Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 10 - Chapter 4.1

  WATCHING AND LEARNING

“Everyone, are you listening? Do not, I repeat, do not say a word inside the arena. Also, walk as quietly as possible, is that understood?”

Kanegasaka-sensei crosses her fingers in front of her lips and makes absolutely sure the grade schoolers know the rules.

“Does everyone have socks on? You won’t be allowed inside if you don’t, so please let me know. I’ll lend you a pair.”

Today, the students of Class 5-4 are visiting their classmates at work.

A field trip.

In order to see what a career in Shogi looks like, the students have left the school and arrived at one of the holiest sites in the Shogi world ……!

However, it’s not just one or two.

When people see me leading a group of nearly 40 of them into the Association, I get comments like:

“Holy cow, Ryuo ……” “Pulling this off, you’ve got my respect.” “You sure love kids, don’t you!”

And more as I, the Ryuo, get praised for doing my best to get more people interested in Shogi.

Once all the kids are ready, I stand in front of the arena door and explain.

“The Association’s fifth floor is called the Onkuroshoin no Ma. Long ago, Shogi matches were played for Shoguns, and the layout is a replica of what that room in Edo Castle once looked like.”

“For real?!” “Awesome!”

A few kids blurt out in amazement, their eyes lighting up before remembering the rule and clapping their hands over their mouths. Kids are great.

I lead the way into the Ongedan no Ma arena and see that the pieces have just been lined up.

Tsubasa Gakumeki Women’s 1-kyu is in the upper seat.

Just like Ai, she was promoted from 2-kyu after making it this far through the Women’s Legend qualifier.

–––So, that’s ……

This is my first time seeing her in person, and I have to say she has a very strange air about her. It’s not intimidating …… More like she doesn’t feel alive.

Ai Hinatsuru is in the lower seat. Even though she officially became a Woman’s League Player a few days before Ms. Gakumeki, her opponent is older and so she probably gave her the upper seat out of respect.

And the match recorder is–––Practice League member Mio Mizukoshi.

“That’s Ai ……!” “Mio’s right next to her …… So many cameras ……”

Seeing familiar faces gets all the kids excited at once.

“That lady she’s playing has really long hair ……” “Kinda scary, isn’t she ……?” “Looks really strong if you ask me ……” “Ai is playing against an adult ……” “Can Ai win ……?”

“T-Time f-f-for the piece flip!!”

Says Mio, stiff as a board and stuttering.

Her classmates are watching her every move with “What’s going to happen next?!” written all over their faces. Picking up five Pawns, she gives them a few shakes and drops them on the board.

“…………… Since five are faceup, the first move is yours, Gakumeki-sensei ……”

Mio’s voice doesn’t have any of its usual energy.

Maybe she’s disappointed because she wanted to give Ai the advantageous first move, or maybe being here is awkward because they haven’t made up yet …… It could just be nerves from being the recorder, too.

–––It can’t be easy to call one of your classmates “sensei” either ……

I’m surprised she agreed to work as the match recorder at all.

It’s not that Practice League members never work as match recorders.

The thing is that Pro and Sub League matches have a rule that match recorders must be in junior high school at least to work matches, so this is definitely Mio’s first time doing one. Of course, she’s nervous.

–––That anxiousness can spread to the Players …… Ai, stay calm and focus on the fight!

I send mental support to my apprentice as she closes her eyes to psych herself up.

The icing on the cake is that tons of her friends from school are watching.

They’ll only be able to watch a few moves of the early game inside the arena, but if those moves affect the formations, the Shogi can get thrown out of whack.

There are even some Pros who refuse to make a single move when other people are watching in the arena. It kind of defeats the purpose of coming to watch, but ……

“T-The appointed time has come. Gakumeki-sensei, please begin the match!!”

Mio shouts in a shrill voice.

““When you’re ready.””

Ai and Ms. Gakumeki exchanged bows.

Caught by surprise, many of the grade schoolers bow right back to them. Ms. Mato, along with reporters from several different media outlets, aim their cameras and take pictures in unison.

“…………”

Without using any time at all, Ms. Gakumeki opens her Bishop path.

“Haaa ………………………… Nm!”

Taking a deep breath, Ai leans forward and advances the Pawn in front of her Rook.

Ms. Gakumeki didn’t use a single second of waiting time to make her next move either, but Ai takes a few moments to think things over.

“…… Kanegasaka-sensei, it’s about time.”

Once I could see that a Bishop Exchange is taking shape, I guide everyone out of the arena.

As soon as the students make it into the multipurpose room downstairs, it’ll be time to explore the Association!

But, before then.

“You’ll be able to see every corner of the Kansai Shogi Association today, but …… We have a special guest who will be joining us on the tour! Here she is!”

“I’m Woman’s League Player Keika Kiyotaki. Hello everyone.”

““Heeello!””

“Hehehe. I’m glad to see you’re excited this morning!”

Keika smiles with her eyes at the grade schoolers’ warm greeting.

“Rather than introduce myself, I’m going to give you a quiz, okay? You all already know Kuzuryu-sensei, but what is my relationship to him in the Shogi world? Any guesses?”

“Huuh? No clue!” “Like, a big sister?” “His senior?” “Lover?”

No one gets it right. Though, I would say that “lover” is correct for me personally.

Seeing the kids couldn’t come up with any more ideas, Keika announces the answer.

“I’m ………… his ‘little sister!’ Maybe that was a little too hard?”

“How is anyone supposed to get that? This old lady is a younger sister? Yeah, right!”

Mihane says out of reflex.

That one comment transformed the fun field trip into …… trauma.

“Old …………… Lady?”

*Snap!*

Keika’s aura shatters the air!

The multipurpose room becomes the scene of pandemonium in the blink of an eye. The malice emanating from Keika’s eyes after her confrontation with the terror known as the age limit and rising from the ashes of hell simply isn’t human. Age is really a touchy subject.

Mihane takes the brunt of Keika’s malice head-on.

“Ngh …… nnnnnngh ……”

There is a small puddle forming at her feet. She just wet herself ……

“Oh dear, are you okay? This nice young woman will clean it all up so don’t cry? Okay?”

Keika flashes a kind smile and corrects Mihane’s mistake.

Coming face-to-face with a Player’s a true intensity nowhere near an arena has half the class in tears. There are even a few whose faces are looking feverish after only a few seconds and staring right at Keika …… The thought that they’re having a weird “awakening” movement of some kind is worrying.

“Speaking of being worried, we should check to see how the match is going.”

It’s easy to predict about how long most matches will take.

The thing is that I might have to shorten the tour or take the kids to see the big board analysis earlier so that we can make it in time to see the review session. This is just as hard as a title match.

But, this match just started.

“There is no way pieces have started to collide yet, but–––.”

Just in case, I check my phone and,

“Say what?!”

Couldn’t stop myself from blurting that out.

I do a double, triple, quadruple take, looking at that screen again and again before I finally get it.

No matter how much information I gathered in advance, there are parts of Tsubasa Gakumeki’s Shogi that are impossible to understand.

“…… Well, she sure surpassed my expectations.”

“Is something wrong, Yaichi? Has the battle already started?”

“No. It’s over.”

“Huh?”

I show Keika the final formation and say.

“A repetition draw. Ms. Gakumeki gave up the advantageous first move the first chance she got.”

“…………”

Keika is speechless.

Just like me, she’s got “I don’t get it” written all over her face.