Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 17 - Chapter 1.2

  SHOGI 100 YEARS IN THE FUTURE

“Let’s create the Shogi people will be playing in 100 years, together.”

Inside a room filled with black boxes lined up like gravestones, a girl flips long locks of black hair over her shoulder like a wing before extending her white, delicate hand out to me.

Ai Yashajin.

An 11-year-old who is my second apprentice along with being my current live-in apprentice.

This artificial island outside Kobe feels more like a lifeless realm of the dead.

Everything here was created by human hands.

It’s here that this girl———was solving a game created by gods.

“100 years ………… Are you saying this calculator can skip a whole century?”

“I am,” says Ai with an innocent smile.

“This Awaji is the fastest supercomputer in the whole world right now. In other words, it can come the closest to an answer to the game we call Shogi, closer than any other machine on earth.”

Professional Shogi players stand at the highest peak of human achievement.

There are about 200 of us, give or take.

Around 3,000 new match records are created in league matches every year.

Meanwhile, this supercomputer …… can create match records much faster and more precisely than we can. In one year, it can pump out hundreds of millions.

It takes mere seconds to arrive at a place it would take 100 years to locate for the best and brightest human minds.

When it comes to Shogi, this is as good as a time machine.

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie …… But this is real.

“…… What’s the software?”

“A deep learning system that we developed independently… though it was heavily influenced by Go software.”

“Deep learning ……”

It can create match records so much faster and with a larger scope than the conventional software pro players use to research at home. In fact, using it means Ai had access to so many more records than the rest of us toiling away on our keyboards that it’s not even funny.

This is not some child’s pipe dream.

The Shogi Ai played to win the Queen and Women’s Throne Titles are enough to prove that everything she said so far is true.

“The Go software that surpassed humanity was originally developed by a venture company in England. A large corporation in the United States bought it from them and perfected it,” says Ai.

Go is a much more complicated game than Shogi and was seen as a last bastion of human superiority over computers.

“Since Go has spread around the world, unlike Shogi, they must have seen it as a good way to showcase the software’s capabilities. Like chess.”

“…… Go pros gave us a lot of flak when software beat a Shogi pro for the first time.”

But a computer wiped the floor with a Go world champion only a few years after that.

After a semiconductor chip called a TPU was developed for the sole purpose of outdoing the human mind, the defeated Go world champion had this to say at the following press conference: “I lost to a stack of cash, not to a machine.”

He practically spat into the microphone.

“The strongest one in the world right now was developed in China. Go is played by tens of millions of people and is much more popular than in Europe or the United States. They surpassed Japan’s technology a long time ago.”

“China, huh ……”

“It’s the company that makes those mobile games for smartphones. You know, Original Sin, Crazy Royal, those kinds of games. Haven’t you heard of them?”

“Their commercials show up everywhere.”

I’m pretty sure Master Kiyotaki plays one.

“Their servers get freed up late at night when most mobile gamers are offline. That’s when they pour their resources into Go. There’s even a saying: Go A.I. gets stronger every time the sun goes down.”

“That does sound possible, but ……”

“All an urban legend if you ask me.”

“That’s enough chit chat.”

I step forward with enough force to squeak my shoes and interrupt Ai.

“You brought me all the way out here. You’re going to let me see it, right? Shogi from 100 years in the future.”

“If you’re happy with match records, help yourself.”

Ai holds out a tablet.

The future of Shogi is jam-packed behind a screen faintly glowing in the dark.

This is it: Pandora’s Box.

Open it up and there is no going back. My heart is beating so fast it is almost painful ……

“…………………”

My mind set, I pick up the tablet.

“Th-This is …… Shogi 100 years from now?! This?!”

Records that go far beyond my wildest dreams open up one after another.

Something feels wrong, very wrong. It’s all I can do to keep my head on straight.

So many emotions are flying around, faster and faster.

The pressure is building in my chest, about to explode———

Then, after the dust settles ……………… I don’t know what to call what’s left, but hope sure isn’t it.

“…… Well ………… I didn’t see that coming ……”

“Is it what you thought? The conclusion of Shogi.”

“…… More or less ……”

Everyone’s probably thought about the final answer to Shogi at least once.

Shogi is a game of information that requires two players to complete, and can only end with the offense winning, defense winning, or a tie.

And the one and only gap in the rules has been fixed thanks to my battle against the Meijin in the Ryuo Title Match.

“But this …… It’s horrible. By far the worst possible scenario that ever crossed my mind ……”

“That’s right. Now do you understand what I’ve been through?”

Ai shrugs and lets out a sigh, almost a little too obviously.

“It’s not as simple as just playing the right moves. After seeing these …… it’s hard to motivate myself to play Shogi in the first place anymore.”

“…… I bet. I wish I never saw them.”

“But you did.”

You forced me to look: I wanted to tell that imp of a girl standing in front of me, but I barely managed to hold it back because I understand that I’m the one who zipped out here ……

There is no doubt in my mind that I would be screaming in despair if I were alone right now.

“Now that you have seen the records, you can’t pretend they don’t exist. Sensei, surely you can find useful sequences and formations much better than me, right? Oh Demon King of the West.”

“………………………”

“I read that book of yours,” says Ai as she takes out her smartphone.

The digital version of my well-received writing debut is right there on the screen.

“Kuzuryu’s Notebook, was it? The title notwithstanding, it was a good read.”

“…… Thanks.”

“Deriving standards from the way software plays Shogi. Finding meaning within inorganic lists of 0’s and 1’s. It’s mind boggling …… Actually, people would think the author was out of their mind if anyone else wrote it.”

“A young pro in Kanto said something just like that to me.”

“But you’re using these strategies to win matches. Not only that, other players are starting to copy you: the Meijin included.”

She is right that sequences I wrote about in my book showed up several times in the last Meijin Title Match series.

Also, there are top-level players like the last Meijin challenger, Jin Natagiri 8-dan, who are trying to recreate their Shogi sense to match what was in my book.

I realize that I’m the one who opened this door.

This door that leads to utter despair.

But the fact that I raised Ai Yashajin into this monster is what scares me.

I have to take responsibility for it. Leaving her the way she is now would be ……

“…… I guess that is possible ……”

“Then why not be a little happier? I’m offering to pay a fortune to help you find the answer you’ve been chasing all this time.”

“……”

“We’re the only two people who have seen this future. Yaichi Kuzuryu and Ai Yashajin, that’s it. We’re the only ones who have turned our backs on the gods and eaten the forbidden fruit.”

Original Sin.

The game title Ai brought up a moment ago fits a little too well.

“…… Anyone could see it once technology catches up, right?”

“Someday, yes,” Ai acknowledges with a shrug.

“But that’s at least a decade or two away.”

“Don’t computers improve seven-fold every year or something like that?”

There is a good chance household computers may be able to do what this supercomputer can in five years or so.

“Oh, what was it called? Moo’s Law?”

“Moore’s Law, idiot.”

That quip came from the very bottom of her heart for the idiot in front of her.

This. This is what has been missing. That is the Ai Yashajin I know. What a relief ……

“Yes, the market will become inundated in a few years and it’s true that the semiconductor chip Awaji is using right now is already a little outdated,” says Ai Yashajin as she gently slides her fingers over Awaji’s massive casing. Its lights flicker in the dark all the while.

“However, mother and father designed this Awaji to excel in application, not just simple calculations.”

“???”

“Think of it this way. Running speed is important for soccer players, right? But a world champion in the 100-meter dash wouldn’t necessarily be a world-class soccer player.”

“I …… see your point.”

“So, even having the fastest calculation speed in the world wouldn’t be useful if it can’t address the problem. That’s why Awaji’s focus on all-purpose computing allows it to produce answers faster than machines designed to specialize in specific areas.”

I’m lost ……

Maybe it’s like the way the Meijin is still the strongest player when playing Ranging Rook even though he’s an All-Rounder? I guess?

“Think about it.”

Ai gestures around this bizarre space and says, “Do you think anyone other than me in the entire world would use the fastest computer in existence to run Shogi software?”

“No …… I highly doubt it ……”

“This miracle was only possible thanks to the Yashajin family’s wealth and connections. Funneling this much calculation power into researching an analog board game only played on an island country in the Far East …… This may sound strange coming from me, but it makes no sense.”

Yeah, the probability that anyone other than Ai Yashajin comes up with this idea and has the resources to make it happen ever again is next to zero. This chance won’t happen again.

“That’s why I said this is Shogi from 100 years in the future.”

“………………………”

Then she walks right up to me, her gaze locked up at mine.

“If I said this was all my way of getting your attention …… would that make you happy?”

She reaches out to take my hand with a bewitching smile on her lips.

How am I supposed to take that?

Ai appointed Akira Ikeda, her closest aide, to head a company that is now in charge of renovating the Kansai Shogi Association building, founding a brand new Women’s League Title and implementing a web service to assist all Shogi players.

What’s more …… the Shogi Association Chairman, Seiichi Tsukimitsu 9-dan's shadow always seem to be around her. He’s the Eternal Meijin who introduced me to Ai Yashajin in the first place.

It’s like she’s manipulating the entire Shogi world from behind the scenes.

———First impression: a poison apple. For sure.

Take it, and it’s instant death.

Nobody’d normally bite on a move this blatant. I should leave this fishy-as-heck building without a second thought, pretend this whole thing never happened and go back to my old life.

Mend bridges with my Women’s Title-holding first apprentice and wait for my convalescing girlfriend to recover.

———Can I go back? Is that realistic ……?

I don’t know.

But if there is one thing I know for sure…

It is that I don’t want to use this Awaji for my own benefit.

To become the best Shogi player on earth.

To claim all the titles for myself.

To find sequences no one has ever used before.

If that is what I wanted, I probably could have left. Going through with it would have been extremely unfair to all the other Shogi players.

But ……………… I decided to stay.

——— I want to see.

This is my only chance to see Shogi that I would never see if I lived out an ordinary life.

Pure, genuine curiosity as a Shogi player won’t let me put on the brakes.

“………… I can’t guarantee I’ll live up to your expectations.”

I clasp my other hand over hers and whisper, “What’s this? Wimping out already?”

“I don’t know what you think about it …… but I’ve only found my own way to use software. There’s a gap between me and the guys who go all-in. I have to catch up with them ……”

“Like Yo Okito?”

“Okito-sensei and Futatsuzuka-sensei are more like me than anything else.”

King Yo Okito was the first human pro to lose to a computer.

The weight of that nearly pushed him to take his own life, but it also drove him to reinvent himself by incorporating software. He paved the way for computers to spread throughout the Shogi world when everyone else hated them.

Okito-sensei's research partner, Mirai Futatsuzuka 4-dan then took the reins and gave software a more direct purpose with younger pro players who now walk the same path.

They’re now in the process of developing their own deep-learning software.

But …… They’re researchers at the end of the day.

They’re just good at using computers rather than wanting to actually become one.

They’re also aware that they don’t have the talent to do that if they tried.

“The ones trying to install software into their own minds …… are these two.”

With that, I open a Shogi broadcast app on my phone and show Ai who’s listed at the top.

The names of two beasts that are sticking outside the realm of humanity.

“Ryuo Tournament, Group 6 Final: Sota Kunugi 4-dan vs. Ika Sainokami-Empress (First move pending)”