Chapter 763 - Meanwhile, with the Group at the Ryokan
“—I concede.”
In the common room, now with two empty seats after the loser and the instigator departed for their punishment game. Of the two people who had been facing each other across the game board, the larger one bowed his head deeply in admiration and surrendered.
The board displayed what could only be described as a beautiful, flawless, perfect game. The stripped-bare king, with no escape, had helplessly raised the white flag—
“Sora-chan, you’re amazing!”
“...Not bad.”
—and this all meant that the nineteen-year-old boy, who had just boasted “I know a thing or two about this,” had been…
“Ehehe…”
…utterly crushed by a sweet, young girl.
They had been warned. Everyone had been told about this beforehand… but seeing it again was something else. It seemed their partner’s parting shot before he left—“Don’t you dare challenge Sora to Go, Shogi, Chess, or anything of the sort”—had been no grand setup for a joke. It was the simple truth.
It was a complete shutout, a perfect game. A defeat so total, there was nothing left to say.
“That was insane… I felt like you were reading my every move, seriously. No, actually, just realizing ‘I’m being read’ was a first for me in my entire life. I’m still shaking.”
“…………For reference, how many moves ahead could you read?”
“Um, well… about ten, I think.”
Of the three praising the girl, Mizuki, who couldn’t hide her astonishment, slowly removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose at the answer to her question.
“Ten moves, against a first-time opponent whose habits you don’t know.”
“Y-Yes…”
“I can tell it’s amazing, but just how amazing is it?”
Kaede chimed in with another question. The eighteen-year-old girl, whose knowledge of the game was far more than just passing, answered with a voice tinged with awe and exasperation.
“I wouldn’t say she’s at the very top, but she’s easily on par with a professional shogi player. At the very least, she is definitely, without a doubt, far beyond the amateur level.”
“For real?”
“Sora-chan, you’re incredible…!”
As her older friends cheered her on, the girl didn’t feign humility.
She looked a little shy, but the faint smile playing on her cheeks showed she was genuinely happy—this, too, was just as her partner, their friend, had said. She wasn't merely a quiet and graceful young lady.
It reaffirmed that this girl truly had what it took to soar to the “top” in the virtual world.
“If Haru-kun wasn’t exaggerating, it’s not just shogi, but Go, Chess… and other games are much the same, right?”
“I wonder. I can’t think of any that I’m particularly bad at.”
“I see… That’s beyond amazing. Are you really fifteen?”
“Eh, yes. Well… ah, haha.”
She looked somewhere between happy and troubled.
Receiving a half-lidded stare from an older girl that seemed to question her very existence—which, on the flip side, was proof they were getting along well enough for some slightly rude banter—
“Ah, that’s just like Haru-kun.”
—she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear with a polite laugh, as if to gloss over the moment.
She didn’t scratch her cheek like he often did when he was troubled. But to Kaede’s eyes, the entire sequence of movements overlapped with his perfectly.
And then,
“Heh…—Uu…”
The girl, so perceptive it was nothing short of astonishing, must have read everything from that single murmur. After a brief pause, her cheeks flushed, and she bashfully looked down.
At that, the reaction of those around her was a foregone conclusion.
“What do we do, Mizuki-chan, this is bad. I can’t stop the cuteness.”
“This might be more formidable than her talent for board games.”
Even including the one male present, who was refraining from making any crude remarks out of consideration for the younger (and high-class) lady, all eyes were focused on her with nothing but warm smiles.
Even the young girl herself couldn’t maintain her composure… Still looking down to hide her flushed face, she began clearing the board with fidgety, clattering movements, a picture of adorable shyness.
It made sense, once again—that Haru always looked at her with such a gentle expression. It was only natural, with a girl like this.
…But, setting that aside.
“Stop. It’s too early to put it away.”
“Huh? Ah, um…”
Taking the seat vacated by the previous loser, Mizuki put her glasses back on and stopped the girl.
Perhaps she had misread the mood due to her embarrassment, or perhaps she was unconsciously following the precedent set when Haru first challenged her and declared, ‘I’m never doing that again.’
The young lady, who had assumed the shogi game was over and was about to fold the board, blinked in surprise and paused. Mizuki, for her part, flashed a rare, bold smile…
“It must have been boring playing against a so-called ‘experienced’ player. I’ll be your next opponent.”
“Hey, was it really necessary to dis me just now?”
“Unlike Toshiki-kun, I really do know a thing or two.”
“Could you please not ignore me just to double down?”
Ignoring the boy protesting with a forlorn look, one young girl tilted her head at Mizuki’s confident declaration.
It was Mizuki’s best friend and childhood companion, sitting beside her, who explained.
“Mizuki-chan’s grandpa, you see, he’s a former professional shogi player.”
“Eh… That’s amazing!”
“Thank you. …So, I won’t go down that easily.”
And so began the match between the eighteen-year-old university student, who had truly been taught the game, and the high school girl who made everyone wonder if she was really just fifteen—
Ten minutes later.
“I concede.”
“Ah, thank you for the game…!”
Having suffered a swift defeat, Mizuki wore a look of frustration that was just as rare to see.
It can be easier to deal with a pro than a beginner whose moves are hard to read, so it can't be helped. As for reading ahead, it's just how she's designed: ten-ish moves against Toshiki-kun, and dozens of moves against the protagonist.