Chapter 430: Medical Checkup
It was night already, and Higo had already been back in his own room. It was still empty as his roommates hadn’t arrived yet, and he just stared at the ceiling for a moment, using this free time to process everything that had happened today.
Bzzzt~! Bzzzt~!
His phone suddenly buzzed twice, snapping him from his journey to the dreamland. When Higo checked it, he saw two messages coming from Kumiko.
Kumiko-chan: I heard from Sakura-chan that whoever just arrives has to undergo a medical checkup and fitness test first tomorrow.
Kumiko-chan: Sleep well, you will need to be at your best tomorrow.
Kumiko-chan: I have already warned Makino-kun as well.
Higo could feel the corner of his lips twitching a little. ’Yeah, trust her to make friends so quickly. It has only been what? Three hours? And yet, she has already been on a first-name basis with that Sakura?’
Yeah, she might not look like it, but Kumiko was a true social butterfly. She didn’t go for socializing openly like Makino or Kenji, but the girl attracted other people like a magnet. She could make everyone feel comfortable, and that was why she had countless friends at school.
Still, this timely information was a big help to reduce his anxiety. At least, the boy knew what he would do tomorrow, which wouldn’t make him look like the most clueless person on earth.
Soon, exhaustion from the journey to be here finally took over, and before Higo knew it, he was already in the dreamland. It wasn’t just him, but the other two were also on the same boat. Having to go from Hakodate, where the place was still as cold as the fridge, it would take time to adapt to this warmer weather.
The next morning, he groaned lightly, finding the sun had already peeked from the small gap in the curtain. He checked his phone for a moment, finding that his alarm hadn’t even rung yet today.
’05:30... Are you kidding me? The sun has already been this high?’ He blinked for a moment, his consciousness coming back to his body slowly. Waking up quickly, he washed his face before going out to the canteen.
Outside, he had already found several players awake. The activity was quite light in the morning, what with them still having their phones in their hand. It wasn’t until breakfast time was over that all the phones were handed to the staff, with the players only having them back before they fell asleep.
’Yeah, it seems the camp is stricter than I thought before.’ Higo muttered while putting his phone on the box.
"Makino-kun and Higo-kun, go to the medical room first." Someone from the staff suddenly called, getting those two’s attention instantly. "We will do a quick checkup first to determine your state."
Both Higo and Kumiko nodded simultaneously, following the man to a high-tech room that looked like it came from a sci-fi movie. They had their jaws dropped, looking like a country bumpkin who saw a big building in the city for the first time in their life.
If before, they had always thought that football was just a game, this time, they realized that it ran deeper than that. No, if anything, it could be transformed into a full science, just like all the equipment in front of them was for.
"Oh, so you both are the ones from Hokkaido? The ones who have just arrived last night?" Suddenly, a man with a white robe and thick glasses who reminded the boys of Takaaki came out of nowhere, startling them both. It was clear from his appearance that he was a doctor here. "Okay, then, let’s begin the checkup."
Then, their morning session somehow turned into some sort of science experiment, where they both were the guinea pigs for the medical team in front of them. More machines came out, and they had been strapped off some of them forcibly while also being forced to do some strange movements.
Honestly, it wasn’t like the session strained their physical state or something like that. However, always walking into an unknown machine without any knowledge was enough to give them an anxious feeling, making their thought constantly jump to what would happen next and what kind of result the test would give them.
Fortunately, no matter how long the torture was, it would always meet its end.
"Body fat of 10.4 percent... Isn’t it a little bit high?" One member of the medical team frowned as he read Higo’s result, enough to make the boy’s stomach drop instantly.
Fortunately, the one who led the team shook his head quickly. "No, if anything, this is a perfect textbook result for a goalkeeper." The man whispered in awe. "A goalkeeper needs a little bit higher body fat percentage to absorb the impact of diving and colliding with the opponent. There is no international standard for it, but we have set the threshold so that any goalkeeper in the national team would be around 10 to 11 percent."
"Also, don’t you see his muscle distribution?" Another person came to discuss the result. "Both his upper and lower parts are distributed nicely. He still has the explosiveness from glutes, quadriceps, and calves that the goalkeeper needs, while his upper body is also developed perfectly to withstand any impact of his action."
"His isometric dynamometry result is also out already, and no hidden injury or time-bomb is found in his body." The other person chimed in. "Whoever is setting up his training knows what they are doing."
Even though Higo didn’t know the mumbo-jumbo medical terms that they were talking about, the last sentence couldn’t escape from his grasp, and he couldn’t help but smirk smugly at that.
’Yeah, while Kumiko-chan doesn’t have your fancy ass machines, she is still smarter than anyone else here. It doesn’t matter whether this is Hakodate or the National Team camp, she will always shine brilliantly no matter where she goes.’ He thought proudly.
After chatting for a while, a group of doctors in front of him finally paid their attention back to Higo. The boy who was still half-naked couldn’t help but ask with a playful smile, "So, am I good to go?"
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