Go to the Countryside with Me

"Lang Zhi, that last one wasn't standard enough. Do it again." Kōshū sat in his chair and gave the order without even looking up.

"Huh? Were you actually watching just now?" Lang Zhi had already been run ragged. He had finally reached the end of the training regimen and had eased up slightly while Kōshū was looking down at his book, only to be called out immediately.

"Heh. Who do you think I am? You actually dared to slack off behind my back. Three extra reps for you." Kōshū swore on his conscience that he was not taking revenge through official channels. "Who do you think this is for? If you don't train properly, how are you supposed to get into Seido through a recommendation?"

"Tch—" Lang Zhi understood perfectly well. This training regimen had been specially requested from Coach Ninomiya, and it was mainly focused on muscle training.

"Takano, open the door. I'm coming in." It was Mom's voice. She had personally brought up their extra meal again.

"Mom, you could've just called us downstairs." Lang Zhi sprang up from the floor and opened the door.

Perhaps pregnancy hormones had affected her, but Shen Qing had recently become especially fond of being close to her two children. Particularly when they trained together at night, she always wanted to watch them interact from the side, smiling to herself as though she were thinking about something. Her style had changed too; her formerly neat short hair had grown a little longer.

"Don't work too hard. Just leave the plates outside when you're done." Kōshū nodded, finally moving his butt off the chair. He took the tray and held Lang Zhi back. "Be careful on the stairs."

"Hey—" After seeing Shen Qing off, Lang Zhi finished all of his punishment before sitting back down at the desk. "I feel like you've been a little distant with Mom lately. What are you thinking? Are you only just starting to feel awkward about it?"

"What are you talking about? Her maternal instincts are just overflowing a bit, and I'm not used to it."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Lang Zhi did not understand. At first, Kōshū had acted very mature, almost like an adult, and had even reminded Shen Qing about all the things older pregnant women needed to watch out for.

"That's why you're still a kid." One sentence from Kōshū made Lang Zhi bristle again. He could not understand why such an ordinary topic had somehow turned into another critique of his immaturity. How was he being immature this time?

"Have you thought about what will happen after next April? The center of this family won't be us anymore. It'll be that newborn. All the extra motherly love she has now is meant for that child. It's affection waiting to be transferred away, and one day it'll be gone." Lang Zhi fell silent at that. He knew that the youngest child was usually the most spoiled, especially when someone had a child in middle age.

Oh no, isn't the child sandwiched in the middle of three siblings usually the most neglected? The food in Lang Zhi's mouth instantly lost all flavor.

"...Don't make that face. Just pretend everything I said was nonsense." This guy's expressions were really easy to read.

"You didn't need to say that."

The next day, during their usual training schedule, Kōshū asked to learn a new changeup, only to be mercilessly rejected by Coach Fujii. "Your top speed has improved a lot. You need to stabilize your fastball first before considering a new changeup."

"Fine—"

"Rejected?" Hayakawa Aki clearly knew the answer, yet he still asked. Kōshū had refused to give up after being stopped and had insisted on asking the coach himself.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Oh, right. I might leave early today. Practice with Nakajima afterward. He just joined the team, so make sure you work well with him."

"Okay— You really nag like a mom."

After pitching practice ended that day, Kōshū and Shibasaki went to practice batting. They saw a crowd gathered around the Bullpen, while the batting cages were rather deserted.

"Shibasaki-kun, what's going on? Are they going somewhere?" Kōshū recalled what Hayakawa had said about leaving early.

"Ah, you remember Former Hitting Coach Maeda, right?"

Kōshū nodded. He was the coach who had taken a long leave after Coach Kinoshita returned to serve as hitting coach.

"His wife passed away a few days ago. Her memorial service is being held today, so they're planning to go together."

"Ah, so we don't need to go?"

"We weren't very familiar with Ms. Ryoko. She was also part of the team's support staff two years ago, but her cancer kept coming back, and later she stayed in the hospital. The people going were all already on the team back then. I only came here in my first year of middle school, so I wasn't invited."

"Cancer?" The moment Kōshū heard the word cancer, none of Shibasaki's rambling afterward entered his mind.

Kōshū knew all too well how terrifying cancer was. Like bloodsucking parasites clinging to a patient's marrow, it drained them until they were gaunt and wasted away, leaving them unable to find peace day or night.

In the cancer ward, he had watched every stage of people walking toward death. First came denial, the feeling of being cut off from the real world. Then came visits to other hospitals and every kind of examination, hoping it had been a misdiagnosis. Once they confirmed it was cancer, they sank into deep fear. Eventually, they slowly accepted it. In the process of constantly trying New Therapy, their money was drained away, along with their hope of living, until one day their voices and smiles were erased from the world.

The patient in Bed Eight could not accept his illness and was somewhat senile. He clamored all day about being discharged. Grandpa's bed was separated from Bed Eight by only a curtain. One day after school, Kōshū went to Grandpa's ward and saw him crying like a child the moment he saw Kōshū. "Takano, sooner or later, Grandpa will die like that too."

His dry hand gripped Kōshū's, and its trembling passed into him. Frantically wiping his tears with tissue, Grandpa spoke in broken fragments. "Yesterday, the patient in Bed Eight cried out in pain for so long that none of us could sleep... He rang the bell, and Nurse Gao gave him an injection for the pain, but it didn't work. He was quiet for a while, then started crying out again... His son was sleeping outside, snoring. I fell asleep too. Who knew that when morning came, he'd be gone with his eyes open? He cried out in pain all night until it killed him."

Kōshū had not experienced much at the time. He only felt a wave of bitterness rise in his chest, and both his hands clenched tightly around Grandpa's. He did not know how much longer he would be able to hold those hands. Thinking of that, grandfather and grandson hugged each other and wept until Shen Qing arrived later with their meal and stopped them.

"Dad, you're still a Party member. Your school's leaders are coming to visit you tomorrow. Are you going to greet them looking like this?" How could Shen Qing not be sad? But where did she have the time to cry? They said one tree could not hold up a forest, but she had to endure it somehow.

Grandpa hurriedly wiped away his tears and let Shen Qing fuss over him like a schoolchild, changing him out of his pajamas.

Not long after that, several more people in that ward passed away one after another. Shen Qing moved Grandpa to another room after asking around. The previous patient in that bed had successfully undergone surgery and been discharged, rather than dying. But it did not stop anything. A few months later, Grandpa never moved again.

Thinking of Grandpa lying inside an ice coffin at the funeral, Kōshū could not stop his eyes from growing wet.

"Kōshū..." Seeing his expression, Shibasaki immediately understood something and said no more.

Instead, Kōshū spoke. "Shibasaki-kun, please practice with someone else today. I'm going to the memorial service too."

"Okay..." Shibasaki watched Kōshū head toward the group by the Bullpen, then immediately told Lang Zhi.

"Thanks. Then I'll go too." Lang Zhi immediately put down his bat and followed the group that had already started toward the preparation room.

Lang Zhi vaguely remembered that Kōshū's grandfather had also died of cancer.

"Where's the memorial service being held? I'm going too." Lang Zhi sidled up beside Hayakawa Aki. Looking at Kōshū, who had sunk into his own world, he did not dare approach him.

"You're going too? It's over in Kanagawa. Where's your school uniform? You can't go wearing training clothes."

Kanagawa was not far from West Tokyo. By the time the brothers returned, it was not even nine o'clock.

"Thanks for this, Lang Zhi. Maybe it's because the anniversary of his grandfather's death is coming up." Shen Qing patted his head. "Takano will be fine in a couple of days, so don't worry too much."

But Lang Zhi felt the adults were making too light of it. So that night, he secretly slipped into his parents' room, took Mr. Sasaki's phone, sent messages to both the school and club asking for leave, then destroyed the evidence.

The next morning, the two ate breakfast as usual, put on their backpacks, and headed for school. Near the station, Lang Zhi grabbed Kōshū. "Hey, let's skip school today."

Kōshū listlessly asked, "Where are we going?"

"Let's go to Gunma. My grandma makes really delicious ochazuke."

"Huh?" Kōshū could not understand what this kid thought about all day. After spending all night observing him and racking his brains, this was what he had come up with?

"Come on. We can get there in two hours on the Shinkansen."

Kōshū's head felt heavy and foggy. He fell asleep as soon as they got on the train. Lang Zhi boredly watched the scenery rush past, thinking about what Shen Qing had talked over with him late into the night. Before long, he fell asleep too.

Who knew how much time had passed before someone shook them awake. "Passengers, this is the final stop. Are you getting off here?"

Lang Zhi wiped away his drool, and his bleary eyes instantly widened. "We're doomed! What time is it? We were supposed to get off at Takasaki and transfer to the Joetsu Line to Gunma."

Kōshū ignored the flustered guy. He stretched, pulled Lang Zhi off the train, and bought tickets for the next train back. The next one would arrive in half an hour, and they would probably reach Takasaki Station around one in the afternoon.

"Are you hungry?" Their gazes were both drawn to the local specialties.

"I don't have any money," Lang Zhi answered honestly. He had spent all his allowance on figurines.

"My treat." So they bought some food and quietly finished it. The station was filled with all kinds of sounds: conversations from passing travelers, station announcements, and trains pulling in. Amid the noise, Kōshū felt a thread of peace.

At Takasaki Station, they bought two more boxed meals and finished them on the train. After getting off the Shinkansen, they still had to transfer to a bus to reach the countryside where Lang Zhi's grandparents lived.

The scenery outside gradually changed from towering buildings to rows of single-story houses, then to fields on both sides of the road. Winter was approaching, and the fields were all bare, making anyone who looked at them feel listless.

"We're almost there. See that house ahead with the lights on? That's where my grandparents live."

But Kōshū stopped walking. "Lang Zhi, let's go back."

"Huh? But we're almost there. I still want you to try my grandma's ochazuke."

"Sure, but let's wait until New Year's. Your grandparents live with your aunt, right? It wouldn't be good for us to show up without telling them." Lang Zhi wanted to say something, but Kōshū gently patted his head. "That's enough, Lang Zhi. You showed me around all day today, and I'm already feeling much better. Let's go back now."

"Okay..."

The next holiday would be Spring Festival. I really want a break.