All of them were at a loss for words.

Well, Kiriyama 6-dan played 3 matches with Ishida Saiichi. He won 2 of them, and the last one went to Saiichi.

While the first match lasted for 154 moves, the second one lasted for 203 moves.

Ishida Saiichi was good. Really good. And he got better with each game right in front of everyone, even managing to win the last one.

Kiriyama Yugi was now grinning even madder than before.

" Ishida san... have you ever thought of becoming a pro player?"

"N-no, I already ha—"

He stopped. He did not have his job anymore.

"You already ha...?" Everyone gave him a questioning look.

"...Had a job. I just got laid off." Saiichi said with a wry smile.

Everyone had a sympathetic look on their faces. Most of them were salarymen, and there was no salaryman who was not scared of getting kicked out in these troubling times.

One person started laughing though.

"Hahahahaha! See, Ishida san! This is already a sign from the heavens! Even the world is guiding you towards the board! Accept your destiny!!!"

"B-bu—"

"I think you should accept Kiriyama kuns offer. Given your skills, you would be easily able to earn 7 or 8 million yen every year." One of them said.

"SEVEN?!!!"

"Yep! That should be on par with your previous job, right?" Another person added.

On par?! That was almost two times of what he usually earned!!!

"Well then... what do you say, Ishida san? Are we going to the association for registration?" Kiriyama Yugi's smile was like that of a demon.

Ever so tempting, dragging him to the abyss.

The allure of the money was too much for Ishida Saiichi to ignore.

 

---

 

"Congratulations on the beginning of your journey to becoming a pro, Ishida san! Cheers!!!" Everybody went to another restaurant to celebrate the registration.

"Well... I guess you already know that you are not exactly a pro yet. Though I believe you will be able to get into qualify as a 4-dan and get into the C-2 leagues in no time. You just need to play and win regularly." Kiriyama said.

"I guess we are going to have a super rookie this year, huh? Kiriyama 6-dan?" Gundou... yeah, that was probably his name, said.

"Being called a rookie at this age is a little..." Saiichi was feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Hah! Are you feeling old, Ishida san? You really need to meet with more people in the association! You will start feeling young in no time."

Everybody started laughing after hearing it. Well... it was not exactly wrong that many people had this impressions of 'almost about to die' old farts sitting in front of each other playing a board game when they heard Shogi.

'I wonder if Mitsuki and Saki will also have the same reaction. Like... have you truly gone senile, you have a daughter in high school, no time to fool around and stuff like that? Maybe I should also get a part time job while at it? But then again... I might be a bit too old to handle that much pressure.'

Saiichi sighed. "I wish I were younger..." he murmured

Then he suddenly realized that everyone had gone silent. When he looked up, he saw that everyone had troubled expressions on their faces.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Saiichi asked awkwardly.

"N-no! You did nothing wrong!" Ryugamine waved his hands. "Its just... those are the exact same words Tatsuya kun said after he went and did that thing..."

"O-oh. I promise I have no intention of doing something like that."

"I sure hope so, Ishida san. It would be really sad to lose a talent like you." Kiriyama said while taking a sip of the beer.

"Well... let's not talk about these depressing stuffs anymore and—oh. Wait a minute please, my wife called." Gundou went away.

"Yeah, he's right. Let us all look toward a brighter future—" Kamado suddenly got interrupted due to the sudden yelling of Gundou, who was talking on his phone with his wife.

"J-just wait for a few minutes, okay honey? I will be home in no time!" Gundou put away his phone and looked at the others with a bright smile.

"Y-Yuriko is pregnant. I am going to be a father."

Everyone had a blank expression in their faces for a moment. Then they all burst out of laughter.

Saiichi was all confused while Gundou was all red faced.

"It's the fifth one already, Gundou san! Are you trying to make a baseball team?!"

"Hahahahaha... think of your age already! You and Yuriko san aren't getting any younger. Hahahaha..."

"S-s-shut up you all! We are only 44! And Yuriko looks just as young as what he was 20 years ago!"

"Alright alright we get it. Well... I guess that means double celebration then? Okami san! Another round of beer!" They all signaled toward a woman in kimono, who gracefully bowed in agreement.

"I-I must go! I will see you all later!" Gundou ran for his home.

"Well..." Ryugamine sighed. "I actually have a foreigner as my colleague. His name is James Paul. He is a Caucasian."

"Oh, really?"

"Hm. He has a wife named Natasha. She is really pretty with fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes..."

"Ooh. Ryugamine san, don't tell me you are gunning for her? Your wife will murder you, you know that, right?"

"Huh? No, not at all! I just... uh... you see, she is also 45, like my wife. But my wife looks way younger than her."

"Well... I've also been told that women in our country generally age much slowly than western countries."

"Yeah... James even joked about that. He said that Asian women age like wine while Western women age like milk."

"Wow... that's harsh. His theory works only until they are around 60 though. Well, then again, many of us get mesmerized by all the fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes many Westerners have, while calling our women plain looking and stuff."

"Hmm... I guess the grass is always greener on the other side?"

"Hm hm. That's why we should be satisfied with what we have."

"Such profoundness!"

"Much wow!"

Ishida just kept listening to their weird conversation. He just occationally nodded and replied in a few words. He was never the type to keep up with a group conversation.

 

---

 

"Oh. So it finally happened, huh?" Mitsuki sighed.

"...I'm sorry." Saiichi looked downwards.

"Silly, what are you saying sorry for?" Mitsuki simply smiled and hugged her from behind. "It's their incompetence that they gave up on someone like you. So don't feel down, okay? It's not the first time we have gone through a tough time. We will surely find a way together, okay?" Mitsuki peeked at his face from behind and smiled.

Mitsuki, his ever loving wife, who he had spent more than three decades with. The ever sweet girl who had always believed in him, and was still doing the same.

She had the same kind smile she have always had. Saiichi suddenly felt like everything would be alright. When they were just teenagers, his heart always fluttered when she showed him that smile. It was the same smile, but it was still a little different.

Her current smile did not flutter his heart, but that's not what he needed at this moment anyway. It had a weird firmness to it. Like a steady rock, it could withstand the greatest of storms. It simply said, 'as long as we're together, there is nothing we cannot handle.' It was not something the smile of young Mitsuki had.

A power. An assurance. The charm of maturity.

"...Like wine, huh?"

Mitsuki's eyes narrowed. She playfully bonked his head.

"Huh, you just lost a job and you're already thinking about buying wine? We need to budget and save our money right now, okay! From now on, we will be buying things from supermarket sales only! Also, you need to stop collecting those expensive cards! Also, you reek of beer! Did you try to drown your sadness or something?" Mitsuki leaned on him and looked straight into his eyes with fake anger.

"Hey. Are you listening to what I'm saying?!"

"Hm. hm, yeah, I am. Well... yeah, we need to cut down on expensive things. Like your perfume."

"Yeah, my p—huh? My perfume? I don't use an expensive one?"

"...Then why do you smell so good?"

"Huh? Wha—hey?!" Too late. Saiichi already had his head buried in Mitsuki's neck and shoulder, taking deep sniffs.

"Sa-Sa-Sa-Sa-Saichan?! Wh-what the hell are you doing?!!"

Saichan, huh? Its been a while since she called him with that name.

"Hm? Checking for expensive perfumes, what else?" Saiichi kept sniffing around Mitsuki's body, while she kept squirming.

"Saichan, stop! What if Saki arrives and sees us like that?"

"Hm? Then we'll tell her that we are just budget planning." He licked her in her right ear.

"Hiiii! S-Saichan! Mou-stop it!!"

"I'm just checking for alcohol. Expensive perfumes have more alcohol, right? Or was it less?"

Mitsuki bit her lips. Saiichi, that idiot was sniffing and licking all around her belly button! She hadn't even had her bath yet! She needed to sto—

"Hiya?!!" Saiichi was now aggressively kissing everywhere along with sniffing and licking! That's not how you checked for perfume! No, if Saki saw this when she arrived!

She didn't realize when Saiichi had taken off the sweater and shirt she was wearing. He buried his face in between his breasts and took a deep breath.

"Hm... this place smells even better. So this is where you used your perfume most? I will have to check thoroughly." He started licking and kissing everywhere around her cleavage.

Mitsuki felt her heart beating wildly. Her brain stopped working. She hadn't felt like that in a long way! What got into his husband all on a sudden! After all these years!

She did nothing as Saiichi pulled up her bra and started playing with one nipple with his mouth, while playing with the other one with his finger.

This was not about perfume checking anymore.

Saiichi subconsciously compared her breastes to how it was in the past. They were a little less firm? Slightly saggy? Maybe. But its just as sensitive as it used to be.

He slid his other hand in between her pants. It found its way inside the underwear she was wearing. It was extremely hot, and extremely wet.

Wet as it used to be.

Mitsuki really tried to suppress her voice, but couldn't.

"Hwa~Sai-chan~~plewse~stowph~phwahh!!!"

"Then...chu...slurp...why don't you...slurp...push me away? Chuu..."

Mitsuki didn't even try to push him away. She just kept moaning with her sweet voice.

Sweet as it used to be.

Saiichi felt really stuffy between his legs, when Mitsuki subconsciously freed his little monster, without even realizing that she was stroking and caressing it lovingly.

Years upon years of habit, manifesting itself without thinking.

Budgeting can wait. For now, Saiichi decided to indulge himself in fine wine.

"I'm home—" Saki, who just cam back home from school, stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, Saki chan! What happe—" Two of her friends also stopped and saw what shouldn't have been seen.

"MOM!!! DAD!!! W-W-W-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE LIVING ROOM!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU SENILE PERVERTS!!!!!" Saki shouted with beet-red face, while her two female friends she made and brought home covered their eyes... only in name.

 

---

 

"I'm sorry, Sunohara san. But you will have to quit your job."

Sunohara Masaya, Ruri's uncle, also lost his job that very same day.