[bright] time

(Tayayuki side)

The chess game in China is over, and it has been more than a week since I returned to Japan.

It’s rare to come back. I have played a lot of chess with the old chess friends who went to the chess academy and chess club, and also participated in many gatherings to promote Go in the local area. Every day is very fulfilling.

Many things that were taken for granted when I was still in Nihon Kiin, have become rare as the focus of work has shifted to China.

For example, it should be nearly half a year since I presided over the student research meeting today.

I'm ashamed to say that since I signed the contract with China, the seminars have been presided over by Ogata-kun.

Even if I'm not around, all the students are still tirelessly continuing to study Go. I think this is due to Ogata-kun's supervision, and he is becoming more and more like a master.In a few years, maybe there will be children who want to worship under him, right?Just like when he came to pay homage to me before.

I remember that he was only nine years old when he came to my school as an inner disciple. After that, Akiko and I got married, and Liang was born. The four of us lived together for a while.When Ogata-kun moved outside on his own initiative, Ryo was going to elementary school, right?

Ryo is now [-] years old.It's like staring at the chessboard with his chin concentrating on thinking, but that face... already looks like a young man.

Time really blinks...

"Teacher." Just as I was thinking about the past, Ogata-kun walked in,

"Mrs. Akiko said that the food has been delivered, I think it's almost time?"

"Yeah. Let's get started then."

"Yes." After listening to my answer, Ogata-kun said to a dozen other disciples,

"Then, this year's last seminar will end here. As announced a few days ago, after today's seminar, there will be a year-end party for Toyamon."

"..."

After hearing Ogata-kun's words, everyone suddenly fell into an incomprehensible silence.

Speaking of which..., this is the first time that I have a year-end party at my research meeting.

The Chess Academy organizes it every year, and I always feel that there is no need to hold it at my own research meeting.I have very little time to come back to Japan this year, and I want to express my condolences to everyone for their hard work this year. ...But it seems that my disciples don't like the appearance of the year-end party very much.

Hmm... so that's it.

The disciples under my sect are really different from those under Morishita's sect, right?

"...Really? Our Taya Research Society is going to hold a year-end party...?" There was a whispering voice at this moment.

Ogata-kun pushed his glasses and glared at the speaker indistinctly, and the surroundings became quieter again.

It seems that what Ms. Harumi said about the serious atmosphere that is too urgent should be referring to this, right?

Hmm... so that's it.

"Okay, okay! Everyone, clean up the chessboard! Get ready to get drunk!" Ashihara-kun clapped his hands a few times to ease the atmosphere, "Liang! Follow me to get some food!"

"Yes." Liang greeted me, and followed Ashihara-kun to the kitchen.

Although there are some doubts, but after the resolution, our first year-end party under Taya's family began like this.

***

When the food was served, the disciples moved their chopsticks politely, feeling very reserved, and it seemed that they really didn't like the year-end party...However, just when I thought so, Akiko came in with a few bottles of beer and sake, poured the wine, and urged the disciples to eat more, saying that there was still a lot to cook.

After a round of drinking, the atmosphere changed.Akiko is always very sensitive in this regard, I am really not good at dealing with this kind of situation.

Consciously or unintentionally listening to the voices of his disciples, he picked up the sea bream sushi and took a sip of sake,

When Mr. Suzuki visited a few days ago, he gave me this bottle of "Snow Manman" from the Sakura Dewa series. The taste is refreshing and it suits my taste.

"Shall Liang also have a drink?" Unexpectedly, he saw Akiko pouring a glass of beer for Liang.

"Yes, thank you Mom."

Really..., have grown up....A sigh welled up in my heart in an instant.

Steady personality, good advance and retreat, good etiquette, and responsibility...everyone I know always praises this child when they talk about it.I could tell that it wasn't a compliment, but that they appreciated him from the bottom of their hearts.

I used to always answer, "Liang still has a lot to learn, I hope you can give me more advice", "Liang is not mature enough, I hope you will be lenient."

But now, I would say, "I feel proud, too."

The child's serious illness last summer made me realize how many shackles I had inadvertently handcuffed him, how many expectations he had shouldered alone, and how long I hadn't even "worried" about him....

Compared with my own affairs, Liang hopes that I can play chess with peace of mind, and encourage myself to become a child who does not need to worry.... Akiko is right, Liang always tolerates us.

Staying alone in this big house for many years, there is no reason not to be lonely.Liang didn't realize it all the time, he had a bad habit of paralyzing himself with Go.As long as there is Go, it is enough... At least I still have Go... For Go players, whether this kind of thinking is negative or positive... I can't decide.

Just a guess, this should be the cause of Liang's illness.

Liang is a child who seldom gets sick, and his physical condition is almost always related to his mental state.Once the overly suppressed negative emotions exceed what he can bear, they will explode in one breath and directly reflect on the state of the body.It is really a troublesome child. When Akiko and I found out that he seemed to have some troubles and seemed to need our help, it was too late, he was already sick, alas...

I just didn't expect to be so sick this time.I still don't know what the child was troubled with at the time.

When Liang was hospitalized, there were quite a few people who came to see him. Among them were a few young chess players of similar age. When we met in the corridor, they greeted me. It seemed that Liang had a good friendship with them. .This is one thing that surprised me but I can finally feel relieved.

Ryo also learned how to get along with children of the same age....

But the first one should belong to Shindo-kun, right?He is also the only friend of Liang who used to come to my house for dinner. Akiko seems to like him a lot, he is a completely different type of child from Liang.

It's just that during the period when Shinto-kun transferred to the Korean Chess Academy, Ryo almost never mentioned anything about Shinto-kun.In the past, when I asked Liang, Liang always had an answer.

Feeling strange, I thought, maybe it was a quarrel?Just when he thought the quarrel had gone on for too long, Shindo-kun came to visit him. …At that time, there was no sign of any disagreement, except that Shindo-kun came every day before Ryo was discharged from the hospital, and it was strange that he stayed from morning till night..., um, but he said that he was on vacation these days I'm also idle at home, so it's not unreasonable to think about it, eh.

Ah... But if we really want to talk about changes... maybe some of Ryo's actions surprised me?

I remember that for a while I also lived in the hospital together for a few days, receiving health checks in the hospital. Just when I was feeling flustered, Shindo-kun happened to come to say hello to me, saying that Ryo was taking a nap, and we played chess like this up.

The chess game was over, and when the game was being resumed, Liang suddenly rushed to my ward, and the frightened expression when he opened the door, I will never forget it in my life.

"Mom! Enter------"

The moment he saw Shinto-kun, Ryo froze in place without saying a word, the panic in his eyes faded a lot but there was a bit of anger tainted.

"Are you awake? Taya. Auntie went shopping, what's wrong?"

Shinto-kun asked with a smile.But this seemed to have touched the bright Ni Lin by mistake, and Anshun clenched his hands next to his legs, and said in a voice that almost resounded throughout the ward:

"It's not all because of you──!!"

As if he only found out that I was sitting opposite Shinto-kun just this second, Ryo covered his mouth in horror, lowered his head hastily, apologized to me, opened the door and ran out.

Shinto-kun, who was as confused as I was, scratched his head, apologized, and chased after me.

In the end, I only vaguely heard reprimands from outside the door, "I won't sleep for so long!"

I don't know what the two are arguing about.

Looking back now, Ryo who was so flustered, so angry, and even said wayward words... How long has it been since I watched it?It seems that in the past few years when Akiko and I were not around, Ryo changed a lot...

"Dad, have you fallen into your own thinking world again?" Akiko who was sitting next to me asked me suddenly.

"Ah..., um." The bad habit broke out again, I always sink into my inner world when the surrounding is busy, sometimes thinking about chess records and sometimes thinking about trivial things...

"Really." Smiling while holding a small wine bottle, he wanted to help me pour the wine, "How about another glass?"

"Ah, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Having said that, Akiko... also changed.

used to tell me often,

Ryo's tolerant personality is troublesome, Ryo's inflexible personality is troublesome, Ryo's personality that doesn't want people to worry is troublesome... Wait, I don't listen to her anymore.

After Liang was discharged from the hospital, we continued to stay in Japan for a long time. I didn't return to Shanghai until November, but this time it was only me.Although Akiko's body has fully recovered, and he has repeatedly promised to take good care of his body, Akiko still insists on staying in Japan, and I think it is better this way.

The following year, around the end of January, Akiko called me suddenly,

"Father, have you taken your medicine on time? Logically speaking, there should be eight days of medicine left."

"Hmm..." I counted the medicines in the cabinet...but there were [-] days left, which made me quite puzzled.

I remember that I eat according to the time every day...how many days should I eat less...

"Really! What should I do if I relapse again?"

"Ah...." Being scolded by Akiko, her voice sounded a little angry...

"Understood. I will go there tomorrow, Dad, don't destroy the evidence!"

"…Will you come?"

"Yes."

"...But what about Ryo?"

"Ryo is fine now, it's Dad who worries me more now!"

Akiko is a very shrewd woman, whether it is Liang or family affairs, she knows better than me, and takes good care of everything.Since she feels that Liang is fine now, I have nothing to object to.

Coming back for a long time this time, it's like going back to the past life, and I will play a game whenever I have time.When I was in China, because I really didn’t like playing chess with the computer, the chances of playing chess with Liang were greatly reduced.

By playing chess with Liang, I seem to be able to understand his current mental state.After playing chess for several days in a row, my feeling is...

Very stable, very calm.Now Liang is playing chess without any worries, this kid will still improve.

Thinking back to this morning's chess record, looking at my hand,...smiling,

Liang this kid showed me several good chess moves again...

"Hehe~ What a wonderful move, Dad?" Suddenly, Akiko chuckled and picked up the small flagon to help me pour the wine.

"..."

I really want to tell Mingzi that her hand is called Miao.It's like, I'm thinking that nothing can escape her eyes, and I've been a husband and wife for a long time.

When the wine was halfway through, Akiko seemed to hear something and stopped her hands.

"Oh! It's finally here. Dad, pour the rest yourself, I'll open the door!"

"Huh...? Ah..."

Just like that, Mingzi walked briskly, opened the paper door and walked to the corridor.

It seems that someone has rang the doorbell. Will there be any guests today?He pondered while pouring himself a glass of wine.

***

"Good night. Excuse me." The paper door opened, and someone poked his head in.

"Oh! What a rare visitor! Shinto Tengen!" Ashihara-kun was surprised, and the disciples turned their heads to look over.

"Hello, seniors!" He raised his hand with a smile and greeted everyone present.

"Yeah." When he walked in, Shinto-kun smiled and greeted Ryo who was sitting near the entrance.

"..., um." Liang also nodded, picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.

In the past few days at the Chess Academy, I often heard people mentioning that Liang followed up with Fuji-kun. Everyone said that they had a good friendship, healthy competition, number one opponent, number one friend, and so on.But looking at it like this now, I feel a little suspicious.

Liang's thinking has always been different from that of ordinary children. Is it because of this that the interaction with friends is also different from ordinary children?

When I came back this time, Ryo was still the same as before. He never took the initiative to mention the matter of Jindo-kun. Although he was not as obvious and disgusted as he was when they quarreled before, he answered almost everything. It was very brief, and the whole body was covered with defenses, as if he really didn't want to be asked.

I want to use the topic of "friends" to deepen the communication between father and son. I don't think this is an effective way for our family...

"Hey, I'm talking about Shinto-kun! The year-end party under Taya's door, so bold to come to visit?"

"I'm sorry! There's no door, no pie. When it's the year-end party season, if you want to drink free alcohol, you have to drop by everywhere!"

"Look at this kid! How dare you say it! Hahaha~"

"Cough cough! Shinto-kun!" Ohashi-kun pretended to cough a few times, "The year-end party under Toya's door needs a hero card! How can someone drop by so casually? Take it out and see!"

"Hero post!? Hmm... this..."

"Ah, Shinto-kun is so forgetful! Didn't I accept it just now? At the door. Do you want to check it out? Ohashi-kun?" Akiko who followed in and asked Ohashi-kun with a smile.

"Uh...haha~, dare not dare...!" Ohashi-kun shook his head and sighed,

"Hey~...As expected, it's more popular to be handsome..."

This sentence made everyone present burst out laughing, and even Liang also laughed very rarely.

After closing the door, Shinto-kun walked towards me first, and said to me,

"Teacher, welcome back. I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance to say hello."

"Where is it, Shinto-kun is also very busy recently, right? This year's Samsung Cup has opened my eyes again. Congratulations."

"Heh~, thank you, teacher. However, I failed in the battle for the three major titles... Hehe~ I'm not good enough yet."

"The fighting methods of the third match and the seventh match are completely different, especially on the spiritual level. I believe that after these few games, you are very clear, right?"

"Yes, I'm probably a little bit sure, but more research is needed."

"Yeah. Come on."

After a trip to Korea, he was exposed to a completely different kind of baptism, and his chess became more and more like himself.It's a feeling of spreading your wings and flying on the wind of show chess...

"Shinto-kun, next time, find a time to play against me?"

"...Yes! Please let me accompany you."

Today I played chess with Ogata-kun, tomorrow with Kuwahara-sensei, and the day after tomorrow is Zama... Morishita and Serizawa said that this week is relatively busy, and maybe next week they will have the opportunity to play chess...

"Then... the day after tomorrow? What time is it?"

"ㄟ!? Are you going to decide now?"

"Father! Shinto-kun came to our house just a few minutes ago and you dragged him to play chess! Really!" Akiko who didn't know when came in from the kitchen with plates and chopsticks interrupted our conversation,

"Shinto-kun, hurry up and get something to eat? I want to make an appointment to play chess later. Let's talk after we're full!" I dragged Shinto-kun away, and when he came back to me, he said something vague...

"Father, I will invite Fuji-kun here today, not to let him be my father's Go machine!"

What does that mean? …