Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 16 - Chapter 3.7

  A PLACE TO RETURN

“Do you remember those bald spots?”

“Huh? …… Bald spots?”

Keika is asking while pointing at the carpet.

There are a few round, threadbare spots over there.

Four of them are small circles the same shape as the legs on a Shogi board. The others are a bit further away and about the size of kids’ knees.

“That is where you and Ginko always sat.”

“Yeah …… We backed away from the board because Master told us to. Stuff happened when we got too close.”

“Like literally butting heads.”

“It’s obvious Ginko was doing that on purpose. It never happened when it was her turn, not once. She used to yank out my hair when she lost, too ……”

Keika and I have been taking a trip down memory lane for a while now.

But the sun is about to set.

It’s about time I brought up the important stuff. Shogi …… and what Master said.

The fourth match.

Ai Hinatsuru’s strategy of choice is–––Central Rook.

“There’s nothing wrong with playing Ranging Rook on defense. That itself isn’t a bad idea at all.”

Ai learned how to play it from Mr. Oishi directly. Combine that with her talent for reading in the late-game, and it’s a potent combination.

“Just …… Snubbing her ace strategy in favor of a desperate ambush like this, her chances of winning are slim to none.”

An ambush can only be called an ambush if the opponent isn’t expecting it.

The problem is that the player known as Rina Shakando has thorough knowledge of a wide array of strategies and an infinite ability to transform the board into her own little room like she did in the third match. Her decades of research allow her to compartmentalize each stage of the match and to get the best result.

Which is exactly what she did starting in the early-game of today’s match.

“See, look at this here. The way the Bishop shifts starting with the 29th move.”

I’m explaining along with the match record on the broadcast.

“Shakando-sensei is the only player who shifts the Bishop Path even while doing a Rapid Attack. There are only three other examples of this sequence, and all of them are labeled Rina Shakando. This is her world, where only she knows what moves are good or bad.”

“I’ve been to that world before,” says Keika, looking up from the match record.

Her eyes are looking into the past, though.

“It’s like a forest of thorns …… No matter how you try to attack, you end up getting hurt. I was on offence, but for some reason the formation kept changing against me ……”

“You won in the end, right, Keika?”

“I was lucky.”

The kids room on the second floor of Master Kiyotaki’s place.

Keika and I are analyzing Ai’s Shogi, but she looks toward one corner of the room and says, “I fought back in desperation, and one of my punches made it through the thorns.”

The countless trophies and awards that Ginko and I won over the years are lined up in that corner.

Just one of them belongs to Keika.

It’s from when she was an amateur …… She took third place in a tournament when she was in elementary school, probably third grade.

There’s a picture right next to the trophy from when she won it.

Keika looks as nervous as could be holding up the trophy, and a young Rina Shakando is standing next to her.

“Looking back …… I’m not sure if I actually won because of my skills. Somehow I get the feeling I’m only allowed into Women’s League out of sympathy. Because ……”

“……” 

“Because …… I’m Kousuke Kiyotaki’s daughter …………”

“Keika ……”

“In my head, I know that she is not the type of person who would soil Shogi’s good name. But …… once emotions are involved, you know? Sorry, that was a weird thing to say.”

I couldn’t say a word. The only silver lining is that Keika doesn’t know what was going on behind the scenes when Shakando-sensei was called the Assassin.

This probably has something to do with the fact that Keika has barely won any matches since becoming a Women’s League player. I haven’t been able to stand seeing her in so much pain because of those losses, and it’s even worse ever since she found out about Master’s past relationship with Shakando-sensei ……

That’s why I decided to stay in Osaka and spend time with Keika.

Today is the fourth match.

But …… I didn’t go to Kurashiki.

Two hours is all I would need to get to the venue from Osaka, but I don’t have the guts to see it through to the end.

I want Ai to win. Even though I don’t want to talk to her face-to-face just yet, that much I know in my heart.

At the same time, though, after learning about Shakando-sensei’s painful past, it’s become so much harder for me to only root for Ai ……

I’ll say it loud and clear.

Right from the start, I was hoping that Ayumu’s proposal would fail.

Seeing it actually happening scares me. If I saw a Master and apprentice who were that far apart in age get engaged before my very own eyes …… something inside me might break.

Ayumu and Shakando-sensei are too close to me to ignore the situation outright ……

But now.

I can empathize with Shakando-sensei, the person who raised Ayumu. Part of me has started wanting her, the one who loved my Master, to find the happiness she deserves.

And …… I’ve started thinking about what happiness would be from her perspective.

“Is this what Shakando-sensei is trying to do?”

“Do? Do what?”

“To make her opponents question themselves.”

I say what comes to mind.

“For example …… even Shakando-sensei would be in a tough spot if Ai used Double Wing Attack every match. After all, she even had me sweating bullets more than once in our matches.”

“…………”

Keika quietly listens.

“But Ai squashed her best opportunity to use it on her own. Even though Shakando-sensei played 2 Six Pawn, Ai didn’t respond by advancing the Pawn in front of her own Rook to 8 Four.”

Even as I’m talking, something feels off and I can’t shake it.

Could it really be true?

Is that what Shakando-sensei is aiming for? If she plays Double Wing Attack again …… would Ai have a chance?

–––It isn’t that simple.

My instincts as a competitor whisper to me.

Rina Shakando …… the one feared as the Assassin wouldn’t be afraid of small details like that.

If there’s anything I know for sure right now, it’s–––

“Shakando-sensei is playing a series. But Ai is giving a demonstration on game strategy.” 

Harsh, I know, but it had to be said.

Ai isn’t actually looking at her opponent. She’s using sequences that make her look decent.

Shakando-sensei can see through it and is adjusting …… Ai thinks she’s lining up an ambush, but all it’s going to do is get her caught in a trap.

“The final fifth match is going to be the real battle.”

The fourth match is still going on, but it’s obvious how it’s going to end.

Shakando-sensei’s abnormally fast Rapid Attack has Ai’s Gokigen Central Rook under lock and key.

Forget being worldly, there’s no way to put a decent attack together like this. Ranging Rook’s miserable side is on display. The Maestro would be furious if he saw what happened to this Shogi.

“No matter what happens with the piece flip …… If you can’t find a place to come back to, the same thing is going to happen over and over again.”

A place for Ai to come back to.

Where is that–––?

“…… I might be the one being tested here,” I whispered under my breath, sitting next to Keika in the kids room of Master’s house where I spent my days as a live-in apprentice.

Staring at the bald spots left on the carpet.

The fourth Women’s Legend Title Match ends on the 109th move with the Women’s Legend claiming victory.

The Challenger got out to a quick lead by winning the first two matches of the five-match series, but now it will come down to a climactic battle at the end.

Both have an equal 50-50 chance of winning. The momentum, however …… is with Rina Shakando.