The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 337: The Next Morning...

"Marius Draxler, the uncle of Schalke 04’s former superstar, Julian Draxler..." Kumiko frowned as she read the article on her phone. "He is now 56, and in his 15-year tenure as the head scout, the man has been introducing so many superstars to Schalke’s youth team. Hmm... The old man is good..."

It was the night after she joined Higo’s family call, and the girl didn’t waste too much time taking action. The first thing she did after coming back to her room was to start her research on everything about Marius Draxler. Well, the more she read, the more the girl was impressed with the man’s achievement.

’Even though he promoted a lot of young players, he always has one characteristic here. The man likes to go for a player with a strong personality.’ Kumiko hummed, crossing her arms while thinking about it. ’The rapid Leroy Sane, the elegant Mesut Ozil, the bold Manuel Neuer, and even his nephew, Julian Draxler, are full of flair. No wonder he likes Ryukkun’s answer before... That should reflect his personality quite well, right?’

Then, she moved the topic to Schalke itself, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that her smile was wider than ever after checking out their latest information.

"Schalke’s current goalkeeper is Alexander Nubel, a talented one who is only 23 years old. He still has a three-year contract with the team, but reports said that Bayern München is keen on having him as Manuel Neuer’s successor. Besides Nubel, the team has two backup goalkeepers, but they both come from the youth team and don’t have much experience at the highest level. Isn’t this a perfect situation for Ryukkun to come? Even though he wouldn’t get a chance in his first one or two years, as long as he persists until Nubel leaves, he will be able to showcase his talent by then!’

One or two years might seem so long, but for a young goalkeeper, about 18, waiting for that time was definitely not that bad. Hell, some talented goalkeepers even had to wait until they were 27 or 28 before they finally got a chance to showcase their talent. It couldn’t be helped, since that position was the most crucial one in a football team.

As the night passed by quickly, Kumiko also started to yawn. She checked her own phone, finding that it was 10 PM right now. It might not be that late for anyone else, but for her, who had to supervise the morning training tomorrow, she had to go to bed quickly after this.

Before doing that, though, she did one last research and took a note inside his head.

’The first thing for Ryukkun to step into the professional realm is finding a trustworthy agent, so I have to discuss it with him first. But before that, I have to make sure that his English is decent enough to communicate daily, and his physical state is better than any average European player...’

This was a little bit too much, but Kumiko believed that being in a better physical state than his future teammates would help Higo a lot. The boy would play in a foreign land, and while it was just a rumor, Kumiko read that Asian players were prone to being bullied by their peers outside there. So, Higo needed to have a shiny point the moment he arrived to help him adapt to the situation quickly, as the best way to do that was to show his worth to the team.

Still... ’Oh, torturing Ryukkun with more study and physical training will be so funny...’ She giggled a little, secretly looking forward to his reaction in the future.

Higo himself didn’t really know that he was being targeted. The next morning, when he woke up, the boy just felt a shiver, somehow noticing an evil intention aimed at him. Well... That, or the fact that the air was colder than yesterday.

’Fuck! 3 Degrees Celsius? And we are going to play in this weather?!’ He couldn’t help but curse, tightening up the scarf around his neck. ’Holy shit... Are they going to turn us up into frozen food or what?!’ He grumbled grumpily.

Honestly, the weather itself wasn’t really that bad. As a Hokkaido boy, Higo was used to temperatures even below 0 degrees. However, that was him just doing an outdoor activity. This time, having to stay active for so long outside? Nah, that was definitely torture.

"G’morning, Senpai..." Takaaki also walked next to him, still rubbing his sleepy eyes before putting on his glasses. Right now, they were still in front of the hotel’s gate, waiting for the rest of the team to appear.

"Morning, Takaaki. Where is everyone else?" Higo asked.

"Sano-kun has just woken up, and the others are still in their room. Shall we call them out?"

Higo pondered for a second before shaking his head quickly. "Nah, just let them be. It is their fault if they wake up late." He grinned mischievously.

After having a day off yesterday, it was normal for the players to be lazy here. Hell, some would probably still grumble about their aching body or something like that, not having enough time to recuperate their body. Unfortunately, resting time was a luxury that couldn’t be enjoyed too much in this tournament. With a game every four days, they had to stay sharp at all times, or they would be knocked out by a more ready opponent in the future.

"You want to screw us over, Chibi?" Makino suddenly appeared from behind, still yawning, before sending a sneer at Higo. "As expected, your dark heart cannot be hidden anymore."

"That’s not very nice to do, Higo-kun. I have never expected something like that from you, not after you gained big shots’ attention like that..." Kuroki also chimed in, shaking his head in disapproval. However, the corner of his lips tugged, showing a hint of amusement here.

As a result, Higo just snorted, not-so-amusedly. "Don’t play around too much; I know you have been there since the beginning. Come on, move your ass off! We still have the morning training to do!"