3-gatsu no Lion 111

Okay, finally done with this chapter. This is the LAST chapter in this volume that has an essay at the end of it. 3 more chapters and then the omake (which is basically a chapter in and of itself) and I'm all caught up with this series at long last.

[3-Gatsu no Lion 111 Translation by Kewl0210]
Page 93:
Title: Chapter.111
The Night the Cuckoo Sang

Page 94:
[Creepy-eyed spacer page]

Page 95:
Rei: Life is always
about the two choices of
'Stand up' or 'sit down'.
If things would eventually be okay if I just didn't do anything, then that's what I did.
---But that concept is so simple, I knew it even when I was in elementary school.
So I searched desperately for a place it was okay for me to be.

Page 96:
Rei: I had to stand on my own two legs, I thought.
So I
could live even if it was all alone.
Sei: Hahahahahah!
Bugs, huh?
Man, that's pretty mean!

Page 97:
Sei: Ah,
sorrrry.
---What was that exactly?
I really didn't hear anything except the part about bugs.
Could you say that again from the beginning?
Woah.
What?
What a scary face.
What's going on?
Are you really mad now?
Rei: So I
could get by without harming anyone.

Page 98:
Rei: You've
completely stopped thinking, haven't you?
Sei: .........
Rei: Anything you hear just skims on the surface.
You're only
thinking about how to get my emotions jumbled, right?
You're waiting for your opponent to fly into a rage, self-destruct,
get fed up, lose all will to fight.
But I'm used to that sort of thing from my work,
so as long as it takes, I won't give in.

Page 99:
Rei: I've been thinking about it for quite some time now.
How to stop you
from coming to the Kawamoto house.
But you also
gradually started using firmer measures.
And I think that you
honestly don't really know
Sei: ......
Rei: what to do anymore, either.
Well,
I guess there're two choices.
(1) 'Work hard myself.'
(2) 'Have other people work hard and mooch off them.'
By the way, regarding (2),
unfortunately, the chances of that happening are zero.
Against your daughters to whom you are connected by blood,
your specialty 'don't think anything just keep spouting words like a machine gun'
might have gotten a hold on them,
----but

Page 100:
Rei: unfortunately, I'm a stranger,
so I'll be by their side saying 'No, you absolutely cannot do what this guy says!!'----
a thousand times over and over.
---So, while it feels quite strange to be saying this
to someone who's lived over twice as long as I have......
Your parents are alive and healthy, aren't they?
Have you tried talking to them?
Sei: ----No.
I can't worry them.
That's just not something I can do.
SFX: KIRIH (CRISP)
Rei: Then
what about talking to your wife's parents?
Sei: ----No.
I can't bother her parents.
That's just not in the cards.
SFX: KIRIRIH (CRISP)
Rei: ----Uh,
I'm still a bit worried even though you've got such crisp answers.
Sei: Our parents have nothing to do with this.
I want to make that perfectly clear.
Handwritten: I really don't wanna because they'll get mad at me.
SFX: KIPPARI (PLAINLY)

Page 101:
Rei: You're trying to make it sound good,
but basically you don't want your parents to find out 'because you don't want them mad at you', right?
But
their grandfather is going to be released from the hospital soon, right?
So I started wondering what you were going to do then...
----and then I realized.
I realized that, yeah,
this person is planning to run off to the next one... ["next" in italics.]

Page 102:
Sei: ----Hey, are you... really 19 years old?
You sure you're not a middle aged man on the inside?
Handwritten: Or rather an old lady?
Rei: Maybe...
Or maybe you're just way too easy to read?
Everything you do is so simple there are a ton of places that make me think 'no way, really?'...
Sei: Aaah,
I'm kinda tired.
I'm gonna go home and sleep. Half the stuff you said went in one ear and out the other.
Rei: Then
I will, too. ☆
Excuse meee!
We I have the check, pleaaase?!
Separate checks!!
Handwritten: Was trying to leave without paying
Guy: Thank yoooou, coming right up!
Handwritten: Please pay at your seat!
SFX: HMPH
Rei: ---And
if you try to drag this on any further,
we'll proactively bring this in a much more difficult direction.

Page 103:
Rei: So when that time comes,
it won't be in a family court where we meet, it'll be at a regular court.
Through introductions from the Shogi Association I go to police or bar association shogi clubs to teach.
I have a lot of people there I'm friendly with.
----And fortunately, I also have the funds to pay for it,
so I have plenty of stamina on the money money side of things.
SFX: GIH... KARA KARAN
Rei: Enough that even if you worked non-stop starting now for the entire rest of your life, it wouldn't be enough.
I'll keep going with this as long as I have to.
Sei: What is that supposed to be?
A threat?
SFX: KARAN KARAN
Sei: You really are
a piece of shit.

Page 104:
Rei: Huh...?
What?
...My eyes are irritated...
I guess that's what I get from waking up at 5AM
going to Osaka and coming back, all while doing a double header with Raidou Kiryuu
and Saishi Suteo...
Ah...
Aw man.
This ain't good...
Hina: .....
Huh?!
Aka: What's wrong, Hina...
SFX: GARARA... GATATA BURORORO
Hina: Rei-chan?!

Page 105:
Rei: .........
Sorry...
Akari: It's okay.
We were supposed to stay over at Auntie's house,
but Momo started crying about wanting to go home...
So our dad... came, did he?
Kiriyama-kun, thank you. I'm glad I didn't leave my little sisters at home...
---But I'm glad we came back.
I never would've expected...
you to collapse like that.
What did...
our dad say?
Rei: Akari-san,
I
don't want
......

Page 106:
Rei: that guy to ever...
come near this house again...
Hina: ......
Rei-chan......
SFX: TOSA......

Page 107:
Rei: ...
...Huh?
Akari: Let's all
sleep here today.
......
Good night.
SFX: POHHH

Page 108:
Rei: When Akari-san put out that little light
the sounds of insects
and the smell of the garden rose up.
SFX: RI...
RIRII...
RIRI
RIIIN
RIRI...
RIIIN
RIRI....
RIRIIIN

Page 109:
Rei: That night
was like we were alone
silently
floating
on a river with no waves.
Bottom: Chapter.111 E N D

Page 110:
Top Right Small: An article by Senzaki Manabu
Top Right Big: Senzaki Manabu's Lion Shogi Column
Big Right: Regarding Shogi Halls
Article: I was raised in a prototypical shogi hall. From my third year of elementary school for about a year and a half, a person named Ichige-san brought me to a shogi hall in Mito almost every day and the old men there taught me everything from the very basics.
Still, those old men back then were really loud. At first, I didn't play shogi with anyone that staid quiet. They would tease their opponents nonstop. If you checked someone, they called it the 'First check medicine'. If you put a fu on the piece stand, it was a 'lesser cuckoo of fu mountain.' When could take a piece but the piece wasn't a good piece to take it was, 'a fish dealer's cat not even worth catching'. It was a busy little place. Really, it was hard to tell at times if we were there to play shogi, or to compete to get the last word in. At night, they'd start drinking and playing games like mahjong. It's because I was trained in an environment like that that I'm who I am today. By the way, nowadays I don't heat those retorts anymore. Because now, I write these things on singing papers when I give autographs. Because among all that teasing, I believe that there is shogi culture that is rooted in the lives of common folk.
Those old men had a great saying, 'For sake, asecond stomach. For shogi, a second brain.' Essentially, that means that strength at shogi and general intelligence are completely different. Though, I guess he might've just been flaunting his success. Though I tell myself that phrase all the time.
Nowadays when I talk about shogi halls, it's pretty much about me going to do teaching matches. They're all pretty healthy. They've got quiet old men playing. ......They look a lot like the shogi association building's match rooms I wrote in column (1). It's possible that the shogi players that were loud during matches may have been connected to an amateur shogi world like the one I grew up in.
For beginners, shogi halls are scary places. People tend to have an image where if someone as careless as them goes in one, everyone will glare at them so they get too scared to even try. But leaving my old days aside, today's shogi halls rarely have that sort of thing. I'd say most are pretty kindly. However, well, there probably are still some around like the one from my old days. So maybe research what people are saying about a specific hall online before you go.
When I talk to people at shogi halls, I'm a bit tough on the kids, pretty soft on beginners, and with female beginners I ask them to please go soft on me. Right now, there are a lot of people with senses like mine, so I hope that you out there reading this column can drum up some courage and open the door to a shogi hall. And, without hesitating, (though I guess it's pretty hard to start out with) put all you have into the board and play some shogi. Those skillful old men really like seeing a beginner facing the board with enthusiasm. Even if you lose, it's really nothing to be worried about. After all, it's a 'separate brain'.