TONSURE
“Fwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! So, you have come, Drakin! Though, now that one such as I has officially registered with Kanto, you shall never again reign as a title holder! Come! Face your dying breath in my grasp!!”
Bonk☆
I lower my fists right between the dumpling-like bundles of hair on Maria’s head. Lightly, of course.
“What, what?! I’ve been struck? You struck me?! That is my head, I’ll have you know!! Even Master has never raised a hand to me!!”
“It’s up to everyone in the Shogi world to make sure Sub League members know how to behave. Now that you’ve been accepted, I won’t be going easy on you anymore.”
“V-Violence! Corporal punishment! A title holder has raised their hand against one such as I! Wait until the tabloids get their hands on this scoop!!”
Bonk☆
This time her older brother does the honors before he picks her up by the collar, immobilizing her in midair.
“Please excuse my sibling’s transgression.”
“Nothing to worry about. Congratulations on passing, by the way.”
Greeting me in the lobby of the hotel where the title match will take place is the newly inducted member of the Kanto Sub League, Maria Kannabe.
Behind her are her older brother and assistant observer for the match, Ayumu Kannabe 7-dan, as well as their master, Rina Shakando. They seem to be enjoying teatime in the hotel lobby, but they stand out like sore thumbs.
Well, this hotel is famous for its afternoon tea service.
Not only does this building have a huge garden, a chapel and a tatami room, it used to be a summer home of sorts for one of the bigwigs behind the Meiji Restoration. It became the go-to place to open Shogi title match series after getting remodeled into a hotel because of its easily accessible location in the heart of Tokyo…
…Which is why the Eternal Queen came out to see her two apprentices in their moment of triumph, even with her bum leg.
I offer her congratulations as well.
“Same to you, Ms. Shakando. I hear that Maria not only won all of her matches on the second day, but she’s also the youngest to pass the exam this year, right?”
“Indeed …… I, too, am slightly astonished.”
It’s unusual to hear Ms. Shakando’s voice wavering this much.
Reaching for the scone on the plate in front of her to steady herself, she says, “Never could I have imagined that I would be blessed with a new apprentice at this stage of my life, let alone a young girl …… Despite my leg, I ventured to Tsuruoka Hachiman Shrine on the day of the exam to pray for her success …… Me, looking to the divine for assistance. Ha-ha. Please, chuckle.”
“What are you saying, Master?! It was your gracious spirit, far more caring than any deity, which guided her to victory! Kindness too valuable to be wasted on my sibling ……!”
Ayumu, who reveres his Master like a goddess, makes a point as soon as she finishes.
Well, I might as well help out my best friend.
“I think you guys make a great Shogi family. Actually, the two of you remind me a lot of Big Sis and I when we became Master Kiyotaki’s apprentices.”
“How wonderful, to draw such a comparison. I shall do my utmost to perform as well as Kousuke.”
“But seeing the three of you like this, Maria looks more like your daughter with Ayumu rather than his little sister.”
“Hah …… Refrain from teasing your elders, young Ryuo.”
Ms. Shakando lets my joke slide with a grin as Ayumu silently watches her reaction from the side.
Meanwhile, Maria gets between the two of them, takes their hands, and says, “Master! Let’s take a photo to celebrate the occasion! Oi, Drakin! Use the smartphone belonging to one such as I to take it! Horizontally, mind you.”
Bonk☆
“It’s a bit earlier than we planned, but everyone has assembled. Why don’t we begin the inspection?” suggests observer Jin Natajiri 8-dan and the whole group heads for the arena.
At times like this, journalists and staff members stand between the players to make sure they don’t get too close to one another.
The person who comes up next to me happens to be a match journalist with long, black hair.
“Kuzuryu-sensei. This being your first match against Okito-Crown, how have you prepared yourself? You said that you were researching sealing moves the last time we spoke.”
I answer her question with a question of my own.
“…… What is a Kansai journalist doing working a match in Tokyo?”
“A partnership of five regional newspapers is tasked with covering the Crown Title Match. Perhaps it’s because my family financially backs each one of them?”
“…………”
“If I may expand further, the person who owned this building during the Meijin Restoration was a member of the Edo Government and a direct ancestor of mine–––.”
“Okay, enough already. I got it.”
Just how many perks are there to having noble ancestors ……?
“Seriously, you were at my challenger match against the Meijin and got into the Kanto Association’s 3-dan exclusive arena even though you’re registered with Kansai …… Why are you going this far?”
“Because I want a front row seat. Shogi history is about to be written, and I want to see every detail with my own eyes.”
“……!!”
“This isn’t some paper tiger of a match where a professional plays against a robot arm. I am here to witness the true singularity and preserve it in writing. That is my purpose for being here.”
Singularity.
The moment when artificial intelligence becomes the driving force behind human culture.
In Shogi terms, when the torch is passed from human hands to a machine …… This person understands that won’t happen when machines start playing Shogi, but when two people play that way for the first time.
“………… How much material have you collected?”
“Hard to say. Though, this match may be the last piece of the puzzle.”
Ms. Mato aka Machi Kugui was the match journalist for Mr. Oishi and Mr. Okito’s A-ranking placement league match last season, but Mr. Okito declined her request for follow-up questions. She’s been looking for another chance to talk to him ever since.
The rest of the world is focused on the Meijin’s Citizens Award, Big Sis’s chance to become the first-ever female pro player, and rooting for Sota to become the first ever to reach the pros while in grade school.
However, ever since software came onto the scene …… this man has been at the center of the Shogi world.
Everything started when he, Yo Okito, lost to a computer.
The beginning of the end.
Sitting across from that man for the first time, something feels strangely off.
He towers over me, and his hair goes past his shoulder blades.
Studying the man who would look more at home as a university researcher than as a competitor, I try to figure out what doesn’t seem right about him.
“Ah ………… Glasses.”
He’s not wearing glasses like he did before. Maybe he only wears them during matches like me? Plenty of pros hate contacts because they dry out their eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone as logical as Mr. Okito opted for Lasix surgery–––.
“…… Uo? Ryuo? Are these pieces acceptable?”
“Huh?! Oh, yeah! Just fine!!”
One of the journalists for the Crown Title Match asks and I quickly give my permission.
I gotta be more careful.
No matter how curious I am about my opponent, I can’t let that distract me from the board.
We check the floor cushions and lighting after that.
“…………”
Okito-Crown just nods at everything without saying a word.
In the end, he gives his smartphone to the observer and disappears off to his own room without making a peep.
–––He used to be more talkative, or at least that’s the image I had of him ……
The two of us will be in the same room for most of the next two days. I wanted to figure out a bit more about who I’m playing so that I won’t get taken by surprise by whatever happens in the arena.
There has to be someone in here who has connections to Mr. Okito ………… Yep.
“Mr. Natagiri. Here’s my phone.”
“Ah, yes. Your phone has been received.” Looking at my phone like there was more to it, Mr. Natagiri says in a smooth tone, “I just need to add my number to your contacts, right?”
That’s impossible because it’s locked, yeah?
“Oh, and Mr. Natagiri? You and Mr. Okito were in the Sub League at the same time, weren’t you?”
“For a little while, yes. He was one of the super elites back then,” says the Switch Hitter, grimacing as he reminisces about the trials and tribulations he went through during his time in the Sub League. “He traveled to the Sub League from his hometown in Hokkaido, even further away than my home in Yamagata. If I remember right, he had to miss a few regular activities days because he was snowed in. That’s why I think he grew to prefer researching on his own, but ……”
Though he didn’t say it out loud, I can tell what he’s thinking.
“So, you didn’t bring one Miss Ai Hinatsuru along with you today?”
“She has school …… But, why do you ask?”
It seems strange that he would bring up my apprentice out of the blue, but now that I think about it, the two of them have probably played several matches at the Kiyotaki Classroom by now.
“Ohhh, nothing. I just had a gander at her match records recently and felt so touched! A little girl like that, doing things that software could never come up with! …… And it came to me…” Glancing down the hallway where his former training partner disappeared, the man who has committed more effort to his professional career than anyone else longingly says, “If only she had arrived sooner …… Maybe things would be different.”
Whether those words were aimed at Mr. Okito or remarking on how software has taken over the Shogi world as a whole… I can’t tell.
Mr. Okito doesn’t say a word during the entire opening night party, which I kind of expected.
“Um …… Mr. Natagiri? I don’t see a time slot for players’ speeches in the schedule.”
“That’s because there isn’t one. Okito-Crown’s request.”
“For real?! He can just do that?”
“He did the same thing during the King Title Match, so why not here? Public speaking isn’t exactly Mitsuru’s strong suit, either.”
I wouldn’t say I’m particularly good at speeches, but …… I spent all that time thinking about what I wanted to say ……
Both Mr. Okito and I went back to our rooms pretty early in the night, but thanks to Tamayo Rokuroba crashing the party (saying “I live right around the corner!”) and Maria’s formal introduction, I hear it was a blast. Players in the match are more like decorations at these things anyway.
Still, I get to go into this title match without any incidents.
Then, the next morning.
As the Challenger, it is a sign of respect to be the first in the arena. I arrive early and sit on my ankles until Mr. Okito makes his entrance at exactly 15 minutes before the starting time. But, one look at him and I jump to my feet.
“Huuuh?!” I blurt out…
…Because, seriously–––!
“GAH!!”
Everyone else in the arena has the same reaction to the Crown’s arrival as I did.
I mean, come on–––!!
The hair that went halfway down his back yesterday is gone.
Well …… I wouldn’t say he cut it off so much as shaved it.
The now completely bald Crown sits down in the upper seat and reaches for the piece box as if nothing were out of the ordinary even though he looks like he just went through a Buddhist rite of passage.
“…………”
Seriously, his shaven head’s bluish black tint is so unnerving that it’s like someone’s disembodied soul is bowing to me from across the board ……
I heard a terrified, “What in the world?!” from Maria when the Crown walked in. Now she’s hiding behind Ms. Shakando in the back corner of the room.
Chatter immediately starts up once the sheer impact of his entrance fades.
“With the new rules in place, he couldn’t have left the hotel after yesterday’s inspection ……”
“Which means …… He did this himself after the opening night party?! In his own room?!”
“…… Is this the first time ever?”
“N-No ………… There was someone who shaved his head before a big match before, but this ……”
Yes, it has happened before.
A player challenging for the Meijin title showed up for a match with a shaved head many years ago. Known as the Cue Ball Match, it’s one of the few big happenings in Shogi during the last century.
But, was the challenger psyching himself up for the match?
This is a match between two title holders, but Mr. Okito is defending his. Further still, he has been a pro far longer than me.
If he did this as a stunt …… it would go against everything I’ve been taught that it means to be a pro Shogi player.
I didn’t think Mr. Okito was the type of person to take that risk.
At the same time, though, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would shave off all their hair for a mental edge.
–––More like …… to get rid of the excess.
Completely oblivious to the shock on everyone’s face around him, Mr. Okito sets out the pieces. Meanwhile, I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m shaken.
If he did this for the reason I’m thinking he did ……
–––I know I told Ayumu nothing short of him plugging a calculator into his head would surprise me, but ……
Honestly, this is on the same level.
“Please …… proceed with the piece flip,” Natagiri 8-dan urges the obviously uncomfortable match recorder.
The recorder then picks up five Pawns, tosses them into the air–––.
Mr. Okito mutters something just before they fall. It’s the first time I’ve heard my opponent’s voice since I got to Tokyo.
“………… Five face up.”
“Huh?”
That whisper was so quiet that I’m probably the only one who heard it, but …… He said it. I know he did.
The match recorder looks down at the pieces sprawled out on the cloth and announces the results.
“All five Pawns have landed face up. Okito-Crown, the first move is yours.”
“……?!”
I look at my opponent’s face, stunned.
Clean-shaven and cheeks sunken in, it looks like he’s removed all impurities. Seriously, he’d fit in with monks in training. His eyes look huge, and they’re sparkling with sheer intensity.
This doesn’t seem like a simple bluff or a ploy.
More like …… Mr. Okito was testing to see how good the reflexes in his eyes are. He was trying to read the characters on all five pieces before they hit…
…Which leads me to one conclusion.
–––It’s not just his senses. He’s trying to cross the physical barrier between people and machines, too.
He’s not just getting rid of what he doesn’t need.
Seeing his determination to reconstruct his own body stabs the little bit of naivety I still had in my heart.
–––He went this far ……?
How am I supposed to fight against someone who’s trying to surpass the human intellect altogether? How am I supposed to win against that?
–––Keep it together!
I reflexively bring my hand to my heart.
If there’s an answer, it has to be in here.
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