Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 16 - Chapter 4.2

  SILENT PHONE CALLS

There’s a big crowd of people outside of Harajuku station. They’re all crowded around two beautiful girls.

“Hurry it up, Trash!”

“Yaichi? Making me wait like this, have you become more adept at playing hard to get?”

It’s Ryou Tsukiyomizaka and Machi Kugui standing in front of the station.

Except they’re not wearing their usual clothes–––they’re dressed up in the cutest gothic outfits I’ve ever seen!!

“Wh-What’s …… What’s with those clothes, you guys ……?!”

“This is an appeal to Shakando-sensei’s personal tastes.”

The Kyoto beauty dressed in a black ensemble casually waves her arms and the crowd around her goes nuts. Shutter click sound effects from their smartphones go off all at once.

What is this, a photo shoot ……?!

“As we wish to hear what she has to say, would it not be best to appease her on sight?”

“Dressin’ up like this isn’t the worst thing in the world. So yeah, when in Rome. I make this look good, don’t I?”

Ryou looks more like, how should I put it? A hostess who could convince an otaku to fork over all the money he has.

Dressed in a frilly pink and white outfit, the Aggressive Archangel actually has tiny white wings on her back.

“Get moving, Trash. And stick out your arm.”

“Say what?! W-We have to link arms?!”

“I am rather unfamiliar with this area. Escort me, will you not, Yaichi?”

I’m locked in position with Ryou on my right and Machi on my left. Hate rains down on me from the crowd as I get half dragged down Takeshita Street.

“What’s that nobody doing with two 10☆-level chicks like them, eh ……?”

“Is he a whale or something?”

“He’s got dirt on them, for sure. His eyes scream foul play.”

…… It’s these pretty girls who have me in an armlock that play dirty ……

Still, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to Harajuku.

“Walking down Meiji Street seems reasonable, but doing the same down Takeshita Street must be a challenge for elders like myself.”

“Only kids on field trips or tourists from way out in the boonies bother coming places like this. People born and raised in Tokyo like me go other places to have fun.”

That kind of makes sense. I grew up in Osaka and hardly ever go to touristy spots like Shinsaibashi.

“Then, where do you go, Ryou? The center of Shibuya, maybe?”

“Kyoto. Osaka, maybe.”

Wow, she really doesn’t have any friends in Tokyo ……

“You last came here to attend one of Ginko and Shakando-sensei’s practice sessions, yes? Around the time a picture of Ginko dressed as a gothic lolita went viral?”

“Yeah. I watched their practice session more than anything else. Shakando-sensei’s Normal 4th File Rook absolutely destroyed Big Sis’s anaguma.”

“…… It appears that the Assassin talk was not pure fiction ……”

“…… Is that hag a demon? ’Cuz whatever she is, it ain’t human.”

Machi and Ryou shudder. Even though it was just a practice session, the idea that Big Sis could actually lose has to be a shock to Women’s League players.

Shops come and go all the time along Takeshita Street, but one of the smaller ones that branches off of it that’s called Brahms Lane is much more stable.

Our destination for today is all the way at the back of it, a small building that looks like a castle.

Ryou sounds fed up with the outfit she’s not used to wearing as she leans over and says, “Let’s make this quick. We’re in for a long night tomorrow either way.”

“That’s true.” 

“Agreed.”

I nod along with Machi as we step through the front door.

“Welcome, meeeeOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW?!”

We are instantly greeted by a member of the shop staff with a squeaky voice.

The one with her hair up like cat ears and dressed in an over-the-top lolita maid getup is none other than Ayumu’s younger sister, Maria Kannabe.

“Wh-What are the likes of you doing here?! A sneak attack?! Have you come to assault Master now that Ai Hinatsuru is on the verge of defeat?!”

“Calm yourself, Maria,” the lord, or should I say lady of the castle says in a gentle tone.

This is Shakando-sensei’s fashion shop and also where she does her Shogi research. This location is perfect because the Shogi Association Building in Sendagaya is within walking distance. All these areas are actually in the Shibuya district.

Ayumu was here last time, but–––

“You have Maria looking after the shop for you now?”

“I have instructed God Cauldron to focus solely on his own Shogi. Day-to-day activities at the shop are no place for an A League Shogi player, are they not?”

Shakando-sensei answers me before looking at the beauties on my left and right with wide eyes.

“Oooh!” With the same enthusiasm as someone appraising a work of art, she says, “Both of you already fit my tastes, but …… garments such as these truly bring out your existential beauty. He-he-he. I could gaze upon you for hours on end ……”

Oh yeah. Big Sis was pretty much her toy at one point, too ……

Back then, I had a wrong idea that because she’d been single all this time, maybe she was actually into girls, didn’t I?

“Well? You wish to speak with me, correct? What is it you wish to speak of?”

“Sensei. Before that, could you send Maria away ……?”

“…… That may be wise. Return to the front.”

“B-But Master! You would be in danger by yourself! If these ruffians should attempt to–––”

“A young maiden such as yourself would be in a much more precarious situation should such a thing take place. The young Ryuo would lose himself in the heat of the moment.”

“You have a point.”

Maria abruptly changes course and leaves the room. Absurd ……

“That girl has set foot in the realm of trials known as the Sub League. Perhaps she should be made aware, but …… I feel it would be better to sever the chains of the past.”

Saying something similar to Master, I make eye contact with the woman who was once called the Assassin.

“Please tell us. What happened between you and my Master …… Kousuke Kiyotaki?"

“Who have you spoken with thus far?”

“The Sage. Master told me his side, as well.”

“Is that so? Kousuke has …… He-he. It is still a bashful topic.”

Trinkets crinkle as Sensei opens a western-style lace fan to hide her face.

“That said, my relationship with Kousuke is not one that needs to be concealed. Every player in our generation is aware of it, and I’m fairly certain it’s common knowledge within the Kanto Women’s League.”

“I had no clue.”

“That aspect is part of your charm, oh Aggressive Archangel.”

Shakando-sensei smiles as Ryou sulks. Once she has a sip of her tea, Sensei starts talking.

It’s a very, very long story.

“I was raised by my Master …… by Sadatoshi Ashigara 9-dan as a live-in apprentice. Right alongside his biological daughters, in fact. Even now, after he has passed on, we still share a sisterly bond …… Well, that is beside the point.”

I heard that much from Master Kiyotaki, too.

Ashigara-sensei thought, considering Shakando-sensei’s disability, forcing her to travel back and forth would be too much for her. So he opened his home to teach her Shogi.

“Thus, he became a father figure and his words were law, even outside of Shogi. That included …… matters of the heart.”

“What kind of things did he tell you?”

“‘You are forbidden to date until you have a title.’”

“……!”

I nearly jump out of my chair.

Because, well, Master told Big Sis and I pretty much the same thing.

“Then, once I had a title to my name, possessing a second title became the new condition. Claim a second, a third was required …… The problem became that I soon possessed all the titles that existed at the time. What do you think Master said after that?” says Sensei, giddily tapping her fingers together. “He reversed course, telling me to get married and have children.”

“How selfish ……”

“Indeed, but that is a phrase that girls hear time and again. Love and romance are taboo until high school graduation, and then pressure comes to settle down with someone nice upon passing their 20th birthday,” adds Machi.

“Really?”

“Very much so. Yaichi, let’s get married, hm?”

“…… Master had become desperate.”

Shakando-sensei grins at my small conversation with Machi, but her expression suddenly turns dark.

“Advanced in age, he had taken every promising child he could find as an apprentice, but hadn’t the time to raise them properly in his haste …… And all were crushed underfoot.”

Ashigara-sensei sent over 50 teenage boys into the Sub League, but not a single one of them became a pro. That reputation became so bad that he had zero hopefuls knocking at his door at one point.

“These all originated from my Master’s wish to produce a Meijin out of his apprentices. Do you happen to know where he is coming from?”

“Being a >gamester.”

“Precisely. And he was the ultimate gamester, so much so that he was given the nickname The Demon of Hakone. Not only did he have support from many influential people, he was rumored to have skills comparable to the Meijin. Income as well.”

“Those influential supporters of his made arrangements for him to undergo the Entrance Exam, and he was allowed to join the professional ranks directly at 6-dan. He distinguished himself in the A League and even challenged for the Meijin title. It was all the newspapers of the time were talking about,”Machi added.

“And then he got humiliated.”

I looked over those match records before coming.

The Meijin back then …… the 15th Eternal Meijin to be exact, dominated the matches from start to finish. Ashigara-sensei barely had any pieces left at the end of the match series.

I don’t think Ashigara-sensei thought it was possible for him to lose.

He lost chances to surrender with dignity every single time and wound up looking pathetic in the end ……

“Master was in a stupor after losing the fourth consecutive match. The Meijin of the day said to him with a laugh during that final review session: Mr. Ashigara, you’ll only ever be an amateur. Master bawled in the break room, or so I heard …… It was then that he realized why the association had made him into a professional in the first place.”

“A public execution ……”

“Precisely. And to ensnare him within the cage that is the world of professional Shogi.”

He was unquestionably the best gamester around, but even he couldn’t put up a fight against the Meijin. The behind closed doors elements of society were purified once that fact was brought to light.

The Meijin took out all the gamesters and their supporters at once by making an example of their leader, Ashigara-sensei.

That’s how the association created a monopoly over the game of Shogi.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing …… And it’s lucky for my generation. Without any dirty work to do, we get to enjoy living the dream of making lots of money by playing all the Shogi we want as a job.

“Let me be clear. Aside from his obsession with the Meijin title, my Master was a good man. And Women’s League players had no connection to the Meijin title from the start. That is why he cherished and raised me with such adoration.”

“…… Pretty ironic.”

“As his failures raising a male apprentice piled up and my prowess continued to increase, however, that was no longer the case.”

I was wondering how this story would lead to her engagement to Master.

It turns out it was the worst way possible.

“Upon learning that he was not long for this world, my Master planned to have me, a woman with strong Shogi acumen, bear a child and then adopt said child to raise to become the ultimate Shogi player.”

That’s crazy. I can tell everyone here agrees.

Seriously, none of our parents are pro Shogi players.

“Naturally, he wanted to arrange my marriage to a strong Shogi player he deemed worthy. While there is no guarantee that the child of a Shogi player will themselves be a strong player …… Master had lost the ability to understand common sense by that point. His head was permanently in the clouds, watching his dream unfold. Thus, as his apprentice and his daughter …… I wanted to give him that one last lullaby ……”

But, she says, setting up the arranged marriage didn’t go as easily as expected.

“As the holder of every Women’s Title of the day, my schedule was fairly full …… Not to mention that strong Shogi skill may not have qualified as an appealing attribute.”

Shakando-sensei’s words trail off. I guess that means that no Kanto players wanted to have the Assassin as their wife.

“Therefore, Master set his sights on players in Kansai. The first to catch his attention was the Meijin Ryuo of the day, Seiichi Tsukimitsu.”

Ms. Oga would be furious if she heard about this.

“Tsukimitsu-sensei said that he almost lost to you in an exhibition match of some kind.”

“Yes, back in my school days.”

The arranged marriage stuff happened years later but, thinking back on it, Ashigara-sensei might have been already trying to put things in motion …… 

Shakando-sensei remarks, “Once it was revealed that Mr. Tsukimitsu’s eye problems were likely hereditary, Master changed course. A child born with visual and physical disabilities would have a much more difficult time playing Shogi, or so he thought …… Please, do not be angry with him. That was his way of showing affection ……”

It’s official. Ms. Oga wouldn’t be the only one furious to hear about this.

orcing myself to calm down, I say, “That’s why my Master, who couldn’t measure up to Tsukimitsu-sensei on the board but was healthy as a horse and had plenty of spirit, caught his eye?”

“Khh! Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

Shakando-sensei tries and fails to hold back laughter.

Then, with tears in her eyes, she says, “He-he-he. Where do you think he …… Where did Kousuke take me on our first date?”

“A restaurant, right? Don’t tell me it was a bar ……”

“When it comes to Osaka, Kaiyukan Aquarium is a sure bet. That type of atmosphere is the setting for a perfect date,” Machi chimes in.

“The Shogi Center.”

“…… Huuh?”

“I ain’t good with words, so let’s go play Shogi! was his invitation. The Shogi Center beneath Tsutenkaku Tower was still in operation in those days, and that is where he brought me.”

“What was that geezer thinking ……?”

There is no comparison with the New World Shogi parlors I took Ai Yashajin to for training. It’s a tourist spot now, but it used to be a place where criminals and gamesters put tons of money on the line. That’s where Master decided to take a woman with a bum leg on a date?!

“Kousuke was also the first one to take me to a ramen establishment. The term handicapped accessible was a long way off and the restaurants I could enter on my own were rather limited. Thus Kousuke said, Long as I’m here, let’s go somewhere ya can’t usually eat …… And he brought me to a rustic ramen shop located beneath the train tracks!”

Sensei giggles as if she’s reminiscing about good days.

That look in her eyes …… it’s like a girl in love for the first time.

That reminds me of the time when Shakando-sensei took Ayumu and I to Home Ken, a ramen place in Sendagaya—especially how happy she looked slurping down ramen.

Just how much …… does she ……?!

“When we spoke on the phone, he would inevitably say, Let’s do some Shogi puzzles! Lemme tall ya the formation. First …… The topic was always Shogi with him.”

“Shogi puzzles over the phone ……?”

Even kids who are obsessed with Shogi puzzles don’t do that.

“It would have made sense to end the phone calls while thinking and then dial again once we had solved the puzzles. But we remained silent and on the line for hours …… The phone bill was outrageous. I was always the one to call, you see.”

Shakando-sensei made it clear that she was the one taking the initiative rather than Master.

“Kousuke’s daughter was reaching a certain age and he tried to respect that. Whenever I would call in the evening, he would choose the puzzle as quickly as possible and then call me back using a public phone outside of his house. All so we could sit in silence time and again.”

“Keika didn’t know about your engagement until recently.”

“…… I did that girl an incredible disservice. I only hope she does not misunderstand ……”

Shakando-sensei is probably talking about the match when Keika beat her to get into the Women’s League. I understand better than anyone else that she didn’t lose that one on purpose.

I mean, there’s a good chance I would’ve lost the Ryuo title and both my apprentices if that hadn’t happened.

“Be that as it may, those silent hours we spent on the phone …… were some of the most joyous of my life ……”

“So then why–––”

I can’t stop myself from getting up and yelling.

“If you like him that much, why didn’t you get married?! Master certainly didn’t have anything against you, and you know how he is. He can’t express himself with words, but …… he couldn’t have said no.”

If Shakando-sensei was serious about going through with it.

There’s no way Master could have refused.

After all, he accepted an apprentice who had so many health problems that no one else would take her.

“I …… never found the courage. Waiting for the man to ask was all I ever did …… I couldn’t say the words myself ……”

Looking into her lap and letting out a long sigh, Sensei tells us her biggest regret.

“All of those hours had passed over the phone in silence. If only for one minute …… No, 10 seconds would have sufficed. If I could revisit 10 seconds of that time …… A different future would have been waiting for me. It would be a falsehood to say I do not have the visions of what could have been.”

Shogi players don’t get to have a Mulligan.

But there are countless moments when we wish we could’ve had a do over. All those regrets make us want to scream late at night when we’re all alone.

–––How many nights like that has Shakando-sensei had?

“………… Shakando-sensei.”

I muster up the courage to ask.

This is the most important question.

“Are you still waiting for Master to pop the question? Is that why you couldn’t accept Ayumu’s offer?”

“…………………”

Silent moments slip by.

All of us quietly wait for Shakando-sensei’s answer.

When finally–––

“………… If I …………”

Barely above a whisper.

Words drip from her lips like thoughts that have built up too much to keep them stored away.

“……………… If I were younger and easier on the eyes ………… if I had the sheen of my golden age, then ………………” 

The droplets that made it out formed both no and yes.

Does that mean ……. She could tell Master how she feels if she were in her prime?

Or ……