Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 1.2

  NIGHT STREETS

Big Sis had to go all the way to Osaka Station, so Ai and I said goodbye to her and got off at Fukushima Station. Then, the two of us started walking through the neon lights of the shopping district on our way to our apartment.

“Nights aren’t that cold anymore.”

“Nope.”

“The bars around here aren’t as empty as they used to be.”

“Nope.”

“…… Keika never gives me a chance.”

“Nope.”

“What am I doing wrong? I mean, I think I’m doing pretty well as a pro Shogi player, I’m not that bad looking, and we’ve known each other forever … Don’t you think it’s about time for love to be in the air?”

“You know what it might be, Master? Keika might only see you as little brother.”

“Ahh …… About that ……”

“Most women don’t consider younger men to be good options for a relationship. In general.”

“Is … is that right?”

“There are stagistics.”

“Statistics?”

“Yes.”

Ai uses her smartphone to pull up a PDF and shows it to me. Apparently, it’s government research.

“…… This is complicated stuff for grade schoolers.”

“It’s part of a group project we’re doing in social studies class right now. We’re learning about Japan’s declining birthrate, so my group is researching late marriages.”

“Late marriages? …… Oh, late as in getting married at an older age.”

Ai’s small fingers swipe across the screen as she magnifies a specific section for me.

“Look at this. Women choose to be with older men more often than younger men.”

“You’re right! And they seem to be okay with a pretty big age gap?!”

“Women don’t have a problem with dating men ten years older than they are. Actually, my father is eight years older than my mother. He was twenty-six and she was eighteen when they got married.”

“Your mom was pretty young.”

Ai’s father married into the family business, so his opinions don’t mean much. But her parents are a very nice couple. They seem like a great fit.

“That’s why it’s better for men to be older in a relationship. Older men are more mature and have more money, which is what women are looking for. Plus, men like younger women because they feel like the protector. As research and real-life experience shows, relationships between older men and younger women always work out well. Let’s see …… Seven years’ difference would be the best.”

“Seven years younger than me …… a nine-year-old? Hmm, I really can’t picture it.”

“……”

“But thinking about it from the other direction, now it makes sense why Keika treats me like a kid. It wouldn’t make sense to think of someone nine years younger in that way, would it ……?”

“That’s not true!!”

“Whoa?! W-Where’d that anger come from?”

“I’m not angry!! Master dara!!”

Or so she says, storming on ahead and leaving her Master behind.

“Yeesh, what’s gotten into–––?”

It clicked as soon as the words came out of my mouth. I figured out what she was trying to say.

 …… Ai is encouraging me, I’m sure of it.

She’s scolding me for being a pitiful Master who got caught up in a simple age gap.

To think, she’d even support me in my quest to find love …… I have an amazing apprentice.

Statistics, hah! Government research, hah! If I were afraid to lose, I wouldn’t be playing Shogi, now would I?!!

“I got it, Ai! I’ll try even harder!”

“You will?!”

“You bet! I’ll find a way to get Keika to notice me!”

“Master dara! Darabuchi!!”

“Why?!”

The storm came back, and twice as angry as before. What went wrong? I can’t figure it out …… 

But still, today was fun. I might’ve lost my match, but we went to the bathhouse for the first time in forever as a Shogi family, and it was nice to see how we’re all so close.

I was kind of worried about how things would change when I took an apprentice …… Big Sis and Ai aren’t exactly the best of friends but …… Thanks to Keika, it looks like things are going to work out. Ai Yashajin should come next time.

It’s almost like the stars in this early summer sky are lighting the way.