Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.6

  CHIRITORI DUSTPAN

“I’m leaving for Tokyo tonight!!” I declare at the top of my lungs as soon as I step through the door of Master’s place.

Then, once I get the shoes off my absent-minded Master, I pull him into the tatami room. Just to be clear, I made him return the power stones before we left.

“Happy New Year, Yaichi. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

Keika pops her head out of the kitchen and gives me one of the most cookie-cutter New Year’s greetings I’ve ever heard.

“My, my. Welcome back, Father. You sure look refreshed.”

That’s how she describes Master without all those power stones jangling from his arms before going back into the kitchen with an offhanded, “Dinner’s almost ready.”

Of course, I’m angry as hell.

“Don’t my, my me, Keika! Ai is …… Did you send Ai off to Tokyo knowing that she was going to live with Mr. Natagiri?!”

“I did.”

What’s that little nod for, huh?!

“Why didn’t you tell me something that important?! If I knew, I would’ve stopped her from moving out right then and there!!”

“Calm down, Yaichi. Ai is not living with Natagiri-sensei, but in the room that he uses for research next door to his apartment–––.”

“That’s now officially a lolicon playroom!!”

Nicknamed the Switch Hitter, Natagiri 8-dan is known to lure members of the Sub League, as well as college students belonging to university Shogi clubs (all men by the way), to research at his apartment. Their preferences don’t mean a thing to him. I was seriously worried about Ayumu when he went to one of those sessions.

Even if he never puts any moves on Ai directly, an innocent, pure grade school girl won’t survive very long living in a place like that. Letting her live there is absurd!

“A grade school girl living in the same apartment as a pro Shogi player is insane!! I have to stop it! It’s obvious he’s after something dirty!!”

“Do you hear yourself right now, Yaichi? You’re not just spitting on the heavens, you’re slobbering all over them.”

“I wasn’t after that, so no harm, no foul!!”

No matter what society calls me, whatever is up there knows for a fact that I’m no lolicon!

“All I did was take a girl in grade school as a live-in apprentice, host her friends for overnight study sessions and offer to make one of them my bride! What’s so wrong about that?!”

“You struck out from the first move ……”

“Look, I’m taking the next train to Tokyo and that’s final! I have to get Ai out of there!!”

“And I’m telling you to calm down!!”

Keika, holding a square pot that looks like a chiritori dustpan for some reason, whacks me over the head with it just before I make a break for the door. OOOUCH!!

“Natagiri-sensei is in A division, remember? He also overcame the barrier that comes with being born in the countryside. An amazing person like that agreed to take Ai in. He even said that he’d fill in as her Master while in Tokyo!”

“Fill in as her Master?!” I retort with a laugh. “Hah! Has he ever once taken an apprentice in his life? NO! I’d really appreciate it if he didn’t throw that word around like it was nothing!!”

“He’s not taking it lightly. How could he when he’s in the middle of the fight of his life right now?”

“……!!”

Those words stop me in my tracks.

“You realize what position Natagiri-sensei is in right now, don’t you Yaichi? He’s fighting for his legacy. Despite that, he kept his promise and made sure that Ai has a place to call home. Could you do that?”

“Ugh …………”

I can’t say anything back.

If I were in Mr. Natagiri’s shoes …… I wouldn’t be able to go that far.

It’s not hypothetical, either. It’s because I couldn’t …… I neglected Ai when I was in the middle of that, and ended up hurting her ……

Keika’s offensive isn’t over.

“Even if you went, could you actually bring her back? You had your chance to force her to stay already and you couldn’t even get the words out, could you?”

“…………”

Right again …… I couldn’t stop Ai from leaving.

The last match we played against each other ended in a repetition draw. The option to start over …… was there. I had the ability to give us a clean slate and start from square one, both in that match and as Master and apprentice. Instead, I said this: “That’s enough. It’s over.”

And then I turned my back on her. By choice.

I’m the one who doesn’t deserve to be called Master, not Mr. Natagiri. I know that. Keika doesn’t have to spell it out for me ……!!

“…… Ai is in the Women’s League, but she’s still just a grade schooler. For a girl her age to be living away from her parents in Tokyo …… I’m worried … so worried I can’t stand it ……”

Her living conditions aren’t the only thing.

I’m worried that with her in the Kanto Shogi Association building, among all those pros and Women’s League players she’s never met before, she might be isolated.

I don’t doubt her skill or talent, not at all.

I’m worried because she’s so young, skilled, talented.

“I understand exactly where your worries are coming from, Yaichi.”

There’s a twinge of sadness in her eyes as Keika quietly continues.

“I’m a member of the Women’s League, too. I know exactly how the other women in Kanto look at Ai, painfully so ………… And it makes me feel like a horrible person ……”

“……! Keika ……”

A young, cute and extremely talented grade school girl.

Being part of the same Shogi family tree, there is no way for Keika to escape her own jealousy.

And, after watching everything that Big Sis went through, she has a better idea of what trials and tribulations are waiting for Ai than the rest of us combined.

“That was all the more reason for me to talk through every detail with Natagiri-sensei first. I saw Ai off with no doubt in my mind that everything she needed to become an outstanding Women’s League player was waiting for her on the other side.”

“I admit that working with Mr. Natagiri would help shore up Ai’s early game weaknesses, but ……”

“That’s important, too. But I think being under the same roof as …… has even more merit. …………… With those two around, I’m sure she’ll ……”

“Huh? Keika? What are you talking–––?”

Her voice drifted off in the middle of that, so I ask for clarification.

“…… Never mind. I’m more worried about you, actually ……” She puts her hand on my cheek and says, “You’ve lost weight, haven’t you? Are you eating right? I’m sure the food that Ai left for you is long gone by now.”

“………… I don’t feel like eating. Nothing tastes good anyway ……”

“But you would still go for this, wouldn’t you?”

She holds up that square pan from earlier. Suddenly it clicks and I yell, “Are you making–––?”

“That’s right. Chiritori nabe!”

Osaka is known for all sorts of food, but there’s only one that makes you feel like ¥1 million. That’s chiritori nabe.

“Pheeeew ……!! That’s hot! My stomach feels like a furnace ……!!”

A stew boils away in that square pot with chives and bean sprouts piled up high!

Strips of thick, fresh meat dance on the bubbles!

I pour on minced garlic and chili paste for a sweet, yet spicy kick and shovel another bite into my mouth with my chopsticks!

“Now that’s the stuff! And the meat, wow! It’s good! Seriously, this is Osaka in a bowl right here!”

It’s the middle of winter, but sweat is pouring down my face! Power is building deep in my gut! Warm all the way to the core ……!

Even my shell of a Master smiles as he wipes away the sweat and helps himself to another bowl.

“Keika. Get me another beer ……”

“What did I say about pacing yourself? It’s been a while since you drank,” Keika warns him, but still fills his glass with ice cold beer. 

She wanted another one, too.

Eat and drink to your heart’s content and then go back for more. We devour everything, right down to the last grain of rice.

I don’t remember the last time I was this full.

“Whew. Brings back memories, doesn’t it? ………… This flavor, this place ……”

The four of us would always have a hearty meal after coming back from the Shinnosai Festival. That was standard.

A square pot, one corner for each member of the family.

I loved how it lined up perfectly like that.

“It’s so hard to fill up your bowl when the pot handle is in the way. Ginko used to grab everything from around the edges to avoid it,” Keika says to the empty spot where somebody used to be. 

“And she’d put so much sauce on top of her risotto that it would bleed over into the stew, remember?!” I say to the person who isn’t here right now.

So many of my memories in Osaka revolve around chiritori nabe.

After Ai became my apprentice, we never really ate it at the Kiyotaki house, since there were five of us.

Part of it was because it’s easier to make more in a big, round pot, but …… I’m pretty sure that, in Keika’s eyes, there’s something special about four people eating it together.

“………… Dad’s become a featherweight, too.”

Master is fast asleep on the table with his glass of beer still in his hand. Keika drapes a blanket around his shoulders.

“You’ll be staying the night, won’t you, Yaichi?”

“…… No, I’ll head home. Thanks so much for dinner.”

“Oh ………… Are you angry?”

“No, no. I just have work to do.”

Being as gentle as possible, I lie through my teeth despite the sad look in Keika’s eyes.

The truth is that I’ve already moved in with Ai Yashajin in Nishinomiya …… But I can’t bring myself to say so. For one thing, the possibility that Big Sis might find out through Keika is terrifying. And–––.

…… I’ll never be able to go back to the room where Ai used to rush up to greet me ever again ……, I whisper to myself, watching my breath disappear in the cold air as I walk down the street away from Master’s place.

It’s freezing outside tonight.

No matter how I try, I’ll never have any sway over Ai Hinatsuru again.

That fact is what makes it all feel real.

It hurts just how well I understand how Master felt when he bought all those power stones at Sukunahikona Shrine.

The sting of an apprentice leaving the nest ……

It’s out of my hands …… I know that. Really, I do. Still …… There’s something I have to try ……

At the very least, I want to know how she is.

That, and I want to pray. Pray for her to become strong. Pray for her health. Pray for her to be happy.

“Would anyone know? Anyone at all ……?”

Someone I know well has the ability to check on Ai, and …… might know where Big Sis is and what she’s up to.

“I’m sure that Master has sworn Chairman Tsukimitsu and his secretary Ms. Oga to secrecy, so there’s no point asking them. The same is probably true for Shakando-sensei. Ayumu …… He might know about how Ai is doing, but has no idea about Big Sis. Not to mention that he’s on the cusp of promoting into A division, so I’d rather not distract him ……”

My promotion to B-2 was set in stone before the new year started, so the rest of my matches are meaningless.

But Ayumu is in B-1. That hell is known as the Demon’s Nest for a reason. They have to play against every other member of the division, so there are tons of matches. Then there’s the fact that Ayumu’s drive to become Meijin has been on another level since we were kids. Seriously, he refuses to let a single second go to waste. That’s how he got through the Sub League in a single season and skyrocketed up the ranks by going undefeated in placement matches since then ……

I cross names off the list in my head one by one.

Then, once I figure out the last one, a restrained smile takes over my face.

“………… They’re the only one, aren’t they?” I whisper as I take out my smartphone and look through my contacts.

My last hope …… No, she’s all I had from the start.

But that’s exactly why contacting her is so scary …… Mess up my only chance to win, and there’s nothing left to do but throw in the towel.

Thumbs trembling, I type out a message. My heart beats in my ears as my fingers go numb from the cold.

For the subject line, I go with this:

“Invitation to a Practice Session”

The addressee––––––Machi Kugui