The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 325: Is This The End?!

On Shohei High’s bench, all the people there couldn’t help but have a deadpan expression. They all knew that their captain had a temper, but no one expected that it would explode in this moment.

"Sakura... Tell me I am not hallucinating right now..." The head coach, Saburo, muttered at the team’s manager weakly.

"No, Sensei, you see it clearly as I am." The girl, Sakura, sighed in bewilderment. "Still, it has been a long time since he lost his temper in the middle of the game like this, right? It seems the game really put his mind on a constant edge, not allowing him to relax even for a second..."

Indeed, the last time Kawabe crashed out in the middle of the game was more than a year ago, when the team lost unjustifiably against their opponent in the round three of the Winter Tournament. At that time, he even challenged the referee directly, fighting in a heated argument before ending up getting a red card on the spot.

Now, to see Kawabe like this, it showed how frustrated he was with the current situation.

’Hakodate Nishi... Roshi, you really pick the most annoying team to join to...’ She looked at Hakodate Nishi’s number 10 with a complicated gaze. "So, what should we do now, Sensei? Should I ask Rihito-kun to get ready?"

Rihito Gonda was the first-year forward whom they recruited in the last term. However, he had just come back from an injury, so the coach didn’t dare to put him in such an intense game directly like that. Well... At least, that was what he thought before. Now that the team needed a game-changer, the man couldn’t help but take the risk.

"Call Gonda-kun here." He finally made a decision.

Soon enough, Shohei High made their last substitution. Their right back, who didn’t really contribute that much in today’s game, was off, getting replaced by a striker to add the number on the front line. In a desperate moment like this, the best tactic was indeed to overload the opponent’s territory with more players. Sometimes, the most primitive one worked well in a suicidal mission.

Well, it would be nice if the tactic worked straightaway. Unfortunately, Hakodate Nishi still holds their own ground so far, not even bulging at the constant pressure at the 89th minute of the game. They were now defending with 10 players, with even Kenji and Hiroshi dropping back to the penalty box.

"Fuck! This is not going to get us anywhere!" One of the players there cursed as another clearance was made by Makino.

"Try to go to that baldie, Sena." Kawabe suddenly spoke to that boy. "The baldie has a tendency to push his opponent recklessly when he is behind, so try to get into him."

After that little crash-out episode earlier, Kawabe was quite calmer here, enough to allow him to observe his surroundings clearly. While what he found was not a major weakness that he could take advantage of, at least, every opportunity needed to be taken seriously here.

The boy, Sena, understood that, as he gave his captain a nod. "Don’t worry, Senpai. Leave it to me."

Before they could try this, though, the pressure was added to their side. This time, it was from the assistant referee on the sideline who raised the board, showing the number ’4’ there. Four minutes of additional time, definitely a short one for a tense game like this.

"Fuck it, only four?!"

"It is even shorter than the first half!"

Some of Shohei’s players cursed when they saw this, starting to get anxious. However, this arrangement was understandable. After all, unlike the eventful first half, not a lot of action happened in the second half. Well... It was still a lot, especially with Hakodate Nishi’s goal and the constant attack from Shohei High during that period. However, neither a red card nor a penalty was given again, so the game’s flow ran quite smoothly in the second half.

"Fuck it! Everyone, go forward!" Goalkeeper, you also get ready to join!" Saburo, the head coach, roared from the sideline. "Screw with fucking defense! Without a goal, we are losing anyway! Add more people to the front line!" His face was so pale from the adrenaline.

The defenders were taken aback, but they joined the attack immediately after that. Now, in total, Shohei High had six players roaming in Hakodate Nishi’s penalty box, with three, including Kawabe, still outside to provide a good cross.

Of course, Kumiko wouldn’t just let them do anything they wanted. No, she also made her move, replacing Kenji with Sano to waste more time. Kenji really managed to get under everyone’s skin, what with him walking so slowly, even pretending to be cramped to slow down the game.

"Hey, hey! No need to push around! What if I get injured here?!" Kenji complained while limping as he was dragged by two of Shohei High’s players to walk faster.

"Fuck it! We know you are pretending here!" One of them cursed, dragging him to get out of the pitch faster.

"Sensei, can you see this?! He does this deliberately!" The other one complained to the referee.

The man himself just shook his head in exasperation. In the end, he still gave Kenji a yellow card, knowing that the boy was indeed a little bit too much. However, Kenji himself didn’t care. Once he got outside of the pitch, he even walked normally, not even pretending to be injured.

"Kenji-kun, you eccentric boy... You will be the death of me..." A giggle slipped out of Kumiko’s lips even though she was still so tense right now. "Still, good job. You have done well today." She patted the boy’s head fondly before turning her attention back to the pitch.

The attack became more desperate for Shohei High, with them only lobbing the ball into the penalty box as their attacking method. They were just hoping that this would create enough chaos for one of them to take advantage of. That, or one of the passes would finally reach a good target who could execute the last attack. Unfortunately, it didn’t work well here.

In the end, as Kawabe was so frustrated to restart a new attack, he just kicked the ball blindly, even turning around in resignation. Even though the ball flew toward the penalty box, the boy had already expected that it would be cleared again. However, what he didn’t expect was...

FWEEE!

The referee suddenly blew the whistle, and silence followed the entire pitch instantly.