Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 12 - Chapter 3

  THE VETERAN SEAT

“Well, good morning, Ginko! Aren’t you early?”

August 15, the morning of the 15th and 16th 3-dan division matches.

As it is my turn to prepare the boards and pieces, I walk into the arena at the Kansai Shogi Association well before the matches are scheduled to begin only to find someone already inside and struggling to carry a stack of Shogi boards. 

It’s surprising to see the silver-haired man in here because he’s not a member of the Sub League, but the staff–––.

“Mr. Mine? G-Good morning …… What are you doing?!”

“The first round of the Sub League Entrance Exam will be taking place today on the fourth floor, but only the 3-dan division is meeting today, yes? I couldn’t stand the thought of making those young ones prepare the boards for matches that will affect the rest of their lives. So I decided to do it mysss…daahhhh!!”

“?! Careful!!”

My body moves before I know it, protecting Mr. Mine from the stack of Shogi boards falling over him.

“Sorry, Ginko! Your hands …… Are your hands alright?!”

“…… Don’t worry. I’m not that clumsy.”

I habitually protect my right hand, no matter the circumstances. More importantly–––.

“What were you thinking, Sensei?! Someone your age shouldn’t be carrying so many at once!”

“Ha-ha-ha. How many years has it been ……? You haven’t called me Sensei in quite a while, Ginko.”

“…… Have you reflected on what you did?”

Mr. Mine used to oversee the match cards at the association’s classroom. He would always be there to rein in Yaichi and I with a warning whenever we had one of our inevitable arguments …… I can’t count how many times he praised me, probably hundreds.

Getting compliments from the man we called The Principal back when I played in the second-floor classroom is one of the reasons I became stronger. There were days when I wanted to go back to that time, but now my mind is set.

Working together, the two of us finish setting up the arena. Mr. Mine stares at the corner of the room and whispers to me, “Ginko. Is the veteran seat still around?”

“Veteran seat ……? What do you mean?”

“You know, in front of the scroll in the Onjyoudan no Ma …… In the very back? The place reserved for only the most experienced player who everyone recognizes as the strongest.”

“Mr. Kagamizu typically sits there, I think ……”

“So, it’s still going strong. How nostalgic.”

Thinking back to how Mr. Mine knew exactly how to prepare the arena, I ask him, “Pardon me if I’m wrong, Mr. Mine, but …… were you a member of the Sub League?”

“I was, indeed… though I was registered in Kanto.”

Back when my heart was shattered, I remember Yaichi telling me a story.

It was about a Sub League member who seriously tried to take their own life. He said it was someone I know very well, but–––.

“You couldn’t be …… the person who jumped out the window and broke their leg, could you?”

“That story has reached your ears, has it? Well, this is embarrassing.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Why …… you ask?”

Mr. Mine stares at his feet, looking forlorn.

“Ginko. Working at the association on staff after having to retire from the Sub League …… Some days are agonizing.”

“…… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up ……”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Huh?”

“It’s having to say goodbye to the young ones I’ve watched grow for so long.”

“Ah ……”

“I can weather my own pain. There was quite a bit in the early days, with my former colleagues arrogantly bossing me around from the professional ranks and such. But that, I got over it at some point. The real pain comes from ……”

Oh …… I get it ……

He’s been seeing shades of himself in all the Sub League members who have had to quit for one reason or another for decades now.

I bet he feels genuinely happy for the players who have the necessary talent to become a professional and reach 4-dan.

However, he empathizes more strongly with players like me and himself who know they have no talent and eventually get forced out of the league.

“Young people who loved Shogi with their very hearts and souls when they entered the Sub League leave it hating the sport to the point that they never want to so much as see a piece again so long as they live. After working so hard and becoming so strong, that strength becomes what they despise most in this world.”

Children who love Shogi will come knocking on the Sub League’s door to take the Entrance Exam this year as well, just as I did seven years ago.

More than 90 percent of them won’t become professionals.

Whether it’s five, ten or fifteen years from now …… They’ll be cursing the time and effort they spent along the way.

“My heart aches every time I see one of them off for the last time …… Every other former Sub League member who worked alongside me in the office couldn’t take the pain and quit years ago ……”

–––Mr. Mine …… saw himself in me ……

That’s why he never said a word.

So that I would never think about the reality waiting for me after leaving the Sub League. As someone who has kept such a close watch over the Sub League’s members all these years, he must’ve been able to tell that I only had enough talent to get in, but not through. It was all in his gentle yet agonized gaze.

–––What will I do if I don’t make it?

If I can never break the sealing move with Yaichi …… I would most likely just want to disappear from everyone’s memory.

And never play Shogi …… never be involved with the Shogi world ever again.

Yaichi would spend nights like the one we had but with someone who’s not me …… I can see it so clearly in my mind that it feels real. The girl next to him is younger and much more talented than I, the ……

–––No!! Anything but that, anything ……!!

If only I could disappear into a cloud of bubbles like the little mermaid. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t work like that. People must bottle up their disappointment and frustration and find a way to live their lives that doesn’t involve Shogi.

It must be …… a living hell that makes dying seem like a better alternative.

“Though, every so often a young man like Sho comes around. What a nice surprise that was!”

“Sho? Mr. Shoji …… Karako?”

“Yes. There was a time when the veteran seat was his. His Shogi was gritty, a never-surrender style that embodied what it meant to be a Kansai player. He had a great impact on those around him and the league itself.”

Mr. Mine chuckles to himself, saying that also made him a lot of enemies, as if taking a stroll down memory lane.

“He drifted from job to job after leaving …… Fell out of contact for a while, too, before suddenly making a name for himself as an amateur from out of nowhere. Lo and behold, he makes a return to the Sub League using the Admission Exam. That man has grit in spades.”

“I …… got the same impression playing against him myself.”

“Ginko. You will play against him again, yes?”

“I will. He’s my first opponent on the final day.”

“How great would it be if both of you promoted! I would certainly love for Hiuma, Sota and all the young men in Kanto to make it as professionals as well, but …… It hurts so much, having to say goodbye to them.”

“Mr. Mine ……”

“But it won’t last much longer. I’m retiring after this year.”

“I see …… Thank you for everything. It’s meant a lot ……”

“To be honest, I considered hanging it up a long time ago. But–––.”

Then Mr. Mine tells me the reason why he continued to work at the association all the way until retirement age.

“I stayed because of a little girl who suffered through more pain than anyone else and still had a pure, unmistakable love for Shogi. You have my thanks, Ginko.”

“……! Mine …… sensei ……”

“The phrase do your best has never sat well with me, so …… Let’s be true to ourselves to the very end.”

Even though I had help setting up the arena today, I had to fight much harder than I ever expected once the matches got started.

I’ve held back tears after matches plenty of times.

But …… today was the first time I’ve ever had to do that before one.