Chapter 981: The sixth round, the tournament begins again! Taking an apprentice!

The next day.

Outside the Tokyo Shogi Hall, the morning sun shone on the quaint building.

When Natsume Chikage arrived, he noticed that at the ordinary spectator entrance in front of the main gate of the hall, the queue of people was winding and tortuous, seemingly more dense than in the previous rounds, and the noise could be vaguely heard from a distance.

On the other side, the dedicated passage for contestants appeared quite deserted.

Unlike the lively scene in the first round where contestants also needed to queue to wait for admission, at this moment, there was almost no one to be seen near the entrance of the passage.

Clearly, the contestants who could reach the sixth round were already few, and most of them might have already entered the lounge inside the hall to prepare, while a few might not have arrived yet.

Natsume Chikage didn't think much and walked straight to the contestant passage, preparing to enter the hall early to calm his mind.

However, just as he approached the entrance of the passage and hadn't had time to show his contestant ID to the staff, he was discovered by sharp-eyed spectators.

"Look! It's contestant Natsume!"

"Natsume Chikage is here!"

"Contestant Natsume! Please do your best today too!"

"Natsume-kun! I will be cheering for you the whole time!"

Enthusiastic shouts came from the spectator queue, and many young people even stood on tiptoe and waved at him.

Even more, an emotional female spectator suddenly shouted:

"Contestant Natsume, do your best! If you win, I want to have your baby!"

This earth-shattering shout made the originally lively scene quiet for a moment, and then it erupted into even greater laughter and teasing.

Natsume Chikage politely nodded towards the crowd, and hearing the last sentence, even with his steady temperament, he felt his temple jump slightly, and his back felt a bit cold.

He immediately quickened his pace and almost "slipped" into the contestant passage.

The hall staff at the entrance of the passage clearly recognized him too—it was hard not to leave an impression on this boy who stood out in terms of appearance and temperament among all the male contestants.

The staff smiled and verified his ID, then let him through smoothly.

Passing through the quiet passage, he stepped into the main hall inside the Shogi Hall.

The view suddenly opened up.

The spectator hall, which could accommodate hundreds of people, was now bustling with noise, with a large crowd sitting, and the air was filled with an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation.

There was still some time before the match started, but it looked like the seats would soon be full.

Just as Natsume Chikage appeared from the passage entrance and stepped into the light of the main hall, it immediately caused another small commotion.

"Oh! Contestant Natsume has entered!"

"Over here! Look over here!"

Cheers and whistles sounded again.

Many spectators' gazes were cast towards him, and there was no lack of newspaper reporters and freelance photographers with professional cameras; they skillfully adjusted the focus, and the shutter sounds "click-click" rang out in a piece, capturing the pre-match state of this popular dark horse contestant.

Natsume Chikage felt helpless in his heart, but he also understood that this was an unavoidable part of large-scale tournaments.

He calmed himself down, his gaze swept over the contestant reserved seating area, and he prepared to find a seat to sit down and wait for the match to start.

Just at this moment, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

He took out his phone, and the screen showed the name "Gu Chuan Chang Hong."

He pressed the answer button.

【Gu Chuan Chang Hong: Hey, Natsume-kun, I see you.】

The old man's energetic voice came from the earpiece.

【Natsume Chikage: Mr. Gu Chuan, where are you?】

【Gu Chuan Chang Hong: Right next to the contestant seats, very close; if you look this way, you should be able to see me.】

Natsume Chikage turned his head as instructed, his gaze sweeping over the front row of the spectator seats.

Sure enough, in the VIP spectator area right next to the contestant seats, he saw Gu Chuan Chang Hong waving at him.

It was just that today, Old Man Gu Chuan was dressed somewhat specially—wearing a pair of wide sunglasses on his face, almost covering half of his face, which was very different from his usual casual image.

Beside him, the petite and cute Gu Chuan Caixu was jumping excitedly, and her little hands were also waving vigorously.

Sitting next to them was Horikawa Jia Zhi, and... that Fu Tian Si.

Natsume Chikage felt slightly surprised, but still walked towards them.

Just as he approached that area, Gu Chuan Caixu couldn't wait to jump down from her small chair, ran up like a happy little bird, and grabbed Natsume Chikage's hand:

"Big Brother! You're here!"

She looked up with her little face, her eyes shining:

"There are so many, many spectators today, and the ordinary good seats were booked up long ago! It was Caixu who begged Zhiji-san to save us these seats closest to the contestant area!"

As she spoke, she pulled Natsume Chikage towards the contestant seats next to them:

"Big Brother, you are a contestant, sit here quickly! You can see the clearest here!"

Natsume Chikage was pulled by her and sat down in the empty contestant seat next to her, then rubbed Caixu's head.

He understood in his heart.

With the power of the Yutang family, reserving a few seats on such an occasion was indeed not a difficult thing.

Gu Chuan Chang Hong adjusted his sunglasses, and one could feel his smiling gaze even through the lenses:

"Morning, Natsume-kun. How did you rest?" ===== CHAPTER 982 =====