Visiting Seido

It was a rare sunny day when they visited Seido, and Kōshū felt his backpack was lighter than usual when he left for school, as if it might fly away at any moment. Still, he decided to carry it, otherwise he'd feel even more out of place.

Seeing Kōshū packing his bag in the morning, Lang Zhi unceremoniously put his own lunchbox inside Kōshū's bag, leaving himself with nothing to carry.

"Aren't you afraid I'll do something to your lunch?" Kōshū shook the bag, the two lunchboxes bumping against each other inside.

Lang Zhi stared at the bag with some concern, but his words were still firm: "There are 10 chicken nuggets, 10 cherry tomatoes, 25 slices of fatty beef, 5 rice balls, 4 pickled cucumbers, 15 slices of radish, and a bunch of other stuff. I've counted everything clearly, so don't even think about stealing my lunch."

...So, he keeps track of everything he likes to eat.

"Oh, really?" Kōshū's words seemed to have a deeper meaning, making Lang Zhi instantly worried about his lunch. As soon as they reached the school building, he quickly took it back.

His worried expression made Kōshū laugh, and he told Kusakabe about it. Kusakabe sat in front of Kōshū, and every time Kōshū complained about Lang Zhi, he would say, "Haha, you didn't see him wanting to say something all the way, but he was too embarrassed. He really thought I would do something to his lunch when he wasn't looking."

"Hahaha, you've left a deep shadow on your younger brother. Who would take that seriously?"

"Well, I never felt this way when I was an only child, but having a younger brother is really interesting," Kōshū said with a mischievous smile.

"So, does he really have 10 chicken nuggets in his lunch? Are your lunches the same? Let me see."

"Our lunches are different. I don't like eating cold fried chicken nuggets, so I don't have any."

"Want to eat lunch together today?" Kusakabe also smiled mischievously.

One person tells ten, and ten tell a hundred. Boys are energetic, especially Sports Students.

So at noon, the students in Lang Zhi's Class 3 saw Lang Zhi being called away by a group of tall, burly boys.

"Hey, aren't those the Sports Students from Class 3? They're all so tall. Did Sasaki-kun offend them?" The students gossiped as they ate their lunch.

"I don't know, but the boy in the middle seems to be Sasaki's brother. He should be okay."

"Scary, why does Sasaki-kun's brother look like someone from the Yakuza?"

Lang Zhi, the subject of everyone's discussion, was blushing, holding the lid of his lunchbox, unsure whether to open it or not.

"Two thousand yen, are you betting or not?" Kusakabe was more familiar with the Sports Students, and at this moment, he was setting up a playful bet about 'whether there are 10 chicken nuggets, 10 cherry tomatoes, 25 slices of fatty beef, 5 rice balls, 4 pickled cucumbers, and 15 slices of radish in Kōshū's younger brother's lunchbox.'

The others sat at another table, eating and watching the excitement.

The leading Sports Student didn't answer Kusakabe, but instead asked Lang Zhi, "Hey, Younger Brother-kun, this is my allowance for a whole week, so did you remember correctly or not?"

"Ah—maybe?" Lang Zhi blushed under everyone's gaze. Kōshū was also watching the fun from the side, not responding to Lang Zhi's pleading look.

He bet 2,000 yen on 'Lang Zhi misremembering,' after all, Lang Zhi spoke too quickly at the time, and there must have been some fabrication.

"Then I'll bet that Younger Brother-kun didn't misremember."

The bet was set, and those who hadn't placed a bet started clamoring to open the lunchbox. Lang Zhi held the lid of the lunchbox, like holding a wooden cylinder for rolling dice in a casino. So he lifted the lid, and to be honest, he only glanced at it this morning, and he didn't remember the exact numbers.

They saw a group of people counting, "1, 2... 10 chicken nuggets, that's right."

"25 slices of fatty beef is also right."

"The number of radishes is also right!" A good meal was being watched by everyone.

"Yo—you won, Younger Brother-kun, you're awesome." The Sports Student who was still hesitating just now started collecting money from Kōshū and Kusakabe.

"Thank you for your patronage, may the loser accept the consequences."

Kōshū reluctantly took out 2000 yen, turned his head and said to Lang Zhi, "Why are you teaming up with outsiders to swindle your brother?"

Lang Zhi said somewhat angrily, "You used your younger brother's meal as a bet, and you dare to accuse others."

"So what?" At this moment, everyone sat down to eat, and Kōshū also sat opposite Lang Zhi, picking away half of Lang Zhi's fatty beef with his chopsticks.

"Hey—"

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

After this meal, Lang Zhi gained a nickname at school, "Younger Brother-kun." This child, who was a complete stranger to Kōshū a year ago, slowly and quickly became "Kōshū-kun's younger brother."

In less than a month, he would get used to turning his head when he heard "Younger Brother-kun" to see who was calling him. A year later, when he and Kōshū went to the same high school, this nickname would be quickly passed on to others by Miyuki. It seemed that he couldn't escape this nickname for a while.

Back to this sunny afternoon, at half past three, the family that should have arrived at Seido was still stranded at home.

"Mom, is it ready yet?"

Shen Qing took out the several pieces of clothing that she had been gesturing with last night again.

"Didn't you already decide what to wear last night?" Kōshū wondered.

"But it got dirty this morning, so I still have to see which of the remaining pieces is the best."

"...Is that really necessary? We're just going for a visit, not a fashion show." After Shen Qing went to Seido to learn about it yesterday, she became a little strange and started to care about her appearance.

"Hehe, you little boys don't understand. It's when women meet other women that they are most inspired to love beauty." It seemed that she had met some beauties. But the Baseball Club is all boys, which became Kōshū's mystery for the next half year.

Finally, the family arrived at Seido at 4:30 in the afternoon, and they registered and entered directly.

"Seido has two fields, Field A and Field B. Except for the lack of spectator seats, they are basically the same size as a normal Stadium." Although it had been renovated, Mr. Sasaki was still very familiar with this place. Because they arrived late, they could only look around by themselves, since Teacher Shida had originally said he would take them on a tour.

"Wow—there are two Kinoshita Little League outdoor training grounds." Lang Zhi said cooperatively.

Kōshū didn't respond, just stood on the high lawn, looking at the seniors who were still practicing below. There were a few familiar faces. 'There are so many people.'

From these people, he could suddenly clearly see what an ordinary day of his high school life would be like if he continued to play baseball. It would probably be going to class during the day, practicing like this in the afternoon, definitely doing extra practice in the evening, then washing up and sleeping, and repeating the previous day's life the next day. Before the game, the pace of this life would become faster and faster.

"Hoo—" Originally, he just wanted to find a club to pass the time because school ended too early, but baseball has taken up more and more of his life. He didn't have any dissatisfaction with this state, but if he had to study every day without playing baseball, he wouldn't have any dissatisfaction either. Life helped him choose baseball, and he had no motivation to change it.

Or rather, he liked predictable lives. Switching from one club to another would eventually settle down, but the state of change in the middle was the time that Kōshū hated the most. He needed to uproot himself from the original interpersonal network, float to another place, and take a while to re-establish himself.

"What's wrong? You're not talking again." Lang Zhi came over. He had actually been looking for his brother's weaknesses. Now he seemed to have a little inspiration, but he couldn't say it was a weakness. That was, Kōshū would become very silent at first when he went to a new environment or met new people. It was the same when he first went to Kinoshita Little League. Kōshū would only follow behind him at first, acting as a background board for everyone's conversation.

'What does this mean? Does he care about the first impression he gives to others? Like a calm swordsman or something.' It must be said that with Lang Zhi's brain circuit, it would probably take him a long time to find the key to restraining Kōshū that he dreamed of.

The family strolled to the Seido cafeteria. Through the glass, they could see many baseball-related items placed inside.

"Eat three large bowls of rice per meal? That's a lie. So many carbohydrates, how terrifying is the training?" Lang Zhi was the most serious in the family when it came to investigating. Lang Zhi would take a closer look at the places that Kōshū glanced over.

"The important thing is protein—" Lang Zhi's head was in front of Kōshū, and he was still bending over to look carefully, so he couldn't help but put his hand on Lang Zhi's head again.

"Hey—don't put your hand on my head casually. I won't grow taller." Recently, he heard news from somewhere that he wouldn't grow taller if he was touched on the head all the time, so Lang Zhi would protest like this every time he was touched on the head.

"Why are you so short when we're in the same family? Do you want to reflect on yourself? You should always attribute everything to yourself." Kōshū turned the tables.

"...Do I need to remind you, our genes aren't the same!"

Bickering, the two children walked faster and faster, until their last look back, they had already lost the two adults.

"Why didn't they call us back..."

"Maybe they did, and we just didn't hear them."

The two looked around and heard the sound of a pitcher throwing.

"Is this the Bullpen?"

The catcher inside was the Starting Catcher who had played in the semi-finals. At this moment, the pitcher facing him was test-throwing a pitch similar to a Curveball. They stood close to the entrance, and the wind poured into the Bullpen. The pitcher was very tall and thin, and his clothes seemed too big for him. The excess fabric was wrinkled by the wind.

But the trajectory of that Curveball was still very sharp. Kōshū and Lang Zhi, as visitors, were not accompanied by adults and didn't know if they had wandered into a place they shouldn't be. To avoid trouble, they watched for a while and then quietly left.

When they reunited with the adults, the family talked about Seido's complete facilities in the car. Kōshū listened quietly, but 'Seido' had changed from a written word into a series of images flashing through his mind: two outdoor fields, one indoor field, a dormitory, a dedicated cafeteria, and a Bullpen.

As expected, high school baseball is much more elaborate than junior high baseball. The facilities and fields are a bit exaggerated, and there are so many more people, maybe twice as many.

"How is it, my alma mater?" Mr. Sasaki said, driving the car and turning his head with a bit of smugness. He was embarrassed to say this at school just now, but it doesn't matter in front of his family.

"It's pretty good." Kōshū said dryly, not knowing what to reply. Just from the facilities alone, coming here to play baseball is entirely possible.

"It's great. I didn't expect Dad to play baseball in a place like this before." Lang Zhi still gave his old man a lot of face.

Under Mr. Sasaki's strong promotion, the family gradually reached a consensus that they should try to let the two children play baseball at Seido in the future.

As for the other rational voice in the family—Shen Qing—she visited several schools alone, but only let the two children see Seido in person, which seemed to be expressing her opinion as well.

Originally, I wanted the two kids to make some noise during the visit, but thinking about it, if I were a visitor, I probably wouldn't interfere with other people's training, so the things originally planned for this chapter are gone.

Oh well, let's just leave it at that.