Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 4 - Chapter 3.5

  BIG SIS (SO CUTE)

“Ah, Big Sis? You doing okay? Can you walk?”

“…… No.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped, wearing shoes like that …… Okay, should we go outside holding hands? You’re fine with it, right?”

“………”

Swish. Big Sis nods her head like a kid.

I reach out and take my adorned big sister apprentice’s hand. She must be nervous because her soft skin is shaking …… and hot.

The contract she signed with Ms. Shakando.

That last clause–––.

“I always make sure your face is hidden while modeling for me, but today …… Ah, yes. Ginko, return to Osaka wearing that outfit. For advertising.”

“Huuuh?!”

“I will have God Cauldron return the school uniform you wore today by mail. Oh yes, yes. I shall prepare an outfit for you as well, Ryuo. That worn-down readymade double-breasted suit would hardly be a match for Ginko.”

“No, don’t mind me!! I’m fine just like this!!”

We practically flew out of Ms. Shakando’s shop on that note, but ……

Big Sis isn’t used to walking in high heels, and I can’t stand watching her tripping over herself. Those clothes aren’t the easiest to move around in either.

For that reason, I’m holding her hand to keep her on her feet.

“It’ll be all right. Harajuku Station is right around the corner, or we could get a taxi all the way to Shinagawa to catch the bullet train and we’ll be in Osaka before you know it. Okay? Please hang in there until then.”

“Okay ……”

She looks really worried, staring at her feet and squeezing my hand like this.

I don’t blame her …… If she falls and hurts her dominant right hand, she’ll never play Shogi at this level again.

You may be thinking, “She could just play with her left,” but Shogi performance is directly connected to your fingertips. In the world of professional Shogi, where players can’t survive without maintaining peak concentration, anything that feels out of place can be fatal. I’m sure of it.

“All right, we’re about to go into the main street. It’s really crowded, so please be careful.”

“Okay ……”

Big Sis nods without protest.

The instant we step out onto Takeshita Street–––we get swarmed.

“…… What’s that?”

“Holy geeze!”

“So cute!”

“Is she a celebrity?”

“This a promotion or something?”

“Too damn cute ……!”

“She’s not Japanese, is she?”

“Beautiful ……”

This is insane.

What? What’s with all the hubbub?

They couldn’t be …… Nah, it’s got to be …… Because Big Sis is too cute?

Is that really all it takes to draw a crowd? This fast?

“Excuse me! May I please take a picture?!”

That voice broke the dam.

“Where did you buy those clothes?!”

“Is she a model?!”

“Please, tell me your name?!”

“Do you have any social media accounts?!”

One voice after another. It’s one step short of a riot.

“It-It’s for sale in a shop on Brahms Lane called Schn …… Something or other, but it’s there! Oh! They’re closed today though, so please go tomorrow! And no, she’s not a model, so no pictures please! Also, that’s her real hair, not a wig! It’s not for sale anywhere!!”

Questions are flooding in. I step in front of Big Sis, shielding her, and try to world my way through them at the top of my lungs. As a member of the Static Rook party, being worldly isn’t my strong suit but …… This is no time for joking around?!

The one thing I can’t world away are all the people asking for pictures.

Sure, there’re too many requests to handle in the first place, but these people are just ignoring me and taking pics at a distance. I can’t do anything about all the shutter noises going off.

Even worse, “Excuse me! She’s just a normal person, so please stop with the pictures–––.”

“…… I don’t care.”

“How the hell could you not?! I told my apprentices I was going to Practice Session, but I didn’t say I’d be with you! And this is Harajuku?! If this gets out–––.”

“I don’t care!”

Big Sis puffs out her cheeks like an angry little kid and looks the other way. Something must have pissed her off because she’s squeezing the living daylights out of my hand. Owch!

I guess the crowd thought her reaction made her look even cuter because those shutter noises are only getting louder. Sure, I’d like to get a picture of her for myself but …… Please, put those cameras away, I’m begging you!

“…… Yeesh! Whatever happens, don’t blame me?!”

“………”

Big Sis puts all her weight on my arm, using me like a cane as the two of us inch our way down the main street.

It took nearly an hour to get to the station only a quarter-mile away. Why are there so many people ……? This isn't some cosplay photo shoot in Akiharabara, my word ……

The one silver lining in all of this is that no one seems to recognize Big Sis as the Shogi world’s Naniwa’s Snow White.

Then again, it’s only a matter of time before people start matching up these pictures on the Internet …… Better be extra careful for a while ……

“…… What are people going to say once the Association and other players see these pictures ……? They already have the wrong idea about us, and then Ms. Shakando had to go and make us do this? I wish she’d cut it out ……”

“………… Not wrong ……”

“What? Big Sis, did you say something?”

“I said drop dead! Idiot!!”

“Okay then ……”

Here I am doing everything I can to help her out, and she tells me to die …… What am I to her? A slave or something?

“Anyway, catching a train like this isn’t going to happen. I’ll go get a taxi, so wait right—.”

“I’ll fall if you let go, so no.”

“Say what? You just have to stand.”

“I said I can’t!!”

Big Sis tightens her grip and yells at me like some spoiled brat.

It took another hour to get a taxi after that.

While not as much as in the streets of Harajuku, Big Sis got a lot of attention in Shinagawa as well.

“Yeesh~ …… Stared at no matter where you go. Girls with pretty faces sure have it rough ……”

“……”

We finally got a reprieve once we were onboard the bullet train.

Reserved or not, getting a seat in one of the main cars would draw too much of a crowd. So we upgraded to the premium Green Car. And, of course, I’m making sure Ms. Shakando pays for it. We’ve kept up our side of the deal and then some!

Big Sis and I are still holding hands as we settle into the soft seats.

Seriously, it’s impossible to trip sitting in a chair, and back when we were buying tickets I told her, “You can let go now, right? You don’t need to keep holding my hand, do you?” I even loosened my grip to send a message but …… Big Sis wouldn’t have it, looking the other way and squeezing my hand at the same time. So yeah, we’re still like this.

Her hand in mine, Big Sis mumbles under her breath while looking out the window.

“…… We used to go everywhere holding hands, just like this.”

“Now that you mention it, we sure did ……”

Old memories come flooding back.

It was only by two weeks, but she joined Master’s Shogi family tree before me. Since I was the younger brother apprentice, and a boy, I felt it was my duty to lead her around.

The two of us were just kids, little kids who only thought about Shogi at that. We weren’t physically strong at all.

Both of us were crybabies and total wimps on our own.

But …… We could go anywhere, as long as we were together.

Holding hands like this triggered a mysterious fountain of courage. We could take on any strong opponent like this.

We even went straight to a Shogi parlor right in the middle of Kabuki-cho the first time we came to Tokyo and bet all the money we had on a shinken match, if I remember right.

But we didn’t just go to Tokyo. We’d ride old trains all around the country to places rumored to have strong Shogi players, clutching our allowances in one hand and holding hands with the other. That was a daily thing during our summer vacations in elementary school.

And while we were on those trains–––.

“…… 7 Six Pawn.”

“Huh?”

The moment I heard what Big Sis was saying as she watched the trees go by outside the window …… It hit me like déjà vu: the past and present overlapping somehow.

–––Blind Shogi.

That’s right. We held hands and played blind Shogi in those trains.

I’m so happy Big Sis remembers that too. So happy my heart is giving itself a hug in my chest.

So–––.

“8 Four Pawn ……”

I squeeze her hand and rise to meet her blind Shogi challenge.

“2 Six Pawn.”

“3 Four Pawn.”

It’s like bits and pieces of our childhood are coming back.

More and more with each move, slowly …… We played Shogi.

…… In the end, Big Sis and I kept holding hands until we went our separate ways at Osaka Station.

Getting off the bullet train at Shin-Osaka Station, the ride to Osaka, our hands were connected to whole time.

Then–––at Osaka Station.

“…… Well, Big Sis. See you later ……”

“……”

“…… I can’t go home until you let go, you know?”

“…… Not yet ……”

Her hand shivers a little, but Big Sis doesn’t let go.

Then, she says in a quiet voice.

“…… Shogi. It isn’t …… over yet ………”

“…………”

“……… That’s why ……”

My hand in hers is so hot, it’s like it’s on fire.

My body is burning up.

For some reason, I can’t look away from her trembling lips.

If Ai wasn’t living with me, I’m sure we would’ve held hands all the way to my apartment outside Fukushima Station.

But that didn’t happen.

That game of Shogi got cut short–––a tie by default.

As to why: I’ve got an apprentice to attend to …… And Big Sis finally got the hang of walking in those heels and could make it home on her own.