Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 12 - Chapter 3.1

  BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

Tweet, tweet! Chirp!

Birds sing outside my window as rays of sunlight flood into my room from between the blinds.

“………… Mnn? Morning already ……?”

I’m much more used to the chatter of little girls waking me up rather than birds at this point. Yeah, yeah, I’m the loli-king, so what?

“Nghhh ……! Ah, summer vacation. It must be so much fun getting together with your friends every day.”

I stretch my arms high over my head to wake up when I hear my smartphone vibrating on my desk.

“Who could that be? …… Huh? Ayumu?”

Surprised to see that name on the screen, I answer the call. The voice of my friend and rival echoes through the room in no time flat.

“Ha-ha-ha …… To think, you would be conscious at this hour. So, a creature of darkness can also be a morning person! How befitting of my eternal nemesis!!”

“That’s a big compliment, coming from a guy who gets up at the crack of dawn to help his parents make tofu. I’m hanging up.”

Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem important. Just as I’m about to hit the button …… another voice with the bubbly chatter I know so well comes out of my phone.

“Heh! How foolish of you, Drakin. Passing up on the chance to speak with one such as I after a long absence!”

“Wait …… The princess loli?! That’s you, isn’t it?!!”

I quickly switch my phone to a video feed. Sure enough, she and her brother, who have nearly identical personalities, are posing on screen with one hand in the air. A double pose. Like a pro wrestling tag team.

Ayumu’s little sister, Maria Kannabe (fifth grade).

In the same academic year as Ai, she has a very distinctive personality and two bundles of hair on her head that look just like cat ears.

Even though she lost to Mio in the King of Naniwa tournament finals, she joined the Shakando Shogi family and is set to take the Sub League Entrance Exam this year …… Oh, that’s what this is about.

Today’s the day of the exam, isn’t it? But Maria doesn’t have to participate until the second day because she’s the Elementary Meijin–––.

“Let me get this straight. You’re feeling nervous about the exam coming up tomorrow, so you’d like to stimulate your mind with a few practice matches against Ai or Mio, right?”

“Wh-Why, no!!”

“Then I’m hanging up.”

“Cease with the teasing!” squeals the princess loli with tears in her eyes as she swipes at the screen. Too cute.

Ayumu yanks his little sister away from the camera and says, “You needn’t be so harsh, Drakin. Even those possessing impervious Shogi skills struggle to settle the nerves the night before their Sub League Entrance Exam.”

I was never going to hang up, of course. Just having a little fun.

“Concerning the Crown Title Match… Were you aware that I will be serving as the assistant observer for the opening match?”

“I heard, all right. I’m surprised you accepted the job.”

Since its Ayumu, I was sure that he’d strike a pose and say, Though I will only be observing your next title match as a player, mu-ha-ha-ha! or something like that.

“Not being in the match myself, I admit, is disheartening. However, there have been whispers telling of the significance of this match and the importance of bearing witness to it …… My soul speaks to me!”

“So, you want to know exactly how my match with Mr. Okito will play out, is that it?”

“Affirmative.”

“A player who only researches with AI against a teenager, the first title match of its kind …… good grief.”

“Devising a plan of action will be no easy matter.”

“Yeah …… Mr. Okito has probably used software more than anyone and I think he got rid of all his other Shogi senses on purpose. His mind works on a level higher than regular players can even imagine.”

I’ve never played against myself, but I can just tell.

Ever since the moment he became the first pro to ever lose a match to software …… and tried to take his own life, Yo Okito seems to have given up on humanity entirely.

“…… Hey, Ayumu.”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever wanted to become a computer?”

His answer is immediate, literally no time at all, and extremely obvious, “There would be no point.”

“Yeah. No point at all.”

I follow it up with common sense, “People can’t become machines.”

Everyone knows that, but people seem to misunderstand.

“Back when humanity was fighting against software, how do you think they thought they could beat it?”

“Software late-game readings are far too precise. Therefore, they must be overpowered at the outset, in the early game.”

“Then, after humanity started losing every match, how do you think people wanted to use its strengths in their own Shogi?”

“Human beings cannot hope to replicate software in the late-game. That is only possible early on in the match.”

“Yeah. That’s probably what most players think, too, actually.”

I hit a major slump after fighting against the Meijin in the Ryuo Title Match.

I thought it was caused by sitting across the board from the strongest person to ever play the game …… But that was probably just the trigger.

I started using the latest software in my own research at around that time.

Since I had adjusted to playing at the Meijin’s pace, I assumed I could naturally do the same with software, too. That I could learn how it opens matches and get used to it.

I thought I could do the Katsura Single Jump and other strange openings, including the defensive formations that software builds to open matches. I won quite a few victory stars that way.

“But all that’s just an illusion.”

Copying what software does in the early game is just monkey see, monkey do.

“Where software’s strength really shines, where it’s literally inhuman ability to make perfect decisions, is actually when there are unlimited options …… in the early mid-game.”

Calculation abilities that go far beyond what people are capable of.

Then there are the sequences that result from those calculations and a memory powerful enough to never, ever forget.

No one in the world has those.

No matter how devoted Mr. Okito is to software or how hard he tries to learn those abilities, it’s physically impossible. People can’t become machines.

So–––.

“Okito-Dual Title, as strong as he is, cannot play the same early game as software, and trying to do it will only leave openings for me.”

That’s my conclusion, for now anyway.

“So long as he doesn’t plug a calculator into his brain, nothing he does will take me by surprise. Well, I’m sure he realizes that, too, so I think it’ll be a surprisingly orthodox match. There’s no need to strain yourself coming up with predictions at the opening night party.”

It’s standard for pro players and media people to make their own predictions about the upcoming title match once the match participants have left the room.

“Do not belittle me, Drakin. I am aware of that much, as well. But” he angrily says, “there’s a problem if those orthodox formations have been enhanced by software’s superior reading abilities! Continuously playing the optimal move for all eternity, and an ironclad wall of research! Is that not what occurred during the King Title Match against the Worldly Maestro?!”

“You read that far, huh ……? I should have known my rival would be up for that.”

“Enough patronizing! Retaliate with the best moves, and the match can only end in repetition draw or stalemate!! How can that be dealt with?!”

Ayumu isn’t trying to horn in on my research.

He’s just worried about me as a friend.

And, because I understand that …… I let him in on the meat of my findings.

“Two options come to mind.”

Mr. Okito is most likely trying to do one of them.

In putting the formations that humanity has discovered over the centuries into the software program and using it to find the hidden details and thus improve their effectiveness even further… if people couldn’t change it, then–––.

But I chose a different path, one a bit more human.

“I’ve come across a very interesting match record. It’s all I’ve been using for research these days.”

“A record? Could it be …… a match between software programs? While I admit it may be possible to find flaws using such a method, I–––.”

“No. That would only identify habits of the individual programs, and humans can’t play like that anyway.”

It’s been eight months since the Ryuo Title Match ended. During that time, I was dealt a painful loss by soon-to-retire Zaou-sensei in the placement matches and had several more slipups after I started using software for research.

How could I get stronger?

Now that I’ve overcome the strongest person on earth …… I was sure that the answer could only be found with software.

But, it turns out, I’d already had the answer for a long time before then.

Ever since a tiny angel landed at my front door one day last spring–––.

“The record I’ve been analyzing isn’t from software, or even a pro. The hint I got came from someplace else.”

“Then, a match record of whom?”

“…………… AI.”

“Hm? Didn’t you just say–––?”

Ayumu gets cut off midsentence by Maria pushing him out of the frame.

“Enough of this complicated jibber jabber. One such as I desires to engage in conversation and indulge in a few matches of Shogi with the weeds to calm my nerves for the morrow!!”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes. Stay on the line, okay? I’ll take my phone to the girls’ room.”

Leaving my bedroom, I follow the young chattering voices toward the tatami room.

What’s this? The fusuma doors are always open, but they’re closed for some reason.

I bet they were worried about waking me up.

There are at least three voices coming through the door. I don’t hear any snapping pieces, though. Maybe they’re doing some last-minute preparations for the festival?

“Morning. Everybody awake?” I say as I slide the door open.

Well, everybody’s here, but ………… Not dressed.

The whole Grade Schooler Practice Group is right here.

Just, they don’t have any clothes on. Just birthday suits.

“EEEEEEKK!! PERVERT––––––!!”

Ai and Ayano’s faces turn bright red as they curl up into a ball.

Mio grabs the colorful piece of fabric off the floor to hide everyone from sight.

Charlette, on the other hand, comes up to me with a big smile. She says, “Masta♡” with her arms out for a hug. Of course, there’s not a stitch of cloth on her either.

I scream loud enough to drown all of them out.

“DAAAAHHHHH?! In the buff?! WHY?!”

Oh! That fabric on the tatami mats …… Yukata robes?! So, they were in the middle of putting on yukata?!

However, they must not have been able to see that through the smartphone camera.

“N-Nude, you say?! So many girls so close to sunrise …… You are a fiend to behold, Loli-king! Holding multiple young maidens hostage in your lair ……! Is this your preparation for taking multiple titles?!”

“What titles are you talking about?!”

Ayumu, just as clueless, jumps in after his sister’s rant.

“Ngh …… Drakin, you scoundrel …… Has what remains of your human soul already fallen so far?! Has the demonic energy that pulses through your Shogi soiled your spirit as well?!”

“No, no! Listen to me, will you?! They’re getting ready for the festival tonight!!”

“A party? So then, you entice adolescent girls in the midst of summer vacation into your abode with the allure of a party only to unleash such evils upon them …… I was wrong, your human soul no longer exists!! It has been that blackened by evil!! Hello, police department?”

“Nooooo! Please, don’t call themmmm!!”

After that, a relatively calm Mio explains the situation, clears up this mess and saves me from getting arrested right before playing in a title match.

Maria has a great time talking with everyone, too!! You better pass the Entrance Exam, damn it!!