Mid-Year Achievement

The short New Year holiday was too short for working people, but for baseball teenagers who were used to training every day, it was too idle. After reviewing their homework, they played catch every day. Originally, they could play with a batting net in the backyard, but the two of them would never finish playing. Every time they cleaned up, they would see Shen Qing, who should be resting, forcing herself to make food for them.

"Lang Zhi, it's only a few days away anyway, let's not practice batting."

Shen Qing's due date is April 7th, which is three months away. However, she has already started to recuperate. With placenta previa and twins, the lower edge of her bulging belly is full of torn stretch marks, like ravines, with bluish capillaries spreading like rivers in between.

A few days ago, both children in the womb turned head down. As long as Shen Qing bends over slightly, the children's feet will kick her internal organs. "Let me feed you," Mr. Sasaki naturally understood what was going on.

"My mouth is so bitter, I want to lick some sugar."

"No, gestational diabetes is very dangerous. You are a medical student, you definitely understand."

"I'll just lick it and then rinse my mouth and spit it out." In the later stages of pregnancy, Shen Qing, who has always been calm and self-controlled, has lost some of her original standards.

Of course, Mr. Sasaki persuaded her back gently, and turned around to specifically instruct the two brothers to remember all the things that pregnant women are forbidden to prevent them from being brought home.

"Pregnancy is really hard, was I such a torment to my mother too?" Lang Zhi murmured, he didn't sit properly at this time, leaning back on the chair.

"Then you should ask your biological mother." The dining table has now been transformed into two people's desks, so you can see Shen Qing resting inside from here.

"Eh? Why did you answer my inner thoughts? Did I say it out loud?" Lang Zhi looked shocked, ashamed that his feelings were interpreted, really, being too close, there is really no privacy at all.

Kōshū rolled his eyes at the opposite side, recently he clearly felt the change in his emotions.

Seeing the hardship of pregnancy, he imagined a trace of maternal love between himself and his biological mother. Maybe those hands once expected to caress the belly, those eyes once full of smiles, maybe that kind of love really existed, but he couldn't see it with his own eyes, so he wanted to contact again to see if he could find traces of that thing existed from the current shadow.

But this child will eventually be disappointed, after disappointment, the indifference, violence, and sadness hidden in the memory will be recalled again, so instead of letting him be disappointed, it is better to leave a little bit of lucky expectation.

"No, Lang Zhi, don't disturb other people's lives, sometimes staying where you are and not contacting is the best." Kōshū didn't look up, but felt the sharp gaze of the child opposite. He didn't dare to look up for the first time, forcing himself to solve the problem, solving it and getting into it, and when he looked up again, he saw the child opposite was also studying seriously, and the feeling of tension was gone.

The days when the two brothers were downstairs watching the high-risk pregnant woman passed quickly. Shen Qing refused Mr. Sasaki's idea of ​​partially closing the clinic, and also refused Lang Zhi's grandmother's coming to take care of her. Finally, she hired a nanny at a high price to take care of her.

"10,000 yen a day." Lang Zhi muttered on the first day of the new semester.

"How do you know again?" How is this child so sensitive to prices, he used to mutter about the club's price being expensive all day long.

"Of course, just search the company's online quotation."

This Ms. Huizi is probably in her 40s, her fingers are very thick, and there are not many expressions on her face, but she works very quickly. She can help Shen Qing deal with everything that needs to be bent over. She only stays at home for 8 hours, and will leave immediately when Mr. Sasaki returns home. After getting familiar with her, Kōshū found that when she smiled, the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes would fly to the temples. Maybe it was because of the wrinkles that she chose to put on a straight face to work.

Her presence is very weak, and she is also very good at grasping the sense of proportion, so the Sasaki family later hired her on a monthly salary basis until the little baby was two years old.

But at this time, the two brothers who are still rushing to school have not met this future old acquaintance.

At the beginning of the third semester, the atmosphere of the classmates around them was obviously different. Some went to participate in various school information sessions, some started to attend cram schools, and some started to learn about various recommendation materials in advance.

The Kōshū brothers were also busy. The final exam will be at the end of January, and at the same time, they also ushered in the monthly physical test. It has been nearly half a year since the first time they joined the club and accepted the physical test, so the semi-annual plan set at the beginning has also reached the acceptance time.

"Weight is 75KG, only 1KG away from the target, height is 185 cm, and it has grown 3 cm since joining the club." Coach Fujii flipped back to the first record, and made a comparison with satisfaction. There is nothing better than seeing the growth of the teenagers.

Of course, there are also worries. Looking up, it is the result of Shibasaki's physical measurement in June. The height has not changed at all, and the weight has dropped by 1KG.

"Coach Fujii, I really have been eating well." As if feeling the coach's emotions, Shibasaki raised his hand to explain.

"Hey - it's good that your ball speed has now increased to 130."

Another important indicator is ball speed. Half a year ago, Coach Ninomiya assigned Coach Fujii the task of increasing Kōshū's ball speed to 135. Now this goal has been overfulfilled.

"Kōshū-kun, the next semi-annual plan is coming soon, what do you think about yourself?"

"Let's try more things while stabilizing the existing system. For example, I want to add a changeup. With horizontal movement and different drops caused by the fastball's rotation, if I can add a speed difference, the overall pitch selection will be more flexible."

"... Looking at your expression, tell me honestly, have you been secretly learning the changeup?" Coach Fujii had seen many pitchers. Kōshū was the type of kid with a lot of ideas. He knew very well that once Kōshū suggested something, it meant he had been trying it for a while and had seen initial results.

Just as the pitcher's test came to an end, Coach Fujii frowned and told Kōshū to immediately go to the bullpen and show him this changeup, feeling bitter that there would be a lot of analysis work coming.

"Hayakawa, I'm sorry." Kōshū called his partner over, and the first sentence was this.

"Did you and Miyuki study something in private?"

"Eh? Did Miyuki-senpai say that?" This Miyuki Kazuya was really an unreliable guy.

"Not really, but he said something like 'Please look forward to it,' so I guessed you might have figured something out. So, what is it?"

"Changeup."

Hayakawa returned to Home Plate, still thinking about what the 'changeup with a 20-kilometer speed difference from the fastest Straight Ball' would be like.

Coach Fujii was next to him, and he turned on the camera again. Kōshū started with a Straight Ball, throwing the highest speed.

"Oh—138, not bad, the Straight Ball isn't weak."

"Next is the changeup." Kōshū announced, then in his glove, he changed the gesture to an OK shape. After raising his foot, everything was the same as the Straight Ball action, and his arm swung out very fully, but the ball didn't come. It was about 20 kilometers slower than the first ball, slowly flying to above Home Plate, stalling and falling, landing in the low outside corner.

"Oh—" As soon as Kōshū looked up, he saw that the entire Bullpen had gathered together. "Not bad, this ball."

Coach Fujii also made a fist in his heart, 'This kid, he might really be able to make a living from baseball!'

"NICE!" Hayakawa Aki, who personally received this ball, was the happiest. In addition to the speed difference and sharp drop, it also had accuracy. This was Kōshū's changeup.

The ball speed increased to 138, the Straight Ball was polished, and he had a Cutter and a changeup. In the half year after becoming a baseball rookie, Kōshū's progress was like a rapidly advancing beast.

Unknowingly, half a year of baseball time in the book had passed.