Chapter 674: First Time with the Main Team!

Well, no matter how confident Higo was during his little brainstorming session, once he stepped onto the training ground, he could feel cold sweat rolling down his back. The only fortunate thing was that it was still at Berger Feld, where the second team would train as well, but besides that, everything was different.

In the second team, the atmosphere was harmonious, especially since they were on a hot streak so far. Being in first place in the competition was enough to give them a sense of satisfaction, helping them to be at the top of their mood.

However, the exact polar opposite happened on the first team. They were currently at the bottom of the table with five defeats out of five games, breaking history in the worst way possible. This was the worst result in the first five games that any other Bundesliga team had ever experienced in the competition’s history, and right now, Schalke was the team with the highest chance to get relegated.

Just this alone was enough to create a big rift in the locker room, as the players started to care less about the team’s fate. In their mind, as long as they could play well enough to jump off this sinking ship before everything was too late, they wouldn’t get affected by this relegation.

A cruel approach, but this was just how professional football worked.

That was why, when Higo first entered the locker room, he didn’t find any warm chatter or teasing that was often to be seen in the second team, as everyone was busy with their own doing. Some still had a big headset covering their ears, while the others just decided to play with their phone and not care about the whole world from their position.

Honestly, Higo felt the corner of his lips twitching when he saw this, couldn’t help but let out a tired sigh even before the training session began. ’Yeah, no wonder Nubel and so many players left... This atmosphere is far from being healthy, let alone ideal enough to help us push through the challenge we face so far. If we don’t do anything drastic, we can just say goodbye to the Bundesliga.’

It wasn’t like the boy cared too much about playing in the Bundesliga, since the boy always believed that with his talent, getting into a team there would be easy. However, Higo had already formed a deep connection with people in this town, and betraying them never crossed his mind even for a single second.

Speaking of Nubel, though...

"Hey, are you Higo? That awesome second team goalkeeper who is also the town’s new hero?" Someone suddenly greeted him, snapping the boy out of his thought. "Welcome, welcome! It is so good to see you here!"

When Higo turned around, he could see a boy with a baby face, short-cropped blonde hairstyle, and a crazy square jawline greeting him warmly. Even before he came here, Higo could’ve guessed this man’s identity already, and now, he was so sure more than ever.

"Thank you for the warm hospitality, Nubel-san." The boy smiled with the same warmth radiating in his eyes.

Yeah, it was none other than Alexander Nubel himself who greeted Higo the first time in this locker room. It also wasn’t just empty talk from Higo’s part. Even though he didn’t know what Nubel wanted by doing this, at least the boy could see that Nubel was genuine in doing so, and he was so relieved to have the main goalkeeper himself being friendly with him since the beginning.

Little did Higo know that he was overthinking here. He always thought that he would meet hostility from Nubel, but he forgot that he came here not to steal the main goalkeeper’s position. No, he was here as Nubel’s replacement, and the man himself also wanted to see him succeed. After all, even though he would move from the team, the blonde man still had so much love for his childhood team.

Soon enough, it wasn’t just Nubel who came to him. The three former second-team players, Hofmann, Fabian, and Morita, also greeted him enthusiastically.

"It’s good to see you again, Ryusuke!" Fabian laughed while also patting his shoulder fondly.

"We finally have one more person to suffer together!" Morita grinned darkly.

"Please, just ignore him, Higo. He hasn’t been in the right state after not being able to get into the team so far." Hofmann rolled his eyes at Morita exasperatedly.

Higo just had a sweat drop a little here, but he was also relieved slightly to see so many familiar faces here. He could also notice people were staring at him, with some still sneering in disdain.

’Tch! Those kids are from the second team, right?’

’They’ll soon realize that this is not the place for shit and giggle.’

’Shall we greet them properly?’

The boy was so alarmed when he heard those whispers. Even though he knew that his arrival here would bring hostility, the boy had never thought it would be this bad.

Well... It wasn’t just because of him, but the players here really needed an outlet to vent out their frustration. Five games without a single point, and they also got booed by their supporters whenever they came to the pitch right now, so it was no wonder they were always constantly on the edge, as if they could snap at any time.

Fortunately, soon enough, Frohling finally entered the locker room, shutting up all the discordant noises there. The man just stood with a blank expression, demanding silently for everyone’s attention.

"The name is Torsten Frohling, and most of you have already known me from the second team." He said shortly. "No need to have too much introduction. We don’t have any time for that right now. We’ll start to prepare ourselves for the next game, understand?!"

"YES, SIR!"

As the players left the locker room one by one toward the training ground, Higo also followed along, his fists clenching secretly here.

’This is going to be my first step in this team, so I cannot mess this up!’