Chapter 803: Delivering the Good News to the Family

Well, Higo didn’t know how long he had been asleep. What the boy knew, though, was that the moment his brain finally processed everything around him and his consciousness was back in his body again, a massive headache attacked him from all over the place, and the throbbing pain was threatening to kill his head right now.

"Urgh... What the fuck is going on here?" He mumbled while trying to get up, still feeling dizzy.

It took a few seconds for him to realize that he was in his own room, and another few seconds for his brain to remember what happened at dinner with Fujita-san.

"Urgh, I would never touch French cuisine again. Ever." He made a declaration inwardly.

A moment later, someone suddenly entered his room, and before Higo realized who that person was, the familiar greeting rang melodiously in his ears. "Oh, you have woken up already? You were so drunk last night, you know?"

When Higo raised his head to look up at that person, he found out that Kumiko was smiling amusedly at him. The girl also carried something here, and the light yet savory smell coming from the bowl in her hand was enough to make his stomach grumble.

"Ah, I know you want this. Come on, get up and wash your face first, Ryukkun. You look like a mess right now." The girl giggled, clearly enjoying this situation. "I’ll wait for you in the dining room, okay? Sakura-chan is probably not going to join us. She has been on the call with Hiroki-kun almost all night, and if I am not wrong, she has just fallen asleep an hour ago. But it is okay; we can have all the morning by ourselves now."

Higo nodded numbly before he got up and went to the toilet, cleaning himself up quickly. In that process, the boy also let his brain reconnect with reality once again, so that when he went to the living room, he didn’t feel disoriented like this and could hold a proper conversation with Kumiko.

"Oh! A chicken soup?" Higo raised his eyebrows slightly, hearing his stomach roaring once again. "Thanks! I don’t know how you know this, but I am craving something light right now!" He took a spoon in front of him and didn’t stand for ceremony, devouring that soup in a heartbeat.

"No need to be in such a hurry; the soup is still a lot." Kumiko slapped Higo on the hand with a wooden ladle, enough to make him behave like a proper human being. "Also, I know you will like this. Chicken soup is the best hangover food to detox everything that you drank last night. I just didn’t expect that you would be so lost in yourself, you know?" She smiled teasingly.

"Ah... That is mostly Fujita-san to be blamed." Higo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Where is he, by the way? Back to the hotel?" He asked, realizing that his agent was not here.

"Oh, him? Yeah, he rejected our offer to stay here for a night. It was reckless of him to drive in that drunk state, but he is the adult here." Kumiko answered.

They chatted lightly about everything other than the contract, not even mentioning a single thing about it. Higo’s brain was still disconnected from the event yesterday other than the dinner, and Kumiko was waiting patiently until he mentioned it before they could chat properly about the contract.

In the end, it was only when a call from Ayaka came that the boy remembered it completely.

"So, how is it going? You have signed the new contract?" Ayaka asked expectantly.

"Done! An annual salary of 1.2 million Euros is secured!" Higo patted his chest proudly.

His sister squealed loudly for that, feeling overjoyed with the news. It seemed that she wasn’t alone back home, because her scream attracted their mother, who was doing whatever she was doing outside.

"What? What? Is there anything wrong?" Minami asked, her tone full of concern.

"Nothing, Mom! But Ryukkun has just finally secured the new deal! 1.2 million Euros yearly! That’s around 145 million Yen, Mom! Can you imagine that?!"

Poor woman, even though she had been working for a multinational company, this was the first time she felt like that amount of money was so close to her family. Usually, she would only find that amount in the company’s annual report, and yet, Higo managed to get that just for playing football?

Ayaka didn’t notice her mother’s current state right now, still being high on the heels about the news. She asked for more details, but the more she—and her mother, to some extent—listened to what Higo said, the more the feeling changed from happy to awe and bewilderment.

I mean... The number was not just 1.2 million Euros.

5000 Euros per appearance.

3000 Euros per clean sheet.

150,000 Euros if the team managed to survive.

100,000 Euros bonus if he managed to play for more than 25 games.

50,000 Euros for any award that he would get in the process.

Those were not just numbers, but real money that Higo would bag for the next four years. Hell, it could even be more, depending on Higo’s performance. Even though Fujita-san said that this number didn’t match his importance to the team, for Higo and his family, it was still not a number that they could ever think of before, so it was clear that Higo’s description of all the bonuses that he would receive now just overwhelmed them completely.

Ayaka even had her brain short-circuited, unable to find anything inside her brain to break the silence. He turned around to see her mom, only to find the older woman was sobbing silently; her eyes were red.

Even though Ayaka didn’t know what her mother was thinking, her instinct made her spread her arms wide, hugging the older woman tightly.

Higo and Kumiko, who watched this, also went teary. The former, even so, wiped a single tear in the corner of his eye while saying firmly, "Now that I have that much money, you don’t need to work so hard and seek that promotion that your boss promised you, Mom. This time, please, let me be your support..."