The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 136: Adjustment & Taking the Lead

The second half had only been running for at least six minutes, and Higo had already started to yawn in his penalty box. Somehow, while everyone was having a great time, he was so bored to death, not having anything to do on the pitch.

Yeah, it was such a rare occasion for Hakodate to completely encircle the opponent in their own half, and Higo also got splashed with the benefit here, not having any threat coming at him. It had been like this since the beginning of the game, and the boy even took time to participate in the build-up, receiving a pass before rerouting it to the other part of the pitch.

Still, overall, he was jobless today, not facing a single shot from the opponent.

’Damn, how could I test the new theory if I didn’t even have a single attack here? I’d rather go back and read my book rather than do nothing here...’ He groaned, wiping the sweat on his forehead as the sun also got higher.

It was rare for Higo to be willing to read a book, but this was a special occasion. After he and Kumiko figured out his prediction ability, the girl had been thinking of a way to maximize that potential, and she found a free e-book on the internet about Sports Biomechanics.

This was definitely not a topic that any high school student would hear, let alone know about. Moreover, the book itself was full of English, enough to fry the boy’s brain completely. He was so resistant to reading the book at first, before the boy started to understand the content slowly.

It was a book with the most detailed explanation of how a player shot the ball, breaking down the mechanics of it from how the player plants the non-shooting foot, swinging the other one, how the hips rotated, and so on. Well, not just shooting, per se, but how players would move when they were about to dribble, to pass, and everything that could be done on the pitch.

Usually, this kind of book was something that those academicians would learn for the sake of science, but not something that could be used by the real players themselves, since everything happened so fast on the pitch.

There was no way in hell they could figure out the opponent’s intention based on this and move accordingly. No, on the pitch, almost everything happened instantly, and they just reacted to what they saw there.

However, it was definitely a different story for Higo.

His clairvoyance ability allowed him to zoom in on the object he focused on and watch what would happen to it in the next few seconds, a perfect skill that complemented that knowledge.

For example, let’s just say that Higo was about to receive a powerful shot. Before that, though, he focused completely on the shooter’s entire lower limbs, allowing him to see how the opponent generated the power before the ball came.

This would also allow him to predict where it would go, and more than that, he could also match the timing perfectly, preventing him from wasting any movement.

Of course, after hearing this, people would ask a question: was that necessary? After all, even with him only predicting the ball’s path like the usual, only the one from Echigo Academy was able to fool him, so this seemed like going a little bit too overboard with his effort.

However, Higo didn’t want to take a chance here. He would rather learn more knowledge without having a chance to use it than get caught off guard in the future and suffer because he didn’t have the necessary knowledge to handle the situation.

It also helped that the topic was interesting, so the boy was completely immersed in the book from the day Kumiko gave it to him.

’Oh, well, let’s just focus on the game first, and maybe I can think about it later.’ He shook his head rapidly, trying to bring back his focus on the pitch.

The situation was still pretty much the same, but the combination passing between Hiroshi and Kenji also started to pose a greater threat on the opponent’s side. They wreaked havoc like two lunatics, destroying all the opponent players in front of them mercilessly.

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect combination. After all, they still failed to score even up to this point. Some of their combinations were not perfect as well, what with them sometimes being driven by their ego and not wanting to pass the ball to the others.

This also led to some counterattack scenarios from Akita Chuo that were quite promising. However, funnily enough, the presence of Sano on the back was enough to intimidate the opponents, forcing them to stay away from the center ’willingly’.

"Yeah, I might be crazy when saying this, but looking like a thug sure has its advantages sometimes, huh?" Higo couldn’t help but murmur to himself.

Nevertheless, he was also happy for that boy. Out of all four newcomers, Sano was definitely his favorite. After all, besides being one of Kumiko’s simps, the boy was a perfect kouhai, respecting everyone else even a little bit too much, sometimes offering to help them get their bags.

Honestly, if he were in a team with a more toxic seniority culture, the boy would’ve been bullied at this point. Fortunately, Kumiko would never allow something so outrageous as that to be on her team.

While Higo was daydreaming, though, more action was still going on the other side of the pitch. Hori managed to slip into the right flank with his solo run, but the boy lost his balance when he launched a cross, resulting in the ball flying so high that it was getting cleared easily by the opponent’s center back.

However, the ball itself fell one foot away from Kuroki’s spot, and seeing it bounce lightly, the tall striker didn’t hesitate. He tilted his body slightly to the side, and with a half-volley shot, Kuroki launched a rocket to the opponent’s goal.

BAM!