Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 14 - Chapter 2.6

  GINKO ENRAGED

“Who does that geezer think he is?! I’ll put a pike through his head!!”

Ginko goes on a rampage of her own once we leave Master’s place.

But it’s aimed at our own stupidity.

Showing up to say “Heeey! We’re daaating♡” right in the middle of a title match is the very definition of stupid.

“I don’t care anymore! Old Beard can shove it! I’m taking a picture of us right now, captioning it We’re to-ge-ther☆, and posting it online right now!!”

“H-Hold it, Big Sis …… stay, stay. Calm down ……”

I soothe my girlfriend before she rips her pocket trying to get out her smartphone. I thought she wasn’t allowed to use social media, though ……?

“We talked about this, remember? Ai and Charlette …… are in for a real shock if they find out before we tell them ourselves.”

“………… I remember ……”

“You said yourself that you didn’t want Shogi magazines to find out and publish it, yes? Think of the damage finding out that way would do for Ai, her parents and so many others. That’s why we wanted to tell them properly.”

“……… I don’t want that, but ……”

“We get Master’s blessing first, then tell Ai and then follow with the rest of the steps one by one. You know ………… to get married.”

“Yaichi.”

“Yes, Big Sis?”

“What about the dark one?”

“Dark?”

“You talk about the first pipsqueak all the time, but you never bring up the dark one at all. Why? Strange, don’t you think?”

Isn’t she a bit too on-the-ball?

“Does ………… she already know?”

The lethal malice that was directed at Master suddenly veers in my direction.

Cold sweat is already leaking out of my armpits and down my back …… Crap.

“Now that I think about it, you avoid talking about the dark one a bit too much. While the first one, on the other hand, you never ever evereverever shut up about!!”

“…………”

I try moving my lips, but no words are coming out. This is bad. Checkmate is imminent if I make one wrong read.

The fingers that had been clutching her phone find their way to my neck and sink their nails into my skin. I stay completely still as Ginko asks, “Did you do something? Or maybe …… did she?”

“Noffing.”

“Yes, she did.”

Kicking myself to death hundreds of times in my mind for accidentally biting my tongue at that critical moment, I don’t even think about trying to shake my head no.

I’d have to admit to everything right here if I did.

Ai Yashajin and I would end up swimming with the fish at the bottom of Osaka Port if I told her …… No, no! Ginko would be hurt the most if she found out.

–––This is to protect her!

Of course, I plan to tell her at some point, but not right now! Explaining the situation to her when she’s stable is for her sake!!

So I–––.

“I love you.”

“Eeep!”

Wrapping my arms around her, I bury my face in her silver hair and whisper, “You’re beautiful, Ginko. I love you more than anything in the world.”

“Hff. Haaa. Eeep!”

“I want to marry you. I want everyone to be there to celebrate with us. You and me.”

“……………………………………………… Me too.  ……,” Ginko shyly mumbles.

If someone were to write that out, it would be really hard to tell the letters and dots apart.

She makes me say how much I love her and how cute she is all the time, but claims to be too embarrassed to do the same for me. It’s not fair. Adorable, but not fair.

…… And, if she’s not going to play fair, then it’s okay for me to be a bit unfair, too, right?

“Have you cooled off a bit, Ginko?”

“………… Mn-hm ……,” she answers softly, but I can tell her discontent hasn’t gone anywhere. Then Ginko purses her lips and says, “………… It feels like we’re further apart …… now that I’m a professional ……”

“That’s not true.”

I lie to her face again. Ginko has to make appearances at Shogi events and talk with the press while I’ve got a ton of matches to do. It’s obvious that the time we have to spend together has gone way down.

Then there were Master’s conditions ……

Things will work out on my end if I just need to get into the A division. I don’t mean to sound full of myself but, objectively, I’d say I’ll be there in five years tops.

It’s Ginko that’s the problem.

Master said for her to get results, but he didn’t give any specifics.

Even if he’s not expecting her to get a title, perhaps he’s talking about winning the Newcomer’s Tournament or a Speed Tournament. There’s a chance he could be talking about ranking in placement matches or making it to a title match.

Ginko is 4-dan at 16.

Considering how fast she made it into the pros, she definitely could claim a title and winning a tournament is more than possible.

It’s just …… I went through hell my first year as a pro. I lost my debut match too ……

New 4-dans obviously have potential in terms of skill and have momentum, but so many pros stumble out of the gate.

The reason is ………… No. There’s no point spelling it out right now. It would just stress her out even more.

Which is why I pull her even closer with my arms and say, “…… Master will understand if our Shogi is good enough, I know he will.”

Because we are pro Shogi players. Expressing ourselves on the board is the only way we know how.