The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 308: First Encounter with the Eccentric Hiroki Kawabe!

Everyone was so stunned by the friendly greeting that Kawabe threw here. After all, they were about to fight against each other, and usually, no matter how close they were as friends, players from different teams would try to avoid any casual conversation with each other before the game. Now, the boy approached Hiroshi first, even hugging the boy quite fondly, which made them all dumbfounded on the spot.

"Hey, ye bastard! Why would ye block my LINE before going?! Don’t ye know how worried I was?! Also, Hakodate?! Are ye fucking serious?! Can ye find a better team to play in?! I mean, that Sapporo one looks good, right?! But I am glad that ye can finally be here, and in my last tournament as well! This is going to be lit!"

The boy chatted so animatedly, not giving Hiroshi himself any chance to say a single word. Hiroshi just sighed in resignation, knowing that once his senpai, his former teammate, started to open his mouth like this, it would take an hour before it stopped.

Of course, not everyone appreciated this. Makino frowned a little bit, stepping up between those two and asked, "Excuse me, we are doing our warm-up right now, can you just chat later?"

In return, though, Kawabe just glanced sideways at him before snorting a little, ignoring the captain completely before asking Hiroshi back. "Anyway, how is Aunty doing back in Hakodate? She is healthy, right? I hear the weather there is quite cold, so ye have to take care of her! Also—"

A thick vein popped on Makino’s forehead as he was getting ignored so disrespectfully like that. Before he could say anything, though, a female voice suddenly boomed from the other side of the pitch.

"KAWABE-KUN, GET YOUR SORRY ASS HERE IN THREE! TWO!"

"OKAY, OKAY! NO NEED TO SHOUT, WOMAN!" Kawabe shouted back, rubbing his ears annoyedly. "Anyway, good luck with the game later, Roshi! Get ready to lose the game, okay? Don’t come back at me crying later, haha!" He ran back to his team immediately, ignoring the bewildered Hakodate Nishi team completely.

"He is still the same bastard as he was in the past, huh?" Denji shook his head in exasperation. "He didn’t even give you a chance to speak a word, right?" The boy turned to Hiroshi questioningly.

Indeed, since the start, the boy who came here, Hiroshi, hadn’t even said a single word. The boy just let his senpai do the talk, knowing that he would never get a chance to do that. After shaking his head in amusement, Hiroshi turned around, finding Makino scowling secretly at Kawabe.

"Don’t let him get under your skin, Senpai. That is just how he is." The boy advised his captain. "He would always ignore whoever he doesn’t acknowledge, so don’t think he would glance at you before you make a big impression on him."

"So, you want me to pretend that this doesn’t happen?" Makino scowled, his face turned dark.

"No, what I mean is that this is how he usually is, and while infuriating, it works to annoy the opponent, forcing them to play clumsily. Don’t let yourself get dragged down into that route."

Makino had the corner of his mouth twitching furiously right now. He had already expected that Kawabe would be eccentric, but this was definitely over the top. The boy couldn’t even show any sign of respect toward his opponent, for God’s sake!

"Come on, Teme, don’t get entangled with him too much." Higo patted his shoulder firmly. "Just make him eat his words later."

The captain took a deep breath, knowing that, indeed, he had to be calmer here. After getting rid of all the unnecessary thoughts, he came back with his teammates to get ready for the game. However, the boy also saved one thought in the back of his mind.

’Later, when the game starts, I have to make sure that he remembers Tomoaki fucking Makino!’

After fifteen minutes of the warm-up session, they went back to the locker room once again. This time, all of the main players took off their jackets, changing into their proud black-and-white jerseys. Fortunately, they were acting as the home team right now, so they didn’t have to change into their usual orange jersey. After all, Shohei High was infamous for its red-and-black jersey out there.

"Okay, so, I am sure you have already met our lovely opponent, right?" Kumiko smiled sweetly at them.

"Sweet, she said." Makino snorted sarcastically.

"Well, I can tell you for a fact that we are going to face the same treatment as in our last game." The girl continued, ignoring the captain’s comment there. "They wouldn’t really underestimate us, but inwardly, they would say something like... ’I am so glad we are just facing Hakodate Nishi, not Toin Gakuen or Sapporo Otani!’ You should’ve seen that kind of expression, right?"

The players clenched their fists unconsciously, anger building up inside. While they enjoyed the feeling of being an underdog, being looked down upon by the opponent? Not so much. It was a disrespect toward all the blood and sweat they poured so far, as if saying, ’You are here just because you are lucky! Today is your final day here!’ or something like that.

"It is irritating, right?"

"Yes, Ma’am!"

"So, make sure that in the game later, you make them remember that you are not the other team!" Kumiko raised her voice, letting it echo throughout the small locker room. "Make sure you let them remember that you are Hakodate Nishi High, and you are better than Sapporo Otani! Better than Toin Gakuen! Make sure you give them all their worst day in their life! Make sure you give them hell!"

"Yes, Ma’am!"

Even though the pep-talk was a bit exaggerated, the girl always knew which button to push to fuel up her team. Now, everyone had the same kind of fire in their eyes, the kind that basically told everyone else that they were not here to mess around, but to kill their opponent.

Seeing them so pumped up like this, the girl couldn’t help but nod, showing her approval. "Well, then, what are you waiting for?! Go out there and slay your enemy for me!"

"YES, MA’AM!"