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Ryunosuke set his gold general tile down with a grin. “And checkmate.”
Barok studied the board in silence for a moment, pale eyes searching for a possible escape route for his king piece. Though only a few of Ryunosuke’s pieces surrounded the king, he had positioned them just perfectly to cut off all possible avenues of escape Barok could have had. With a sigh, Barok bowed his head in defeat. “It would appear that yet again the victory goes to you.”
“That was a good match,” Ryunosuke said as he began to clear his pieces from the board.
Barok huffed a ghost of a laugh. “Your kind words are appreciated, but you do not need to lie on my behalf. I am aware that I am very much an amateur shogi player.”
Ryunosuke frowned and reached across the board to rest a hand over his. “I mean it: you played really well,” he said. “I think you’re finally getting a hang of the ways in which shogi is different from chess. I didn’t have to correct you on the movement of the knight pieces once.”
“I’m afraid all of the rules regarding dropping captured pieces back into play still elude me,” Barok said. He turned his hand around so that he could entwine his fingers with Ryunosuke’s and offered the briefest of smiles. “I believe it will be some time before I can properly adapt my chess strategies to account for those pieces.” As he spoke, he pulled Ryunosuke’s hand to his lips, pressing a lingering kiss to his knuckles.
Warm affection curled in Ryunosuke’s chest, and he returned Barok’s soft smile. “Well, chess doesn’t have any rules allowing you to use your opponents' captured pieces against them,” he said. “So it makes sense that you’d keep forgetting about those rules.”
“So that makes how many losses against Ryunosuke?”
Ryunosuke startled as Kazuma plopped himself onto Barok’s desk with a thud, just barely avoiding the expensive inkwell resting in the middle of the desk.
Kazuma sprawled out across the desk like a cat, flashing a smirk in Barok’s direction. “I believe that is three losses in the last twenty minutes, my lord. One might begin to think you enjoy losing so thoroughly to Ryunosuke.”
Barok scowled. “And one might think that if you can afford to spend time commenting on our matches, then you can afford to turn that focus back to finishing your paperwork. That report on your desk doesn’t look finished from what I can see.”
A quick glance at Kazuma’s desk showed that while most of the paperwork had been neatly piled to the side, two pages had been left haphazardly in the middle, Kazuma’s neat handwriting only covering half of the first page.
“I’ve got about a page and a half left to write,” Kazuma said with a shrug. “Just needed to stretch for a minute.” At those words, he arched his back, the movement only serving to draw attention to the way his waistcoat and shirt framed his broad chest and narrow waist. He batted his eyelashes at Barok.
Whatever look he was going for fell flat as Barok’s scowl remained fixed in place. “Need I remind you that we’re waiting on you to finish so that we can get dinner?”
As if on cue, Ryunosuke’s stomach gave a loud rumble, and he flushed a dark red when Kazuma and Barok both turned to look at him. “I am getting a bit hungry,” he muttered.
Barok leveled a stern look in Kazuma’s direction.
Kazuma ignored him, flashing Ryunosuke a handsome, toothy grin. “Don’t worry, partner. I’ll be done shortly, and we’ll be left with plenty of time to find a restaurant for our dinner. I just wanted to congratulate you on yet another victory against the esteemed Barok van Zieks.”
Maybe you should remember your own win-to-loss ratio against me before you start teasing Barok about his.
Barok snickered, and Kazuma’s grin turned into a scowl.
Oh. Perhaps Ryunosuke had thought that aloud. “You’re not a bad shogi player, Kazuma,” he said, shooting to his feet to take Kazuma’s left hand in his. “It’s just that sometimes you don’t always strategize for the long-term in a match.”
“I’ve at least beaten you,” Kazuma muttered, a touch petulantly. Still, he let Ryunosuke raise his hand to his lips, and a smile softened his features.
The moment was ruined when Ryunosuke’s stomach grumbled again, and Kazuma turned his head sharply to the side in an attempt to hide his amusement.
“Uh, I might be getting more than a bit hungry,” Ryunosuke said, dropping Kazuma’s hand.
“Well, we can leave for dinner as soon as someone ”—Barok fixed his stern glare on Kazuma—“finishes his report.”
“Well, it’s hardly my fault that someone”—Kazuma inclined his head in Ryunosuke’s direction—“happened to prove his client not guilty and gave me a second trial to prosecute before our vacation.”
Two weeks ago, a fight had broken out in an East End tavern, resulting in a man’s death. The police had arrested one of the brawlers as the culprit, and the man’s distraught sister had come to Ryunosuke for help, begging him to advocate for her brother in court. After two days of intense investigations and a lengthy court battle against Kazuma, Ryunosuke had managed to prove that the victim had been poisoned by the chef in a convoluted revenge plot.
While he was happy that the truth had been uncovered and the true murderer brought to justice, he didn’t envy Kazuma for having to prosecute a second trial.
“My client was not the murderer,” Ryunosuke said, settling back in his seat. “You should be happy that an innocent man was spared the gallows and the true culprit brought to justice.”
“I am happy that the truth was uncovered,” Kazuma said. “I would never want to wrongly convict an innocent man. But that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy the additional paperwork that comes with having to prosecute a second trial days later.”
“And that paperwork will not get done if you continue to pester us,” Barok said, rubbing at his temple. “You are the one who put it off till the last minute.”
“I didn’t put it off until the last minute,” Kazuma groused. “Normally, I’d have another two days to complete all of this.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow for a holiday on the coast to celebrate Iris’ birthday. So that report needs to be finished tonight unless you intend to make your own travel arrangements.”
Kazuma hummed as he slid off the desk, striding over to Barok. “Maybe I could use an incentive to finish more quickly,” he said, leaning so that only a few inches separated them.
Barok rolled his eyes, yet he still leaned up to brush his lips against Kazuma’s, lifting a gloved hand to brush dark hair behind Kazuma’s ear. A moment after Kazuma gave a pleased hum, Barok pulled back to say, “Your incentive is that we’re getting dinner after you finish your work. And if you take any longer, I may be tempted to take Ryunosuke and leave without you. Now back to work.” He emphasized his words with a decisive point toward Kazuma’s desk.
Kazuma huffed, lips pulling down in a pout. The expression was incredibly endearing but one he would vehemently deny should someone point it out. Crossing his arms, he said, “Can’t bear to lose one more game against Ryunosuke?”
Barok scowled.
“We can find a different activity to occupy ourselves with if you’re tired of shogi, Barok,” Ryunosuke said. “There’s chess if you’d prefer. Or I can think of a few word games that might prove interesting.”
Granted, pulling out the tongue twisters would likely distract Kazuma further, so perhaps they should stick to shogi or chess.
“I never said that I was tired of playing you in shogi, Ryunosuke,” Barok said. “Though I may grow tired of our matches if someone doesn’t finish his paperwork soon.”
“I said that I’m almost done,” Kazuma retorted. A mischievous glimmer sparkled to life in his eyes. “But I’ve got an idea to make your final match more interesting.”
“Any ideas you have should be centered on finishing that last page and a half of your post-trial report,” Barok muttered under his breath.
Ryunosuke’s stomach rumbled again in agreement.
Kazuma just smirked. “Why don’t you add some stakes to this match?”
“Like what?” Ryunosuke asked. “Winner gets to choose where we eat dinner?”
Kazuma smirked as he planted his hands on his hips and cocked a hip to the side. Confidence was an unfairly attractive look on him. “How about the winner gets to choose where we eat and he gets to be my date for the evening?”
Ryunosuke frowned, brow furrowing in confusion. “But we’re both your dates for the evening?”
“I believe what Kazuma means is that the winner has to pay for his dinner,” Barok stated flatly.
“And?” Kazuma asked, raking one hand through his hair in a rather debonair fashion. “I would think that a date with me is a more than enticing prize.”
“Kazuma, you’d better not choose the most expensive item on the menu,” Ryunosuke said. “I’m already over budget for this month, and—”
“I beg your pardon?”
Ryunosuke jolted at the dark undercurrent in Barok’s voice, and he stared wide-eyed as the man glared at him from across the table. It took an embarrassingly long stretch of seconds to realize the implications of his words. Panic shot through him. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Kazuma just barely managed to clamp a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter, shoulders shaking in amusement.
“So you think I’m incapable of winning a shogi match against you, is that correct?” Barok asked.
“It’s not like that,” Ryunosuke protested. “It’s just that you’re still learning how to play shogi. And I have years of experience on you. So it’s just more likely that—”
“I seem to recall that you picked up the rules of chess rather quickly and claimed a few early victories against me,” Barok said. “But you think that I’m incapable of doing the same?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Barok reached out to collect his tiles, laying them out in their starting positions on the board. “Well, it seems that our next match will be about my pride just as much as it is for Kazuma’s affection.”
“Sounds like your fourth match should be interesting,” Kazuma said, leaning forward to leave a kiss on Ryunosuke’s cheek. “Here’s a good luck kiss for you.” Then, he walked to the other side of the table to give Barok a good luck kiss as well.
Though Barok was focused on placing the last of his pieces on the board, he tilted his head to accept Kazuma’s kiss. Then, his eyes flitted sideways toward Kazuma, and he pointed toward Kazuma’s desk. “Paperwork.”
Kazuma rolled his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
Ryunosuke scowled at Kazuma’s back as he returned to his desk, an amused spring in his step. Of course, Kazuma would come over just to create trouble and then return to his work without having to deal with the consequences.
A quick glance showed that Barok’s features had evened out, but his lips were still pressed into a too thin line.
Guilt welled up into his throat, and he set one of his pawns down on the board with a bit too much force. “I really am sorry,” he said, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth as he stared at his pieces still scattered across the board. “I wasn’t trying to insult your abilities.”
After a moment, Barok sighed, and the tension in his shoulders dropped. “I know you weren’t,” he said. “I’m afraid my pride got the better of me for a moment. I am...frustrated at my own lack of progress over these last few matches. Logically, I know that learning a new game takes time, but it feels as if I have not improved at all over the last three rounds.”
“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit,” Ryunosuke said. “I think you’ve improved tremendously over our last three matches even if you can’t see that progress.”
At those words, Barok offered him a faint smile.“As always, your kind words are appreciated.”
“I only speak the truth,” Ryunosuke said. “Though, if we’re going to make a competition out of this, I don’t mind switching to chess or some other game.”
“Perhaps a bit of competition is what I need to push my skills,” Barok said. He plucked Ryunosuke’s king piece from the board, flipping the tile between his fingers. After a moment, a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, eyes taking on a teasing glint. “Though if you throw this match on purpose just to force me to pay for dinner, then I will know and be sorely disappointed in you.”
Ryunosuke snatched the tile back from him, a competitive rush surging through him. “Lord van Zieks, I am offended that you would accuse me of losing on purpose just to avoid paying Kazuma’s dinner bill.”
“Really?” Mischief alit in Barok’s eyes as he said, “Because I do recall Iris mentioning something about the two of you conning Sholmes into paying your lunch bill the other day.”
“That’s completely different! Mr. Sholmes is always foisting his bill on someone else, so it was only fair that we take revenge. Besides, it was Iris’ idea in the first place.”
“Ah, yes. Blame my poor, innocent niece for your mischief.”
Ryunosuke slammed his king piece down into its starting place with a loud clack. “Go ahead and tease me now, Barok. But we’ll see how long that lasts once I’ve trounced you four times in a row.”
Ryunosuke frowned as he surveyed the board. Based on their earlier matches, he expected Barok to keep making the defensive, conservative plays he had favored while still learning the rules. However, Barok had taken a much more aggressive strategy this time, and it had taken far too many turns for Ryunosuke to adapt his strategies to counter that.
But things were looking up. He had just upgraded his bishop into a dragon horse, which greatly added to his mobility. As long as he played these next few moves carefully, he would definitely be able to corner Barok’s king.
“So I just want to reiterate that I finished my paperwork well over fifteen minutes ago,” Kazuma said from where he had sprawled across Barok’s desk, his head hanging off the side to glare balefully at them upside down. “And we can leave for dinner whenever you two are ready.”
Originally, Ryuonsuke had been hoping to advance up the left side of the board toward Barok’s king, but Barok had dropped a few pieces in very strategic places to tighten his defenses. Though if Ryunosuke moved his rook to the right, he might be able to clear a path to Barok’s camp to upgrade the piece in two turns.
If nothing else, he could at least force Barok to adjust his current strategy to try and prevent that from happening.
A heavy weight draped itself across his shoulders. “Come on, partner,” Kazuma said, something almost languid about his movements as he stretched into Ryunosuke’s side, nearly pushing him out of his chair. “I thought you were hungry.”
Ryunosuke shoved at his friend’s shoulder without raising his eyes from the board before him. “Not now, Kazuma. I’m trying to focus.”
Kazuma let out an offended noise as he pulled himself off Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke moved his rook to the right.
Across the table, Barok’s eyes narrowed. He leaned forward in his seat, gaze slowly raking across the board as he studied the options for his next move.
Kazuma slinked up behind Barok, propping his chin on Barok’s shoulder. “You should move your bishop there,” he said, pointing toward a spot in the middle of the board.
“If you play shogi like you play chess, then I will not heed any advice you give.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kazuma jerked back to glare at Barok, crossing his arms with a huff.
“It means I do not trust your strategies to last beyond five rounds,” Barok said. “Patience. We’ll be finished shortly.” With that, he moved one of his pawns up a step, preventing Ryunosuke from immediately entering his camp to upgrade his rook.
Kazuma groaned and threw his hands up into the air, storming back to Barok’s desk. “Fine,” he said, the words punctuated by his stomping footsteps. He stretched back across Barok’s desk, arms thrown wide for emphasis. “I’ll just languish over here: alone and ignored while you play the world’s longest shogi match.”
Given that Ryunosuke had once watched two old men play a game that had lasted literal hours, he felt Kazuma was grossly overexaggerating the length of their current match.
They exchanged a few more moves with no progress being made. With a frown, Ryunosuke surveyed the board. If he could get Barok to move his silver general out of the way, he could use his dragon horse to put Barok’s king in check. But surely there was no way that Barok would fall for such an obvious scheme.
Then again, Barok might have forgotten that an upgraded bishop was not restricted to diagonal movements. Ryunosuke hadn’t upgraded his bishop in their two previous matches, and Barok had never managed to upgrade the piece.
It would be risky, baiting Barok to move his silver general further from the king. But, if he had forgotten the movement rules for upgraded bishops, then it would give Ryunosuke his first opening at attacking his king. With that, Ryunosuke dropped a knight piece in position to take the silver general.
Barok’s eyes narrowed as surveyed the board, eyes lingering on Ryunosuke’s latest move. Clearly, he suspected some kind of trap, but the way his eyes kept flickering over the pieces suggested that he wasn’t seeing it. After another long stretch of seconds, he moved his silver general one square diagonally to the right.
Yes! Ryunosuke moved his dragon horse one to the left. “Check.”
“Bishops can only move— ”
“Upgraded bishops can move one square orthogonally.”
The rest of Barok’s rebuke morphed into a curse; he buried his face in his hand.
“Need some help over there, my lord?” Kazuma asked, appearing at Barok’s side so suddenly that it gave the man a start. His dark eyes studied the shogi board, assessing the current situation.
“I am more than capable of rectifying this situation without your assistance,” Barok said, sparing Kazuma only a cursory glance before returning his attention to the match.
“You’d refuse even a good luck kiss?” Kazuma leaned forward so that his head blocked Barok’s view of the board.
Barok sighed. “Let me just make my move first.” He gently maneuvered Kazuma out of the way before dropping one of his captured pawns between his king and Ryunosuke’s dragon horse. Then, he turned his attention fully to Kazuma, resting his hands on his hips. “You wanted a kiss?”
For a moment, something almost like disappointment flashed across Kazuma’s expression. Then, he leaned forward to press his lips against Barok’s with a pleased hum.
Ryunosuke watched the two kiss, warmth spreading through him at the sight of the two men he loved pressed together. Then, he shifted his attention back to the shogi board to study Barok’s move. Why hadn’t Barok dropped the pawn one square away from his king? Ryunosuke started to reach for his dragon horse. All he had to do was take the dropped pawn—
No, wait. Ryunosuke’s hand froze inches from his piece. If he did that, then Barok could take his dragon horse with his knight. He had almost overlooked that piece. If he gave Barok a second bishop to use, the added mobility could quickly put his own king in a tight spot.
A shadow fell over him as Kazuma came to stop right at the edge of his chair.
Ryunosuke looked up at his friend, arching an eyebrow in question. “Can I help you?”
Kazuma grinned. “Well, I figured that since I got a kiss from Barok to tide me over until dinner, I should collect one from you as well.”
“Is that so?” Ryunosuke asked.
“That is so,” Kazuma declared. “And if you agree to a kiss, I promise to stop complaining about your obnoxiously long game and wait patiently for dinner.”
Somehow Ryunosuke doubted that, but he wouldn’t say no to a kiss from Kazuma. “Fine,” he said. “You can have a kiss.”
Kazuma’s fingertips lingered against his cheek for a moment before they slid beneath his chin to tilt his face up. A pair of familiar lips brushed against his own. After a second, Kazuma’s free hand drifted into his hair, scratching at the scalp.
Ryunosuke hummed contentedly into the kiss, letting his eyes fall shut as he tilted his head to chase after Kazuma’s touch.
Kazuma smirked.
Before Ryunosuke could question Kazuma, he found himself pressed back into his seat as Kazuma surged forward to deepen the kiss, planting a knee next to Ryunosuke’s thigh. The hand in his hair curled around the back of his neck, and Ryunosuke felt a shudder wash down his spine. Molten pleasure coursed through him with each shift of Kazuma’s lips. Distantly, he was aware of Kazuma reaching for his left hand, but his focus was quickly diverted to the tongue swiping against the seam of his lips.
After a moment, Kazuma had to pull back for air. The brown of his eyes was but a dark ring as he gazed down at Ryunosuke, as if beckoning him in for another kiss. “Well?” he asked.
Ryunosuke blinked rapidly to try and dissipate the haze blanketing his thoughts. “What? That—I mean, that was nice.”
“Just nice?” Kazuma’s fingers played with the strands of hair at the back of Ryunosuke’s neck, sending pleasant tingles down his spine.
Ryunosuke flushed. “You know what I meant. But I still have to finish my match with Barok.”
Kazuma smirked down at him, looking entirely too smug for his own good. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about the match taking too much longer.” Then, he lifted Ryunosuke’s left hand from the shogi tile it had been touching. “Check.”
For a moment, Ryunosuke just stared at the board in incomprehension. His dragon horse had taken the pawn that Barok had dropped last turn and now rested within range of Barok’s knight, an easy target. But how—
Horror shot through him as he realized that Kazuma had distracted him with that kiss just to trick him into moving one of his pieces into the wrong place. “Kazuma!”
Kazuma had the gall to laugh at him. “What?” he asked, batting his eyelashes in a futile attempt at playing innocent. He slid off Ryunosuke’s lap to pick up Barok’s captured pawn piece, moving the tile to join the other captured pieces on Ryunosuke’s side.
Ryunosuke huffed. “That was literally the worst possible move you could have made for me. Do you know how long it took me to promote that piece?”
“Not as long as I’ve been waiting for you two to finish this match so I can eat. Desperate times call for desperate measures, partner. So I chose the move that would end this match the quickest.”
“By cheating?” Barok asked dryly.
“I just turned the match in your favor and gave you a show, and you’re complaining?” Kazuma asked, arching his eyebrows.
“Barok, why didn’t you stop him?” Ryunosuke fixed wide, pleading eyes on Barok, an expression he knew the man was powerless against.
Barok flushed, gaze averted to the side. “I confess that the two of you held my interest more than whatever Kazuma was doing to sabotage the match.”
“So we’re all in agreement that I’m far more entertaining than a game of shogi,” Kazuma said, cocking one of his hips to the side in a way that had no right to be that attractive given the stunt he had just pulled.
Ryunosuke just sunk his head into his hands, trying not to groan. The last ten minutes of strategy had crumbled in an instant. But perhaps the situation wasn’t that dire. After all, even if the added bishop gave Barok an advantage, it didn’t guarantee that he would win the match.
No, scratch that; the situation was that dire. In his quest to dismantle Barok’s defenses around his king, Ryunosuke had neglected his own king’s defenses and left an open diagonal leading right to it. And because of all the other pieces surrounding his king, he could only move it off the diagonal by moving it within range of Barok’s knight. All Barok had to do was capture Ryunosuke’s dragon horse, drop it on that open diagonal, and then move his knight forward to place Ryunosuke’s king in check.
Kazuma was right: he had chosen the one move that would single-handedly destroy Ryunosuke’s entire chance at winning.
“Ryunosuke,” Barok said, his gentle tone breaking through the spiral of Ryunosuke’s frustration. “I know we agreed earlier that a piece would be placed once you removed your hand from it, but I hardly think Kazuma tricking you into moving a piece counts as a fair turn. I am perfectly fine with you replaying that last turn.”
“And I’m about to treat myself to dinner and leave you both behind,” Kazuma grumbled.
The thought of replaying his last move was a tempting one. Kazuma had just single-handedly given Barok a path to victory. And had their positions been reversed, he would gladly let Barok—
His stomach let out a loud rumble, and the pangs of hunger that had faded into the background during their match gnawed at his stomach.
Ryunosuke flushed and ducked his head. “Perhaps it’s better if we just finish this match quickly so that we can get to dinner. I am actually rather hungry. Besides, I think Kazuma might wither away if we keep ignoring him.”
“He is very much like a needy cat in that regard,” Barok agreed evenly.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kazuma snapped, cheeks flushed a bright red only a few shades lighter than the ascot around his neck.
Barok ignored him and took Ryunosuke’s dragon horse with his knight.
As Ryunosuke moved his king off the open diagonal, a part of him hoped that Barok might overlook his clear path to victory. That perhaps he could turn this shogi match around like he did in their court battles.
Barok moved his knight forward. “Check.”
He had absolutely seen the path to victory that Kazuma had left him. With a sigh, Ryunosuke moved his king back onto the open diagonal.
As expected, Barok placed the captured bishop piece on the diagonal. “Checkmate.”
Well, there went the match. At least they could head out for dinner shortly.
“Congratulations on your first victory, Barok,” Ryunosuke said, offering a small but sincere smile.
Barok just shook his head. “I hardly call a victory that Kazuma has to interfere in a true victory. Rest assured, I will defeat you on my own merits in due course. But as a conciliation for this last match, I will let you choose the restaurant.”
“Oh,” Ryunosuke said, eyes wide. “You don’t have to— ”
“Nonsense,” Barok said. “I am more than certain you would have been the victor had Kazuma been patient enough to wait a few more turns. So I think it only fair that we split the conditions of the win between us.”
“Well, all right.”
Barok offered him a soft smile before he rose gracefully to his feet. “Now then, Mr. Asougi, I believe that I am the one treating you to dinner.” He gave a faint bow and extended his hand to Kazuma, the epitome of an English gentleman.
Kazuma was still pouting from the earlier cat comment, but he slowly placed his hand in Barok’s.
Barok lifted the hand to his lips, pressing a featherlight kiss to the knuckles. As color bloomed to life again in Kazuma’s cheeks, Barok placed a second kiss on the inside of Kazuma’s wrist, lingering there almost reverently. “Is that to your agreement?”
After a moment, Kazuma smiled and stepped forward so that they were pressed flush together. “Of course it is, my lord.” He pulled his hand free to twine both arms around Barok’s neck. “But first, I think I deserve a proper reward for handing you your first shogi victory.”
Barok smirked as his hands settled on Kazuma’s waist. “I would think that a date with me is a more than enticing prize, no?”
Kazuma laughed, loud and bright and filling the space around them. “Touché.” He leaned sideways to catch Ryunosuke’s gaze. “So where are we headed for dinner?”
“Well,” Ryunosuke said, fighting—and failing—to keep a smirk from stretching across his face. “I heard there’s a rather lively pub in the East End that just reopened with a new head chef.”
“Absolutely not,” Kazuma snarled.
“Mr. Naruhodo, allow me to amend my previous offer,” Barok said with a scowl. “If you wish to eat at a low-brow pub where the previous chef was found guilty of poisoning one of the patrons, then be my guest. But I will be taking my date to a much more reputable establishment.” With those words, his grip on Kazuma’s waist tightened with a possessive edge that had satisfaction shimmer in Kazuma’s dark eyes.
“Neither of you has a sense of humor,” Ryunosuke said with a sigh. “Actually, I was thinking about that restaurant you took us to a few weeks ago, with the nice seafood.”
“You do know that we will probably be eating a great deal of seafood over the next week while we’re on the coast, right?” Kazuma asked.
“Well, yes,” Ryunosuke said. “But that restaurant had more than just seafood. It had steak as well.”
“I believe what our learned friend really wants is the chocolate cake offered for dessert at the restaurant,” Barok said, a teasing lilt to his words.
“It’s a good cake,” Ryunosuke said, perhaps a touch more petulantly than intended.
“Always thinking with that sweet tooth of yours,” Kazuma said, the molten fondness in his gaze enveloping Ryunosuke like an embrace. “Well, I have no objections to Ryunosuke’s restaurant choice.”
“Then it’s decided,” Barok said. He stepped away from Kazuma to fetch his coat, top hat, and cane. Once he had adjusted the items, he turned back to them, holding out his free arm. “Well, shall we be off?”
Kazuma grinned, racing to link his arm with Barok’s. “Finally.” Reaching back toward Ryunosuke, he added, “Come along, partner. As an apology for stealing your victory, I’ll buy you the largest slice of cake the restaurant has to offer.”
Well, Ryunosuke certainly couldn’t say no to that.
With a laugh, he hurried over, letting Kazuma link their arms together. Perhaps he had lost the shogi match, but it was hard to feel like a loser with the promise of a pleasant meal and even more pleasing company ahead of him. Together, the three of them stepped out of Barok’s office and toward their promised dinner date.