The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 304: Hiroki Kawabe

Author’s note: Happy new month! First of all, thanks a lot for your massive support to this story last month, I really appreciate it! I hope, this can continue in the next month and so on!

Also, regarding the double-update day, I have to apologize here. Just from the day I paused it to yesterday, I have already received about 86 Golden Tickets from KosherBeef52, Crazyjr_96, Ventallion, Hattorin, Masatoshi_K, and so many more! I really appreciate it, but if we follow the same route (A double-update day once in every five Golden Tickets), we will have about 17 double-update days up to this point.

This will be a difficult task for me, as I can only put a double-update day every two days, but I will try to give you more this month. So, please, be patient with me!

Once again, thank you for your support, and hope you enjoy the story!

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Hiroki Kawabe.

The name definitely rang a bell inside Higo’s head. After all, the boy checked the top five players in the JFA list after he got into the top 100, and while the name was quite ordinary, the boy’s appearance was anything but. It wasn’t like he was being prejudiced here, but Hiroki Kawabe’s style was... Unique.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Hiroshi and the twins grimaced instantly when they heard that name mentioned, even shuddering as if they had just faced their own nightmare. This was definitely not the usual solemn reaction that they always had whenever they found out that the opponent was a strong one.

"So, you guys know him?" Higo couldn’t help but ask. To his surprise, though, the twins started ranting while letting out a big groan.

"Urgh... Don’t mention that, Senpai!"

"Yes, Kawabe-senpai is a horrible person!"

"He is so self-centered!"

"Full of himself!"

"Loud!"

"Narcissistic!"

"The worst person you could’ve ever met!"

The others had a big sweat drop on their face when they heard that. However, the way the twins said that, with the exaggerated motion, made everything they said seem less believable, so everyone turned around to Hiroshi, waiting for the boy to speak out his judgement.

"Kawabe-senpai..." Hiroshi pondered solemnly. "Just imagine the less handsome, but more narcissistic version of Kenji-kun. He likes to flirt with the girl, having a natural lecherous expression that makes everyone run, loves wearing a chain on his jeans and listening to heavy metal music to look tough, always has a lollipop in his mouth while pretending to be smoking so that he can look cool, and also has the worst curl mohawk hairstyle in history. You will definitely cringe when he is in the vicinity."

The rest of the team couldn’t help but shudder at the horrible image being planted into their head.

"Goddamnit, Brat! Don’t scare the shit out of us like that!" Makino couldn’t help but curse. "A more narcissistic Kenji is horrible enough, but can you imagine he is how you describe?! Is that the appearance that any normal high school kid could have?!"

"Well... What can I say, Saitama really allows the students to express themselves freely there." Hiroshi shrugged helplessly.

"Hiroki Kawabe indeed has an eccentric appearance, but you cannot deny that he is an excellent player." Kumiko interrupted, turning the conversation back onto the right track. "His talent has been recognized since he was quite young, being called to the national U-17 team when he was just 15. He is a versatile player on both flanks, can cover everything there."

"Yeah, Kawabe-senpai is an annoying person, but you cannot deny his talent." Hiroshi nodded solemnly.

"This is the data that I got last Inter-High." Kumiko swiped through her laptop, changing the screen into one with a bunch of numbers in it. "He only played for one and a half games before getting replaced in the second half of the second-round game there due to injury. However, prior to that, he was the leader of the entire tournament in terms of tackles won, duels won, successful dribbles, chances created, and also assists. He was also the second-best player in terms of running coverage, only slightly behind Naoya Takahashi. So, you can say that if he wasn’t injured, their team would be able to go further at that time."

This time, everyone was solemn, as they usually were when the opponent’s information was explained like this. It also helped that Hiroki Kawabe was amazing on paper, so it was no wonder some of them were nervous here.

"What kind of an injury did he have?" Takaaki raised his hand here. "Is he also fully recovered from that?"

"A hamstring strain, and yes, he is fully recovered at this point." Kumiko nodded. "In fact, in their game yesterday, he scored two goals and assisted five in their 7-1 win, so you can say that he is in his best condition right now."

Well, that sucked. While it was not nice to pray for someone’s demise, they would take any advantage they could in the next game.

"You might notice this, but he is quite athletic." Kumiko continued. "He is 183 cm, a tall player for a winger, with the weight of 74 kg. His top speed can be considered around 33 to 34 kmph, which is already a top notch in any professional league in the world. He is also a very strong player, so it is not easy to knock him down. But the most underrated part of his game is how delicate his touch is with the ball."

"Delicate... How?"

"He is an eel," Denji replied flatly. "He is so slippery with the ball. Hell, if you don’t look at his face, you will think that he is a dancer, what with how light his feet are. Moreover, his dribble is so hard to stop."

"Yeah, you will not be able to figure out what he is thinking. The moment you think you get him, he will just take you on so easily, leaving you in the dust." Denki added with the same flatness in his voice.

Higo frowned a little bit right now, not from nervousness, but from trying to find any loophole in this explanation.

The way everyone talked about Hiroki Kawabe made it sound like the boy was the perfect player, the best one in the world. However, that was also how Kumiko described Naoya Takahashi a few days ago, and yet, the reality wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be.

So, right now, Higo was still trying to figure out which part the exaggeration came from.

"So... He is a winger, right?" Kazawa couldn’t help but raise his hand.

"Yes, Kazawa-kun?" Kumiko nodded, acknowledging his presence.

"Well, if he is a winger, that will be easy for us, right?" The boy asked once again. "I mean, both the twins seem to know him quite well, and they should’ve had a lot of head-to-head games in the past. So, let’s just let them deal with Hiroki Kawabe, how about that?"