Artist's commentary
Shall we call it a draw?
Sora (9-dan), who holds the title of Lifetime Meijin, came to the children's shogi class as a special instructor.
There, she was playing a training match with handicaps against an elementary school girl with rabbit ears.
However, in the middle of the game, it was time for Tokino Sora (9-dan) to leave, so they had to stop the game midway through.
So Tokino Sora (9-dan) made this suggestion to the rabbit-eared girl.
"Shall call it a draw?"
She said that because she had been holding the initiative on the board for the whole match, so she wanted to at least give that girl a ray of hope.
Then, the girl flared up crying, grabbed her piece stand and wouldn't let go.
Two things made her do this: because her pride was hurt when she was offered a draw even though she was clearly going to lose, and because she wanted to play her shogi match with a Lifetime Meijin to the end.