Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 15 - Chapter 4.6

  REFLECTED IN YOUR EYES

My cramming session continues as usual after visiting Amanohashidate Shrine. With the exception of walking in on Ma-chan in the middle of changing after a bath, work progresses without any provocative happenings. I’m not disappointed or anything, yeah? After all, I’m grateful for this perfect writing environment, aren’t I?!

The early and middle parts are nearly finished. All that’s left is the late-game, uh, book. 

“This is our final push. It would be fitting to feast upon crabs tonight for nourishment in preparation for the last spurt.”

“Yay!”

When it comes to winter on the Sea of Japan, crabs are it.

Leaving the war zone that my writing studio has become for the first time in ages, Ma-chan and I head for the inn’s cafeteria and order up a bunch of them. The air is filled with nothing but the echo of snapping crab legs ……

“Oh yeah. Speaking of crabs–––.”

“Speaking of? How do you mean?”

“Do you think software plays a perfect late-game, Ma-chan?”

“Huh? I’m at a loss as to how that relates to crabs.”

Now that she points it out, I can see how other people wouldn’t make the connection.

But for me, seeing crabs always reminds me of someone …… 

Looking at the pile of empty shells in the middle of the table, I explain. “I don’t really think so. Software is strong because it takes a different approach to Shogi than people do. It’s just playing a style that people have a hard time playing. So I think it’s far from perfect ……”

“You say that holes are abundant, yet hard to identify?”

“Yeah. There are some formations that software has a hard time analyzing, and I think most of those are in the late-game and in Ranging Rook.”

“As software learned the game by playing Static Rook against itself, it’s understandable how it would have difficulty rating Ranging strategies,” says Ma-chan between slurps of crab soup before asking a question back. “But isn’t it particularly strong in the late-game? Are you saying it can’t read long checkmate sequences? Like your 7 Seven Rook Promote in the First Crown Title Match, for example–––.”

“Not so much the sequence length …… Hmmm …… Saying it’s not good with those formations makes sense. It’s like the way people have blind spots. You know how you can miss a simple five step check path sometimes?”

“In a Shogi puzzle, that certainly happens. But in an actual match–––?”

“Those formations didn’t show up…. Until now.”

I emphasize my words without realizing it.

“People play in a way that makes it so those hard-to-see check paths don’t happen. Think of the anaguma. If you make it so that being checkmated is impossible, it doesn’t matter if you can’t see check paths or not.”

“Ah yes. As I play it myself, that example does strike a chord with me.”

It’s also easy for people to understand formations that cannot be checkmated without a certain piece. Knight Z and Bishop Z are like that.

“Meanwhile, software’s biggest strength is its ability to calculate. So it doesn’t bother with strong defenses. Since its early- and mid-game are different from the way people play, it makes sense that the late-game is different too. Don’t you think?”

“Ah ……!”

“So when two software programs play against each other, sometimes there are check paths that people spot right away, but the software doesn’t register them for some reason. Specifically, it misses a lot of checkmates that require it to sacrifice a big piece for free. That kind of thing happens all the time in Shogi puzzles. Not that I know the reason why,” I say as I watch the crabmeat bubble in the soup.

The one who always seems to find those check paths ……

“What I’m trying to say is that people have put too much trust in software. As a result, they tend to overlook the same holes.”

“Trust …… you say?”

“Trends are born because everyone trusts them. Ride that trend and you win more matches. Go against it and you lose more.”

It goes without saying that the one who started the trend benefits the most from it.

“That used to be the Meijin. So it makes sense that pro standards became formations that were easy for the Meijin to read.”

“You claim that the all-rounder Meijin once held the same status that software does today? That was his secret for retaining so many titles ……?”

“Yes. He didn’t create any revolutionary early-game strategies, but he made improvements to pretty much all of them. So, rather than getting closer to Shogi’s arcanum ––.”

“While increasing precision, the Meijin transformed the formations to ones he could easily use to his advantage …… Am I understanding you correctly?”

“That, and he had another tool for making his way of playing more mainstream. Something that separated him completely from other pros …… A tool that helped him reach more players than any advantage he had in Shogi skill.”

“Books.”

I snap a crab leg open and nod at Ma-chan’s short answer.

“Of course his strategy books sold well, but his books on competition and life skills also became bestsellers. In no time at all, the Shogi world began to emulate him both on and off the board. He even turned his daily life into a battlefield, so of course it would make it easier for him to win matches.”

Just to be clear, I don’t think the Meijin did this on purpose.

Making your research public puts you at a disadvantage in the short term, and writing a book takes much more time and energy than you think. So this is the only possible conclusion.

In this world, though, results are everything.

“We here in Kansai have always been apt to branch out and play more or less with brute strength in the early-game. Having that kind of freedom gave us enough leeway to absorb Shogi software strategies.”

That’s probably the reason I have a winning record overall against the Meijin.

It’s not so much age or talent as environment that’s making the biggest impact.

“And, most of all …… gritty, stubborn Kansai players couldn’t copy the Meijin’s streamlined lifestyle even if we wanted to!”

“Yaichi …… That’s how the world is reflected in your eyes.”

“Huh? …… The world?”

“Teach me more about how you see things, Yaichi.”

Ma-chan stares deep into my eyes.

She’s stared at me like this a lot ever since we were little. She’d look at my face even more than the board when we played Shogi, and there were plenty of times I’d look up and accidentally made direct eye contact with her …… I lost my nerve every time and looked away when that happened, though …… 

“W-Well …… I think it will be a while before Shogi between people goes in that direction. Those kinds of holes won’t happen if your opponent can’t keep up with you in the first place.”

“From an editor’s perspective, however, I can see how the release of Kuzuryu’s Notebook would bring about such a world. It feels as though it could change the world from its very core.”

Ma-chan is always so levelheaded, but now it’s like she’s tripping over her own words. Maybe all this work is getting to her?

Her eyes are cloudy and her skin is moist as if she just got out of the bath. The sight is so provocative that my reflex is to look away.

“Releasing intellectual property allows monopolization of markets in the future. Just as corporations that take that approach grow rapidly, putting your innovative Shogi sense into a book will allow you to rise to the Meijin’s level in no time …… No! As someone who claimed your first title at a younger age, you could very well surpass the Meijin to set records never before seen! Oh, how I would love to see that …… To see you claim all seven titles at a younger age than when the Meijin accomplished that feat.”

“…… I’d have no complaints.”

“So that may come to pass.”

Ma-chan grins as she puts her hands on her cheeks.

“I won’t be letting you sleep tonight. I’ll be doing everything I can to help our precious, precious baby come to life even a day earlier.♡”

One of the inn’s staff members arrives at our table carrying desserts. I see the slightest Go get ’em, tiger♡ look in her eyes as she holds back a smile. For some reason she slips me an energy drink under the table, too.

She’s got the wrong idea. I just know it ……