Loser

The wooden shogi board was a nine by nine grid, and the pieces were carved with kanji characters denoting their rank. John took a sip of his ale, then leaned in to study the board, his weathered gloves on the verge of his picking his next move. His opponent was Kazi. Everybody watched with rapt interest.

Who was winning? Paul certainly didn't know. Their pieces clicked and clicked onto the board. Each move cemented just how little Paul understood the game. Sun-young and John had explained it to him and William, but only Kazi understood the gist the rules.

William leaned over to whisper to him, "Any idea what's going on?"

'Something, something, lances, gold generals, and silver generals. Hell if I know.'

Paul just shrugged and William pursed his lips.

Click-clack! John took one of Kazi's pieces.

Unaffected by the move, Kazi said, "Guess who I saw on the way?"

It wasn't John who replied but William. "Who?"