119 Twin-Tailed Loli
Shirou, who was sitting at the long table, was secretly observing the people from the other school.
The principal was a kind, benevolent-looking old man.
The dean, in his fifties, usually maintained a stern and dignified image, but at this moment, he was smiling very amiably.
The two male teachers, who were acting as translators and looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties, also had friendly smiles on their faces.
Opposite them were 8 students, while Shirou's side had 9. Additionally, a group of students from the Xunyang school were peeking in from outside, suggesting more spectators would arrive later.
The students sitting opposite them were all wearing blue and white tracksuits with the school emblem and looked full of energy. The only thing that caught his attention was a particularly small girl among them.
"Is she a teacher's child?" Shirou wondered to himself.
But this little girl was sitting right in the middle of the opposite row.
With the help of the teachers' translation, the students from both schools introduced themselves.
The little girl stood up and said, "Hello, I am Zhou Meimei, the student council president of Xunyang Middle School's branch campus. I'm in charge of Go and table tennis for this exchange event. Please guide me well."
Shirou looked at the petite girl opposite him in surprise. So she was the ace of this competition?
She was tiny and exquisite, with a pair of pretty, peach blossom-like eyes. Her innocent and adorable demeanor revealed a sense of youthful wit and intelligence.
She had a standard loli figure, and two long, wavy twin tails were tied on each side of her head, cascading down to her calves. Both her appearance and her air of arrogance made her seem like a little princess.
The girl claimed to be a middle school student from this branch campus, but her build looked like she was only in the third or fourth grade of elementary school. His own height was steadily increasing; the last time he measured, he was over 1.75 meters, which wasn't considered very tall.
Even though his body, from years of exercise, was close to the golden ratio and his legs were a bit longer than average, this little girl's head only reached his waist. No matter how he looked at it, she seemed like a child, right?
The conversations of the others proved he wasn't the only one with this suspicion.
"Eh, that kid said she's a middle school student."
"She's so tiny, and her long, fluffy hair makes her look like a little princess. So cute."
The girls from the Chiba school complimented her.
"Hey, I understood you!" The little girl pouted unhappily.
"Okay, Princess, don't be angry, don't be angry. This is an exchange meeting," a high school girl next to her whispered, comforting the girl.
"Haha, that little kid said she's for table tennis and Go."
"We've got this, Ochi-kun."
"You too, Hoshino-kun."
The two boys from the Go and table tennis groups shook hands and laughed.
"Hmph, I'll use my skills to make you all surrender right away. How dare you look down on me as a child." The little girl glared at the few people opposite her who were underestimating her, memorizing their faces.
Shirou felt like he was being glared at as well. After a moment of hesitation, he offered a piece of chocolate to her and asked, "Want some candy?"
The little girl named Zhou Meimei looked at the boy and accepted, "I want some!"
Although maintaining the image of a majestic and powerful student council president was important, sweet treats could not be let go of.
With that, the little girl took off her shoes, stepped onto the chair, and leaned forward to take the candy from Shirou's hand. She unwrapped it, popped it into her mouth, and with her cheek puffed out, she gave a sweet smile.
Both the students and teachers from the Chiba and Xunyang schools smiled as if they had been charmed by a cute little animal.
However, the two girls next to the little girl looked at the boy warily, wondering, "Who exactly is this guy? Did he figure out our school's little princess's weakness with just one glance? Is this guy trying to bribe the Princess?"
At that moment, a student from the other side reported to a teacher, and the teacher stood up and said to Shirou's group:
"Next, I will lead everyone on a tour of our school. Afterwards, there will be a talent show in the auditorium, so please look forward to it."
And so, a teacher led the students and staff from the Chiba branch campus outside, while some of the Xunyang students stayed behind to prepare.
They left the main auditorium and entered the Xunyang branch campus.
The scale of the academic buildings here was twice as large as Chiba's, and the campus area was more than double the size, with landscaped gardens, rockeries, and three wooden bridges spanning an artificial lake. Walking through the campus felt like strolling through a scenic park.
"Shirou~! Wait for me." The little girl who had received the chocolate ran up to him.
"Huh? Are you calling me?" Shirou was a little surprised to hear such a pronunciation coming from her mouth.
"I studied for a week, and I'm fine with basic conversation now," Zhou Meimei said in Japanese, her eyes sparkling with intelligence.
"You're so amazing," Shirou said, looking at the girl and knowing she wasn't lying.
He was amazed. He had his previous life's experience and had to use his Mystic eye to analyze lip-reading to finally master the language. He didn't expect this little girl to be able to have a conversation on her own in just one week.
"I'm a genius! If I set my mind to learning something, there's basically nothing that can stump me. I often come to the high school, so if you have any questions, you should ask me," Zhou Meimei said, patting her chest.
"Thanks. Want some candy?" Shirou took out another piece of chocolate.
"Yes, I do!" With the candy in her mouth, Zhou Meimei raised a small hand and warned the boy, "Shirou, it's not because you gave me candy that I came to find you! I'm here because my dad asked me to. He said you're a relative of a business partner, so I'm supposed to take care of you."
"Ah, so you're the daughter of Mr. Zhou, the CEO of that internet company," Shirou said, realizing.
"Well, I guess I have no choice. A normal person would have figured that out," Zhou Meimei said, rolling her eyes at Shirou. Her smiling eyes were like blossoming peach blossoms. Although she looked much younger than Komachi, she showed a hint of charm.
At that moment, two girls came running over, one with a single ponytail on the left side of her head and the other with one on the right, both looking like loyal dogs.
"Princess! Don't just run off! You have a performance later!"
"Princess! Where did you run off to? Take me with you! And who is this?"
"Wan'er, Lingyue, this is Shirou-kun from Chiba," Zhou Meimei said to her two classmates.
"C. Ronaldo-kun?"
"I'm not that Portuguese guy.
Hello. If it's hard to say, just call me Shirou in Mandarin. I can understand," the boy said, wiping the sweat from his brow, unable to hold back his complaints.
"That's okay, Shirou-kun! Please don't try to get close to the princess.
Don't let the princess's tiny and modest figure fool you; she's already a graduating middle schooler and will be a high school student soon. In the blink of an eye, she'll inherit the family business, and I'll become a CEO and make a name for myself!" The girl on the left, named Wan'er, said in a domineering tone.
"I didn't ask about you... But if she's a middle schooler, isn't she in the same grade as Komachi?" Shirou asked in surprise, looking at the little girl, Zhou Meimei, whose head only reached his waist. "Did you skip a grade? You really are a genius."
He had heard that many foreign youths were prodigious, studying for doctorates at 14 and becoming theoretical physicists to research string theory or the real-world feasibility of superhero powers, like how to keep Superman from cutting his girlfriend into three pieces when he catches her falling from a high-rise.
This girl, who was so good at memory and language learning, was probably one of those kinds of geniuses.
Zhou Meimei waved her hands, looking very displeased. "That's not right! I'm 15! I'll be an adult in three more years!"
"Exactly! Loli-loving student! Please don't fantasize about the princess's loli body! The princess is a rare female powerhouse in this world! Nothing is too difficult for her—academics, arts, or sports. One or two pretty boys will definitely not be enough for her! So abandon your shallow thoughts," the girl on the left, named Lingyue, said with a look of adoration as she talked about the little girl, pointing at Shirou.
Zhou Meimei angrily yelled, "Who's a loli?! I'll grow up soon!"
"No, you've really misunderstood," Shirou explained.
"No need to explain! Nothing you say will work! The princess is the legitimate daughter of the CEO of a famous internet company in all of China! And she's a once-in-a-thousand-year genius. With her emerging, it's not impossible for her to become the world's richest person!"
"Right! You and the princess are impossible! If you want an international romance, even though I'm taller than the princess, please just tolerate me!"
"Hey! You two, that's enough! I'm getting angry! Shirou is just an acquaintance of my dad's business partner, so I'm just saying hello to him!" The little girl was so angry that her long twin tails seemed to float.
"Oh... so that's how it is," the two girls looked at each other and said, enlightened.
"Apologize properly to our guest!" Zhou Meimei ordered.
"We're sorry!!!" The two girls obediently apologized.
"It's fine, it's fine," Shirou said, waving his hands. He was too stunned to be angry. It seemed like it wasn't even his place to be angry.
"Shirou, I apologize on behalf of both of them. Please forgive their rudeness," Zhou Meimei said.
"We will follow the princess for our entire lives! The princess is rich and smart; following her will save us at least ten years of struggle."
"Right, we're the princess's little sisters! The princess is a genius; following her is definitely the right choice. Plus, I can take any men the princess is done with. NTR provides double the pleasure, heh heh heh."
"You should get rid of these two and find some more reliable subordinates," Shirou said to Zhou Meimei.
"I'll think about it," Zhou Meimei nodded.
"How could you say that?! Princess, you can't forget your best friends just because you have a guy!" the two girls cried out in alarm.
"Shirou, you seem very reliable. How about you just stay with me? I guarantee that in ten years, 99.9% of the business world will know your name and envy your position." Zhou Meimei said with a peach blossom-like smile. Her childish face unexpectedly revealed a hint of authority and dominance.
"Thank you for your high regard, but I have my own ideals. So, Meimei-san, let's just be friends. You still have to prepare for your performance, right? I'll be going now," Shirou said with a light smile, waving his hand as he caught up with the tour group ahead.
"Hmph... hahaha, I'm even more interested now! Even a fiery horse like this 'deceiving lion' needs to be tamed in three steps: a whip, a hammer, and a dagger." The little girl's intelligent eyes twinkled as she smiled sweetly at the boy's retreating back. Then, she turned to the two slightly scared girls and said, "Of course, I won't really use a dagger! Let's go!"
"Okay! Princess, you were so cool when you mentioned the whip!"
"Princess, I've already picked up your costume. We can go straight to the dressing room to change now."
"Mmm, thank you for your hard work, Wan'er!" Zhou Meimei turned and walked back toward the auditorium, with the two girls eagerly following behind.
.
.
.
After touring the school with the group, Shirou returned to the auditorium. By this time, the stage had been redecorated. A red curtain hung on the high platform, and spotlights were on.
Below the platform, rows of chairs were set up, and the Xunyang school's principal, the dean, and other teachers and students were already seated.
"Please have a seat, everyone. Next, our school will present a talent show to welcome you, our guests who have come a long way," the teacher said with a smile.
"Thank you." Once everyone from the Chiba school was seated, the performance officially began.
The lights flashed, the curtain was drawn, and on the stage appeared three girls in traditional Chinese-style dresses.
Zhou Meimei, the petite and adorable girl, had her beautiful long, curly twin tails tied into a bun, fastened at the back of her head with a blue ribbon decorated with small pink flowers. She was wearing a delicate dress and sitting on the chair at the very front, holding an oval-shaped traditional instrument, the pipa.
Behind her were her two followers, one with a guqin in front of her, and the other holding a xiao.
The girl leaned into the microphone and said softly:
"I will be performing a piece related to the Tang Dynasty. In the tenth year of the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong, which is the year 815 AD, the "Poet King" Bai Juyi was demoted and exiled to this very place to serve as the Sima of Jiujiang Prefecture. One night, while seeing a guest off on a boat, he heard the sound of a pipa at the dock—a melody he could only hear in the capital.
After inquiring, he found out that the pipa player was a former courtesan from Chang'an who had since married a merchant. She had just played a few tunes to entertain a guest, but she was sullen afterwards. She was reminiscing about her youth as a once-popular courtesan in Chang'an, now drifting alone on the rivers and lakes.
Bai Juyi had not enjoyed such a fine pipa tune in a long time. Hearing the courtesan's story, he finally realized that he had been demoted and exiled from the imperial court for over two years. Bai Juyi, who had always lived by the philosophy of accepting his fate, also recalled his own youth, when he had been successful in officialdom, only to now be ostracized and demoted by powerful court officials.
With a heart full of emotion, he wrote this poem, 'Song of the Pipa,' and dedicated it to the courtesan."
The girl spoke in a light voice, as sweet as a nightingale, and began to recite in a tone completely different from modern speech. Her voice was full of rhythm, her breath was
steady, and every syllable and rhyme was articulated clearly, as she sang the emotions expressed in this Yuefu poem.
Suddenly I heard the sound of a pipa on the water; the host forgot to return and the guest did not depart.
Seeking the sound, I quietly asked who played; the pipa's sound ceased, and she was slow to speak.
After a thousand calls and ten thousand summonses, she finally came out, still holding the pipa, half-hiding her face.
She turned the tuning pegs and plucked the strings a few times; a tune had not yet formed, but a feeling was already there.
The girl held her pipa and plucked the strings with ease, a stroke, a pluck, a touch, a sweep, all perfectly executed.
The other two girls' instruments, the guzheng and xiao, began to play, making her nightingale-like voice even more moving and hauntingly beautiful.
The pipa's sound was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and at times, it seemed to be weeping. It was like the sound of a silver vase shattering, with water splashing, and also like the clanging of swords and spears clashing on a battlefield.
The silver vase shatters, and water spurts; the iron cavalry charges, and swords and spears clang.
At the end of the song, she draws a line with her plectrum in the center of the strings; all four strings sing together like tearing silk.
The boats on the east and west were silent, only the autumn moon shone white on the river.
We are both wanderers at the ends of the earth; why must we have known each other to meet!
Last year I left the imperial capital, exiled and sick in the city of Xunyang.
This place is remote and has no music; all year long, I never hear the sounds of silk and bamboo.
After the song was finished, the hauntingly beautiful ancient melody seemed to linger in the spacious auditorium, only fading away after a long time.
Both the students and teachers of Xunyang and Chiba schools applauded in unison, offering their blessings and thanks to the girls who had brought them such a wonderful performance.
"That was amazing..." Shirou didn't get to finish his words as he was drowned out by a girl's excited voice.
"That was amazing! Shirou! Did you hear that?! That was amazing! That little girl is incredible! I felt like I was really in the Tang Dynasty, listening to that piece with Bai Juyi!"
At this moment, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked like a fan girl seeing her idol. She slightly bounced up and down, pulling on the boy's clothes, completely oblivious that she was rubbing against his shoulder.
"Senpai, calm down," Shirou said, trying to quiet her.
"Ah... sorry. I didn't expect to hear such a wonderful poem here," Kasumigaoka Utaha's face turned slightly red, and she finally calmed down.
"Can you understand it, Senpai?" Shirou asked in surprise.
This kind of traditional song was indeed beautiful, and the poem was lovely, but he hadn't felt as deeply moved as the girl with the hairband. Her excitement must mean she understood it much better than he did.
Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled and shook her head, her eyes still sparkling with emotion. "I can't fully understand it, but I know the meaning and I feel the sentiment behind it."
You don't fully understand it, and you're this excited? Just how much do you like Bai Juyi?
So, this is what she meant by studying Bai Juyi on the plane... Shirou now had a better understanding of this difficult senpai's true personality. She was just as troublesome as Eriri, no wonder they got along so well.
But... if that was the case, he had even more reason to find Merlin and talk to him. If she couldn't show her true self, she wasn't as strong as she appeared.
After the Xunyang branch campus performed two more acts, today's exchange event concluded.
Next, the Chiba branch campus and the Xunyang branch campus would be participating in six exchange activities, divided into three "talents" and three "contests."
The three "talents" involved performing arts, with Chiba's including flower arrangement, poetry, and Shirou's archery, all falling under cultural exchange.
The three "contests" were competitions in Go, table tennis, and badminton. After all, this was a friendly exchange between schools, not a challenge. They wouldn't be playing soccer here. Well, women's soccer would be a different story, but that didn't seem to be the plan this time.
The next day, the competitions began, starting with a fast-paced Go match.
Based on Chinese rules, black plays first, with a komi of 3 and 3/4 stones, which is 7.5 points. Each move must be made within 30 seconds. At the end of the game, the points of one side's territory are counted. After black's komi is deducted, the total is compared to the half-board score of 180.5. If black's score is more, they win; if it's less, they lose.
This meant the player with the black stones had to have 185 stones to win the game.
Chiba's representative was Ochi-kun, a second-year high school student with the strength of a Go academy student.
The students from Chiba smiled and said to him:
"It's up to you, Ochi-kun!"
"Good luck, Ochi-kun."
"Don't make the little girl cry."
"I never show mercy to any opponent," the boy with the brown, bowl-cut hair said, wiping his glasses with a handkerchief. He looked on coolly and expressionlessly.
Japan was the first country to professionalize Go, and the first to hold official Go competitions, including title matches and friendly matches.
Japan had its most glorious era, the "Six Superstars Era," where six top-tier players led the world as the center of Go. Domestic matches were even more exciting than international ones.
That was the memory of a generation, a generation that admired Go masters who sought victory through various fierce battles, psychological games, and board battles, pursuing the legendary "Divine Move!"
There was Wu Qingyuan's student, the "Evergreen" Rin Kaiho; the aesthetic player Ohtake Hideo; the half-point killer Kato Masao; the free-spirited "Cosmic Style" Takemiya Masaki; the precise and pragmatic Kobayashi Koichi; and the holder of all seven titles, Cho Chikun.
The girl with the long twin tails played with an air of indifference. Her opening moves were '3-3, Hoshi, Tengen' (the center point).
Ochi looked on in shock.
However... that era had begun to decline 30 years ago. In the current world rankings, Park and Ke are competing for first place. Among the top ten, six are from China and three are from South Korea, with only one from Japan. Among the top 30, 18 are from China and 11 are from South Korea, and still only one is from Japan.
"I lose!" The boy from Chiba International High School, Ochi, lowered his head deeply and reluctantly clenched his fists on his legs.
"Don't worry about it. My master is a top-three player in our country, and fast-paced Go is my specialty. It's only natural for you to lose to me," the long, curly-haired twin-tailed girl, Zhou Meimei, said in a gentle voice to console the boy.
Go is an ancient and artistic two-player competitive game, and it has to have a winner and a loser.
In Japan, besides the academy students, there are many different schools of thought.
While pursuing victory, Japan also wants to treat Go as an art, seeking the most perfect move, the "Divine Move." They pursue the "Honkaku-ha" (orthodox) style, emphasizing large patterns, intuition, brilliant moves, and the overall board, focusing on making Go beautiful. But they often neglect the basics, such as yose and calculation.
When a Go player reaches middle age and feels they have hit a certain bottleneck and can no longer challenge for ranks or titles, they will stop and take in talented children as disciples, nurturing them personally.
Some even live with their teacher as an "uchi deshi" (live-in disciple), not leaving until they have finished their apprenticeship. While this method allows for direct, one-on-one teaching, the teacher also has to compete in their own matches while teaching, so it's not very efficient.
As the country's power has continued to wane over the years, along with a declining birthrate and a lack of belief, after the older generation of players could no longer compete, the new generation of players couldn't keep up with international competition, and for a time, there was a lack of successors.
Fewer and fewer young people were interested in Go; not even the Hikaru no Go anime could save it.
Meanwhile, international competition became more and more intense.
According to the modern rule of two strong competitors, bystanders get weaker. It was like how the sales of Heqizheng mysteriously dropped a lot when Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji split up and fought.
In contrast, China and South Korea conduct daily, semi-militarized training camps.
From time to time, top-tier national players and former national players who have participated in the world's highest-level competitions will come to teach.
They also have specialized classes, with dedicated teachers for life-and-death problems and others for teaching joseki and fuseki.
It's not considered early to start at four or five years old, normal to start at six or seven, and late at ten. They constantly review game records, practice fundamentals, and play against peers of the same skill level, and at night, they play online against players from all over the world.
In China, there's a saying that if you don't become a national player by age 20, you have no hope. Of course, there are also many examples of people entering the national team in their late twenties.
This saying mainly means that after more than ten years of hard training, if you haven't achieved anything by age 20, it can only be said that you truly lack talent.
Also, as people get older, they face more responsibilities, and their minds become more scattered. It becomes difficult to maintain a pure heart, and improving their Go skills becomes harder.
In modern times, players have started to compete with strength and calculation, so young masters are constantly emerging and being eliminated.
And now, AlphaGo has come onto the scene and given humanity a slap in the face, diminishing the aura of Go as a competitive sport. At the same time, it has provided convenience for people to learn Go in the future. AlphaGo's moves are not beautiful, but they are effective.
So, where is the future of Go?
Is it like international Go, where players analyze their opponents with computers before the match, use the restroom to check their phones for opponent's weaknesses during the match, and ultimately win with the help of computer calculations? Will it become a more professional and more calculating competitive board game?
Or will it be an exquisite and beautiful art of Go, with a fighting spirit, that artificial intelligence cannot understand?
It remains to be seen.
After the victory, the very poised and confident little princess Zhou Meimei said, "Do you want to review the game?"
"No, there's no need... Thank you for your guidance. I'll be taking my leave now," the boy said, making a quick and embarrassed exit.
"Hey, Ochi, where are you going?" Hiratsuka Shizuka asked with some concern.
"I'm going to the restroom..." Ochi said, taking off his glasses and covering his face with his arm.
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