The moment the referee blew the whistle, time seemed to freeze. All the 10,000 people watching this game held their breath unconsciously, never daring to let their eyes wander even for a second away from the penalty box.
There, Higo just stood calmly, as if he was detached from reality. His eyes were completely on the boy in front of him, ignoring all the commotion around. Hell, he didn’t even realize the whistle was blown, for God’s sake! His focus was just completely on the executor and the ball, waiting patiently behind the line.
Lee Kang-In himself was also locking in right now. The boy took one deep breath, adjusting his angle slightly before starting to run. The moment he entered the penalty box, he stuttered his run a little bit, taking a glance at Higo’s positioning for a second.
This was a common trick for the executioner nowadays. By stuttering their run, they gave themselves a chance to see the goalkeeper’s positioning. Not only that, but this was also enough to make the goalkeeper hesitate and second-guess what the executioner wanted to do, which was a good thing in their book.
However, in Lee Kang-In’s case, Higo didn’t even budge, not moving a single inch from his spot. The boy just waited patiently, and the moment his brain felt like it got hit by lightning, his eyes widened before he blitzed his way through the spot aimed by that boy.
’Bottom left, floating high to my knee! I cannot jump higher! There!’
BAM!
The ball went exactly like Higo predicted earlier, and true enough, it met his big palm readily. However, it bounced on the ground one moment, then catapulted high in the air, still inside the penalty box.
The penalty was over, but the danger was still there.
"FUCK! CLEAR IT AWAY!" Higo shouted from the top of his lungs, trying to get up as quickly as possible.
The others also reacted quickly. Park Han-Gyeol was the first one to arrive there. His experience facing Higo in a penalty scenario twice in the past was enough to make the boy believe that the shot could be blocked. That was why he was like teleporting here. The moment the ball bounced high, the boy was already in position, ready to head the ball back to the goal.
However, the last second before he could do that...
"Don’t think I don’t know what you are thinking, Han-Gyeol!"
BAM!
It was Miki Yamane, the striker’s captain in Shimizu Higashi High himself, who reacted. It wasn’t just Han-Gyeol who had the experience facing Higo, but Miki Yamane was also in the same boat here. That was why he knew exactly what his club teammate wanted to do and blocked the way first before Han-Gyeol could do more damage on Japan’s territory.
"YES! NICE FIGHT, MIKI!"
"SUGAWARA!"
"I GET THIS!"
BAM!
Before anyone could challenge him, Sugawara had already arrived in front of the ball, and without hesitation, the full back whacked the ball as far as possible, even reaching the top of the stand.
After everything finally settled down, silence followed for a while, as the people all around the stadium tried to process what was going on there. It didn’t last long, though, because the moment Higo got up from the ground, the boy didn’t hesitate to roar, venting out all the emotion inside him.
"LET’S FUCKING GOOOO!" Then, his eyes landed on Miki Yamane, who was still on the ground after the duel against Park Han-Gyeol before, and the boy couldn’t help but grin. "COME ON, YAMANE-SAN! WHAT A FUCKING TIMELY ASSISTANCE!"
Soon, the others followed with the same enthusiasm.
"YES, RYUSUKE! YES! THAT’S WHY YOU ARE HERE!" Kawabe chest-bumped Higo as if they had just won the game here.
"GOOD JOB, HIGO! WE ARE STILL FUCKING ALIVE!"
Laughter broke everywhere as Japan was still celebrating the penalty save earlier. Some people on the stand also started chatting with each other enthusiastically, realizing that this would be a classic moment that could be compared to Tim Krul coming to save the Netherlands team in the World Cup 2014.
"Yeah, who would expect that Japan still has a penalty specialist like this?"
"They sure come prepared, huh?"
"Once the game gets dragged to the shootout, they will gain a massive advantage later."
Everyone was in a frenzy right now, except the South Korean team. Lee Kang-In was still kneeling on the penalty spot, covering his face in disbelief. His confidence was shattered after the penalty he took was blocked so easily by Higo.
There, he was being helped by the others. Park Han-Gyeol, especially, came to console the boy. He was probably the only one in Team South Korea who knew how horrible facing Higo was in a penalty scenario, so the striker could be seen having some words with their team’s prodigy.
Unfortunately, even when they were drowned in sadness and shock, the game had to be continued here. However, after the penalty earlier, the tempo also dropped a lot on the pitch. Even with the adrenaline rush from that penalty, the players couldn’t hide their execution here, and Kageyama-sensei had already taken action on the sideline.
"Morita! Take it slow! Don’t rush things up; let the time burn more!" He shouted.
The same couldn’t be said for the South Korean team, though, as their head coach waved at the players to rush forward. "Come on! Come on! We still have time, try to pressure them more! Don’t let that number 10 get the ball easily! Try to cut off his passing route to the flank and force him to turn to the middle!"
That number 10 in Japan was Mitsuki Saito, and South Korea’s attempt to target the boy was so blatant. However, even though some chances were made after this, none of them could get close enough to the penalty box to threaten the goal.
Basically, Higo just came here to save the penalty. After that, he didn’t even have any chance to showcase his ability, letting all the defenders take control of the backline.
In the end...
FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!
After an eventful second half, the referee finally blew the whistle, ending the normal time of the game. Still, with the score being 0-0, that only meant one thing. They would go for the extra time, and sooner or later, the fateful penalty shootout would finally happen.
’Yeah, just like Kumiko-chan said, that should be my time to shine, right?’