The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 151: Hakodate Nishi’s Blitzkrieg Attack!

Well, Higo would admit it directly that he didn’t have any problem with Makino. All he said earlier was just when he was in heat, adrenaline taking over his body. Nevertheless, his words seemed to hurt the captain, so he had no choice but to apologize here.

"Yeah, sorry for being an asshole." The boy grunted. "Not that I am justified to do so, but your performance before Kazawa came was an ass. I don’t know what gets into you, but you definitely make things difficult for me."

The captain also replied with a low grunt, nodding all along. "Sorry as well that I didn’t do my job that well. I don’t know what is going on with me today, but I will try to make things easier for you." He also apologized genuinely.

The smile on Kumiko’s face was wider than ever. Say what about her two friends’ petty rivalry, but they both knew when they were going too far and would never hesitate to apologize first. That was the quality she admired the most in them.

"Well, since you made up with each other already, I don’t want any similar incident to happen again in the second half, okay?" She still warned them. "You both are the leaders of our backline. If you have a clash in the middle of the game, it would affect the team’s whole performance. Try to settle any personal matter behind the door, do you understand?"

"Yes, Kumiko-chan..."

It was just a short conversation, and other than saying sorry, no meaningful words were exchanged by those two boys with each other. However, somehow, this was enough to de-escalate the conflict between them, and once they both walked outside of the locker room, they felt as if a huge burden was relieved from their shoulder.

"Just... Listen to my instruction, Teme." Higo said, fixing the cap on his head.

Makino just snorted, not even looking at him. "Watch your timing perfectly. Don’t you dare ask me to do something impossible."

"Ha! Who are you talking about?"

Even though they were bickering with each other, the grin on their face showed that they were on good terms again. Before they walked out of the tunnel, Makino also didn’t forget to offer a quick fist bump.

At Higo’s questioning gaze, he grinned. "The next time we do this, we will be the ones carrying the trophy here."

The goalkeeper was stunned, before his face mirrored the grin in front of him. "Sure! Let’s make a name for ourselves!"

-0-

After waiting for fifteen minutes, the break was finally over. Players from both teams were ready to restart the game, and some minor changes were made by their head coaches.

Shimizu Higashi decided to bring their number 15 on the pitch, replacing the center back who was so quiet and jobless in the first half of the pitch. Her task was simple, and that was to protect Mamoru from any pressure from the opponent’s team.

As for Hakodate, Denki also came, indicating that the team was ready for an offensive battle. While he had already seen how desperate Hori fought in the first half, that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. If anything, Denki was so excited right now, ready to fight tooth and nail for the team.

After everyone was ready, the referee checked for everything one last time. Since Shimizu High got the chance to attack first in the first half, this time, the kickoff would begin with the ball in Hakodate’s hands.

Some of the attackers there were quite jumpy right now, the combination of nervousness and excitement. They hadn’t done anything in the first half, so when the chance was about to come, they felt like their legs were itching for action.

Fweee!

The moment the referee blew the whistle, the frontline started to take action.

First, Yuji kicked the ball back to Takaaki, while Kuroki rushed forward immediately to occupy the area between the opponent’s midfield and backline. Not only them, the quartet of Hiroshi, Usami, Denki, and Ishinori also did the same, wanting to overwhelm the opponent with numbers.

Then, before Shimizu Higashi’s players could react, Takaaki sent the ball first, pinpointing Kuroki, who jumped so high that the opponent’s DM couldn’t even reach his shoulder. The boy did everything perfectly, aiming the ball straight into the space where Usami was running.

Thud!

"Oh! Nice header, Senpai!"

"Come on, Usami! Run! Run! Run!"

"Get ready for centering, everyone! Don’t miss the ball!"

Just within a second, the area inside Shimizu Higashi’s penalty box was swarmed by the black-and-white jersey, the first time ever this had happened in the game.

However, Shimizu Higashi also reacted well. They didn’t panic, moving back a little in the unit while having two players putting pressure on Usami. It wasn’t enough to trip the boy, but any cross was definitely impossible to throw from that side.

Well... That was, until Usami pushed the ball further to the flank, where Denki somehow managed to sneak from outside of the sideline, adding another layer to the team’s offense.

The wing-back didn’t even glance at the penalty box. No, when he saw the ball was coming to the space in front of him, he sped up more before sending a cross with his right foot. He even lost a little bit of his balance due to having to twist his body to send a better crossing, but the boy couldn’t care less right now.

"CENTER!"

"I GET IT, I GET IT!"

Kuroki, who was already on the box again, jumped, challenging Shimizu Higashi’s captain in the aerial duel. Unfortunately, his position was slightly worse, enough for the opponent to win the duel and clear the ball away with the header.

However, somehow, Hiroshi managed to predict where the ball would fall, and even though the angle was far from ideal for the boy to launch a direct shot, he managed to get the ball right inside the penalty box.

"Fuck! Cover!"

Two players jumped in front of Hiroshi immediately, wanting to block the path for the boy to shoot. However, the Hakodate’s number 10 was so calm even under the pressure. He faked the shot completely, pushing the ball slightly to avoid the two blockers before launching a slight curl shot to the bottom of the left goal.

Thud!