Chapter 995: A Boys’ Night Out with Morita & Tanaka

Meanwhile, outside of the pitch, not knowing that their head coach had a big headache to face the opponent next weekend, the trio of Japanese boys decided to have a bonding experience with each other.

After all, it had been a week since Ao Tanaka arrived here, and they hadn’t even had a proper time to hang out together.

So, in the end, they met at Morita’s residence, a flat that he brought a few months ago, for a boy’s night, which was none other than playing a football game against each other.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That’s fucking cheating! You are not allowed to use Bayern!"

"Yeah, Morita! Where is your pride?! What if the fans here know that you like to use Bayern in a football game?!"

"Bah! Winning is winning! Just say that you are a poor loser, and maybe I will give you mercy!"

"Hah! No way, Bastard!"

Honestly, the one who enjoyed this kind of hang-out the most was surprisingly Higo, as he had never done something like this in the past.

Yeah, even before coming here, when he was still in Hakodate Nishi, the boy spent most of his time being an NPC, just strolling around aimlessly as a background character.

He only gained recognition after joining the football team, and yet, whenever he went out with the others, it would always be related to football.

Now, with Morita and Tanaka being around as they played a game together, chatting and eating snacks casually without talking a single shit about football, the boy couldn’t lie and said that he didn’t enjoy this.

Hell, he even took his time to take a picture here before showing it off as a story on his Instagram. As expected, the first one to comment was Kumiko, and the boy couldn’t help but grin when he read her message.

Kumiko-chan: Oh, I am so jealous! And here I am, being trapped with all the reports that I have to deal with before tomorrow morning! :(

’Yeah, when we have time in the future, I have to bring Kumiko-chan here as well...’ He thought under his breath.

After playing the game for a while, they finally ended the night with them just sitting on the couch quietly, talking about everything that came to mind.

"Still... Damn, Morita-kun! I have never thought that you would have your own flat here! Your salary must be ridiculously high, right?" Tanaka asked curiously.

"Well... The base is still standard. A little bit lower, even. But the bonus and the endorsement that I receive fill up the gap quite nicely." Morita answered truthfully.

Higo also nodded, as this was also the same case for him. The boy thought that his base salary was decent, but after he received the money from the endorsement and all the bonuses for keeping a clean sheet so many times this season...

Oh, Gosh... He felt like the number in his bank account would never be able to run out for the rest of his life.

Tanaka just looked at those two in envy before he let out a deep, tired sigh.

"Oh, God... How I want to have that kind of luxury as well... And here I am, still having to live on the salary from Frontale. Damn, I feel like I am being scammed here!"

Of course, it was just a joke. Still, Ao Tanaka felt like his situation was quite ridiculous, as he got loaned out to Germany with the standard salary of a player in Japan.

"Well, you still have an option to be brought by the team, right? If you played well enough, maybe Sensei will ask the management to pick that option." Morita shrugged.

In return, Ao Tanaka just made a lot of rude hand gestures to his friend.

"If only that was so easy... You don’t know what kind of torture I have to endure in every gym session with the physical team! I swear, they always have a way to break me down and build me up in the most painful way possible, and that still doesn’t mean I have a chance!"

"No, you have a big chance." Higo suddenly interrupted.

This made those two turn their heads around, looking at the goalkeeper in wonder.

"I asked Waldoch-sensei about it, and he said that as long as your physical requirements meet the standard, you will be the first option immediately."

"Hell, in fact, to get you used to the intensity here, the coach has already planned to make you our super-sub, so you will have a lot of chances to showcase your talent."

This was the advantage of being friendly with higher-ups, as he could get sensitive information just by asking nicely.

Morita also knew how close Higo was with the assistant coach, so he ignored that part and nodded slightly at the information.

"Yeah, that makes sense." The midfielder said.

"We don’t have a lot of decent midfielders in the team right now. I tell you what, the only players we can use besides me are probably Jonas, and for the others... The coach is practically not fond of them. The worst-case scenario is that the coach will try to make someone play not in their natural position, but he would love to have a natural midfielder in the center."

Tanaka just nodded along, but still felt a little bit speechless after he heard how easy it was for Higo to get such information down to the little details, like the coach planned to use him as a super-sub or something like that.

Still, having friends who had a connection like this made things easier for him.

Even though he would never ask for leeway, at least the boy had an advantage in the information gap compared to any other midfielders on the team.

Also, when he thought about it, the boy couldn’t help but get excited here. After all, Morita’s analysis made sense, and he also felt like his chance to be on the main team was quite open.

"Yeah, I have to work harder to get one spot on the main roster! Next year, I will get the same contract as you guys! Come on!"