Soon enough, the sun was quite high, and Higo had already found himself standing on the pitch while all of his teammates were warming up. He still glanced at the bench secretly, especially at the only girl there. Kumiko also caught some of them, and she would always wave at him with her warm smile and a slight blush on her face.

Higo was so glad that this was the kind of response he got from Kumiko. After all, he heard a lot of stories of how awkward it was from being a childhood friend to a couple, and while they were not there yet, he didn’t want his invitation to turn their relationship into the worst-case scenario here.

"Hey, Chibi, what are you doing?" A familiar, annoying voice suddenly snapped him from his happy imagination. When Higo turned around, he saw Makino standing in front of me, both arms folded with a big frown on his face.

’Tch, what a spoilsport.’ Higo cursed under his breath.

"What? You speak something?" Makino leaned his ears forward as if he were a bully in the middle of his intimidation tactic. "Also, why are you staring at Kumiko like that? Is there anything you want to speak?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"W—What are you talking about?" Higo’s voice cracked for a moment here.

Fortunately, the boy managed to hide it well so that Makino didn’t have anything against him. The captain just narrowed his eyes so closely, wanting to find anything wrong with him. Well, Higo really came clean here, so anything the captain spoke to go against him would look like nitpicking at this point.

"Just... Go for your warmup..." Makino finally said, albeit reluctantly. "Don’t forget, Chibi, I am watching you here. Don’t you dare try anything funny to Kumiko-chan." He warned his friend.

Higo himself just nodded blankly, but was laughing his ass off inwardly. ’Yeah, I didn’t do anything funny to her. It was she who kissed me first, so what are you going to do?’ He smiled smugly when Makino was not in the vicinity.

Of course, this was just a short episode to start the day. Right after that, Higo started warming up as well, knowing that he had to concentrate for the game. It didn’t matter if he was the coach’s boyfriend himself. Hell, if anything, Kumiko would only be harsher to put her standard, which was why he couldn’t mess up here.

Fifteen minutes later, the opponent’s bus finally arrived, and after Kumiko picked them up, everyone could see a group of players with blue-and-white jerseys walking onto the same pitch. Higo could see some familiar faces who played in the summer preliminary a few months ago, and yet, most faces looked quite new here.

’Yeah, of course, it is not just us who improved from our last state. The other team also got new members to strengthen their squad. I cannot lower my guard here.’ Higo muttered, trying to remind himself.

The appearance of the opponent also made the team tense, with some of them shaking in nervousness. Funnily enough, no newcomers looked afraid, though, just warming up nonchalantly while also waiting for the game time.

"What? Nervous? Why would I feel that?" Kenji shrugged. "I mean, it is not like we are going to face the strongest opponent in the prefecture, right? What school is that? Sappotani?"

Everyone who heard that had the corner of their mouth twitching madly when they heard that. When it was about bragging and looking cool, trust Kenji to excel in that area.

The twins themselves were too experienced to feel jittery on the first day of the tournament. They just juggled the ball around each other, even sending one pass after another with their shoulder to show off. As for Sano, as long as he didn’t speak, no one would see beneath his stoic gaze. In his silence, he would make anyone tremble with his tough appearance.

"Oh! We are not late! They haven’t started yet!"

"Fuck! Get me the front seat there! I want to see Hiroshi!"

"Fuji! Come on! Don’t you dare embarrass us, 2-B class!"

"Kyah! Kenji-sama! Makino-sama!"

The crowd also started to gather slowly around the pitch. After the team’s successful spell over their last few months, the students at the school started noticing their presence, and those who were friends with the players also came here to show their support.

Of course, most of the people who came here were girls, especially the fans of Kenji and Makino, who were the most popular members of the team. Their squeal was enough to get all the players speechless here; somehow, some even looked at them with jealousy.

"Bastard! How could you be so nonchalant like this?! Give me your trick, Brat!" Hori laughed while hugging his kouhai’s shoulder playfully.

"Hey, don’t blame me for my handsomeness. If you want to ask, just ask the Captain, okay?" Kenji shrugged helplessly.

Hori’s glance shifted to the captain, and when he saw the man’s blank expression, he shrank immediately, not wanting to mess things up here. While Makino was always kind and approachable, when he was in this locked-in state, everyone was so scared that no one dared to say anything to him.

Higo himself didn’t really care about this commotion. His eyes just darted outside, scanning the crowd one by one until he found a familiar face with a fluffy scarf holding the usual camcorder, waving at him when she noticed his gaze, and the boy couldn’t help but smile here.

’Yeah, Mom is here as well. I cannot show any embarrassing display today.’ He took a deep breath, clenching the gloves in his fist unconsciously.

Soon, the referee also arrived at the scene, and the starting lineup from both teams also started to make two long lines for formality. They walked into the pitch net, letting the referee guide them before shaking hands with all the people who would be involved in this game.

Once everything was settled and they were all ready to play, Higo kissed the two goal posts he guarded first, not wanting to miss this ritual. After doing so, he took a deep breath, standing in front of the goal with a firm gaze.

’Okay, I’m ready now! Bring it on!’