As soon as the players went back to the tunnel, the depressed atmosphere that had been lingering among them only grew stronger. Most of the Hakodate Nishi members fell on the floor immediately, not even caring about sitting appropriately on the bench.
Kazuyuki Toda, the team's coach, just stood silently in the middle of the room. He observed the players one by one before finally muttering to his staff around, "Okubo-kun, keep an eye on the bench players. Ask them to warm up for later. Oiwa-kun, check on Sano-kun and Ishinori-kun. They are the ones who got battered the most in the first half."
Those two nodded immediately, going straight to the target to ensure that they would complete the task.
The moment the bench players were out, though, most of the main players there tensed immediately, realizing that a substitution was about to be made later. Even though they knew it was bound to happen, that didn't mean they liked the prospect of them getting replaced later.
