Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 14 - Chapter 4.3

  NOT HUMAN

After changing into my traditional Japanese clothes, I head to the break room to get rid of some prematch nerves.

Futatsuzuka-sensei is already here eating a boxed lunch. By himself.

“Ah ……… Hello.”

I casually lower my head, and he does the same without saying a word.

Since the children’s tournament has reached the final round, all the coverage staff including Ms. Mato are on the stage doing their jobs.

Instructional matches, on the other hand, have finished up so Mr. Futatsuzuka is the only one on break.

“………………”

I wasn’t expecting this, but still find an empty chair and sit down in silence.

It wouldn’t be so awkward if I had something to eat—that way there’d be a good reason not to start a conversation. Unfortunately I can’t since I’ve already changed …… And going right back out the door will just make things worse ……

I can’t take the silence anymore, so I pick up the remote and turn on the TV.

Once it clicks on–––a full-blown incident shows up on the screen.

“Whoa?!”

The sheer bizarreness makes me jump out of my chair so quickly, it gets knocked to the floor.

A horror scene, with Ika lifting up her eyepatch!

“See? After watching Shogi software go at it on alllll of my monitors eeeeeeevery, eeeeeeevery, everyeveryeveryeveryevery day for weeks and weeeeeeeeks, the sequences won’t go away anymore. I’ll break the rules again if I don’t keep one eye hidden around the clock!!”

Ika reaches out for Ginko’s piece stand and says, as her whole head rotates 120 degrees, “Make – a – slip – up ☆.”

The camera zooms in on Ika’s pupils.

One of them is twitching uncontrollably and looking off in a completely different direction.

All my electronics are currently confiscated by the staff, so I have no idea how the match itself has played out so far, but …… one look is all I need to know that Ika’s attacks have been hitting their mark. There’s no denying that, but ……

“Wh-What …… is she even talking about?” I absentmindedly mutter while staring at the screen.

Though I did get an answer from an unexpected place.

“So, even you feel that way, K-…… Mr. Kuzuryu.”

“Huh?”

I looked over my shoulder in surprise.

“What do you mean by that, Mr. Futatsuzuka?”

“Exactly what I said. As far as I’m concerned, that animal who brought an ax to a Shogi match is the same species as you.”

“…… Come again?”

M-Me and Ika? THE SAME?! Wow, this guy is rude ……

Or maybe the younger generation of Kanto pros still thinks that Ika and I are dating? I know that’s what the rumors on the Internet are saying …… Well, that’s better than them digging into my relationship with Ginko, so I’ve let those rumors and the ones about me having a Lolita complex be. It’s on purpose, okay?!

“Mr. Kuzuryu. How do you use software?”

“How ……? Like normal, that’s how.”

“Like normal, you say. What’s your definition of normal?”

“Normal, just like all the pros use software: to analyze matches to find my bad moves, yeah? I almost never play matches against it. Sometimes I’ll start a match at a specific point, though …… Other than that, I have dissected the latest trends to see what the ratings are and experiment with sequences to find my own–––.”

“There. That’s an anomaly.”

“Huh? Isn’t that how everyone does it?”

“Yes, indeed. Shogi players with no knowledge of programming will look at software sequences like that to find hints of some kind. Except those hints don’t exist.”

“B-But …! Players use strategies developed by software in actual matches all the time and get great results!! There are so many examples, like how to defend against Ranging Rook–––.”

“It is possible to derive special characteristics from the sum of individual data sets, yes. I’m not going to refute that. What I’m saying is that the sample size professional players have access to is far too small. A mere 1,000 matches available for study under one particular topic is insufficient to say it has been thoroughly analyzed.”

“……”

“I’m undergoing university-level programming classes. Therefore I understand that 10,000 matches would be the absolute minimum sample necessary to identify trends. 10,000 matches with one topic in particular …… I assumed that you were merging the data to find concurrent characteristics as well. Because, even without programming knowledge, someone very close to yourself was using that method.”

Right away I understood what Mr. Futatsuzuka was getting at.

It’s true that I have a connection to someone with fairly strong Shogi who studied programming at a particularly good university.

But I haven’t talked about Shogi with them for nearly 10 years. Things happened, and that’s just how our relationship worked out.

“From the perspective of programmers like me, there is little difference between you and what Sainokami is doing. Such primitive methods never yield results.”

Futatsuzuka 4-dan isn’t trying to pick a fight or anything, just going on and on about what he sees as facts.

“Many players have made comments like using software made me weaker and software and I don’t mix well. Of course not. They aren’t using it the right way to begin with. Those software programs weren’t designed to be an educational tool in the first place.”

“…………”

That has seemed strange to me as well.

Modern Shogi software programs are made to defeat other software programs. The programs prior to themselves were originally made to beat human players.

They’re designed to win, not to teach.

Think of it in terms of people. Pro players would put it this way: Professionals don’t become good instructors. This is because they don’t remember how they became strong themselves.

Software and pro players right now are one and the same.

I had a feeling that was the case, which was why I wasn’t sure about taking an apprentice at all. That’s why I set up an environment where they would grow on their own without me getting too involved.

Putting together the Grade School Practice Group, making sure Ai Hinatsuru and Ai Yashajin became rivals, that sort of thing.

If there was anything else that I committed my energy to doing, it was–––.

“If a hypothesis can be made, it’s this.”

Futatsuzuka 4-dan breaks into my train of thought.

“Sainokami’s approach is a lot like deep-learning software in that she studied massive numbers of formations that occur within matches between software programs. It became the driving force behind her aesthetic sense of beauty ……”

“Beauty?” I ask, pointing at the TV. “What’s beautiful about that mess?”

“Describing it as an aesthetic is the easiest way to understand. Sainokami doesn’t comprehend formations with logic. She makes her decisions based on what feels right rather than reasoning. She’s always displayed those tendencies.”

Feelings? Making decisions based on sight?

I open my mouth to object, but then something Machi said to me pops into my head.

“It’s said that only the current Meijin can see moves without reading. Do you believe such claims?”

When she asked me …… What did I say again?

“She just said so herself. That she saw so many matches the sequences have been imprinted into her eyes. She’s been watching software matches every waking moment.”

It sounds like science fiction, but the straight-laced Futatsuzuka-sensei is completely serious.

Then, with a lot of fire suddenly in his voice, “It’s gotten to the point, she recognizes advantageous situations with a glance, like an artist deciding what color to add to their canvas. Therefore, Sainokami doesn’t use waiting time. She never reads.”

“That’s ridiculous. Of course she–––.”

“Look at the timer on the screen.”

That is all he said, as if that was all that needed to be said.

  Ginko Sora: 3 hours 34 minutes expired

  Ika Sainokami: 0 hours 2 minutes expired

“…………!”

I was trying to convince myself that her research lined up that well with the match played out.

But the board is so disorganized that it’s impossible to reach this point using research. Actually, I’m not sure how to research a formation this bizarre.

C-Could it be true ……?

Is she ……? Is Ika really making decisions based only on what she sees ……?

“You, meanwhile, seem to have merged with the sequences software produces. Thought processes that shouldn’t exist seem to take form as hallucinations within your mind, honing some kind of deviant sense …… For some reason, Yaichi Kuzuryu, you keep winning with figments that would normally be dismissed as delusions.”

“…………”

“If I were asked which is more dangerous, between Sainokami and yourself, I would happily cast my vote for the Demon King of the West.”

…… I thought the reason I’d gotten stronger after incorporating software into my research was just because I was a little better at using it than other players …… Or that maybe my sense of balance on the board was similar to how software worked.

But, just maybe …

What if what Mr. Futatsuzuka is right and there is something special about me?

What if I’m seeing something different on the board than other players, like the Meijin and Ika do?

What if I’m seeing a completely different world from what Ai and Ginko see ……?

“Kuzuryu-sensei. It’s time.”

“Ah ……… O-Oh, right! I’m on my way!!”

I jump to my feet once a staff member comes to get me. Tucking my shirt into my hakama trousers, I head to the stage.

Now is the time to ignore everything else and focus on my match.

–––Even if we can’t be side by side …… we can still fight together!

That’s what it means to live as a Shogi player.

Even if we aren’t seeing the same thing, that won’t be a problem as long as we live the same way!

“If the lot of you truly are capable of doing that–––.”

Futatsuzuka-sensei quietly trudges through a sentence behind me.

“Whatever you are, it’s not human.”