VIP
The first thing I notice inside the break room is the strangely large crowd of people around an analysis board. Since I already made sure that Master is in the main hall with the commentators, I know for a fact he isn’t here. Running into him now would make things complicated ……
“Who’s here? Somebody famous?”
People from outside the Shogi world come in and out of the arena and the break room we use for analysis all the time in the morning during title matches. We don’t have time to spend on them once the match heats up, but it’s no problem to show them around during the early-game–––
“C-Chairman Tsukimitsu is working with them personally, in a kimono?! What kind of VIP is ……?!”
Whoever she is, she’s tall.
Young and pretty, too. But there’s a sketchy air about her. Like she knows a thing or two about the black market. Just when I was getting impressed that, considering she looks about 20. she doesn’t look intimidated by being in this break room before a title match or speaking with the chairman one-on-one ……
“President Ikeda. This seat has the best view. Please, sit down.”
“Thank you for your hospitality, Chairman Tsukimitsu. Sharing an analysis board with a member of the A League …… As a Shogi fan, this truly is the best seat in the house.”
It’s someone I know very well.
Know her? I live with her!
“A-Akira?! What the heck are you doing here?!”
I’d been trying to keep a low profile, but I can’t help screaming in front of all these people. Something is definitely, definitely wrong about this picture!
Akira Ikeda puts on the fakest look of surprise I’ve ever seen and says, “Oh my, if it isn’t Ryuo Yaichi Kuzuryu! What a surprise! To think I’d be able to speak with the youngest dual title holder in history! I’m so glad I decided to drop in on today’s title match!!”
“Huh? I taught you some Shogi tricks while having rice cakes at home just yesterday …… Oh, um.”
I can’t talk about living arrangements in front of a crowd like this. Changing gears, I quickly adjust to match her story.
“Y-Yeah. It has been a while …… What a coincidence! ……”
The chairman’s explanation comes from even further out in left field.
“The association has decided to entrust President Ikeda’s company with tearing down and constructing new Shogi Association Buildings.”
“President?”
Akira …… is a company president?
“Which reminds me, you started a videogame company in Kobe and had the association contact me to help you develop a game, didn’t you?”
It was such a disaster that I had all but blocked it from my memory, but now it’s coming back to me.
I agreed to it thinking that they were making a Shogi-based game, but instead they wanted to make a mobile app overloaded with cute girls called Lolicon GO or Lolilive or something like that. Oh those days were painful ……
To make a long story short, the game’s financial investor, Ai Yashajin, was so infuriated by the game or should I say the pretty girl content we made that she pulled the plug before it ever saw the light of day ……
“But that company went bankrupt, right ……?”
“The initial cost of securing the massive server required in order to produce a game for smartphones was too great, yes. We have gone back to square one and began working in real estate this time.”
“Oh, gotcha. Land sharking sounds more up your alley anyway …… Hold up!”
The tone made it sound like they were going to tear down a tapioca stand to build a fancy bread shop, but …… there was a word in there I can’t let slip!!
“D-Did you say …… tearing down the association buildings?!”
There have been talks about renovating them for what feels like an eternity. I know that negotiations for constructing a brand new building in Tokyo have been going for over 20 years.
Either it’s that they haven’t been able to find a good company, or this, or that …… No progress has been made it all ……
“How’d your new company got the contract, Akira?”
“Because it is our specialty!”
Akira puffs her chest out with pride. I don’t like where this is going ……
“While it’s true the company has just been founded, they show tremendous potential for rapid growth moving forward.”
“I suppose that must be true if you say so, chairman, but ……” Unable to put my doubts to rest, I turn to Akira and ask, “So? What’s the name of your company?”
“Lolihome.”
“Do you like going bankrupt that much, you idiot?!” I scream inside myself, but Akira explains it all with infallible confidence.
“We provide homes that allow young children to flourish in a safe and comfortable environment. I insisted on the name with that vision in mind. Doesn’t it fit perfectly?”
“Wonderful. A name that reflects hopes and dreams of the future, truly wonderful.”
The chairman sounds all for it.
It seems like …… rather than convince me, he’s trying to show the crowd of journalists and Shogi people here how much he trusts Akira.
“While I unfortunately do not have children myself, I have no doubt that I would consider your company’s services for a house of my own if I did.”
The chairman can only say this so carelessly because he doesn’t have kids himself. Yeah, see that? Ms. Oga is looking through available plots of land at breakneck speed on her tablet right next to him because he doesn’t think before he talks ……
Being blind, he can’t see his secretary’s fingers blazing across the screen and keeps going like everything is normal.
“President Ikeda shares your noble aspirations of assisting young girls in fulfilling their dreams, Kuzuryu-Ryuo. Now I understand why you get along so well.”
“I’m a pic fan, after all.”
“I assume you referring to the Shogi pic fan trend?”
She’s not. The kind of pic Akira is referring to will never trend anytime, anywhere. They’re perverted, that’s why.
“The secret of our rapid growth in the real estate industry is due to the new technology we developed by utilizing those photography techniques along with the equipment know-how from our days as a video game company. Are you curious, Kuzuryu-sensei?”
“Not really ……”
“Virtual reality.”
“Virtual …… Reality? As in VR? Like those thick, bricky goggles you need to play some video games ……?”
“Precisely. I have a working set with me right here.”
“There’s a title match going on. Please don’t bring strange things onto hallowed ground.”
Ms. Oga defends my retort in the most bizarre way.
“The association asked her to bring the goggles, because they will be useful for the upcoming press conference.”
Press conference?
“Just try them already. They will change your world.”
“WHOA?! Th-This is ……!!” I yell the instant the thick headset slides over my eyes, the image making me completely forget where I am.
Because it looks exactly like my old apartment above the shopping arcade!
“This is amazing, Akira! It feels like I’m actually there!”
“He-he-he. It does, doesn’t it?”
Man, I really underestimated what VR can do.
Everything looks so real that I swear I can feel and smell the place, too. It’s like I’m in a completely different room ……
“At its most basic level, moving is a journey to a far-off location. However, doing so requires taking time off from work to find your new domicile and the search process often lasts more than one day.”
Akira is right about that. Could this have helped me avoid the tragedy of being locked into buying a 400-million-yen apartment without ever seeing the place? Probably not, but still ……
“Well, guess what! VR allows you to instantly tour those prospective dwellings, no matter how far away they may be, in the most realistic way possible! Not only is it not necessary to travel in person, saving time and money, but for young and beautiful women like me, the pressure of riding along in a car with a sales person to the site will become a non-issue!”
“This technology allows us to show exactly what the inner layout of the new Shogi Association Building will look like in perfect detail. The objecting players who have held out against this project for years will be much easier to convince.”
The chairman quietly adds, “Looking to the future, this electronic realm …… No, I believe it’s called the metaverse, yes? Playing matches in it will be feasible. Travel expenses between East and West will become a thing of the past, and rule violations using software will be much easier to detect.”
Plans for a virtual reality Shogi Association Building?!
“It will also create an environment where it is possible for individuals living abroad and those with disabilities to become professional players. Thus, a certain person has been entrusted with overseeing the construction of the new association buildings …… Well? What does the Ryuo think of his castle-to-be?”
“Th-This is a bit over my head ……”
“Allow me to persuade Kuzuryu-sensei.”
I hear Akira say right before she cracks her knuckles.
“Another feature …… Tada! Installing little girls in your room is also possible!!”
“HOOOOOOOOLY!!”
The next thing that comes into my line of sight–––the Grade Schooler Practice Group from back in the day!
“Ai, Charlette, Ayano …… and Mio, too?! B-But you moved overseas!! I thought the day you all came back to my room would never come ……!!”
All the members of the group that Akira and Ai Yashajin stole- …… recorded.
Ai Hinatsuru looked like this about …… two months after she showed up at my door, maybe? Her newly turned fourth grader self has been reconstructed in cyberspace.
“Sniffle, hic …………… GAAAAAAAAAAH …………!!”
The next thing I know …… I’m bawling my eyes out inside the goggles.
The happy days that I never thought would ever come back are right here in front of me ……!!
This …… is the metaverse ……!!
“Hey, check that out ……”
“Being surrounded by digital little girls is making the Ryuo cry ……”
“I knew he was a lolicon all along.”
“Don’t tell me that the real purpose for today’s press conference is ……”
No, no, no! These are tears of joy from the good old days!!
Just when I was about to explain it, it hits me. Calling the times when grade school girls came to my room good old days would make this misunderstanding even worse. The best move now is to endure. Ngghhh ……
Grimacing, I pull off the headset as Akira says, “In addition to VR, our company has developed a system in which we purchase leftover plots of land that went unsold and continuously build the domiciles divided into the smallest dimensions allowed under the law using A.I.”
“That’s vicious!”
“Please use the word efficient. Also–––,” adds Akira with sorrow in her eyes, “for cities with many slopes and few locations ideal for building domiciles like Kobe, it’s an extremely useful technique. Especially for recovering from earthquakes …… Yes?”
“Ah ……”
Akira isn’t old enough to have memories of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, but that doesn’t mean she grew up completely unaffected by the scars of that calamity.
And the chairman is from Kobe. He was the one who connected me with Ai Yashajin in the first place.
Wait a minute …… The connections between the Yashajin family and Seiichi Tsukimitsu might run deeper than I ever thought ……
“At any rate, our company prides itself on efficiently building safe, reliable structures that are easy for children to access using A.I. technology. What better criteria for the company overseeing construction of the new Shogi Association Buildings?”
“I hope this is the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship, President Ikeda.”
It seems as though the chairman wholeheartedly believes Akira is an extremely capable young leader of a young company. The fact that Ms. Oga is starting to see that level of trust as a threat and eyeing Akira like an enemy is proof of that. I wonder who would win if these two fought to the death?
“Chairman, this deserves your attention. The board has taken a dynamic turn.”
“What has happened, Ms. Oga?”
The chairman’s face transforms with every piece that Ms. Oga relays to him from the analysis board, which has been laid out to reflect the current formation in the match.
“Whoa?! Well, this is certainly …… interesting. Very interesting indeed ……”
“What is? It looks like the normal Double Wing Attack to me.”
“The formation has aligned with a match that I played nearly 30 years ago as the defender. It was, however, not a league match.”
“Huh?! …… This here?”
Once I get over this stunning fact that Ms. Oga has every one of Chairman Tsukimitsu’s matches, including exhibitions, committed to memory, I have a look. Scanning the board, I tilt my head and say, “But this …… the newest formations in modern Shogi also stick out both the edge Pawns sometimes. I’ve seen younger players do it.”
“That is interesting.”
This kind of thing happens every now and then because Double Wing Attack hasn’t been researched thoroughly enough yet to establish a standard. The ideology between now and back then is so different, so it has to be a coincidence ……
“You said you were on defense, chairman. Then who were you playing against?”
“Have you no idea?”
“Well, since it wasn’t a league match, that means they weren’t necessarily a professional player …… But no amateur or Women’s League player played at this high level in the early game 30 years ago, so they’d have to be–––”
“Rina Shakando Women’s 2-dan.”
“……?!”
In other words ……
Right now, Ai is playing the same Shogi as Shakando-sensei did way back then!
“She was still in her teens. Caught off guard by her lovely charms in that school uniform, I came dangerously close to leaving the disgraceful match record …… though only just… my eyes could see well enough at that time.”
The prodigy who became the youngest Meijin in history vividly recalls what happened on a board almost 30 years ago.
“The match where the reigning Meijin was defeated by a Women’s League player in front of the whole world.”
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