Chapter 131: A Go Player's Battlefield is Only on the Go Board!

Nakamura Sumire was completely unaware of the danger close at hand. She licked the almost-dripping ice cream, and continued asking curiously with her soft and sweet voice:

"Big Sister Kirigaya, what are you doing here?"

In the little girl's eyes, there was only pure confusion.

Kirigaya Nuo looked at this little girl before her eyes.

Looked at those eyes as clear as the bottom of a pool, like the purest obsidian.

Looked at that melting cone dripping brown syrup in her hand, and the way she carefully held it.

Looked at the charmingly naive little rabbit pattern embroidered on her yukata, swaying gently with her movements.

"Teacher..."

She screamed wordlessly and almost desperately in her consciousness, her voice carrying a violent tremor that even she herself hadn't noticed.

"What... should I do?!"

Kill? Or not kill?

Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure fluctuated violently beside her, as if also enduring a massive impact.

He looked at that naive and innocent little girl, then looked at Kirigaya Nuo, whose whole body was tense.

Ultimately, he closed his eyes and said sadly:

"Ah Nuo, this question... I cannot help you."

"You must... choose yourself."

Choose myself...

Kirigaya Nuo's teeth gritted until they creaked.

Three seconds.

Seemed as long as a century.

Outside the door, the middle-aged man's hand had already firmly gripped the hilt of his dagger, his muscles tense, ready to strike.

His eyes became colder and colder, more and more urgent—Time!

Every second increased the risk of exposure!

Nakamura Sumire finally seemed to perceive a trace of unusual atmosphere. She blinked, looking at Kirigaya Nuo's abnormally pale face and tightly pursed lips, and asked softly:

"Big Sister Kirigaya... are you... feeling unwell?"

It was exactly this soft question carrying a child's concern.

Like a tiny needle, gently piercing a certain critical point.

Finally.

Kirigaya Nuo's tightly gritted teeth loosened.

She let out a long, silent, suppressed breath.

Then, she squatted down, reached out her hand, and gently stroked the little girl's head wearing a rabbit hairpin.

"Little Sumire,"

Her voice was somewhat hoarse, but she tried hard to make it smooth,

"Big Sister just now... was a bit tired. Very dizzy, the competition is too tense. So I sneaked out, wanted to find a place with no one... to rinse off, stimulate myself with cold water, and sober up."

She paused, looking into the little girl's eyes, her tone taking on a bit of embarrassed shyness:

"This... this is Big Sister's little secret oh."

She leaned closer, lowered her voice, making an appearance of sharing a secret,

"Sneaking out to slack off in the middle of a match, if the referee and Teacher Iyama found out, it would be very embarrassing."

Nakamura Sumire's large eyes fluttered. Giving an "ah" as if suddenly enlightened, her small face immediately showed an empathetic expression of "I understand! I've also had times when I didn't want to practice Go and secretly ate snacks!"

She nodded forcefully, also covering her mouth with her small hand, and said softly and solemnly:

"Mhm! I understand! Big Sister rest assured! I promise! This is a secret between the two of us! I absolutely won't tell anyone! Pinky swear!"

As she spoke, she extended a pinky finger stained with a bit of ice cream.

Looking at her serious and cute appearance, the tightly twisted string in Kirigaya Nuo's heart seemed to finally loosen a fraction.

She extended her pinky finger and gently hooked it with that small finger.

"Okay, pinky swear. Little Sumire is so good."

She stood up and gently patted the little girl's head again.

"Go back quickly, the ice cream is going to melt completely. Don't play outside for too long either, careful not to catch a cold."

"Mhm! Got it! Big Sister Kirigaya has to go back quickly to compete too! Ganbatte!"

Nakamura Sumire happily waved her small fist, licked her ice cream again, and bounced away.

Only then did Kirigaya Nuo slowly, extremely stiffly, turn her head back.

Outside the door, the middle-aged man still stood there, his hand still resting on the hilt of the knife.

He gave Kirigaya Nuo a deep look, that gaze complex to the extreme.

There was dissatisfaction, annoyance, and even a trace of relief?

Ultimately, he didn't say anything.

Then turned around, completely disappearing into the shadows.

Kirigaya Nuo stood in place, standing quietly for another few seconds.

Listening to that heart in her chest gradually recovering from a near-death crazy beating to a heavy and slow pulsation.

She took one last look at the direction the little girl left.

Turned around, leaving from the other exit of the equipment room.

...

Returning to the game room "Yugen."

She calmly pushed open that heavy soundproof door and walked back to her seat.

Sat down at the Go table.

Picked up a warm Go stone.

Placed it down.

Her posture was steady, her eyes focused, as if her mind had never left this square-inch Go board.

Before and after was less than ten minutes.

To the spectators and opponent, she just took a slightly longer trip to the restroom, perhaps taking the opportunity to tidy up her appearance as well, her face even having a few more points of moisture brought by water vapor than when she left.

No anomaly whatsoever.

The Go game, after a brief pause, continued to advance steadily.

...

More than an hour later.

"Woo—woo—woo—"

Outside the window, in a distant place, at first it was just a vague, illusion-like siren sound.

The sound drew near from afar, more and more, increasingly dense, increasingly ear-piercing!

In the game room, everyone clearly perceived the anomaly.

The phone at the referee's desk suddenly rang!

The Go player serving as the chief referee picked up the receiver. After listening to just a few sentences, his face abruptly changed massively, the hand holding the receiver even trembling slightly.

He put down the receiver, took several deep breaths before barely steadying his mind, and walked quickly into the playing area, his face unprecedentedly solemn.

"Very... very sorry..."

His voice was dry, trying hard to maintain calmness, but the trembling trailing note betrayed him,

"Outside... in the villa... some... very serious accident has occurred. Someone... was murdered."

"Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department have already arrived in large numbers. The scene needs to be locked down immediately to conduct a careful investigation..."

He looked at the two players at the two ends of the Go board who seemed isolated from the world:

"The game... does it... need to be paused? I'm afraid the investigation will last for a period of time, and might also require everyone... to cooperate with questioning."

Iyama Shota 9-dan frowned tightly. He glanced outside the window at the faintly flashing red and blue police lights, then looked at the undecided situation on the Go board. Finally, his gaze landed on the opposite side.

Kirigaya Nuo slowly raised her head.

On her face, there was no panic, no curiosity, only an almost cruel calmness.

She looked at the chief referee, looked at Iyama Shota:

"Showa year 20, August 6th."

"The deciding game of the Honinbo tournament between Senior Hashimoto Utaro and Senior Iwamoto Kaoru was held in the suburbs of Hiroshima."

(TL: This is a famous real historical event known as the "Atomic Bomb Game.")

"On that day, at 8:15 AM."

"The atomic bomb exploded only a few kilometers away from the game room."

Her gaze swept over everyone's shocked faces present. Her voice wasn't loud, yet carried a firm power:

"Intense light, shockwaves, houses trembling, glass shattering, dust filling the sky."

"The game room was damaged, the recorder was injured."

"But the two seniors..."

She paused slightly, her gaze like a torch:

"Did not stop."

"They tidied the Go board, brushed away the dust, and continued playing until the end of the game."

"Because a Go player's battlefield is only on the Go board!"

"Outside the Go board, the sky collapsing and the earth cracking, blood flowing like rivers, what does it have to do with playing Go?"

The words fell.

In the "Yugen" game room, deathly silence.

Everyone was like being hit by an immobilization spell, looking at this mere seventeen-year-old girl in disbelief.

Looking at her straight spine that was young yet seemed to carry the character of Go players from a millennium, looking at her stubborn eyes.

Everyone finally understood why this girl could reach such a height one year after becoming a professional.

The solemnity and confusion on Iyama Shota 9-dan's face gradually faded.

Replaced by an expression mixing shock and respect.

He slowly, solemnly, nodded his head.

His voice deep and powerful:

"...1-dan Kirigaya is right."

"There is nothing that can interrupt a game between Go players. Not even if the Emperor comes."

"Chief Referee, please continue."

The chief referee took a deep breath. He looked around, his gaze becoming firm:

"I understand."

"Everyone, please keep quiet."

"The game—"

"Continues!"