[Soul of Chess] What if

"Hey, Shinto, we already know the reason for your leave."

Hearing what He Gu said, Ah Guang was stunned for a moment, and his chaotic thoughts filled his mind like bursting fireworks:

What does He Gu mean?

What is "I already know the reason for your leave"?

Could it be... Could it be that he knew about himself and Zuo Wei? !

If that was true, how did he know?Did someone else tell him, or was there something wrong with him?

Most importantly, how should I deal with it now?

"You... what are you talking about? I don't quite understand what you mean..." Ah Guang smiled dryly, pretending to be unaware so as to cover up his gaffe just now, and buy himself time to think.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted by He Gu before he finished speaking.

"It's because of Sai." The other party looked straight at him and said.

At this moment, Ah Guang was completely stunned.After a long while, he managed to squeeze out a sentence: "What does this sentence... exactly mean?"

Hegu didn't answer his question right away, he exhaled a sigh of relief, and then turned to Yijiao with a little satisfaction: "Well, am I right? The reason for Shinto's leave is indeed Sai!"

"Shinto, is it like this?" Yijiao ignored Kazuya who was asking for credit, but hurriedly asked Aguang as if to prove.

Ah Guang didn't respond to Yijiao immediately because his mind was in a mess.However, his slightly embarrassed expression still betrayed him.Seeing this, Yijiao couldn't help but murmured in disbelief: "When Hegu told me before, I couldn't believe it, but I didn't expect it to be true..."

Ah Guang didn't pay attention to Yijiao's emotion, what he wanted to know urgently now was—how did He Gu know.

As for how to explain the matter between himself and Zuo Wei to them, Ah Guang has no time to think about it for the time being.After all, the matter has been exposed, no matter how much you cover it up, it won't help, right?

"You...how did you know?" Ah Guang asked with some difficulty.

He stared at He Gu intently, not missing the slightest bit of expression on the other side.Thinking that there might be other people besides He Gu who also knew about this, he clenched his hands unconsciously.

Perhaps because he was still immersed in the joy of what he said, He Gu didn't notice the extraordinary solemnity in Ah Guang's expression, and even ignored the questioning tone.

"Ahahaha, I was actually guessing~ Guessing! I didn't expect that I really guessed right!" He rubbed his head and explained with some embarrassment.

The unexpected answer made Ah Guang unable to react for a long time.

After finally regaining his senses, he looked at the person opposite with a hearty smile in disbelief: "So, what you said just now is all your guess?"

"Hey~ Yes!" He Gu admitted without the slightest hesitation.

Before Ah Guang asked, Hegu himself began to talk about the reasoning process.

"I just thought it was a little strange. After all, you ask for leave a little too often."

Hearing what He Gu said, Ah Guang couldn't help but smile awkwardly.Although I did ask for leave from the Chess Academy, but only twice in total, no matter how you look at it, it is not frequent...

However, after listening to He Gu's next words, Aguang finally understood why he used the slightly exaggerated word "frequently".

"Since you have chosen to become an academy student, you must also have the ambition to become a professional shogi player. Shinto, you should know that if you want to become a professional shogi player, you must participate in the annual shogi player selection test. However, in April of the next year There are at most three people who can get the first stage of their career." Speaking of this, He Gu stopped, and he shifted his gaze to A Guang, as if he was observing the other party's reaction.

Taya explained these contents to himself before, so Aguang nodded, indicating that he knew.

After seeing Ah Guang nodded, He Gu continued: "Although the number of people who can pass the exam every year is very small, the college students can't stay in it for a long time. Once they are over 17 years old, they have to quit. Although they can do it before the age of 30 Take the professional chess player exam, but it is almost unheard of for foreign participants to pass the exam."

After speaking, he quickly added: "Of course, Ta Yaliang doesn't count."

Seeing the two people present looking at him with disdain, He Gu coughed dryly and said calmly: "This is the truth. Although Ta Ya is not a student, his father is the closest Master Toya! How could he not pass the exam with such a powerful person as a teacher?"

"In short, what I want to say is that those college students who left the chess academy due to age actually bid farewell to their dream of becoming professional chess players." Having said this, his tone was a little low, "That is to say, becoming a college student It doesn’t mean that everything will be fine, but that you must improve your chess skills as much as possible within a limited time, and then try to make yourself pass the professional chess player exam before. This is the reality.”

Perhaps because he felt thirsty, Hegu lowered his head and took a sip of the drink in his hand, and then looked at A Guang seriously: "So, everyone who becomes a college student is not at ease. In order to pass the exam as soon as possible, all Everyone is racing against time to study Go, even in their sleep, once they think of a good move, they will immediately get up and rehearse it on the board. All in all, for college students, there should be nothing else but Go more important things."

"Although there are only five days of one-month training for college students, it is extremely short and precious. Because it not only allows you to test the effectiveness of your recent studies, but also provides an opportunity to play against opponents of different styles, so that your chess skills and spirit can be improved." The state is honed in games similar to actual combat. Therefore, no one wants to miss any practice match, even if they live far away, they will definitely arrive at the chess academy on time for training on the training day. Anyway, at least in the In the past few years I have been a student, I have hardly heard of anyone asking for leave."

Then he changed the subject: "However, you asked for leave. And not only once, but twice. Because this kind of situation rarely happens, I am a little concerned."

Listening to He Gu's narration, Ah Guang's inner guilt became stronger and stronger.Although he knew that the results of the round-robin competition were related to the ranking of the college students, he never realized the significance of this seemingly ordinary practice competition to everyone.

No wonder He Gu would say that he asks for leave frequently... For them, asking for leave twice is indeed frequent.

After a short pause, He Gu continued: "It's nothing if it's just like this."

Hearing this sentence, Ah Guang faintly felt that the next content would be very important. It should be that Hegu would know the reason why his request for leave was related to Sai, so he put out the complicated thoughts in his heart due to the previous words of the other party. Thoughts temporarily suppressed.

Ah Guang's premonition is not wrong, because He Gu said this:

"Coincidentally, the day before Sai played against Wang Lei, I accidentally learned from my teacher that Sai would play in the Nongshim Cup match the next day. When Shinoda-sensei said that you couldn't come to the training because you were not feeling well."

"It's such a coincidence that these two things happen to happen on the same day. Then I can't help but recall that the last time you asked for leave seemed to be the same day that Sai participated in the competition. Are these two times just a coincidence? Or is it What is the relationship between the two?"

"With the idea of ​​giving it a try, I thought over and over the reasons why you asked for leave twice, and finally found a few doubts."

coming!

Ah Guang's heart suddenly raised the alarm, and he waited extremely attentively for the next content.

"The reason you asked for leave for the first time was that the school had an important exam, right?" He Gu asked.

Facing He Gu's eyes that seemed to see through everything, Ah Guang nodded guiltily.

Regarding Aguang's reaction, Hegu didn't say anything, he just gave Aguang a meaningful look, and then continued his reasoning: "You are a first-year student, you have said this before. And this stage can The only important exams are the school's regular exams. However, the time you asked for leave was in November, which was the second semester of the school. Since this semester starts in September, December It’s a holiday, so midterm exams are usually held in October, and final exams are scheduled in December. As for November, the school doesn’t hold any major exams.”

"Therefore, your so-called reason for asking for leave for an important exam is not valid. In other words, you are lying." When he said this sentence, a smile appeared on the corner of Hegu's mouth.

was found! !

Just when Ah Guang was in doubt, he heard He Gu's calm voice: "The reason for asking for leave this time is the same."

"It is true that physical condition will affect the display of strength. However, unless it is an extremely serious illness, if it is just a general minor illness or injury, no one will give up training because of this."

"Isn't there a top chess player who had a car accident before, even though his left arm and leg were bound with plaster bandages, he insisted on playing six games? When everyone persuaded him to abstain, he said: 'I don't know what abstention is. .I would rather fall on the chessboard, and I want to play chess.' I am not saying that I should ignore my body for the sake of Go, but in fact, every person who really loves Go will not easily submit to the game that he cares about. surrendered for other reasons."

He Gu looked Aguang up and down and said: "You look very healthy now. If you really had any serious illness before, it doesn't make sense to fully recover in just a week. So, this time There are also doubts about sick leave."

"Of course, these are just my guesses. Maybe the reason for your leave is true and it's not impossible. In order to find out what's going on, after you came, I discussed it with Yijiao quietly, and finally decided Let me test you a little and see how it turns out."

"Then, your reaction proves that my guess is correct." Speaking of this, He Gu couldn't help but smile smugly.

The author has something to say:

Hmm, I don't know if the meaning is clear...