[Comprehensive main volleyball] long distance pass

June, the beginning of the rainy season.

Before Chiho was promoted to the fourth dan, there was still one round of victory.

Tongshan and Erhaitang participated in the rookie battle, and they were still one round away from the finals where the two would join forces.

Shogi Research Association.

"What? Xiao Hina was bullied at school?" Chiho slapped the coffee table, stretched her neck and leaned in front of Tongshan, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

——After Kiriyama lost to Shimada in the Lion King match in March, he also chose to join the research club.The meeting frequency was changed to once a month.

His green eyes glanced to the right, not daring to look directly at her angry face: "Because... your match at the reward meeting has reached the most critical moment?"

"Zero." Chiho sat upright, and her words returned to calmness, "In the future, if you encounter such a thing, you must tell me that you don't have to think about it."

——If he hadn't noticed that Tongshan's face was always covered with a layer of heavy melancholy recently, if he forced him to ask him, he probably would never have told her.

The young man in front of him was always like this, so gentle that it made one's heart palpitate.

The time of the two in the seminar has run out, and Shimada is accompanying Erkaido in the semi-finals in Osaka.

"Let's go, let's go to dinner first." She stood up and packed the chessboard and chess pieces, then went to get her backpack again, "Tell me about Xiao Chi."

In the words, it meant that Tongshan could not refuse.

Lock the door with the key of the Shimada's house - the shogi research club is actually in the Shimada's house, at the end of a long ramp.Chiho supported Kiriyama's shoulders, and the two walked down the ramp.

Looking for a family restaurant nearby to sit down, Tongshan swallowed his difficult voice, and told her the ins and outs of the incident.

"An Yuan...I don't know what to do now." With his clenched fist resting on his knees, his breath trembled, "Right now I can only try to win a few more rounds and earn more money..."

"Because Xiao Chi is my benefactor, I promised her that I will repay her with my whole life..."

Chiho propped her forehead, lost in thought.

——Campus bullying, she and Ling also experienced it, but it was not as serious as what Xiao Chi encountered.

Not only is it simply isolated, but what is more, it will humiliate the bullied person in public.

Fortunately, teachers and parents will come forward, but Xiao Chi's head teacher not only did nothing, but also blamed her.

She could imagine how that kind and lively girl spent her days in the classroom—it was like under the bottomless sea level, any struggle was futile, and there was no splash.

"Xiao Hina did nothing wrong... But Xiao Ling, the Kawamoto family is not the kind of family that accepts money from outsiders. If you want to repay her, you have to take action." Chiho patted Kiriyama's face across the table. Shoulder, "If the class teacher doesn't care, then go to another teacher or dean, and make sure to return her innocence."

"Yes." Tongshan nodded and accepted her suggestion.

"I will go to see her with you when I have time. Fortunately, Xiao Chi is graduating soon, and when she enters high school..."

"I want her to take the high school I'm in." Tongshan said suddenly, "I will protect her."

"Huh?" Chiho blinked in surprise and stopped talking.

However, Tongshan's expression did not waver at all, he looked back at her firmly, with a gentle arc on his mouth.

"Xiaoling..." Chiho felt that tears were about to burst into her eyes, and hurriedly picked up a tissue to wipe the corners of her eyes.

It is precisely because she understands what kind of tragic past the young man in front of her has, that she cherishes him even more when he said those words just now.

Kiriyama, who has never been treated tenderly by the world, gradually becomes gentler than anyone else after meeting his redemption.

——This is the man who stands upright.

"Hey?! Yasuhara, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that she was about to cry, Kiriyama panicked.

"Oh... sorry, I got too excited all of a sudden." Chiho rubbed her red eyes and smiled happily: "I'm fine, I just think you are really handsome, Ling."

"..."

"So ~ cheer for tomorrow's semi-finals!" Chiho raised her glass and shouted, sending her most sincere blessings to Tongshan, "This way I can make a lot of money ~ buy some delicious food for Xiao Hina and the others!"

"Yes, the point is to make a lot of money." Tongshan's eyes flashed, and he clinked glasses with her, and the opinions of the two little money fans reached a high degree of unity in an instant.

"But~ Don't go to Kawamoto's house with your bankbook as a financial plan? You'll be hated."

"Ah..." Kiriyama trembled all over after being told the idea.

"You don't really think so, do you?"

"I was wrong!"

Chiho's life-and-death final battle at the award meeting was held on the same day as Kiriyama's semi-final.

When the two met downstairs in the chess club, their expressions were terrifyingly chilling.

They were speechless and did not need too much encouragement, they just went upstairs together in silence and walked slowly into different chess rooms.

——Betting on their respective beliefs and dignity, the battle of chess players is lonely and sacred.

The calligraphy of "Ordinary mind is Tao" hangs on the wall, and the chess room is as quiet as usual.

Chiho knelt in front of the chessboard, greeted her opponent politely, and then prepared to face the last game on the road to career.

From daytime to nightfall, she no longer knew how long she had been deadlocked with her opponent.

When the number of steps exceeds 100, there is not much time left for both sides.

Maybe it was because she valued this game too much, but she never felt that the game could be so difficult before.

Her waist and legs were sore and sweaty, but her brain was still working at a high speed - this painful and hearty feeling made her excited.

There were fewer and fewer chess pieces on the chessboard, and the final chess move could suddenly be seen very clearly. Chiho nudged a piece and made a move to turn the situation around.

"I lost." After a long period of contemplation, the opponent lowered his head in frustration.

——"Thank you for your advice."

After the impression battle was over, Chiho was called over by the president.

"Congratulations, An Yuan, I watched your game today, it was very exciting..."

But she just knelt on the tatami, panting lightly with her eyes closed, as if she hadn't escaped from the fierce battle just now.

"Are you tired? Let's go back and have a good rest today. The job change won't be too soon, but it will definitely be done before your summer vacation ends." The uncle of the chairman has always been taking care of Chiho, seeing that she is already tired. I couldn't even say it, and comforted him kindly.

"Well... Thank you, President." Chiho replied in a daze, standing up while supporting the table, "Then let me take my leave first."

——The symptoms of sudden dizziness seem to be getting more and more frequent recently?Do you want to go to the hospital?

She leaned on the wall and thought as she walked.

But when Chiho walked out of the gate of the chess club, the scene in front of her quickly woke her up again.

Kiriyama seemed to be talking to the indifferent Shimada with an excited expression.

"Master?" Chiho greeted in a weak voice, "When did you come back? How was Erkaitang's semi-final?"

——Oops, I forgot to take a look at the results of the game when I came out just now!

Shimada will appear here, which means that Erkaitang's game is over.

However, Tongshan frowned tightly and bit his lips tightly. Shimada also gave her a complicated look and said, "Erkaitang is hospitalized."

——did not tell her the result directly, but the meaning expressed was already obvious.

Er Haitang was only one round away from meeting Tongshan in the final, but he fell ill ahead of schedule and fell in front of the chessboard.

"He's always like this...always like this...!" Chiho's words began to choke, she lowered her head deeply, her bright orange hair was now dimmed, "Knowing that the opponent is deliberately draining his energy, You have to work so hard! Woo..."

Tong Shan also pursed his lips and didn't say a word.

That little chubby man who always brings them joy, the heavy burden in front of him and behind him——

They all know.

He sacrificed his carefree childhood as a young master, but devoted all of himself to the arduous learning of shogi.

The grandpa housekeeper who is always by his side, the brightly colored but bland bento, and the medicine that fills a whole backpack.

And that body that is getting weaker and weaker.

——Erkaitang just didn't want to be asked about these things.

"Ah... Kiriyama, Yasuhara," Shimada sighed, breaking the sad atmosphere, "You all won today... I treat you, let's go have a meal together."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Tongshan helplessly.

——Before Chiho met them, he wanted to avoid Kiriyama's questioning about Erkaitang, because he didn't want this matter to affect his final.

But Tongshan grabbed his clothes and earnestly begged him to tell him the whole story.

Aware of the tremendous growth of this genius junior, Shimada made a decision.

In the restaurant, Shimada took out two pages of paper from his briefcase: "This is Erkaitang's semi-final game record."

Tongshan took the chess record, and Chiho from the side also came up.

There are two chess records, one is the first game when the time is running out, because the opponent changed the disadvantage after the constant fighting to Qian Rishou (Note: Refers to the same situation repeated more than four times, the referee will judge that there is no winner in this game, and the game will be played again. The game, but the first and second moves were swapped), and the game had to be restarted - after that, it was brought about by the 1-minute move, and the 138 moves that were made with the soul.

The record of the chess record came to an abrupt end here.

Tears began to drip, wetting the paper.

Chiho could clearly hear Kiriyama's sobbing, and her downcast eyes rested on his back.

——He has already regarded Erhaitang as a close friend, so he cannot bear such a result.

"Tongshan, even so, can you do such a cruel thing to Erkaitang?" Shimada, who was sitting opposite, asked calmly.

Tongshan didn't answer, he took off his glasses, wiped away his tears with his hands, and carefully folded the two pages of chess records and put them in his bag.

Afterwards, he looked back at Shimada firmly, and said word by word: "I'm going to go to the finals."

The words are full of determination with a sense of responsibility.

Shimada raised her head and said "Yes" in relief.

Chiho withdrew her hand and silently took a sip of the ice water in the glass.

——The final of the rookie battle will be held at the Shogi Hall in Kansai a week later.

Tongshan will take Erhaitang's share and win all the way.

She is so convinced.

When I walked out of the restaurant, there was a curtain of rain as thin as silver threads outside.

Chiho contributed her folding umbrella, and the three of them squeezed under this umbrella and arrived at the station.

After saying goodbye to Kiriyama and Shimada, she turned on her mobile phone and told Ushishima that she had won today and was about to start playing professionally.

Standing in the tram, her face is reflected in the glass of the door.

Her goal of becoming a professional chess player is about to be realized soon, but what happened to Erhaitang made her feel a sense of loss.

That question from Shimada was testing her conscience.

——If I met him, what would I do?

Chiho smiled wryly at the reflection in the glass, and that reflection responded to her with the same expression.

Because she found that she couldn't do that kind of cruel thing to him.

But Erhaitang would definitely not expect to be treated like this.

She could imagine him lying on the hospital bed and struggling with pain, his hand holding the ring was clenched unconsciously, and the rain outside the car was pattering.

Erhaitang's chess record, even though he was confused, melancholy and timid, he believed in himself all the way and persisted until now.

With infinite longing, burning, like a ball of fire that is not extinguished in the cold rain.

He is a risk taker.

what about me?

Chiho's breathing stopped, but she couldn't answer.

——It seems that this road will be more difficult than she imagined.

"Ruoli-kun?" Tentong held the ball in his hand and looked curiously at Udo who was looking at his phone.

——He has been staring at the screen in a daze for a long time.

"Ruoli, the library is about to close, pack up and go back to the dormitory," Daping reminded.

"Senior Ushido?" Bai Bu who was standing next to Udo also asked in a low voice.

"It's Chiho." Under the concern of his teammates, Ushijima raised his head and announced to them: "She is going to become a professional chess player."

"!" Bai Bu's face blushed with excitement. Chiho had been of great help to him in the past two months with his remote guidance, and he was also able to get a lot of opportunities to play in the prefectural qualifiers because of this.

"Oh~! That's not... that means...!" Tiantong raised his arms in a gesture of celebration, "An Yuan is about to start earning money!"

"Is this your focus..." Setian stopped packing her things, "I think, compared to earning a lot of money, she will be under more and more pressure."

"Yes~" Daping nodded while propping his chin, "I heard from my grandfather that professional chess players will work very hard regardless of their strength."

"Hmm." Ushido just responded lightly.

—No matter what others say, he will believe her.

Both of them are not the ones who will fall down because of some small things. The more powerful they are, the more courageous they are to take on more things.

Compared to Yasuhara Chiho who used to always follow behind him and stand in his shadow, he liked her more now.

Even if she will encounter all kinds of hardships and hardships.

Tonight, Chiho turned off the light, wrapped up the quilt tightly, and fell into a deep sleep due to exhaustion.

In the sound of the long rain in June, there is endless sorrow.

The author has something to say:

Before doing anything, use shogi to pave the way for your daily life.

The next chapter begins to climax?I guess so.