Curry Master

☗ Life With an Apprentice

“Sorry, Master! Did you wait?!”

“Nah, I just got here.”

I had been standing in front of a shop on the first floor of the association headquarters reading a Shogi book when Ai came downstairs from the second-floor classroom. I greet her with a smile.

It’s been a week since she arrived.

Being with my apprentice every day has become routine.

The two of us bring lunches to the association in the morning. Ai goes to the second-floor classroom to prepare for her Practice League test while I go up to the third to research the latest Shogi strategies.

The two of us go to the park to eat lunch if our schedules line up.

Meeting like this to go home in the evening has become our standard routine.

“My, my. It’s almost like the two of you are a young couple meeting up for a date.”

The beautiful woman who followed Ai down the stairs saw our exchange and smiles at us like a goddess.

It’s my Master Kousuke Kiyotaki 9-dan’s (secretly well-endowed) daughter Keika Kiyotaki.

She’s currently in the Practice League and going out of her way to help Ai get ready for the test.

“Sorry for the trouble, Keika. I know you’ve got your hands full helping Master with his classroom too

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

Keika heartily waves her hand.

“If I don’t get out of the house every once in a while like this, I’ll never reach C1, now will I?”

Each Practice League member has a rank.

They go “F” through “A” with “S” being the top. People in “F” are still newbies, maybe around amateur 2-dan in terms of skill.

They need to reach C1 to become a player in the Women’s League.

Keika is in C2. She’s been trying to break through the last wall for years now.

“I’m already 25. The age limit is only a few years away … Playing against talented kids like Ai will give me that extra push.”

Keika started taking Shogi seriously in her last year of high school.

Since she joined the Practice League to become a Women’s League Player right after graduating, she didn’t officially become one of Master’s apprentices until well after Big Sis and me. That’s why Keika is technically my “little sister.” Our master/apprentice family tree is really complicated.

“Oh, that’s right. Ai, you were promoted in the classroom today, weren’t you?”

“Yep! I’m now an amateur 3-dan!”

“Ohh? Well done.”

Ai proudly shows me her Match Card. “He he ♡” she smiles, happily closing her eyes as I pat her on the head. Gotta praise a hard-working apprentice after all!

“You know what? I’ll buy you something to celebrate.”

“You will?! Yippee!”

“Something cheap, got that? Cheap. Five hundred yen or less.”

Watching Ai dance a discombobulated dance of joy on her way into the shop, I couldn’t help but feel happy myself.

It’s strange.

Seeing someone else’s victory stars or seeing someone get promoted would have made me jealous not too long ago, but I’m just as happy for Ai’s promotion as if it were my own. It feels good, honestly. Maybe I’ve taken my first step into adulthood?

“She’s moving up fast,” Keika says in a quiet voice right next to me so that Ai couldn’t hear.

“What’s your impression of her, going head-to-head?”

“She’s getting stronger game by game …… No, it’s more like move by move. I know she’s very talented——.”

A slight shadow passes across her face with those words.

“… If I’d started Shogi at her age …”

“……”

I couldn’t say anything to that.

The Shogi world is dominated by talent. And the younger that talent is developed, the more it grows.

Of course, there are some pros who started playing in high school.

However, an overwhelming number of us, including myself, had our mind set on becoming pros all the way back in elementary school and started training in earnest. We developed our talent and skills playing against prodigies all over Japan.

“Master, Master! This! Will you buy this for me?!”

Ai chose a Shogi piece keychain (four hundred yen + tax).

“That’s fine, but are you sure you want a Rook? That left Knight is a lucky one.”

“Gahhh! I can’t decide (>_<).”

My apprentice happily squeals with a keychain clutched in both hands. Cute, very cute.

Keika watches with a soft smile on her face and says to me, “And? Yaichi, what are you going to buy for Ginko?”

“Come again?”

That’s an odd question.

“Why do I need to get anything for Big Sis? I’m pretty sure she should be the one buying things for me, me being the younger apprentice.”

“… You know, Yaichi,” Keika lets out a long sigh before her tone gets quite a bit sharper, “if you’re going to buy Ai something, you should get something similar for Ginko. It’s going to get tense around here if you don’t preserve that balance.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Really, she says.

“Ginko’s been really stressed out ever since Ai came here. She’s not Snow White anymore … more like Queen Elsa storming out of the castle … You can’t recover from mistakes in the early game, you know?”

“But if I turn the tables in the late game …”

“Shogi thinking doesn’t apply in the real world.”

Understanding women is just as difficult as Shogi. An eternity wouldn’t be enough time to fully comprehend either of them.

“My word … Why is it that the two of you can be so interested in Shogi but have no idea about the opposite gender …”

“I, um, like you a lot, Keika?!”

“Sure, sure.”

She brushed me off like nothing!

I invited her to join the two of us for dinner, but Keika said she “has to take care of her father,” and left by herself right away. Apparently, Master goes on Internet shopping sprees if left alone for too long.

“Master? Are you going to buy another one?”

“… Nah.”

I put the Silver keychain I picked up back on the rack.

I know Big Sis better than anyone. That’s why it’s better this way. Yeah.

☖ Curry Master

“5 Four Pawn.”

I help Ai get ready for her Practice League test during our walk back to the apartment too.

“I move 4 Six Pawn!”

“5 Three Silver.”

“4 Five Pawn.”

“3 Two Gold.”

“3 Six Pawn.”

“5 Two King.”

“3 Five Pawn!”

We are playing Blind Shogi for practice.

Several people do a double take as we pass by, having no idea what we’re talking about. But it’s not that hard to do once you get to a certain level. Ai already has a Shogi board etched into her brain, so this has gotta be a cinch for her.

And we’re just going over the standard early game, so it’s more of a memory test than anything else.

“And if I move 2 Two Silver?”

“4 Eight Silver!”

“6 Two Gold.”

“4 Seven Silver.”

“6 Four Pawn. Now what do you do from this spot?”

“I move 3 Eight Rook!”

“Exactly! Changing to the Sleeve Rook and focusing your attack on lines 3 and 4 is called the Two Pawn Advance Standard.”

Advanced players will leave out their strongest pieces, the Rook and Bishop, when playing less experienced players as a handicap.

The two standard styles in those games are Two Pawn Advance and Silver Tandem.

It seems like Ai’s playing style lines up with the relentless attacking Two Pawn Advance rather than strengthening defenses with the Rook in the middle of the board before attacking with Silver Tandem.

But having good defense is also important.

“Tell me the best way to surround the King on your own!”

“6 Eight Silver, 6 Five Pawn, 7 Eight Gold, 6 Four Gold, 6 Nine King, 7 Three Knight and 5 Eight Gold!”

“And that formation is called?”

“Kyanigakooi!!”

That’s kani gakoi, the Crab Castle.

“Good. Think you got a good handle on standard handicap matches?”

“Yep! Understanding the early game makes it easier to win!”

“That it does.”

Nothing makes a Master happier than seeing their apprentice grow.

As a bonus, I’m not doing that bad in my own matches. I won two in a row. Two!

Titleholders aren’t supposed to get so excited over consecutive victories, but after being dragged through the gutter with so many losses in a row the world now has a cheerful sparkle to it.

“Ai, any ideas for dinner tonight?”

“I was thinking about making curry … Do you like curry, Master?”

“Oh yeah. Sounds great. Should we pick up some ingredients on the way home?”

“Please! I’ll treat you to real Kanazawa curry!”

We stop by a small supermarket at the entrance to the shopping district, buy what we need and head home to start cooking.

Ai had said, “I’ll take care of all the housework while I’m here! Let me do it!”

A very admirable sentiment to be sure, but I wouldn’t feel right. What kind of monster would make a grade schooler do all the cooking and cleaning?

So, we decided to split the duties.

“All righty! Let’s do this!!”

“Let’s get started!”

The two of us stand shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen.

Ai needs a stool to use the countertop because she’s too short, but the girl’s as good with a knife as any adult I’ve seen. She must’ve picked up that skill growing up at an inn. Seriously, she puts me and Big Sis to shame. Then again, I can’t call what Big Sis does “cooking.”

Ai’s culinary skills are perfectly honed, even when it comes to making curry.

She sliced and diced potatoes about five times faster than I can peel carrots and is already chopping her way through cabbage faster than my eyes can see.

Huh?

“… Cabbage?”

“Kanazawa curry always has cabbage on the side.”

Cabbage with curry … Well, that might work! A refreshing burst with every bite maybe?

Then she boils all the neatly cut ingredients before tossing them all into a big pot to simmer. Bubble, bubble.

Ai does a few Shogi puzzles while we wait (got close to burning a few times).

Add in some curry powder, and it’s ready to eat!

Or at least I thought it was.

“Hmmm …”

Wrinkling her forehead and squinting her eyes, Ai stares at the yellowish concoction in the pot. That face is more intense than when she was doing the Shogi puzzles.

“… I should’ve known that store-bought curry powder would be pale.”

“Huh? Looks par for the course to me!”

“No, this won’t do. It needs to be darker.”

… Darker?

“Master. You have any sauces?”

“Huh? Y-yeah … This is Osaka. Everybody’s got sauce.”

“Yahh!”

“Hey?! Why’re you flooding the curry?!”

Ai dumps an unbelievable amount of sauce directly into the pot and starts stirring.

The yellowish curry turns dark brown right before my eyes.

“There we go♪. That’s the color that gets people’s mouths watering.”

“……”

Really? Is that really how it works?

Ai turns the heat down to the weakest setting and keeps stirring. But it’s not the kind of ladle stirring that keeps things from getting burnt. She’s mashing everything down with purpose. Sweat droplets are rolling down those small cheeks. Never seen curry made like this before …

“Isn’t it … about done?”

“Nope. It needs a bit more …”

“More, mashing?”

“More … Everything needs to be worked into a thick soup … What I wouldn’t give for a pressure cooker to cook everything together gayo … It just doesn’t come together right without stainless silver plates gaine …”

Gayo? Gaine?

Is something wrong? My apprentice is making weird sounds …

Ai whispers under her breath as if doing her own review session until finally she smiles and says “Yep!” I guess that means she figured it out?

“This is as good as it’s going to get! Let’s eat!”

“S-Sure! Let’s chow down.”

Ai scoops rice onto a plate, covers it in curry, puts the pork cutlets that we bought at the supermarket on top, decorates the whole thing with cabbage and adds more sauce for flavor. Being a Shogi player and a bit superstitious, I’m pleasantly surprised by my apprentice’s tasteful katsu curry. Natural-born competitor indeed.

And, of course, there’s a fork next to my plate.

“Huh? We’re eating with forks?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“Don’t people normally use a spoon?”

“Stop kidding around, Master. Curry is always eaten with a fork.”

“It … is?”

“Yes, it is.”

Okay, I guess it is. A-ha-ha-ha-ha–. Something seemed a little off as I shared a laugh with my apprentice, but we put our hands together and dug in!

A little concerned about trying to eat curry with a fork, I was surprised to find that it was so thick that wasn’t a problem at all.

I lift the fork up to my mouth and——.

“Master.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t get carried away, okay?”

Huh?

Well that’s a bizarre thing to say. At any rate, I move my hand the last few inches to put the fork in my mouth. The curry flavor washes over me. Wow, this is pretty good.

The spice slowly starts to kick in and …

slow …

ly …

gets …