The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 131: It Is Not A Clairvoyance!

After the last incident, Higo started pestering Kumiko to ask how. This was exactly the same thing that happened in the game against Echigo Academy, with him moving to one place just to find that his clairvoyance ability truly failed him.

Much to his annoyance, though, the girl was quite tight-lipped, not answering a single question until he bought her a cone with three big scoops of chocolate ice cream.

"If people saw you like this, your goddess persona would crumble instantly, you know?" The boy couldn’t help but glance at her amusedly. In his hand, he also had a cone of ice cream, but with the classic vanilla flavor.

"Hmm... Well, they are not here, right?" Kumiko didn’t even glance at him, completely immersed in her ice cream. "Hmmm! Having ice cream after sweating under the scorching hot sun... This is the real essence of summer!" She chirped happily.

"Honestly, I don’t get how you switch from your serious head coach mode into this girlish one." Higo shook his head in exasperation. "Oh, here, you have something... Ah!" The boy wiped a trace of ice cream on the corner of her lips casually, as if this was the most natural thing to do.

Kumiko froze instantly, her face was red as a tomato in a blink. Unfortunately, Higo didn’t notice that, so the girl just huffed annoyedly as she stomped on his foot quite hard. "Ryukkun, you idiot!" She accused in irritation.

"Ouch! What’s wrong?!" Higo blinked confusedly, not knowing what he did to deserve this.

They strolled around the communal park for a while, and honestly, with them both having an ice cream while also laughing at each other, anyone who didn’t know better would think that they were in the middle of a date.

Higo himself also felt at ease. For the first time since the game yesterday, he didn’t really think about his clairvoyance ability or anything football-related. Right now, he only had Kumiko in his eyes, as he was captivated by whatever story she cooked for him.

It would’ve been perfect if only he didn’t have to carry the ball launcher machine on his back.

Yeah, the machine that they used to practice earlier was something that Kumiko rented from a local club, and while the size was not that big, it still bothered Higo to carry it all around the place, especially under the scorching hot sun like this.

In the end, once they saw a long bench without any people sitting there, Higo didn’t even ask, just put the bag with the machine in it on the ground and threw his body back against the bench tiredly.

"What the hell... This is far heavier than I thought it would be..." The boy panted as he tried to keep his breath steady.

"No, it is not that heavy, Ryukkun," Kumiko smirked mischievously as she took a seat next to him. "It is just you who are slacking off in your physical training! Maybe, we need to double it up once we are back at Hakodate, huh?" She tapped her chin cutely, as if pondering this possibility.

Of course, Higo couldn’t have that. He snapped his eyes at the girl, looking at her in disbelief. "No, no, no! I am okay here!" He shook his head strongly.

While the physical training for a goalkeeper was not as demanding as that of the other players, it was still quite torturous for Higo, and he wouldn’t want to volunteer, no matter how much the girl offered her to do that.

Kumiko giggled merrily at the horror flashing in her friend’s eyes before she turned into a serious mode. "Anyway, shall we talk about what was going on earlier?" She asked.

Higo also shifted immediately into the same tone, nodding solemnly at the girl. "Yes, please give me your guidance, Sensei..."

The girl felt the corner of her mouth twitching amusedly. She could see that Higo was genuinely curious about what was going on and how she was able to fool him in the last attempt.

"Well, how should I say it..." The girl pondered, trying to think of how to explain this matter. "I think your ability is more specific than just predicting the future. No, you are foreseeing the intent behind the object you are focusing on."

Higo blinked for a moment, tilting his head confusedly. If anything, the explanation seemed to crash his brain right now.

"Let’s just go for the example." Kumiko noticed that and continued, suddenly taking out her phone and showing the boy the record of his training. "See? You moved right after I settled the machine. Here, another one. You will only start moving once I finish setting the direction. It is like... Your prediction ability flares only when the object of your focus is so sure what they are going to do."

The boy narrowed his eyes slightly, still a bit skeptical here. "I mean, can you really conclude that?" He asked once again.

"Of course, no. This is just a machine, so we don’t really know if it is real for normal people." Kumiko nodded, appreciating the thoughtful question. "That’s why I also have some videos of your game here."

This time, Higo blinked for a moment, especially when he watched a video of his highlights for more than 10 whole minutes. "Wait a second, how did you get one?"

"Minami-obaasan gives it to me, of course. What else?" She shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, let’s focus on the content itself, and observe yourself carefully. Focus on the opponent’s move first and look at how you react. Can you see it better?"

Hell, Higo didn’t even have time to react to the last information, being forced to set his eyes completely on the phone.

Most of the highlights came from the game against Ritsumeikan, and Higo could remember clearly how Takuro Iwai wreaked havoc on the team’s defense. He watched carefully every save he made that day, from the header, the aerial catch, and even the long shot launched from outside the box.

After a while, though, he stared at the girl next to him with his jaw dropped, reaching a conclusion here. "Holy shit... You are right!"