Chapter 22: The Ignorant Are Fearless!

Xia Xia Xia Mujun lowered his head to look at the navigation map on his phone screen, confirming he had arrived at his destination.

He slowly raised his head, and what came into view was the huge Tokyo Shogi Hall.

This "Newcomer Shogi Challenge" was being held in this hall, which was gathered with shogi players.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun stepped inside.

The interior space was spacious and bright, and the air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood.

Just entering the lobby, one could see people in groups of three or five lining up at the service desk, preparing to participate in this tournament.

Because it was the last day of registration, there weren't many people left in line at the hall.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun walked silently to the end of the line and waited quietly.

At this time, there weren't many staff members responsible for registration.

There was only one female staff member busy at work.

The reasonably good-looking staff member, Horikawa Kaori, was currently a women's professional 1-dan player.

Although her strength wasn't outstanding, she had a sincere heart for shogi, so she chose to work here.

Several consecutive days of high-intensity work meant she hadn't had much rest.

At this moment, she was already showing obvious fatigue.

When receiving people lining up to register, her movements also seemed a bit sluggish.

"Please fill in your name, contact information, and whether you have a shogi rank here..."

While explaining, she couldn't help but cover the corner of her mouth with her hand, letting out a small yawn, her eyes filled with weariness.

Soon.

It was Xia Xia Xia Mujun’s turn.

The originally listless Horikawa Kaori, the moment she saw Xia Xia Xia Mujun, had her tired expression swept away, and she immediately straightened her posture.

She considered herself to have seen many shogi players in the shogi world. ===== CHAPTER 45 =====

Whether they were amateur players, training association players, women's professional players, or famous professional players.

And most shogi players started participating in tournaments from a young age.

Working at the Shogi Association often, she was basically familiar with the players in the Tokyo area.

Because the shogi circle was just that small, and it was always those familiar faces coming and going.

However, in Tokyo, Horikawa Kaori had never seen Xia Xia Xia Mujun.

She was both pleasantly surprised to encounter such an exceptionally handsome boy and curious about his shogi strength, wondering if he was a player who had come to Tokyo specifically from another region to participate in the "Newcomer Shogi Tournament."

This tournament was open to all of Japan.

Therefore, it attracted many players from other regions who came for its reputation.

The fact that people were still arriving on the last day of registration was enough to show the popularity of this tournament.

You have to know that the scale of usual shogi tournaments is usually small.

In most cases, players only compete within a small circle.

The number of participants rarely exceeds a hundred.

And this tournament was expected to have over two thousand participants, an unprecedented scale.

Therefore, the moment she saw Xia Xia Xia Mujun, Horikawa Kaori concluded that he was definitely not an amateur, training association, or professional player from the Tokyo area.

And looking at his high school uniform, could he have come from afar from another region?

Horikawa Kaori stood up, sweeping away her previous laziness, a warm smile blooming on her face as she handed an application form to Xia Xia Xia Mujun.

"Hello, please fill in your name, contact information, and shogi rank here..."

Horikawa Kaori explained with extra patience and detail.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded and took the application form to start filling it out seriously.

In a short while, he finished filling it out and handed the form back to Horikawa Kaori.

Horikawa Kaori took the form, and when she saw the content filled in the "Rank" column, she was instantly stunned.

[Amateur Rank: None]

[Training Association Status: None]

[Professional Rank: None]

Horikawa Kaori thought she had misread it and confirmed cautiously: "Xia Xia Xia Mujun... have you never registered with the Shogi Association, nor participated in an amateur ranking tournament?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun was slightly startled: "No. Do you have to have an amateur rank to sign up for this tournament?"

"That's not the case..." Horikawa Kaori was somewhat dumbfounded.

Now she understood that this Xia Xia Xia Mujun had never participated in any official tournament, so he had no rank.

Not even the most basic amateur rank.

Coming to participate in the "Newcomer Shogi Tournament" in this situation, no matter how you looked at it, it felt like a one-and-done rhythm...

You have to know that the participants in this tournament at the very least possessed an amateur rank.

An ordinary person with no rank coming to participate was a first!

Although from the rules, it seemed anyone could participate in a shogi tournament, the actual level requirement was very high.

If you were unlucky, you might encounter a training association member in the first round, or even face a professional player.

Usually: Amateur player < Training association player < Professional player < Title holder.

Ordinary people couldn't even beat amateur players, let alone face higher-level players.

And participating this time required a registration fee of 20,000 yen.

This money wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a little either.

But it was definitely not an amount that could be wasted casually.

Therefore, ordinary people basically wouldn't come to participate in such a tournament.

Knowing you would lose and still coming to give away money, wasn't that stupid?

Horikawa Kaori scratched her cheek unconsciously, calculating in her heart how to dissuade him tactfully.

But she still held a glimmer of hope and asked tentatively:

"Um... Xia Xia Xia Mujun, have you been studying shogi since you were a child?"

If he had been learning since childhood, some people, although they hadn't participated in official tournaments, had strength not inferior to amateur players.

She had seen many such players and hoped Xia Xia Xia Mujun was one of them.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shook his head and said:

"I didn't really play much when I was a child."

Horikawa Kaori had fine sweat on her forehead and pursued:

"Then about how many games have you played?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun was puzzled:

"Do I have to answer that?"

Horikawa Kaori coughed and said:

"I hope you can answer..."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xia Xia Mujun had no choice but to calculate briefly:

"I played a few games when I was a child, but I played more than ten games with my sister yesterday, so in total, it's about fifteen games."

Horikawa Kaori’s heart skipped a beat.

Only about fifteen games in total?

Isn't this just a pure newcomer?

A newcomer running over to participate in this kind of tournament, isn't this nonsense?!

Horikawa Kaori wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and hinted tactfully:

"Um... Xia Xia Xia Mujun, most of the people participating in this tournament are very strong players."

"In fact, very few players without a rank participate, because the registration fee is indeed not cheap."

"And the tournament format this time is very special, different from regular shogi tournaments; it uses a single-elimination system, so if you lose the first round, there's no chance for a comeback."

"Are you... sure you want to participate?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded firmly:

"Sure!"

Fukuda Tsukasa was about thirty years old, with obvious stubble on his chin.

He was a 5-kyu player in the training association and was somewhat famous in the Tokyo shogi circle.

He hadn't wanted to say anything while lining up behind, but after hearing Xia Xia Xia Mujun’s situation, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

You have to know that the players in the Shogi Association, who wasn't studying shogi from a young age?

Everyone had worked hard for so many years before having the confidence to participate in such a large tournament.

And this Xia Xia Xia Mujun, having played only a dozen games, dared to come and participate?

This really is—the ignorant are fearless, ignorant to the point of being laughable! ===== CHAPTER 46 =====