Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 18 - Chapter 2.07

  Yaichi Kuzuryu’s Visit

“I’m home.”

One station away from the Kansai Shogi Association, Noda.

Big Sis and I spent most of our lives in this old neighborhood that had managed not to burn down during World War II. It still feels like a page out of history.

“Keika? I’m hooome.”

I step into the house that is a Shogi classroom, which smells like the 80s for the first time in a very long time.

“Keika? Master? ……… Are they both out?”

I’m used to Keika’s saintly smile and welcome home! always being here to greet me, but they’re strangely absent …… Hold up a sec.

“Whaaa?! Wh-Why’s it so messy in here ……?”

Keika always keeps this place spotless. Under her watchful eye, the whole house was clean as a whistle whenever Master invited younger players over for practice sessions and the sweet aroma of good food wafting out of the kitchen was a given.

Now …… the Kiyotaki house feels abandoned.

My heart rate picks up. Should I turn around and go? When suddenly there was a thud from the second floor.

Looking over at the stairs, Keika stumbles her way down wearing something close to pajamas.

“………… Hi there …………”

“Wh-What happened, Keika?! You look totally exhausted!!”

“…… I must’ve conked out. The deadline is almost here ……”

D-Deadline?

A match article? Or is she doing a column?

“I-If now’s not a good time, I can come back―――”

“Come on in. I’ll pour some coffee ……,” says a wobbly Keika as she navigates the hallway with her hand on the wall.

I kick off my shoes and rush over to help her before she falls.

“Hey, how about I pour the coffee?”

“…… Please. It’s in the fridge.”

After guiding her into a chair, I take two glasses out of the cabinet and fill them up with ice.

On a side note, the fridge is chock full of energy drinks, bars of chocolate and coffee mix (the bitter base used for café lattes, unsweetened). That’s it. Judging by the fridge, I’d say an author who just hit the big time and is making a final push to finish their next book lives here.

―――Wait, didn’t Keika mention a deadline? But …… there’s no way.

I needed a few spoonfuls of gum syrup to even take a sip of the brutally bitter concoction that came out of the fridge, but Keika takes a huge swig right off the bat. So this is what caffeine addiction looks like ……

She sits across the table from me and skips the pleasantries.

“Well?”

“Yeah.”

I look Keika straight in the eyes and get right to the point.

“Ginko’s mother told me. How it’s her genetics that’s the problem.”

I’ve rehearsed this part enough so that everything comes out smoothly.

“Oh …………… All right. You know ……”

Keika lets out a long sigh without looking up from the pitch black liquid in her glass.

So then, she knew the whole time.

“That was the reason that Master forbade us from dating, wasn’t it? So we wouldn’t …… get ahead of ourselves and make a kid.”

“………………”

“And the reason why Master insisted on having Ai be a live-in apprentice …… was to keep Ginko and I apart, right?”

“…………………………”

Keika presses her hand against her head like she’s trying to keep a headache at bay. Then she lets out an even deeper sigh.

Time crawls by until.

“…… Personally, I think Father is hoping that you and Ai do eventually end up together. He’s never said so out loud, but that’s the only thing that makes sense…… Of course,” Keika adds as if coming up with an excuse, “I'm sure Ai’s enthusiasm had something to do with it …… And then, I think …… Ai caught on as well. Just how much she realizes it, I don’t know ……”

That’s why she left. The whole sequence makes sense thinking about it that way.

Taking Ai as my apprentice wasn’t a mistake. I want to believe that.

But, as for making her a live-in apprentice…, that was probably a bad move judging how things turned out.

I mean, both Ai and Ginko got hurt in the end.

“I …… have so many regrets and I’m angry at myself. Just thinking back on how stupid I was, going on and on about how our future together would be when I had no clue about her condition makes me sick.”

This is a review session.

Review sessions have a clear purpose: so we don’t make the same mistake next time.

The next time …… For when I get to see Ginko again.

So that I can ask how she feels once and for all.

I know that, even now, she still loves me. A pathetic guy like me doesn’t deserve anywhere near as much love as she has for me.

“But when I saw that she grew her hair out for me …… I got worried. Had my absent-minded hopes and dreams actually ended up hurting her? Are my delusions …… keeping her trapped in there?”

The thing is that in order to find out for sure, I have to ask her if she knows everything about her condition.

Ginko’s mother said she hadn’t told her.

I also checked with Dr. Akashi, the one in charge of Ginko’s treatment in Osaka. It turns out he hasn’t explained it to Ginko either.

If she ever finds out, it’ll be directly from me …… When I think about that, it makes me worry that an ignorant and inexperienced Shogi player like myself actually could do it.

―――Can’t Shogi players just focus on playing Shogi?

The problem is that Shogi’s future is even bleaker.

The future Awaji showed me is beyond saving. I've even started to question the point of playing the game at all ……

On top of that, Ai Yashajin has found her own solution to Shogi. That means that the Shogi world will become a place where only those who know it can win. Effort, grittiness and talent won’t mean a thing once that happens. If I don’t want to live in that world, my only choice would be to abandon Shogi altogether.

But for Shogi players like us, losing Shogi would be a fate worse than death.

“Even now, I don’t want to lose Big Sis. I want to be with …… with Ginko forever. I want to have a happy family like the one we had in this house!”

Yelling that inside these walls is what makes it finally click for me.

That’s what I’ve really been after.

I grew up here, with Ginko.

After going pro in junior high, I became the youngest title holder ever, claimed a second title and got strong enough to be on the cusp of my own solution to Shogi.

But where did that get me?

I’m strong but I’m not living happily at all. Responsibilities are piling up, fights are becoming faster and more intense and playing Shogi with all those severe conditions is suffocating.

I want the happy days I spent here to come back.

The days when I fully believed that dreams came true with enough effort while winning and losing matches against everyone every day. The way things used to be ……

There’s no going back to being a kid, I know that. But! Even so, I ……!!

“What do you think, Keika?”

“I think it’s a miracle that Ginko is still alive right now.” Keika answers bluntly. “And miracles don’t repeat themselves. That’s why they’re called miracles.”

“……”

I can’t breathe. It’s like she drove a wedge straight into my chest.

She calls out my naiveté, and it hurts.

“If the two of you do have a baby and that child inherits Ginko’s condition …… I don't know what they'll think about their own situation. The one thing I do know is that the day will come when you regret being so determined right now, Yaichi.”

“Me?”

“Watching a child suffer right in front of you is hell. And it goes without saying that you won’t be able to devote all your time and energy to Shogi like you do now. That’s what living with a sick or disabled family member means.”

“………… Hell …………”

Keika’s words carry so much weight because she’s the one who looked after Big Sis.

Neither Big Sis nor I became strong on our own.

Master taking the two of us as live-in apprentices resulted in Keika trying and failing to get into the Women’s League for so long. It also explains why her skills are stagnant even now.

“Plenty of married couples can’t have children nowadays. More and more of them make the decision not to… every year. It would be more than possible for the two of you to raise a promising child as your live-in apprentice and start a family that way.”

“……”

“A day might come when you see a summit you could’ve reached if you didn’t have a child and regret going through with having one. Think about it long and hard.”

“………… Yeah, I will. Thanks, Keika.”

“Yaichi,” she asks, the second I finish the last bit of coffee in my glass. “Do you love Ginko?”

“Yes.”

“Uh-huh.”

I answer without missing a beat. Keika nods.

“Okay, then what about Ai?”

“…………”

“Ginko disappeared from your life at the same time that Ai did. That’s when you realized just how important Ai was to you …… am I wrong?”

I stand up without saying a word.

The time to fight has come.

“Are you afraid you really might develop strong feelings for Ai? That’s why she’s the only one you refuse to see, isn’t it? You’re fine being around me or Ten-chan, but you go out of your way to avoid her ……”

I pretend not to hear the words chasing me out of the room.

Awaji taught me that it’s better not to disturb things that should be left alone.