Chapter 762: Back Home Again

Well, before that, Higo still had to accept the greeting from the people back in Gelsenkirchen. Even though they couldn’t get out of their residences, some people still took their time to peek outside when the boy returned from the journey to Dortmund, waving at him enthusiastically.

"YES! Come on, Higo! You bring honor to this town!"

"Beat those Zecken in their asses!"

"Higo, we have fresh peach here! Bring this to the team!"

Higo just smiled awkwardly as he waved back at the fans around. Hell, the boy had to urge some who wanted to go out, reminding them that this was still a self-quarantine period. Even though it wasn’t him who initiated it, Higo would still be in trouble if some police officers saw people surrounding him as a public figure.

Once he was back at his flat, Higo couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh, finding all the exhaustion from the trip to Dortmund finally hit him without mercy. The boy leaned his body against the door for a moment before he dropped slowly, ending up sitting on the floor.

"What, exhausted?" Kumiko smiled amusedly as she peeked from the kitchen. "Well, I have already expected this. It was your first game after a long break, so it will be quite draining on your body. Just go to the bathroom there; I have already prepared a warm bath!"

"...Thanks..." Higo mumbled, getting up before dragging his feet lazily to his own room first.

It took a while for Higo to get everything done, but when he finally came out of the bathroom, the boy looked like a completely different person. Gone was his filthy appearance, as he was fresh as new. Even with water still dripping out of his hair, it was clear that his energy was different than before.

"What did you cook?" Higo asked while leaning toward the pan on the stove. "The smell is so good. Can I have some?" His face was expectant. After a long journey from Dortmund, it was no wonder his stomach would be grumbling at this point.

"This is just a normal soup, and sure, you can have some." Kumiko nodded while grabbing a bowl nearby, taking a big scoop of the soup before giving it to Higo. "I took the carrots, potatoes, beans, shredded chicken, and used chicken broth that our neighbor sent yesterday. Come on, try it!" She prepared everything so quickly before sitting in front of Higo; her eyes were eager to see how the boy would react.

"Well, then, Ittadakimasu!"

Higo clapped so loudly before picking up his chopsticks, not standing on ceremony. The moment his palate felt the umami of the food, a big smile spread so quickly as the boy gave a big thumbs-up to his girlfriend.

"Dad’s... Dad’s good!" Praised the boy with a mouth full of food.

"Chew it properly first!" Kumiko chided the boy amusedly.

Higo himself enjoyed the food thoroughly. It wasn’t really the best one he had ever tasted, but the feeling of going back home after work, just to find his girlfriend had already prepared food for him...

This mundane life sure was enough to warm his heart, enough to make anything he tasted right now be five-star restaurant quality.

Compared to the superstar life where he would be surrounded by glamor, this kind of life was definitely more appealing to Higo, and he intended to enjoy every second of it for the rest of his life.

"Anyway, where is Sakura-san?" He couldn’t help but ask, not finding the other girl’s presence.

"Oh, she is still sleeping. She fell asleep two hours ago, having so much homework to do." Kumiko shrugged. "By the way, what happened in the last game? Did your clairvoyance not work again?"

Higo was stunned for a second before a wry smile formed on his face. "Of course, you will notice that, huh?"

"Yeah, no matter how good the opponent is, you have never been that dumbfounded other than when you played against Riku Handa from Echigo High, that Niigata tournament. Remember that?"

"Oh, yeah, his name is Riku..." Higo couldn’t help but smile as his mind flew back to that time. "But, yeah, you are right. Haaland is exactly the same here; his movement cannot be predicted by my ability. That sure is a troublesome matter."

Kumiko herself also pondered about it. After all, the sample was too small right now, just two players out of so many strikers that Higo had faced in his career. Those two also didn’t have anything in common other than being a forward, so they didn’t have any data to determine what caused his clairvoyant ability to fail.

"Still, you did a good job this time." Kumiko shook her head, holding Higo’s hand as she decided not to think about this matter too much. "In that Niigata tournament, your reaction was the worst. Besides panicking, you also started to doze off, losing concentration in the middle of the game. Now, you act like a real professional goalkeeper. When something went wrong, your brain ran quickly to find the solution. Good job."

Higo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly while a goofy grin also curled on his face. "Well, I am a real professional goalkeeper in the first place, you know?" He mumbled quietly.

After that, they spent the whole morning chatting with each other, with Kumiko trying to catch up on what was going on in the team right now.She would laugh when Higo told her about how Suat Serdar was still training alone to lose weight first, frown when she heard about a decision that was hard to accept, and even offer a piece of her mind when Higo couldn’t understand something that was going on in the team.

Higo himself enjoyed this moment, letting time pass by quickly. Once they were close to noon, though, Kumiko’s phone suddenly buzzed, distracting their little chat.

"Ah! It is finally here!" Kumiko’s eyes lit up at the person who had just called her. "Come on, Ryukkun! You have to join this as well!"