Kiyotaki Keika quietly slipped away with Yukima Azuma.
The two of them snuck out of Hinatsuru Ryokan
Only letting out a sigh of relief once they reached the streets.
"...I'm supposed to be your senpai, you know?"
"Not to mention, you have an important match coming up."
"And yet, here I am, being comforted by you instead."
Kiyotaki Keika sighed.
"I really am a useless senpai, huh?"
"Master said the exact same thing. Like father, like daughter."
Yukima Azuma chuckled.
Hearing that, Kiyotaki Keika froze for a moment
Then let out a bitter laugh.
"But my father is a 9-dan professional, you know?"
"And I'm already twenty-five."
"If things continue like this, I might never win a single title in my career."
"If it weren't for you and Ginko, I probably would've disgraced the Kiyotaki family name by now."
There was a hint of self-deprecation in her words.
It wasn't as if she was deeply upset
But having a 9-dan father, a genius junior, and a talented junior-sister, while she herself remained stagnant...
If her mentality hadn't been strong enough,
She would've quit shogi a long time ago.
Chapter 179: Bullying Sora Ginko
Looking at Kiyotaki Keika, who seemed troubled.
Yukima Azuma spoke up:
"This year, there's an official tournament for women, the Queen tournament. As long as you make it to the main rounds, you can directly become Joryu."
"Keika-nee will definitely participate. Maybe before the end of this year, you'll officially be a Joryu."
Hearing that, Kiyotaki Keika gave a wry smile.
"If things were really that simple, that would be great."
It wasn't that she had never participated in the Queen tournament before.
But every time, she was eliminated in the preliminary rounds.
What Yukima Azuma said was truly too idealistic.
"Actually, I have a surefire way to win." Yukima Azuma whispered.
Kiyotaki Keika shook her head vigorously.
"That's not right! That would be cheating!"
The so-called absolute winning method that Yukima Azuma suggested
Was to prepare opening moves before the matches.
It wasn't much different from Yamato Kajin and the Meijin studying shogi together.
Analyzing the opponents' past games,
Then Yukima Azuma would design a few sequences of moves.
Kiyotaki Keika only needed to memorize them.
Yamato Kajin used the Meijin's move sequences, blindly following fixed openings, and almost crushed Yukima Azuma with his shogi skills.
If Yukima Azuma taught Kiyotaki Keika the sequences,
Wouldn't sweeping through those rookies who hadn't even entered Joryu be as easy as flipping a hand?
But Kiyotaki Keika felt that doing so would be cheating.
The shogi world nowadays, for the most part, thought the same.
It was not yet the era of AlphaGo.
Professional players still held onto their pride.
"Keika-nee, isn't the most important thing in shogi a strong will?"
"The fact that you can reject even my absolute winning methoddoesn't that mean you've found your own way to victory?"
Yukima Azuma pointed at Kiyotaki Keika's heavy heart.
"My own way to victory?" Kiyotaki Keika placed a hand on her chest, feeling emotional.
Was she really just lacking confidence?
The answer was obviousyes.
Since she was young, Kiyotaki Keika had faced too many setbacks.
So much so that whenever she encountered even a little failure in shogi, she would think she wasn't good enough.
If she could just gain confidence, then reaching Joryu wouldn't be a difficult thing at all.
Yukima Azuma quietly walked up behind Kiyotaki Keika.
He gave her a pat on the back.
Along with a startled yelp from Kiyotaki Keika.
Yukima Azuma grinned and said, "Straighten your back! Keika-nee, what kind of posture is this?"
Being lectured like that, Kiyotaki Keika immediately turned around, reaching out to grab Yukima Azuma.
But if she could really catch him
Then Yukima Azuma's seven points in physical stats would just be for show.
The two played around for a while.
Kiyotaki Keika, at twenty-five years old, suddenly lost all her maturity.
She looked just like a little girl.
They ran to a small park and then stopped.
Kiyotaki Keika sat on a nearby swing, looking at Yukima Azuma with curiosity.
"How are things between you and Ginko-chan now?"
Yukima Azuma and Sora GinkoKiyotaki Keika had watched both of them grow up.
Since childhood, Sora Ginko had liked Yukima Azuma.
But her tsundere personality made it hard for her to be honest about it.
Meanwhile, Yukima Azuma back then was the type to be completely obliviousdense as reinforced concrete.
Kiyotaki Keika had worried about this many times.
But now, things were better.
They were both grown up.
Yukima Azuma's emotional intelligence had even gone from negative to max.
Surely, there had to be some progress, right?
"Next year, when Ginko-senpai gets into Tokyo, things will probably move faster."
Yukima Azuma thought for a moment and could only answer that way.
Thinking about it, his relationship with Sora Ginko was indeed moving a bit slowly.
"It's all your fault. When you were kids, you always bullied Ginko-chan. Serves you right."
Kiyotaki Keika chuckled, recalling the past.
Back then, Yukima Azuma was handsome, so a lot of little girls liked him.
Whenever Sora Ginko saw that, she would get sulky.
()
Kiyotaki Keika remembered that there was a time when a Russian girl had just moved into the area.
Somehow, Yukima Azuma had learned Russian from somewhere.
And he got along really well with that girl.
Sora Ginko sat silently in the shogi club, sulking without saying a word.
( )
Kiyotaki Keika dragged Yukima Azuma over.
Yukima Azuma ran to Sora Ginko and asked if she was angry.
Sora Ginko nodded repeatedly.
Then Yukima Azuma said, "Don't be mad anymore."
(`)
The small Sora Ginko at that time was so angry that she burst into laughter.
Seeing Sora Ginko laugh, Yukima Azuma thought she was no longer angry, so he turned around and ran off to play with the Russian girl again.
As a result, when he got home, the small Sora Ginko kicked him in the butt, leaving him completely dumbfounded.
( Д )*
"I think this was all Keika-nee's fault."
Yukima Azuma argued stubbornly.
"My fault?" Kiyotaki Keika pointed at herself, a little confused.
"That's right, Keika-nee just stood there laughing and didn't bother to teach me anything!"
"Even if I had taught you, would you have listened? You weren't exactly a well-behaved kid who followed instructions back then."
"Of course, I would have! Back then, I liked Keika-nee the most."
In the past, Yukima Azuma did have a bit of a thing for older women.
He wasn't very interested in Sora Ginko.
Instead, he liked Kiyotaki Keika.
Just looking at his first love, Kasumigaoka Utaha, it was clearhe had a definite onee-san preference.
Later on, after gaining more experience, he no longer restricted his preferences.
As long as they were Bishoujo, Yukima Azuma liked them.
Like blonde twin-tails, for example.
Kiyotaki Keika was momentarily stunned by Yukima Azuma's sudden confession.
Her heartbeat skipped two beats.
(>/////<)
Even though they had quite a large age gap, she had always seen Yukima Azuma as a younger brother.
But unfortunately, this younger brother was way too attractivealmost as if he had incubus-like traits.
If Yukima Azuma confessed, any girl would feel somethingit was just a matter of how much.
She tried to steady her emotions.
Kiyotaki Keika shot a sideways glance at Yukima Azuma.
"It's not like you never made me angry when we were kids!"
"I call you Keika-nee, so as my nee-chan, of course, you have to be generous and forgive me!"
"If I weren't generous, back when Ginko-chan kicked you out of the room, I wouldn't have pleaded for you!"
"Eh? Oba-san kicked Shishou out of the room? When did that happen?"
A soft voice unexpectedly interrupted.
Both of them turned to look.
At some point, three girlsHinatsuru Ai, Sora Ginko, and Sainokami Ikahad arrived.
Sora Ginko's face turned slightly red.
As a child, she had no idea how to express her jealousy.
She just followed her emotions, causing a lot of trouble.
Luckily, Yukima Azuma didn't hate her.
Now, looking back, it was truly a dark stain in her past.
But still, it was all Yukima Azuma's fault!
"That happened when Ai-chan's shishou was still little. Back then, he was about your height."
Kiyotaki Keika laughed as she reached out to pat Hinatsuru Ai's head.
Hearing that, Hinatsuru Ai quickly ran over to Yukima Azuma.
She clung tightly to his arm.
"Ginko-oba-san is so scary! If it were me, I'd never kick shishou out of the room!"
( )
Sora Ginko: ( `)
"You little brat!"
Sora Ginko immediately lunged forward.
Hinatsuru Ai stuck her tongue out and hid behind Yukima Azuma.
(>)
The two started a game of chase around Yukima Azuma, who was still sitting on the swing.
Yukima Azuma watched this scene with a smile for a moment.
Then he stood up from the swing and took both of their hands, bringing an end to the chase.
The moment Yukima Azuma held their hands, both Sora Ginko and Hinatsuru Ai immediately calmed down.
Seeing this, Kiyotaki Keika could only click her tongue in amazement.
She had known for a long time that Yukima Azuma had matured quickly in recent years.
But it was still hard to imagine that this guywho now seemed like the main character of a harem storywas once such a dense blockhead as a child.
"Shishou, we came to call everyone back for dinner!"
At that moment, Hinatsuru Ai finally remembered her mission.
Yukima Azuma umu.
Everyone headed back to Hinatsuru Ryokan for dinner.
The Next Few Days
Originally, Sora Ginko and the others had come here to help Yukima Azuma with special training and relaxation.
After all, the Ryuuou semi-finals were coming up, and no matter how you looked at it, it was a nerve-wracking event.
But no matter how they observed, Yukima Azuma showed no signs of nervousness.
It seemed their worries were unnecessary.
Still, these past few days had been funalmost like a training camp vacation.
Time passed, and finally, the Ryuuou semi-finals arrived.
Yukima Azuma's opponent was the only 9-dan player to make it to the semi-finals.
A player from the same generation as Kiyotaki Kousuke.
— — — — — — — — — — —
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Chapter 180: Genius One Vs. Potential Man?
On the day of the semifinals.
Unlike the preliminary rounds and knockout rounds, the semifinals were held in a competition room completely isolated from the outside world.
Inside the room, there were only two shogi players and one referee.
All spectators could only watch the match through live broadcast equipment.
This regulation was meant to ensure that the two players were not affected by the outside environment.
Yukima Azuma sat down in front of the standard seven-sun shogi board.
He looked up.
On the opposite side, a middle-aged man around forty or fifty years old had also settled into his seat.
A 9-dan shogi player, an old friend of Kiyotaki Kousuke, but Yukima Azuma didn't know this person.
Unlike Kiyotaki Kousuke, who had won countless titles and retired early,
This 9-dan player had an extremely competitive nature.
Kiyotaki Kousuke had once taken Yukima Azuma to meet many shogi players of his era.
But he had never mentioned this man.
"I look forward to your guidance."
After the two performed the customary greeting ritual, the match officially began.
The playing style of this 9-dan player was quite similar to Kiyotaki Kousuke's. The more Yukima Azuma played, the more he felt something was off.
The way he maneuvered his pieces wasn't just a 70% imitation.
It had to be at least 90%.
In terms of piece maneuvering skills, this 9-dan player might be slightly better than Kiyotaki Kousuke.
But if considering overall shogi ability...
This 9-dan player was still a bit inferior to Kiyotaki Kousuke.
It wasn't hard to understand why Kiyotaki Kousuke had never introduced Yukima Azuma to him.
After all, Kiyotaki Kousuke could completely teach Yukima Azuma this opponent's piece maneuvering techniques himself.
Moreover, his playing style was overly ambitious and impatient.
It was hard to believe that he was a 9-dan player who had competed for many years.
For Yukima Azuma, this match was much easier compared to facing Kiyotaki Kousuke.
After 230 moves, he securely led the match into the endgame.
Then, he easily broke through the opponent's formation, forcing him to resign.
After placing down his pieces to admit defeat, the 9-dan player left in frustration, flinging his sleeve as he walked awaythankfully, he didn't cough up blood or anything.
Yukima Azuma stepped out of the competition room and returned to the waiting area.
He looked at Kiyotaki Kousuke, his tone slightly perplexed:
"This 9-dan player seems to have some mental issues..."
Kiyotaki Kousuke nodded.
"That's right, his mentality has never been stable. It's always been like that, and he still hasn't fixed it."
"Back then, I didn't want you kids to learn from him, so I simply never introduced him."
The corner of Yukima Azuma's mouth twitched.
Alright then.
After resting, the second game began.
Perhaps influenced by the first match,
This 9-dan player became even more impatient as he played.
In this game, even before reaching the endgame, Yukima Azuma had already spotted a flaw, immediately advanced his rook (hisha), and tore through his opponent's defenses.
Then came the third game, then the fourth.
The opponent's performance worsened with each match.
In the end, within a single day, Yukima Azuma won with an overwhelming 4-0.
"Shishou, you're amazing! That was a 9-dan player!"
Watching the match on the live broadcast, Hinatsuru Ai cheered excitedly, the ahoge on her head bouncing along.
