Visiting Seido?

Hayakawa hurried forward to stop him. He couldn't understand how Seido had become a word that made Kōshū bristle. "Kōshū, don't be like this. What's wrong with Seido?"

Kōshū put Miyuki down, feeling that he really needed to think about why the world was so small. "By the way, aren't you from East Tokyo? Why did you come all the way over here?"

Miyuki Kazuya smoothed down his collar. As if he had discovered something amusing, he stared at Kōshū, who was walking faster and faster ahead of them, and kept asking, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Then he seemed to think of something and said with a mischievous grin, "Kōshū, you wouldn't happen to be going to Seido later too, would you?"

Kōshū didn't look back. He walked straight to the baseball equipment section to find what he had come to buy today.

But sometimes, not answering was an answer too. So Miyuki Kazuya gave up trying to get a definite answer from Kōshū and turned instead to the "little brother," who looked much easier to get to spill something. "Little brother, has your brother already decided to go to Seido in a year? Has he met Xiao Li?"

"Who's Xiao Li?"

Seeing Lang Zhi's confused expression, Miyuki knew he hadn't started making contact yet. So Kōshū had only just decided to go to Seido? Given his physical ability and pitching level, he might really become incredible in a year. Should Miyuki give Xiao Li a heads-up first?

"She's Seido's scout. So, how about it? Want me to help contact her and get both brothers into Seido together?" Miyuki Kazuya had originally only wanted to tease the little brother, but when he saw him look up, there really was something else in his eyes.

Ah, this little brother is so innocent. I only said one thing, and both of them want to go to Seido? Just thinking about Kōshū becoming my junior feels amazing. Then I can make him obediently listen to me as his senior.

For some reason, Miyuki Kazuya suddenly let out a "Hehe."

A chill abruptly ran down Kōshū's back. Then he saw Miyuki's delighted face, and his mood grew even more stifled. So why had things turned out like this? But now it was clear: Narumiya Mei was at Inashiro, and Miyuki was at Seido. He really had no desire to attend either school where those two annoying guys were.

But afterward, things took a sharp turn for the worse.

On Wednesday afternoon, in the Autumn Tournament final, Seido faced Ichidai Third and lost by one run.

That evening, Mr. Sasaki was unusually dragged out for drinks by an old friend. When he arrived, he discovered it was a gathering. For some reason, quite a few former Baseball Club members had assembled there.

"Isn't this Sasaki? You look exactly the same as you did in high school. We haven't really gotten together since graduation, have we?" This was one of Mr. Sasaki's Baseball Club seniors, who used to make Mr. Sasaki bring him his washed clothes. Looking back, he had made very good use of his seniority, forcing Sasaki to help him.

"Yes, senpai."

"I heard you're a doctor now and even opened your own clinic." Another classmate leaned over to ask.

"Yes. It's actually a very small clinic, run by my wife, a friend, and me."

"Ah, is it that girl from the neighboring class?"

"Yeah—" After several drinks he couldn't refuse, Mr. Sasaki was reminded of those old days by the question.

"Isn't that wonderful?" Apparently, they had already been talking for quite a while before he arrived, so newcomer Sasaki became the focus of everyone's questions.

"However, we divorced. I run it with my current wife, whom I remarried." Mr. Sasaki paused before adding that, making the classmates who had just thought it was "young love bearing mature fruit" sigh with regret.

"Do you have children?"

"I have one son, but things are a little complicated now. After I remarried, my current wife brought a son with her, so I'm now the father of two children."

"Ah—it's not bad, is it? Two children." The man who spoke had divorced his wife, and their child had gone with her. He had heard nothing since. Listening to Sasaki, his whole face seemed to turn sour. Using his drink as an excuse, he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

"So—" It was again the senior who had made Sasaki carry clothes for over a year. Riding the buzz of alcohol, he slapped Sasaki hard on the shoulder. "You made the right choice quitting the club."

"Yeah, you studied hard, got into medical school, and now your life is going smoothly." Everyone chimed in, though the corners of some mouths drooped, making their words sound less than sincere.

Seeing the conversation heading in the wrong direction, Sasaki quickly brought up another topic. "It's really been a long time. Why did everyone suddenly decide to get together today?"

"Ah, because of Seido's game today. It was just a coincidence. Nobody arranged it, but we ran into each other in the spectator stands, so we decided to have a drink together."

"Hmph—" That senior took a swig of alcohol and slammed his glass onto the table. "And they still lost. I even asked my section chief for leave today to come."

"Well—by one run." Another man had loosened his tie and was sucking on an edamame pod as a snack.

"We made it to the Koshien quarterfinals back then, didn't we, Sasaki?" A breath reeking of alcohol hit Sasaki's face. It was that senior again. Although a junior who had also been on the First String sat to his right, he insisted on asking Sasaki. Just moments ago, he had been talking about Sasaki quitting the club.

"I suppose so."

The senior wanted to say something else, but everyone's sighs interrupted him. "You know, I used to think that was the beginning of a happy life. Who would have thought it would turn out to be the only peak of my life so far?"

"Yeah—I still have Koshien dirt at home."

"Me too, but I lost mine while moving."

"That's fine. Come to my house and I'll give you some." The man said teasingly. The person he was speaking to had also once been on the First String. Their bickering soon drowned out everyone else, as though it had become a First String reunion, leaving several others somewhat displeased. They had never been qualified to enter the field and take Koshien dirt.

So someone interrupted, "By the way, Sasaki-kun has two boys at home. I heard they're both on their Little League First String."

"Hey—don't do this." Sasaki tried to stop them from the side, but how could he stop people who had been drinking? "They're both in their second year of junior high this year, and they've already decided to go to Seido."

The topic Mr. Sasaki had just barely managed to steer away had returned to him again. He was already getting restless. On top of that, the person he couldn't stop was the very friend who had invited him out today. He hadn't said there would be all these Baseball Club people. Sasaki was sitting there, envied by some for his happy family while being quietly mocked by others for quitting the Baseball Club.

"Ah, I have a patient tomorrow morning. I need to go back to the clinic tonight and prepare, so I'll be leaving first."

"Huh? We've barely talked."

No one could stop Sasaki. He simply left.

"Whew—" Once outside the Izakaya, Mr. Sasaki breathed the cold night air into his lungs, and the throbbing in his temples eased slightly.

Thinking about how everyone would surely discuss him after he left made his head hurt. He really shouldn't have come today.

Seeing an approaching taxi, Sasaki was just about to raise his hand when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Sasaki—wait a moment."

"Shida-kun?" It was the man who had been sitting to that senior's right. He and Sasaki had been classmates. When they were on the Second String, they had practiced batting together and had once been inseparable friends. But Shida soon began producing results and afterward grew accustomed to spending time with the First String members. On top of that, Sasaki commuted from home and had no opportunity to build friendships by visiting dorm rooms at night, so their relationship gradually faded.

"Sasaki-kun, I'm a teacher at Seido now." Shida suddenly said this, perhaps because he saw Sasaki hurrying to leave and wanted to stop him.

Sure enough, Sasaki froze and lowered the hand he had raised to hail a taxi. "What's with that out of nowhere? Aren't you going back in for drinks?"

Shida curled his lips and waved the hand holding his cigarette. "Want one?"

The two moved into a nearby alley. The noise from outside immediately faded, but as the two men stood around a trash can with an ashtray, neither of them spoke for a while.

"Haha, why aren't either of us saying anything?" Shida laughed.

"You're one to talk." Sasaki laughed too, and the atmosphere eased considerably. "There were too many people in there, so I didn't ask. Are you married?"

"No—"

"Aren't you afraid of dying alone?" Sasaki asked with a cigarette between his lips.

Dying alone was a fixed term in Japan. It referred to someone growing old without relatives, friends, a spouse, or children, dying alone in an apartment and not being discovered until much later.

"Well, it's all the same. Anyway, I wanted to say that your kids are coming to Seido, right?"

Sasaki nodded, then laughed at himself. "No, I should say that I'm the one hoping they'll go to Seido now. That so-called peak of life never happened in my own life. I don't want them to end up like me."

"I see. In that case, we're the same. We always feel like we're different, but then we quietly start walking into the second half of our lives. Thinking about it makes everything feel so unreal."

"Haha, didn't you go to Koshien too? You achieved a dream once."

"Ah, that sort of thing... I came out because I wanted to say that I can help you ask about Specially Recruited Student matters."

"If that's the case, I'd be incredibly grateful."

"Which Little League are your kids with?"

"They're both with Kinoshita Little League."

"Oh—that's great, isn't it?"

There was another stretch of silence.

"Time... passes too quickly." After the wind slipped into the alley from outside, it seemed to become even colder, lashing at the souls of two men entering middle age.

"By the way, Seido will be open for visits soon. You can take them there and have a look around in person."

"That would be wonderful."

"What subject do you teach?"

"Hahaha, you'll never guess." Shida suddenly laughed. "Mathematics."

"Huh—" Sasaki let out a long exclamation. "You're kidding, right?"

Under the starlight, they talked for a long time. Before leaving, they exchanged LINE contacts.

By the time Mr. Sasaki returned home, he had mostly sobered up. As he washed up, he told his wife about what had happened that day.

"Then let's go the afternoon after tomorrow. Mr. Kudo happens to have something to do that afternoon, so let's just close the clinic for the day." Shen Qing picked up her phone. "I'll ask the two children. If they don't want to go, then we can spend some time alone together."

Upstairs, Kōshū received the message. He twisted open Lang Zhi's door and saw the boy inside listening to songs by a virtual idol.

"Lang Zhi, we're going to visit Seido the afternoon after tomorrow." After informing Lang Zhi, he replied to the message, "Okay, both of us will go."

"Hey—this is so sudden. What exactly is going on?" When Lang Zhi saw Kōshū open his door again, his complaining abruptly stopped.

"Didn't Seido lose to Ichidai Third today? They'll probably rest tomorrow, then resume training the day after tomorrow. Let's go have a look then."

"Okay—"

Flesh out the background and make their visit to Seido more reasonable?