(Every chapter includes a quiz for true fans, though sometimes there isn't one. You're welcome to take the quiz.) It's been half a year since the whistle blew at the finals. The plane tree leaves on Moon Island have fallen and grown back. On the Little Bears' training field, some are still here, and some are on their way.
Wu Tong didn't leave. He and Yin Ke moved up to their second year of high school. Their schedules now included evening study sessions and mock exams, and the time available for baseball practice was squeezed down again and again. The three who once gave everything to win the championship now had to find a way to balance grades and dreams.
Ban Xiaosong was still Ban Xiaosong. While others worked through problems, he figured out how to squeeze in half an hour of batting practice. While others discussed their college applications, he planned the starting lineup for the next game. Everyone said it was time to focus on school, but he refused to believe it. Being young doesn't mean being naive. It means refusing to give up.
And in another examination hall, a name was quietly writing down its answers.
At the back of a classroom in the ninth grade, Feng Chengcheng capped his pen and looked out the window. Someone was practicing pitching on the field, the ball's arc cutting through the last days of summer. He knew that once he crossed the mountain of the high school entrance exam, he could return to that place: the baseball field on Moon Island.
The next piece of the Little Bears' puzzle was on its way.
New and old players changing places, schoolwork closing in, old injuries not yet healed, new rules looming overhead.
The Little Bears stood on the edge of a cliff: break up, or change.
But some things would never change. The wind as the ball left your hand. The pounding of your heart as you ran alongside your teammates toward the same base. And the words that had never been spoken aloud:
"As long as we keep playing, our youth will never end."
