Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 12 - Chapter 4.5

  TO BATTLE

“I’m heading out.”

After a delicious breakfast that my apprentice made from scratch just for me, I grab everything I packed last night and walk to the front door.

Since my kimono and most things have already been shipped, everything is just a bag.

Today’s schedule: meet up with association staff at Shin-Osaka Station, take the bullet train to Tokyo and get settled at the hotel hosting the Crown Title Match.

Ai Hinatsuru follows me to the door like a puppy and repeats what she’s been saying all morning.

“I’ve decided I want to go with you after all!”

“You know I can’t let you. School has to come first right now …… And you’re still in grade school, Ai.”

Travel, inspection and opening night party are all jammed into one Thursday, right in the middle of the week, too.

It’s September, meaning summer vacation is over. The match will start on Friday and end on Saturday, so it would be possible for her come up for big board analysis on the second day. Possible, but the six-hour round trip is a bit much for a grade schooler to handle.

“The second match is in Kobe and the third is in Kanazawa, remember? We agreed that Ten-chan would work as an analyst for the second match and you would be there to do the third. Everyone was happy with that, right?”

“I want to go to every match!”

“Ha-ha! That’s a bit greedy, don’t you think?”

Even though the Crown Title Match itself is on a weekend, the trip will take four days including travel time before and after the match.

If she’s going to take time off from school, I have to make sure it’s as little as possible.

Going to all seven matches is out of the question.

I thought Ai understood that ……

“We’ve been over this already. You were excited to go to Kanazawa, weren’t you? Why are you suddenly insisting on going to every match when you know you can’t?”

“Because ………… Because you need someone with you, Master ……”

She doesn’t trust me to win on my own, huh?

Well, part of that is my fault. It’s true that I would have lost the Ryuo title to the Meijin if Ai hadn’t come to the fourth match.

I’d kicked her out of the apartment at the time. Even Big Sis took the brunt of my cruelty when she dropped by.

But Ai didn’t give up on me. She made me my favorite foods and left them on the door without telling me it was her ……

–––I can’t let pathetic mistakes like that happen again.

That’s why I’ve been acting cheerful all the time to reassure her and did my best to make sure the title match didn’t come up in conversation.

And yet …… What brought this on?

“No! I won’t let you go alone, Master!!”

Ai gets in front of me and blocks the door with her arms open wide. Her eyes glisten as she yells at the top of her lungs.

Then she gives a reason that I never saw coming.

“………… Sora-sensei asked me to take care of you ……”

“HUH?!”

Big Sis …… asked Ai to ……?

“It was during the festival, when we were at the school. I thought she came just to ruin it. I thought she wanted to show that she could gather more people just by showing up than I could by asking for everyone’s help ……”

Well, she did draw a big crowd and she does act like a kid when it comes to Ai Hinatsuru.

I thought so too, at first–––.

“But that wasn’t why she came! She was worried about you …… Even though she was exhausted after her matches, she still did her hair and everything!”

Small hands clutching her chest, Ai looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

“I, I could never ask her the same thing …… I couldn’t let someone else stay at your side, trust them to take care of you …… It would hurt too much ……”

“…………”

“But Sora-sensei, she feels the same way I do …… Even so, she asked me to look out for you ……”

Ai then yells with tears teetering on the edge of her eyelids.

“That’s why I can’t let her down! I have to do my best so that you can win your matches, Master! So that Sora-sensei can play her most important match ever without having to worry about you! Because, if I don’t …… if I don’t, I’ll never measure up to her! I’ll never be on the same level–––.”

She pauses for a second.

“The same level …………… as a Shogi player ……”

“Ai ……”

I’ve been treating her like a kid all this time …… Never telling her anything.

Nothing about Big Sis. Nothing about Ai Yashajin. Nothing about the title match that’s about to begin.

I had it in my head that I was protecting her by not asking her how she feels.

But that treatment is exactly what hurt her. I made her worry.

Ai Hinatsuru has already become a great Women’s League player.

She may still be in grade school, but she can sit across the board from players like Big Sis and I as equals. So–––.

“Ai. I’m sorry, but I cannot take you with me.”

That’s exactly why I’m choosing to go alone. So that I don’t give into what she wants on a battlefield.

“Master ……!”

Her face writhing in pain, Ai tries to say something.

But I take her hand before she can get any words out.

Then I gently press that hand against my heart.

Looking at the surprise in my first apprentice’s eyes, I say, “Even if you don’t come with me …… You’re right here, Ai.”

“……!”

“Keep a close eye on my Shogi in the mid-game. You’ll see yourself there, trust me.”

Now does she understand?

Were those words enough to calm her fears? Will that innocent smile of hers come back with this reassurance?

Can she feel it? What’s inside me …… Our bond that will never change.

After several long, long moments of silence–––.

“……………… Okay,” she says, a smile like sunlight filtering through treetops growing on her face.

It’s different from the grown-up smile she’s been doing a lot these days.

But it’s not her innocent, childish smile, either …… She really has grown up since she came to this apartment for the first time.

“Be careful, Master!”

“I’ll be back in a few days, Ai!!”

Finally getting to see my apprentice smile for real, I set off.

Toward the battleground.