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 8: I Want to Play a Game with the Blonde Gal

Chapter 8: I Want to Play a Game with the Blonde Gal

The shogi dojo I had my eye on was in a quiet residential neighborhood about a fifteen-minute walk from the station.

I walked along while checking the map on my smartphone, and the scene changed completely from the bustling station area that was lively as a tourist spot into a much calmer streetscape.

The river I passed along the way was very clean, giving the impression of a town in harmony with nature.

It’s so peaceful…

I was enjoying these unfamiliar sights when

“…………Huh?”

I had just entered an alley near my destination when I spotted a group that looked somehow familiar.

A blonde gal stood at the center, surrounded by a Mohican yankee and a man wearing sunglasses.

“Come on already, play a game with me!”

“I’ve told you no tons of times.”

“I can’t take it anymore. I don’t like your attitude!”

“You’re gross. Really gross. No way in hell with you guys.”

I couldn’t catch all the details from far away, but I definitely heard the word “play a game” ring in my ears.

“…………Huh?”

Could those three be shogi players?

Such a hypothesis came to mind.

No, but still.

No matter how I looked, it seemed like they were arguing.

On top of that, they did not look at all like people who played shogi.

“Don’t get cocky with me!”

“You think you’re hot stuff so you can get away with it? Huh?”

But they say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and the old guys at the shogi dojo are all tough-looking too.

When I thought about it that way, it wasn’t strange at all for them to be shogi players. In fact, it started to seem like that was the only possibility.

If so, it was great news for me personally.

Two of the three were my classmates, and the other one wore the same uniform, so he had to be a student from our high school too.

That meant there were three people who played shogi, and if I could recruit them, it would bring the launch of the shogi club one step closer.

I could not miss this chance.

I mustered my courage and approached the alley where they were.

It was dim and shady, just the kind of spot yankees would like.

“Um, excuse me a sec?”

“Huh?”

I called out hesitantly, and the Mohican reacted to my voice with a fierce glare.

He must have been surprised by the sudden voice.

The sunglasses guy next to him and even the blonde gal had eyes that showed confusion at my appearance.

Alright, first I should introduce myself and build some rapport.

“I’m Baba Tatsuya from class 1-1. My rank at the dojo is four-dan.”

“Dojo?”

“Yes. What rank are you all?”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

This time the sunglasses guy thrust his face close in anger. He was so close spit might fly.

But this kind of distance was already everyday stuff at the shogi dojo.

Casual speech was normal. Some even called you by your first name or gave you nicknames right from the first meeting.

That was why the dojo felt intimidating with all those old guys, and it was hard to attract customers…

“Don’t get cocky. Huh?”

Still, they were really on guard against me.

If an outsider showed up out of nowhere, they would be surprised, especially in the countryside where almost all the customers were regulars, and any stranger caused a big fuss.

I got it, I totally got it.

As I felt the difficulty of communities all over again,

“We’re in the middle of something right now. You must be prepared for that if you’re interrupting, huh?”

“Prepared?”

“Yeah. Prepared to exchange fists with us.”

The Mohican and the sunglasses guy closed in on me slowly from left and right.

As for the blonde gal, she stared at us with her eyes wide open.

She had her arms crossed with one hand on her elbow, and her lips pressed together in what seemed like worry.

“I’m prepared, of course.”

I said it casually and clenched my fist, recalling the days when I first started shogi.

Then I declared it.

“After all, I’m here to challenge the dojo today!”

” “Huh?!” ”

The yankee and Mohican’s voices overlapped. They looked at each other and tilted their heads.

“You some kind of badass?”

“Who knows. Back in the day I beat up old guys around here all the time.”

With dojo four-dan strength, I figured I wouldn’t lose to regular people.

Sure, I couldn’t beat tournament players, but that didn’t mean I was weak. Amateur four-dan was pretty strong.

“Even against both of us?”

“Hah, no way in hell, right? Huh?”

“I don’t know your strength, but at the dojo I sometimes fought three at once, so I can handle you both at the same time.”

“Huh?”

“Is this guy for real? Huh?”

In shogi, playing multiple opponents at once.

That was called multi-board play.

At events or meetups hosted by the shogi federation, pro players doing multi-board against participants was already common.

There were even rumors that a famous title holder once faced nearly a hundred at once.

But in practice, multi-board was extremely tough because you had to read multiple games at once, spreading your focus thin.

If anything, it was definitely my weak point.

“No way it’s a joke. A guy like you can’t handle multiple people.”

“Yeah, yeah. Has to be a lie. Huh?”

“Well, that was back then. My max was ten people. My head felt like it would explode. My brain just couldn’t keep up.”

” “—Huh?” ”

I said it with a wry smile, and they froze in stunned silence.

Did they not do multi-board much around here?

I kind of felt like they were backing off a bit.

I wanted to play against them right now, so getting them scared was not smart.

I should try to make them feel more friendly.

With that thought, I took a step forward.

They backed away at amazing speed.

“Why’s this guy smiling? Huh?”

“What the hell are you!”

“No, no, I’m nothing special. I’ve been getting rusty lately. That’s why I came here today. Thought I’d get fired up around here.”

” “Get fired up?!” ”

“You know, things have been rough lately. I figured challenging dojos would be the best way to recall my old edge.”

In this world where chastity views are reversed, us guys live every day side by side with danger.

It never hurt to train.

“…I-I’m shaking? Huh?”

“No way. No way it should be like this.”

It seemed the yankees felt fear in their daily lives too, and recalling bad memories twisted their faces openly.

Their looks and speech were rough, but we had some common ground after all.

We played shogi and feared women whose chastity views were reversed.

“We might get along well.”

” “Eek—” ”

I said it with a big smile, and their bodies twitched.

They had faces like they saw a monster and pressed their backs to the wall.

Sweat flowed from their foreheads, and they looked around nervously in an obviously unnatural way.

I took one step closer to them and lightly offered my hand.

“How about a game as a sign of friendship? Look, there’s a dojo right nearby. Oh, want to go challenge it together?”

That sounded fun too. Dojo challenge with people from the same high school.

It felt like a manga and got me excited.

But they did not seem up for it, and after looking at each other, they said in shaky voices,

“I-I got stuff to do, I’m out.”

“Don’t follow us? Huh?”

They ran off in a direction away from the shogi dojo.

Their momentum was so wild that the sunglasses guy’s shades slipped off and fell to the ground. He did not care and just kept running. Just kept running.

And in no time, they were out of sight.

“Huh? Why did they go home?”

I thought I had found comrades, but somehow they kept their distance perfectly.

Maybe they were shy?

They might be bashful despite their looks.

“Uh…”

In the awkward silence, the only one left was the blonde gal.

She had watched our exchange silently the whole time, but from midway she held her chest area with both hands.

Her shoulders moved up and down a little, and her breathing seemed a bit ragged somehow.

Was she not feeling well?

“You okay?”

“I-I’m fine. Thanks to you.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

I smiled as I said it, and a faint red tint colored her cheeks.

If she had no health issues, she could play shogi.

It was a shame it went from three to one, but if I could play with her, it was an honor instead.

I smiled and offered my hand again.

Then to her, who stared in a daze with her face bright red, I made this proposal.

“If you’re up for it, want to play a game with me?”

※

“If you’re up for it, want to play a game with me?”

At that instant, her eyes flew wide open.

She froze with her eyes wide like she had just gotten a sudden confession.

After a bit of silence, she murmured softly with her cheeks just a little flushed.

“…………That’s not fair.”

“Huh?”

“That’s too much for a girl’s heart.”

“Girl’s heart? What do you mean?”

Shogi had nothing to do with gender.

True, only men had become pro players so far, which led to the women’s pro system.

But there was no rule saying pros and women’s pros could not play each other, and lately some women’s pros were even beating pros.

So I could not see how a girl’s heart connected to shogi. A girl’s heart was a girl’s heart, and shogi was shogi.

What even was a girl’s heart?

As I tilted my head with that question, she picked up her school bag and put her free hand to her chest.

She let out a breath, glanced at me, and her cheeks that should have calmed down turned red in an instant.

“Give me a sec to prepare my heart.”

She left those words, turned on her heel, and ran off without looking back.

“Huh, you’re going home? At least one game…”

My voice trying to stop her got drowned out by a truck passing on the nearby street.

“Oh…”

Left alone, I murmured as I watched her retreating back.

“Sigh… I just want to play one game of shogi.”