"Both captains, come here! We will start the penalty shootout soon!"
The referee had already called, and Ito stepped forward to face the referee with one of the South Korean players. They both were ready for the coin toss to determine which one should take the penalty kick first.
Well, Higo himself didn’t pay any attention to them. No, he walked slowly to the penalty box on the southern side of the pitch, the one that the referee determined to hold the shootout. There, Kang Do-Jin had already been waiting for him as well, offering a handshake first before their personal war.
"We finally meet again, Higo-san." Do-Jin smiled wryly here. "I would be happy to meet you under better circumstances, though. Facing you in this situation is quite scary."
Higo felt one of his eyebrows arched lightly when he heard that. "How could you become so humble like this? I swear, you won our last encounter, right?" He asked, couldn’t help but tease the opponent’s goalkeeper.
"Yeah, but that was just pure luck. You still saved more penalties than me at that time." Kang Do-Jin smiled wryly. "Now that you have a better team, this will be more difficult for me to handle, you know? So, show a little bit of mercy, please?"
In return, Higo just snorted at the boy. This was just a small part of Do-Jin’s mind game to make him cocky and lower his guard, and Higo could see it even at first glance. The best part for Do-Jin, though, was that everything he said was true, so it was quite convincing to hear the boy speak like that earlier.
"I don’t know about showing mercy, but I know that you will never show one." He patted his opponent’s shoulder for a moment. "So, give us your best, and whoever wins this competition, let’s leave the pitch with no regret!"
Do-Jin was stunned for a second before he laughed freely. "You are right, Higo-san! Let’s try our best and walk away with no regret!"
Soon enough, the coin toss was finally over, and based on Ito’s apologetic gaze, Higo knew exactly that they lost here. He could feel the corner of his lips twitching, but before the captain could come at him, the boy just raised his hand, stopping the captain from approaching him.
At this point, even though the advantage of the first taker was still quite big, this was not Higo’s first rodeo in facing a shootout. No, in the winter tournament alone, he faced the same situation twice. Not a lot, yes, but that was definitely way more than what any goalkeeper had ever faced this year.
Even with him being put at a disadvantage, Higo was still confident in his own ability and experience in this situation.
In fact, he wasn’t the only one. Even if some of the players regretted the result of the coin toss, both Kumiko and Makino were still unfazed here, just giving him a simple nod. Their confidence stemmed from the fact that they knew full well how good Higo was in facing a penalty kick, so they didn’t really feel any worry in this situation.
’Come on, Chibi! You are representing Hakodate Nishi here, don’t embarrass us!’
’This is not an easy situation, but you should’ve already gotten used to it, right, Ryukkun?’
Higo took a deep breath, glancing at his two friends for a moment before sending a little nod. Then, the first player walked to the penalty spot, and it was none other than Park Han-Gyeol himself. This was going to be their third matchup in a penalty spot, and honestly, at this point, they were confident that they knew each other well here.
’Kumiko-chan said that there is a 70 percent chance that he would go for the bottom left, right? No, that shouldn’t be a ground ball. I have to be careful if the ball floated here.’
Park Han-Gyeol himself also took a deep breath, looking at the referee impatiently. The more he waited, the more nervous he became. In the end, even the referee himself also felt the heavy atmosphere here, and he blew his whistle immediately.
FWEEE!
Unlike Lee Kang-In, Park Han-Gyeol’s run was more decisive. He didn’t stutter, not even looking at the goal. His eyes were completely on the ball, not wanting to give a hint of where he would send the ball.
However, nothing could escape Higo’s eyes. Or... To be more exact, his clairvoyant ability. The boy saw it clearly: how Park Han-Gyeol would slow down a little bit just two meters away from the ball, just for him to whack the ball to the top left of his side.
’Bottom, my ass! It is always going to the bottom against anyone else, but against me, he would always go to the top bins where I couldn’t reach. Still... I can move first!’
BAM!
A second later, the rocket was launched. However, before that, Higo had already shifted his position two steps, covering the whole left side immediately. As a result, even though the ball went to the trickiest spot possible, he was still in time to reach it, using both of his fists to punch the ball away from the goal.
"FUCK, YEAH!" Higo roared, clenching his fists that turned red after having to block that rocket. "COME ON!" He waved enthusiastically while also pointing at Makino and Kumiko on the bench.
"YES! WHAT A SAVE!"
"COME ON, HIGO! THAT’S WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR!"
"DAMN! THAT SAVE IS AWESOME!"
Even though it was just one save, all the players from Japan were celebrating like crazy. They were always confident in Higo’s ability, but when they witnessed it with their own eyes, they couldn’t help but feel their emotions explode here.
Meanwhile, Park Han-Gyeol’s expression was so ashen right now. He did everything right, and the spot where he sent the ball was so difficult to reach. Yet, Higo somehow managed to get it, which meant the boy had already predicted his mind before he could take action.
Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but shudder, looking at Higo for a moment before finally muttering, "What a freak..."