The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 154: Discomfort

Higo could still remember clearly the image of the future in his head. It was Mamoru curling the ball above the wall, and the curve was so nasty that it went straight to the top bins. This was a difficult spot to reach, and that was why Higo shifted quickly so that he wouldn’t be late to react.

However, right after his weight shifted and he was about to move, another clairvoyance image flashed. This time, the future changed, and instead of going above the wall, the opponent’s prodigy went for a powerful shot, aiming straight at the corner that Higo was about to abandon.

BAM!

The shot was launched, and Higo, whose weight had shifted to the other direction, froze for a moment here.

If it were any other goalkeeper, he wouldn’t be able to recover quickly. However, Higo was still far from ordinary. Even with his feet freezing, he was still able to extend his hand to reach the ball, and fortunately, it seemed Mamoru was compensating for the power with a weak direction. It was still within his reach, so Higo was able to deflect the ball with his punch.

Author’s note: If you want to imagine the scene, watch the clip of Gianluigi Buffon’s saves against Roberto Carlos’s free kick. That is the scene I imagine when I write this scene.

Once the ball was completely out of bounds, silence fell on the pitch. Everyone stared at the ball that was still rolling even after it was off the pitch, then at Higo and Mamoru simultaneously.

Right after that, hell finally broke loose.

"Oh! Damn! What a shot!"

"I could even hear the wind, goddamnit! My hand hurts even imagining myself in that goalkeeper’s position!"

"That goalkeeper should be in an ambulance, right?!"

Everyone was cheering for Mamoru’s incredible shot, but the boy in question scowled when he saw that Higo was still able to save it. He initially thought he got that goalie, what with him changing his mind in the middle of the process.

At first, he wanted to curl the ball straight above the wall. However, when the boy noticed Higo shifting early to compensate for his not-so-long wingspan, he changed his mind quickly, going for a powerful shot straight in the opposite direction. It caught Higo off guard, and with the goalkeeper being on the wrong foot and even freezing on the spot, he thought a goal was sure to come.

Who would’ve thought that a fist—Higo’s left fist, nonetheless! His weaker one!—was enough to stop his shot.

"Eh, don’t worry, Mamoru! We can try again!" One of the Shimizu Higashi players patted his back, trying to cheer him up.

"Yes, that’s a good attempt! We will have another chance soon!" The others added. "Just keep going and put more pressure on them! They only have ten players now, so it is our chance to destroy them!"

Mamoru nodded reluctantly before walking straight for the corner kick.

Meanwhile, back on Hakodate’s side, everyone was surrounding Higo right now, looking at the boy with a concerned gaze. While yes, they wanted to celebrate the save since it was indeed insane, but when they saw the goalkeeper holding his wrist in pain, they felt their stomachs fall.

"Is it okay?" Makino asked, his face worried.

Higo himself didn’t say anything, just shaking his wrist a little. The flinch on his face, though, didn’t reassure them all. In the end, the boy just smiled wanly, not showing any pain, but just slight discomfort.

"If he or anyone else launches another shot with the same power one more time, I wouldn’t be able to survive saving the second ball." He spoke solemnly, looking at his still trembling hand with a complicated gaze. "Even though I didn’t feel any injury, my hand is still shaking. That shot is enough to mess me up."

When all the Hakodate players nearby heard that, they couldn’t help but gulp, glancing at Mamoru unconsciously. They knew that the boy was amazing, what with him being the best player in one of the best teams in the country, even when he was just a freshman. However, who would’ve thought that he packed that much power in his tiny body?

It seemed that Kumiko also noticed this. Coupled with Ishinori’s red card, she was forced to make a change here. Before the corner kick happened, she made a substitution immediately, putting Denji in for Yuji. This was a tactical change, filling the hole that Ishinori left while also sacrificing the team’s offense in the process.

"Tch! Just when we are trying to take control of the game..." Makino couldn’t help but click his tongue in annoyance.

Yeah, even though they gave Ishinori a hat’s off for his quick decision, they were also annoyed, since that meant they had to give up the offense they had just started to build earlier. This meant they had to go for another round of cocoon defense, trying to hold this scoreless situation until the end and force a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Denji came onto the pitch quickly, approaching the others with the message from Kumiko. "Captain, you are still responsible for the number 10. Kazawa-senpai, you are sticking with that Korean striker. Those two are the only players who can launch another rocket, so make sure they cannot do it properly and try to prolong Higo-senpai’s life."

Higo felt the corner of his mouth twitching a little. The way Denji talked here made it look like he was on the verge of his death. Well, not that it was wrong, per se, but it was just strange to hear someone talk about him like that.

Still, with this new adjustment, at least, he could take a little breath, knowing that Kumiko also took notice of his state.

After this, the referee finally called for the game to continue, and it was another corner kick for Shimizu Higashi High. This time, Mamoru tried to lift the ball high to the captain on the far post, but Higo read it perfectly, plucking the ball in the air.

However, unlike before, when he threw the ball far so quickly to launch a counterattack, this time, he just held the ball tightly. Hell, the boy even fell on the ground theatrically, trying to waste as much time as possible.

’This will be an ugly football from our side, but as long as we can drag this to the penalty shootout, I don’t think we will have any problem. We just need to survive for about 30 minutes, and maybe our chance will open once again! Come on!’