The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 130: Experiment Time!

"It is finally..." All the Hakodate Nishi players gathered around in a circle as their bodies were shaking in excitement. "A BEACH TIME!"

"HELL, YEAH!"

It was a day after the game was finally over, and while they still had two more games awaiting, right now, continuing practice would only be counterproductive for the team. No, after having an exhausting game yesterday, it was important to take a little rest, and Kumiko knew that everyone was so excited to play here.

"Come on! Where is the volleyball?!"

"Watermelon! Who brings the watermelon!"

"Hey, don’t push around! You haven’t even changed your clothes yet!"

"Let’s go swimming! The seaside is so clear right now, we would never have that in Hakodate!"

"Idiot! Use your sunscreen first! You will get your skin burned!"

Makino just shook his head in exasperation as he saw his teammates going crazy, as if this was the first time they saw a real beach. Well, honestly, for people who lived in a place where most of the time would be snowy, the beach was definitely one of the world’s wonders in their eyes.

"They are going to flop like a dead fish in just one hour, right?" One of the twins, Denji, smirked amusedly as the boy lay under the umbrella with sunglasses hanging on his face.

"Bah! One hour? Let’s make a bet. They will survive only for the first thirty minutes before going back here lifelessly." The other twin, Denki, added with a small smirk as he was also in the same pose.

Seeing them like this, Makino couldn’t help but sigh again.

"Anyway, where are Kumiko-san

and Higo-kun?" Kuroki couldn’t help but ask. Somehow, the tall boy was the acting nanny of the group, making sure that everyone didn’t go astray today.

"Them? Oh, they have some sort of private project in the hotel. They said they wouldn’t go out with us today." Makino answered, a hint of jealousy was clear in his tone.

The others in the vicinity choked when they heard that. "A private project? Alone in the hotel? What kind of project is it, making a baby?" Yuji asked incredulously.

"Don’t be so crass!" Kuroki slapped the boy’s head quite hard, his face flushed a little from imagining so many dirty things inside his head. "Do you think that Kumiko-san is that kind of a person?"

This got a dead silence as the answer, as everyone turned their head away in guilt. Funnily enough, though, the main topic of the conversation revolved around the girl, with not a single one of them caring about what Higo was doing there.

Of course, those two couldn’t care less about it. Hell, currently, they were in a communal pitch where so many people gathered to relax, as Kumiko dragged him there. There, a lot of children used one corner to have a small game, while on the other end, Kumiko and Higo were using the side with a goal in it for themselves.

No, this was not a date. The boy would be way too ecstatic if that were the case. Unfortunately, it was far from being a date, as right now, they were in a very awkward situation with the boy protecting the goal, but also turning away from Kumiko, who acted as the shooter.

"Come on, Ryukkun! Are you ready?!" The girl shouted cheerfully. "Turn around the moment you see something, okay?! I will record it and use the data later!"

"Sure thing! Come on, just send it to me!"

Of course, Kumiko didn’t shoot the ball herself. No, she also brought a small ball launcher that could throw the ball at a very fast speed, acting as if it were a real shot from a team’s striker. Then, in the next second...

BAM!

The ball was launched at great speed, and from a close distance, it looked impossible to stop.

However, Higo reacted beforehand, turning around quickly before moving to the left and jumping. The sequence of action ran so fast within just a few seconds, and before anyone could realize what was going on, the boy had already punched the ball away from the goal.

"OH! What is this?! He is amazing!"

"Damn, is he from a pro team?! He is so young, but his reflexes are insane!"

"Come on, do it again!"

Higo felt his face flushed when, before he noticed, he was being surrounded by people there, all watching the show as if he were a magician in the middle of a circus. Kumiko herself nodded satisfactorily, glancing at the stopwatch she brought with a little hum.

’He moves two seconds before the ball is launched, huh? Let’s see if this is the norm or not.’ She nodded before shouting at her best friend, "Come on, Ryukkun! Again! Don’t let the cheers distract you, okay?" She said teasingly, which was enough to trigger laughter from the crowd.

"Damn, young lady! You are so cruel to your boyfriend!"

"Hey, if he wants to go pro, this is a necessary step!"

"Well, I mean... Is this kind of training really that effective?"

Higo was flustered right now, but also grinned smugly when he noticed that Kumiko didn’t deny a single word about him being her boyfriend. ’Ha! Suck it, Teme! It is clear that I win this race!’

Then, in the next thirty minutes, Higo turned from a magician into a real clown, jumping all over every direction to stop the ball just to get a round of applause from the crowd when he managed to save the ball.

Sometimes, he was forced to dive deep to save a ground ball to the edge. Then, in the next turn, he had to jump on the other side to get the ball straight to the bin. The boy did everything he could, not really knowing what the aim was here.

’Oh, well, that is not my problem. Let’s just wait until Kumiko-chan finds something before asking the question.’

They continued this training, and honestly, Higo started to get bored here. Everything was always the same, and honestly, while there were some balls that he couldn’t save, everything was still within his prediction.

However, once he was complacent, another shot was coming, except that this time, he failed to predict it correctly.

Yeah, before the shot was taken, Higo turned around and moved to the left quickly, just for himself to find that the ball went to the right side slowly, completely fooling the boy.

His eyes snapped from the ball to his friend, and when he saw the girl grinning madly at him, he couldn’t help but curse.

"What the hell is that?!"