The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 42: Away Day!
"...Kkun..."
"...Ryukkun..."
"Wake up, Ryukkun..."
Higo groaned as he felt the gentle nudge on his shoulder, waking him up from his uncomfortable sleep.
"Have we arrived already?" He asked sleepily, narrowing his eyes slightly when the sunlight pierced through the train’s window. In front of him, Kumiko started to pick up the bag on the ground, getting ready to leave the iron horse already.
"Yup! Get ready, we are five minutes away from the station!" The girl nodded.
It was around 10:30 before noon, and after three hours of travel by train, they had finally arrived at Sapporo. It was definitely not a comfortable journey, though. They had to wake up before morning to catch up with the earliest departure, and while the train itself was cozy, falling asleep there would definitely make everyone sore.
Kumiko also noticed this, as it was not a new problem. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it. The match itself would be held at around 12:00, and except for staying at an inn or something like that for a night, they had to depart early to catch up with time, or they would be disqualified from the tournament.
’It would be nice to arrive one night before the game starts, but where would we get the money from?’ She sighed helplessly.
Fortunately, other than Higo, who wasn’t used to this thing, the others didn’t moan too much, knowing the team’s tight budget. Those who were asleep just stretched their body lightly, and within a second, they were ready to go again.
"Oh, before we go, here," Kumiko suddenly took a handful of bananas out of her bag, starting to share them all to the players. "Don’t let yourself go into the pitch in a weak state, and don’t throw away the skin anywhere, okay?" Said the girl.
All the boys didn’t hesitate, starting to enjoy the banana as if it were the best delicacy in the world. It created a unique sight in the train, as while the other people were getting ready to leave, a bunch of high school students were still taking their sweet time peeling off bananas and joking around like they had all the time in the world.
However, it was not a strange scene in Hokkaido. It was common knowledge for everyone that any high school tournament in the prefecture would be focused on Sapporo, so the sight of high school students doing warm-up inside the vehicle had become so common that people had already ignored it.
Higo also started his warm-up quickly. The combination of sleepiness and cold temperature from the air conditioner was enough to make him lazy, and if he didn’t want to get caught off guard in the game later, he had to be at his sharpest shape quickly, or it would be a disaster.
After the train finally stopped, they all left quickly, not wanting to get entangled with the crowd for too long. Then, they all walked to Sapporo Kita High, the home team of this second-round game.
Fortunately, the school itself wasn’t that far from the train station, only a ten-minute walk from the school that was hidden in the middle of a shopping district. During their journey here, they also used their time to move their body a little, not wanting to look slouchy and give a bad impression before they could play.
Right as they were in front of the entrance, Kumiko coughed, a signal of her asking them all to pay attention.
"Now that we are here, wait a moment, Makino-kun and I will ask first, and once we get the permission, we will enter together. Don’t just go and wandering around, okay?" She warned them all, her eyes challenging any troublemaker to try.
"Yes, Ma’am!" Even the wildest boy here didn’t dare to do anything stupid here.
As they both walked alongside each other, Higo watched them from afar, jealousy burning inside. He knew that they couldn’t help it, and there was nothing else happening between them two, yet he couldn’t help it. The fact that Makino gave him an infuriating smirk when Kumiko spoke earlier was also salt on his wound here.
’Damn! Can anyone tell me how to dethrone him and snatch the captain’s ban from his arm? He is so infuriating!’ He stomped the ground hard, making a scene among them all.
The others just rolled their eyes, at this point knowing the complicated love triangle between Higo, Makino, and Kumiko. The soap opera might be fun to watch at first, but after a while, things got so frustrating that the best advice was to ignore them. Completely.
While waiting, Higo also observed the surroundings. This was the first time he came to school that he didn’t attend to, and it would be a lie if he said that he wasn’t curious.
’The building is old enough to become a historical relic, probably even older than my grandma.’ He took a note. ’Still, at the end of the day, it is just a public school. The lack of resources compared to the private ones will make them decline further as time goes by. Just like... Our school, huh?’
Unfortunately, this short observation episode had to be cut off prematurely, as Kumiko and Makino were back, bringing someone whom Higo guessed from this school to lead them inside. After getting through the entrance building, they finally saw the ’backyard’, where the football pitch was located.
There, they saw the home team players warming up already; full white jerseys could be seen spreading everywhere. At first glance, the display was impressive, and if Higo didn’t know better, he would never think that this was not a strong team.
"Okay, everyone, we have a short time to talk here, so I will make it fast." Kumiko coughed, starting to speak. "I know that defense is our life, our way to survive. However, our opponent is not that strong today. So, I want you guys to take the initiative first and try to get a goal within the first fifteen minutes of the match. Let’s secure the victory as quickly as possible. Is that doable?"
"Yes, Ma’am!"
"Good! Then, get ready, because the game is about to start!"
