Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 17 - Chapter 4.5

  GENETICS

“Sorry to pull you aside like this when you’re so busy before your matches.”

“It’s alright ……”

In Ginko’s room inside the facility, I’m face to face with Ms. Shoko Sora …… my girlfriend’s mother. On a side note, the room is number 18. That’s like my name, because eight can be ya in Japanese and ichi is one. Ginko jumped in to explain it was just a coincidence before I could ask. But she looked away the whole time.

She went off for a medical exam on her own, warning me don’t get ahead of yourself before leaving.

There’s not much in the room, just the way Ginko would like it.

That made the pictures set out on the table stick out.

Two pictures, to be exact.

One was taken outside Master Kiyotaki’s place. Master was still in his prime in A League at the time, and Keika was there in her high school uniform.

A really young Ginko is standing in front of her, one hand holding my hand and the other clutching her magnetic Shogi board.

“U-Um!”

Pulling my eyes away from the picture, I square my shoulders with Ms. Shoko Sora and bow.

“I’m the one who owes you an apology! Showing up here unannounced like this———”

“Don’t worry about it. I was hoping for a chance to talk with you properly,” she answers with a gentle smile.

Holy crap. I had no idea being alone with my girlfriend’s mother would make my heart pound against my ribs so hard. Thinking back on it now, I really shouldn’t have left Big Sis alone with my mom when we visited my hometown ……

Still …… They look so much alike.

Even though her hair is more of a white hue than Ginko’s silver.

And she seems so much calmer than Ginko’s constant battle mode and cold, lamenting expressions.

Yet the resemblance is uncanny.

I’ve thought so going back to when Ms. Shoko Sora was younger, too.

Looking back at the other picture on the table, I say, “This …… is a family photo, right?”

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t sure which was my older sister apprentice at first glance.”

It seems like Ms. Sora was pretty young when Ginko was born. Seriously, this picture could’ve been taken last week if Ginko was given a one-year-old baby to hold.

“And her father looks so young, too! I didn’t see the resemblance when I met him once a long time ago, but I definitely see it here.”

“That’s because this is Ginko’s biological father.”

I thought I flatlined for a second.

“I’ve remarried …… But our hair color makes such a strong impression that we’ve always been told she takes after me.”

“I-I think so, too! She’s just like you!! In fact, I feel like I’m talking with my older sister apprentice right now because you look so young!!”

“He-he. You have a way with words.”

Crap, crap, CRAP! I’ve stepped on a landmine!!

Getting blindsided by the word remarried shook me to the core …… Is that what she wanted to talk to me about?

Is she planning to let me in on their family’s dirty laundry before I ask for their blessing to marry Ginko ……?

I gulp, my mouth dry and straighten my posture before asking, “S-So ………… what do you want to talk with me properly about?”

“Her condition.”

“……!”

She must be able to tell I’m shaken again, because Ms. Shoko Sora gives me another gentle smile.

“It doesn't have to be today. If hearing about it from me would be too much pressure, Dr. Akashi and Kiyotaki-sensei can tell you.”

“…… Master knows what’s wrong with my older sister apprentice?”

“Yes. I told him everything when he took her in.”

“He’s known for that long ……”

Fssshhh …… A dark shadow falls over my heart.

Right after Ginko turned pro, so right when she and I officially became a couple, Master forbade us from dating out of nowhere.

———Did it …… have something to do with Ginko’s health?

“We’ve hidden it from you, Yaichi. But if your heart is telling you to spend the rest of your life with my daughter …… with Ginko, then I want you to know.”

“…… Please tell me.”

A quick response now would only sound half-hearted, so I add.

“I want to hear it from you, Ms. Sora …… Right now.”

“Thank you. And thank you for caring so deeply about her.”

Then she starts talking.

Explaining a side of Ginko I never knew.

“Her sickness is a heart condition. She was born with it, and modern medicine doesn’t have any way to effectively treat the problem.”

“……!”

I thought it would be serious.

But this serious ……?!

“Th-Then, it’s incurable?!”

“Calm down, Yaichi. To make a long story short, she has already healed. Akashi-sensei confirmed it himself around the time she turned 15.”

“Huh ……?”

That’s a surprise.

The only way to recover from an incurable condition is to let nature take its course, naturally …… In other words, to let her grow out of it as she got older.

“Just …… This has been an agonizing journey for her. It wouldn’t be easy for her to believe that she healed naturally, and she’s never been a hardy girl. Her body gave out on her in the middle of yet another harsh battle.”

The pain in Ms. Shoko Sora’s eyes builds as she talks.

“By the end of the 3-dan division season, simply sitting at the board made her nauseous. She holed up at home, frightened that a doctor would step in and stop her from playing. Her fever never broke and recovering stamina took ages. It was plain to see she had overtraining syndrome ……”

That comes up a lot in sports.

It’s a condition where training only results in chronic fatigue syndrome. In the worst case scenario, the athlete has to retire.

I did a little investigating myself after seeing Big Sis, and that’s what seemed to make the most sense …… So I was right ……

“I thought she would be in the clear after promoting to 4-dan, but I was naive. In fact, it only made her condition worse. I shouldn’t have let her play against Miss Sainokami …… It’s too late now, I know.”

“…………”

In hindsight, that might’ve been the best call. But I don’t think anything would have stopped Big Sis from playing that match considering how she felt at the time.

I’m not sure how to feel about all this going on behind my back.

But the more I hear about it, the more assured I am that Ms. Sora and everyone else involved made as close to the best moves as possible.

“………… So that’s ………… what happened ……”

Some of the resentment I had for Master and Keika is starting to unravel. I can feel it.

“So it’s been a long time since you saw her. What’s your impression?”

“I thought she’s doing much better. We even did some verbal Shogi research.”

“That’s great! Ahhh …… And it’s all thanks to you, Yaichi ……!”

She smiles for the first time.

“The reason why she …… Ginko chose to step away rather than push herself into a spiral of self-destruction was because of her desire to play against you in a league match. Having you as a rival is what made Ginko strong. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“She did the same for me!”

I blurt out.

“I needed Big Sis …… needed Ginko to get stronger. Just how much was made all too clear to me recently ……!”

I had made up my mind to ditch human Shogi sense altogether and reshape my Shogi from scratch, but I needed one person …… A girl named Ginko Sora was indispensable.

I couldn’t uninstall her.

But that’s okay. Even if she’s the reason I couldn’t measure up to Awaji, I’ve chosen a future with her!

However.

“………… If only you could’ve just stayed rivals,” says Ms. Sora as her face takes a sorrowful turn. “But now that the two of you have feelings for each other …… You have to know what lies ahead.”

“There’s more?”

“Her heart condition is hereditary.”

“……?”

“Even if the person has healed, there’s a possibility it could be passed down to their children. That possibility is very high if the parent shows symptoms. That’s how genetics works.”

Genetics?

Hered …… itary?

My brain can’t keep up.

“It’s you I’m worried about, Yaichi.”

“Me ……?”

“You might have to suffer the same way I did. Not only having to watch as the one you love writhes in pain, but also take care of the newborn child who's suffering from the same hereditary condition …… and be powerless to do anything to help them. As someone who’s lived through that, I had to be the one to tell you.”

My blood runs cold.

Just like failing to see a sudden death sequence before it’s too late, everything goes dark ………… and a river of sweat rolls down my back.

“………………………………… Wait ………………,” I whisper without meaning to.

I want a do-over.

But this isn’t a game where you can say wait and get a do-over.

Do-overs don’t happen in real life.

———She remarried.

———A genetic heart condition.

I’ve made a terrible assumption.

Ginko looks so much like her mother, I had been sure the heart condition came from her.

“Then Ginko’s condition ………… was passed down from her father, wasn’t it …………?”

“That’s right.”

Ms. Sora nods.

“And I lost my first husband not long after Ginko was born.”

She tells me that she was in no condition to raise a child after being told her daughter didn’t have long to live so soon after losing the first love of her life.

“I couldn’t take it, having to see her cry in so much pain day in and day out. I just couldn’t …… watch her slowly fall into an early grave.”

Normally, it would be absurd for anyone to entrust their child, a four-year-old girl no less, to be a stranger’s live-in apprentice. Even if a doctor recommended it.

But …… all that changes if the mother isn’t able to fulfill her role.

“That’s why I asked Kiyotaki-sensei to take her. I let go of my only daughter, let her become a child of Shogi ……”

A child of Shogi.

I had always thought of my meeting Ginko at Master’s place as a happy twist of fate. Just like any naive, innocent little kid.

And yes, it was the best twist of fate from my perspective.

But a horrible reality was on the other side of that coin ……

The ramifications of which are hitting me like a truck right now.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle that Ginko’s condition has healed, physically at least.”

Ms. Sora explains that Dr. Akashi confirmed it personally and the staff at this facility haven’t discovered any abnormalities while doing daily exams since Ginko arrived.

She can play Shogi and can even have kids if she wants.

“But mentally, she carries many scars and any child she bears very well could be born with the same condition. The chances another miracle will happen for them are ……”

I may be an idiot, but even I can tell those chances are very close to zero.

———I really …… really am an idiot!

Without any idea about the hell Ginko and her mother have lived through, I’ve been throwing around words like marriage and kids and family just because they sound nice.

I’d convinced myself that our meeting was destiny.

Guilt builds up to the point that I can’t take it and cry out.

“Uuurgh. UHHHHGH!”

Even gritting my teeth can’t hold it back. I’m trembling from head to toe. Trembling is all I can do in the face of all this anger toward myself and how powerless I am against this reality.

———I’m just some perfectly healthy, happy-go-lucky piece of trash!!

No matter how I scathe my past self for what I’ve done, this is the way things are and there’s nothing I can do about it.

My head in my hands, getting one simple question out takes everything I have.

“………… Does Ginko …… know about this ……?”

“I haven’t told her. Not yet.”

Ms. Sora shakes her head no with an exhaustion that could only come from enduring so much pain.

All that’s left is deep resignation.

“She may have figured it out, though. It would be harder not to notice …… even if it’s a reality she doesn’t want to see.”

I’ll have to be the one to tell her if we really do get married.

“Please don’t blame yourself, Yaichi. You’ve done nothing wrong,” says a thoroughly defeated Shoko Sora. “This was part of destiny, too ……”

After that———

I left the facility without seeing Ginko again.

My excuse was that I have a match in Tokyo.

But the truth is that I didn’t know what face to make if I saw her.

No, that’s not quite right.

I didn’t know what face I would end up making.

Ginko is finally getting back on her feet, feeling well enough to play Shogi and be hopeful about the future and I might accidentally plunge her back into hell with a slip of the tongue or by letting some emotions show by accident.

Not to mention I have one more thing that I need to hide from her———