Chapter 672: A Bomb Out of Nowhere?!

"Say, what?!" Higo blinked, his brain short-circuited at the news coming out of the coach’s mouth. "I am being transferred to the first team?!" He pointed himself in a mix of disbelief and confusion.

"Yes, you are not overhearing it. The plan changes, and the first team needs you right now." Frohling nodded flatly, not even showing any ripples in his expression. "What? Not happy?" The man added a question with one eyebrow arched high.

Well, honestly, it would be a lie if Higo said that he was happy with this decision. While yes, being in the first team was an upgrade in his career, the boy still felt everything was too fast for him, catching the boy off guard. After all, he always moved with the thought that it would take one year to get promoted to the first team, so who would’ve thought that he could do so in just four months?

Higo was also afraid that as everything happened too fast, he would only end up sitting on the sideline, being a bench warmer like what he did in the Young Samurai team last summer. The first team still had Alexander Nubel between the posts, so it was impossible for him to get a good spot as a backup goalkeeper, let alone getting a minute in a real game.

Then, as the cherry on top, Morita’s experience suffering in the first team also haunted Higo’s mind.

So far, the boy had already been in that team for a month, and out of four games that Schalke’s first team played, he only had a chance to sit on the bench once, not even playing in the game. As for the other three, he wasn’t even getting included in the main roster, just watching helplessly from the stands.

If Morita, with all his talent, fighting for one spot out of three available ones in the main team still suffered from this cold treatment, Higo didn’t believe that he could do better in this regard.

"To be honest, I can understand your concern here, but your situation is not like Morita. You might not play that much this year, but next year, your chance will definitely come." Frohling said, probably noticing Higo’s change of expression.

"Um?" This time, it was Higo who arched one of his eyebrows lightly. "How so?" He asked curiously.

Both Frohling and Waldoch stared at each other for a moment before the former finally let out a deep sigh. "This is still not official, so don’t spread it around, okay?"

"Sure."

"David Wagner is going to be fired within a few days, and the management has already appointed me as his replacement," Frohling said it so casually, like he was talking about the weather outside. "Not only that, the first thing I have to deal with is Nubel asking for a transfer to Bayern, and the negotiation is already 65 percent complete. So, I will need a solid goalkeeper I could rely on after the winter next year. Can you do that for me?"

Instead of giving an immediate answer, Higo just sat quietly, his jaw dropped in shock. The news was so explosive that he didn’t even know what to say here.

"So, it is you who ask me to go to the main team?! And I really have a chance to play, not just an empty promise?" Higo asked again, wanting to confirm everything.

"Yes to both of your questions." Frohling nodded firmly. "I know it is a bit too much for you, so I will give you a day off tomorrow to think clearly about this. However, I will wait for you in the first team two days later, so make sure that you arrive on time, okay?"

In the end, Higo just nodded blankly, walking back mindlessly like a zombie. Even the chatter around him was not enough to snap him back to reality, as his head was filled with so many thoughts right now.

’Oh, yeah, no wonder he hasn’t been in any of the training sessions in the last couple of days... Sensei should’ve already prepared to take over the team, right?’ He widened his eyes in realization.

The next day, it seemed that Schalke worked fast. A few days that Frohling projected in the first place didn’t happen, as the team had already announced their decision in all the media outside.

They fired David Wagner as the team’s head coach, being replaced by Torsten Frohling, who was currently leading the second team.

It was a shocking decision, considering that only 5 games had passed since the season began. However, when people pondered it, they could understand why the management seemed to be hasty about this.

So far, David Wagner failed to show any result, losing five out of five games and sitting straight at the bottom of the table, a place that a big team like Schalke should never fall to. Not only that, but the team also only managed to score 4 goals so far, in contrast to the 13 goals they conceded against their opponents. Hell, they even lost against SC Paderborn, the so-called weakest team in the Bundesliga, for God’s sake!

Then, to make everything worse, the team had just gotten eliminated from the DFB Pokal, the German Cup, after losing against the second division team Arminia Bielefeld. This was like the last punch in the gut, and coupled with how bad the team was last year, it was no wonder the management couldn’t stay patient.

Higo watched the news still with a blank mind, not knowing what to think about it. Even though he was still relieved to have a guarantee from the coach himself, that didn’t mean the boy would be at ease. No, he still felt like he was far from being ready for the main team, and in this state, he could only find the brightest mind to share this problem right now.

The boy opened his phone, scrolling through it for a moment until he found the love of his life. Once the call was connected...

"Hey, Kumiko-chan, are you busy right now?"