Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 4 - Chapter 3

  MORNING IN TOKYO

“Meijin Sweeps Lord Taishi! Seizes Emperor Title!”

“100 Combined Title Seasons Within Reach!”

It’s the morning after the Emperor Title Match.

Eating breakfast alone in the hotel’s dining room, I look at all the newspapers on the shelf and sigh at how much coverage the match got.

“…… Full front-page news on every single one. It’s the Meijin, so I should’ve seen this coming, but …… Normally papers that don’t sponsor title matches just put an article on the last page somewhere ……”

After yesterday’s Nico Live–––.

I went to Shinagawa Station to see Keika and the rest of the girls off when they were getting on the bullet train. Of course, Ms. Rokuroba’s Practice Session offer went up in smoke.

Also, I got interrogated by my apprentice on the bullet train platform.

“Master? What are your plans for tomorrow? Don’t hide anything and be very specific.”

Charlette was so tuckered out after a fun day that she’d fallen asleep on my back, so I was carrying her and everyone’s souvenirs (that I paid for in full, yeah) in both arms: a hunched over, exhausted mess. When I looked up to answer …… my apprentice glared back at me with a dark, burning rage that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Oh, tomorrow? …… Didn’t I tell you? I’ve got a Practice Session.”

 “…… You’re not going to do naughty things?”

“No?! What kind of Practice Session would that be?!”

 “……”

Pout. Ai puffed out her cheeks without saying a thing. She didn’t believe a word I said ……

“I-I’m really going to a Practice Session! A very intense, totally serious game of Shogi—.”

“So then, who’s your opponent? Please be honest. I know you’re playing against a woman, right? It’s the one with the big chest, yes?”

“A-Ayumu. It’s Ayumu.”

 “…… God-sensei?”

Keika, who’d been looking kind of depressed up to that point, suddenly smiled.

“Speaking of Ayumu, I saw he made it all the way to the Ryuo Title Match qualifier. He’s really making a name for himself!”

“Yeah …… But considering who it is, I’m not about to celebrate ……”

“Ah––– ……”

Keika grasped what I was getting at and let it drop.

Qualifier–––basically, the Ryuo League Finals and, in this case, a series of three matches.

Ayumu is already set to take on the best Shogi player.

The god of the Shogi world–––the Meijin.

“Since his first-ever league match against the Meijin happens to be in the Ryuo League Qualifier, and a series too … it’ll be a great learning experience for him, but having to beat the Meijin twice is ……”

“B-But you came all the way to Tokyo, Yaichi. Doesn’t that mean you want Ayumu to be your challenger?”

“I didn’t exactly go out of my way. I mean, my apprentices were in Mynavi anyway, so …… And yeah, Ayumu being my challenger would have its advantages. The Meijin showing up to my first title defense match could turn into a massacre.”

He’s strong, that much is obvious.

But the hype leading up to it would be just as big of a problem.

“The Meijin will become the Eternal Septuple Title Holder with one season as Ryuo. Even if he doesn’t take it, he’ll hit the 100 combined title seasons mark anyway ……”

Media coverage of the next title match will make the last one look like nothing.

It goes without saying that the world will be rooting for the Meijin to win.

“I don’t want to have to defend my title against all that, heck no. That’s why I’m helping Ayumu, not because I think it’d be fun for the two of us to fight for the title–––.”

“Oh yeah, right.” (grinning) …

“W-What’s that for?”

“Oh, nothing. Can’t a sister be happy that her cute younger brother has a friend?”

 “…… I’m your older brother apprentice, remember?”

“True. U-he-he♪”

Yeesh …… Ayumu and I … circumstances have forced us together over the years. And you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so there’s that ……

 “…… There you have it. I have a Practice Session tomorrow. And I’ll be coming straight back to Osaka once we’re done. Nothing that you’re worried about is going to happen, Ai. I promise.”

 “…… Okay.”

Huh? I still think that was a lot faster than usual.

Usually, her bad mood would go on for days, making extra-spicy food and whatnot …… She gave the go-ahead so quickly that I’m actually kind of scared and even a little lonely.

The icing on the cake was when she tried to reassure me.

“I’ll keep studying really hard when I get back to Osaka, so please do your best here in Tokyo, Master! There’ll be some delicious curry waiting for you when you get back!!” she said, encouraging me with a smile.

Seeing that energetic, innocent grin …… made my heart twinge … hard.

Because I lied about one thing.

“Crap, crap, crap. I’m late ……”

Riding the Yamanote Line toward my destination, I’m freaking out.

“I’m so late …… She’s going to be pissed ……”

I got so caught up in the newspapers and reading articles on the Internet that it was already past the time we promised to meet when I looked at the clock.

I told Ai, “I have Practice Session.” I told her that my opponent is Ayumu. Both of these statements are true.

But there was one thing I didn’t tell her.

If I brought up that she was going to be there, Ai probably would’ve insisted on going and stayed here in Tokyo …… But hey, she’s got a flat chest, so I should be safe. Yeah.

Squeezing my way off an extremely crowded train and through a jam-packed train station, I walk toward the exit.

Now, where? …… Ah, there she is.

I spot her almost immediately.

A girl with pale white skin wearing a winter sweater over her school uniform in the middle of summer holding a black parasol.

“Hey there, cutie. You’ve got it going on?!”

“That sailor-style school uniform: are you on a field trip with your classmates?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you from overseas? Do you understand Japanese?”

A bunch of young men are hitting on her, but she doesn’t say a word. Heck, she doesn’t even look at them.

She’s blocking their advances like a wall of solid ice.

Utterly rejected, the men shrug it off like, “Bet a girl like that ignores everyone.”

I walk toward the ice-cold girl in a school uniform and say–––, “Sorry! Y-You were waiting …… a while, weren’t you?”

My voice triggers her first response.

Tilting the parasol, her silver hair swishes from side to side.

“Holy ……! She’s a bombshell ……”

“Like a doll or something ……”

“What’s she doing with that loser ……?”

Her face out in the open, everyone around her couldn’t help but sigh.

In that moment, a feeling of superiority washed over me …… But that loser comment kind of hurt. Just a little.

“You’re late, idiot,” says Naniwa’s Snow White as she grabs hold of my nose and gives it a hard twist.