At the end of the day, Higo was just a normal teenager who had just entered adulthood. He was calm most of the time, but when facing such a passionate invitation from Morita, the boy could feel his heart race quickly.
The moment he arrived back at his own flat, the first thing that came to mind was to call Kumiko, wanting to discuss this with his best friend and the most knowledgeable person he had ever known in his life.
Unfortunately, it was already 6 in the evening here, so that meant it should be around 1 at midnight back home. The 7-hour difference sure became a huge barrier for him to communicate with anyone else in Hakodate. Somehow, the night seemed to be longer than usual, and even with the exhaustion all over his body, Higo failed to fall asleep until one hour before midnight.
Once it was morning, though, he didn’t even blink, calling the girl from his phone. It was around 6 right now, so that meant it was midday in Hakodate, when the sun was at its peak there. There was no way the girl wouldn’t answer this call.
True enough, it didn’t take a long time before the call was connected, and Kumiko’s face appeared on his screen. "Ryukkun? How are you doing?" Higo could also see her room in the background. It seemed that she didn’t have anything to do today.
"Kumiko-chan! I have something to tell!" Higo said excitedly.
After this, he spent the next fifteen minutes to tell what happened yesterday. He took more time just to tell the girl how awesome Morita was, destroying the whole team until everyone was convinced by his ability.
"Well, yeah, he is different than you." Kumiko nodded. "Schalke signed you as a young player who has no team, but Morita-san is a talented player from FC Tokyo. Your team spent around 350,000 Euros to sign him, so it is clear they are expecting great things here. Fortunately, Morita-san didn’t disappoint, showing that he deserves that price tag on him."
Even though that amount was quite small in the football world, for a Japanese young player who experienced the transfer market for the first time, that number was still fantastic. This was also the first time Higo heard the details of Morita’s transfer, and if anything, it only made him admire the midfielder more.
"Also, you might be content with staying in the second team for now, but if you are serious about Morita-san’s invitation, I think it is feasible, you know?" Kumiko suddenly added, making the boy snap his head at him directly.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Higo narrowed his eyes slightly. "I know Alexander Nubel has just been in the team for six months, and his performance is still at the very best. Even if I am assigned to the main team, there is no way in hell I would be able to beat him, and I don’t want to be a bench warmer again!"
The thought of him sitting on the bench like his time in the national team was enough to make the boy shudder. That was not the experience he liked to repeat, so there was no way he would voluntarily do that.
"Well, yes, but you might not know this." Kumiko suddenly let out a conspiratorial smile. "Alexander Nubel has been eyed by Bayern Munich as they want to prepare for when Manuel Neuer decides to retire. That team always likes to eye the goalkeeper from Schalke after their success with Neuer, and Nubel has also expressed his willingness to join them. So, it could be winter or even summer next year, but your chance will come sooner than you have expected."
Higo was stunned for a second before he got excited. This was definitely the best news he had heard today. At first, he thought that it would take two or three years staying here before he could finally advance to the main team, but now, hearing that he only had to wait for one year?
"Damn! It would be awesome if I could play together with Morita-san in the Bundesliga!" He grinned foolishly, starting to imagine a lot of things inside his mind.
"Still, don’t forget to play to your best first." Kumiko reminded him once again. "Your competition will not just be those goalkeepers in the second team, but also Nubel’s backups in the first team as well. They will also eye that spot, so you have to show something special, not just in the game, but also in your daily training session as well. Don’t slack off just because you gain a foothold, okay? Your journey has just started, so stay humble and work hard!"
"Don’t worry, there is no way I would let my quality drop at all!" Higo nodded solemnly.
They talked for quite a while, with Higo inquiring more about the situation back home. It seemed that Kumiko had already finished all of her administrative tasks, and the girl only needed to wait for three months before she could fly here. This was another piece of good news that made Higo excited as well.
After about an hour, Higo finally checked the time on his phone, finding that it was already around 7:30. Even though the training would only start at around 10, he had been coming early with Fabian, doing a little extra training together in the last couple of days.
The boy didn’t want today to be the day when he canceled it, and since Kumiko also had some business to do back home, they ended the call after that.
Still, at least, this call, with all the information he had just gotten, was enough to fuel the boy throughout the whole day. After taking a quick breakfast, a classic Brötchen and sunny-side-up egg that he cooked by himself, the boy left his flat as quickly as possible, going to the training ground with a little jog.
There, he found not only Fabian, but Randy and some other ambitious players had already started hitting the gym. Seeing this, Higo put down the sports bag on his shoulder, grinning widely while starting to do his warm-up.
’Yeah, it is time to grind again!’