’t concentrate; her mind was still getting entangled with the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her life.

If it wasn’t Higo who told her about it, she would’ve asked whoever it was to go to the mental hospital. Hell, she herself also had half of her mind to do that for Higo, just for her to be stunned when the boy demonstrated the ability perfectly, saying exactly what she was about to say word-for-word.

However, this still blew her mind. Kumiko didn’t know what to think or how to proceed with everything that her best friend had just told her a moment ago.

Amidst the confusion, her eyes fell on Higo once again, and seeing how calm the boy was, she couldn’t help but smile wryly. ’Yeah, after thinking about it, his talent seems to be reasonable. I mean, any goalkeeper with this ability will be unfairly overpowered, right?’

Kumiko recalled the first time she dragged the boy to join the training session, where he stopped all the shots from the others in a one-on-one shot situation. At that time, she thought that Higo was an insightful goalkeeper who was able to observe everything and could guess where the ball would go next.

Well, she wasn’t wrong, per se, but the girl didn’t think that it would mean literally.

’Still, if the revelation about his supernatural ability is mind-blowing, the next one is definitely enough to disconnect my brain from reality.’ The girl smiled wryly as her eyes fell on the blonde boy on the Echigo’s side. ’To think that someone can defy that ability, even making Ryukkun doubt his life... Oh, gosh... I really want to experiment right now!’

The other players on the bench stepped away further from her spot as they saw their coach giggling giddily out of nowhere. The girl saw the movement, but she just ignored them, humming lightly while every single cell in her brain was working overtime right now.

’So, what is the trigger here? Does that boy really have a similar supernatural ability to Ryukkun? If so, what kind, and why is it that it didn’t work other than in a one-on-one situation? Back to the basics, what is also the trigger to Ryukkun’s ability? The focus? No, it shouldn’t be something that simple.’

The confused thought gradually became clearer inside Kumiko’s head, and right now, the girl was eyeing her best friend with a hungry gaze, enough to send a shiver down the boy’s spine. She looked like a mad scientist, ready to dissect any of her patients on the operating table.

’Damn, why is she looking at me like that? Is my decision to tell her going to be my downfall?’ Higo was sweating on his back, trying his best not to turn around to the bench, and met Kumiko’s gaze.

The intensity definitely gave him a goosebump, but this also reassured Higo that Kumiko treated his words seriously.

He knew that this was far from being common, and revealing it could be a huge deal not just for himself, but also to the world. After all, at the end of the day, even if it was only three to six seconds, it was the ability to see the future, and most people would want to cover it for themselves.

Higo couldn’t help but imagine the last zombie movie that he watched, where the main character suffered from torture disguised as an experiment by the mad scientist who was also the villain of that movie. Somehow, whenever Higo thought of revealing his ability, those clips ran through his mind again, giving a constant reminder not to trust anyone else.

However, in the end, the boy took the risk, exposing his own ability to his childhood friend. The boy was confident that Kumiko was not a tattletale, and honestly, he was also desperate right now.

What happened in the first half was not normal, and he couldn’t think of any single explanation to ease his mind. If there was one smart person that he could trust with his secret, though, it was definitely Kumiko, and by the glimmer in her eyes, Higo knew that he made the right bet here.

’As long as she doesn’t go wild in her experience and I don’t get hurt too much, let’s just let her do anything she wants.’

After that, he tried to banish all the unnecessary thoughts, putting his focus back on the game.

Fortunately for Higo, though, Hakodate’s defense was solid as ever. It could hold against rain and storm outside, and honestly, if a team didn’t have any big guns like Yuwell Carlson from Sappotani, they wouldn’t be able to get closer to the goal.

Riku tried so many times to show off his brilliance, but nothing could really threaten Higo, let alone hit the goal. The closest one was a long shot from 28 meters away, but the angle was quite bad, giving Higo an easy time to let it go.

Other than that, the game just went back and forth, with the midfield line being the one who carried so heavily in this half.

"Come on, Takaaki! Run faster! If you want to put pressure, don’t start slow!"

"Usami, get behind me! Be wary and get ready to foul!"

Fweee!

"Foul! Foul! Sensei, he pulls Fujinaga’s shirt! We are not a rich team, you know?! We cannot afford a jersey!"

With how physical the game was, some players were definitely starting to get tired, especially for Hakodate’s team. In the end, with more new players on the team, they had a better backup, putting them all into the pitch. Kuroki, Denki, and even Sano all had a chance to feel the atmosphere in the game before everything was over.

There was really not much happening in the second half, though. Hakodate didn’t really intend to push back, opting to hold the ball as long as possible before going back to defense. Echigo Academy also found it was a mission impossible to crack the tough nut in front of them.

After a while, the referee finally blew the whistle, and right after that, all the Hakodate players fell on the ground with their butt first, shouting and laughing wildly.

"Hahaha! We win our first game! Come on!"