Are you cooking today?

The two returned to West Tokyo City at 6:30 PM. Returning home so clean and refreshed would surely arouse suspicion, so they went to the Batting Cage and practiced hitting for over an hour before sheepishly heading back.

"Sneakingly sending absence messages with Dad's phone in the middle of the night, you're really skilled at that, huh? Do you do this often?" Kōshū was playing the role of supervisor again today, teasing Lang Zhi when he was almost out of breath.

"Of course not! I thought about it for a long time yesterday before coming up with this great idea."

"Well, you're really talented, using your intelligence in the wrong place."

"Huh?" Lang Zhi was about to retort when Kōshū pointed out his deformed movements, requiring him to do it again.

"You're such a devil."

"Okay, if I were a devil, I'd tell you not to practice anymore. I'm tutoring you and supervising your training; I'm practically an angel."

While the two were bickering, Shen Qing came over with an extra meal: "By the way, let's go to Lang Zhi's grandparents' place together for New Year's. They called today and said they seemed to see Lang Zhi with another tall kid in the countryside. Maybe they haven't seen Lang Zhi in a while and were just missing him too much, so they mistook someone else."

"Okay... uh..." Kōshū stammered, and Shen Qing mistakenly thought he was nervous about meeting them for the first time, so she comforted him: "It's okay, it's still more than a month away, and they know about our situation. They're both very kind old people, so don't worry."

After seeing Shen Qing off, listening to her footsteps gradually fading away along the stairs, Kōshū and Lang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief in unison: "That was close, I almost thought we were caught red-handed."

"Luckily, you said we were coming straight back today," Lang Zhi said with relief. After completing a series of movements, he realized how risky it was. If they were discovered, they would definitely be in trouble.

Time came to the second half of November, the wind on the road was getting colder, and people were wrapped up thickly. The baseball boys were also about to usher in the off-season. Training from Monday to Friday was moved to the Indoor Training Field, and only on Saturdays and Sundays could the children's bodies fully warm up before training outdoors.

"Haha, you're steaming."

"Aren't you the same?"

This was a good time for coaches to study new training plans. Kinoshita Yanagi, who had been here for two whole months, was sitting opposite Coach Ninomiya like a student.

"You've been here for two months, you've probably adapted by now, right?"

Kinoshita Yanagi nodded, he could probably understand what Coach Ninomiya meant by calling him here.

"So, what are your thoughts on improving the team's overall offensive power?"

"Well, in these two months, I've learned about the hitting situation of all the remaining people, and I've given guidance on the hitting actions or problems of many people." Kinoshita Yanagi first summarized what he had done in these two months, "For general training, I think the team's existing plan is already sufficient. The focus is on the adjustment experiments of the Batting Order and the special hitting adjustments for each person in the First String."

"Well, the adjustment of the Batting Order can be tried a lot in these months, but the actual combat effect still needs to be verified in next year's game. Special hitting adjustment, is it the Batting Cold Zone training for each person?"

"Yes, in each month's test, add a hitting test, divide the strike zone into a Nine-section Grid, and multiply the number of pitches by the Nine-section Grid of the strike zone, so you can see in so many combinations, which area is the most difficult for the children to hit."

Coach Ninomiya laughed: "This set of tests of yours will be very useful for those hitters who are already very good, but for junior high school kids... they may give you a report with mostly ×'s." Moreover, hitting ability is not a very simple thing, it is related to the pitcher they face and the state of the day.

"So, I want to try it first on the children in the First String who already have the conditions, such as Hayakawa Aki, Kōshū, etc."

"Hayakawa is okay, but this kid Kōshū, compared to pitching, he is still in a state of eating talent in terms of hitting. You have to watch him more, don't let him run off to be a ball feeder halfway through hitting."

"Okay."

"Then I'll only ask you this one thing about work, because you've been an assistant coach for several years, and I'm very relieved about you. Next, as an elder, I want to ask you, what do you think of the Kinoshita Club?"

Kinoshita Yanagi's real thought was that when he came to the club, he faced children every day, and he had to manage everything, and his life was limited to this small world, and he seemed to be able to see the end at a glance.

But verbally, he still said: "It's a very nostalgic place, after all, I came out of this club myself, and... this is the legacy left by my father."

"Ah—" Coach Ninomiya let out a long breath. How could he not know what this young man was thinking? When they were young, they all wanted to venture outside, because there was a fire in their hearts that would not be easily extinguished by the bitter wind and rain outside. When they got older, only a small flame was left in their hearts, and they would start to be afraid of this and that, wanting stability.

"Letting you transition so suddenly from America to this small club in Japan, I can imagine it's difficult for you. But I understand Mrs. Kinoshita's intentions; she's getting older and just wants to keep her child close. If you need me to help persuade her, I can." Coach Ninomiya raised his eyebrows, inquiring with his eyes.

"Haha, no need. Actually, it's quite nice this way. I'm about the age to settle down and start a family, and it's good to return to the place where I first learned baseball."

Coach Ninomiya smiled playfully, "Really, no need? I'm going to take your word for it."

"Thank you for your kindness, Coach Ninomiya, but really, it's not necessary."

Then Coach Ninomiya quickly put on a stern face: "Since you've decided to accept this job, I will strictly demand of you as a head coach from now on. At least for this year, don't even think about resigning."

"Whoa—Coach, you're showing your capitalist side."

Kinoshita Yanagi came out of Coach Ninomiya's office and saw Kōshū down on the field acting as a pitching machine again, with several people lined up behind the batter: "Hey—Kōshū, you're not a pitching machine today. Don't add extra pitching practice without permission."

"Coach Kinoshita, don't be so serious. It's just a few people."

"Can't do that. Coach Ninomiya was just saying that you don't have enough batting practice."

"Ah—" Hearing that Coach Ninomiya had noticed, Kōshū immediately stopped pitching, told the batters, and went to practice against the net.

These kids really don't take me seriously. Kinoshita Yanagi thought to himself.

So he turned to grab Lang Zhi, who had pulled him aside a few days ago to tell him that he seemed to enter a slow-motion state during the team scrimmage, which made him very interested.

"Where's Sasaki-kun?" He had just seen him a moment ago; how could he not find him as soon as he came down?

Yoshino, the Second Baseman standing nearby, couldn't help but chuckle, "Coach Kinoshita, you should probably not look for him. He ran inside as soon as he saw you coming."

Eh? These kids really don't take me seriously, especially these brothers!

"Ran inside?"

Yoshino nodded, smiling mischievously. Coach Kinoshita had been making Lang Zhi accompany him in experiments these past few days, and now Lang Zhi wanted to hide whenever he saw Coach Kinoshita.

"It's okay if the experiment doesn't work out; why are you hiding from me?" Coach Kinoshita said magnanimously, but his feet didn't stop, and he soon dragged Lang Zhi out again.

"Today, we're still practicing watching the ball." Kinoshita walked towards the pitching machine.

"Coach Kinoshita, please spare me—" He couldn't even solve math problems; how could he calculate how many times the ball had spun?

Several people around them laughed at Lang Zhi's resentful voice.

On the other side, Kōshū, who was practicing batting, touched Hayakawa Aki again.

"By the way, my parents aren't home today. Do you and Lang Zhi want to come over?" Ever since being invited to Kōshū's house, Hayakawa Aki had wanted to invite them to his own home.

"Sure, let me play your game console. It's completely forbidden in my house."

"Should we ask Sasaki-kun?"

"He's totally fine with it."

So that evening, Lang Zhi, who had just been tormented by Coach Kinoshita, was dragged to Hayakawa's house by Kōshū. Hayakawa's house was located in the suburbs, and the room was small. The three boys were squeezed into one room to sleep, with two bunk beds facing each other. Clothes were hung overhead, and the remaining lower bunk was neatly piled with game consoles and various discs. The boys sat directly on the floor to play games.

Hayakawa had been to Kōshū's house and seen the spaciousness of a house with two doctors, so even though he had thought about inviting Kōshū to his house, he had hesitated many times.

"Hayakawa-kun, what were you just thinking about?" As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Kōshū was still holding the controller but could perceive the thoughts of the person behind him.

"I was thinking about whether to order takeout..."

"Okay—" Hayakawa Aki hadn't finished speaking when his two younger brothers jumped up.

"I want pizza!"

"I want barbecue!"

"It's takeout, you can only eat barbecue at a restaurant!"

"You're so annoying! You idiot! Can't you have the restaurant cook it and deliver it? That's a thing these days, right?" The round-faced child looked at Lang Zhi, sensing from his childish intuition that this person had a weaker aura.

"Huh? There's a restaurant like that?" Lang Zhi was taken aback.

"Ah, so you're an idiot too!" The child spoke without restraint, and Hayakawa Aki couldn't stop him. It seemed his good temper had been honed this way.

"Hey, hey!" Lang Zhi was a little angry but didn't know how to deal with these monkey-like children.

Thump— Kōshū lightly tapped the bed, as if some kind of aura had instantly suppressed their throats. The two bouncing children immediately stopped talking. Kōshū pushed the game console he had just taken out back and said, "Today—we'll cook!"

"Ah?!?"

Half of the professional knowledge involved in this chapter is made up by the author, and the other half is also made up.

It's so cold today, I started wearing gloves this morning.

[——————Work Complaint Skit]

Then, as expected... the project bonus was only 500... And with just this 500, the manager said she wanted to take it all out, making a total of 1800 for everyone, half for a project team dinner, and half for the department... So the money that went into our pockets has to be taken out again? So the company team-building fee is gone?

I'm really fed up, so when they asked for my opinion, I directly said that the project team wouldn't have a dinner, and everyone could just take the money. After this battle, everyone had a lot of complaints about the manager, but then the manager made a move of "self-sacrifice," saying that she wouldn't take any money, instantly occupying the strategic high ground.

Our momentum instantly diminished a lot, and we couldn't really not give her the money. After discussing it, we decided to allocate some of the budget to buy the manager a gift, but the money was a bit short, only 150, what could we buy?

So, I chose to buy rice, flour, oil, and paper towels, something practical. Last time for a project, my bonus bought rice, oil, and laundry detergent, and I still haven't finished using it... So economical, the last time I bought laundry detergent was the last time.