RETURNING HOME
“I’m back,” I say while taking my shoes off as I step inside my apartment in Nishinomiya.
A dark aura wafts from further inside just before a maid sticks her head around the corner.
“Oh. Welcome home, Sensei.”
“Th-Thanks, Akira. I brought back some yumochi and gongoro chikaramochi rice cake souvenirs.”
“Only rice cakes? Where did you buy them?”
“The yumochi is from Hakone and the gongoro chikaramochi is from Kamakura …… But why does it matter? Rice cakes are good wherever they’re from.”
“Valid point.”
Akira has got the housework perfectionist vibe going on with that maid outfit, but she can’t cook whatsoever.
I’m pretty sure that Ai Yashajin just accepted that detail from the start, so most of our meals at home get delivered. We eat what we want when we want. It feels more like I’ve got roommates rather than living with family.
So my eating habits have reverted to what they were when I lived by myself. I used to look for candy a grade school girl would like when I was buying souvenirs, but now my criteria have changed to something that would work as a meal.
“Whew …… Coming back to a clean room really does cut the strain of a long trip in half.”
I pour coffee for both of us. Sitting down at the table, I dig into the rice cakes and look around the room. Seriously, it’s as spic-and-span as a five-star hotel.
“Is that so? Well, it’s a skill I use for work.”
She can’t cook worth a dang, but her cleaning skills are astronomical.
I asked her what her secret was a while back, and she started taking out products that break down all types of proteins and chemicals that only melt bones one after another. I wouldn’t say she cleans our room so much as she purifies it. Complete and utter decontamination ……
“Huh? Ai isn’t home yet?”
“My Lady is busy with matches as well as involved in a new project with the family business. Staff on that end is currently accompanying her.”
“She also has classes to go to at school ……”
All I have to worry about is Shogi. Ai Yashajin is so much busier.
“Does that mean …… You’ve been in the apartment the entire time Ai has been away? Or do you have another side job you’re working on?”
“More importantly, Sensei. Teach me Shogi.”
“Shogi? Sure, that’s fine, but ……”
Wow, she changed the subject really quick.
Oh! I’ve got it. This is the perfect opportunity to show Akira the light.
“If you’re serious about getting stronger, reading Kuzuryu’s Notebook is the way to do it!”
“That won’t work.”
That stoic face of hers softens for a second as she instantly shoots down my suggestion.
“I took a peek at it because My Lady spent hours poring through its pages, but I gave up halfway through the prologue. Too many letters crammed into the pages for my liking.”
“I, um, I see ……”
“Reduce the words to a few sentences here and there and add more pictures in their place. And lead with the conclusion, would you please? Nothing makes me want to hurl a book through a window more than getting excited reading about some super, all-powerful sequence only to find out it’s hard to tell which one wins in the end. Why do so many Shogi books follow this trope? All it does is kill my willingness to learn. You should seriously consider other, more efficient tools to teach strategies. And another thing–––”
Listening to Akira point out every flaw in excruciatingly specific detail, all I do is nod.
What if …… my book doesn’t sell at all ……?
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