The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 315: The Most Dramatic Way to End the First Half!

Soon enough, the commotion in the penalty box was finally over, and with Kazawa leaving the pitch, the game was back to equal again. Well, not equal, per se, since Shohei High still had a major advantage right now, which was the penalty kick. Just like what everyone expected, it was Hiroki Kawabe himself who stepped into the execution ground, putting the ball on the spot before preparing himself for the whistle.

The boy himself looked quite calm. He even had time to fix his messy Mohawk hair, chatting so casually with the teammates behind him. Seeing this scene, Higo couldn’t help but shake his head, remembering full well what Hiroshi said when the commotion was still on the pitch earlier.

"Listen, Senpai, don’t get fooled by his behavior before the whistle." The boy said seriously. "He is a good actor, so he will not show you anything here. But once the whistle is blown, look how he does his run-up. If it is a slow one, he is being cocky, trying to fool you with a trick shot, and if he does it fast, he is going to whack the ball with all of his power. I don’t know if it is useful or not, but I am sure you know what to do here."

’Well, that information sure comes in handy. Still, it is creepy that you know him so much, Hiroshi...’ He couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed Kawabe could hear it as well, as right after that, their gaze met out of the blue. A spark flared between those two as Higo couldn’t help but smirk. ’This is going to be our first direct encounter, right? Interesting...’

Kawabe himself couldn’t help but get excited here. ’Oh, ye are not going to back down even in this situation? Hiroshi’s teammate sure has the gut, huh...’

While those two were in their own world, the rest of the players on the pitch were so restless here, waiting for the whistle to be blown. The most tense ones, of course, came from Hakodate Nishi’s group. Some of them prayed inside, while the rest were getting ready to accept their fate.

It was so cruel that they had only maintained their red-card advantage for around 10 minutes before everything was flipped over like this. However, this was football, and anything could happen on the pitch, and all the Hakodate Nishi players still believed that Higo would be able to do something here.

"Come on, Chibi! You get this!"

"Senpai, don’t worry about anything else! Leave the rest to us!"

"Yeah, just stay focused on the kick!"

All the Shohei High players were confused about why their opponent still believed that Higo would be able to stop the pen, wondering where the confidence came from. After all, their opponent was the second-best player in the country, far from being an ordinary one.

Little did they know, though, that before this, Higo had already stopped three penalties so far, two against Yuwell Carlson and one against Park Han-Gyeol. Those two were the top forwards in this tournament, so all the Hakodate Nishi players were confident that Higo could do it again.

After waiting for a while, the referee finally gave the signal to get ready. Higo took another deep breath, jumping around while trying to activate all the neurons inside his brain. Then, within a second...

FWEEE!

The referee finally blew the whistle. However, Kawabe didn’t execute the ball immediately. No, his run-up was so slow as if he was walking, trying to rile Higo up and mess with the goalkeeper’s timing. This was Paul Pogba’s penalty style, one that could annoy even the best goalkeeper in the world.

’Yeah, shit! He is going slow. That means he is going to trick me... How?!’

Time seemed to tick so slowly here, what with all the players behind the penalty line waiting impatiently to rush into the box. As Kawabe was closer to the ball, though, an image flashed into Higo’s head, and the boy started to shift his center of gravity a little bit.

’Left... Low?’

However, right before Kawabe took a shot, the boy suddenly glanced at Higo’s positioning here. It was a subtle move, one that Higo caught directly since he had been staring at the Mohawk boy from the start. However, this was enough to destroy the image earlier, replacing it with a completely new one here.

’Shit! Not low?! A Panenka!’

Thud!

The direction was still the same as Higo predicted. However, instead of piercing through the ground, the ball was chipped gently, making a lob arc vertically in the air.

For a moment, everything looked so bleak for Higo. The ball was flying straight above him, and he had already dived, being out of position to reach the ball. However, the whole world seemed to slow down in his eyes. He could think normally, while everything seemed to move at a half—no, at one-third the normal speed in his eyes.

Higo didn’t know how that could happen. Hell, he didn’t even realize that; he was too busy watching the ball descending from a beautiful lob movement in the air. As it got closer to him, everything finally clicked inside his head as he raised his right foot in the air, blocking the path for the ball to get into the goal.

Thud!

"OH! IT TOUCHES HIS BOOT!"

"FUCK! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT QUICKLY!"

Before anyone could react, all the Hakodate Nishi players had already moved, running frantically to get the rebound. The cold sweat on their back earlier was replaced by the sudden excitement, realizing that Higo had just pulled another miracle to save their ass.

Makino, being the closest one to reach the ball, didn’t hesitate for a second here. He cleared the ball with an overhead kick, letting it go as far away as possible. Then, before it could fall on the ground again, the unexpected sound came from the referee who was still inside the penalty box.

FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!

The man finally blew the whistle three times in a row, ending the dramatic first half with this failed penalty kick. In the end, Hakodate Nishi High managed to keep the score tied, sealing the second-best player in the country with zero goals and zero assists.