The Rise of the Iron Wall!

"Another study from home?" Higo raised one of his eyebrows lightly when he saw Kumiko standing in front of his door with a massive bag on her back, as if the girl was ready to move.

Well, it wasn’t just her, as Sakura herself was also on the same page here. It was clear that this was not the first time something similar had happened here.

"Yup! Anyway, sorry for the intrusion!" Kumiko grinned before barging into the flat as if this was her own. "Oh, how nice to be here again... As expected, a flat for a professional footballer is nicer than the little one that we get from our scholarship!"

Sakura just sighed helplessly as she watched her friend acting so freely like this. She would also want to do that, but unfortunately, her relationship with Higo was just that of friends, nothing more and nothing less. It was just good that she was allowed to stay here with them instead of being alone in her own room, so the girl wouldn’t ask too much for anything else.

"Yeah, the coronavirus case starts to spread in Europe, and even though not a lot of things changed, everyone starts to prepare for the worst-case scenario." The girl explained while Higo was just watching his girlfriend rolling on the sofa childishly. "It would be bad if the campus has to be quarantined for several days, so the teachers there have already trained for this kind of online class in case they have to do it."

"Yeah, the case is horrible!" Kumiko suddenly chimed in. "I heard most public places have to be quarantined after some guys who got infected visited their place at some point."

Higo couldn’t help but frown, as he himself had also heard about this news recently.

It was the first week of March, and a new virus had already spread so fast from China to the whole world, infecting so many people in a blink. People called it coronavirus, and while Higo had never known anyone getting infected by it, he had heard from people in the neighborhood that the virus spread so fast, like wildfire.

Hell, even the team issued a warning to the whole squad not to party too much even after the game was over.

Higo himself didn’t really pay attention at first, thinking that the virus itself was still far away from him. No, if anything, his mind was so focused on the daily training session, wanting to get a win as quickly as possible after having such a bad month in February. Not that he could help changing it, since the problem was on the frontline, but at least the boy showed a great attitude to change the atmosphere in the team right now.

However, now that the girls mentioned it, Higo couldn’t ignore this issue anymore.

"Is it really dangerous?" He couldn’t help but ask, concerned.

"Yeah, back home in Saitama, the first death case has been reported, and people said that the number will increase dramatically if nothing changes." Sakura nodded. Her expression then changed for a moment, turning into a serious one. "My suggestion is that you start stocking up your fridge. More shops will have to be closed temporarily, and it would be hard if you cannot find one close by."

Higo nodded seriously, accepting the suggestion.

Well... Not seriously enough, because his mind still split into the training session. Frohling had been in a very foul mood in the last couple of days, glaring at everyone else who dared to chat casually with him. Hell, the man even took offense at someone taking a sip of water in the middle of the session, wanting them to act like a bunch of robots that couldn’t be exhausted.

It was ridiculous, but the man had every single reason to be furious right now. Not only did the man fail to get anyone to join the team in the winter transfer window last month, but now that he had already tried every single combination on the frontline, he didn’t have any more choice here.

Every single one of them was bad, and honestly, he could understand why the team suck up until now.

"Come on, Reese! You fucking idiot, that is just a one-on-one situation! How could you not score?! Your technique is wrong! Wrong!"

"Suat, how could you be our top scorer?! A header like that and you cannot even put it to the goal?!"

"Raman, if we are not lacking a striker, I would put your fat ass in the second team already! Get moving, you lazy fucker!"

Everyone had sweat dripping down their face, and honestly, if only the atmosphere was lighter, they would’ve laughed already at the coach’s colorful dictionary. Unfortunately, the coach himself was dead serious right now, and no one dared to show any attitude other than obedience on the pitch.

However, the training session was stopped in the middle of it when one of the management staff rushed frantically, his breath heavy. Everyone stopped for a moment, watching the man whisper something to the coach. Frohling’s face also turned serious, probably finding the information that he had just received to be troublesome as well.

"Wait here, everyone, I need to go to a meeting." The coach said quickly before turning his attention to his assistant. "Waldoch, you take over. Make sure that no one dares to slack off in the session."

"Sure." The Polish assistant coach nodded quietly.

Only when everyone was so sure that Frohling was out of their sight would the guys there let out a deep, relieved sigh. It was always stressful having to work with a furious head coach, as they could be picked up for every single petty reason possible.

"Do you think it is related to our current situation?"

"Well, with how we are right now, it is possible that he could get sacked, you know?"

"No way! He is just an interim coach! Who wants to replace him, someone worse?"

Higo just listened to the chatter around him quietly. However, the boy somehow felt that it wasn’t just a simple issue. His gaze turned solemn, and he couldn’t help but think, ’Maybe I have to talk to Kumiko-chan and Sakura-san about this later...’

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!