Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 18 - Chapter 2.05

  Poisoned Bun

“Interestin’. Tellin’ ya to keep yar head down…”

Grandpa-sensei shovels a big spoonful of curry into his open mouth.

“Still, sounds right up a Kanto director’s alley, if ya ask me.”

We’re at the MyNavi Women’s Open venue, the aptly named Palace Side Building, which is right across from the Imperial Palace.

Grandpa-sensei is treating me to curry at Alaska, a restaurant on the very top floor. But I’d say it’s my heart that’s full right now. So many memories.

―――We used to eat curry just like this all the time when I was in Osaka, didn’t we ……?

Tsubasa Gakumeki, who also made it into the main tournament along with me, is here, too. But this is her first time meeting Kousuke Kiyotaki 9-dan face to face, and she’s frozen stiff with nerves.

“Ya haven’t even touched yar curry, Miss Gakumeki. Not to yar likin’?”

“N-No! I-I mean …… I-I’m already full, so ………… Don’t mind me ……”

“A twig like ya? Yar wastin’ away over there. If curry ain’t yar thing, how ’bout some pasta, eh?”

“I-I-I’m fine! I-I-I don’t need anything ……!!”

For someone as shy around new people as Tsubasa, Kansai people’s overly friendly style might be a bit overwhelming. Maybe I shouldn’t have invited her?

Then again, Grandpa-sensei agreed to work as a judge for this tournament and came all the way here from Osaka. Chances like this don’t happen very often, so I wanted to introduce him to my friend. Hang in there, okay, Tsubasa?

“Good stuff, Ai?”

“Yes!”

People from Ishikawa Prefecture, like me, are very particular about curry. But even I have to admit that this curry is delicious. It's a bit darker, too, like Kanazawa-style curry.

There are tons of things to do even after the matches are over, like taking pictures with the sponsors, drawing straws for seating on the main tournament stage and more. Playing two important matches in one day is enough to make me hungry, and now I’m starving!

By the way, both Tamayon-sensei and Rinrin-sensei lost in the first round of the Preliminaries, so they’re already out at the bar for a review session in the early afternoon. They invited me to join them, but I’m not old enough to go inside.

“So, yeah, Ai.”

Grandpa-sensei says quietly after downing the whole bowl.

“’Bout what ya said earlier …… Did Mr. Redmond really ask ya that? To wait to say anything to the press about the Pro Entrance Exam?”

“Yes.”

“When it comes to newspapers, the association can usually pull strings with the paper’s executive to keep things from comin’ out. But they can’t do nothin’ at press conferences after matches and there’s always a chance ya might say somethin’ wild to fans. He must’ve wanted to nip that in the bud.”

“I spoke with Usui-sensei and Mr. Wada about this, too. They said if that was the case, I should pull back and wait for the association to make a move ……”

“Hrmn …… There’s no denyin’ Mr. Usui’s a Shogi prodigy, but he’s never sat on the board of directors ……”

Is Grandpa-sensei upset that I accepted the board’s request?

Then again, I get the sense that it’s the director position itself he doesn’t like ……

“So? Knowin’ Mr. Redmond, he meant pocket money as a request, yeah? What did ya ask for?”

“To make the Professional Entrance Exam permanent.”

“That’s what ya’ve been gunnin’ for since the start, yeah? Personally, I think a one-time deal’d be good enough.”

Tsubasa has been quiet up until now, but she starts mumbling.

“M-Me, too …… I don’t think …… you need to insist on that ……”

I understand what they’re saying, and that they’re saying it for my sake. Tamayon-sensei and Rinrin-sensei said the same thing.

That’s why, when I submitted my original request to the association, I deliberately avoided bringing it up.

―――But I just …… can’t let this go.

“Did Mr. Redmond make any promises?”

“Just that he would do his best.”

“Sounds like a poisoned bun to me.”

“That I’d lose …… if I took it?”

There’s a phrase in Shogi: doku manju. If you take a poisoned bun that’s left out …… that’ll be what makes you lose. It looks like a great move that will give you an advantage, but actually triggers a trap ……

Is Mr. Redmond’s suggestion really a poisoned bun?

“I’ve been on the board before. Ran me so ragged that I quit after one season, though ……”

“Is it a hard job?”

“Puts a serious dent in yar Shogi researchin’ time. Yar winnin’ record, too. But it was more personal relationships that took a lot outta me.”

“Personal relationships ……?”

“It differs from person to person, but a director's main job is to kiss sponsors’ boots and ask for money.”

Grandpa-sensei scratches his salt-and-pepper colored hair.

“I got no problem bowin’ down to players when I get beat, but most of us pros have a tonna pride. Somebody’d say somethin’ dumb right when we got a sponsorship hammered out and I’d have to go smooth things over again ’n again. It got old real quick.”

Then, once he downs a full glass of water.

“………… Mr. Redmond might be stuck bein’ somebody else’s errand boy ……”

That was barely loud enough for me to hear it.

Tamayon-sensei and Redmond-sensei said that the Kanto Board of Directors have the most power in the Shogi world.

But …… maybe that’s not true?

―――Then, who does?

My mind keeps digging deeper into that train of thought, but I need to lighten the mood at the table.

“By the way, how’s Keika? I was sad I didn’t get to see her during the Preliminaries. Has she been doing all right?”

“Good question …… She’s lost so much that she’s barely in any matches these days. Mirror opposite of ya, Ai. She’s been on her computer day ’n night, never comin’ out of her room at all. The heck’s she doin’ in there?”

“Shogi research, I would imagine. A lot of younger senseis don’t have a Shogi board at home.”

“It’d be great if she were but ……”

Grandpa-sensei winces and drinks more water.

He always drinks beer after his work is over, but he’s had nothing but water today. Was he trying to be considerate of Tsubasa?

Or …… does he have even more important work to do after this?