Kaiya POV

Deciding to take a day tour of Beika City, I drove around in my motorcycle, hoping to explore the area more. A crowd gathered in the park I was passing by, which piqued my interest. After parking my motorcycle, I headed inside.

"Excuse me miss, but is something happening here?" I asked the person in one of the booths.

"The park is hosting a shoji tournament today, and it's free for anyone to participate." she replied. "All you have to do is to sign your name on the waiting list." she handed me a clipboard and pen. I signed my name on one of the lines and returned the items to her.

I watched in awe as the players moved the pieces on the board, engaged in the mental sport. I could feel the gears turning the players' minds, calculating their next move. Having lived in America my whole life, I was more familiar with chess, but shoji would be fun to learn. I took one of the manuals the volunteers were handing out and read through the rules of the game.

Players take turns to move a piece that belongs to them. Each piece is moved according to different rules but no two pieces can occupy the same square. If a piece moves so that its final position is a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is "captured" or "taken" and is removed from the board. Captured pieces should be placed face up within easy view of both players. It is not compulsory to capture.

King - moves one space in any direction diagonally or orthogonally EXCEPT that the King cannot move onto a square that is attacked by an opposing piece.

Gold General - moves one space in one of 6 directions - forwards, diagonally forwards, sideways or backwards.

Silver General - moves one space in one of 5 directions - forwards, diagonally forwards or diagonally backwards.

Knight - moves two squares forwards and then one square sideways. Only two squares are available to the Knight but, in compensation, it is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

Lance - moves any number of spaces forwards.

Rook - moves any number of spaces orthogonally but cannot jump over another piece.

Bishop - moves any number of spaces diagonally but cannot jump over another piece.

Pawn - moves one square forwards only.

Promotion

If a piece other than the Gold General or King makes a move that ends within the promotion zone (the last three rows), then the player can choose to promote that piece. The piece is turned over to reveal the symbol of the promoted piece. If a Pawn or Lance reaches the final row or the Knight reaches the penultimate row, then that piece MUST be promoted. A promoted piece moves as follows:

Pawn, Lance, Knight & Silver General - when promoted move exactly like a Gold General.

Promoted Rook (called a Dragon King) - moves like a Rook but acquires the power to move a single square diagonally.

Promoted Bishop (called a Dragon Horse) - move like a Bishop but acquires the power to move a single square orthogonally.

Drops

The fascinating facet of the game that makes Shogi a superior Chess variety in many people's minds, is the fact that captured pieces are allowed to re-enter the game. Aside from maintaining the complexity of the game, it also means that there is no concept of Stalemate or agreed draws in Shogi. A player with one or more captured pieces can opt to drop a captured piece onto the board instead of moving at any point in the game. The dropped piece can be re-entered onto any vacant square with the following restrictions:

Pieces drop in the un-promoted state although they can be promoted in subsequent moves according to the usual rules.

A piece cannot be dropped on a square from which it would never have a legal move (i.e. a Pawn on the last row or a Knight on either of the last two rows).

Knight on either of the last two rows).

A player cannot drop a Pawn onto a file (column) where there is already an un-promoted Pawn that belongs to the same player.

A Pawn cannot be dropped in front of a King in such a way that it would cause the King to become checkmated.

Finishing

Checkmate

When a piece is moved such that a player's King cannot avoid being captured upon the next turn, that player's King is said to be checkmated and the game is over.

Resignation

Once it is believed that the opposing player will inevitably win, a player will normally resign to save time.

I read the manual again, turning it in different directions, trying to make sense of the rules.

"Don't be afraid to try Shoji." a voice said from beside me. I turned to see a young man with round glasses and dark bed hair, sporting a messy jersey. The brim of his flat cap was slightly pulled down, hiding his identity.

"There's so many rules to remember in Shoji though." I pouted slightly and motioned to the manual.

"Indeed there is." the man agreed. "But as in any other game, it comes easier with practice. Why don't we try a practice game?" he suggested, and we walked to an empty table.

"Do you play Shoji often?" I asked as he set up the Shoji board.

"You could say that." he replied.

***********

We played for a while, the man providing me with some tips along the way. I flipped through the manual a lot while we played, but ultimately the best way to learn a game is to play it.

"Checkmate." the man moved his Knight.

"That move was brilliant!" I praised. "How did you know I would move my piece there?" I asked in disbelief. Throughout this whole time he was able to predict my next moves with ease. "Are you secretly a pro?" I joked.

"Somewhat... but you're still pretty good for a first time player." he replied.

He's just being polite... I'm pretty sure I'm so bad at Shoji....

"You must have participated in many competitions before then?" I guessed.

"Well, you're not wrong." the man laughed lightly.

A sudden gust of wind blew his hat away, revealing his face. I gasped in surprise. He's Shukichi Haneda?

"It's Shukichi Haneda!" nearby passerbys gushed.

"Woah, I can't believe he's here at the park!" one woman squealed in delight.

"Please give us your autograph!" a few people thrust notebooks and pens towards him.

Shukichi became embarrassed by the sudden attention.

"This way!" I pulled him out of the park and behind an alley. We tried to evade his fans who were busy snapping pictures of him.

*******

"We managed to lose them." I sighed in relief. "So what was the great Shukichi Haneda doing at the park earlier?"

"Well... my girlfriend... uhh... Yumi-tan likes to take walks in parks and I thought I would try to scout out some nice locations." he blushed slightly. "But I ended up getting distracted by the Shoji tournament the park happened to host today." he explained sheepishly.

"Oh! Yumi-san? I've met her before when she was on one of her police patrols." I told Shukichi. "I didn't know she enjoyed being out in nature that much though!" I said. He nodded happily at the mention of Yumi. Aww how sweet.

"But now I'm pretty sure we're lost somewhere." I looked around the unfamilar streets.

"That's no problem at all. I've memorized the layout of the city already... I'm skillful at memorizing things... probably the best in Japan." Shukichi boasted slightly.

"Well then, let's try to get back to the main road." I suggested.

"Sorry you got dragged into all of this." he apologized.

"Well I guess it's 50-50." I shrugged. "I did pull you into a random alleyway with no clue where I was headed."

**********

Shukichi POV

50-50? Where did she hear that from? The only one who says that is my brother... but he's dead... or is he? I glanced at the teenage girl in front of me.

"Now that we've got that sorted out... I don't believe you've told me your name." I asked her.

She grinned, her green eyes staring back at me. "I'll tell you who I am... on one condition."

"What is it?" I asked. I wasn't a stranger to random requests as Yumi did that very often.

"Umm... could you have your autograph please?" she asked sheepishly and handed me a notebook and pen.

Hah? An autograph? So she is a fangirl? At any rate, I signed the notebook from her and handed it back.

"Wow, an autograph from the Taiko Meijin!" her face lit up in excitement. "I'm Kaiya Matsuki by the way." she shook my hand. I'm not a Meijin yet... but anything for my fans I suppose... *sigh* that's one of the things celebrities have to deal with.

A phone rang all of the sudden, and Kaiya pulled out her phone... no two phones from her jacket's pocket. She inspected both phones, and kept the small black phone in her hand, placing the other phone in her pocket again. Why does she need two phones?

"Oh I went on my motorcycle, but it would be great if you could pick me up. Okay I'm on my way." she responded to whoever was on the other side of the phone. "Shukichi-san, I've got to get going home, but it was nice meeting you! Thanks for the autograph!" she waved goodbye.

"Wait hold on, do you even know the way back?" I stopped her.

"Uhhh... nope." she thought for a minute before shaking her head, causing me to chuckle. "How do I get to the parking lot from here?" she asked.

"Take a right when you exit the alley, and continue straight ahead for two blocks. Then make a left and you should be there." I instructed.

"Alright, thank you!" she shouted and sprinted off in the direction of the park's parking lot.

************

Kaiya POV

I skipped towards the parking lot lightly, happy that I got an autograph from Shukichi Haneda. A brilliant idea came to my mind to get everyone's autographs from the Detective Conan world, although that might take some time. Despite the feeling that someone was following me, I was still in a good mood. I glanced around quickly to see that Shukichi was following me. Does he suspect me somehow?

Not a moment too soon, I found myself in another unfamiliar alley.

"You got lost again?" Shukichi said from behind me.

"I'm not very good at remembering directions." I admitted.

"We should get on the main street soon, as some areas around here aren't the safest." Shukichi suggested.

"Wait... I took a right turn... oh no! You're right! We've accidentally wandered into the east district!" I realized.

********

We heard a shuffling of footsteps behind us to see a group of heavily tatooed men approach us.

"Well well what have we here?" the man, who I assumed was the boss, banged his fists together.

"Uhh we were just about to leave." I laughed nervously as Shukichi and I backed away towards the entrance, only to find a group of men blocking our path.

"Not so fast. We demand payment for trespassing into our property." the boss sneered.

I shook my head. It wasn't their property anyways...

"This is a lovely situation we are in." Shukichi muttered.

"Come on! Can't we negotiate about this?" I asked as the boss grew angry at my refusal and came towards us. Panic began to rise in me, but I remembered Shuichi's words when he taught me self-defense... stay calm and try to keep some distance from your attacker. "Take this!" I shouted as the boss swung at me. I trapped his wrist before kneeing the boss harshly in the groin as the man attempted to grab me, and threw a cross punch to his face. It wasn't enough to incapacitate the boss, but it bought us time to escape. I made a mental note to thank Shuichi later for teaching me self-defense.

"Run!" Shukichi ordered and we fled, the gang hot on our tails.

***********

Eventually the men surrounded us and I struggled as I felt myself being grabbed from behind.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" the boss sneered. "You'll pay for what you did to me earlier." he brandished his knife.

"Kaiya!" Shukichi shouted in concern.

I dropped my weight on the ground, stomping on my captor's foot, causing him to grunt in pain. In the moment of distraction I placed my right foot behind my captor, stepped behind him, and barely managed to throw him on the ground. Then I paled when I saw the boss approaching. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the worst, but I slowly opened my eyes when nothing happened.

"Subaru-san!" I sighed in relief. He had the boss in a headlock.

"Leave now with your men." he threatened the boss, who reluctantly agreed. The men were gone within moments.

"Are you both alright?" Subaru asked.

I nodded. "But how did you know to come here?"

"Something didn't seem right when you took a long time to leave the park, so I decided to come pick you up." he replied.

Oh thank goodness that he was so observant and came to rescue us in time.

*********

Shukichi POV

Kaiya and that mysterious Subaru person both used Jeet Kune Do moves... but that man especially fought just like my brother! He somewhat resembles him too. There's no other explanation... he really must be Shuichi!

"Just wait a moment!" I ran up to them. "Could you be..." I looked at Subaru, my unfinished question hanging on the tip of my tongue.

Subaru sighed and motioned for me to follow him inside his car.

*********

Kaiya POV

(inside the Kudo Residence)

"With a sharp mind as yours, it would be difficult to further keep it a secret." Subaru said to Shukichi and removed his mask.

"Niisan, I can't believe you're alive!" Shukichi whisper-shouted. "They said you were dead..."

"It's the nature of my work...my identity got compromised, and I needed to fake my death." Shuichi explained. "But it's good to see you again, Shukichi."

I left them to catch up with each other as I made more disguises for Shuichi.

*********

"Have you told anyone else in our family about this yet?" Shukichi asked.

Shuichi shook his head. "No, only you have discovered my identity so far. I'd rather not place anyone else in danger..."

"I haven't heard from Mum, although I do keep in contact with Masumi." Shukichi said.

"Remember, you must not tell anyone about my real identity." Shuichi reminded Shukichi.

"Of course I know that, Niisan. I'm not a kid anymore." Shukichi responded. "Although it's been far too long since we've last seen each other. The last time was when we visited the beach together..."

"Here's a secure phone that you may use to contact me in the case of an emergency." Shuichi handed a small black phone to Shukichi.

Their conservation eventually led to a discussion of the shoji games that Shukichi had played throughout the years, and I heard the Haneda family being mentioned a few times.

I watched their interaction with a smile, glad that the brothers got a reunion. Oftentimes I felt sad that the Akai family was scattered... they deserved to be happier.

*********

Masumi POV

"Moving on the next segment of news, the shoji player Shukichi Haneda was spotted at the park playing shoji today..." the news anchor said as I came out of the restroom, drying my hair.

"Was that Shukichi?" I asked, and mama nodded with a slight smile. I miss my brothers as well...

Then I paused the TV when I saw Kaiya there. Did she go to the park as well?