Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 17 - Chapter 2.3

  THE ROOM OF SPIRIT AND SHOGI

“Wow …… The room looks great. I was expecting something a bit more bare bones.”

I’ve been brought to a room inside a building in Kobe.

There was a big tarp hanging over the outside of it. I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones in this place.

“This is a hotel and our company is overseeing its construction. High priority was placed on completing this particular room.”

Akira says this place is going to be a hotel catering to business travel.

It not only accommodates regular tourists, but it’ll be equipped to handle business people working remotely, not just staying the night. The Wi-Fi network has been reinforced and amplified so that it can host e-sports tournaments in the future, too.

In her words, it's a hybrid office and hotel built to accommodate the times.

“All of your requests have been met, Kuzuryu-sensei. The room is stocked with a month’s worth of basic supplies. Please contact me should it not be enough.”

“Thank you, Akira.”

Everything I asked for is in this windowless room.

A bed with a firm mattress. A shower with a wide tub.

A large fridge jam-packed with energy drinks and chocolate bars.

Then there’s a VR headset and glove and a Shogi board.

As for why all this has been prepared just for me———

“But if I may ask …… do you really intend to play Shogi continuously without speaking with anyone else? Won’t you step outside from time to time?”

“Because I have matches, yes. Of course, I can’t just take leave or not show up without saying a word, but I might forfeit some matches if I think it’s necessary.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t matches what Shogi players live for?”

“Players live for something else.”

Running my fingers across an eight-and-a-half inch tall Shogi board for matches played on the floor while sitting on your ankles and a 2.8-inch board designed for matches played on a table while sitting in a chair, I say, “When there’s Shogi we’ve never seen before, players dive head first. That’s what we live for.”

“Isn’t that Shogi obsession?”

“Probably.”

Akira’s all-too-accurate remark makes me chuckle.

But after turning pro and winning titles …… Strangely, it feels like I’ve drifted away from that happy obsession I had with Shogi.

So I’d like to go back, reignite the fire I used to have for it.

“It was quite a surprise when you asked to play against Awaji for yourself, Sensei. Even my lady was taken aback. What point is there in playing against a computer in this day and age?”

“I don’t think it’s the smartest choice either.”

I give her a straight answer as I try on the headset.

Switching the power on, a Shogi board and pieces appear in the lifeless VR world in front of my face. Whoa ……!

“No one made of flesh and blood stands a chance playing against a Shogi god. They’ll just get trounced over and over. A smarter person would come up with a more efficient method, but ……”

“Are you saying this supercomputer is a Shogi god?”

“Pretty darn close, I think.”

Seeing Awaji’s match recorders was enough for me to tell.

It’s on the verge of an ultimate solution to Shogi …… Well, the chances that what I saw is the answer are pretty high.

“If a compilation of thoroughly analyzed match records can be called a god, the Ai Yashajin has one at her disposal… not that she knows how to use it.”

“…………”

Akira gives a light sigh and says, “The tutorial will teach you how to use the equipment. The settings have already been adjusted to your preferences, as requested. While the smaller details couldn’t be added due to time constraints, the atmosphere itself should be more than passable.”

“This is a first for me, playing VR Shogi. I’m looking forward to it.”

Slipping my hand into the glove, I try grabbing a piece that isn’t really there.

Uh-hmmm.

I can’t say it feels like the real thing, but it shouldn’t take that long to get used to this.

Akira gave me a preview of the VR system that she herself had a hand in creating while working as the representative for Loli Home, the real estate developer the Yashajin Group is using as a front.

It hit me that the system could be useful for online matches when I tried it out during the third Women’s Legend Title Match.

“There was a robotic arm on the other side of the board back in the day. But that takes up way too much space, don’t you think? Then again, I can’t focus on a match if I have to keep clicking on a mouse.”

“I tried the program for myself as well, and it was quite immersive.”

Yes. Immersion.

What I’m trying to do right now needs as much of that as possible.

I have to fool myself into thinking everything is real.

“But …… are you certain I was the best person to make these settings?”

“Hey, we made a game together, didn’t we? Even pulled a few all-nighters at your office.”

“How intense those days were ……!”

Akira once founded a gaming company in Kobe and produced a rhythm action game for lolicons and brought me, a pro Shogi player, in as an advisor. Apparently, she thought of my experience raising young girls as a valuable resource ……

I saw what Akira is capable of back then, so I went behind Ai Yashajin’s back to make a certain request.

She agreed as a way to pay me back for my help with the game.

Honestly, I didn’t think she could do it in the little time she had, but———

“Creating a single, younger, 3D version of my lady required a painstaking amount of time and effort back then, but technology has progressed to the point that it can create an even a better one in mere seconds. That is the power of deep learning software.”

“Like magic.”

“Agreed. Not only 3D, but a moe moe 2D illustration is but a mere enchantment away from existence. The end of illustrators has arrived.”

“Really? I think they’ll keep going strong.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Because Shogi players still have jobs even after pros were the first to lose to software.”

But even we could be just candles in the wind now. Once Awaji’s version of Shogi’s future gets out, plenty of people will probably choose to quit altogether.

However I’m going to resist it with everything I’ve got.

Akira must’ve picked up on my resolve. That’s why she was willing to help me while keeping her lady out of the loop.

“My lady will surely punish me if she finds out ……”

“But you like it, right? Getting yelled at by her.”

“Can’t say I don’t!”

Man, am I glad Akira has a quirky side.

Said quirky yet skilled and busy woman has completed her assignment and turns to leave.

“I’ll see myself out. Though I will be back to check on you periodically.”

“You’ll be monitoring the match records, right?”

So long as new ones come in, that’ll prove I’m still alive. There’s no need to travel all the way out here.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you played Shogi posthumously, Sensei.”

“Are you worried about me?”

“This property was only just developed and cannot afford a black mark even before it opens,” says Akira with one foot out the door.

“This door can only be opened from the outside, just as you requested.”

Ker-chk.

The auto lock clicks into place as that metallic door closes behind her.

“…… I’d end up running away if it did. Probably.”

But now, there’s no escape.

I’m about to lose to a computer over and over again.

Not just simple losses, though.

The kind that will make my formations worse the more I play, an endless swamp of agonizing defeats. I doubt I’ll ever make any progress.

My mind and physical endurance are going to be ground to a pulp.

And …… I might not have anything to show for it in the end.

Worse, there’s a real chance my Shogi sense will get turned inside out and my skills will suffer. I have to keep playing Shogi despite the risk of losing everything on my shoulders. I have to turn my back on reality, all of it.

That’s what it takes to jump 100 years into the future.

“That’s what Ai Yashajin was doing before her title matches, wasn’t it? Yeesh …… doesn’t she have any attachment to the real world at all?”

The depths of darkness within that 11-year-old girl send a chill down my spine as I set to work on the tutorial and confirm the setting Akira installed for me.

“Oh wooow ……! Th-This is incredible ……!!”

A room I know so well flicks into existence right before my eyes.

The kids room on the second floor of Master Kiyotaki’s place, where I lived when I was a live-in apprentice.

It’s immersive beyond belief.

“Everything is just as I remember it! Holy …… right down to those scratches on that wall ……”

———Playing and losing against a godlike entity nonstop.

I’ve lived through this once before.

Days when I lost no matter how much I played.

Days facing an opponent whose skill could only be explained as beyond human.

Continuously losing to someone younger than me. My pride getting utterly destroyed over and over again. Days of despair, watching them rise further and further away without being able to close the distance.

There’s a reason I could endure those days without running away.

A virtual rendition of that reason is sitting on the other side of the board.

“………… Long time, no see.”

I used to worship her.

Almost like a god.

To the point I thought she was a Shogi ghost that haunted a pro player’s house.

Then …… I played Shogi as much as I could, losing over and over again, all so that I could prove myself to be even somewhat useful to her.

I think that’s what made me strong.

Which is why I wanted to try the same thing one more time.

Artificially relieve my time training as a live-in apprentice using the latest technology.

If there’s any other way to get closer to a god———I can’t think of it.

“Now, let’s play Shogi,” I say to her and sit down in front of the board.

To the person I’ve played the most matches against in my life, and the one who’s beaten me far more than anyone else.