Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 2 - Chapter 1.9

  GIRL'S NIGHT

I quickly, yet respectfully, declined Mr. Yashajin’s offer to drive me home and exited the manor through the many archways created by the small army of people in black suits bowing on either side of the path. “Thank you, Sensei!!” Another rousing chorus. It almost feels like a graduation ceremony. I might cry.

Then.

“Chairman!”

I called Mr. Tsukimitsu the instant I was clear of the manor.

“Just what the heck was that?! I don’t know how the family got that rich, but I don’t think I want to?!”

“I would prefer you not say things that could damage their reputation,” says the one worthy of the 17th Eternal Meijin title in a cool voice. “The Japan Shogi Association is a public organization. Under no circumstances would connections to elicit groups of any kind be allowed.”

“But! That was so obviously–––!”

“While I cannot deny that the elderly Mr. Yashajin once owned a well-known gambling institution in the Kobe area, he has long since retired. After submitting foreclosure documents to the police, his company now operates in several industries including construction, entertainment, security, as well as designing and producing new Pachinko machines. Several former police officers hold board member positions throughout the company. I would like to make that perfectly clear.”

Adults can be real dirty …… 

“So then? Are you willing to make an addition to your lesson schedule?”

“…… I played against her just to see for myself.”

“Oh?”

“While I admit she’s very talented, the girl hates my guts. I made her cry.”

“I see. She seems to have taken a liking to you. I knew I could count on you.”

“Did you hear anything I just said?!”

“Out of all the professionals sent to their manor, you are the first to even speak with her.”

“……”

“I await your favorable reply, Ryuo.”

“I’m baaack.”

Getting home to my apartment a little after eight o’clock at night, I open the unlocked door and hold up some food I picked up on the way home as I call inside.

“Keika? Thanks for looking after the place while I was out. I picked up some good sushi so let’s chow wooooooooah!?”

What I saw in my own room was,

–––a clearly uncomfortable and grimacing Keika,

–––my apprentice with her head buried in a blanket, sobbing like mad,

–––and Big Sis sitting on her ankles next to the Shogi board in full battle mode.

All at once.

“Umm …… What’s going on here? Did someone open a portal to hell, because there’s something demonic about the air in here ……?”

“Hmm.”

Keika presses her finger against her lower lip, deep in thought, and tilts her head to the side before answering. “A girl’s night?”

“I don’t claim to know the first thing about girl’s nights, but I don’t think they involve my elementary school–aged apprentice shoving her head under a blanket with the waterworks going full blast, do they ……?”

Because if they are, girl’s nights are even scarier than hell …… 

“Hey, Big Sis.”

I ask the girl obviously behind this miasma of pain and suffering, Ginko Sora.

“Why are you in Osaka?”

“……”

Maintaining silence, Big Sis–––is dressed in a full kimono.

A very flashy one at that, with crimson sleeves and scarlet hakama pants. It only enhances her natural beauty, making her drop-dead gorgeous. Someone dressed like that clearly doesn’t belong in this cheap two-room apartment.

Kimonos like that are normally saved for special occasions like coming-of-age ceremonies, but Women’s League players will wear them for extremely important matches.

In other words, title matches.

Big Sis is currently in the middle of five matches to defend her Queen title. Or, at least, she should be.

“Didn’t you leave for Shizuoka yesterday? Shouldn’t you be staying at Fugetsurou Inn? And why are you still wearing that? Don’t tell me the match is already over?”

Big Sis couldn’t answer.

While Women’s League Title Matches end in one day, it’s almost unheard of for Big Sis to make it back to Osaka on the same day. Even moreso was the fact she came back without changing, making this freakishly unusual. What in the world happened ……?

“Yaichi. Here.”

“?”

I take a look at the article Keika has open on her smartphone, which she handed to me.

Queen Ginko Sora dominates the title challenger! Claims first match without needing two minutes of waiting time. Challenger, “Women’s King” Ryou Tsukiyomizaka surrenders before lunch break. Shortest title match on record.

Oh, wow ……

“Snow White is too strong haha.”

“A princess? More like a demon king ……”

“My precious Archangel broke (tear)”

“Ryou’s spirit snapped in the early game after losing so much ground ……”

“There’s a notice on the public blog that says: circumstances prevented a review session. Does that mean Ms. Tsukiyomizaka couldn’t even finish it? Too much of a shocked mess to continue?” 

“Here’s something from the scene. The only one to appear at the big board for the review session was Queen Ginko Sora. She even shook hands with fans after giving her own recap (^-^)/”

“Looks like those circumstances were all on Ryou after all.”

“So Lady Gin is now a perfect 48-0 against the Women’s League. She’ll reach fifty victory stars in a row in no time at this rate.”

“She should have to give a handicap next time <– I’m being serious here.”

Reading all the Shogi fans’ tweets gave me a pretty good idea as to what happened.

But there are still a few things I don’t understand.

1. Why did Big Sis come back wearing her kimono?

2. What’s the meaning behind using two minutes of waiting time? 

I get out my own smartphone and pull up the Mynavi Women’s Open public access site and take a look at the match record. Since they post the men’s and women’s title match records for anyone to see for free, the best of the best are only a few clicks away. Why not have a look for yourself?

“Let’s see here …… Big Sis had the first move, and she went with–––.”

Snap!

I heard a piece hit the Shogi board and look in that direction. Big Sis just made the same move as the record on my phone.

“…… Is that an invitation?”

“……”

She didn’t say anything, but I can practically feel the burning energy from her fingertips, itching for a battle but nowhere to go.

So I sit across the board from her and make the second move–––just as the challenger had done.

“…… Now I see. Ryou led the match into yokofu dori: Side Pawn Capture. That means that a wrong move somewhere brought the match to an end.”

Side Pawn Capture is one of the Static Rook strategies that turns the early game into a brawl.

“Because Side Pawn matches tend to hinge on who has spent more time studying …… Ah! That’s the change she went with. Okay, so then ……”

Ryou’s twenty-fourth move was the cause.

This particular strategy was considered Defensive Advantage by the Pro Shogi Leagues two weeks ago, but the Kansai (West) Sub League determined it to be Offensive Advantage just last week. They turned the standard on its head.

Ryou, living in Kanto (East), didn’t know she was using an outdated standard. Big Sis’s understanding was one week ahead. That determined the match.

Apart from the 3-dan league where Sub League members with that rank go head-to-head, and the yearly trip for everyone with 2-dan and below, there’s almost no interaction between Kanto and Kansai.

And since that annual trip hasn’t happened for the past couple of years, any research done by 2-dan and below league members wouldn’t have crossed the barrier between east and west. In other words, everything stays under wraps.

So, the only way to get your hands on their latest research is to play against the Sub League members yourself. Ryou didn’t have the option because she is part of the Kanto Women’s League. She forged ahead using an old standard with no idea that a new counter strategy had been discovered in Kansai.

––– It’s not skill, but knowledge that wins in this era.

If you were to say that’s just the way Shogi is played nowadays, that would be the end of it. However, whether it’s okay to show that side of Shogi to the fans during a title match is a quandary all pros share …

“So that’s what the two minutes was for? Finish the match with the next move or draw it out into a hard-fought battle.”

“…… Big Sis didn’t say anything, but her silence tells me that I’m right; as well as the fact that she is still dealing with that quandary right now.

“Haaa ……” I let out a long sigh.

Putting on a serious face and fixing my posture, I tell her, “I think you made the right decision, Big Sis. As a professional, you should always use the latest information to your advantage. Even if it would bring a title match to an early end.”

“……”

“I would’ve made the same decision if I were in your shoes. Considering how much Side Pawn Capture strategies keep changing, Ryou was naïve if she thought what worked two weeks ago would still be valid.”

I’m sure she’s cursing that naïveté right now. Hopefully she doesn’t break anything …

Well, at least that explains what Big Sis is doing in my apartment. To be blunt–––.

“You didn’t get enough, did you?”

“……”

The match came to an end just as her competitive spirit was kicking in, but it had nowhere to go. That’s why she came back to Osaka right away: to play against me. She made a beeline for the bullet train, long sleeves swaying at her sides, to get to my apartment as soon as possible. Big Sis’s unworldly need for satisfaction is coming across loud and clear. It’s all because she considers me to be her personal punching bag. Ever since we were little kids.

But I had somewhere to be and wasn’t home, so she played against Ai in my place instead. I’m sure by that point she didn’t care who it was, she just had to play Shogi. Since the ones who were actually there aren’t saying anything, I turn to Keika and ask her, “So? What handicap did my apprentice have when she got crumpled up like this?”

“It was just the Rook at first.”

“…… At first?”

This had such an ominous ring to it, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Ai wanted to play an even match. But Ginko wouldn’t have it and insisted on a Rook handicap. They eventually agreed on te naori, with the original handicap being the Rook but–––.”

“Ah …… ah …… ah …” 

Te naori means that the handicap is adjusted according to the win-loss record. Big Sis would play without her Bishop if Ai won, but would take out both Lances if Ai lost.

However–––Ai had already lost at that point.

I got a good grasp of how the matches went from then on.

“How far did it drop? Four?”

“Six.”

“Six, huh …… That’s quite a shock.”

That means that Ai lost to a four-piece handicap–––Big Sis played without her Rook, Bishop and both Lances. The way my apprentice is now, she should have no trouble contending with Big Sis when she’s two pieces down.

So why, why is it that Ai got steamrolled?

According to te naori rules, Ai had to win three times to force an even match with that starting point. But she was so focused on having to win three in a row that she lost her cool at that point. I bet she couldn’t concentrate on the current match and lost without putting up much of a fight. Once that happened, a little voice inside her head kept saying “I’ve got to get that one back!” and she stopped thinking straight, which resulted in her ultimate demise.

Keeping a cool head is far more difficult than mastering Shogi techniques. It’s rare for any pro to lose their skills with age, but plenty lose their mental edge.

Ai was driven back into a corner and faced with a four-piece handicap match that she absolutely had to win, only to have her confidence and pride shattered when she lost ……

“So then, she’s embarrassed to look her master in the face after such a pitiful showing?”

“That may be part of it, but I don’t think it’s the main reason.”

Keika reaches down to take a King from the Shogi board. Looking closely, there’s a small nick on the surface.

“Ai was so angry at herself that she bit it in despair–––.”

“Oh, and left a bite mark on it? She thinks I’d be angry–––.”

“Her tooth came out.”

“Come again?”

“And here it is.”

Whoa.

A cute little white tooth falls out of a handkerchief into Keika’s hand and she shows it to me.

“It’s a baby tooth and it made a clean break, so I think she’ll be fine but …”

“Well …… she’s a girl after all.”

She doesn’t want me to see her with a hole in her teeth. But isn’t it pretty rare for a nine-year-old to still have baby teeth ……? Should I put it under her pillow tonight ……?

“But Ai fought really hard. She got right back up no matter how many times she lost–––.”

“That was just reckless. No one gets better by having their confidence destroyed. Ai, are you listening?”

Since my apprentice was hiding her head in the blanket, I had no choice but to talk to her motionless bottom.

“Don’t let all those victories in the Practice League go to your head. If you don’t figure out how to win with a handicap on your side, higher ranking players will wipe the floor with you and you won’t be able to do anything about it. You get that now?”

Ai’s talent is like a vast plot of land that has more potential than anyone else has.

But as of now, there’s only a rickety little house standing on that land. One strong gust of wind, and it’ll collapse. She needs a strong Shogi foundation before her talent can come into play.

Now that I’ve lectured my raw apprentice, I lighten my tone and offer her a treat.

“Now, you must be hungry after all those matches? I brought home some sushi, so eat up. I even got some of your favorite crab ones? The crab rolls with miso?”

“……”

A thin little arm shot out from under the blanket. I placed one of the crab rolls on an open hand and it disappeared under the blanket just as quickly. She apparently still has no intention of letting me see her without that tooth.

“……! ……!!”

“Ah, sorry. The wasabi might burn a little.”

Thump! Thump! My apprentice’s legs vigorously pound the floor. Well, she seems like herself. That’s a relief.

“…… There’s no rush, Ai. You can improve little by little, that’s fine.”

I gently stroke the lump in the blanket that (I’m pretty sure) is her head.

“Oh, and Big Sis. I realize you still have energy to burn after the match ended so quickly, but would you please not use my apprentice as a punching bag?”

Big Sis said nothing. Just keeps munching on sushi.

“Seriously! What am I supposed to say to her parents if their precious daughter, whose future they entrusted me with, were to get crushed by someone in the same Shogi family no less ……? My apprentice isn’t your toy, Big Sis ……!”

“There’d be no point if her spirit broke before she started getting really good at Shogi,” said Keika, as if taking a walk down memory lane. “Speaking of that, Yaichi. Do you remember any of the girls you made friends with at the Shogi Association’s classroom or at the house and then they never came back again?”

“Now that I think about it …… yeah? A few.”

“They stopped coming because Ginko destroyed each of them.”

Now what was that for?

“Ginko always jumped in after your games ended and beat all of them and used no waiting time. Normal kids would get frustrated by the gap in talent and quit Shogi right then and there.”

“I bet ……” 

Big Sis and I are two years apart. I’m older, but Big Sis became Master Kiyotaki’s apprentice two weeks before I did, making her Shogi history longer than mine. Hence, the “big” sister. I’m pretty sure I lost the first time we played.

But people outside our Shogi family don’t know that, and kids about my age had their confidence blown to smithereens after losing to Big Sis despite being older than she was.

“As for why Ginko did what she did–––.”

“I already know. It was her way of saying: ‘You’re not old enough to play with girls,’ right?”

“…… So that’s how you took it.”

“Huh? I don’t think there’s any other way to take it, is there?”

Keika lets out a small sigh as if to say, “good grief” and pops another piece of sushi into her mouth, enjoying the flavor for a moment before continuing.

“People like me who knew the extent of their talent going in can put up with that. But pretty much every kid plays Shogi thinking they’re the best in the world, don’t you agree?”

“Well, yeah.”

Pros are exactly the same. We’re just really big kids, all of us.

“But then there’s ‘losing to a girl.’ That hurts just a little bit more, doesn’t it?”

“Even for girls?”

“Lose to a boy and it’s an oh well, couldn’t be helped kind of feeling. That’s just how it is. I don’t think that’s a good thing though ……”

There’s a gap in Shogi skill between men and women of the same age.

There shouldn’t be one because it’s a game that takes place between the ears … But it would be difficult to deny that it’s there. That’s the truth, although there are anomalies like Big Sis that turn up every once in a while.

“That’s especially true for girls who are trying to get into the Women’s League. They’ll always be competing against other girls, so they always think, ‘I can keep going!’ even after a loss. But losing to a younger girl? All the excuses disappear.”

“……”

“That’s why they pull out all the stops and fight tooth and nail to win. But it hurts so much after a loss that they can’t recover when losing against girls. They’re rivals. I think that’s why Miss Tsukiyomizaka was in so much pain, so she couldn’t do a review session.”

Moistening her throat with a sip of tea, Keika makes a face I’ve never seen on her before and whispers.

“A woman’s enemy is always other women.”

The girl’s night from hell came to an end once all the sushi was eaten.

Keika was the first to leave, saying, “It’s getting warm at night,” followed by the still silent Big Sis, long kimono sleeves swinging at her sides as she went to the door. Ai didn’t come to see her off. I could only see her little bottom sticking out from under the blanket from here in the doorway. Adorable.

Big Sis slipped on her wooden pokkuri sandals and stepped outside before she said a single word,

“Yaichi.”

“Yes?”

“She’s getting worse. That one.”

With that, Big Sis closes the door.

Her silver hair sparkling in the streetlights along with those words hit me like a curse, impaling my eyes and heart like needles.

“… No …” 

I stood in the doorway as her sandals’ wooden clops faded away.

Ai is …… getting worse?

“But, that couldn’t be ……? …… But ……”

Then I had an idea. Something that’s been making me worry.

Ai came to Osaka to learn how to play Shogi from me.

It’s the perfect learning environment …… but that’s exactly why I started thinking maybe the environment is a little too perfect.

Maybe she’s too used to always having friends to play against, her Master to always teach her and having fun every day. Maybe she’s getting complacent, thinking things are fine the way they are.

And getting complacent is a competitor’s first step to failure.

Those who can’t push themselves harder and harder every day will fall from grace before they know it. No matter how bright someone’s talent shines, it’ll fade away without the constant drive to improve.

Onizaka-sensei’s words pop into my head.

A rival.

That’s what Ai doesn’t have. That’s why she can’t get better.

“In that case–––.”

I made a call to confirm that I would teach Ai Yashajin the next day.