Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 11 - Chapter 5.5

  NAME

I could’ve sworn somebody called my name.

“……………… Hm?”

I stop and take a look over my shoulder. But there’s no one there.

Shogi is more popular than ever …… But the only famous players are the Meijin and Naniwa’s Snow White.

–––I guess no one recognizes the Ryuo.

The Meijin getting the Citizens Award worked a little too well because now the requests for diplomas and signatures is easily ten times that of what it was last month. The chairman and Ms. Oga snagged me as soon as I got back to Osaka and kept me cooped up in a hotel in Temmabashi.

“Didn’t I tell you we would have a room ready?”

I had to continuously sign paper after paper under the strict supervision of that evil man and his secretary. The only reprieves were when Keika brought my apprentices and the Grade Schooler Practice Group members up for a few visits …… At least this way I can claim I’ve been hard at work the whole time ……

Now, released from my hotel prison cell for the first time in two weeks–––I thought I heard someone call my name.

It was a familiar voice, too.

“Must’ve been my imagination …… That has to be it. Seriously, right now–––.”

The 3-dan division should still be in session.

Just then, my smartphone vibrates in my pocket. It’s a message from a Kansai Sub League director.

“……!!”

Flashbacks from two weeks ago pop up like wildfire, so looking at it takes a lot of courage.

Slowly, very slowly, I open the message. It’s today’s results.

“Sora won. Kunugi lost.”

My phone starts vibrating again as more messages start pouring in.

“Sora, consecutive victories.”

“Hardly recognizable from last time.”

“Noticeably stronger than before.”

They’re all extremely short messages, but his excitement is coming through loud and clear.

The last of the messages to hit my phone like spring rain is a question.

“What did you do? Special training?”

I didn’t teach her any new strategies or sequences. She made the decision to do all her research by herself.

But …… It’s not like I didn’t do anything.

Thinking it over, I respond.

“I said her name.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Our conversation stops there.

He always lets me know the results right away, but the director’s job doesn’t end once the day’s matches are over. Checking up on the players who lost today is part of it. That being said, it’s not as if he can focus on a few specific players.

It has nothing to do with avoiding favoritism.

Getting too attached to certain players …… makes it too painful if they have to retire in the end.

“Man, he has it rough. Somebody has to do that job, sure, but many of the people he fought against in the Sub League are still there ……”

He’s four years older than me, but we clashed in the 3-dan division. Then, right after he promoted, he applied to be a director.

Now he gives me constant updates on how Big Sis is doing.

“…… He must still feel like it’s his fault that her joining the Sub League got pushed back a year and that she’s had such a hard time.”

I have regrets just like him.

Like letting go of the hand I never should have on the day she became Queen.

Swearing to myself that I wouldn’t call her by her first name until I got strong just to save face.

But, at the same time …… This winding road has been heartrending as well.

Even though we both felt the same way, we said nothing and just played Shogi.

This time, it was Big Sis who saved face with that sealing move.

We may have let go of each other’s hands, but right now …… I think we’re walking the same path.

Maybe that’s why?

I’ve had the feeling that Big Sis has been close by ever since I left the hotel. Really close.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ginko,” I say up to the sky where it gets lost in noisy city streets before reaching anyone’s ears.

But–––.

I could swear someone said my name again just now.

You’re late, stupid Yaichi.