Chapter 48

The slightly decent clothes, shoes, and hats in his home in the past, whatever was worth a little money, had long been taken by the bank to pay off debts.

It was precisely by selling almost all the family property that the two siblings were able to avoid debt.

Even so, a frugal life was inevitable.

Now the most decent clothes he had were indeed this school uniform.

Japanese high school uniforms, whether male or female, are quite particular in design.

Some are even so exquisite that girls still wear them out after graduation.

Men's wear is the same.

However, the school uniform of the private Moonlight School in Japan is terrifyingly expensive.

A few sets of uniforms cost 200,000 to 300,000 yen.

Expensive and good-looking, Xia Xia Xia Mujun didn't feel ashamed to wear a school uniform on the street.

Horikawa Kaori heard this and immediately realized that Xia Xia Xia Mujun's family situation might not be well-off.

Horikawa Kaori's expression was slightly hesitant; she really wanted to ask about Xia Xia Xia Mujun's family situation.

But on second thought, she felt it was too presumptuous.

After all, the two of them weren't really familiar.

Even for close friends, rashly asking about the other party's family situation seemed inappropriate—this was a very private topic after all.

Once brought up, it was inevitable to make people feel offended.

Horikawa Kaori pondered for a moment and finally swallowed the question that had already reached her lips.

At this time, the two squeezed into the hall with the crowd.

In an instant, the noisy human voices, the unique atmosphere of wooden chessboards, and an invisible pressure called "competition" rushed toward them.

The hall was surrounded by spectator seats, and the central area was the competition venue.

The center of the venue was surrounded by four huge pieces of transparent glass, isolated from the spectator area.

And in the center surrounded by glass, there were many neatly arranged chessboards, seats, and timers that had been set up long ago.

What was even more eye-catching was that there was a TV crew in the center of the venue debugging equipment, and a beautiful anchorwoman was focused on looking at the manuscript in her hand.

Since the tournament hadn't started yet, most contestants found seats in the spectator area at will.

Some were relaxed, some were solemn, and some couldn't hide their nervousness—all kinds of life, all kinds of states.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun belonged to the exceptionally calm type, and almost no emotional fluctuation could be seen on his face.

Horikawa Kaori seemed a bit uneasy.

After all, she also spent 20,000 yen to sign up for the tournament.

This money wasn't a huge sum for her, but if she was eliminated without winning a single game, she would inevitably feel heartache.

You know, winning the first game only rewards 10,000 yen.

She had to win two consecutive games to have a slight surplus.

If she could win the third game, that would be a real harvest, and she could directly get 40,000 yen!

Thinking of this, Horikawa Kaori found an empty seat with Xia Xia Xia Mujun and sat down, and couldn't care about chatting with him, immediately taking out a chess manual from her bag and studying it with full concentration.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun didn't do this, but just took out his phone and quietly continued his creation.

Time passed quietly.

At this time, an uninvited guest came uninvited.

The middle-aged uncle Fukuda Tsukasa, with a face full of stubble, passed by the two, recognized Horikawa Kaori and Xia Xia Xia Mujun, and was instantly overjoyed.

"Ms. Horikawa? It's been a long time since I saw you in the tournament, you actually participated too?"

"It seems we have a chance to play against each other this time."

"Please be merciful then."

Horikawa Kaori snorted coldly:

"Are you so confident that you can be randomly assigned to me?"

Fukuda Tsukasa smiled:

"Who knows."

He turned to look at Xia Xia Xia Mujun and said with surprise:

"Yo, isn't this Xia Xia Xia Mujun? We met by chance while queuing last time, I didn't expect to meet again in the tournament, what a coincidence!"

"It seems we are lucky to be assigned to the same zone."

"If we really meet in the tournament—hahaha, that would be so interesting!"

Fukuda Tsukasa knew very well that his strength was far above these two.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun didn't need to be mentioned; a pure newcomer who had only played a dozen games was the newest of the new in the Shogi Association.

He was simply here to send money!

If he met him in the tournament, it would be a god-given opportunity, and he would definitely win a game!

As for Horikawa Kaori, although she was a women's first-dan player, she was ultimately not his opponent.

Even if the strength of a women's first-dan was already stronger than many amateur players, converted, it was at most equivalent to the level of a trainee sixth-dan.

And he was a real trainee fifth-grade player.

In the Shogi world, the gap between each grade is quite obvious and not easy to cross.

Each promotion requires fierce competition with a large number of players of the same grade, and only a very few can stand out in the end.

It can be said that every grade is obtained through cruel fighting with other players.

Therefore, he was only one grade higher than Horikawa Kaori, and he was still full of confidence.

He had already defeated countless players of her sixth-dan level.

Horikawa Kaori rolled her eyes without hiding it.

"Bad luck, actually being assigned to the same zone as you."

Fukuda Tsukasa laughed instead of getting angry:

"Hahaha, isn't this just right? Finally, there's a chance for you to wash away your shame."

"Since we are all competitors now, understanding each other's tournament sessions in advance is good for everyone, isn't it?"

"So... what session are you in?"

Horikawa Kaori didn't hide anything:

"I'm in the morning session."

Fukuda Tsukasa turned to Xia Xia Xia Mujun and asked curiously:

"What about you, little brother?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun answered calmly:

"Afternoon session."

Fukuda Tsukasa was instantly overjoyed and laughed loudly:

"Isn't this a coincidence? I'm also in the afternoon session!"

"It seems we have a high chance of meeting in the tournament, which is really looking forward to!"

After saying this, he laughed loudly and strode away.

Horikawa Kaori's face sank; she knew that this guy coming over wouldn't be for anything good.

It turned out he was here to probe for information and had his eyes on Xia Xia Xia Mujun, this 'soft persimmon.'

No wonder he said "let more ordinary people participate" last time; it seems he was relying on his own strength to specifically bully newcomers!

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, if you meet this guy in the tournament, you must be careful."

"He still has some strength!"

"And when he was at the Shogi Association, he liked to specifically target you newcomers to suppress them, which is really very mean!"

Although she said so, she thought in her heart that Xia Xia Xia Mujun couldn't possibly defeat Fukuda Tsukasa.

After all, she often encountered Fukuda Tsukasa when playing Shogi.

At first, she could occasionally win a few games, but later she basically lost battle after battle.

As long as Fukuda Tsukasa used the tactic of wasting time, she, who lacked physical strength, would eventually make mistakes in the tournament over time.

And then it was one wrong move, and the whole game was lost...

This was also something that couldn't be helped.