The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 167: The Top Players of the Country

Author’s note: My apologize, but today is just a normal update. I will switch the double-update day to tomorrow, so you guys will have two double-update days in a row. Thank you for your support and understanding!

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It was night after the interview was over, and right now, Higo found himself sitting in front of his desk with both arms folded, staring at the screen of his phone with a big frown on his face.

"Koki Morita from Teikyo High in Tokyo... Hiroki Kawabe from Shohei High in Saitama... Naoki Maeda from Hamamatsu Kaisekan, also in Shizuoka... and Ryo Matsumura from Kashima Gakuen in Ibaraki... Those four are the best among the best, those who are considered to be the next generation of Japanese football."

At least, that was what Higo got from Tamako’s words. The moment he went back home, though, the boy went to the internet quickly and checked those four names immediately, wanting to compare them with Mamoru, whom he had faced a few days ago.

Honestly, it wasn’t like Higo overestimated Mamoru here, thinking that the boy from Shimizu Gakuen was the best thing coming to the world since Kumiko herself. However, the boy was the first ever national genius that Higo faced, and the boy was the only indicator that Higo had to measure the other geniuses.

Fortunately, there were a lot of highlights on the internet about four of them and their playing style as well. However, after watching them for the first few minutes, Higo shook his head, closing the site and deciding to shut his phone immediately.

’Nah, those highlights couldn’t even show me the real deal.’ He shook his head slightly, a little bit disappointed. ’I cannot see how they act in normal time. All are the nicely selected plays that always result in their goals. What the hell could I see from that?’ He huffed annoyedly.

Yeah, well, this was the problem with a highlight video. It would only show the best thing, never some things in general. However, Higo just realized that, since before, he was so spoiled by Kumiko, who provided a full video of a match rather than just a tidbit of what the opponent could do in a ten-minute video.

Now, even looking at the best players in Japan, all Higo could conclude was that Hiroki Kawabe was an electric winger who liked to beat his opponent with his speed, Naoki Maeda was like Yuwell Carlson in term of being able to score any ball at any situation, and Ryo Matsumura was just a wild beast who got out of the zoo to attack anything within vicinity.

Of course, Higo realized that they should be more than that. However, the highlight didn’t show anything beyond what he knew, so no matter how much the boy researched, it was pointless.

As for Koki Morita, though...

’Koki Morita, the senior-year student from Teikyo High in Tokyo, the one hailed as Japan’s best youngster in this generation and the Prince of Edo... Who the hell gives such a cringy nickname? What the hell is this, A fucking Captain Tsubasa?’ Higo couldn’t help but have the corner of his mouth twitching madly.

After scrolling through several websites, he finally found out the source of this nationwide Chuunibyou

thing. It was from a famous football magazine—even though Higo had never heard it before—called Sokkaaba, the abbreviation of Soccer Ball in Japanese pronunciation.

It seemed that the magazine liked to make up so many nicknames, and even some of the best Japanese players from the past also had one during their time in high school, like Keisuke Honda as The Conductor or Shinji Kagawa as The Miracle.

Koki Morita’s nickname was also a cringey-worthy, The Prince of Edo, but the boy deserved to have that. Compared to the other players, Higo found a full 30-minute video of his playing style analysis, and he had to admit that the boy was way more ridiculous than he had ever thought.

Koki Morita’s natural position was a central midfielder. However, he was everywhere on the pitch. One moment he could be protecting the ball in the left back, and in the next seconds, he could be on the opposite flank destroying his opponent there.

He was like a pest, always finding a good position to receive a pass.

Hell, Higo even found that Koki Morita held the record of touching the ball the most in a game with around 400 touches, or on average, the boy got the ball four times every minute. That showed how strong the boy’s positioning ability was.

Of course, his ability wasn’t just that. No, if anything, it was even more ridiculous, since he also had a strong body, a fast pace, a delicate technique, and a killer instinct in front of the goal.

Hell, he was in second place in the top score rank and standing on top of the list for the assist rank in the National Tournament last year, getting involved in 12 goals out of 5 games to win the MVP of the tournament.

He was definitely the best player in the country for this generation, and it wasn’t even close.

’Damn, if such a perfect player truly exists, no wonder Mamoru could only be in fifth place on the list... That Koki Morita is so ridiculous...’ Higo shook his head in admiration.

It wasn’t just Koki Morita, though. The more Higo watched the clips of the national tournament, the more he went back to the other three players before, appreciating them more.

Those four were the pillars of the country in the future, having already represented the national team U-17 on the world stage before. Not only that, some of them even had a contract with a professional team already, with Koki Morita in particular, who was even linked to a German team, with a rumor that the boy would fly immediately to Europe once he graduated from high school.

There was so much information flashing inside his head right now, and it would be a lie if Higo just smiled and said nothing was wrong with him. No, he got overwhelmed by everything, just closing his phone and staring blankly at the wall for a few seconds.

After he had recovered, though, a small smile somehow formed on the corner of his lips, and before he realized it, the boy muttered unconsciously, "It seems... Sapporo Otani isn’t even that big outside, huh? I wonder what it would feel like to be in the National Tournament and face all those top players in the country..."