Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 9 - Chapter 3.3

  ALICE IN WONDERLAND

“Who does she think she is, anyway?!!”

I leave the Thorn Princess’s apartment to go find my Master, but all the built-up frustration bursts out as soon as I leave the room.

This is beyond irritating!!

“She’s nothing more than some old lady who got married, had children and her brain magically turned into a happy little flower garden! That was a total waste of time! Talking on forever like she knows everything only to have her say that love and romance are the key …… Just thinking about it makes me angry!!”

I kick the concrete wall a few times for good measure. Kicked the thing hard enough to indent the toe of my shoe, too.

How was there a time I actually admired that flowers-for-brains woman ……!

“Shogi is an all or nothing battle!! Obviously, both sides are going to leave with scars! Wasting time licking another loser’s wounds is ridiculous! How could that ever help me get stronger?!!”

What infuriates me beyond all else is that, for one fleeting moment, I thought I might get some useful advice from the Thorn Princess.

That was naïve. My heart was weak.

“What it all comes down to is that I’m the only one I can count on! Just as she said, I’m going to believe in my own research. I’ll hit Ginko Sora with all the advancements I’ve made using my father’s pieces …… My latest Bishop Exchange strategy!”

“………… I …………”

She’d been quiet up to this point, but Ai Hinatsuru hesitantly starts speaking.

“I think …… I can relate to what Hanadachi-sensei said, at least a little bit.”

“Huuh?! Like what?”

“Well, I started playing Shogi because I wanted to be like Master …… And, as I entered the Practice League and then the Women’s League, I became a little stronger every time I admired someone new or made an important friend ……”

“………”

“I play my best when I want to be with someone special to me or when I want to do something for them.”

If I remember right, she wanted to be Yaichi’s live-in apprentice so bad that she showed ferocious potential when she fought against Ginko Sora during the Practice League Entrance Test.

And, her getting through the Mynavi Preliminaries was all to let Yaichi concentrate on the defending his title as the Ryuo.

“Ten-chan, don’t you have any special people in your heart? People you want to win for, or get stronger just for them?”

“……… No. No one.”

“I see …… You don’t have anyone like that …………………… Ehehe♡”

“…… Excuse me. What are you so happy about?”

I just can’t figure it out, and that’s starting to irritate me, too ……

“B-But …… Ten-chan ………… If you liked him ……… I wouldn’t stand a chance ……”

Tearing up, Ai Hinatsuru opens her heart to me.

“Your family is so rich that you live just like a real princess, and you’re so cute now that you’re going to be truly beautiful once you grow up and you have so much more Shogi talent than I do ……… Any boy would obviously choose you over me …… Sniffle ……”

“You know something ……”

I’m so done with this. Besides, what is she even worried about?

“I don’t know what you’re so worked up about, nor do I care …… But this I can guarantee: I will never fall in love with anyone. I have no interest in challenging you or that tiny blonde doofus to become that idiot’s favorite. Romance is just pointless.”

“I-I never said anything about Master!!”

“Neither did I.”

“!! ………… Ten-chan, you meanie ……”

She’s turning red and twiddling her thumbs.

Finally calm, I straighten out my hair and say, “Though……”

Then, pointing to the sandbox in the park.

“You certainly have strange tastes. What is so good about that? Other than his strong Shogi, that is.”

“Uwheee ……?”

In that sandbox–––is Yaichi, only wearing underwear, and the Thorn Princess’s daughter buried all the way up to her neck pouring buckets of dry sand over their heads.

“M-Master?! This is a public park! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“This? Well, Sakura said she wanted to play bath time, so …… we made a sand bath ……”

“Saa, Yaachi, bath time♡”

“I’ve never heard of something so far-fetched as a sand bath!! Why do you always do whatever little girls ask you to without thinking, Master?!”

Watching the fireworks from a distance, I whispered under my breath.

“…………… Not happening. Ever.”