The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 47: Exam Awaiting?!
Unlike in the past, all the members of the club gathered quickly, even before the time that Kumiko scheduled. It seemed they noticed that the girl had something urgent to say, so they didn’t want to be late. That... Or they just had enough with school and wanted to use the club as an excuse to escape.
Unfortunately, it seemed Kumiko didn’t want to let them escape here.
"I think, I don’t need to say this, but I will still remind you all that the final exam is going to happen in two weeks," Kumiko said.
Right after the announcement was made, commotion broke out. Some people groaned, while the others, especially those who didn’t have the confidence to have a smooth run, started to hyperventilate, having a panic attack on the spot.
"Shishida-senpai," Suddenly, Hiroshi raised his hand.
"Yes, Hiroshi-kun?"
"What should we do if we are so sure that we will not pass the exam?" Hiroshi asked with a straight face.
Kumiko felt the corner of her lips twitching, too speechless to answer that immediately. The fact that Jun and Fujinaga also nodded in agreement added another layer of headache, as the girl swore she felt her blood rising to the peak.
Higo himself was dumbfounded here. He knew he wasn’t the best student in the class. No, that title was reserved for either Kumiko or Makino, as they both always competed as the best student there. However, at least, he could say confidently that he had never failed an exam in his life.
No, having been friends with Kumiko, he was so afraid of being looked down on by the girl if he had to repeat class. That was also why he studied as if his life depended on it whenever an exam was coming up. It also helped that Kumiko, bless her pure heart, would always offer to help, especially at subjects that he was not good at, like science or geography.
That was one of the biggest reasons why, even if he wasn’t the best, the boy had never met failure in his studies before.
And now, to see a bunch of people asking innocently what if they failed...
"Okay, a new rule here!" Kumiko slammed the board on the front so loudly that it made the boys in the front row jump. "The final exam is going to be in two weeks, just a week before the semifinal begins. If we somehow managed to get through that phase, I don’t care if you are Keisuke Honda or Lionel Messi himself, but if you failed the exam, you are excluded from the team!"
Hell broke loose instantly, as protests and complaints erupted in the room.
"Come on, Senpai! That’s not fair!"
"Yes! You are judging fish by a monkey’s jumping skill!"
"Hey, that’s a cool quote! I bet you use that a lot whenever you don’t want to study, right?"
"But it makes sense! Do you think Messi’s grades were awesome when he was our age?!"
"Okay, enough!" Kumiko raised her voice once again, enough to silence the room instantly. Even after complaining so loudly, the moment the girl glared, no one dared to even utter a single word, all cowering like a herd of sheep. "Whoever said that Messi didn’t have a good grade when he was your age, speak! Are you playing in Barcelona like when he was young? No? Then, if you still ask your parents for pocket money, shut the hell up and don’t complain!"
If the situation were not that tense, Higo would’ve snickered immediately at the witty comeback that his girl threw. People who mistook her for an innocent girl would’ve been burned if they dared to challenge her. After all, she was friends with him, a certified keyboard warrior. There was no way she wouldn’t learn one thing or two about how to roast people like this.
"When he was your age, Messi was already a star in Barcelona! With a huge amount of money as his wage! He got paid to play football, for God’s sake! You are not!" Kumiko continued berating the players, enough to make everyone shrink in despair. "I will not have any of your parents complaining to me about you failing the exam because you are too busy training, do you all understand?!"
"Yes, Ma’am..." The tone was so dejected as if Kumiko just announced their beloved cat had died here.
Well, she might be harsh here, but no one could blame her. At the end of the day, this was just a club, and if the students messed up their studies for it, the one who was responsible would be the coach, which was her. It was important to state this firsthand, so that she could have an escape way when things went south for the players.
Thus, the hell week started after this.
To make sure that they had more free time to study, their training schedule also changed. Usually, it would be around 3 to 4 hours in the evening, but now it was one hour in the morning and two hours in the evening. It was shortened for about an hour, but this was necessary.
The training session also intensified, with the team starting to simulate the situation when they were going to face Ritsumeikan High. They started to think of a way to stop Takuro Iwai, the opponent’s best player.
"Fujinaga-kun, once again, you are overcomplicating things! Don’t worry about leaving the pocket area empty, just ram him when you see him free with the ball, okay?!"
"No, Hori-kun! Never push him from behind! He is a master at foul-baiting! That push will get you a yellow card if he starts his acting!"
"Usami-kun, don’t get baited by the movement in the center! Keep eyes on the flank, their fullback is very active!"
It was fortunate that Hiroshi was able to replicate Takuro Iwai’s game, even if it wasn’t perfect. Still, poor the boy, he didn’t even have a rest time since he also had to train for the attacking scenario.
Overall, though, it was an exhausting week, both physically and mentally. Higo felt like he was growing older two years in advance just within a week, especially since he felt like he wasn’t quite ready for the exam.
However, that was a completely different matter, because the gameday finally arrived. As he took a deep breath, the boy walked out of the house with eyes burning in determination, shouting, "I am going! Wish me luck, Mom!"
