"Hakodate Nishi, time is up! Go back to the pitch quickly for the second half!"

It was fifteen minutes after the start of the half break, and the fourth referee finally came again to remind them that the game was about to be continued. The man was puzzled, though, at how grim the situation inside was.

’They are in the lead, and that tough-looking boy has just done a miracle. Why would they be so depressed like that?’ He couldn’t help but wonder.

Little did he know, though, that while Hakodate Nishi was still up by one goal, they also had a hidden danger on their backline, one that their opponent was ready to exploit at any time in the second half.

"Fucking hell, that’s why that smelly old geezer made that foul!" Hori cursed out loud. "That is what they want since the beginning, to intimidate Higo-senpai with their dirty play! Fuck! What a dirty rat team!"

"Should we complain about this matter to the referee?" Hiroshi frowned, also not liking this situation.

"Unfortunately, that won’t do." Kumiko shook her head quickly. "At the end of the day, the referee has already deemed the incident as a foul, even giving that number 18 a yellow card. If we made a fuss about this, it would only give a bad impression of the referee."

"Fuck the bad impression! That dude should get a red card!" Kenji complained.

"Okay, let’s not make any bigger scene over this..." Higo said, trying to calm down everyone. Still, inwardly, he was touched, not expecting them to back him up so decisively like this. It seemed that all of his fear of being laughed at by them was just a paranoia here.

"Tch! What are you afraid of, Higo-senpai?! Just leave everything to us! I am sure that they will not be able to come back alive!" Kenji grinned maliciously.

"Okay, that’s enough!" Kumiko finally sent a karate chop when she saw him getting more outrageous. "Get back to the pitch first and do your warm-up. Cool down your head and don’t let your emotions take over here."

Not just Kenji, but all the bench players also received the same order. While they were grumbling, though, no one dared to refuse that. Kumiko was dead-serious about this order. Their emotion right now were at the peak, and if no one stopped them, they would’ve done something stupid on the pitch.

Once everything was under her control again, though, she finally continued, "Okay, the problem right now is simple. The twins, don’t let any cross aimed at Ryukkun. If you have to, just push him on the sideline for a cutback. That’s Ryukkun’s specialty, so there is no way they can score from that spot."

"Yes, Senpai!" The twins gave an OK sign simultaneously.

"Then, Makino-kun, Sano-kun, keep your eyes on that number 18, and don’t let him get closer to Ryukkun no matter what. He is only dangerous in that particular moment, but other than that, he is nothing special."

"Don’t worry, Kumiko-chan. We get it." Makino nodded solemnly. Next to him, Sano also grunted to show his agreement.

"Lastly, I will speak this." Kumiko continued, her tone turned somber. "If their true purpose is to intimidate Ryukkun, then they will try to take advantage of that later, and we will see a lot of fifty-fifty balls close to Ryukkun’s territory in the second half. Try to minimize it and don’t act suspiciously, because Sapporo Otani’s team had already arrived and watched the game from the stands. Do you understand?!"

Hearing that their target, Sapporo Otani, was already on the stand, everyone grew solemn, knowing that they couldn’t show any weakness for the rest of the second half.

"I don’t ask a lot of things, guys," Higo spoke once again. "I can deal with all types of shots, all types of headers. For that, I am confident, and you also know my ability. Just for this particular scenario... Please, don’t let them send any fifty-fifty ball close to me again." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Silence fell on the room for a moment before the captain finally rose and patted his shoulder. "Don’t worry, Chibi! Just do what you have to do, let us do the fucking rest."

Sano followed behind, patting his shoulder firmly and said, "You protect our goal, and we protect you. That’s fine."

"Yeah, just prevent them from crossing, right?" Denji jumped into the scene. "Easy! Leave the rest for us!"

"Yup! Yup! Just sit still and watch the show, Senpai!" Denki added.

Seeing the unity of her team, Kumiko couldn’t help but smile, satisfied with the scene. Unfortunately, they didn’t have too much time to be sentimental, as the fourth referee had already come and reminded her again.

"Okay, everyone! Enough talk! For now, get ready, because the second half is about to start!"

"Yes, Ma’am!"

Right after that, all of them ran toward the pitch immediately, just to have all the Esashi players waiting on the pitch already. However, they didn’t show any politeness here. They knew what their opponent did to Higo earlier, and now, all of them had the hungry mixing with fury in their eyes, wanting nothing but to kill their enemy one by one.

Somehow, even before the second half began, the tension was so thick already in the air, enough to suffocate anyone who was not mentally prepared. Even the referee couldn’t help but gulp, wondering whether he had entered the wrong pitch here.

"Um... Hakodate Nishi... You know that this is a football game, right?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh, we know, Sensei," Kuroki answered with a huge grin, showing all of his white teeth on display. If anything, though, that only made the referee worried about their state. "Oh, don’t worry. This is a civilized society; there is no way we would do anything outrageous. Right, Hiroshi-kun?"

"Yes, Sensei." Hiroshi also showed the same feral grin, enough to make the Esashi players close to him gulp nervously. The boy was so casual in how he stretched, just letting loose his neck a little bit without even making a crack. However, the intimidating air around him couldn’t be hidden anymore. "Let’s just start the game. We have already wasted so much time, right?"