Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 1 - Chapter 4

☗ LIFE WITH AN APPRENTICE

“Sorry, Master! Did you wait?!”

“Nah, I just got here.”

I had been standing in front of a shop on the first floor of the association headquarters reading a Shogi book when Ai came downstairs from the second-floor classroom. I greet her with a smile.

It’s been a week since she arrived.

Being with my apprentice every day has become routine.

The two of us bring lunches to the association in the morning. Ai goes to the second-floor classroom to prepare for her Practice League test while I go up to the third to research the latest Shogi strategies.

The two of us go to the park to eat lunch if our schedules line up.

Meeting like this to go home in the evening has become our standard routine.

“My, my. It’s almost like the two of you are a young couple meeting up for a date.”

The beautiful woman who followed Ai down the stairs saw our exchange and smiles at us like a goddess.

It’s my Master Kousuke Kiyotaki 9-dan’s (secretly well-endowed) daughter Keika Kiyotaki.

She’s currently in the Practice League and going out of her way to help Ai get ready for the test.

“Sorry for the trouble, Keika. I know you’ve got your hands full helping Master with his classroom too

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

Keika heartily waves her hand.

“If I don’t get out of the house every once in a while like this, I’ll never reach C1, now will I?”

Each Practice League member has a rank.

They go “F” through “A” with “S” being the top. People in “F” are still newbies, maybe around amateur 2-dan in terms of skill.

They need to reach C1 to become a player in the Women’s League.

Keika is in C2. She’s been trying to break through the last wall for years now.

“I’m already 25. The age limit is only a few years away … Playing against talented kids like Ai will give me that extra push.”

Keika started taking Shogi seriously in her last year of high school.

Since she joined the Practice League to become a Women’s League Player right after graduating, she didn’t officially become one of Master’s apprentices until well after Big Sis and me. That’s why Keika is technically my “little sister.” Our master/apprentice family tree is really complicated.

“Oh, that’s right. Ai, you were promoted in the classroom today, weren’t you?”

“Yep! I’m now an amateur 3-dan!”

“Ohh? Well done.”

Ai proudly shows me her Match Card. “He he ♡” she smiles, happily closing her eyes as I pat her on the head. Gotta praise a hard-working apprentice after all!

“You know what? I’ll buy you something to celebrate.”

“You will?! Yippee!”

“Something cheap, got that? Cheap. Five hundred yen or less.”

Watching Ai dance a discombobulated dance of joy on her way into the shop, I couldn’t help but feel happy myself.

It’s strange.

Seeing someone else’s victory stars or seeing someone get promoted would have made me jealous not too long ago, but I’m just as happy for Ai’s promotion as if it were my own. It feels good, honestly. Maybe I’ve taken my first step into adulthood?

“She’s moving up fast,” Keika says in a quiet voice right next to me so that Ai couldn’t hear.

“What’s your impression of her, going head-to-head?”

“She’s getting stronger game by game …… No, it’s more like move by move. I know she’s very talented——.”

A slight shadow passes across her face with those words.

“… If I’d started Shogi at her age …”

“……”

I couldn’t say anything to that.

The Shogi world is dominated by talent. And the younger that talent is developed, the more it grows.

Of course, there are some pros who started playing in high school.

However, an overwhelming number of us, including myself, had our mind set on becoming pros all the way back in elementary school and started training in earnest. We developed our talent and skills playing against prodigies all over Japan.

“Master, Master! This! Will you buy this for me?!”

Ai chose a Shogi piece keychain (four hundred yen + tax).

“That’s fine, but are you sure you want a Rook? That left Knight is a lucky one.”

“Gahhh! I can’t decide (>_<).”

My apprentice happily squeals with a keychain clutched in both hands. Cute, very cute.

Keika watches with a soft smile on her face and says to me, “And? Yaichi, what are you going to buy for Ginko?”

“Come again?”

That’s an odd question.

“Why do I need to get anything for Big Sis? I’m pretty sure she should be the one buying things for me, me being the younger apprentice.”

“… You know, Yaichi,” Keika lets out a long sigh before her tone gets quite a bit sharper, “if you’re going to buy Ai something, you should get something similar for Ginko. It’s going to get tense around here if you don’t preserve that balance.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Really, she says.

“Ginko’s been really stressed out ever since Ai came here. She’s not Snow White anymore … more like Queen Elsa storming out of the castle … You can’t recover from mistakes in the early game, you know?”

“But if I turn the tables in the late game …”

“Shogi thinking doesn’t apply in the real world.”

Understanding women is just as difficult as Shogi. An eternity wouldn’t be enough time to fully comprehend either of them.

“My word … Why is it that the two of you can be so interested in Shogi but have no idea about the opposite gender …”

“I, um, like you a lot, Keika?!”

“Sure, sure.”

She brushed me off like nothing!

I invited her to join the two of us for dinner, but Keika said she “has to take care of her father,” and left by herself right away. Apparently, Master goes on Internet shopping sprees if left alone for too long.

“Master? Are you going to buy another one?”

“… Nah.”

I put the Silver keychain I picked up back on the rack.

I know Big Sis better than anyone. That’s why it’s better this way. Yeah.