The ten-year trace of the soul of chess

The career of a professional chess player is like a war without gunpowder.

After one game is over, there will be countless more games waiting for me.

Breaking into the Honinbo circle is just the beginning of a new journey.

to various extents.

In the go club, the air that had been silent for a long time seemed to explode again with the arrival of someone.

"Taya, we will meet in the circle soon, right?"

You can almost see the wagging tail behind the light.

It's nice of you to be back.Liang said silently in his heart, but asked an irrelevant answer: "Do you need me to guide you one-on-one as a senior?"

Strange.Unspeakably strange.Just hearing Taya's slightly joking words, there was a hint of conspiracy.

Under Guang's scrutiny, Liang had the urge to escape, and just wanted to change the subject, but he heard Guang answer straightforwardly: "Okay! Please also ask Taya Qiduan, who is known as the little teacher and noble son of the chess world, to give you some advice! Hehe."

"..."

Satisfied with Taya's reaction to what she said—dumb, helpless, and accustomed to it.

Guang added contentedly: "This is what I call fully mobilizing all available resources around me in order to realize lofty ideals."

And the resource deity also defaults to this title.

Due to the particularity of the Honinbo round-robin competition rules, the list of chess players entering the round-robin circle does not change too much every year. In the next few weeks, Scheming Light and Resource Liang often meet at the Go club to study chess records.

But this state did not last long, and the time for the two to meet was broken down by the intensive chess game.

Although I know the circumstances are justifiable, although it is okay to contact by phone or text message, but the desire to see that person and discuss the chess game face to face with that person is like the claws of a small animal, scratching so hard that I can't bear it .

I received a call from Light at 7pm.Liang just had dinner.

When asked when he would be free, Liang almost blurted out: "Now."

Too abrupt answer.Even Liang himself didn't know why it had to be today, now.

But the other party seems to have completely accepted and condoned his willfulness this time.

"Okay, see you later." He heard the person he was speaking with reply clearly.

It was just after eight o'clock at night.

When Miss Shihe saw the light and light appearing at the entrance of the clubhouse, she was really surprised.

Although the two of them reviewed in the special seat as usual afterwards, Shihe always felt that some indescribable emotions were surging between the two of them with the unique intuition of women.

She has heard the good news from Mr. Hirose that Shindo has entered the Honinbo Round Robin.

She was not surprised by this.

In my impression, the two of them are always together.There is a tacit understanding and shouting at each other.

But the two people who appeared together tonight gave her a stronger feeling than ever before.

It was a resonance above tacit understanding and below intimacy.

But no matter how much she thinks in her heart, she will always be just a bystander.So, near the closing time of the business, after packing up the rest of the tables and chairs, and explaining to the two people one by one the positions of the switches that need to be turned off before leaving, they left the spare key and left.

In the huge Go club, the lights are still bright.

The sudden decrease in popularity, only a distance away from a chess table, makes the space for only two people become subtle...

The clock on the wall passed ten o'clock quietly, and the review of light and light finally came to an end.

The sound of picking up the chess pieces suddenly echoed in the air.

He saw some white chess pieces on the side of the chessboard close to Taya, and just stretched out his hand, his fingertips touched Taya's.

The very tiny touch, the moment Hikari touched Taya's fingertips, he withdrew his hand back as quickly as an electric shock.

"I……"

"you……"

Looking at each other, they laughed at the same time.Liang gently moved Baizi to the light side.Guang lowered his head and put the chess piece into the chess holder, his ears felt burning.

After tidying up the chessboard and arranging the tables and chairs together with Taya, he took off his bright coat and went to the clubhouse door to wait for him to close the windows and turn off the lights.

Looking at Taya's busy back, Hikaru couldn't help being a little dazed.

Taya's shoulders are broad, and her hair seems to be a little long.The place where the fingertips touched just now seems to still have a faint touch that has not faded away.

He stood quietly at the door of the clubhouse like this, watching the lights in the clubhouse gradually dim, Taya walked towards him from the darkness in the clubhouse, and the image of the first time he saw Taya suddenly flashed in his mind uncontrollably.

At that time, I was also standing in the light, and Taya came from the shadows and looked at herself with a smile: "Are you looking for an opponent to play chess? Come inside."

If, I didn't step into the clubhouse that day.

If Taya didn't come out to rescue himself that day.

……

"Hey, Taya..." Guang handed the coat hanging on his wrist to Liang, and his voice couldn't help but soften, "If it wasn't for this Go club, maybe we wouldn't have met."

"That's right." Liang took the coat and smiled gently.His voice was very soft, and there seemed to be a trace of shyness on his face, just like the appearance when we first met, which made Guang's heart flutter inexplicably.

When he got home, Guang always felt like he had forgotten something, until he saw the six missed calls in his mobile phone, and he remembered Taya's instruction to text him when he got home when we parted.He quickly called him, and the expected reprimand did not fall. On the other end of the phone, Taya's voice was more like a relieved voice: "Well, it's good to be home. Good night."

"Good night."

Turned off the light, but there was no sleepiness in the light.He raised his right hand high, looked at his hand through the moonlight outside the window, and couldn't help laughing silently.

I don't know when, this sentence seems to have become their customary end of the conversation.

good night.

good night.

In the farewell, there seemed to be a deep sense of reluctance.

With the precedent of this night, after that, the two became frequent visitors to the Go Club at night.

From eight o'clock, to nine o'clock, to ten o'clock this time.

By the time the two finished their review, it was almost twelve o'clock at midnight.

The two locked the door together, and when they walked out of the clubhouse, Liang suddenly asked, "Shiteng, have you ever thought about moving out?"

"Yes, but..." When I thought of taking care of everything by myself, I gave up.

As if hearing Guang's inner voice, Liang followed the trend and asked, "Then... are you with me?"

Light froze for a moment.

"I mean, what if you share a house with me?"

Guang didn't think about it at first, so he replied jokingly: "If the roommate is Taya, you can consider it."

It wasn't until I passed by a convenience store and went in to buy Kanto cooking that I suddenly realized that I had always been just a friend and rival of Taya, and I accepted his kindness and concern for me for granted, so much so that I just listened to him. Said he came to line up, and when he was looking for a seat first, he agreed without the slightest hesitation...

His gaze silently settled on that person's back, and he unconsciously began to seriously think about what Taya had just said.

If Taya is really thinking about renting a house...

He tried to imagine the daily life of Taya sharing the rent with others, but he found out with horror that as long as he thinks that Taya will have a girlfriend in the future, they will live together, eat together every day, live together, and do the usual things between lovers Things, his heart felt as if he had been stabbed with a knife, and it hurt so badly that he couldn't breathe.

lover...

Why did he suddenly think of this word that has nothing to do with him.

"Shinto?"

Seeing Taya handing the oden with a cup sleeve in front of him, Hikari's thoughts have not yet been taken away, and after receiving it, he just stared at him blankly.

yes.He almost forgot that Taya will belong to someone else one day, and his life has nothing to do with him anymore.

He suddenly became jealous of that person...

"Shinto, what's wrong with you?"

Being forcibly pulled over his shoulders, Hikaru looked up at Taya, feeling hot flashes in his eyes.

"Shinto?" In the gradually blurred field of vision, Hikari saw Taya frowning slightly.

"Oh, it's nothing, maybe the eyes are overused, and the eyes are too dry." Guang wiped his eyes quickly with his sleeve, and tried to calmly say.He didn't dare to think about what Taya would think of him if he knew what he was thinking.

He lowered his head and took a sip of the Kanto soup. Taya seemed to say something in his ear, but he didn't hear it clearly.

As soon as a mouthful of soup entered his throat, Guang immediately burned his tongue and throat like a scorching pain.

Taya hurriedly took the oden cup away from Guang's hand, and when it touched his hand, she couldn't help being surprised: "Why are your hands so cold?"

After the light slowed down, he smiled nonchalantly: "This, it's been there since I was a child."

The pattern of Chuan characters between Liang's eyebrows deepened, as if he was competing with himself: "But you are 'Light'..." As he spoke, he wrapped Guang's hand completely in his palm.

Guang smiled foolishly: "You are still 'Liang'!"

The two people who had always met each other by their surnames realized that it was the first time they had called each other's name in this way since they had known each other for so long.

Light (ヒカル).

Bright (アキラ).

After the words fell, Guang and Liang looked at each other wordlessly.

After a long time, Liang continued: "But without the sun, the moon will not shine."

"..."

"The moon itself is not a luminous body, it is only because the sun refracts light on the surface of the moon that we can see the moonlight."

Ryo knew that Shinto didn't understand what he meant, but he just smiled without further explanation.

But during Liang's unknown time, Guang fell into unprecedented chaos because of his words.

——So, Taya, what do you mean by these words?

When you keep your eyes on a person for a long time, you will notice any slight changes in him at the first time.

Ryo didn't know what he did wrong, but he could clearly feel that Shinto was alienating him.

Just a few minutes ago, he received a text message from Shinto, saying that there was a chess match in Niigata tomorrow.

He replied to the text message, please send me a message when he arrives in Niigata, but he has not received any messages from Shinto.

Counting carefully, Shinto has disappeared from his sight many times.

Forfeit once in multiple Dashouhe matches.

Beidou Cup qualifier once.

The Obon festival got lost once.

Visit China once with the delegation.

This time he only went to Niigata, but suddenly he felt an unprecedented uneasiness in his heart, as if Shinto would leave for a long, long time.

The next day.

Liang came to the editorial department of "Go Weekly".

Although it was due to work needs, after the interview, he did not leave immediately.

Amano, like him, is waiting for the first-hand chess record of Shinto's today's chess game from ahead, but what was sent back earlier than the game record is that an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 occurred in the Niigata area. The road was severely damaged, and at least 500 people were killed news of casualties.

into the rattan! ! !

In the editorial department, Liang's body swayed, and his face turned pale.Reason told him that Shindo would not have much influence in the chess game, but his body trembled uncontrollably.

If, if...

In an instant, the first thought that flashed through Liang's mind was to directly book a plane ticket and fly to the place where Guang was.

But after the earthquake was so chaotic, if I went there at this time, it would only add trouble to the rescue work...

After saying goodbye to Mr. Amano, Ryo left the editorial department.

Watching Taya's rapidly disappearing back, Amano couldn't help but sigh in his heart.He believed that he had been in contact with Taya many times, and knew that Taya and Shinto had always had a good relationship, but it was the first time he saw Ryo Taya panicked and even lost his composure.

During the earthquake, although the venue where Hikari was located felt the earthquake strongly, no casualties occurred because of the timely evacuation.

After the earthquake, they were uniformly housed in the nearby primary school gymnasium as a temporary shelter.

Due to the impact of the earthquake, the signal was interrupted for a while, and the flight and Shinkansen originally scheduled to go to Tokyo were also delayed indefinitely.

The signal was received again, and the mobile phone had a short black screen due to the excessive influx of information for a while.

After rebooting, dozens of messages arrived in my inbox within seconds.The voice box also indicated that there were nearly ten messages.

Just click on the voicemail, except for the first three messages from Mitsuko, the rest are from that all-too-familiar voice.But the indifference of the past is no longer there, only the panic and anxiety that are about to penetrate the eardrum.

——Shinto, I'm Taya.I heard that there was an earthquake in Niigata, how is your place?Is the tremor strong?

——Shinto, where are you now?Are you hurt?

——Shinto, hear the message, give me a call.

——Shinto, where are you?

——Light, answer me...

——Light, I like you...

--I like you……