[Go Soul Natsume's Book of Friends] Guang Xia

personnel.It was Taya who came to inform me and Zuoi personally this morning.

"We don't know either! I thought it was only for amateur chess players!"

"Yeah, we called one by one to invite them to attend the reception, it's already considered timely!"

"Fortunately, I didn't lose face this time, otherwise everyone would say that Nihon Ki-in can't handle things—"

"We have verified it with the China-Korea Chess Institute. It is said that there will be professional chess players moving their game schedules and coming to Tokyo!"

……

There was a lot of discussion.I swallowed hard: "Are they... all here to watch Zuo Wei's chess match?"

Furase Village broke out in cold sweat: "It seems that there is only one reasonable explanation."

The voice of the microphone rang and the reception began.Taya gave a speech on the stage, followed by the staff's explanation and translation.

"Mr. Fujiwara didn't come with you?" I was asked at least ten times just backstage.

The arrival of Chinese and Korean masters caused a commotion among amateur chess players.There is a host in front of the stage to make supplements:

"...This summer, the International Amateur Go Tournament will not only kick off in Tokyo, the Chess Institute will also hold the finals of the long-established celebrity title challenge, as well as the most legendary Go Juban...

"I believe that many of you here will stay in Tokyo to watch the game. As we all know, tomorrow is the decisive game. If Mr. Fujiwara beats Taya Hachidan, he will participate in these two events at the same time—"

"Mr. Fujiwara has proved with his outstanding chess skills that this is his era. Just like the Edo era when Ojo chess was held, it belongs to Honinbo Shusaku.

"Coincidentally, at the same time, China, which is separated by a strip of water, is also holding a siege. Ogata Yuriko, who is active in the siege field, and her teacher, is Mr. Fujiwara's disciple Shinto seventh dan...

"The competition between China and Japan is fierce. This is the 'black summer of the sai era.'"

Humorous comment.There was a burst of laughter at the venue, but I couldn't laugh at all. I just wanted to go to Kamakura to find Zuowei.Anyway, Zuo Wei and I were not arranged to attend in advance...

Without doing anything, I used the excuse of going to the bathroom and slipped to the gate of the venue.At the moment when he was about to touch the doorknob, someone shouted in blunt Japanese: "Shinto!"

☆、Waka of the Sixteen Sorcerers of Two Cities

Waka

"Shin Tengguang, since you are here, why did you leave without saying anything?" Hong Xiuying asked behind my back.

I turned around and met a pair of familiar slender eyes.Xiuying walked towards me.I went up to him and hugged him.

"Zuowei... Zuowei and I have something to do today, so we have to go to Kamakura."

After explaining it, I actually didn't quite believe it.Just to say hello, how much time did it take?

I asked myself: Hikari Shinto, why don't you want to meet Gao Yongxia and Hong Xiuying now?

"I see. Mr. Fujiwara is busy." Xiuying said, "I'm sorry, but we came too suddenly."

"Tomorrow is the last match between Zuo Wei and Taya Ryo. It's a warm-up for the Celebrity Title Challenge. No wonder you're here today." I was still a little puzzled when I said the scene.

Hong Xiuying didn't tell me when she came to Japan, it's really not interesting.Even Gao Yongxia came quietly, really unlike his usual style.

Xiuying and I exchanged polite greetings.Gao Yongxia watched with great interest, and suddenly smiled shortly: "Xiuying, just admit it, you came to see Fujimitsu and Mr. Fujiwara play Juban chess!"

As soon as I sneered, my face suddenly became tense.These words hit the nail on the head and made my ambition clear.Good guy, even Korean chess players have noticed it. This must be an open secret in the chess world.I looked at the two of them calmly.Xiuying was a little embarrassed.Gao Yongxia looked at me with a smile on his lips, looking cynical, but I could clearly see that he also clenched his knuckles.

"The two recent tournaments in Japan, the Celebrity Tournament and the Jubangi Selection Tournament, are at the last juncture—Tomorrow's Toya Ryo VS Fujiwara Sakai, and two days later you VS Toya Ryo." Xiuying said plainly, "So, we all rushed over early - we didn't tell you, because the chess players must have been under a lot of pressure before such a game, and there is no need to add trouble to you."

"After you finish playing, it will be the world of Mr. Toya and Mr. Fujiwara." Gao Yongxia continued, "Mr. Fujiwara's opponent in juban chess is either Ryo Toya or you—this wonderful once-in-a-century game." How can you miss the situation?"

Gao Yongxia became much more frank.I smiled: "I won't let Taya win."

Gao Yongxia smiled meaningfully: "Xiuying also said the same."

"Jin Teng-kun." Someone spoke, and it was Yang Hai.Yang Hai and Lu Li were not surprised to see Gao Hong.

I greeted him and Lu Li, then grinned: "I knew about your coming last night. Li Zi told me about it online."

"Ogata Yuriko's teacher is you, this rumor is actually true?" Lu Li was surprised, "She only learned chess from you at 15 when she was 17?"

I nodded.Lu Li sighed: "Japanese Go has really entered its heyday."

"China is also very strong." I said sincerely, thinking of Weijia.

"Shinto chess player, Mr. Fujiwara didn't come with you?" Someone asked me.It is Li Linxin, an amateur chess player from China.

"I'm sorry, Zuo Wei has something to do today, and I really can't make it in Kamakura."

At the same time, I was anxious: Zuo Wei, just wait, I will come to you soon.

"It's been 12 years, and the sensation of Sai in the summer vacation that year is still fresh in my memory." Li Linxin said nostalgicly, and several amateur chess players smiled knowingly, "Today, 12 years later, we can reunite here to watch Sai's ten games Fanqi is also a rare fate."

And this crop?I was surprised. During the summer vacation 12 years ago, I was not one of them. I only knew how to sit in front of the computer and click the mouse for Zuowei, arguing to read comics.

Time flies so fast.

<<

Declining Hong Xiuying's game request ("I will definitely play with you in a few days"), I left the venue and went straight to Kamakura.The scenery passed by outside the car window, and I felt my ears fill with the sound of my heartbeat.

Lu Li is to China, and Gao Hong is to Korea, just like Taya and I are to Japan, they are all outstanding young chess players.They picked this time to gather in Japan, in addition to watching Zuo Wei's upcoming two "Battle of the Century"-the Celebrity Title Challenge (seven consecutive rounds), the ascending and descending juban chess held in Kamakura Shiba Park (consecutive Ten rounds), also to see me and Taya Ryo fight in the juban chess selection final.

Seriously, bloody!

I even worried that the friendship between me and Taya would be ruined because of this round... But, it can be ruined, I thought impulsively.There's nothing like playing chess with Zuowei!

The red light ahead turned green, I honked the horn anxiously, and the sweat in my palm left slightly shiny marks on the Toyota logo.

Natsume is right: I really want to compete with Zuowei!

It was seven o'clock at night when we arrived in Kamakura.It was raining lightly on the mountain road.I didn't bring an umbrella, and I ran all the way on the Saga Peak, and my body was gradually wet by the rain.The cold rain does not cool my blood.

Several monks held umbrellas and opened the gate of the temple. Seeing that I was drowned, they all asked me to change clothes.

"No, no, no! Where's Zuo Wei?" I couldn't wait for a moment.

The old abbot said: "Guangjun, please follow me."

My excitement contrasted with the worry on the faces of the monks, and my heart sank suddenly.The rain on a summer night was pattering around me.

"Zuowei...is he alright?" I asked nervously.

"We tried our best to persuade him."

When I came to a meditation room, the old abbot opened the door for me.Zuo Wei sat by the window, silent and motionless, with a solemn treasure, like a white lotus in the mist.

"Zuowei!" I rushed forward with a stride.

"Mr. Fujiwara, you still haven't eaten..." the old abbot looked at the untouched dinner plate on the coffee table and sighed.

"Zuowei, how can you not eat?" I scolded.

Zoe didn't answer me.On the table in front of him were pens, inks, papers and inkstones, and on one of the letterheads, there were densely packed waka ink marks: "Buddha avoids attachment, mourns Sugawara Hime, mourns away, such a beautiful and miserable body...Thousands of years Letting go of the waves is like a vague dream, when all thoughts are empty and empty...attachment is empty, delusions are empty, and if the heart is not moving, people will not act rashly...the previous sins are not destroyed, and the past is reborn, what is it called repentance?"

Attachment is empty?I stared blankly, feeling an ominous premonition in my heart.Looking at Zuo Wei again, his eyes seemed to have extinguished some kind of emptiness. At this moment, his temperament is quite different from usual, not at all like the him I know.

"Zuowei?" I waved my hand in front of him.

"Guang..." Zuo Wei reluctantly moved his lips, looking faintly at the Xi Yan Hua outside the window.The white flowers were wet and withered by the rain.

"What are you doing?" I tried to say lightly, and picked up the rice paper on the table, "This is the waka you wrote? It's so difficult, what does it say?"

Zuowei stared at me sadly, his blue-purple eyes were bloodshot, but there were no tears.I was suddenly startled.

"Buddha avoids being persistent." Zuo Wei said lightly, "Guang, I never understood why before, but now I understand."

I can't speak.

Zuo Wei continued with difficulty: "It turns out that my thousand-year attachment is wrong... Also, occupying a life that does not belong to me to play chess, what is this wrong attachment?"

"No, no, Zuo Wei, it's not wrong to be persistent..." I couldn't help opening my mouth, but I couldn't express it with another layer of thoughts.If your thousand-year persistence is wrong, then what will happen to me and my chess?

"Guang, many years ago, I asked Qian Cong to destroy the chessboard, and let me be wiped out, so as not to tire others..."

Destroy the board?Ashes?I looked at Zoe in disbelief.

"I've been wrong for thousands of years, now, I can't make the same mistake again——"

"Stop talking." I said in fear.

Why is it so cold, why there is a chill running from the soles of my feet to my back, it must be because I got caught in the rain, otherwise?

"Zuo Wei, you rest first, I will come after changing clothes." I lowered my head and said.

Going to another vacant room, I changed my soaked suit, found my mobile phone and wanted to call Natsume, but found that it was raining and I couldn't turn it on.

Back to Zuo Wei, I saw Zuo Wei lying in front of the desk, continuing to write waka on the paper that I couldn't understand at all.I moved the chair quietly, without saying a word, and I didn't ask him when he would go back to prepare for the chess game.

Sawei VS Taya Ryo - After defeating Taya Ryo, Sawei will challenge Taya teacher's celebrity title.For such an important chess game, Zuo Wei copied the schedule every night, so it was impossible for him not to remember it.I wonder.

Listen to the rain under the monk's hut.I just watched Zuowei write page after page of Waka.

Saga peak sunrise.The morning light hit Zuo Wei and I's faces.

"Zuo Wei, you are going to compete." I finally reminded, "I will drive you to the chess academy now, there is still time."

Zuowei ignored it and continued writing waka without knowing it.

"Zuo Wei," I pushed his elbow, and saw the brush draw a line of ink on the rice paper, "We really have to leave. If we are later, we will be late..."

Zuo Wei still didn't respond at all.The worry in my heart was suppressed to the extreme, and I suddenly stood up: "What do you mean by what you are doing now?"

☆、Twin Cities Seventeen Undefeated

Twin Cities Seventeen Undefeated

"Guang, I have been meditating for two days and two nights... I can no longer comfortably pick up the chess pieces." Zuo Wei whispered, raising his hands, his sleeves fluttering like butterflies, his eyes filled with emptiness and pain, " I just can't."

A very light sentence made me open my eyes wide.The winding rice paper with ink characters fluctuated in the wind, and I looked at Zuo Wei in disbelief.My brain was completely blank, and I couldn't say anything.

Maybe, I understand Zuo Wei's pain.I feel that everything is my fault, and I have to take full responsibility for the other party's departure, even picking up a chess piece feels like a knife is twisting my heart.Is it this kind of pain, Zuowei?

"You... don't you feel that you have let down Qinglan's painstaking efforts?" I don't know how long it took before I found my voice, a little awkward, "And... what about me?"

Zoe was in tears.He slowly covered those beautiful eyes with his hands, and tears trickled down from his fingers.

The sun is dazzling, there is no clock in the meditation room, and the screen of the mobile phone is dim because of the rain, but I know that the time is passing by every minute and every second.If we don't set off again, Zuo Wei will be too late.

"I finally understand you, Asagi." Zuo Wei sighed in dismay, "Sugawara Hime, why did you sacrifice so much for me?"

Qian Cong broke the piano for the old man, Zuo Wei, should he give up playing chess for the old man?But if you do this, will the old man come back?With such pain, how could it be the ending they wanted to see?

"Zuo Wei, you wait, I'll find you a chess piece." I said vigorously, "Maybe you'll feel better in our next game."

"No need, Light."

I didn't listen to Zuo Wei's words, and ran away from the meditation room, intending to ask the monk for a chessboard and chess pieces.When passing the front hall, I saw Natsume stepping into the gate of the temple with one foot.When we met face to face, Natsume immediately understood, and his expression changed: "Zuowei..."

"Zoe has a match with Taya this morning!" I said anxiously.

When the glass chess piece was fetched, Natsume and the abbot surrounded Zuowei.Only Zuo Wei begged the abbot: "Please let me stay in the temple and pray in the morning and evening classes with the monks to comfort the dead."

My foot tripped over the threshold of the meditation room, and I was not careful, and the glass chess pieces in my arms fell to the ground with a clatter.I feel that my heart is also like these scattered chess pieces.

"Zuowei, you will lose the right to challenge the title of celebrity!" I shouted desperately, "You will lose the chance to play seven rounds with Taya celebrity!"

I knew that my words had touched Zuo Wei's most caring and longing heart, and his blue-purple eyes burst out with unspeakable brokenness and sorrow: "Xingyang..."

I waited with bated breath.But Zuo Wei still turned his eyes and said to the abbot, "Please allow me to go to the Great Compassion Hall to pray in the morning."

<<

"It's time for the non-defeat decision? Asking for leave is invalid?!" I said in shock.

Just as the staff of the Chess Institute wanted to say something, someone over there grabbed the microphone: "Shin Teng Hikari!!"

Who else would it be? Of course it would be the one who won without a fight—Taya Ryo.

After a round of questioning by Taya, I felt that most of my brain cells were killed or injured because of making up the heavenly scriptures.

"A car accident in Kamakura?" Taya repeated, unbelievable, I can fully imagine the look of Taya lost and anxious after waiting for a long time in front of the chessboard, his voice was mixed with blame, anger and deep disappointment at the same time, " Shinto, you are too careless!"

What was absent was the last game of the Celebrity Battle. Zuo Wei's "no defeat" this time is no small matter. He lost the right to challenge the celebrity title, which probably disappointed the chess fans who were looking forward to the two "Battle of the Century".

Then the phone rang incessantly.I spoke the scriptures without changing my face, insisting that it was my responsibility.

I kept talking non-stop, but my eyes kept watching the withered Xiyan flowers all over the place. I felt an indescribable sadness in my heart——even Zuo Wei, who loves playing chess like that, actually said "I can't take it." play chess pieces".The truth about Qinglan was really a blow to Zuo Wei.

I don't know how fast the news travels.An hour later, I actually received a long-distance call from Yuli.

"Zuowei won't be defeated?!" You Lizi's surprised voice came from the other end of the phone line.

I was stunned.You Lizi is far away in Beijing!

"We are all waiting to see the big commentary of this game between Sawei and Taya-kun!" Yuri yelled, "What's going on?!"

I told You Lizi that it was because of a car accident, and she spoke a few words in Chinese with someone.I heard boos from over there.

"They're all complaining about you being too careless..." Lizi translated it to me one by one, and it wasn't a good word.I listened with a wry smile.Suddenly, Yuriko lowered her voice, "Shinto... Tell me the truth, what's going on?"

I froze.

"Shinto, when you tell a lie, your voice becomes weak and the pitch becomes higher."

——Even Yuriko can tell that I'm lying, so what about Ryo Taya?

"How is your siege today?"

"Me? Oh, I'm about to be eliminated...Hey, don't change the subject, why didn't Zuowei lose the battle?"

"I'll explain to you later that your 'Natsume-kun' is staying with Zuowei." I said.

I know that I will lead Yulizi to the army.Yuriko complained, "You just like to make fun of me" and hung up the phone.

At this moment, Natsume came out of the Buddhist temple.I took a look at the hall, and the morning prayer had begun. Zuo Wei knelt in front of the Buddha and prayed together with the monks, his white clothes brushed on the floor, and his light purple hair shone like glass in the sun.

I have never seen such a Zuowei, nor have I understood it.I don't understand Buddhism, and I only believe one thing in my heart: if the Buddha really avoids attachment, then it is the Buddha who is wrong, not Zuowei.

Natsume sat next to me, and the tiny spots of light leaking from the bodhi tree fell on him. "Don't worry," he gently put his hand on my shoulder, "I will persuade Zuowei again."

At times like this, only Natsume will be by my side.I feel a warmth.With him around, things don't seem so bad.

"You were inside for so long just now, what were you talking to Zuo Wei?" I asked.

"I'm telling the truth." Natsume's expression was a little stern.I was startled: "The truth?"

"Yes. It was just a guess before. I went to Chuan Tian and Qian Cong to verify it yesterday."

Natsume told a story without haste: "..."

I gradually became terrified, and finally couldn't help it: "You mean, Chuan Tian - Chuan Tim, who looks exactly like Zishiki - she has to get rid of Qinglan?!"

Natsume nodded.As soon as I stood up, I said, "Oh my God."

"This is a sad story." Natsume said softly, with a distant voice, as if talking about Qinglan, and seemed to be talking about herself, "For thousands of years, Qinglan has never been able to get out of that humble wish. She just wants to be with her friends Together."

"Very sad," I said.This is what I say from the bottom of my heart.

"So, Qing Lan's departure wasn't entirely because of Zuo Dao?"

"Not exactly. It's also because I don't want to embarrass Chuan Tian, ​​​​who is a demon extermination. Qing Lan...she loves Xiangzi and Chuan Tim so much."

No wonder Natsume said that Qinglan is very similar to his childhood.They just want to find a friend who really accepts them.For me, it is a small matter within easy reach, but it turns out to be the wish that Qinglan has longed for for thousands of years.

"You and Zuo Wei said these things?" I asked concerned.

"Ah."

"That's why he...is he better?"

"Zuo Wei is still very sad."

I knew it.Zuo Wei, he will not lessen his punishment because of the story behind it. "Don't talk about Zuo Wei, I'm also very sad to hear that." I said honestly, but Natsume's face was still so calm, he only looked at the bright mirror platform under the Bodhi tree, neither happy nor sad.

"You... Could it be that when you returned your name from "Book of Friends", all you heard were such uncomfortable stories?" I couldn't help asking, cautiously.

Natsume smiled, a smile that was almost transparent. "There's nothing worse than that."

I felt a burst of indescribable sadness: "Takashi..."

"Sometimes I regret it. Why did I just want to escape and not protect the sad and lonely ones? I am obviously capable, so I want to go back... Sigh, let's not talk about it."

Natsume quietly swallowed something in her indistinct sigh, and I managed to capture this silent sadness.After being with Natsume for a long time, I sometimes become sensitive.

"Hwang, I promised to stay by your side." Natsume smiled slightly at me, "Then I will definitely stay by your side."

Natsume looked at me with a touch of tenderness, but I felt that a part of it passed through me and cast into another world.In an instant, my heart was touched, and I wanted to say something, but Natsume stopped the topic.

"Has the assistant asked for leave?" He asked concerned.

I told Natsume that Sakumi had been ruled undefeated.

Natsume was surprised: "Undefeated? I remember what Zuo told me before... Doesn't that mean that I can't play against Taya-kun's father?"

"I told them it was because of the car—"

etc!Taya's father!

There was a flash of fire in front of my eyes, and the shocking stone shattered the water, and I realized something instantly: "Taya Ryo, will challenge his father's title of celebrity?!"