I Thought It Was a World Where Chastity Norms Were Reversed, But It Turns Out I Was Just Surrounded by the Overly Intense Girls in My Class - Chapter 22: I Want to Talk with Yukimi-san

Chapter 22: I Want to Talk with Yukimi-san

“I talked to my mother.”

“Oh?”

After playing shogi and feeling freed from my worldly desires, I decided to listen to what Yukimi-san had come back to say.

She knelt formally on the cushion in front of me, eyes lowered, and began to speak.

“It was back when I was in elementary school.”

“Huh? A sudden flashback!?”

I was honestly surprised, but Yukimi-san acting strange was nothing new anymore, so I just quietly listened.

“Back then, I was always busy with lessons after school and didn’t have any friends I could really relax around.”

“…”

“I talked to people, of course, but there was no one I could open up to completely. I was always alone.”

It sounded hard to believe at first glance, but I knew she wore a mask in the classroom.
She was like a completely different person in the clubroom.
So somehow, I understood.

“Still, I never thought being alone was painful. Or rather, I told myself it was fine to be alone and used that to keep myself together. Even after I started middle school, nothing changed.”

Her voice stayed calm and even.

But her face looked a little darker than usual.

“Of course, I grew up in a blessed environment. I was loved by my parents and never wanted for money. Yet somewhere deep inside, I always felt lonely.”

“…”

“I wanted to really talk with someone, heart to heart.”

When she finished, she turned her face toward me.
She caught my eyes and slowly smiled.

“That’s why I’m so grateful to you, Tatsuya-san. With you, I can speak my true feelings. I can be my real self. …That makes me truly happy.”

“…”

“I invited you to my house this time to tell you that gratitude. And, well, if possible, to get the first move advantage… I mean, never mind.”

She flashed a sweet smile, then quickly looked away as if embarrassed.

My heart gave a hard thump at the gesture.

—The real me, huh.

Sometimes I’m not sure myself.

I reincarnated into this world as Baba Tatsuya, but I still have memories from my previous life.

Am I Baba Tatsuya now, or am I the person from before?

Having both sets of memories makes it hard to know who the real me is sometimes.
Even so, the only place I can be completely myself is probably because shogi exists.

—The feeling of loving shogi is definitely mine.

I love it so much I can’t stand it. I think about shogi all the time and am always playing it.
That’s the real me. That’s who I am.

So when I heard Yukimi-san’s story, this thought came to me.

Just as she wanted real conversation with another person, I want real conversation through shogi.

In that sense, we’re pretty similar.

Yukimi-san and I are alike.

“…”

Before I knew it, words rose up naturally inside me.

I leaned forward, carried by the feeling welling up from within.

“Yukimi-san.”

And to her puzzled face, I made this suggestion.

“Will you—talk with me?”

※

“Talk?”

“Yeah. Talk.”

—I want to play shogi with a girl.

That simple wish now felt like something deeper.

I realized I wanted to talk with her through shogi.

“I’ve kind of been curious about you ever since we first met.”

“Eh!?”

To get her interested in shogi, it’s probably best to show her the charm directly.

With that in mind, I recalled the time I first discovered shogi and started explaining its appeal with a nostalgic tone.

“At first I thought it looked really stiff and formal, but the more I learned, the more surprisingly casual it felt. It’s easy to get close to, you know? The vibe fits me, I like the atmosphere—”

“W-w-w-wait just a moment! So suddenly!”

“Suddenly?”

“Yes, suddenly!”

I didn’t understand why she was panicking so much, but at least she was listening seriously, so I kept going.

“I tend to get obsessed with things pretty easily. Before I knew it, that thing was all I could think about. I couldn’t focus in class at all. My whole life started revolving around it.”

“Y-you went that far for me!?”

“Ah, of course at first I wasn’t interested at all. I mean, these days you can do anything with a smartphone, so why bother with something in real life, right?”

“Tatsuya-san!? That’s awful!”

For some reason her eyes filled with tears.

“And yet before I knew it, I was completely hooked. Why do I love it this much, I wonder?”

“P-please say that answer with your own mouth!”

She’s right—charm that can’t be put into words won’t get across.

Why do I love shogi… let me see.

“I think the biggest thing is how it moves my emotions. Winning feels great, losing stings. It seems obvious, but that’s actually pretty rare. The older you get, the fewer chances you have to feel things so strongly. Your chest pounds uncontrollably, your feelings get shaken uncontrollably. That’s the greatest charm, I think.”

Shogi doesn’t end when the game ends.

There’s the review session afterward.

We go over the moves together, talk about what we were thinking during the game, discuss where the turning points were.

Sharing thoughts like that can make the loss sting even more or leave you frustrated, but that too is part of shogi’s charm and character.

As I was recognizing shogi’s good points once again,

“More! Tell me more reasons you love it!”

Yukimi-san’s face was bright red, breathing roughly, she leaned toward me.
She’s really biting hard.

Is she this interested in shogi?

I’m incredibly happy, but her face is a little too close.

“Another thing… it might not count as a reason, but it’s special to me.”

Shogi has always been special.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I grew up with it by my side ever since I was little.

“…Special. To be thought of that much…”

“I feel like we can’t be separated.”

“—!? Do you mean fate?”

“It might be fate, yeah.”

“As I thought!?”

Her eyes widened in shock.

Maybe my love for shogi came on a bit strong?

But I think it got through to her.

—The charm of shogi.
—The intensity of my feelings for it.

“So, Yukimi-san.”

Feeling it had reached her, I slowly held out my hand.
Looking straight into her eyes with a serious gaze, I said the same words once more.

“Let’s—talk.”

The instant those words left my mouth, Yukimi-san froze completely still, as if time had stopped.

After a few seconds, her face turned so red it looked like steam might come out, and then,

“…Y-you’re too bold. Aren’t you a little too bold, Tatsuya-san?”

“What is?”

“You really don’t realize? We’re alone in my room, just the two of us! If you confess to me in a situation like this… I… I…”

She covered her face with both hands stood up.

Letting out a low “Uuu…” groan, “I’m going to get some fresh air outside. Please don’t come looking for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

She yelled at the top of her lungs and ran out of the room.

Once again, I was left alone in her room.

“…I was just talking about shogi, though.”

Yukimi-san had clearly been acting strange.

It seems I caused another huge misunderstanding.

Communication really is hard.