The Endless Chirping of Cicadas

(If you want to read about baseball directly, please skip to Chapter 6)

(If you want to go directly to Seido, please skip to Chapter 86, but it is recommended to read the previous content)

The cicadas' chirping all day long still echoed in Kōshū's ears. He lay in bed, the sheets damp and warm from being held against him. Through the wall, he could hear a man and a woman talking. Unlike the usual loud arguments with crashing and smashing, this quiet made him sense an impending storm. He quietly got out of bed and opened the door a crack, and the rustling of voices grew louder.

"When are you leaving?" the man's voice asked, the indistinct sound followed by the click of a lighter. Then, with the last sound of his words, he exhaled a puff of smoke, "Whoosh—"

"Cough, cough—" The woman frowned, waving her hand to disperse the smoke. Even though Kōshū couldn't see it, he could instantly picture the action in his mind. Footsteps moved, and Kōshū quickly closed the door slightly, but then the living room window was pulled open, and the woman replied, "This weekend."

Kōshū didn't open the crack again, his head against the door, the sound reaching his ears without obstruction. "Then what about Kōshū?"

"Can't your mom take him?" The woman's voice was a little unclear, as if she were looking at the scenery outside.

"My mom can't, she's back in the hospital," the man quickly retorted. "This time it's for real."

"Heh," the woman's voice became clear again, as if startled by these words, she turned her head. "When isn't it for real? The hospital is practically her home..."

"Tsk." The man made a light sound to express his impatience.

The woman was interrupted and didn't continue. "Anyway, I'm telling you, Gao Zhen, I'm going to live my own life now. I'm warning you, don't cause me any more trouble." But then, in a pleading tone, "Let's break up, what's the point of dragging this on?"

"Hey, what about Kōshū?" the man said, cutting off the end of her sentence, his words seeming to contain a bit of guilt, but then he added, "I really can't take him, I'm telling you, Xiaowen is about to give birth..."

"Heh, you can't, in another five years, she'll be like a tiger, and your son will be in his prime..."

"Hey, hey, you're getting off track. Just tell me what to do with Kōshū?"

"Why are you asking? Your tone is just telling me to take Kōshū..." The woman's voice suddenly rose, and then the man also showed no sign of weakness.

Hearing this, Kōshū closed the door again without any expression, lay back on the bed, and the only thing he could think of was the winter when his grandfather picked him up from school. In the cold wind, his grandfather's broad back shielded him from the wind, and in his ears was the sound of the wind, sometimes howling and sometimes stopping. Looking sideways, he saw candied haws and roasted sweet potatoes being sold along the street. Sometimes his grandfather would stop under a street lamp, and the light at night would fall like snow. He couldn't remember his grandfather's face, only the sour taste in his mouth, just like the feeling in his mouth now.

What should he do? His grandparents' house was still there, and he could probably still live there. But what about money? He didn't know if the money he had saved was enough.

Thinking of this, he got up again, took out a box from under the bed, and started counting the money.

The arguing outside grew louder, and he had to read aloud, "30, 31..."

When he counted to the second time, Kōshū suddenly remembered that he had sold the scrap he had saved for 20 yuan today, and quickly went to rummage through his pockets. But the door was suddenly pushed open, and his mother didn't come in, just stood at the door, her eyebrows still carrying the sharpness of the argument. Seeing Kōshū's expression, her voice softened, "Kōshū, Mom is leaving today. I originally said I would leave this weekend, but there's nothing to take from home, and the Japanese company is urging me, so..."

There was nothing to take from home, so what about me? Her voice was interrupted by her son's tears, but she turned her face away and didn't look, her hand fumbling to her wallet, and just happened to find her backbone. She took out a card from her wallet, "The password is your birthday, don't give it to your dad, okay?"

"What are you talking about? No matter what, I wouldn't take my child's money," his father's voice came from the living room. The house was small, and he could see his wife's actions.

Then his mother turned around and continued to argue with his father, and then there was a loud slamming of the door. His mother's scent disappeared from the room. He didn't know how long it had been, but Kōshū took the bank card from the hallway cabinet. When he turned around, there was no one in the living room.

That night, Kōshū wandered aimlessly through the streets, and when he came to an old building, he suddenly realized that he had walked to his grandfather's building. The room on the third floor was lit, but when he knocked, he was met with an unfamiliar face. In the questioning eyes of others, he greedily used his eyes to scan those familiar furnishings. They bought the old house, probably just for their child to go to school, and didn't have time to redecorate. There were still no fish in the fish tank, but the grandfather clock leaning against the wall was gone. The sound it made every moment seemed to still echo in Kōshū's ears.

Just as Kōshū was still thinking about the grandfather clock, his vision was suddenly blocked by the door panel. Accompanied by the sound of the door closing, Kōshū woke up as if from a dream. His grandfather's house had been sold, so what about the money? He quickly walked down the stairs, now eager to know if his grandfather's house was in that bank card.

In the process of rushing home, some dreamlike scenes appeared before his eyes: his mother's crying, his father walking side by side with a pregnant woman, arguments, the police. Everything was gone, and only the bank card remained in Kōshū's heart.

The following days seemed to be on fast forward. After a period of truancy, the boy suddenly returned to school one day. He became very silent. Occasionally, when he went to get food, he would meet his former track and field teammates. Zhao Kaikai sat down opposite Kōshū.

"Are you really not coming back?"

"Yeah, didn't I say? I want to study hard." Kōshū had said this reason to many people.

"Tch," Zhao Kaikai shoveled a mouthful of braised pork. "Then I saw you running in the playground yesterday."

Zhao Kaikai was a person who liked to get to the bottom of things, but he had good relationships with many people, including Kōshū when they were in the track and field team. Both of them were sprinters. Kōshū put down his chopsticks, and although he was in the noisy cafeteria, a corner of his heart quietly opened up, "I want to go to Japan."

"Huh? Because your mom went to Japan?" Zhao Kaikai understood as soon as he thought about it. He remembered that withdrawing from the team required a parent's signature, and Kōshū's father seemed to have taken care of it in a hurried ten minutes, which made him feel sorry for his brother.

"You're not going to tell me you want to go right now, are you?"

"My mom sold grandpa's house and left all the money for me." Kōshū thought of the numbers in his bank card.

"Hey, I really don't understand you. You're a grown man, and your mom left all the money for you, doesn't that mean she wants you to live well here? If you chase after her..." Zhao Kaikai wanted to say, if your mom wanted you to go, she wouldn't have left you behind, giving you the money is just cutting ties, but he didn't say it.

"That's not it, how much money does she have left? My dad's money all went to his new family."

Zhao Kaikai looked at him and realized that he was obsessed now. It seemed that he hadn't recovered from the blow. After all, Kōshū had mentioned to him before about his parents' divorce. Kōshū thought he could go with his mother, but now neither side wanted him.

"Brother, let me give you a piece of advice, don't tell anyone else about having so much money, if someone gets jealous and sets you up, you'll be done for."

Just half a year later, a major event occurred, and Kōshū's mother, far away in Japan, had to ask for leave to fly back to China.

The Imperial Capital in winter was very dry. As soon as Shen Qing got off the plane, the warm air remaining in her nasal cavity was replaced by the cold wind. She took a few moments to adjust, but her phone was already on, and she called back the police officer.

"Hello, I'm Kōshū's mother, I've arrived in BJ. What's the procedure now? I only asked for two days off, my flight is tomorrow night... Yes, about the money... Okay, okay, I'll talk about it in detail when I get there, thank you."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Qing's lips had already started to dry. She touched up her makeup in the restroom, sorting out the news she had received the day before yesterday in her mind. Kōshū had been tricked into a pyramid scheme by his track and field teammates, investing a lot of money in so-called wealth management products. Fortunately, most of the money had been deposited in different fixed deposits. Even so, compared to the financial losses, Kōshū's condition described on the phone was even more worrying. He was convinced of the entire scam, and after being rescued by the police, he remained silent, seemingly suffering a great blow.

"Oh, I didn't expect there would be a day to come back." Shen Qing murmured, "I should have taken him away back then, but who told him to look so much like his dad."

Even now, Shen Qing still preferred not to take the child away. She had suffered too much in that family. In order to say goodbye completely, she left the country. For the past six months, except for occasionally, she had been immersed in her brand new life. In the end, it was her current husband, Sasaki's, advice that led her to make this trip today, but compared to Mr. Sasaki's proactive actions, she was still uneasy about contacting the current Kōshū.

But there was no time for her to sort out her feelings, the taxi stopped in front of the detention center.

It seemed that all the procedures were just for confirmation. Shen Qing saw that Kōshū was already sitting in the waiting room. The two had brief eye contact. Kōshū had become much paler, but also much thinner, with a bit of stubbornness in his expression. He only looked at Shen Qing once, and then stared at the spots on the table in front of him, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Shen Qing withdrew her gaze, signed the confirmation form, and then was lectured by the police for a morning before successfully taking Kōshū out of the detention center.

The two walked one after the other, with a distance of three people between them. Shen Qing waited at the intersection, thinking about where to eat and what to say to the child. Kōshū stood a few meters behind her, staring at the back of the woman in front of him. He suddenly felt a sense of helplessness. What would this woman who didn't look back do this time? Take me out to eat? Or directly send me to my dad's side? Or is she just waiting to get a taxi for me?

He looked to the right, and then swayed towards the alley not far away, thinking about the rented house he hadn't been back to for several months, which was probably covered in dust.

Shen Qing didn't expect that she was just busy stopping a taxi, and the child had already walked more than ten meters away. Her first reaction was to call him back, but looking at this child who acted on his own, that unfamiliar back seemed to give her two choices, one was to separate from each other in such a strange but logical way, and the other was to take the child to Japan as her current husband said.

"Miss, do you still need a taxi?" the driver urged.

Shen Qing was awakened, realizing that she had almost abandoned this child for the second time. Guilt surged out, and she shouted out loud: "Kōshū, where are you going?"