Chapter 653: Higo is Back Again! The Game Continues!

"COME ON, HIGO!"

"FUCK! THAT’S HOW YOU SHOULD PLAY FOR THIS TEAM!"

"PLAY FOR YOUR FUCKING BADGE!"

At this time, Higo knew that no matter what happened in the future, he would receive unconditional support from the people in this town. He couldn’t help but grin widely, finding the cheers here to be exhilarating. The silence that was so suffocating with the people there being worried about his situation broke instantly, and the atmosphere was back to the peak again.

Even the players around couldn’t help but feel awe at Higo. They just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression, having already thought that the boy would go down already. Who would’ve thought that he could still continue the game?

Even Steffen Tigges himself just clicked his tongue in annoyance, inwardly muttering with an incredulous tone, ’That was still not enough?! Do I really need to cripple him or what?!’

Of course, Higo would notice such a strong hostility being directed at him. His gaze sharpened immediately, and once the excitement subsided, he came to the captain and whispered, ’Keep him away from me. If he took an action against me once again, I would be down for good.’

Brackelmann nodded solemnly, knowing who Higo was talking about without glancing around. It should be none other than Steffen Tigges, as he himself was far from being stupid here. The defender noticed as well how so many incidents in the second half would always have that striker around the vicinity.

’Don’t worry, I will kick him out of your box even if I have to kill him.’ The captain nodded.

Higo felt the corner of his lips twitched a little, nodding along as well. Inwardly, though, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, finding that he had been under this kind of hostility so many times in the past.

’Yeah, the worst one is against Esashi High in the prefectural tournament, and the recent one should be against Kawabe’s team, right? Man, it has been a long time since I forgot what it felt like to be targeted like this.’

Somehow, this reminded him of his boxing training with Miyashi, his senpai and also the former Hakodate Nishi goalkeeper, in the past, one that helped him overcome his fear of clash. He might’ve already forgotten all the boxing topics there, but his muscle memory kicked in once the collision happened again earlier.

’Yeah, you don’t expect me to get back this quickly, huh? Unfortunately, there is no way you can get rid of me that easily.’

Soon enough, the game finally continued again. The referee was so relieved when he saw Higo was back, not wanting to imagine what kind of riot the supporters would have if the worst-case scenario happened.

Since there was no foul in that accident, the referee gave the ball to Higo, and for the sake of fair play, the goalkeeper sent it as far away to Dortmund’s side.

BAM!

With this kick, the game truly started again, and after wasting about five minutes on Higo’s medical treatment, Dortmund’s momentum that had been built with painstaking effort also disappeared. Higo couldn’t help but smile smugly at the opponent’s disoriented state, somehow enjoying their frustration.

’Yeah, that’s what you got from playing dirty, right?’

Still, that didn’t mean Higo didn’t have any problem here. His face was being wrapped by gauze to protect the wound, and in such a hot temperature like this, the mix of sweat and medicine was enough to make him hazy.

It also didn’t help that in front of him, two Dortmund players were trying to get closer to the six-yard box, as if they wanted to finish the job that was failed to meet the objective earlier.

’They should be the lapdogs that were sent by that bastard, right? He sure is relentless.’ Higo cursed inwardly. ’Well, let’s see if they really could kill me in the eyes of so many Schalke supporters here. Let’s see if they still love their life or not.’

True enough, a couple of minutes passed, and while they tried to look intimidating, none of them were brave enough to challenge Higo in the penalty box, not when the supporters around were shouting murder on them. It also helped that the two fullbacks on the flanks started to work better, blocking all the crosses that were going in Higo’s direction.

At least, it put him at ease, letting him know that he didn’t fight alone here.

Of course, Dortmund wouldn’t stop fighting just because of that. Honestly, Higo had to give a hat off toward their relentless spirit. Even though their momentum had already been killed twice, once by Higo’s stop for the penalty and the other was from the incident where Higo had to be treated for more than five minutes, they still hadn’t shown any intention to stop.

Just in the ten minutes after the game continued again, he had been forced to jump around to protect his goal twice. Not a lot, but definitely a worrying number for an injured goalkeeper.

Those two came from Joseph Boyamba, as the winger was still curious about how their team could not score a single goal here. The first attempt flew just a few inches above the crossbar, while the second one went straight to Higo’s clutch.

Poor boy, he was so frustrated over this situation, starting to kick the grass angrily.

Still, Higo couldn’t stay calm right now. No, even though the two-goal lead was secure, he felt like the team needed one more goal to finally kill the opponent’s spirit, and without even talking to each other, his glance met Nassim, who was on the flank right now.

The Moroccan winger hadn’t done a lot of things in this second half, just running around aimlessly to waste time for the team. However, at this time, that boy couldn’t help but grin, understanding what Higo wanted him to do.

’Ambitious until the end, huh? I like your style, Higo! Let’s do this!’

Then, once Higo managed to intercept another cross, instead of stalling time again, he changed his approach, throwing the ball to the flank.

"COME ON, NASSIM! COUNTER!"