Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 15 - Chapter 3.7

  CRAMMING

“………………………… I can’t write …………,” I say with my head in my hands during our fifth meeting.

We’re at an old restaurant that specializes in softshell turtle soup. Not only does it show up in novels like Naoya Shiga’s A Dark Night’s Passing and Yasunari Kawabata’s Koto, but it’s also said that the Shinsengumi themselves ate here about 150 years ago.

Even slurping on the most nutritious soup in all of Kyoto—maru-nabe as it’s called—doesn’t inspire me to write ……

On a side note, we had our third meeting at a sukiyaki restaurant that’s been in business for over 200 years and our fourth was at a restaurant specializing in exotic meats that was founded back in the 1910s. We had private rooms both times.

“…… I’m really really sorry about this. You’ve picked up so many tabs already ……”

“Pay it no mind. My editor has instructed me to spare no expense in order to bag Yaichi Kuzuryu, so you have nothing to worry about.”

Such high expectations and I can’t deliver. Man, I feel pathetic ……

“Where are you writing?”

“Cafés or family restaurants, mostly …… I thought a change of scenery might help, but I get self-conscious when other people are around. It feels like they’re all trying to read my work ……”

I scramble to hide my screen whenever a waiter comes by to refill my water or passes by my seat, so I never make any progress at all.

It reminds me of the shared computer I used at Master’s place when I was a live-in apprentice. It seemed like anytime I searched for hot videos, Ginko or Keika would walk in and I had to scramble to close the windows before they saw …… Unfortunately, my search history gave it away and I had to face their wrath. Considering that Ginko called me Big Boobichi after that, it’s not too hard to figure out what I typed into the search bar.

“If concentration is the issue, why not write at home?”

“I would, but there’s a reason why I can’t get any work done at home ……”

Akira always comes up to me saying: Sensei, if you are here, that means you have spare time, yes? Teach me Shogi!” That lady seems like she has a ton of time in her hands when Ai is at school ……

And–––

“After talking with you, I have so many ideas in my head and I can’t wait to type them all out! But when I actually sit down in front of the computer …… the words that were in my head before aren’t there anymore ……”

My whole reason for writing about software comes down to one conversation.

Something that Futatsuzuka 4-dan said to me.

“You, meanwhile, seem to have merged with the sequences software produces. Thought processes that shouldn’t exist seem to take the 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.”

He even said I’m even more dangerous than Ika …… So I thought I’d show him what’s going on in my head, but ……

Are these delusions after all ……?

“Words you had in your head, you say?”

Cleaning up her place in the table, Machi pulls something out of the bag at her side.

“Kuzuryu-sensei. How about this method?”

“Huh?”

She spreads a cloth Shogi board over the table and starts lining up pieces as she asks, “This formation. If I were in this situation, I would play this move here. Do you have any thoughts?”

“Oh, that new yagura sequence.”

This cloth board that I assume Machi uses for her own research has a sheen to it, almost like it was made out of kimono fabric. The pieces have been used so much that they practically glide into my fingertips.

“This is extremely good against a defender’s rapid attack. The introduction of software changed the way yagura strategies are used in the same way that the introduction of muskets changed how castles were defended. If you think of the big pieces like a musket’s line of fire, then software builds yagura to increase their range and firepower. Now, as for how the offense contends with the defender’s muskets, they bring the right Gold way up to the front and make a Gold Yagura BUT! leave the King in the starting position without advancing into the defensive formation itself. They also leave the right Silver where it is so that the big pieces don’t get blocked. That way the Rook is free to move horizontally. And the Bishop can move anywhere it wants because there’s no defensive formation around the King that’s in its way. Pros tend to agree that it doesn’t work well on offense and gives the defender an advantage. But presto change-o! See? It can be used by offense as well. Actually, I think it gives the offense a clear advantage.”

“You can do it just fine.”

“Do what?”

“While I would like a clear explanation of the presto change-o part, that was a very interesting explanation. Using muskets as a metaphor was clear and easy to understand.”

“…… Then that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for?”

“Yes. Put what you said in writing and I can use it as is. Next time, please use a voice recorder.”

“B-But books are supposed to have, I don’t know, literary techniques and sweeping expressions–––.”

“Shogi books become more valuable the easier they are to understand. This is because more people are able to pick them up.”

Machi spells this out for me in nice, short words as if I was a kid.

“Sweeping expressions and literary techniques have a purpose in novels. The trick with Shogi books, however, is making the complicated sections easy and fun to read. We would like children who aren’t adept at reading to enjoy Kuzuryu’s Notebook as well.”

“Ah ……!”

She’s exactly right.

I read through the Meijin’s strategy books enough times to wear out the pages when I was little, but I could only read the basic characters and numbers back then. I probably only understood about half the content, if that.

Even so, I was excited with every turn of the page and couldn’t wait to try out the strategies written on each page in a match ……

–––I get to write a book like that!!

I had no idea what I was going to write just a few minutes ago …… But now I can’t wait to get started. All sorts of ideas and images are flooding into my head. This is intense ……!!

Is this …… the power of an editor ……?!

“Please continue like this. Do you think you will be able to make the deadline, even if it’s last minute?”

“B-But that’s the thing! I don’t know if you’re just that good at inspiring me, but I don’t think I could reach this point working alone ……”

“In that case …… do you think you could complete it if I provided support just like this?”

“A-Actually, yes. It would be sooo much better than trying to do it on my own …… But that’s not an option, is it? I mean, the Women’s Legend League is in full swing and you’ve got to get ready to defend your title as Yamashiro Ouka ……”

“…… It’s true that I cannot make a large time commitment. However there is one method that may be an option.” Machi pauses for just a moment before saying, “A cramming session.”

“C-Cramming?”

“You confine yourself within a room at a rural inn with nothing else to do but write. I will provide additional support in person.”

Oh! That’s what she meant. That’s what publishers have their popular authors or manga artists do as a last resort when they’re behind on their deadlines.

Whoa. I’m going to get the famous author treatment! That’s what goes through my head when I make a very important connection–––.

“Huh?! Wait a sec!! Hold up!!”

A realization that turns me pale as a ghost.

“S-So basically …… we’d be staying in the same room for days on end?!”

“There’s no other method to quickly complete a manuscript when there’s a time crunch.”

Don’t concern yourself with me–––is what she’s saying.

“I am under strict orders from my editor: spare no expense in order to bag Yaichi Kuzuryu.”

“So you see, I’ll be doing a cramming session at some inn for while ……,” I inform my live-in apprentice as soon as I get back to the apartment.

Ai Yashajin, dressed in black lace, wearing something like a negligee, doesn’t put her phone down. Instead she looks up with her eyes and asks, “Some inn?”

“I don’t know for sure, but if I had to guess, probably somewhere in the Kyoto area …… Most likely an old one where some famous author from a long time ago did a cramming session of their own …… yeah.”

“With whom? You’re not going alone, are you?”

“M- …… My editor ……”

“…………”

The pain! The silence and stare hurt like hell!!

I bet that Ai already knows who I’m working with to write the book. I’d also wager she knows who came up with the idea in the first place.

And, of course, she realizes the potential for this cramming session to take on a whole new, dirtier meaning.

Why would this business trip turn raunchy? Because Machi’s entire being is raunchy, that’s why. Raunchy x hot spring inn = boobs. That equation balances perfectly.

Seriously …… That thought crossed my mind when Machi first brought up the cramming session. Like, “oh crap.” Not about the impending deadline, but my ability to think rationally. If the guy who’s going into the cramming session can’t even trust himself, then there’s absolutely zero chance Ai Yashajin will, right? Yep, this is checkmate ……

“Oh, that’s fine. It’s work, after all.”

“HUH?! Are you sure ……?”

“You’re going there to work. That editor of yours isn’t going on the trip for immoral reasons, I assume?”

“Of course not! It’s work for both of us! Work!!”

I shake my head from side to side and repeat the word work like a broken record.

“Besides, you stay in the same hotel as Women League players when you have title matches, correct? If I worried about every little possibility, there would be no end to it. We’d just tire ourselves out,” says Ai as she flips her hair over her shoulder. “I was planning to go on a bit of a trip myself. I’ll plan it around your schedule.”

“Speaking of that, where are you going when you leave on these trips of yours?”

We’re living together on paper, but the amount of time she and I are in this apartment at the same time is extremely small.

Ai Yashajin is in the same grade as Ai Hinatsuru, but they act completely differently. My second apprentice hasn’t had friends over to hang out and have fun ever once …… so lonely …… No, no, no! I’m saying …… as a grade school girl she must be lonely, okay? That’s what I mean!

She’s the one who set my curfew, but she tends to break it quite a lot. That’s why we hardly see each other, and it doesn’t feel like we live together. All these extra rooms in the apartment sure don’t help.

“Where, you ask? I’m working. Perfectly normal.”

“Normal, but not for grade schoolers.”

“Preparations are underway for me to take over the family business while I have time. What choice do I have since the Queen and Women’s Throne leagues aren’t being played? Now come on, get out your planner.”

“R-Right ……”

Ai opens a calendar app on her phone while I pull out my pocket planner.

When, from out of nowhere, Ai smiles with a heh.

“…… Odd, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“Rather than spending time together at home …… it feels more like we live together when we align our schedules like this.”

“……!”

Those words felt like a rabbit punch out of nowhere. My heart jumps into my throat.

There’s no way Ai Hinatsuru would’ve ever knowingly let me go to a cramming session with Machi. Big Sis would’ve acted like she was okay with it, but would’ve held a major grudge against Machi until she had utterly destroyed her in a Shogi match.

But, Ai Yashajin …… not only did she allow it, but she’s shackled my heart at the same time.

A shackle called trust.