Author’s note: Special thanks to josiahandangel for the 14 Golden Tickets to this story! Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the support here! Just like what I said before, though, the schedule for the double-update day for this month is already full, so I will start it again next month.
Thank you!
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It was the morning after everything was settled, and Higo had just woken up with a deep bag under his eyes. The boy felt like an old man right now, what with his back cracking loudly and the whole world seeming to shake around in his head. This wasn’t just from the exhaustion after the craziness in the last two days, but also from his overthinking mind after Kumiko’s mother dropped the bomb yesterday.
"What’s wrong, Mister MVP? Cannot sleep well? Still too drunk from your achievent?" Minami greeted the boy teasingly as she saw him getting too restless even in the early morning like this, knowing full well why he was like this.
"Co on, Mom! That’s not funny at all!" Higo groaned, throwing his body to the couch with a big huff. "How could you not support when I am in a crisis like this?!" He cried in complaint.
"Well, what is there to support?" His mother replied nonchalantly, still busy with whatever she was doing in the kitchen. "Kumiko-chan is about to spread her wings and fly high to the position she deserves. The best thing you can do right now is to show your support, right?"
"Yeah, but that would also an we will be separated so far in the future! What if soone European, tall, handso, rich, and charming takes a fancy on her?! What if she falls for him and forgets about ?! What if—"
"Ryukkun." Minami suddenly cut his rant, stared at the boy intently. This was enough to make him uncomfortable.
"Uh... What, Mom?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Don’t try to mask your insecurity by putting her in the worst-case scenario in your mind. You know she is not like that, right? You are just afraid that she will be more competent than you and people will talk about it." She said flatly.
Higo flinched imdiately at that blunt assessnt. Indeed, no matter how much he tried to hide it, the boy couldn’t help but feel insecure right now. Kumiko was so brilliant, like the brightest star in the night sky, and yet, he was just... Him.
’I an, other than the emotional blackmail from us being childhood friends, what do I have to attract her? Handsoness? Wealth? Brain? None of them seems to be true, right?’ He chuckled bitterly.
Seeing that her son was in a dilemma like this, Minami couldn’t help but ask, "If you really want to have a chance, have you ever thought of entering her circle?"
"Entering... Her circle?" Higo tilted his head confusedly.
"Yup! Joining the football circle! I an, you are good at it, right? You also still have the trial invitation from Albirex Niigata! Then, you are going to play in the National Tournant, and I don’t believe that you wouldn’t impress any scout there! So, what if you tried a little bit harder? Who knows, maybe you can also join her to go to Germany, right?"
The way Minami said it was so casual, but it stunned Higo imdiately. Indeed, after an exhausting prefectural tournant, he completely forgot about his trial invitation, and now, revisiting this idea again, he couldn’t help but be tempted.
"Still... Am I really good enough? I an, you have heard that I am a short one, you know? And I think so many professional teams look at the goalkeeper from a height first." He asked hesitantly.
This wasn’t just from his insecurity, but also from the bitter truth after Higo researched everything he could about a goalkeeper. On average, the goalkeeper’s height should be around 190, and it was a necessity to have a better reach either in the aerial battle or even on a difficult ball placent, like on the top bins or sothing like that.
Hell, even Iker Casillas, the legendary Spain goalkeeper who was considered a shorter one in the group, was still around 182 cm. This was more than 10 cm taller than Higo, so the boy’s insecurity was justifiable here.
Minami paused for a second, turning at Higo, who had a complicated gaze, before she asked, "How tall are you, by the way?"
Higo blinked for a mont before answering hesitantly, "169 or 170 cm, if I am not wrong."
"And when was the last ti you asured it?"
"I... Don’t know? I an, it is probably a year ago, right?"
"That’s the problem." Now, Minami put the knife back on the table before starting to rummage through a drawer at the bottom of the kitchen, pulling out a tape asure and a pencil from there. "Co on, stand against the wall. Keep your back and your head straight, don’t slouch!" She ordered quickly.
Even though Higo still didn’t understand what was going on here, he complied, standing against the wall in the kitchen. Minami took action imdiately, drawing a small line on the wall where Higo’s head had been before asuring it from the bottom to that spot. Higo himself was also curious to see, and the result didn’t disappoint him.
The mont Higo saw the number, he was so dumbfounded that his jaw dropped.
176 cm.
"Wait, what?! How could I suddenly beco so tall?!" He asked in disbelief. "Co on, Mom! asure it again! I am sure you are wrong here!"
Minami took the asurent twice after this, and after finding out that the result was still the sa, with only one or two milliters of deviation, that was when the boy truly believed that the result was legit. However, that didn’t an he was less dumbfounded now, as the boy still had his jaw hanging wide.
"How could it be..."
"I an, is that really strange?" Minami shrugged. "You have never felt that way because you always compared yourself to a taller goalkeeper outside, but you yourself are still 17, you know? Even though in theory, you shouldn’t grow that much in this period, don’t you rember that in the last few months, you have exercised quite a lot and eaten more protein? I an, growing taller a few more centiters is definitely not the strangest thing in the world, you know?"
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