"SE! NO!"
"THANK YOU FOR COMING AND SUPPORTING US HERE!"
All the boys—even those who didn’t have a chance to play—bowed together in front of the stand where all the Japanese supporters stood. It was always important to appreciate this, because it was not easy for Japanese people around here to come and show their support.
This was a small thing that always needed to be emphasized over and over again so that the players knew who would always have their back in the stadium.
After the little bow, Higo raised his head slowly, just to find out a little girl on the front side of the stand waving a small paper there. The girl was familiar, as she was the daughter of Koji Yabu, the Hakodate native who lived here. Unlike before, though, when she was always nervous around him and the others, this time, her eyes were shining brightly as if she was fangirling over the team.
Then, an idea suddenly popped into his head, and Higo rushed toward her quickly. "Hey, Chiaki-chan, do you want to come down and meet the others again?" He smiled conspiratorially.
The girl’s eyes lit up immediately, but she didn’t answer the question straight away. No, she was still aware enough to turn around to her father, giving him her best puppy eyes to plead her case.
"Is it okay, though?" Koji Yabu asked hesitantly.
"Eh, don’t worry about it, we still have time!" Higo tried to reassure him. "We will only walk around the stadium to greet the supporters, and I will carry her on my back! Also, Kumiko-chan will always be with me as well, so you know someone responsible will accompany and supervise us!" He said, dragging his childhood friend shamelessly.
"Papa, can I please...?" The girl begged quietly, and her doe-eyes were enough to melt even the hardest steel in the world. No father in the world would be strong enough to face this kind of an attack.
True enough, in the end, the father gave up here, shaking his head helplessly. "Fine, but you have to listen to your brothers and sister, okay? Don’t be naughty and ask anything you shouldn’t ask!" He told his daughter with the stern level of a helpless father.
"Yay! Thank you, Papa!" The girl cupped his cheek adorably before letting Higo pick her up from the stand. Well, Higo himself just opened his arms, taking her before putting the little girl on his shoulder.
"Don’t worry, Koji-san! We will just go for a lap! We will be back before you know it!" Higo grinned widely.
"Yeah, Papa! See you later!" Chiaki followed with a giggle as she waved at her father.
The rest of the team also listened to the conversation here, so they weren’t that confused over her presence. Hell, if anything, facing a cute girl who was looking around curiously, they couldn’t help but start gushing here.
"Hey, hey, Chiaki-chan, how old are you?"
"Seven."
"Oh, my God! You are that big already?!"
"Here, I have a candy with me!"
"Drop it! Don’t give her any random food like that! What would happen if she gets an upset stomach?!"
At this point, the boys didn’t look like they had just won an Asian derby against their neighborhood. No, they were just like a bunch of awkward uncles trying to take care of their nieces, wondering what kind of behavior was allowed and what was not.
"Okay, don’t surround her like that! She will get scared of you lot, you know?!" Kumiko finally joined the conversation. "Also, Kawabe-kun, please put on your shirt again! She is at the age where she should learn gender things; don’t make her think that it is normal to have a boy being shirtless in front of her!" She glared at Kawabe, who was rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
In the end, while being held by Higo on his shoulder, the girl started to open up more to Kumiko and Sakura Aizawa. This couldn’t be helped, though. Compared to 20 or more boys who looked so fierce and sweaty, the two little girls radiated a calm aura that threw away her fear. It also helped that Kumiko and Sakura Aizawa scolded the boys relentlessly, too, making Chiaki look at them as her cool big sisters.
"Anyway, let’s go! We need to finish our lap quickly!" Ito finally interrupted while glancing at the bench. "Kageyama-sensei hasn’t spoken anything yet, but I’m sure he is waiting for us in the locker room."
That was enough to make the boys move. Higo also picked up the girl once again, adjusting her on his shoulder. "Are you ready, Chiaki-chan?" He asked, couldn’t help but smile.
"Um!" She nodded while also holding his hair quite tightly.
The lap itself wasn’t that big, but since they tried to greet every supporter who came here, it took a little bit of time. However, it was clear that Chiaki enjoyed this feeling, what with her staring around with her big eyes curiously. It was clear that this was the first time she saw so many people gathering around like this.
She herself also received a princess treatment here. Whenever the girl waved, she would meet cheers from both the players and the supporters in front of her. Honestly, at this point, she was the team’s little mascot, one that was beloved by all the members of the team.
Unfortunately, the lap was done a little bit quickly, and Higo himself had to go back to the locker room with the others. He could see the little girl was reluctant, so the boy picked up the game ball that should be his after winning the Man of the Match award earlier and gave it to her.
"Here, you can have this." He smiled, patting her head fondly. "Be good to your Papa, okay? We will meet again soon!"
Receiving the gift from her new hero, the girl’s eyes lit up one more time before she gave his neck a little hug. Once he put her on the stand, back with her own father, the little girl didn’t forget to wave at him.
"Bye, Oniichan! See you later!"