Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 14 - Chapter Ep

  EPILOGUE

A chime in the distance. It must be five o’clock.

“…………… Man, it’s cold …………”

New Year’s Eve in Osaka, and there’s actually snow on the ground. That almost never happens. I’m in my frosty apartment, laying on the floor of the tatami room without any of the joy from claiming the Crown Title or relief from defending my Ryuo Title to keep me company. My heart is as empty as the pot in my arms.

Sunlight reflecting off the snow outside is making it surprisingly bright in here.

But I don’t have the energy or will power to close the curtain or switch on the lights.

Ai Hinatsuru hasn’t even been gone two months. But this room has gotten so messy since then, it’s unrecognizable.

This apartment used to be so clean, bright and warm …… but now it’s nothing but a cold, concrete prison cell in my eyes.

And there’s a knock on my cell’s door.

Knock! Knock! Knock! ………… Click!

Creak, creak, creak. I can tell someone came inside without bothering to take off their shoes, but that’s no reason for me to get up off the floor. If a robber broke it, they’re more than welcome to take my life along with whatever they happen to find in here–––.

“Hmph! What a pigsty! There’s hardly any room to walk!” says the one who came in with dirty shoes. It’s obvious who’s there.

I ask my arrogant visitor from inside my futon, “………… How did you get in?”

“How? This building is mine now, so of course I would have a key.”

“Come again ……?”

“I bought the property. Simply put, I own this piece of real estate.”

“WH–––?!!”

Why the hell would you do that?! is what I was going to ask, but Ai Yashajin beats me to it.

“Well, I plan on knocking down this outdated shack and building a proper apartment in its place as soon as possible. Thus, I’m here to discuss my plans with the tenants, like yourself. It goes without saying that I will be providing compensation and cover all moving fees.”

“…… I refuse.”

“Why nooot? Don’t tell me you think everything will go back to the way it was if you wait right there hugging that piece of metal, do you, Sensei?”

Ai kicks the pot–––the one that Ai Hinatsuru made konishime in before she left–––out of my arms like a soccer ball and then launches into a tirade.

“What would Kanto players do if they knew the ultimate Demon King of the West they feared so much was cuddling an empty pot and lounging around on a futon that smells worse than moldy tofu? Probably die of anguish, that’s what. The humiliation that this guy took two titles from them would be too much to bear!”

“…………”

“Well, they’d probably take out their frustration at losing to said Demon King on his apprentice. She’s so much easier to bully now that she is in Kanto.”

After laughing at her own joke, Ai corrects herself.

“Oh, wait a minute. She’s not your apprentice anymore, is she? Or are you still technically together? Like a married couple living in separate houses? The Worldly Maestro had a similar arrangement, didn’t he? Still, it’s as good as over–––.”

“Shut up, will you?!! Did you come all the way here to rub that in my face?!”

I keep yelling so she can’t get a word in.

“I already know, okay?! I’m a washed-up Shogi player who got abandoned by both his apprentice and his girlfriend!! I’m a world-class idiot who kept his titles but lost what he really wanted!!”

Winning matches used to get me anything.

Shogi gave me, a guy who never went to high school, more fame and fortune than I knew what to do with. It gave me friends, a second father in my Master, a girlfriend, apprentices, everything.

But the stronger I got ………… the lonelier I became.

Kanto’s young pros treat me like a monster. I got told to my face that Ika Sainokami and I are the same. I denied it back then, but now I think that assessment was spot on.

Ika and I are missing something vital as human beings. I’m not better than other people, just Shogi filled up whatever part of my brain is missing.

I believe in Ai Hinatsuru. I believe in Ginko.

I believe that their feelings for me haven’t changed. Surely, they’ll come back to me someday.

But I feel just as strongly that–––.

“Everyone’s going to leave me eventually, so what’s the point?!! Every time I reach a new plateau, I get further away from being a normal person, from knowing what normal happiness is like!! That cycle is gonna go on for years and years, I’ll end up a broken mess, and lose my titles in the end!! I’ll lose everything if I keep playing Shogi!!”

“You have me.”

“…………………… Come again?”

I have her? What’s that supposed to mean?

She’s totally lost me, but Ai Yashajin unleashes another irritated salvo.

“Hah! How incredibly vexing! Listen up, Trash Kuzu, and listen well!!” Then she grabs my collar with both hands, lifts me out from under the covers and says, “I’m saying that I’ll live with you.”

It took her spelling it out like that for me to finally notice.

Ai’s lips have turned blue.

On those small shoulders, in her long black hair …… even her eyelashes have bits of snowflakes on them.

Almost like ………… she’s been standing outside, staring up at my apartment for hours ……

“……………………… Am I not good enough …………?”

Oh …… Now I get it ……

This is the first time I’ve seen who the girl Ai Yashajin really is.

There’s a gaping hole in my heart after the most important people in my life disappeared right before my eyes.

Shogi was the only place I had left to run, but it could never fill the hole entirely. This girl has been carrying that same despair since the first day we met.

So–––.

I instinctively take those tiny, shivering hands …… cupping them between mine.

What came to the room that Snow White and my angelic apprentice had left was ……

A young Cinderella–––who had cast aside both her glass slippers and her pride.