Chapter 688: The Debut Day!

Time flew by, and before Higo knew it, he was already at the game day. The boy didn’t even realize how he got there, but the next thing he knew, he was already inside the Veltins Arena, staring at the stand where people were starting to come and sit to watch the game.

"Oh! It is Higo! He is there!"

"Really?! He does the early warm-up?! Does that mean he will play today?!"

"Well, without Nubel in the team, who else do we have?! It is time for him to shine!"

It was such a strange scene, as a player who just got promoted from the second team had so much fame among the supporters. Well, not that the boy didn’t deserve it. Besides his crazy performance with the second team, he was also beloved by the supporters due to his closeness with them.

Not only did the boy always greet the fans after the game was over, but he often could be seen eating with the others at Bosch or any other local pub, sometimes even paying for everyone’s meal. This gesture was enough to at least make everyone remember his name, so when it was finally his debut day, so many people cheered from the beginning of the game.

"You sure have a lot of fans, huh?" Morita glanced at the stands enviously. "I am the biggest rising star on the team right now, but their greeting to me is not even close to as warm as what they did to you. Damn, this is so unfair!" He couldn’t help but curse. However, the playful smile on his face told everyone that the boy was not serious here, probably just joking around to ease the tension on Higo’s shoulder.

"Bah! Why are you so shameless like that, Morita?! If only you were not such a playboy, you would receive a warmer greeting here!" Fabian couldn’t help but mock him. "I bet that so many fathers here are cursing at you for dating their daughter secretly outside of the pitch, you man-whore!"

"Ha?! What did you call me?!"

Higo couldn’t help but snort, moving aside so that he didn’t get caught in the crossfire between those two. His head moved around the stadium with a capacity of around 60,000 people, finding that the seats there started to get filled one by one. It was still 30 minutes before the game began, but Higo could see that it would be a full house in the stadium today.

"Damn, this is going to be crazy..." He muttered in awe once again.

It would be a lie if Higo said that he wasn’t nervous. Even though it wasn’t the first time he faced a full-house game like this, all of his experiences were in a smaller stadium, with the most spectators he had ever seen being around 20,000 people during the final of the World Cup U-20 in Poland last summer. At that time, the boy just sat tightly on the bench, so this was definitely his first time facing such a big crowd as a main player.

Then, his eyes landed on a family box right above the tunnel, and the boy could see Kumiko, Ayaka, and his mother were waving at them. Not only those three, though, but the boy also invited Koji Yabu and Chiaki Yabu to come, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the little girl jumping around to cheer him.

’Fucking hell... Somehow, 60,000 people is not as nerve-wracking as those six on the family box...’ He took a deep breath again, trying to calm his nerves. However, a grin started to curl from one corner of his lips to the others, as he started to gleam in excitement. ’With them here, I definitely cannot mess this up! I have to make sure that I get a clean sheet today even if I have to die!’

With that spirit in mind, Higo followed the rest of the players for the warm-up session seriously. Still, all the preparation that he had done since the boy stepped into this stadium was far from enough to prepare him for the moment when he stepped out of the tunnel with the team, when the announcer introduced him to the supporters.

"THE GOALKEEPER FROM JAPAN! MAKING HIS DEBUT TODAY! RYUSUKE..."

"HIGO!"

The moment the entire stadium shouted his name, Higo could feel goosebumps throughout his body. All the hair on his body rose instantly, and when he glanced around at the bright light above, he found that the stadium was full of people cheering for the team that he would be playing for today, and words seemed to get stuck in his throat instantly.

"The scene sure is way more incredible than just from the bench, huh?" He couldn’t help but mutter.

Soon enough, the players from both teams were finally ready to play. They were already in their positions, waiting for their captain to finish the coin toss. Higo was also the same, tightening the gloves on his hands while also trying to make sure that his body would be warm enough to move around later.

Honestly, it was not ideal weather to play football today. Snow fell lightly inside the stadium, not enough to slow down the ball’s speed from rolling smoothly on the ground, but still enough to make the pitch slippery.

Still, this was the first game of the year, and no one bothered about the pitch’s condition right now. The referee had already given his okay, so there was no room to complain. Right now, everyone was just putting their focus on the game, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle here.

It took quite a while, as the referee himself had also checked so many things before the game began. It wasn’t like when Higo was in the second team, where the game was less complicated than that. This time, 60,000 people were watching, so the man had to make sure that everything went right.

Once he had already made sure that everything was well...

FWEEE!

The whistle was finally being blown, and Higo took another deep breath before narrowing his eyes immediately, having his eyes follow the ball’s movement even from the very first second of the game.

’My debut, I cannot mess this up! I have to get a clean sheet today!’