Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 11 - Chapter SS

REVIEW SESSION

“Hey-yooo! Yaichi Kuzuryu’s back in the building!”

“Yo, long time, Trash.”

“Where have you been residing? Prison?”

I drop by the Kansai Association’s Player’s Room for the first time in what feels like forever, and two girls who are always there practicing hit me with the same cynical jokes that they always do. It’s reassuring, just like being at home.

“Think about that for a second, Machi. He wouldn’t be back so quickly if he’d been in the slammer, don’t you think?” says Ryou.

“Be that as it may, an extended leave of absence would result in his little treasures maturing. Therefore, Ryuo-san tapped into his own resources in order to make bail, yes?”

“Oh yeah. This lolicon here’s got cash to spare.”

“And time is considerably more valuable to lolicons than money.”

Ahhh, the good old lolicon sequence. Yeah, yeah, I’m a lolicon.

Hahaha …… Knowing this whole thing is about to disappear kind of makes me miss it already.

“Nah, I just went home to visit my parents. Here, I brought some Habutae rice cakes for you.”

“How thoughtful. You hail from Fukui, do you not?”

“Where the heck’s Fukui, again? Oh, Kyushu?”

That’s Fukuoka! Would it hurt people to study geography every once in a while?! This happens all the time.

“Fukui is part of the north coast, Miss Tsukiyomizaka. Since we’re in Osaka, just go north and you’ll find it.”

“Uh-huh, north, you say. North,” says Ryou, nodding up and down while staring at the box of Habutae rice cakes, as if there are dots to connect.

“Please, go ahead and eat. I brought enough to give out to other players so there’s no need to wait.”

“Hate to break it to you, but I’ve had enough of Habutae rice cakes for one day.”

Huh? Had enough?

“Another individual returning from a short jaunt around the country gifted us with Habutae rice cakes. For rice cakes and beautiful stars on all that Fukui possesses, no?”

“Hey, there’s other stuff, too! What about the Megane Eyeglasses Museum in Sabae?!”

What’s wrong with having beautiful stars?! What’s wrong with having clean air?!!

The corners of Machi Kugui’s lips curled up like a fushimi inari fox as she says, “Is that so? And? With whom did you see those beautiful stars, Ryuo-san?”

“!”

A cold chill runs down my spine, but Ryou piles it on.

“Hang on a sec. I haven’t seen Ginko around here much at all recently, either. She was in here pretty much every day so it’s kind of weird she’d just stop, don’t you think?”

“What a coincidence it is that she turned up with the exact same souvenir mere hours before your arrival, Ryuo-san …… Difficult not to be suspicious, do you not agree?”

“Tell me somethin’, Machi. Where was it that Ginko said she went again?”

“I believe …… She called it the northern country.”

N-Northern country?!

With the eyes of a beast that’s cornered its prey, Ryou turns back to me and asks, “So, Trash. Where was Fukui, again? Kyushu?”

“Th- …… The north coast ……”

Checkmated.

There’s no talking my way out of this …… But worst of all is that Ryou, a Kanto player, found out. Rumors about The North Country Incident will be circulating through both East and West Associations by tonight. Then will come the criticism because the two of us left during the 3-dan division season and right before my Challenger Match, meaning I’ll get death threats from Big Sis’s fans ……

W-Wait, how long until …… Ai Hinatsuru finds ou-ou-ou …, ooooooh noooooo.

“C’mon, Trash. What are you getting all shook up for? I’m not gonna blab.”

“Huh ……? How much are you asking for ……?”

“Dang, that was rude …… I’m not taking your cash. There was stuff going on, right? That had to be rough. Hey, we’re here to listen if you need to get something off your chest! Go on, have a rice cake.”

“R-Ryou ……!”

“So, who confessed their feelings first?”

The rice cake gets stuck in my throat and I nearly choke to death.

“Cough!! Gah ………… There was no confessing, okay?! Seriously, nothing happened!!”

“Oh? Then you got dumped right off the bat?”

“Ugh …… No, more like …… sealed partway through ……,” I explain, fumbling my way through the words. “…… Ginko is most definitely a strong one.”

“Yeah, she’s a beast,” say Machi and Ryou as they smile with renewed energy.

“Filled with the power of love, she will surely break through the 3-dan division!”

“Yeah! Full of all that loving!”

Power of love, really?! Would it hurt them to have some decency?! The awkwardness is killing me ……

“Then again, Ryuo-san, Ginko’s Silver Halo is quite dense. What strategy did you employ to break through?”

“Had to be a rock-hard Primitive Climbing Silver. That or Peerless Golds.”

“Would you stop it with the dirty jokes?! Have more respect for Shogi and a bit of modesty! You’re girls, remember?!”

The conversation was going so well before it went south real fast!!

“Actually, don’t the two of you have more experience at this kind of thing? Popular as you are …”

“Hm?! C-Course I do! Guys ask me out on dates all the time!”

“Oh? Just as I thought. Okay, what was it like for the two of you when someone told you how they felt?”

“M-Me? Nothing much …… A guy in my class back in high school, under the tree of legend ……”

Tree of legend? How could a tree at Ryou’s old school become legendary? Probably by making noises or having an angel show up. Ryou is called the Archangel, after all.

“What about you, Machi? Some Arabian oil tycoon?”

“The greater part of my conversations with men typically involve a courtship invitation of some kind, so the first time is impossible to recall. Too many to recount.”

That’s diabolical ……

Then again, Machi is friendly, and part of extremely large social spheres, and has incredible spheres at chest height, so I can’t blame other guys for falling for her after talking for only a few minutes. Especially with that chest of hers. It would be nice if Big Sis caught up a bit.

“But yeah, getting asked out by a guy you don’t like is just a real pain in the ass. Ain’t that right, Machi?”

“I concur. Though the one my heart belongs to is always preoccupied by other women.”

“Yeah …… Ha-ha-ha.”

The two of them grimace as if saying: good grief.

Machi and Ryou are both beautiful, famous girls, but are they having trouble on the dating scene? That’s too bad …… Their personalities have to have something to do with it ……

“Along the same line of thought, I am green with envy for those who are courted by their first loves.”

“Same. Get a room and knock yourselves out!”

“Heh …… What are you two talking about? You’ve got the wrong idea.”

Shaking my head with a heavy heart, I corrected the misunderstanding.

Ryou cocks an eyebrow and says, “Trash, are you seriously trying to play innocent now? Man up, will you?”

“That’s right, Ryuo-san. For Ginko’s sake, you must own up to–––.”

“The first girl to say she liked me was a freak who broke into my locked apartment, challenging me to a Shogi match while completely naked and said she didn’t need anything else, while throwing all of her possessions into Shinjuku Gyoen Park Pond in the middle of February, or did you forget?”

“Oh, yeah …… That’s what went down ……”

“Just think you got stung by Ika and forget about it …… Simply stung ……”

Ika doesn’t sting, she bites! Would it hurt you to give it a rest?!!