Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 2 - Chapter 2.1

  FIRST SHINKEN MATCH

Just as I expected, the smell of cigarettes and alcohols was practically ingrained inside Twin Kings Club. 

“… This is worse than middle-of-nowhere Mahjong parlors,” Akira says under her breath. 

I’ve never been that far into the outskirts, but I bet she’s right. This is pretty bad, even for Shogi parlors.

Dirty words are flying back and forth inside and the staff really doesn’t care that people spill ramen or their cheap sake over the boards. Or when thoughtless people put out their cigarettes on the piece stands.

Akira handed a crisp bill to the old man sitting behind the counter.

“Sir. One child and two adults, please.”

“……”

The old man took the entrance fee, but didn’t smile back, let alone say “thank you.” The look in his eye makes it crystal clear that he thinks women and children just get in the way. 

“…… What do I do now?”

“Normally, you’d get a Match Card about now, but ……”

People here assigned themselves a rank. With no Match Cards to speak of, it looks like the system here is completely up to the customers.

This Shogi parlor caters exclusively to shinken players.

“Well, not much of a problem, is it? Since this place is full of pushovers, you can beat everyone here, right?”

“Well, yes, that’s true …” 

“Akira and I will pretend to play Shogi over there while we keep an eye on you. Go find someone that looks bored toward the back and challenge them to a shinken match.”

“… Fine.”

Looking like she’s about to take her first steps into a haunted house, Ai does as she was told and walks to the back of the Shogi parlor.

Plenty of people are in the middle of a match, but there was one person without an opponent and looking very bored.

Leopard pattern clothes. A head of hair like broccoli. And eyes twinkling behind golden-framed colorfully-tinted sunglasses that sparkle like a wild animal. A leopard, in the flesh. No, a panther. What path in life would lead someone to turn out like that?

However, there was something bothering me a heck of a lot more–––.

“Oi, Sensei. Is that …… an old lady? Or perhaps …… an old man?”

“…… A little of both, probably.”

Those are women’s clothes. The famous Osakan leopard print dress. But this is Osaka, and the possibility it’s a man wearing a leopard-skin dress with permed hair can’t be ignored. This is New World. Seeing people from all walks of life isn’t unusual down here.

“There’s a possibility it’s a creature that escaped from the Tennouji Zoo …… But it’s highly unlikely that an elderly woman would come to a Shogi parlor. I say it’s a male.”

“But don’t forget, old ladies tend to go inside men’s restrooms quite a bit in Osaka.”

While she and I were having one of the most pointless conversations ever, Ai holds up the cigarette box right at Panther’s eye level.

“Care to play without a handicap?”

“… Have a seat.” A voice that is husky from beer and cigarettes. The gender is still a mystery. After a rougher-than-necessary Pawn flip, Panther is on offense. The battle began as soon as Ai pressed the switch on the chess clock.

Then, Panther makes a surprising move right off the bat.

As soon as both of them opened their Bishop path, “Gah, oopsy.”

Panther did it.

The practically unbelievable–––8 Six Pawn!

“?! …… Ummm?”

Ai’s eyes go wide as her face gets drawn into the board like a magnet.

I don’t blame her.

Advancing the Pawn in front of the Bishop is one of the worst moves you can make. For someone that’s learned the “correct” way like Ai, this probably doesn’t feel like Shogi anymore.

I, however, have seen this before.

“Kakutou fu, huh ……”

“And what is that?”

I couldn’t help but grin as Akira took off her sunglasses to give me an inquisitive glare.

Quickly wiping it off my face, I lower my voice and give her some details.

“It’s a Ranging Rook style sneak attack. The full name is kakutou fu senpo, Bishop-head Pawn Strategy.”

“Tofu?”

“Like I said, Bishop-head – Pawn. Panther moved the Pawn in front of the Bishop forward, yes? It’s a move people normally wouldn’t think to make.”

Bishops have a round head–––basically, it’s that Pawn’s job to protect the Bishop since it can’t move straight forward. Moving it out of place for no reason exposes that weakness to the opponent.

If this happened over the Internet, the other player would think it was a miss click. That’s how bad it is.

“My, my …… That was stupid. Guess there’s nothing to do now but exchange Bishops before it’s too late.”

Panther sticks a finger through that overgrown broccoli head of hair, scratching while bemoaning the mistake and sends the Bishop forward.

“……”

Ai looks suspicious but takes said Bishop to complete the exchange.

Akira turns to me with a worried look in her eyes and asks, “What’s happening? Is my lady in a favorable position?”

“She is. In a regular match, anyway.”

“Meaning?”

“This is where kakutou fu gets interesting.”

Ai keeps going like normal. In other words, I don’t think she realizes what her opponent’s miss click means.

All the while, Panther keeps saying things like, “Oh my, young’en, have you no mercy?” and “Not again! All these little mistakes are piling up like hot peppers,” and moving pieces around as if running away from Ai’s advances.

But that led to a strange shift on the board.

I’m not exactly sure when, but Panther is suddenly on the offensive after opening with a bad move and constantly defending for so long.

The tides have turned.

“Huh ……?”

The board was already favoring Panther by the time Ai noticed something wasn’t right.

“?! What, why?! What’s going on here ……?!”

If she can steady herself, hunker down and focus on the battle, there’s still a chance she could come back.

But Panther didn’t give her that chance. –––Panther is good!

“Can’t tell if it’s an old man or woman by looking, but that playing style is reckless. Like a wild animal really ……!”

“What, what even is that?! What has …… that freak done to my lady?!”

“It’s a ploy.”

“Ploy …… meaning?”

“To be blunt, pulling a fast one on your opponent.”

“Does that violate the rules? If so, I know the perfect place to mount a panther head.”

“It’s not, it’s not! Ploys don’t violate any rules whatsoever!”

I start to panic as Akira reaches for something at her waist and move to stop her. As for what’s hidden beneath her suit, I don’t know and I don’t want to know.

“… In that case, aren’t there better names for this technique than a ploy?”

“You have a very good point there. But then again, they didn’t get that name because of the user’s intent—more so how the victim feels when they fall for it … Well, they don’t work on pros. If they did, that person has no right to call themselves a pro.”

And Ai Yashajin still isn’t a pro.