Winter Training Is Here?

"You told your parents we were coming, right?" Kōshū asked Hayakawa.

Hayakawa froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Then that explains it. Usually in situations like this, moms leave some food in the fridge for their kids, or some money."

Kōshū paused. Hayakawa Aki understood that he was asking what to do. "Our mom has too much to handle. She was originally supposed to take my two younger brothers to Maternal Grandmother's Home, but it seems she forgot. She left early today too and didn't explain anything."

Kōshū rolled up his sleeves. "Then let's check the fridge."

Hayakawa's two younger brothers had been planning to reclaim Kōshū's old spot once he left. Instead, Kōshū grabbed one in each hand and hauled them downstairs. Before leaving, he glanced at Hayakawa Aki behind him. "Hayakawa, since your brothers bullied my brother, I'm going to educate them using civilized methods today. Don't worry. Go play for now. Come eat when it's ready."

The fridge was a complete mess, and a muddled stench wafted out. Cold dishes and cooked food had not been separated. The moment they opened the door, several containers fell out. Kōshū picked them up and looked at the stuffed fridge, having no idea how everything had fit inside in the first place. Hayakawa, who had followed them over uneasily, covered his face. Today had been utter chaos. He was too embarrassed to face his friend.

"Then we'll start by cleaning out the fridge." The two little brats had been happily waiting to watch Kōshū make a fool of himself, but the moment they heard that, they tried to run. A pair of iron hands stopped them from behind.

"Hayakawa!"

"...Okay." Hayakawa stood in front, and the cleanup quickly began. The two children took everything out, Kōshū sorted it all on the dining table, Lang Zhi checked the expiration dates, and Hayakawa fetched supplies to clean the fridge. By the time the whole assembly line was done, they had not eaten anything and were starving instead.

The two children had only settled down for a short while. They could tell that Kōshū ignored unreasonable demands completely, but eating was only natural. If they were hungry, Kōshū could not say anything about it.

"I'm so hungry!"

"Yeah! I'm exhausted too! It's all because we had to clean the fridge." It was that chubby kid again.

"Since we know what's in the fridge now, let's cook. Five people, five dishes. Xiao Yao, you steam the rice." Xiao Yao was the child boarding with the Hayakawas.

"Haruyuki—" His full name was Hayakawa Haruyuki. Round and plump, he used all his little cleverness to judge people and act accordingly. "You wash the vegetables. Hayakawa, take this list and go buy things at Chunghwa Supermarket next door. Lang Zhi, you chop the vegetables. I'll do the stir-frying at the end."

Then he sat down in the living room and turned on the television.

"Why do I have to wash vegetables? Why are you the only one sitting there doing nothing?" Haruyuki immediately felt it was unfair.

"Have you ever seen a head chef wash vegetables himself? In restaurants, there are people specifically assigned to wash and chop vegetables. The head chef only handles the stir-frying at the end. A vegetable washer has no right to challenge the head chef here."

Haruyuki did not dare make a scene and could only do as he was told. But his real older brother had already been sent out to shop by Kōshū. The only person in the house who would feel sorry for him was Xiao Yao. After Xiao Yao put the rice on to steam, he quietly came over to help him wash the vegetables, and Haruyuki finally calmed down a little.

"If they aren't washed clean, you don't get to eat!" With his back to Haruyuki, Kōshū seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Haruyuki could only wash the vegetable leaves he had carelessly rinsed before all over again.

By the time Hayakawa Aki came back breathlessly with a pile of Chinese cooking seasonings, he found a remarkably harmonious scene. The two mischievous children were quietly washing vegetables. Since the kitchen was too crowded, Lang Zhi had moved to the dining table to chop vegetables. And Kōshū, the head chef, seemed ready to start cooking. The moment he saw him return, Kōshū said, "Hurry up. I can only make Chinese food, and it's too hard without seasonings."

After another thirty agonizing minutes, dinner was finally served at the Hayakawa home.

The two children had their heads buried in their bowls. Hayakawa had secretly given them something to eat earlier, or they would not have lasted until now. They had no thoughts left except eating. Still, that fierce guy could cook pretty well. Aside from the first bite tasting a little strange, it just was not Japanese-style flavoring.

Hayakawa Aki drank his Miso Soup and, for once, felt that dinner was very quiet. At the same time, he deeply admired Kōshū's ability to discipline his younger brothers.

Lang Zhi, meanwhile, was thankful that he had realized early on that Kōshū could not be swayed by either soft or hard tactics. Otherwise, who knew how much suffering he would have endured by now?

In the middle of everyone, Kōshū ate while sighing inwardly. Sigh, it wasn't enough to discipline my brother at home. I even had to come to someone else's house and discipline their brothers. The key was that I'd worn myself out. This trip was a loss.

After dinner, it was already eight-thirty. They squeezed into the room again and played two rounds of games. After Kōshū crushed them, the two children were completely convinced. Calling him "Kōshū Senpai," they both begged him to teach them some tricks. When Kōshū and Lang Zhi were about to leave, they even stood obediently at the door and bowed them out.

"Listen to Hayakawa, okay? Otherwise..."

"Got it—Kōshū Senpai!"

The next morning, as usual, Kōshū dragged Lang Zhi out of bed for a morning run. Ever since the weather had turned cold, Lang Zhi had needed to be dragged out of bed.

"I don't want to run today. My heel hurts a little..." Lang Zhi said groggily.

"Will it stop hurting if you sleep a little longer?" At first, Kōshū thought he had come up with a new excuse to stay in bed, so he still pulled him outside. But as they ran, Lang Zhi began falling behind. When asked, he said his legs hurt too.

Using the crude palpation techniques he had learned from the sprinting team, Kōshū pressed around Lang Zhi's legs and roughly concluded that it was growing pains. He had experienced it for a while too. It did not necessarily mean someone was about to grow taller; they might simply have been overtraining lately.

"Let's go home." There were two doctors at home anyway, even if both were dentists.

Mr. Sasaki carefully examined Lang Zhi and came to a conclusion. "It's growing pains. Lang Zhi, are you finally going to start growing taller?"

"Congratulations, congratulations! Mom, make Red Bean Rice for Lang Zhi. He's finally growing up."

"That's not it!" Wait, was that not denying that he was growing up? Lang Zhi felt that something was off. "Anyway, it has nothing to do with Red Bean Rice."

"Put a hot compress on it every night before bed. I'll massage you, then you can sleep." Shen Qing was also thinking of simmering more big bone soup later, so she could nourish Kōshū too.

"Huh? A massage?" Lang Zhi was deeply touched. Shen Qing's motherly love had been so strong lately that it kept his heart warm.

"No—" Kōshū pressed down on Lang Zhi's head, making him dip forward. "I can do it. You're showing now, so it's inconvenient for you. Lang Zhi, don't you think so?"

Kōshū pressed Lang Zhi's head until it bobbed up and down. Lang Zhi shook free of his hand, but he knew Kōshū was right, so he said dejectedly, "Yeah, I can do it myself."

"No, let your brother do it. I have experience." Lang Zhi's resistance was useless. Starting today, he would probably suffer under Kōshū's vicious hands. The two adults seemed quite pleased with this arrangement, and Mr. Sasaki even specifically explained which areas Kōshū needed to focus on massaging.

That afternoon, during team practice, Grandma Gu Yue took Lang Zhi to watch game footage. He was watching Japanese Professional League matches. Grandma Gu Yue sat behind him. Perhaps because her hearing was not as sharp anymore, she was unaware of the noise she made and thought she was being very quiet. In reality, the sound of her dragging a box made Lang Zhi turn around several times. He wanted to go help, but she refused every time.

Once the sounds of dragging the box and moving stools stopped, faint metallic clinking began behind him, steady and rhythmic. When Lang Zhi turned around again, he saw Grandma Gu Yue knitting. The faint metallic clinks were the sound of knitting needles striking each other.

"Grandma Gu Yue, what are you doing with such a big box?"

Grandma Gu Yue picked up a finished scarf from the box. "Look, these are scarves I'm knitting for you all."

"Ah, really? They have the Little League logo on them." Lang Zhi ran over and found that there were already quite a few finished scarves in the box. "Did you knit all of these by yourself?"

"No, everyone on the support staff is making them together. If we can make scarves ourselves, there's no need to buy them elsewhere." She temporarily stopped working. "I have nothing much to do with the team anyway, and at home that old man just scolds me. I might as well knit something for you kids."

"At my house, it's my grandma who scolds my grandpa."

Lang Zhi imitated her a few times. "'You forgot to close the washing machine lid again!' 'You put things everywhere, and now no one knows where the remote went again!'"

"Hahaha—" Grandma Gu Yue laughed aloud. "Now that you mention it, I think I've scolded that old man like that too."

After chatting for a little longer, Lang Zhi went back to watch the footage. It was so comfortable. The sofa was soft, the air was warm, and the occasional sounds of batting from downstairs made his current leisure feel even more pronounced.

He had barely exercised, and after returning home, his sour-faced brother gave him hot compresses and massages. It could not have been more comfortable. At nine every night, Shen Qing brought up big bone soup on time. One day, while Lang Zhi was half asleep, he even saw Shen Qing come upstairs to check on him and ask whether his legs hurt.

"Growing pains are usually worse at night, so before I go to bed, I come check whether you're in pain and whether you can sleep." After Shen Qing explained, Lang Zhi gave her a hug.

"Mom, I've really been so happy this week." Then Kōshū ruthlessly pulled him away from between them. "Excuse me, excuse me. Lang Zhi, you're a big kid already. Why are you still so clingy?"

So when Mr. Sasaki asked whether his legs still hurt, Lang Zhi hesitated. Although he had been thoroughly cared for recently, it was not good to keep making everyone worry, so he answered honestly, "They don't hurt anymore."

Kōshū paused with his chopsticks. "Oh, really? You're sure they don't hurt anymore?"

"...They really don't. What, do you want them to keep hurting?"

"I mean, that means you can join Winter Training now. Great! We brothers can go together!" Kōshū bared his fangs. He had endured humiliation and worked hard to serve this little ancestor for the past week precisely so he could recover quickly and join Winter Training.

Ah!! Lang Zhi dropped his chopsticks. How had he forgotten about that? If he changed his mind now and said his legs hurt, would Kōshū beat him up???

It's performance review time again this Friday~ The October monthly review~

Let me sort out what we even did~

Last month, we had a week off for National Day, a week for quarterly reviews, a week writing project wrap-up PPTs—some people spent that week writing review PPTs for their directors—and only in the last week could we finally get some work done. And now we have to do reviews again...

In my two years of working, the things that have improved by leaps and bounds are my PPT skills and my performance review "acting" skills.