Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 15 - Chapter 5.7

  THE BEST PRESENT

Ma-chan gets back to Amanohashidate late at night.

“First is the consolation party, correct? Then we are to celebrate the completion of the manuscript!”

Of course I’m prepared to accompany her to hell and back tonight.

“What would you like to do with my columns? I’ve got them printed out ……”

“I’m much more in the mood for a stiff drink than manuscripts at the moment.”

I couldn’t have agreed more, so I called down to the front desk to have room service bring up food and drinks for both of us. In the meantime, Ma-chan relieves all that built-up stress from her match and the traveling with a dip in the hot spring. She comes back dressed in a yukata robe and our party night begins.

The weather takes a turn for the worse right away.

A blizzard hits, a big one the likes of which hasn’t happened here in years. The old building rattles and clatters in the wind as the coastline gets battered by constant waves throughout the night. Any other time, I’d be scared stiff that this ancient building would fall apart, but–––.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Ma-chan, who almost never drinks, laughs the entire time.

She’s drunk, for sure.

“Testing out all the magic she read against you, Yaichi?! Doesn’t Ginko know human experimentation is cruel?! It now makes far too much sense that her younger brother apprentice was warped into the twisted lolicon he is today! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“I know, right?! It’s all Big Sis’s fault that I turned into a loli- …… Wait, wait!! You’re saying that I’m not actually a lolicon, aren’t you?!!”

“Tales of the Kiyotaki household are all such a lark! Forget the columns, these stories would make a stupendous book on their own! You must tell me more! ♡”

“…… Okay, here’s a doozy for you.”

I realize liquid courage has a lot to do with it, but Ma-chan is recovering from the damage she took in that loss surprisingly well.

So …… now’s a good time to tell her that story.

“One day, Ai came up to me out of the blue and said this: Master …… what do I do? She looked devastated.”

“Oh, was she? And why was that?”

“Oh, it was perfect! She looked up at me like the world was about to end and said …… I don’t have any more Shogi puzzles left to do …… Can you believe that?!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just how much does she love those puzzles?! The apprentice is just as warped as the Master!”

“So I went to somebody I know who knows a thing or two about computers and had them create some puzzles for her. A whole mess of them.”

“Computers? Why do computers factor into it?” Ma-chan asks with genuine curiosity, so I reveal the trick.

“Software can play against itself and other programs at high speed, right? So I had him extract the formations right before checkmate to put together 50,000 puzzles directly from real matches.”

“……!!”

It’s possible to make an endless supply of Shogi puzzles that way.

And I can’t think of a more efficient method to train for all the new late-game situations that happen with software.

“I see ………… So that is what caused my failure ……”

The first inkling of sadness shows up on Ma-chan’s face as she quietly whispers.

“…… After experiencing that terror in the late-game myself, I know all too well. The present you gave Ai was no mere collection of Shogi puzzles.”

“…….”

“Yaichi, you gifted Ai …… with an era in which she could use her talents to the fullest extent, did you not? Using me to do so ………… You egregious lolicon ……”

The era was going to come to an end sooner or later, but ……

“Kuzuryu’s Notebook might have sped up the clock just a little bit …… Thank you, Ma-chan.”

Formations and strategies aren’t the only things that are going to change.

Ai and the generation beneath her won’t be taught by human beings.

Once that happens …… will the Master-apprentice relationship disappear too?

Everyone I’ve met in my life, I met because of Shogi. Master, Big Sis, the two Ais …… Even friends like Ma-chan and Ayumu.

If human connections like that also disappear, then–––.

“Kh ……… kh ………… khkh ………… ngh …… ah …………”

“Ma-chan?”

I thought she was laughing at first. Just like she’s been laughing all this time.

But, it’s the opposite.

Drip …… Drip …… The little splashes of water on the tatami mat prove it.

“Wahh …… Waaahh! Ngh …… Waaaaahh-ah! …… Waaaaaahhh ……!!”

Ma-chan starts bawling like a little kid.

Just like she did back when we met at the Elementary Meijin Tournament.

“Nggghhh ……! Wah …… WAAAAAAHHHH! UWAAAAHHHHHH ……!!”

“Gaah …… Sorry, Ma-chan ………… I’m sorry ……”

Now wasn’t the time to tell her that story after all.

“Don’t cry ……”

This is all my fault, but I don’t know how to fix it and I’m just so sorry about the whole thing that all I can do is tell Ma-chan don’t cry, over and over like a broken record.

How many times has this played out before?

Ma-chan wipes away the tears with both hands and says, “…………… You gave Ai a present? That’s not fair ……”

“I know …… I’m sorry ……”

“…… Give me a present, too ……”

“Sure. If it’s something I can give you …… What do you want?”

“A time slip.”

“Huh?”

Her request is so out there I doubt my ears.

“Surely you remember? Our conversation on the train when we arrived here in Amanohashidate.”

“Y-Yeah ……”

Ma-chan quietly asked me a question that day: Do you ever wish for a chance to relive your life? To correct the mistakes you’ve made thus far?

I couldn’t answer her. I mean, it’s impossible anyway. But–––.

“I would relish the chance to do so.”

“Why ……? What would you change? Your match today? Or …… your whole life?”

“My story with you, Yaichi.”

With that, Machi …… gets to her feet.

Then, she loosens her yukata sash–––.

The fabric falls, almost in slow motion, into a pile at her feet–––.

Her birthday suit completely exposed, Machi Kugui says….

“Look at me… not as a player or journalist …… just me.”

I can’t believe what’s happening in front of my eyes, just …… the pure beauty of her naked body is breathtaking.

The more I tell myself I shouldn’t be looking, the more my eyes get pulled in ……

“N–––.”

Recovering from the shock, I panic and turn my back.

“No, don’t do this! I-I know how bad losing big matches hurts, but you’re going overboard …… You can’t get drunk and strip down in front of a guy who isn’t your lover! It’s not right!!”

I get up to leave the room, but–––Ma-chan wraps her arms around me from behind to keep me inside.

“Don’t leave me by my lonesome.”

“M-Ma-chan …… Please, just let me go, okay? If you don’t, I’ll have to force my way–––.”

“That, you cannot.”

She pulls me in tight, cutting me off and pressing her whole body against me at the same time.

Between the feeling of her soft skin and the sweet smell of alcohol on her breath, I can’t think straight anymore.

All these vivid sensations hit so much harder than just seeing her naked ……. I’m on the verge of losing my mind.

“…… For I am aware, Yaichi, aware that you are unable to abandon me. Yaichi Kuzuryu is simply unable …… to leave a girl shedding tears after losing a Shogi match to suffer on her own.”

“…………”

“I am not the only one. The same holds true for Ai and Ten-chan. As you are much too kind for your own good, you cannot forsake a girl in pain. That is particularly true for the poorest girl of them all–––.”

“MA-CHAN!!”

I shout to stop her before she rips open her heart.

“You’re not crying anymore, see? That means I can pull your hands off me. Want me to show you?”

“Have you still not noticed?”

“What?”

“You are the one in tears, Yaichi.”

I’m …… crying?

“Ever since arriving at this inn, you have cried in your sleep without fail. Everything from tears to nightmarish moans …… All the while calling out a certain name on an endless loop ……”

“……! Well, um …………”

“Shackled, even in your own dreams. Poor, poor, Yaichi.”

Offense and defense switched places at some point.

I can’t break free from Ma-chan’s delicate arms.

Actually, I’m pretty sure her grip on me is even tighter than before–––.

“………… But ………… Even still, those girls are all I …………”

“Shogi lineage bonds are fleeting. No matter how many attempts you may have to try again, Ai and Ginko shall both disappear from you. You said so yourself.”

“…………”

“But is that truly your fault, Yaichi? From my point of view, you have simply been thrown by the wayside. It is only natural your wounds would run deep!”

Since everyone is always blaming me …… Since I’m always blaming myself, those words are sweet narcotic nectar.

“I yearn to see more of your Shogi, Yaichi. I yearn to see you rise to the top of the Shogi world. I will do anything, anything at all …… to soothe your scars. Anything ……”

Ma-chan knows more about me than I know about myself. Her sequence has me completely contained, sealing off any chances I had to counter.

“Additionally …… I am able to gift you with the best present, Yaichi.”

“And …… that is?”

“Something that will never betray you,” says Ma-chan as she unties my sash from behind. “Not something as fickle as Shogi …… but one which is bound to you by real blood.”

“……!! Do you mean ……?”

Machi Kugui mercilessly pummels a desire sleeping deep within me that even I hadn’t noticed was there.

She knows how because she learned more about me than anyone while working as a Shogi journalist.

Everything Ma-chan is saying is something that my heart wants in one way or another.

Even things that I’ve been pursuing without realizing it–––.

“I love you.”

Ahh ……

Ma-chan gives me the most comforting words, the words I’ve been longing to hear.

“I love your Shogi. I love the magical strategies you speak of. I love the way in which you write. I love your mannerisms while holding Shogi pieces. I love the way your eyes behold the board. I absolutely adore …… you playing Shogi, Yaichi.”

Just like the way she convinced me to write a book, Ma-chan always has a way of giving me something.

A way to fill the gaping hole of loneliness.

Her words. Her body.

And her heart.

“It is possible to pin all of the blame on me at this very moment. I, having lost myself in the agony of defeat, resorted to alcohol and sought you out for comfort …… Perfectly explained.”

Machi’s petite fingers make bold moves.

And then my yukata falls to the floor.

“I love you and your sins, Yaichi.”

The verse that Ma-chan recited at Amanohashidate.

The meaning behind ware mo tsumi-noko, kimi mo tsumi-noko.

I looked it up once I got my smartphone back.

Two forbidden lovers cannot hold back the feelings they have for each other any longer and allow their hearts to take over. A song about cheating.

It’s–––a song about betraying those most important to you.

Which means that Ma-chan already had this in mind back then ……

“No one shall ever know what transpires this deep in the countryside. This storm shall stifle any noise. No matter how raucous the encounter becomes ………… it can always remain our secret ……”

Secret.

That word is just as provocative as the feeling of her bare skin pressing against mine.

If we kept it a secret like that night on the Shogi retreat–––.

“Ma-chan.”

I turn around …… and look at her, face to face.

“Ah ……! Yaichi ……!! Oh, Yaichi, Yaichi, Yaichi …………!!” Caressing my chest up and down, Ma-chan absentmindedly whispers, “Let us begin anew. Start a story without Ai or Ginko involved–––.”

“My story is right here.”

“……………………… Huh?”

Once I knew the meaning behind that poem, I understood what the answer was.

I figured out what Ma-chan had wished for at Amanohashidate Shrine.

Which is why I prepared all of it.

A way to answer those feelings.

“Read. This is my answer.”

Picking up my yukata off the floor, I slip it back on before going over to get Ma-chan’s and drape it over her shoulders. Then I give her the manuscripts.

“Are these ………… the columns? The ones you plan to submit for the book? Why now of all times would you–––?”

Ma-chan cocks a confused eyebrow as she scans the first page.

“……!!”

Suddenly she starts reading for real.

What I have printed out for her–––is the story of a Shogi ghost.

It’s about a country boy who came to the big city to train to become a Shogi player. He meets a Shogi ghost who happens to be inhabiting his Master’s house, and they grow up together.

However, the Shogi ghost disappears and leaves the boy behind.

That’s why the boy decided to write a book. Considering how much the ghost loved Shogi, there was no doubt in his mind that she would read it.

“Remember what you taught me when I said I had writer’s block? You said you wanted kids who couldn’t read very well to understand Kuzuryu’s Notebook.”

“…………”

“She was the one who read books to me when I couldn’t read them myself. She tried out the strategies that were written in the book on me …… I learned what the book was about that way. It was how we read together ……”

The silver-haired Shogi ghost loved reading all of the books in Master’s place.

And I loved watching her read them.

“When I couldn’t think of what to write, I remembered what she looked like when she was reading …… And ideas started coming. All the questions went away, and words started to flow naturally.”

I always waited for her to finish whatever chapter she was on like a puppy. Once she got out her plastic Shogi board, she’d line up the new strategy and summarize for me.

Even now, I’m waiting for her to do the same thing.

“I wasn’t crying because I was sad. It’s because I was happy. I know it’s just in dreams, but …… I get to see the Shogi ghost again.”

I can’t deny that losing my Shogi family put me in despair.

Those wounds are still fresh.

“But I still believe! I believe that Shogi creates lasting bonds between people.”

I spell out my everlasting love for Shogi at the end of the column.

My love for Shogi and my love for the Shogi ghost.

It’s the passage that turned my face bright red after I finished writing it.

“No matter how many times I get hurt, no matter how much pain I go through …… I would still take Ai as my apprentice, and I would still fall in love with Ginko.”

Just as I would still keep playing Shogi if I lost tens of thousands of times.

Even if that meant making mistakes I couldn’t undo.

“So …… I’m sorry, but I can’t do that with you, Machi.”

Beautiful, and a strong Shogi player.

A kind wife who understands me better than anyone else on earth.

A cute kid who looks exactly like her.

If I had a warm, loving family to welcome me after every hard-fought match.

If I could achieve that happiness by redoing a part of my life.

Should someone ask me if those thoughts cross my mind when I’m all alone …… I couldn’t deny it.

Should someone ask me if I didn’t consider it when Machi said she loved me, I couldn’t deny that either.

So I think the first thing I’ll do when I see her again is apologize. That includes the Shogi retreat I’ve kept secret all these years.

She’ll be furious, I’m sure. I can already hear her usual drop dead and put your head on a pike threats, but I miss them too.

“……………… You dastard, Yaichi ……,” Machi mumbles without looking up from the page. “Just like this, you always, always …… make me an observer ……”

Plip …… P-Plip ……

My resolve shatters so easily after seeing those pearly tears fall onto the paper.

“Ahh …… Don’t cry. You can’t cry …… Not over me ……”

“No, no. I shall cry.”

She begrudgingly glares at me as my nerves teeter on the edge.

Then, puffing her cheeks out like a little kid, my first editor holds the manuscript tight against her chest and says.

“After reading such a touching story …… How could I not cry?!”

“I’m using that photo for the author’s picture, by the way.”

I didn’t understand what the editor-in-chief meant when he said so.

“It’s a great one, that. Maybe you finally outdid the one I took 10 years ago, hm? But, yeah, we’ll be using your picture from the title match on the cover, so go along with it, okay?!”

There’s no one else here at the association’s editorial department. My boss seems to be in a particularly good mood as he shows me the cover samples for Kuzuryu’s Notebook that just came back from the printer.

“Boss ………… No, Master.”

I interrupt Taisei Kayaoku 7-dan, the man who is both my superior and my Master.

The Shogi Association typically puts publication responsibilities on the shoulders of professional players themselves.

However, Master is the only one who took on editing duties as well.

After retirement, Master left the classroom he runs in his hometown Kyoto to an apprentice who has promotional instructor qualifications. Now he lords over the editorial department in the basement of the association building in Sendagaya with too much free time on his hands.

Although that is the very reason I have as much freedom as I do ……

“I apologize for going well over budget for the sake of one book. However, Kuzuryu’s Notebook is guaranteed to sell and will surely change the Shogi world as we know it. It’s the association’s duty to release–––.”

“I don’t doubt the quality. What was it I taught you as your Master, hm?”

“How to structure an article, how to take photographs and how to edit and collect material.”

“That’s right. Because my Shogi wasn’t up to snuff. After that Elementary Meijin tournament, when you asked me to take you under my wing as an apprentice, I made up my mind right then and there that I wouldn’t teach you a thing on the board. Instead–––.”

“What was it?”

“That I would tell you something once you took a picture like this. It’s the reason why a complete amateur’s picture can be so powerful. …… Would you like to know?”

“! ……… Yes. Please enlighten me.”

“It’s love,” said Master with a face more serious than I’ve seen in ages. “A pro photographer analyzes their subject with a cool head and tries to take a good picture. It’s just like how pro players ignore the styles they enjoy and play the ones most likely to win.”

“…………”

“But, amateurs take pictures because they want to take a picture. Think back to parents at recitals and Little League sports. They take pictures of their own kids like their lives depend on it, yeah? That’s how those miracle shots turn up, as one in those hundreds.”

“In other words …… it’s the photographer’s love that’s important?”

“When I took that picture years ago, it was the first one I wanted to take in a long time. That little girl crying up on the podium …… She pulled at my heartstrings. She reminded me a lot of my daughter back when she was that age.”

My heart is already in a weakened state, but those words deliver a final blow.

I remove my glasses with a start and wipe away tears forming in my eyes.

“Where did that come from …………? Are you offering praise to your recently heartbroken apprentice?”

“It’s too early to jump to conclusions, now. I’ll cut to the chase.”

He picks up the cover sample again.

“The cover photo …… Kuzuryu’s expression as he claims his first victory against the Meijin in last year’s Ryuo Title Match isn’t bad at all. You’ve captured his desire to become even stronger very well. The thing is, though–––.”

Master points to a small picture on the edge of the cover.

It’s a snapshot I took of Yaichi–––at the water’s edge close to Amanohashidate Shrine after I splashed him with isoshimizu spring water.

“A lot more comes across in this picture. That includes your voice.”

“……. My voice ……?”

“Even in this tiny little picture, your voice comes through loud and clear. And, if you look at the picture from 10 years ago after seeing it–––.”

Master takes a Shogi magazine from 10 years ago off his desk and immediately opens it to the exact page that I’ve opened hundreds of times before. Except this time, I hear it surprisingly clearly.

“I’ve loved you since the day we met.”

There was no need to redo anything. I should have said so at Amanohashidate Shrine.

Recounted the tale of the girl watching over her first love.

The girl in the princess’s shadow who kept her feelings hidden …… and only worked up the courage to come forward because she wanted him to smile again.

“………… But it’s already too late. If only you had told me sooner, I ………… Master, you fool ……… Why didn’t you say so sooner ……? Jerk ………”

“Too late? Say so sooner? Good grief. Has Machi the Tormentor gone soft?”

My Master, who has watched the careers of many players over the years and written so much about them that he has been dubbed the Sage, continues.

“Take a look at Kuzuryu’s face. You’ll feel something, I guarantee it!”

He enthusiastically points at Yaichi in the picture taken by his apprentice and tells me.

The boy’s story is ongoing. The princess may still be the heroine right now, but–––.

My story, my love is also ongoing …… and it is only just begun at long last.