Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 16 - Chapter 1.2

  STRATEGY MEETING

“Thanks for having us!!”

It’s been a long time since I stepped through that small curtain into this shop, but it hasn’t changed at all over the years.

Kannabe Tofu is on the first floor of Ayumu’s parents’ house.

After Ryou and I muscled Ayumu into a taxi, the three of us traveled all the way here to his family’s tofu shop in Fukagawa.

Ayumu still lives in the room on the second floor where he grew up. I don’t know why, but I have to stop myself from giggling whenever I picture him putting on that white cape of his in here and going to play a match. By the way, Ryou also lives with her parents in Chofu, Tokyo. There’s no merit in paying high rent and living on your own in Tokyo when your parents have a house there already. A lot of unmarried Shogi players do just that.

Machi shows up not long after we arrive. All of us sit in a circle and start the meeting.

“Being in this room in this company brings about a wave of nostalgia.”

This nine by nine, four-and-a-half tatami-mat room is just as barren as it was back in grade school. He only has a Shogi board and a computer in here. The only difference is that there are more clothes now.

Players in our generation usually have a videogame system or some manga in their room, but not Ayumu. Maybe he wants to always feel like he’s in an arena? He doesn’t even keep Shogi books in here. He never has.

“When was the last time the four of us were here?”

“Probably the day Trash went pro, yeah? You crashed here that night.”

“Oh yeah. I remember now.”

Sub League members are broke. Travel expenses for the 3-dan division are covered by the association, but I always stayed with Ayumu to save money rather than pay for a hotel.

He’d also stay at Master Kiyotaki’s place when he had matches in Kansai, and Machi used to host all of us at her place in Kyoto for practice sessions ……

Empty as it is, I sure have a lot of memories in this room.

“Aren’t you the one who made that scratch in the wall, Ryou? That time you tackled Ayumu?”

“Ahhh, yeah. He was gripin’ that my release was sloppy in the middle of a match and that ticked me off so much I jumped him. Sloppy release, huh? I’ll show ya up close and personal! Had him pinned down with my fist cocked an’ ready to go, too.”

I’m amazed they’re still on talking terms, let alone friends.

“You had a really short fuse back then, Ryou …… I lost count how many times you punched me ……”

“Kids are kids, don’t go blaming me,” Ryou snaps back.

Machi adds, “I was not prone to rush to violence, if you remember?”

“…… I remember you pushing me down the stairs in the middle of the night when I was on my way to the bathroom, and locking me inside once I was there ……”

“Ohhhh? ♡ It could have been a wily spirit playing tricks on you!”

“So, you admit to being a demon? At last, you show your tail, wicked fox!”

Wow. We never run out of things to talk about when the four of us get together. Fun times.

Well, I suppose it’s just three of us because Ayumu hasn’t said a word. Then again, he was always the quiet one. Even in his own house, all the guy ever talks about is Shogi.

Yeah, we’re Ayumu’s best friends and he still doesn’t tell us about himself.

That’s why we’re always surprised when he does something crazy.

“So? Why did you propose out of the blue like that?”

“…………”

This is Ayumu’s room, but he’s just sitting there hugging his knees. Completely silent, he looks tiny over there.

“You were serious …… Yeah? The three of us know you don’t joke around like that.”

“And that you’ve adored that ha- …… Shakando-sensei since way back.”

Ryou is terrible at picking up on these things, but even she knows how Ayumu feels. Everyone does.

But I thought it was more admiration than anything else.

To think he’d actually propose to her ……

“That being said, there’s a time and a place, right? Shakando-sensei’s title match is about to start and romance is the last thing you should be thinking about right before your first A League match."

“And that ha- …… Sensei has a rough time playing on her own, yeah? Having someone there to help out gives her a big leg up, but you put a freakin’ wrecking ball through your relationship right before the series starts? Are ya brain dead?”

“Despite her coarse words, O-Ryou speaks the truth. Should news of this incident become known, images of you assisting Shakando-sensei during the Women’s Legend Title Match would draw the media in like shark bait,” says Machi, completely ignoring the fact that she’s the one who prepped the bait with all the pictures she took.

“Speaking of which, she entrusted me with a message for you. You need not accompany me during this title match series. Focus on your own Shogi.”

“…………”

Getting rebuked by his Master via Machi after our interrogation makes Ayumu shrink smaller still.

This is the worst possible outcome for his longshot proposal.

I’m starting to feel bad for him. Right when I am trying to figure out a way to compliment him, Ayumu finally says something quietly under his breath.

“………… I wanted you to be witnesses.”

“Witnesses?”

In other words …… to be there when he proposed?

Shakando-sensei did try to play it off as a childish joke. Since he seems to have tried many times before, I can understand the logic behind getting other people involved to show that he’s serious.

Still ……

“It’s not uncommon for pros to marry Women’s League players, but …… Has a Master ever married an apprentice before?”

“It has happened, in the 1980s to be precise,” answers Machi. “Though the male Master was older in that instance. In fact, men in a variety of fields, not just in Shogi, have been betrothed to female apprentices they took under their wing plenty of times before. It’s a common pattern.”

“Which means that when it turns out you end up married to that kid apprentice of yours someday it’s normal. Ain’t that nice, Trash?”

“How about that? The Master-apprentice hurdle isn’t that high after all …… not that I care!! W-W-W-We aren’t talking about me right now!!”

“What’s with the stutter storm? …… Seriously, Trash, you aren’t really ……?”

“No, no, 100 times no! My apprentices and I aren’t like that one little bit!!”

But there have been close calls.

Ai Yashajin has made her feelings about me very clear, and we live together.

Not to mention the reason that Ai Hinatsuru, the one about to play against Shakando-sensei in a title match series, moved out after being my live-in apprentice was …… Cough, cough, cough!

If either of these facts gets out, the Shogi world is as good as dead. Panicking, I change the subject.

“Hypothetically! Just hypothetically! Even if Masters and apprentices have gotten married before …… There are other problems!”

“Aaagh? Like what?”

“Think of all the female fans that Ayumu finally has. What do you think will happen once it gets out that he proposed to his Master the instant he got into A League ……? The association’s image would take a big hit, right? With Ayumu’s handsome player with spotless record reputation to protect.”

“Spotless reputation. Not a single rumor …… Hah!” Ryou snorts through her nose.

“Don’cha think his following would skyrocket if he had a rep for liking cougars?”

“Do not be so rude, O-Ryou. Besides, it is not older women that strike Ayumu’s fancy, but Shakando-sensei only …… Though it would prove a difficult blow for the Shogi world to endure ……”

An experienced writer and editor for Shogi magazines herself, Machi holds her head while she thinks.

I understand a lot more than I used to after everything I saw her go through to get my book published.

“Young, handsome players answering the question What is your type? has become the backbone of many an interview. Access to that knowledge convinces many to buy magazines.”

“A lot of Ayumu’s fans want to marry him, seriously. There are even quite a few mothers who are trying to set him up with their daughters. It’s bizarre how many mother-daughter pairs come up to him ……”

It’s completely different from the usual parents accompanying their grade-school aged child at Shogi events.

Mothers are accompanying daughters who are clearly old enough to get married. They get dressed up and come to get Ayumu’s autograph or take instructional lessons from him. Sitting side by side in kimonos across from him like that, it looks like an arranged marriage is being set up ……

“One such as I has returned!”

Just then, an overly energetic voice echoes up the first floor.

“What is today’s snack, mother? Dorayaki bean pastries? Oh, and there were many shoes by the front door. Do we have guests?”

Step, step, step …… Someone’s coming upstairs. Based on the sounds, I’d say–––

“…… A sixth grader.”

“Gross!”

I was only joking, but Ryou sounds genuinely shocked. I mean, that voice is impossible to mistake.

Sliding the door open with vigor is–––the grade school girl who wears her hair up like cat ears, Maria Kannabe.

“Ugh?! Wh-What are the likes of you doing here?!”

“Hello.”

Ayumu’s little sister is giving us the evil eye as we wave back to her.

That’s when Ryou’s inner bully makes its move.

“Sub League members ain’t supposed to have tasty stuff like that. Distracts from training, yeah? Fork half of ’em over.”

“Quiet you! One such as I will not be ordered around by the weed who was demoted from the Sub League and scurried away with her tail between her legs! And in my own house, no less!”

“You’re the one who should start scurrying! I’ve been in and out of this room since before you were born, half-pint!”

No, Maria had already been born. It’s just that we were so focused on Shogi that we never noticed anything else. For kids who daydream about Shogi, a person who can’t play may as well be empty air ……

Ryou deals with Maria by swatting back at her, swiping a handful of dorayaki as she complains, “One such as I never!” and then escorted her to a seat on the floor.

“Oh, hey,” said Ryou while wolfing down pastries, “I’m starving. You?”

“I forgot about it after everything that happened, but we didn’t eat anything at the restaurant, did we ……?”

Fancy food is great, but I could go for something else right now …… Something simple, like what you’d find at a small restaurant off the main street. Something I can really sink my teeth into. Man, I’m hungry ……

Machi puts a finger to her cheek and elegantly says.

“I would like to indulge in that dish. It has been far too long.”

“By that do you mean what the shop downstairs is known for? Right?!”

“What else? Whip some up.”

“What?! What is this dish?!”

It’s called Fukagawa Tofu.

“I shall be borrowing both your kitchen and a block of firm tofu.”

Fukagawa Tofu is a local dish that came from an old Tokyo suburb. It’s just tofu with the clams this area is known for. Simple, right?

Even though Machi is from Kyoto, she’s really good at making it.

“This dish shares much in common with Kyoto’s cuisine. Its simplicity brings out the best flavors of quality ingredients directly.”

“As they say, Kyoto’s flavor and Naniwa’s appetite!”

Master taught me that one when he was drunk.

It was on the same day that he beat Ayumu in a placement match, now that I think about it. Master was demoted and Ayumu got promoted anyway, but you’d have never guessed it if you saw their faces right after the match.

Ayumu built up a huge lead after taking Master’s Bishop in the early game, but completely fell apart after that. He never collapses to that degree, and my memories of it are still crystal clear ……

He obviously wasn’t himself, and today I found out why.

Placement matches were just that important to him and having his promotion come down to one match must have put tons of pressure on his shoulders.

Not getting promoted would push back becoming Meijin by one year …… which also meant getting married to Shakando-sensei would be delayed by at least that long … In his mind, anyway.

Memories pass through my head one after another and the tofu is ready before I know it. That was fast.

“So good!!”

Clams and parsley are both in season in the spring.

That means that right now is the best time to have Fukagawa Tofu!

“Yum, yum, yum~. ♡ One such as I had grown tired of clams, but pairing them like this makes for one fancy cheeseburger~. ♡”

Maria is thoroughly impressed with Machi’s cooking. Ayumu eats in silence. At least he has an appetite. That’s a good sign.

“Fukagawa’s clams are delicious indeed. Generally speaking, the flavor of Kyoto’s cuisine has an air of refinement not found in Tokyo. When it comes to seafood, however, that is not the case.”

Machi casually glances in my direction.

“Not to mention that I am quite skilled with tofu. Yaichi can surely attest to that. Hee-hee. ♡”

“……!! Y-Yeah ……”

Memories of the boiled tofu I had at Nanzenji Temple come flooding back and my cheeks get hot.

I didn’t find out until after the fact, but the Okazaki area around Nanzenji in Kyoto has lots of love hotels. I had no idea how much danger I was in …… This must be what a piece of fried tofu feels like being stuck between a fox’s teeth ……

“…… Anyway, I understand how you’re feeling, Ayumu.”

Now that I’ve got a belly full of hot Fukagawa tofu, it’s time to get back to the matter at hand.

Tofu shops open bright and early, and there’s lots to do to get ready. So Ayumu’s parents are already in bed. We can’t stay here much longer. It’s time to wrap it up.

“We will act as witnesses. None of us will pretend your proposal didn’t happen.”

“……!”

Ayumu’s chopsticks freeze. He looks up from his tofu and locks eyes with me.

“But would you leave the rest up to us? We’ll look into how Shakando-sensei feels …… I can’t guarantee it will be the one you want, but I promise we’ll get an answer.”

My friend listens closely and says–––

“………… It is in your hands.”

He then lowers his head in a bow.

That’s how I came to assist in the love life of my apprentice’s opponent in an upcoming title match. Talk about a precarious position.

…… Is this the kind of work the Ryuo is supposed to do?