Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 16 - Chapter 1.8

  THE FIRST BATTLE

I see Charlette and Ayano off after an extremely eventful lunch break. Now that they’re back in the break room, I fix my clothes and head to the hotel’s garden.

Finding a lawn chair with an extra-long leg rest in the shade, I have a seat and take out my phone to watch the broadcast.

“The challenger came back to the arena in the middle of the lunch break. I doubt that was enough time for her to eat much of anything. Word is, she ran back.”

“I can vouch for that. Her footsteps echoed all the way into the break room.”

There are still a few minutes left before the match will start up again.

Ai is already dialed in for a fight. She’s swaying back and forth so fast, I’m afraid she’s going to end up head-butting the board by accident. The players working as commentator and analyst are just as floored as I am.

Then, just as the match recorder gets up to make an announcement, “The lunch break has ended, so please begin–––”

“Yes!!”

Ai is so eager to get started that she cuts off the match recorder and plays her move right away. It’s so dynamic that she reaches all the way into enemy territory.

2 One Bishop. Her mind is set.

“You’re going to finish this quickly, aren’t you? Ai.”

The words roll off my tongue before I notice.

She’s trying to force checkmate. Playing that Bishop shows that she wants to make her opponent surrender early and is saving nothing for later.

Compared to Shakando-sensei, who is sipping a cup of fresh tea after getting back to the arena mere seconds before the match was scheduled to restart, the two players couldn’t be more different.

“The challenger almost looks angry. Her aura is astounding! What could’ve happened during the lunch break?”

“She was shivering this morning. It’s almost like someone else is sitting at the board!”

“To have this much competitive juice flowing when pitted against Women’s Legend Rina Shakando, I suppose we can chalk it up to youth. She’s proven that this stage isn’t too big for her. Perhaps she has read all the way to the end?”

“The rating doesn’t seem to be that far in her favor ……,” says the Women’s League player working as commentator as she points to the software rating. She’s questioning Ai’s decision and could be a little jealous of her, as well.

But that opinion is too shallow.

“Ryuo. What do you make of the formations?” says Machi Kugui carrying a camera equipped with a zoom lens as she walks up to me.

“…… How did you know I was here?”

“Journalists and photographers identify the spots where the arena is visible from outside long before the match begins,” she answers like it was obvious, and then adds one extra reason. “Not to mention that this is a blind spot for the players themselves. A father who lacks the courage to speak with his runaway daughter would set up camp here, don’t you agree?”

Harsh.

Not that I say anything back because she’s right.

“The match itself is more important. Has Miss Hinatsuru seen something?”

“There are some formations where software has difficulty identifying check paths in the late-game. I told you that before, remember?” Once I confirm that, “Plus, the software isn’t set to read too deep into the sequences, so it still thinks it’s anyone’s match. But I’m pretty sure that Ai used the lunch break to read deep into the board and found something. She decided to hit Shakando-sensei with it directly.”

“…… Miss Hinatsuru has surpassed A.I.?”

“It’s about strengths and weaknesses. Software may be far stronger than people, but it has a long way to go to master Shogi theory. If it were a supercomputer, that would be different.”

Something similar happened to me the first time I played against Ai. She already knew how to win before I taught her anything about Shogi.

A natural born competitor.

That’s who the girl named Ai Hinatsuru really is.

“Interesting …… This will make waves, you know? The girl who can outplay artificial intelligence.”

That kind of news getting around would do more harm than good. I’d better nip it in the bud.

“It’s just competitive tactics. I’d do the same thing in her shoes. Even if this move turns out to be a mistake, there’s plenty of time to come back because it’s just the first match. On the other hand, it’ll stay in the back of the opponent’s head during the next match if it works.”

“Using break time to find a check path …… Yes? Sounds similar to a certain Ryuo, doesn’t it?”

“…………”

“Has she read Kuzuryu’s Notebook?”

“It’s all instinct.”

It’s actually Ai who taught me to think like that. Machi knows, but she asked anyway. After all, we wrote that book together.

“Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here …… Here!!” Ai’s voice comes out from my smartphone speakers.

The voice she makes and she reads deep, deep into the board.

“HERE!!”

Whipping her fingers forward, she plants a piece down with a snap so loud I hear it outside the arena. She has plenty of waiting time left, but she’s charging forward at a breakneck speed.

“Here!! HERE!! Hereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereheeeereeeee!!”

Then she slams a piece down with the force of an axe.

1 Two Silver.

“O- …… 1 Two Silver?!” Machi and I say in stunned unison before checking our screens one more time.

Just to make sure that that jaw-dropping move, putting a Silver directly in front of her opponent’s Lance, actually happened!

“Strong ……”

Even I didn’t see that move …… When did she find it?

“………… Hmm.”

The Eternal Queen looks at it, places her hand in her cheek and nods a few times.

Then, wetting her lips with the last of her tea, she sits up straight with her elegance intact.

“Shakando-sensei is fixing her posture ……”

“A photo op.”

Ka-shak, ka-shak, ka-shak …… Machi points the lens of her camera at the arena and takes a quick series of pictures.

She did so because she knows what’s coming.

“Strong.”

Shakando-sensei’s remark in the arena comes out of my smartphone as clear as day.

Surprisingly, the same word I used–––

“I have lost. And to this extent …… Hm.”

Placing her right hand over the piece stand, the Women’s Legend admits defeat.

Thus the defender surrenders after 73 moves.

“Thank you for the match.”

The challenger answers calmly. She’s already looking into the future.

“Th-That’s the end! The Women’s Legend surrendered!!”

People are moving around all over the place on the broadcast.

“1 Two Silver? Is that a viable move?! The software hasn’t even listed it as …… Huh?! I-It just identified it as the best move–––”

The observer and journalists are tripping over themselves trying to get down the hallway that leads to the arena. They had relied so much on the software to tell them what was going on that no one saw that move either.

Ai’s first title match.

Usually, the first match in a series is the most difficult, but Ai pushed forward to victory with sequences so complex that even A.I. couldn’t read them.

It’s a big, big win.

“Kuzuryu-Ryuo, how do you feel after watching your apprentice’s first title match?”

“My apprentice is so strong, it’s scary.”

“That would make a good title for a light novel, if I do say so myself.”

Machi looks dumbfounded, but I can tell she agrees with me 100 percent. She is a victim of Ai’s late game prowess, after all ……

“It was a complete win. She managed to get the match to a pivotal point before lunch and then use that break time to map out a path directly to victory. She probably went over it a few times and decided to pull the trigger. I doubt she had anything to eat.”

If this were sumo wrestling, it be a railroad victory.

In other words, colliding at full speed and then driving the opponent out of the ring in a straight line. All without the other guy being able to do a thing.

It’s a victory claimed on power and momentum alone.

And it’s worth a lot.

In a series …… winning like that might just have given her the whole victory.

“Did you do something?”

“No. I haven’t even seen her. Not that there’s anything I could do if I had ……”

“On a side note, my younger sister apprentice and Charlette bragged about being shown special moves from Kuzuryu-sensei in bed during the lunch hour when they returned to the break room.”

“That doesn’t mean I did anything!!”

Ayano is really going to have to work on her choice of words if she’s going to be a journalist!!

“…… She’s gotten stronger in Tokyo, plain and simple. Now she’s strong enough to fight head-to-head with a title holder.”

Acknowledging that in my own words wasn’t easy …

Because that meant acknowledging that she doesn’t need me around ……

“You sound like a man suffering, watching his ex-girlfriend become prettier by the day after breaking up.”

“Would you quit reading my mind?”

Machi surely has a way with words. Being a journalist, she knows how to be a little too on the nose.

Though, using father and ex-girlfriend pushed it a bit ……

That probably means …… my connection with Ai Hinatsuru has grown beyond the realm of Master and apprentice ……

“Do you not believe so as well?”

“Yeah, yeah. All the time.”

“Mngh.” Machi pouts, puffing out her cheeks before putting her Mato Shogi journalist face back on. “I will be returning to the arena to assist my younger sister apprentice. What are your plans, Ryuo?”

“I’ll kill some more time here and go home by myself.”

“No backbone to speak of. Well, I knew that already!”

And then, I’m alone.

There are some words I want to say even though no one is around to hear them.

“Congrats, Ai.”

They disperse on the breeze like cherry blossom petals and drift toward the arena.

Ai is completely focused on the review session that just started. Dialed in, there isn’t a hint of a smile on her face.

She gets a perfect score for her conduct after the match, too.

Watching her, something else occurs to me.

“Shakando-sensei …… It looks like what happened with Ayumu is weighing on her after all.”

That’s the only logical conclusion no matter what angle you take after looking back on how she played this match.

I decide to ask her about the proposal some other time and leave.