Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 7 - Chapter 2.1

  COUPLE’S SOUP

Namba.

Only 10 minutes away from Master’s place in Noda on the Hankyu Line, it’s one of several entertainment districts in Osaka and one of the biggest tourist destinations in western Japan. Whenever an Osakan says Minami, they’re talking about the southern area around Namba.

Shinsaibashi is just to the north, and Nipponbashi is a short walk to the south. Go a bit further south and you’ll find Tsutenkaku Tower standing over Shinsakai, which is also called New World. That’s the lay of the land.

“We haven’t been here in ages.”

“Well, everything we need is in Umeda, so ……”

Also known as Kita, the area around Osaka station called Umeda is where the young people go. The Shogi Association is walking distance away from Osaka station in Fukushima. That’s why the younger generations of Shogi players choose to go north to Kita.

Compared to all the new, fancy buildings lining the streets in Umeda, Minami is a jumble of old shops and bars with no rhyme or reason at all.

Then again, this disorderly mess probably fits more with Osaka’s reputation.

Crowds of tourists are filling the streets and it’s only mid-morning.

Back when I lived with my parents in Fukui, I thought all of Osaka was going to be just like this, crowded and over-the-top signage as far as the eye can see. Signs like the Glico Marathon Runner.

“So, where should we start looking?”

“Let’s see …… How about over by the river?”

“The Dohtonbori River? Would Master go that way?”

“If he went with the flow.”

“?!”

That, that would mean he’s dead ……

“Wouldn’t it be faster to start with Ebisu Bridge or Center-Machi? That’s where all the bars are.”

“Well, maybe, but ……”

Big Sis frowns.

“The shopping arcades are roofed in over there … I don’t want to have to walk through those crowds. There’s nowhere to escape ……”

“It’s true you do stick out, Big Sis.”

Successfully defending the Ryuo title made me kind of famous, but that’s nothing compared to Big Sis’s popularity right now. Not even close.

Now that she’s the first female 3-dan ever, she’s on TV almost every day. Walking into a big crowd like this on a weekend is just asking for trouble …… Just when I was starting to get worried about her.

Squeeze.

Big Sis wraps her arm around mine and presses her cheek against my shoulder.

“Hey?! B-Big Sis ……?”

“Just so I don’t get hit on. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Her voice is so prickly she may as well be breathing cactuses.

“People will think we’re together, walking around like this, right? Turning down every single person that comes up to me would get annoying …… That’s all ……”

“I, uh, I see ……”

“…………” (squeeze)

Anyone looking at us now would just think it’s just PDA.

I mean, we’re both wearing street clothes, so no one would ever guess we’re actually Shogi players. Big Sis’s silver hair makes her look like a junior high student on a rebellious streak.

Part of me is in awe going, “Big Sis is so smart,” but the other part of me is saying, “Wouldn’t people seeing us walking arm in arm in Osaka give them a different wrong idea?” Back and forth over and over …… But I can’t say anything.

Who could ever say no to a cute girl clinging so close ……?

“Y-You’re right. There’re too many people! Yeah?”

“…… Don’t they have better things to do?”

We arrive at Ebisu Bridge, Big Sis still pressed against me as the Glico sign comes into view.

This spot is so well known for pickups and catcalls that people have dubbed it Pickup Bridge. Right now, though, it’s pretty quiet because it’s still early.

Most of the people crossing the bridge right now are tourists, student groups and, you know, …… couples.

Also, there are quite a few old guys with big sketch pads. Maybe they’re part of an art class? It’s a strange sight to see.

We lean out over the guardrail to get a higher vantage point and look around.

“Any luck, Big Sis? You see Master anywhere?”

“I don’t think he’s here.”

You’re not trying to look, are you ……?!

“But Master usually sticks to the same places, doesn’t he?”

Then, why are we here? …… Is what I should’ve asked, but it’s my fault for just following her willy-nilly. I kinda wanted to see what going on a date felt like ……

“To Hozenji Yokocho.”

“You got it.”

Go into the shopping arcade from the Ebisu Bridge entrance and Hozenji Temple is right there.

It’s a small temple devoted to the Buddhist deity Fudo and all the bars around here seem to have a great deal of faith in it.

Say Hozenji and zenzai soup is the first thing people think of.

It was in some book? Maybe a movie? A long time ago, but now a whole bunch of zenzai restaurants have set up shop in the area.

One of them is called Meoto Zenzai, which means something along the lines of soup for couples. There are small red lanterns hanging out front.

That’s where Big Sis decides to come to a sudden halt.

“I’m tired.”

“Already?! We’ve only been walking for five minutes?!”

“I’ll be waiting in this restaurant, so you go find Master, Yaichi.”

“All by myself?! I’d rather eat zenzai, too!!”

“…… Then why don’t you?”

And so, our search for Master was put on pause for the time being.

The restaurant is pretty cramped inside, but luckily there’s an open table.

It looks like most of the customers right now are foreigners. I guess they’re not used to traditional Japanese clothes because they’re taking more pictures of the restaurant’s kimono-wearing staff with their smartphones than the food.

I sit across the table from Big Sis and get our order in right away.

“Hot and cold zenzai, one of each.”

Those two things are all this place serves, so there’s no point looking at the menu. On the other hand, the food comes right away because the menu is so small.

Two bowls of hot zenzai, two bowls of cold zenzai and a plate of salted konbu kelp arrive at our table.

It doesn’t add up, does it? But, that’s right at this place.

I look over at Big Sis and say, “It’s pretty rare that one serving is two bowls, don’t you think?”

“Really?” she replies, “I’ve only ever eaten zenzai at this restaurant, so ……”

“Now that you mention it, me too …… Oh, and when it comes out for snacks served during title matches. Zenzai.”

Chewy, white dumplings in a sweet soup.

Cake could never be compared to the harmonious collaboration of soft and flaky sweet bean soup with the slippery white dumplings. That’s what makes Japanese sweets so awesome! Love it!

“Ahhh, good stuff! Zenzai is the best,” I say with a smile.

“…… It’s always a relief, seeing it at snack time during title matches.”

“I know, right! I can’t taste anything during the match, but the texture is there. I like rolling the dumplings against the roof of my mouth and feeling them push back against my teeth. It’s relaxing, I guess.”

Master might have come this way looking for exactly that, a way to relax. It’s hard to change gears on your own after fighting in a placement match all the way through the night ……

Master always comes to Minami to drink after his matches.

It was standard for Big Sis and I to go look for him the next day if he wasn’t home by lunch.

Since Master always went to bars owned by Shogi fans, they’d let him crash on a couch or something once he got too drunk to stand.

Then, once we found him, he’d give us an embarrassed smile while holding his head with a hangover and say, “No tellin’ Keika, ya hear?”

With that, he’d bring us to Meoto Zenzai and buy us whatever we wanted to eat. A bribe, obviously.

“Whatever we wanted, sure, but there are only two things on the menu,” Big Sis remarks.

“Well, now …… Don’t forget about the iced zenzai in summer,” I remind her.

Iced zenzai is basically like a messy snow cone in a bowl.

We’d order one topped with Big Sis’s favorite green tea sauce along with hot and cold zenzai to split.

The hot and cold zenzai was fine because we each got our own bowl, but the amount of iced zenzai I got depended entirely on Big Sis’s mood.

More often than not, I’d only get to sip the sweet melted ice in the bottom of the bowl …… What am I, a bug?!

“I really liked the cake at Café American,” Big Sis says nostalgically as she goes back and forth between the bowls of hot and cold zenzai.

“That was a nice place. We should go there again for old time’s sake sometime.”

“Do you think so too, Yaichi?”

“Yeah. The waitresses had cute uniforms.”

“……”

Café American is pretty famous around here.

The inside is designed to look like a 1970s cabaret with retro stuff literally hanging on the walls …… The atmosphere is for adults, through and through.

Master would buy me dessert or something as he sipped coffee and watched all the pretty waitresses go about their business to soothe his fighting spirit …… Players need a way to relax, so there’s nothing pervy about it. Nothing at all.

“The coffee that Master always drank had whiskey in it! Did you know?”

“Of course. It was on the menu.”

“He always said the best thing for a hangover is liquor! but do you think he was okay drinking that much? I mean, he’d eat less and less the more he drank ……”

“………”

Big Sis sips her zenzai soup without saying a word. I realized how awkward that was as soon as the words left my mouth.

–––If he were okay, we wouldn’t be out here looking for him.

Regretting bringing it up, I look over at Big Sis and say in a brighter tone, “Not bad, eh?”

“Yes. Just like I remember.”

I forgot I was addressing my older sister apprentice for a moment there, talking to her without the usual respectful tone, but she didn’t get angry at me. That by itself makes me happy.

It was almost noon by the time we finished our zenzai.

I stand up to go pay the bill.

And I happen to see they’re selling zenzai mix next to the register.

“That would make a good treat …… I’ll pick some up to take home.”

“You like it that much?”

“Nah, I was thinking it would be good for the next Grade Schooler Practice Group session.”

“…………”

“Wait, do kids these days even like zenzai? Ai’ll know.”

I pull out my smartphone and type out “Do elementary school students eat zenzai nowadays?” into the messenger app.

I thought Ai would be busy helping out at Master’s classroom, but the READ notification popped up right away. Maybe she’s on lunch break? Her answer comes back almost immediately.

“Zenzai? I like it, but …… Why are you bringing up zenzai?”

She added a cute cat stamp with a “?” over its head. The adorable thing makes me smile.

“Give me that.”

“Ah!”

Just as I was about to reply, Big Sis snatches my phone out of my hand like fixing a wrong move on the board at the last second and types out.

“At Meoto Zenzai in Hozenji now (^o^) I’ll get a little something for you!”

Then she smiles from ear to ear, something she never does, and takes a picture of the two of us before sending it right along with the message.

That’s a declaration of war.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP!!”

I grab my phone back and desperately race to cancel the message, but it was no use. As soon as the READ letters popped up on the screen, I knew the damage could never be undone ……

“Hey! W-What was that for?! Ai won’t understand you’re joking around, so seriously, please don’t!!”

“……” (Humph)

“You can’t just ignore me when I’m—?! Hey, you took my konbu! How am I supposed to get all this sweet out of my mouth without it?!”

The salty splash of konbu after eating sweet zenzai can’t be beat ……! Saying that I was looking forward to eating konbu after zenzai more than anything today wouldn’t be an overstatement! And now, it’s gone ……!

Big Sis knows that I like to nibble on konbu on the way home after leaving the restaurant, so she took that bit of happiness away from me on purpose! What a demon ……!

“Damn it! You’re evil! A witch! You knew I’d let my guard down, clinging to my arm like that! And I fell for it!!”

“…… Look who’s talking. Just when I thought we were having a good time together …… And all you think about is that little girl ……”

Big Sis mumbles something, but I couldn’t hear her at all.

That’s when my phone buzzed.

It’s Ai’s response.

I-is she angry? Or …… Maybe she’s sad?

What do I do if it says, Come home and explain yourself right away! or I’m never letting you inside the apartment again! ……? My hand is vibrating even harder than the phone. Terrifying.

But Ai will get even angrier at me if I don’t respond to her message within three seconds of reading it. That’s our three second rule. It’s set in stone.

Scared out of my mind, I look at the screen.

“I’m outside.”

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!