Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 12 - Chapter 3.5

  KUZURYU SHOGI FAMILY MEETING

On a summer afternoon after the festival came to a successful conclusion…

Three young girls met at Twelve on the first floor of the Kansai Shogi Association building to conduct an extremely cute get-together of sorts.

“The second Kuzuryu Shogi family meeting is in session!!”

“Secwond Kuduwu meetwing! …… What’s dat?”

“………………”

The three participants, however, had differing levels of enthusiasm on the matter.

Ai Hinatsuru, the first apprentice and leader of the meeting, was ready and raring to go.

The second apprentice, Ai Yashajin, was far less so. Ten-chan couldn’t keep up with her older sister apprentice as Ai seemed bizarrely energetic these days. Perhaps it was the summer weather?

“I came all the way here because you wanted to talk about something in secret, but are you sure we should be doing this here? What if a customer comes in?”

“There are a few hours between lunchtime and when the restaurant opens for dinner, so the owner said we could have the place to ourselves. Ah! He went home to relax, so it’s okay to share secrets!”

“You realize we’re just watching the store for him, right ……?”

After serving on the committee for the summer festival, Ai Hinatsuru had become somewhat of a bigwig in the Fukushima district. She could throw her weight around.

“Oh, and by the way, that time when you complimented me on my article about your match was the first meeting! Let’s be open about how we really feel just like we were back then, okay?”

“Fine by me. But ……”

“But what?”

“What is …… the golden French fry doing here?” said Ten-chan, jerking her face at the girl sitting across the table.

“Uhh?”

As for Charlette, she did not understand what was about to take place. The one thing she did know, however, was that she could spend time with two of her favorite people: Ai and Ten-chan. That alone made her happy to be there.

Ai explained her reasoning. “Charlette is an apprentice in training. Isn’t that right?”

“Oui!”

Giddily slapping her hands on the table, Yaichi Kuzuryu’s (prospective) third apprentice nodded with a big smile on her face.

“Masta, Masta said Cha can be his apwentice!”

“Huuh? When?”

“At the King of Naniwa Tournament. Charlette fought so hard in the Lower Grade Division that she passed out. Apparently Master got so caught up in the moment that he said he would take her ……”

“Cha, Cha twied bewwy hawd and Masta gabe Cha a tweat!” said Charlette, her eyes twinkling with glee. 

All the while, blue veins started to pulse on Ten-chan’s wide forehead as she listened to the story.

“That utter piece of trash! Taking on yet another girl …… He just can’t help himself, can he?!”

“Ten-chan …… Yew don’ like Cha being Masta’s apwentice?”

The young girl looked up at her (soon-to-be) older sister apprentice with heartbroken eyes.

Even Ten-chan couldn’t find it in her heart to say no to the gaze of an abandoned puppy.

“………… Well, French fry, you always have been Trash’s favorite. I suppose this is better than that you can be my wife nonsense he used to spout.”

“Yaaay! Cha, Cha lubs Ten-chan!!”

“In exchange, you will respect me as your older sister apprentice! Refer to me as Miss Yashajin this instant!”

“Yabashin?”

“Ya! Sha! Jin! Don’t forget the Miss!”

“Misyavawhin?”

“Not even close! ……Yava …… No, Miss Yashajin!!”

“Ya ……… Virgin?”

“Not virgin! Well yes, but say it right!!”

Ai watched their exchange and giggled to herself as Ten-chan angrily pounded on the table.

“Aha-ha! It looks like Charlette can’t yet,” she added with a grin.

“Can’t do what? I won’t accept her as a member of this Shogi family if she can’t properly follow the rules.”

“Well, Ten-chan, you properly respect me as your older sister apprentice, right?”

“Ugh ……”

“Now back to the meeting! There’s something very important to talk about!”

Now it was Ai’s turn to smack the table.

Exhaustion already on her face, Ten-chan got the ball rolling.

“Ginko Sora said something weird to you, right? I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, but what did she say, exactly?”

“You see–––…”

Ai recounted the conversation she had with Sora-sensei on the day of the summer festival.

It was a long story with several complicated elements, meaning Charlette lost track of it within moments and simply stared up at the other girls for the duration.

Ten-chan, on the other hand, was burning with rage.

“Are you serious? Is that her way of saying she’ll never have a chance to play against you again because she’s going to be a professional?”

“So, you think so too?”

“What else could she have meant? My word! Is she that confident that she’ll make it through the 3-dan division so easily? Defeating Sota Kunugi doesn’t mean you can get full of yourself!”

“But she’s just one victory behind Mr. Kagamizu at the top, isn’t she? Maybe that’s why she’s so confident.”

“She’s ranked second from the bottom, remember? Those rankings are used as a tiebreaker in case two players finish with the same number of victory stars. Besides, even our sensei couldn’t get through the division in a single season.”

“If Auntie does become a professional …… what happens to her Women’s Titles?”

“You should really look into that much yourself.”

Ten-chan was clearly irritated, but still succinctly explained everything for her older sister apprentice.

“As the rules stand now, a professional player cannot participate in the Women’s League. In other words, the titles in Ginko Sora’s possession, Queen and Women’s Throne, will have to be returned.”

“So the Challenger Match would become the Title Match?”

“Yes, it would. It’s the same as the year they were introduced,” Ten-chan said with a nod before adding an even more meaningful statement under her breath. “…… Well, personally I don’t think the association or the league sponsors will just let Ginko Sora walk away so easily.”

“Uwhee ……?”

“More importantly!”

Wham!! Ten-chan slammed her palms onto the table as she cut to the chase.

The most important topic for discussion during this iteration of the Kuzuyu Shogi family meeting, that being–––.

“What is her and Sensei’s relationship? Is it true that things seem suspicious?”

“……………… Yes ……”

“How far along are they?”

“Fourth row ………… Probably ……”

“Fourth row ……? Worse than I thought.”

The two rated the possible romantic relationship in Shogi terms. Even slow-moving Pawns can promote with a single move from the fourth row.

Both Ai and Ten-chan seemed to sense danger looming, but ……

“And you’re okay with this?”

“No! Of course, I’m not!!” Ai yelled back instantaneously, her face turning sour.

“But …… I live with Master, and I’ve been watching him for so long …… I can tell exactly what he’s thinking ………… So–––.”

“What? Are you bragging now too?”

“I just ………… I can tell where Master’s heart is ……”

“…………”

Ten-chan didn’t say a word as Ai struggled to form words through the pain and longing in her heart.

She had seen Ai struggle to speak like this once before.

It was the first time they ever played Shogi.

That was the same face Ai had made after letting a seven move check path slip through her fingers ……

A few heavy moments passed before Ten-chan broke the silence.

“Have you ever considered how I felt when I learned that Yaichi Kuzuryu had taken an apprentice?”

“Huh ……?”

“It wasn’t so simple as how could he?! or that jerk! It was the despair of watching the world I had always believed in come crumbling down. My parents had always told me I would be Yaichi Kuzuryu’s first apprentice, that he would come for me one day and I believed every word.”

“Ten …… chan …………”

“I kept playing Shogi by myself in my family’s manor until that day, never questioning that the prince would arrive at my doorstep. Hah! Laughable, isn’t it? Life never works that way.”

Humph …… Ten-chan snorts through her nose, scoffing at her former self.

“The reality was that he took some novice who showed up at his door as an apprentice before ever realizing that I, with my years of experience, even existed ……”

“Is that why ………… you had the association dispatch a teacher all those times? Not request him as a Master?”

“It was. Yet I still couldn’t ask him to take me as an apprentice to his face. I didn’t want to accept it. I wanted to be Yaichi Kuzuryu’s apprentice for so much longer, and yet …… I was passed up for a girl my age who had only been playing for a mere six months.”

“Ten-chan …… I-I didn’t know–––.”

“You’re the one who opened up first.”

So this time I’m returning the favor.

Social interaction was far from Ten-chan’s strong suit, but the bond she shared with her sister through Shogi gave her the strength to keep talking.

“The feelings you keep bottled up inside are pointless unless you act on them.”

“……!”

Ten-chan said bluntly.

With no uncertainty in her eyes whatsoever.

“No matter how lofty your goals, how perfect your plans are, without taking that first step …… Without the courage to step forward, nothing will ever happen. It sounds corny, but nothing starts without taking action.”

“The courage ………… to take the first step ……”

Ai tightened her grip on the fan in her hand.

A present from her Master, it was her most prized possession and never left her person.

“I fought against Ginko Sora once, and I failed. Utterly failed. I committed myself wholeheartedly, poured as much effort into research as I possibly could, and still failed,” Ten-chan continued.

However, rather than speaking to Ai across the table, her words were aimed more or less at herself.

“There was nothing more I could’ve done to prepare, and I lost …… My heart has never been so broken as it was that day. My composure, my pride, my confidence, everything was in shambles. I never thought I would recover. Not until I broke, that is.”

“……!!”

“Precisely because I was so thoroughly defeated, losing doesn’t scare me anymore. There’s no other direction to go but up once you hit rock bottom. It makes everything surprisingly simple.”

With that, a smile came to Ten-chan’s lips. She flipped her hair like a black wing over her shoulder.

“My mind is made up; I will fight. I couldn’t care less how bad I get hurt or if my heart breaks again!”

“Ten-chan ……”

“I’m grateful to you. Grateful because I didn’t become his number one. Seeing him choose someone else is what made me as strong as I am today.”

Ten-chan lifted her hand into the air.

“It gave me the will to resist, no matter how unseemly. Even yukata at summer festivals are fair game. The me willing to go to any lengths to win is far stronger than who I was… stronger than the girl who only waited.”

Clenching her raised hand into a fist, Ten-chan poured her heart and soul into every word.

“Make your choice, and make it happen with your own hands. I figured out that nothing else is worth it.”

Then she posed this question.

“What about you, Ai Hinatsuru?”

“I ……”

Both of her hands clung to the fan in her grasp because they had nothing else to hold on to.

“………… I don’t know. I don’t know what to do ……”

I don’t have …… that kind of courage ……

Watching the girl on the verge of tears squeeze the fan where the person she loved had written courage, Charlette asked, “Does yewr tummy huwt?” and “Awe yew okay?” but her words merely echoed off the empty restaurant’s walls.