Chapter 54

"For the contestant you are about to face, give me your full strength."

"Mm, Saio definitely will!"

Saio Furukawa was a bit happy, thinking her senior sister was encouraging her.

But she had always been going all out, why did her senior sister suddenly say that?

Before she could ask, the other side had already hung up the phone.

"What did your senior sister say to you?" Masahiro Furukawa asked hurriedly.

"Senior sister said 'For the contestant you are about to face, give me your full strength'," Saio Furukawa said excitedly, "This is the first time senior sister has encouraged me!"

Masahiro Furukawa had a strange expression; the daughter of the Xiangyutang family also encourages people?

Impossible, there must be something fishy no matter how you look at it...

Time passed quietly.

A while later.

Kaori Horikawa returned to Xia Xia Xia Mujun's side with excitement.

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, I won!"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun moved his gaze away from the phone screen and gave a sincere smile:

"Ms. Horikawa, congratulations on your first victory, returning in triumph!"

Kaori Horikawa described the game just now to Xia Xia Xia Mujun with great enthusiasm, counting how her opponent's strength was stronger than hers and how she had improved her rank by defeating her in the past.

By the end, she realized she had said too much and apologized embarrassedly:

"Sorry, I was just happy talking about myself, it must be annoying, right?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shook his head gently, his smile warm:

"Not at all. Feeling joy from defeating an opponent who was once stronger than you is human nature."

"One should enjoy life to the fullest when one is successful, I think that's very good."

Listening to these considerate words and looking at the handsome face in front of her, Kaori Horikawa felt her heart warm, as if she had been precisely hit by Cupid's arrow.

She suddenly understood why so many women liked to "keep" "younger men" or "pretty boys".

Who could resist such a pleasing and considerate boy?!

It's just that Xia Xia Xia Mujun was only in his first year of high school, and she was already in her twenties, almost thirty, nearly twice his age.

Thinking of this, she only hated that "I was born before you were, and by the time you were born, I was already old."

She hated even more that her salary was meager; if she were a rich woman, she would definitely try her best to fight for the opportunity to "keep" Xia Xia Xia Mujun!

It hurts, it hurts so much!!

Kaori Horikawa suppressed the throbbing in her heart, clutched her chest, and extended an invitation:

"By the way, it's almost noon."

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun hasn't had lunch yet, right? How about I treat you to go out and eat?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun declined politely:

"Thank you for your kindness, but I brought a bento prepared by my sister, I appreciate the thought."

Kaori Horikawa really couldn't calm the ripples in her heart, and an idea struck her:

"Ah! Then I'll go buy a bento too, wait a moment, let's eat together later?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded:

"Of course."

At this time, Masahiro Furukawa, who was sitting on the side, leaned forward slightly and interjected politely:

"Um... we are not very familiar with the area, may we also follow you to buy a bento?"

Kaori Horikawa didn't know this old man and the little girl, but she didn't refuse and agreed readily:

"Mm, come together."

Not long after, the three returned with the bentos they had bought and enjoyed lunch at their seats with Xia Xia Xia Mujun.

In fact, not only them, but many people in the venue chose a similar solution.

After all, this is a Shogi hall, and the surrounding dining options are limited.

Although there is a cafeteria in the hall, the prices are usually much higher than outside.

If you want to eat out, you have to travel a long distance, which is quite troublesome.

Therefore, most people would rather spend a little more money and choose to have lunch in the hall.

And they had also seen the situation where someone was late and was directly declared defeated, so they didn't want that to happen.

Eating the bento, Xia Xia Xia Mujun remembered something and asked curiously:

"Ms. Horikawa, since your match is already over, can't you go back?"

"Why are you still staying here?"

Kaori Horikawa swallowed the food in her mouth and explained:

"I'm staying to observe the duels of other contestants more; maybe I'll run into them in the next round."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded knowingly:

"So that's it."

A few hours later, it was finally time for the third session to start.

The broadcast prompt sounded in the venue again:

[The competition is about to begin, please contestants of the third session, store your personal items according to the staff's guidance, and gather in the center of the venue in an orderly manner!]

[The competition is about to begin, please contestants of the third session, store your personal items according to the staff's guidance, and gather in the center of the venue in an orderly manner!]

Xia Xia Xia Mujun heard the sound and knew it was time to enter the venue for the competition.

Saio Furukawa's little hand unconsciously clenched the corner of her clothes.

She had never participated in a formal competition, and her past duels were limited to sparring with her grandfather and Senior Sister Orihime.

Thinking of stepping onto a real competition field, her youthful heart accelerated uncontrollably.

The sense of tension wrapped around her heart like a dense spider web, but more than that, it was an uncontrollable excitement and anticipation!

"Grandpa, Saio is going now!"

Masahiro Furukawa looked at his granddaughter, and a kind smile bloomed on his wrinkled face:

"Go, Saio. Grandpa will always be watching you and cheering for you!"

Saio Furukawa nodded vigorously, her smile as bright as sunshine:

"Mm! Saio will definitely bring the first victory to Grandpa!"

Masahiro Furukawa smiled with relief and reached out his broad palm to his granddaughter.

Saio Furukawa immediately reached out her little hand and held it tightly.

During these few hours of getting along, Kaori Horikawa had also become familiar with this interesting grandfather and granddaughter.

She liked this cute little girl very much, so she clenched her fists to cheer for both Xia Xia Xia Mujun and Saio Furukawa:

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, Little Saio, you both must do your best!"

The two looked at each other and smiled, nodding in response.

Just then, an uninvited guest walked over.

Satoru Fukuda had his usual smile on his face, walked closer, and said sarcastically:

"Yo, Ms. Horikawa, I heard you won this morning."

"It's rare to break through yourself and defeat an opponent who was once stronger than you, it's indeed worth praising."

"Now you've steadily earned ten thousand yen, it's really gratifying."

"I hope you can keep such good luck in the next round and meet someone of a similar level to compete with~"

Kaori Horikawa had no good feelings toward Satoru Fukuda, just snorted coldly and turned her face away.

Satoru Fukuda didn't mind and turned to smile at Xia Xia Xia Mujun and the others:

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, looking at you guys, you're also in the third session, right? Since we've run into each other, why don't we go together?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shrugged indifferently:

"Whatever."