After chuckling, Yushan Kazuto looked up at the sky. The moon that he had finally found through a small window was once again shrouded in clouds. He turned his head to look towards Qingtaki's residence. Kong Ginko also happened to stick her head out and looked at Yushan Kazuto.
Yushan Kazuto couldn't help scratching his head, turned around and walked towards the apartment.
……
Tuesday, Japan Shogi Association.
The sound of "knock knock" on the door attracted Moonlight Saint City's attention. Because he was blind, Moonlight Saint City was extremely sensitive to sounds.
Judging from the rhythm of the knocks, it seemed that this person was not someone who often came to the president's office. Moonlight Saint City spoke in a clear voice: "Please come in."
The door opened, Sora Ginko walked into the room, looked around, and did not see Oga Sasori.
"Is Miss Oga not here?" Kong Ginko asked.
"It's Yin Zi? What a rare visitor! Miss Oga was assigned by me to negotiate matters concerning the Dragon King Battle. She's not here for the time being. Do you have anything to do with her?"
"No, President Moonlight, I came here mainly because I have something to discuss with you." Kong Yinzi said.
It’s just that when he came here normally, Oga Sasori was usually there, but today he suddenly didn’t see him, so Sora Ginko couldn’t help but ask another question.
"If you have anything to say, please sit down first." Moonlight Saint City said.
Kong Yinzi's formal tone made him feel a little uneasy.
Kong Yinzi blinked slightly, closed the door, sat down, and then slowly said: "President Moonlight, can the start time of the first round of the Dragon King War be adjusted?"
Moonlight Holy City was stunned for a moment, then he understood that Kong Yin Zi must have come for Yushan and others.
"Adjusting the start time of the war, this..." Moonlight Holy City was a little hesitant, as there was no precedent for this matter.
"Why don't you tell me why you want to adjust the time, Yinzi?" said Moonlight Saint City.
"Kazuto needs to participate in the finals of the National High School Football League. The time of this finals coincides with the start of the Dragon King Tournament."
Moonlight Saint City felt a little strange. Although he hadn't watched football since he became blind, he had some knowledge of the National High School Football League before.
The National Competition and the Dragon King Competition actually conflicted with each other? Moonlight Holy City was somewhat surprised.
"When does the final start?" Moonlight Saint City asked worriedly.
"This Saturday, ten o'clock in the morning." Kong Yinzi said.
Moonlight Holy City couldn't help but smile bitterly. This was really a coincidence. Even the start times were exactly the same.
"The time of the Dragon King Tournament has already been announced to the media and sponsors, and shogi enthusiasts from all over the country are looking forward to this game. It's not that easy to change the time." Moonlight Saint City couldn't help but say.
Originally, the title challenge would not start for some time after the elimination round, but now it is the spring break, and in order to attract traffic from some young people, the Shogi League chose to start the competition directly after communicating with the sponsor.
The Shogi League's publicity for the Dragon King Tournament has already been overwhelming, and posters of Hayama Kazuto and Kuzuryuu Yaichi have been posted all over the Shogi halls.
The grand showdown of the century, the decisive battle and other high-profile events have already been prepared. Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.
All the spotlight is already on this game. If there is a sudden news of postponement or failure of the game, I am afraid that many parties will express dissatisfaction.
The newspaper headlines have been reserved, and the TV station has also reserved the broadcast time. Once the schedule is changed, all previous preparations will have to be started all over again.
The most important thing is that this may consume the enthusiasm of the audience. The chess fan group, which has already been gradually shrinking, may even lose the last bit of enthusiasm after experiencing such an incident.
"But He will not give up the national competition. He is the absolute leader of the team. Once he gives up, the national competition will definitely be lost." Kong Yinzi said.
About
Moonlight Saint City had heard a little about Yushan Kazuto's talent in football, but he never expected that he could lead the team to the finals of the national competition.
In shogi, Kazuto Yuyama has already achieved such a high level of accomplishment, but it is unexpected that his talent in football seems to be just as good, which is really sigh-worthy.
"Regarding this, I may need to communicate with the media and sponsors," said Moonlight Saint City.
"Just postpone the game to the afternoon, please, President Moonlight." Kong Yinzi said very seriously.
"When Miss Oga comes back, I will ask her to urgently convene a multi-party meeting." Moonlight Saint City was a little helpless.
Changing the game time is indeed not a suitable option, but it would be even more unacceptable if Yushan Kazuto missed the opening match of the Dragon King War.
In the final analysis, this year's Dragon King Battle has attracted particularly high attention, and the most important reason for this is Yushan Kazuto.
Whether it is his handsome appearance, young age, legendary undefeated record, or even his fame in football and other cross-fields, they all attract the attention of countless people.
In comparison, Kuzuryu Yaichi seemed to have become a foil, just a green leaf under the brilliance of Yushan Kazuto.
Chapter 1250: What on earth does that guy think of the Dragon King War?
If Yushan were to miss the first match between him and the Human Dragon King, it would affect more than just the popularity of the first match.
Perhaps in the short term, the news of Yushan and Ren's absence may even raise the popularity, but after the next few games, the attention will definitely drop sharply.
If something like this happened, it would be a heavy blow to the currently sluggish shogi market.
Moreover, such an incident is likely to arouse suspicion among many people, and conspiracy theories and theories of recommendation for admission to the imperial court may overwhelm the entire shogi community.
Last year, Kuzuryuu Yaichi advanced to the title challenge tournament with a score of 2 to 1, and finally won the title of Dragon King with a score of 4 to 3, which was condemned by countless people, who felt that the Shogi League was giving Kuzuryuu Yaichi a promotion.
Until recently, the issue of whether Kuzuryuu Yaichi would be guaranteed the title of Dragon King was still being discussed, and his 30% annual winning rate was still being criticized, and he was called "the trash Dragon King with a 30% winning rate."
If Yushan Kazuto misses the first match of the Dragon King Tournament this year, the rumors of his admission to the national team, which had just been barely quelled due to the passage of time, would probably resurface.
If Yushan Kazuto wins, such comments will probably be much friendlier.
After all, the strength of Hayama Kazuto is visible to shogi enthusiasts. In almost every game, he defeats his opponents with great ease.
Although the chess played by Yushan Kazuto is always difficult to understand, watching the analysis of the chess records afterwards can also make people feel that - so that's how it is.
The Shogi Federation released a support rate statistics on Twitter, and finally found that 83% of people supported Hayama Kazuto to win the title of Dragon King this time.
However, don't understand that Kuzuryu Yaichi has obtained 17% of the support rate. The remaining support rate is the support rate of all the chess players who entered the elimination round and Kuzuryu Yaichi combined.
Just talking about Kuzuryuuya alone, his support rate is less than one percent.
In other words, it is possible that only Yokoo Nishiki and some of his friends voted in support of Kuzuryu Yaichi.
Last year's admission controversy caused some turmoil in the entire Shogi League.
If it weren't for the emergence of Yushan Kazuto and the first female professional chess player in history, Sora Ginko, who attracted most of the traffic, I'm afraid that the number of times Kuzuryuu Yaichi would be whipped would have increased greatly.
Originally, Moonlight Holy City thought that this Dragon King Tournament might attract some young people to pay attention to shogi, but unexpectedly, Yushan Kazuto led Fengzhizaki to the finals of the national competition, which happened to conflict with the Dragon King Tournament.
The incident happened suddenly, but Moonlight Holy City was not particularly nervous. After all, he had been the president of the Shogi League for more than a year or two and had seen many storms.
After Kong Yinzi explained the matter to him, he quickly called together all parties for discussion.
……
In the afternoon, in the president's office of the Shogi Federation.
"I'm sorry, President Moonlight, did I hear you wrong? You said you wanted to postpone the opening of the Dragon King Tournament? Why do I not quite understand the meaning of your words?"
As soon as Moonlight Holy City finished speaking, the media representative spoke directly.
"You heard me right, Mr. Kakura. Due to some personal reasons, the chess player who is qualified to challenge for the title, Kazuto Yushan, 4th dan, hopes to change the first game of the Dragon King Tournament to this afternoon."
"Do I need to remind you of the rules of the Dragon King Tournament? The Dragon King Tournament is a two-day tournament, with each side having eight hours to play chess. If the opening time is postponed, can the game really be finished within two days?"
Representatives from the media found this somewhat unreasonable.
The total time that both sides of the Dragon King match play chess is sixteen hours, but chess players are not computers, and playing for seven or eight hours a day is already the limit.
If the opening is postponed to the afternoon, it is possible that the download will not be completed within two days.
"Mr. Jiacang, you should also know that Yushan is generally more efficient when playing chess with people at the fourth dan level. I don't think the game will be dragged on to the point where it cannot be finished on time." Moonlight Shengshi forced a smile.
“Having said that, we must also avoid the possibility of accidents,” the media representative insisted.
Moonlight Saint City looked a little embarrassed. He originally thought that he could win over the media representatives a little bit, so as to put some pressure on the sponsor's representatives. However, he did not expect that the other party seemed to be well prepared.
"President Moonlight, please explain why Yushan Kazuto 4th Dan cannot attend on time." The representative of the sponsor said.
"The reason is this..." Moonlight Holy City explained.
……
"It's ridiculous!" After hearing Moonlight Holy City's explanation, the media representative slammed the table.
"In his eyes, the Dragon King Tournament, one of the highest honors in shogi, is not as good as a high school ball game?"
"You can't say that, Mr. Jiacang." Before Moonlight Holy City could speak, the representative of the sponsor spoke.
"In recent years, the high school football league has received more and more attention. Although it is not a professional game, it has indeed attracted the attention of the whole of Japan, and the attention has even surpassed the high school baseball league at one point."
There is no doubt that baseball is the number one sport in Japan, but the influence of football is also huge. In the first few years of the J-League, it even surpassed baseball and was called the "baseball crisis."
It was only after the 1998 World Cup, when Japan suffered three consecutive defeats in the group stage, that football began to cool down in Japan. Even so, it still firmly occupies the position of the second sport.
With the current outstanding performance of Japanese football players, the popularity of football is gradually recovering, and it may even surpass baseball again in the future.
Although shogi is also very popular in Japan
It is very popular, but if you compare it with baseball or football, it pales in comparison.
Of course, the main reason why the sponsor representatives are willing to speak for the High School Football League is that in addition to sponsoring the Dragon King Tournament, they also sponsor the High School Football League.
"Whether it's the high school football league or the high school baseball league, it's just child's play," said a media representative dissatisfiedly.
The section that the other party is in charge of is mainly professional chess sports, so they naturally look down on these high school leagues, even though the high school leagues attract more attention than the Dragon King Tournament.
"Is that Kazuto Hayama, 4th dan, also known as Toyonosaki Teisei, the Japanese Ronaldo?" asked the representative of the sponsor.
Although he knew that a supernova named Kazuto Hayama had emerged from the national competition, the representative of the sponsor had no idea what Kazuto Hayama looked like.
"I'm not sure either, but Yushan Kazuto, 4th dan, is indeed studying at Fengzhizaki." said Gekko Seiichi.
The representative of the sponsor couldn't help but blink, it seems that the two people are the same person.
"It needs to be stated that if the game is not postponed, Yushan Heren 4th Dan may choose to give up the first game of the Dragon King Tournament." Moonlight Shengshi added.
"That guy, what on earth did he think of the Dragon King War!" The media representative was furious.
Chapter 1251: Doma Ohira's Invitation
“Regarding the postponement of the game, we may need to go back and discuss it with other sponsors.”
After some communication, the representative of the sponsor spoke up.
Moonlight Shengshi nodded slightly. He had not originally intended to completely reach an agreement in just one emergency meeting.
"What are we still discussing? This kind of thing must never be allowed to happen!" the media representative roared.
Listening to the other party's roar, Moonlight Holy City couldn't help but feel a headache.
Originally, he thought he could win over media representatives. After all, once the news that Yushan Kazuto was both a professional chess player and a talented football player was revealed, it would definitely become big news.
With the cooperation of the media, postponing the first game of the Dragon King War will go much more smoothly.
As long as it can be explained clearly that Kazuto Hayama applied to postpone the Ryuo Tournament because he was going to participate in the national competition finals, it will be a win-win situation for Kazuto Hayama, the Shogi Federation, the media and even the sponsors.
Unexpectedly, the media representatives refused to cooperate at all and insisted on having their own way, which made people suspect that they came with a mission.
On the contrary, the representatives of the sponsors seemed to approve of this matter, which gave people a feeling of losing something in one place but gaining something in another.
For a moment, Moonlight Holy City didn't know whether he should be happy or sad.
However, the matter between Yushan and others must continue to be communicated. If it is handled well, it can not only appease the emotions of shogi fans, but also perhaps get some traffic from the national competition. If it is not handled well, the Shogi League will become a joke again.
……
Moonlight Shengshi was pondering in the chess academy about how to deal with the matter of Yushan Kazuto. However, Yushan Kazuto himself seemed to be fine and continued to train step by step, as if he felt out of the matter.
For Yushan Kazuto, there is no way he would give up the national competition, and the first match of the Dragon King Tournament is dispensable to him. Yushan Kazuto knows clearly what is more important.
During the past few days of training, Feng Zhiqi has been cramming modern football concepts. The theory of zone defense has been deeply rooted in people's minds, but there is still some distance to go before he can truly coordinate zone defense with man-marking tactics.
However, even so, Toyonosaki has made considerable improvements. This is an improvement in Toyonosaki's overall football philosophy, and the improvement for the players is enormous.
National competitions used to be quite barbaric, with everyone playing on their own and a lot of randomness, which led to some strange tactics that often appeared.
However, in recent years, strong teams have updated their concepts and adapted to modern football.
Although it is still difficult to meet the requirements of modern football, it is generally recognized that national competitions have become more modernized as a whole.
This is also the reason why new and powerful families have emerged in large numbers in recent years.
Whoever accepts the concept of modern football first will be able to improve. Even a school like Muroran Otani, where the players' abilities are not outstanding, can make it to the semi-finals.
Everyone knows that modern football is more holistic and can greatly improve the team, but in reality, there are not many teams that truly put it into practice.
