Author’s note: Thank you for Crazyjr_96 for the additional Golden Ticket, and thank you as well for Ventallion for the 5 Golden Tickets! Welcome to the community!

With the additional 6 Golden Tickets, I will add one more day to the double-updated one, so that it will be today, 9/5, 11/5, and 13/5. If you want to add more, please, help by supporting this story with your Golden Ticket or Power Stone!

Thank you!

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Time passed by, and the more Rin Mito observed the game, the scarier the image Higo formed inside his head.

There, he witnessed that all of Esashi High’s attacks seemed to be quite ineffective, losing the edge before it could reach Higo’s six-yard box.Somehow, all the Hakodate Nishi’s defenders seemed to always be in the right spot, clearing all the balls from that vulnerable box.

Only those who had sharp eyes could see that behind their tight defense lay a terrifying commander guiding everything from behind the scenes, and that person was Higo.

The boy didn’t act too much, but his instructions were always on the spot, telling his teammates where to move and when. So far, the boy hadn’t made a single mistake yet, as every command was treated with a scalpel-like precision. It was as if... He could see the future itself.

’Nah, what the hell am I thinking right now?’ Rin Mito shook his head quickly, chuckling at himself for that ridiculous idea. ’It seems that his command and game-reading ability slightly intimidate me, making me think of something ridiculous and novel-like. No, he is just an exceptional goalkeeper, nothing magical behind him.’

Oh, if only the boy knew...

Of course, the credit didn’t fall to the goalkeeper alone. The defenders also executed every order like a bunch of robots, not allowing any slight error on their side. Rin Mito had to give a hat’s off to their trust in the goalkeeper’s command, as so far, not a single one of them has voiced their doubt about it.

This was also one of the reasons why their defensive movement was always on time in cutting all the opponent’s moves. After all, they were decisive, and with Higo’s game-reading ability that could dissect the next move a second before, they would always have the upper hand in the positional battle.

"Still... It should be clear that the strategy doesn’t work, right? Why would they still stick with this ineffective high cross?" One of his kouhai suddenly asked, not sure what was going on here.

Before he could answer, his center back partner, Yuma Igari, let out a big snort. "You overestimate that old man, Okabe. He might be good at devising strategy and even developing talent on his own, but flexibility is definitely his weakness. He would rather believe that his strategy will work sooner or later rather than changing it in the middle of the game."

Yeah, this was a glaring weakness in Esashi High’s game. Jirokichi’s stubbornness was infamous inside the community, so that all the top teams in the prefecture knew how to handle the team. As long as they could figure out what strategy Jirokichi would pull, they would be able to deal with everything so easily.

Hell, Rin Mito also remembered last summer, in the final of the prefecture tournament, where they beat Esashi 7-0, Jirokichi only started to make a change once they had already scored 4 goals. At that point, the team’s morale had already plummeted, and no change would be enough to let them bounce back to the surface.

This was definitely Hakodate Nishi’s luck, since the old man’s weakness let their weakness escape from Sapporo Otani’s grasp.

"So... Is this the end? Is Hakodate Nishi determined to be our opponent?" One of the kouhai asked hesitantly.

"If it were any other team or even us, I would say that one more goal would be necessary to secure the deal." Rin Mito finally chimed in. "However, for Hakodate Nishi, this result is enough. There is no way their defense could be breached by Esashi High."

The way Rin Mito and the others spoke so highly about Hakodate Nishi’s defense only made their kouhai feel curious about them. Unfortunately, Hakodate Nishi didn’t put on any special show today, just an ordinary tough defense that repels all their opponent’s attack easily. It seemed Esashi High was a bit too weak to force Hakodate Nishi to show something worth mentioning here.

The game also ran quite quickly, what with all of Esashi’s fangs were exposed in the open air. With their little dirty move failing to get any result, their attack failed to penetrate the defensive area led by Makino.

Oh, they tried more things, from a combination attack, through ball, to even a long shot. However, none of them was enough to create a threat for Higo’s side. Besides his mental block, the boy was still standing strong in front of the goal, having already made 3 saves in the second half.

Kumiko herself also started to make a change. She put Fujinaga, Hori, and Yuji at the same time, replacing Kazawa, Sano, and Kuroki for the last fifteen minutes of the game. This was a pure technical decision, since the girl saw that some of her players were already on the edge.

Sano, especially, looked so battered right now. He didn’t even look scary anymore, only looking like a disheveled homeless man with an injury on his head. However, no one dared to mock him, as they knew how hard he fought for the team.

The goal-line clearance at the end of the first half was a massive moment, allowing the team to survive so far.

Now, with the three new players on the pitch, it was Hakodate Nishi who somehow got the initiative. Hori and Yuji were like a hungry hound dog, chasing after all the balls flashing in front of them. They had been sitting on the bench for so long that they needed to vent out their frustration here.

Fujinaga was also successful in keeping the balance in the midfield area, winning back some important balls before they could reach the penalty box.

Everything was quite simple for the rest of the game. Higo himself also didn’t face that many attacks anymore. In the end, just three minutes before the game was over, they even sent the last nail to the coffin.

Yuji, still with his abundant stamina, chased the ball to Esashi’s goalkeeper ferociously. In panic, that poor bloke sent a miss-passing, which Takaaki once again punished with a beautiful lob shot from 35 meters away.

This goal also secured the deal, and while the game itself wasn’t over yet, everyone knew that Hakodate Nishi won this game. They also became the first team to advance through the final of the Hokkaido Winter Tournament, waiting for Sapporo Otani later.