Chapter 640: The Derby Day!

The next day, Higo found himself waking up early, just to receive so much encouragement from people back home. He could see the usual three women who had always been the pillars in his life, Makino, Kawabe, and Mamoru, and even Kageyama-sensei, the national team’s coach, sent a short message to his phone.

Higo could only sigh helplessly as he thanked them one by one. Honestly, it was quite strange that so many people back home knew about a game in Germany’s fourth division, but that was the effect of what Fujita-san did. The agent had already contacted so many news platforms in the last couple of days, and now, everyone knew that Higo would have to face a big derby here.

Not that Higo didn’t appreciate the concern, but it was quite embarrassing for him to read them all.

In the end, though, after replying to all the messages one by one, he made a quick breakfast: Brötchen with butter, sliced cheese, ham, and a boiled egg that he had been preparing the night before. It only took two minutes before everything was ready, and once he was done with his breakfast, the boy left his apartment quickly, wanting to arrive earlier at the stadium.

Much to his surprise, though, even though it was still early in the morning, so many people had already started going to the stadium as well. It was still three hours before the game began, and yet, Higo found that the street was packed with so many people with blue jerseys.

’Damn! Once again, I really underestimated how big the derby is for the people in this town.’ He murmured secretly.

Since he also went to the stadium on foot, so many people recognized him on the street, greeting and even asking for a photo with the boy. Higo didn’t have any choice but to accept it, but inwardly, he couldn’t help but mutter, ’Maybe I need to think of having a bike with me.’

Now he started to understand why people used a car to go to the training ground even though their house was close to the training ground. It wasn’t because they were arrogant—even though most of the time, they were—but it was easy for them to get trapped by crazy supporters outside if they chose to walk, and it was so difficult to get out of that awkward situation.

Fortunately, some of the guys who were regulars at Bosch noticed his difficulty, so they chatted with the guys there and helped Higo get away from the crowd. Still, in the end, though, a journey that should only need about 15 minutes of walking got dragged into around one hour, and the moment Higo checked his phone again, it was already 10:17, just around two hours before the game began.

"Higo? It is rare to see you this late!" An old man who was also the security guard for the stadium was taken aback when he saw Higo. The man couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy’s disheveled appearance, somehow being able to guess what was going on with him. "Getting entangled with the crowd? I tell you to at least wear a mask, right?" He laughed amusedly.

Higo was so helpless right now as he sent a stinging glare to the old man in front of him. ’Whoever said German people don’t like joking should’ve never met this old man. I mean, he always knows how to rub me the wrong way, damn it!’ The boy muttered inwardly.

Once he was in the locker room, the boy found that the rest of the team had already changed into their warm-up jersey, getting ready to go out. Randy also noticed him, as the Ghanaian striker waved excitedly.

"Ohayou Gozaimasu, Higo-kun!" He grinned with half-assed Japanese language he learned from Anime.

"Yeah, Ohayou..." Higo smiled wryly. The boy sure was still obsessed with anything from Japan. "Anyway, are you ready for the game today? Why are your legs shaking like that?" He teased the boy amusedly after noticing his trembling legs.

"Bah! Who is nervous?! This is excitement, you know?! Excitement!" Randy tried to defend himself. It was quite weak, though, that some of the guys around chuckled a little here, enough to make the boy’s face flush red in embarrassment. "I swear, this is not nervousness. It is just... Have you seen the situation on the pitch?" He whispered secretly.

"Um? What is going on?" Higo even stopped pulling on his boots, looking at his friend in wonder.

"Tch! So, you haven’t seen it? You will be in the same boat when you see them later." Randy snorted mysteriously.

Higo was confused for a moment, not knowing what the boy was trying to say here. However, once he stepped outside of the tunnel, glancing around the whole stadium, Higo was so dumbfounded right now, somehow understanding Randy’s feeling before.

’Holy fuck... So many people here?!’ He muttered in awe.

Yeah, even though the game would still be played in one hour, every single seat had been occupied with people already. Men, women, old, young, it was as if all the people in this town abandoned whatever they were doing right now just so that they could watch this game.

Even though in all the home games that Higo had experienced so far, the stadium was always almost full, this was the first time he experienced a full house like this, and it was still one hour before the game began. Not only that, the most impressive part here was the choreography on the northern part of the stadium.

Yeah, there was a choreography in this game. It was a huge block flag that was raised there, with some sort of medieval-aged warrior looking like he slashed Dortmund’s logo into two pieces, a blatant provocation against the opponent today.

Higo knew something like this existed, but he always thought choreography would be saved by those hardcore supporters just for a big game. Who would’ve thought they would be willing to send it out just for a mere second-team like them?

For that, he only had one appropriate reaction here.

’Holy fuck...’