Are you going to Qingdao?

Until the end of the match, Seido defeated the opposing Public School with a high score. To outsiders, the brothers were always seen with their arms around each other's shoulders, appearing to have a great relationship.

But in reality, Kōshū's devilish words echoed in Lang Zhi's ears at the end: "Lang Zhi~ I think going to Seido is pretty good too. If we go to Seido, Dad will definitely become very enthusiastic."

Lang Zhi thought about it, recalling how his dad had transformed into a fan throughout the entire game, so excited.

"And he'll definitely want to see the two brothers playing in the same game, but—"

Yes, Dad had encouraged Kōshū to play baseball, with the underlying intention of having the brothers play together on the field.

"I'm okay, but look at those particularly burly high school students down there. I'm worried that even if we both go to Seido, we won't be able to play together, because there's a difference between the First String and the Second String."

Lang Zhi was a little annoyed, he could understand Kōshū's unspoken meaning.

Finally, Kōshū patted Lang Zhi's shoulder and said excitedly, "I've decided, although the road ahead is uncertain, for this year... no, for the three years of middle school and high school, I'll make realizing Dad's idea my goal!"

Anyway, he didn't really know much about other high schools, nor did he have the energy to learn about them, so he might as well follow Mr. Sasaki's idea.

"Huh?" Lang Zhi vaguely felt uneasy. How come Kōshū had started calling him 'Dad' too? This was definitely a problem!!

"So, starting tomorrow, you'll join me for morning runs! Don't worry, your brother will definitely not leave you behind and enter the First String alone."

Lang Zhi was led by Kōshū as they watched the Seido members bow to the Cheering Section, and then everyone began to disperse and leave.

Mr. Sasaki didn't notice the abnormality of the two children, and while walking outside, he discussed what to order for dinner.

"The Salisbury steak from last time was delicious, should we order it again this time—"

"But didn't we see a newly opened Chinese restaurant next door today? Should we try it out?"

Shen Qing turned her head to look at the children walking side by side behind her: "What about you guys, do you want to try the new Chinese restaurant, or go to the original family restaurant?"

As soon as Lang Zhi saw Shen Qing's eyes, he lowered his head and ran over as if seeking help, forcefully squeezing between the two adults.

"I'm okay with anything..." He felt much more comfortable when he came among the adults.

"Then let's go try it." Kōshū followed behind, not stepping forward to stand side by side with the three.

So the four of them set off to eat at the new restaurant. Shen Qing chatted and laughed with the others, but the alarm bells in her heart rang again, 'What's wrong? Did these two children really have some kind of conflict in the Stadium?'

At the dinner table, except for Mr. Sasaki, the other three were a little preoccupied.

"By the way, what we talked about today, although it's a bit early, if we're going to Seido, we'll start preparing early, right?" The carefree Mr. Sasaki looked at 'the partner who would prepare early'—Shen Qing, and said.

Shen Qing shook her head inwardly and said, "Let's ask the children what they think first. High school doesn't necessarily mean playing baseball, and playing baseball doesn't necessarily mean going to Seido." She keenly sensed that among the children, Lang Zhi had the most thoughts this time. He might be dissatisfied with his dad's actions of always having him and Kōshū 'bundled together'.

"Why not play baseball?" Although Mr. Sasaki was a good person most of the time, he couldn't help but have a bit of machismo, and retorted without thinking, then turned to ask the two children: "Kōshū, Lang Zhi, you still want to play baseball in high school, right?"

Both children nodded, Shen Qing was a little helpless, and Mr. Sasaki put on an exaggerated pleading look: "But what you said is also right, we don't necessarily have to go to Seido, but for Dad's sake, please consider Seido first when you're considering it, okay?"

"Okay, okay—" Shen Qing stopped her husband, who was acting like a drama queen, "It's not like you can just get into Seido if you want to. You should ask your classmates how to get in through sports recommendation."

'If we can't get in through sports recommendation, we can only rely on exams. Kōshū is okay, but Lang Zhi's grades may need some serious tutoring.'

Lang Zhi also knew what Shen Qing meant. His grades were average, and his baseball skills were also average. What his dad said was so matter-of-fact that he couldn't refute it, so he could only let the adults find a way to squeeze him in as well, so he became even more silent and lowered his head to stuff his face with food.

Kōshū hadn't paid attention to Lang Zhi's thoughts before, but now he slowly began to notice them. Perhaps it was some of the family's usual words that had put a lot of pressure on Lang Zhi. If he didn't speak up and let him bear it silently, he might explode like he did today.

So he directly said to the two adults who were still discussing, "Whether we play baseball or not, we still have a year. It would be best if we can get in through sports recommendation together. If not, we'll talk about the future later."

After that, the topic finally shifted elsewhere. This Sunday afternoon, free from baseball practice, was still filled with baseball-related elements.

From that day on, Lang Zhi ate more at every meal. Every time Kōshū passed his room, he could see him pacing back and forth to digest the food. He also started running with Kōshū in the morning. He didn't know until he ran that Kōshū's so-called running included a 1-kilometer climb, jumping stairs, and constant sprints.

With his long period of training in the Baseball Club, he could certainly keep up, but Kōshū's speed was very fast, not giving him much time to rest. Lang Zhi had to keep up while also not losing track, and he was exhausted by the time he got home.

"Hey, do you run like this every day?" Lang Zhi asked, a little incredulous after resting. The 'jogging' that Kōshū talked about every day was this stuff? Didn't this exceed the training volume prescribed by Coach Ninomiya long ago?

"What, are you going to report me to Coach Ninomiya?" Kōshū said, wiping his hair.

Sure enough, there was more to it than just talent to keep up with the team's training rhythm in just a few months from the novice stage. "Did you practice sprinting like this in China before?"

"More or less, I'm used to it."

But in the end, Lang Zhi didn't report to Coach Ninomiya, and he also practiced like this every morning, but this also led to him being a little sleepy in class in the morning at the beginning.

It was now close to the end of October, and the weather was slowly cooling down. The results of the high school exams were also about to be released, and for the people in the Baseball Club, this was also the time to finally determine their future path.

On this day, Miyuki, who hadn't bothered Kōshū for a long time, suddenly sent out an invitation again, wanting to ask Kōshū to go to a sports store together.

"As for sports stores, our club already operates one ourselves, so there's no need to go far."

"Alright, don't you want to browse a bigger sports store?"

"Couldn't you ask anyone else?" Kōshū said speechlessly.

"Stop talking nonsense, I also asked Hayakawa-kun, let's go together." Why was Hayakawa Aki still so entangled with this guy?

But because the Kanto Tournament was over, the end time of daily training was changed back from 7 o'clock to 6 o'clock, and Kōshū did have time to go.

So after training that day, Hayakawa Aki called Kōshū to prepare to leave together.

"Lang Zhi, help me take this back." Kōshū handed his bulging backpack to Lang Zhi. Because the weather was getting colder, their training clothes, linings, and everything else had been changed to long-sleeved versions, plus the water bottles, lunch boxes, replacement clothes, training shoes to be taken back to wash, etc., the entire backpack was very large.

"Where are you going again?" Lang Zhi looked at Hayakawa Aki next to him and instantly felt a little uncomfortable. Why could this person make friends even though they were together all day, while he could only go home alone?

"A sports store, said to be the biggest?"

"It's a 20-minute bike ride, why don't Sasaki-kun come too." Hayakawa Aki said considerately, anyway, Miyuki probably wouldn't mind.

Sure enough, after meeting, Miyuki, knowing that there would be one more person, came over and affectionately called out 'little brother-kun'.

"Miyuki, you're here so early." Kōshū stepped forward and naturally separated Miyuki to the other side.

"Eh? Kōshū-kun, why do I feel like you've grown taller every time I see you."

"No need to feel like it, I should have grown another 1 centimeter, the specific data should be measured again the week after next."

The group checked in their exaggerated backpacks before strolling around lightly.

Miyuki Kazuya, they even know someone like that, should be a senior. Although Lang Zhi came, he also walked on the side without saying a word. Kōshū didn't talk much either, only Hayakawa Aki and Miyuki were chatting.

"Didn't you say a few days ago that Narumiya Mei asked you out?" Hayakawa suddenly remembered and asked.

"Haha, yeah, but when I got there, there were four or five people waiting for me."

"What, were you ambushed and beaten up?" Kōshū interjected coldly.

"There are also people you know, Kōshū-kun." Miyuki ignored him and instead counted, "Yamaoka and Yabe from Kōhira Little League, Shirakawa from Marugame Little League, and Carlos from Jonan Little League, your team has played against them, right."

Kōshū recalled that person's batting and base running, nodding, but he wasn't very familiar with the others, at most having heard the team's name.

Hayakawa, on the other hand, reacted, "Hiss—Narumiya has gathered a group of powerful guys together."

"So—" Lang Zhi looked at Miyuki.

"He called me over because he was missing a catcher and wanted me to go to Inajitsu too."

"Inajitsu, no wonder, it's also a famous baseball school."

"Then you agreed?" Kōshū thought about Inajitsu's district, which seemed to be in West Tokyo as well, possibly a team that would face Seido.

"Haha, no, I had already decided on the school I wanted to go to."

"Where to?"

"Eh, Kōshū is so rare today, so concerned about me." When Kōshū's glare swept over, he quickly replied, "Seido, I'm going to Seido."

"Huh?" This time even Lang Zhi was stunned. Kōshū stepped forward, using his height advantage to grab Miyuki Kazuya, asking with great annoyance, "Why, why do you want to go to Seido?"

"I'm going to Seido... What's wrong, Kōshū? Can't breathe."

I recommend a novel to everyone, "The Self-Cultivation of an Exorcist"

I read it all afternoon yesterday, it's pretty good.

It's been a long time since I've read supernatural stories, indeed supernatural is my true love.