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 29: Kagurazaka-san Seems to Know a Lot About Shogi Rules

“You two must be having quite the nice time.”

The next day after school.

Along with Kagurazaka-san, who had officially become a shogi club member, I was being cornered.

By whom, you ask?

Obviously, by Yukimi-san.

She was grilling us hard about how the two of us had slipped out of the clubroom together yesterday.

She asked every detail about what happened yesterday, and I answered everything honestly.

Yet even so…

“That’s scandalous! That’s impure! No way, Tatsuya-san!”

“I told you, we just took a break.”

“What do you mean by ‘took a break’! What does ‘took a break’ even mean!”

She seemed even more upset now.

I had only told the facts, so why was I getting blamed?

Kagurazaka-san probably felt the same way. When she lifted her face, Yukimi-san looked back and forth between us and said,

“You don’t have to get that mad. When you’re tired from chasing a dog, you take a break. Plus, yesterday I seriously got to see an unexpected side of Baba-cchi, and it was the best.”

“Oh? That makes me happy.”

“—What on earth does that mean!”

Yukimi-san’s shriek echoed through the quiet clubroom.

“…No way… no way. Taking a break and learning an unexpected side of someone… that’s already cheating, isn’t it? Yes. Exactly. It really is.”

“Yukimi-san?”

Yukimi-san was clearly acting strange.

She muttered something like a grudge under her breath while her face turned bright red.

Whoa, she just started scribbling furiously on a scrap of notebook paper.

This looks dangerous. Better not get close.

“All right.”

Time to refocus on shogi.

I opened the book on the Murata System that I bought yesterday and started setting up the pieces.

“I see, you don’t open the bishop path.”

“It’s an even bishop exchange, right?”

While I studied it intently, Kagurazaka-san peeked over the shogi board.

“It’s a pretty forceful fighting style even among even bishop exchanges. Holding off the bishop path, advancing the fifth-file pawn, and pushing the silver is a classic move, but…”

“Ureshino style?”

“Right. At a glance it looks the same, but with the Murata System you can also build a normal yagura castle, right? Unlike the Ureshino style where you decide the shape early, this one seems flexible and lets you rearrange.”

“Seriously looks tough.”

It did seem difficult until you get used to it.

I think it’s basically a static rook strategy, but what happens if you play it against a ranging rook? How does it differ from the Bird stab? There were a lot of things to think about.

For me, who usually only plays bishop exchange, this would be a very high hurdle.

But on the flip side, it lets you force your own ideas no matter who the opponent is, so it’s an extremely appealing strategy. I definitely wanted to master it.

“By the way…”

I asked Kagurazaka-san, who had been staring at the book and glaring at me for a while.

“Kagurazaka-san, you can play shogi, right?”

“No way, I can’t play at all. One-hand-loss bishop exchange is seriously impossible to understand.”

“Well, one-hand-loss bishop exchange is a strategy where the benefit of the hand loss is hard to grasp…”

It did not feel like that was the real issue.

Because normal people don’t even know about one-hand-loss bishop exchange.

“…………………………”

I glanced over at Yukimi-san.

She was still scribbling furiously on her notebook, filling the page so densely with text that it turned completely black.

Yeah, this is how a normal person acts. She showed zero interest in shogi.

“Seriously, there’s way too much to memorize.”

Meanwhile, Kagurazaka-san was still deep in thought about the Murata System.

She had her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, clearly calculating moves.

“You can play, right?”

“I can’t. Even if I could, I’d be worse than a chick.”

Is that really true?

It felt extremely suspicious, but she insisted over and over that she could not play, so I had no choice but to take her word for it.

“Got it. Then let’s play one game. Come on? You’ll understand as soon as you play. Just one game, only one game, please!”

As I begged desperately, Kagurazaka-san pouted and muttered softly,

“…Not right now.”

“Come on, somehow!”

“It’s way too soon. I can’t do it unless a little more time passes.”

Kagurazaka-san looked awkward as she shifted her eyes away.

True, we had only met recently. Suddenly playing shogi might be a big hurdle.

“I’ll get used to it little by little, so just wait until then.”

“How long specifically?”

“A year or so? Until then, you’re forbidden from playing against any other girl.”

“Ehh…”

“Got a problem with that?”

“No, but if it means I can play shogi with Kagurazaka-san, I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

“That’s settled then.”

Kagurazaka-san smiled with satisfaction, picked up one shogi piece, and slammed it down on the board.

“Check.”

“You can play shogi after all, right?”

—

Chapter 30: Side Kagurazaka Kana

I tend to get hooked on the hobbies of guys I like.

When did I realize that about myself?

I’m not sure, but by the time I noticed, it was already too late, kind of thing.

To be honest, I had zero interest in shogi.

Just moving tiny pieces around, and I couldn’t tell what was happening or what was fun about it.

But I liked Baba Tatsuya, the way he got totally lost in shogi.

So I decided to study shogi.

I started with a beginner’s book.

I read through how the pieces move and some basic tactics, and most of it stuck in my head.

I may not look it, but I’m pretty good at remembering things. Words sink in fast for me.

The problem is that just knowing the rules is the same as knowing nothing. Shogi is the kind of game where the real hell starts after you learn the basics, right?

My biggest goal is to play a game against Baba Tatsuya from the same viewpoint.

I want to see the same board he’s seeing.

In short, it’s a lame reason—I just want to step into the world of the guy I like.

But to do that, I have to get properly strong. If I play half-heartedly, he’ll see right through me and it’ll be over in no time.

So I decided to learn openings.

Baba Tatsuya said he’s good at corner exchange, so I copied him and bought a book on corner exchange.

It made absolutely no sense.

It made so little sense that I felt despair just reading the book.

Exchanging bishops already adds so much to think about, and then deciding when and where to drop the bishop—it’s seriously impossible.

Keeping the bishop diagonal closed means way less to calculate, so it’s definitely easier.

I wanted to complain about it to him, but I held back because I didn’t want him to find out I’m playing shogi.

I’m planning to keep the fact that I play shogi a secret from Baba Tatsuya.

The reason is simple.

I want to show him how strong I’ve become.

It’s just vanity.

Just pride.

But girls usually want to hold on to that kind of thing, right?

Once I learned an opening, the next step was real games.

The first place I tried was a browser site called Hamu Hamu Shogi. The hamsters were cute, so I figured I could win there, and I gave it a try.

But the result was a crushing defeat.

Aren’t those hamsters way too strong?

No matter how many times I played, I couldn’t win.

Annoyed, I looked for a site more suited to beginners.

That’s how I found an app called Piyo Piyo Shogi.

You can change the level of the chick opponents, from level 1 to 40, apparently.

Feeling a little cocky, I challenged level 5’s Hiyori.

The result was a crushing defeat.

Isn’t Hiyori seriously too strong?

I reflected on that and tried a game against level 3’s Hiyoka next.

The result was a close defeat.

Isn’t Hiyoka seriously too strong?

By the way, both Hiyori and Hiyoka were strong, but not as bad as the hamsters. The hamsters were merciless in a way that showed no human heart. Seriously on another level.

Aren’t those hamsters too strong?

That’s how it went, and I kept playing against the chicks nonstop.

Before I knew it, my skills were improving fast, and I started beating Hiyoka, Hiyori, Piyokichi, Piyohei, and Piyota one after another.

Maybe I’m the strongest?

Thinking that, I challenged the hamsters again, and they crushed me easily.

Aren’t those hamsters too strong?

To be honest, losing at shogi made me incredibly frustrated and genuinely pissed off, but even so, I started to like shogi.

Before I realized it, I was playing every day like it was normal, and I got more and more into it.

But I don’t play against Baba Tatsuya.

Baba Tatsuya wants to play a game with me, but I’m not going to make it that easy. I don’t want him to think I’m some easy girl.

And besides…

If I do play against Baba Tatsuya—it’ll be when I confess to him.