Soon enough, the players from both teams finally stepped out of the tunnel. With the proudest black-and-white jersey, Hiroshi led the team to fight probably one of the most difficult opponents they had ever met.
On the other hand, Sapporo Otani players also followed next to them. They wore their home jersey as well, the sky-blue one that could inflict fear on all the teams in Hokkaido. This time, though, they were being led by the one and only Yuwell Carlson himself, as the Swedish striker took the role of the captain from the retired Rin Mito.
"Damn, don’t you think he looks more... Refined?" Kuroki whispered to Higo.
"Yeah, before, he still looked like a normal teenager with a flabby fat, but now, his arms are full of muscles." Higo nodded quietly. "Oi, Teme, if it was you, how would you handle Yuwell? Is there a way to solve this matter?"
Makino just felt the corner of his lips twitching speechlessly, as if asking, ’Who the hell do you think I am?!’ In the end, though, the boy let out a deep sigh here. "Even before, I couldn’t stop him at all. Why do you think it would be different this time?"
This time, it was the other two boys who became speechless at their captain’s honest opinion.
"Still, if it were me, with you guarding the back, I would know what to do right now." Makino suddenly added more. "I don’t have to beat him head-on. No, as long as I could limit his shooting space to where you are going to stand, I would count this as a win. I mean, even if we concede a goal, that would only be because you suck, right?" He smiled provocatively at Higo.
"Tch! It seems you forgot about the golden rule in defense here." Higo shook his head amusedly. "First, the goalkeeper cannot make a mistake, and second, if a mistake happens, the goalkeeper cannot be blamed. It is hard to be a goalkeeper; no need to add more external pressure, right, Kumiko-chan?"
That was the exact same sentence that the girl said the first time she heard Makino trying to push the blame to Higo. She would never admit it out loud, but a part of the reason she uttered that nonsense was to protect Higo at that time, because Makino sure could be stubborn and annoying when it came to admitting his own mistake.
Still, that didn’t mean Kumiko liked getting pushed into a conflict like this. She just gave Higo her best, purest smile possible, and with the dark aura surrounding her, it was enough to make the boys shudder in fear.
"Just... Shut up, you two!" Kuroki hissed quietly, cursing his luck for getting dragged into this mess as well. "Anyway, the game is about to begin! Ah! Hakodate Nishi is going to be on this side!" He pointed at the pitch, desperately trying to change the topic of the conversation.
Well, it worked because all eyes were on the pitch immediately. There, they could see the twins, Denji and Denki, were communicating with each other, while Jun and Sano were stretching their bodies in front of the goal.
Then, Higo’s attention finally fell on the goalkeeper, the one who wore the orange jersey that he always used to fight for Hakodate Nishi in the past, and only one sentence came through his mind.
"Damn, he is so fucking tall!" The boy blinked in disbelief. "He is... What? 190? He should be around Jun’s height, right?" He turned to Kumiko for confirmation.
"Indeed, Sasuke Saito’s height is 190, and before joining the football team, he acted as the volleyball team’s middle blocker. So, you can expect that he could jump high as well here." Kumiko answered immediately.
Higo nodded silently, but his eyes couldn’t hide his jealousy right now. After playing for a year, the boy knew how advantageous it was for a goalkeeper to have a tall body. He could reach further points, gave a more imposing presence, and also won so many aerial duels in the process.
Even though he had never had any problem with that, it would be a lie if Higo said he didn’t want a tall body.
"What? Jealous of your kouhai?" Makino asked teasingly, seeming to notice Higo’s awkward quietness. "Well, I know you couldn’t help it. Once a Chibi will always be a Chibi, you know?"
Higo scowled immediately when he heard that; all the negative thoughts snapped immediately. "Who did you call Chibi, you Bastard?! You know that I am just 4 cm shorter than you, right?"
"Which, of course, means that you are still a Chibi." Makino ended the argument with a satisfied smirk, happy that he could silence Higo in one go like this.
"Okay, okay, that’s enough, you two!" Just like the usual, Kuroki became the adult in the room here. "Anyway, the game is about to begin, so you’d better watch it carefully!"
True enough, when their eyes fell on the pitch once again, they saw that everyone was already in their position. Yuwell Carlson was standing straight at the circle spot, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle.
Outside of that circle, both Kenji and Hiroshi were also waiting. Higo was sure that the moment the whistle was blown, they both would charge to the opponent’s side and chase for the ball like a wild dog without hesitation.
The referee was still doing his last check, making sure that everything was ready. The moment he got the nod, though...
FWEEE!
The whistle was finally blown, starting the game immediately.
Handling the kick-off, Yuwell kicked the ball back before rushing forward immediately. Not just him, four more Sapporo Otani players also tried to occupy Hakodate Nishi’s territory with their number, before their defender with the jersey number 3 suddenly launched a Hail Mary Pass to the sky.
BAM!
Seeing this, Higo couldn’t help but have his mouth gaping wide, turning to his friends immediately.
"This..."
"Yeah, you are right." Makino nodded solemnly. "This is the exact replica of our Blitzkrieg attack. It seems they really want to copy our tactic."