The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 335: Marius Draxler & Unexpected Invitation

Soon enough, they finally left the Shokudo, thanking the old man there before walking back to the hotel. In that short journey, though, Higo walked lifelessly, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulder right now.

Kumiko just let out a deep sigh, but did not offer any words to console him. The girl knew that he should have a lot of things inside his mind right now, and the boy needed to process it slowly.

’At least, I have already talked about what he should do...’

Unfortunately, Kumiko’s knowledge in this regard wasn’t really that great either. So, she just said to greet them politely, acknowledging their offers while also waiting until he graduated before making a decision. She also asked Higo to communicate more with his mother and sister, knowing that they would play a huge role in his future career.

As for which to choose and what to do after this... Well, even though Kumiko also didn’t know, she put one thing at the back of her mind. ’After this tournament is done, I have to do more research about what to do if someone is offered a professional contract like this. At least, I couldn’t be passive in this regard.’ She clenched her fist unconsciously.

Unfortunately, all the chat about thinking for this after the graduation seemed to be destroyed immediately, as when they were back at the hotel, two people had been waiting for Higo there. The moment Higo’s figure could be seen from the glass door of the hotel, a man, probably around 25 and slightly overweight, rose from the lobby’s chair to greet him.

"Ryusuke Higo, right?" He asked for a confirmation.

"Um... Yeah?" Higo nodded in confusion here, accepting the handshake.

"Oh, it is so nice to meet you! My name is Toru Masaki, and I watched your game yesterday! You really impressed me with your insane performance yesterday! I mean, four penalty saves in total?! That’s not something any normal goalkeeper could pull, you know?!" He shook Higo’s hand so strongly and enthusiastically.

Seeing this, Kumiko frowned and couldn’t help but interrupt him. "I am so sorry, but can you tell me what you are doing here?" The man didn’t really give a good impression to her, especially since the girl was getting completely ignored as if she didn’t exist here.

"Ah! I apologize! You must be Kumiko Shishida, Hakodate Nishi High’s head coach, right? I am sorry for my rudeness here." The man finally shook her hand as well, not even looking apologetic for a second. "As for my business here... Well, I am here because my boss pays extra attention to you." He whispered conspiratorially.

"Your boss?" Higo frowned, parroting the man’s words.

"Yup! My boss! I am here as a translator and his personal assistant during his stay in Japan. Anyway, let me introduce him to you!" Right after that, he went back to the hotel immediately, leaving both teenagers dumbfounded there. Still hesitant, they finally followed along, just to find that Toru Masaki was chatting animatedly with a foreigner.

"Let me introduce you here." Toru Masaki said with a proud face here. "This man is my boss, Marius Draxler. He is the head scout of Schalke 04 from Germany. Yeah, that Schalke!" He nodded in confirmation as if Higo had asked this.

The boy himself had a blank face here, not knowing any shit about that team. However, he glanced at Kumiko, and Higo saw how shocked the girl was by the man’s identity.

’Oh, it seems that team is big, huh?’ Higo made a mental note to check on it later.

The man himself hadn’t spoken yet. He observed Higo for a while, enough to make the boy uncomfortable here. In the end, he just asked, "Height?"

"Um?" Higo blinked, not knowing what the question was.

"He asked you for your height." Kumiko nudged him secretly.

"Ah! 178 cm!" The boy answered immediately. He still remembered quite well the last time his mom measured him in the New Year.

Somehow, before Masaki could relay the answer to that man, Kumiko acted faster here, translating what he said to Marius Draxler immediately.

"Weight?"

"I... Don’t know. Probably, around 65 or something."

"Too thin..." The man frowned for a moment. "Still, I saw your performance yesterday, and I noticed a lot of gambling decisions in your game, acting without looking as if you knew where the ball would land. Why did you do that reckless action? That would put your team at greater risk, eh?"

This time, Kumiko paused, not translating the question directly. She seemed to be in a competition with Toru Masaki here, as the man took over the job immediately. Still, the girl looked at her friend hesitantly, knowing full well that all those reckless actions revolved around the unscientific secret he had in his mind.

Higo himself frowned here, pondering how to answer. There was no way he could tell this man about his clairvoyant ability, right? In the end, he could only answer the question with a sprinkle of bullshit here.

"You might see the action as a reckless one, but you didn’t see me make a mistake, right? It doesn’t matter what I thought at that time, but I knew what I was doing there, and just like my coach said, it doesn’t matter what I thought, but as long as I could prevent my team from conceding a goal, everything else doesn’t really matter, right?"

Toru Masaki was so stunned when he heard this. Somehow, Higo’s answer defied the impression of Japanese players who were always humble that he didn’t know whether to translate it to his boss or not. However, Kumiko saw Higo’s personality reflected in this answer, so she didn’t mind doing the job here.

"Everything doesn’t matter as long as you can prevent your team from conceding a goal? Ha! I like your mindset and confidence!" The man laughed for the first time in this short meeting. "Still, you can say that because you only play at the high school level in Japan. Care to test that ability in German?"

"...Wait, what?!"

As those two teenagers were stunned, the man suddenly pulled something out of his pocket. "Here, my business card. Once you graduate from high school, come and call me, and I will give you a three-day trial with my team. What do you think about it?"