Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 2 - Chapter 4

  COMPLETE

“Come to get whooped again? Yer tiny, but ya got more spunk than most.”

Ai didn’t respond to Panther’s taunt when we arrived at New World’s Shogi parlor and she starts lining up her pieces with beautiful snapping sounds. She must’ve been practicing at home after that day because the sound has definitely changed.

But that wasn’t all that changed.

“Just watch.”

Ai whispered to me just before we came inside.

“Because I’m winning today.”

Those words had an odd ring to them.

It wasn’t that she was trying to psych herself up–––more like she had seen the future and knew that she was going to win.

Once the pieces were flipped, Ai was put on the defense. Panther started the mind games with a light verbal jab.

“Ya sure? Ya can have the opening move if ya want?”

“I don’t mind,” said Ai, cool as a cucumber as she switched the chess clock on. “The second move is more convenient for me.”

“?”

Panther donned the look of a cautious carnivore encountering a new animal for the first time, but slowly opened the Bishop’s Path in the end.

Ai responded in kind as Panther advanced the Pawn in front of her Bishop, per usual. Just as I thought, she’s using kakutou fu again. Ai doesn’t look the least bit surprised.

It was Panther’s turn to do that.

Because Ai took Panther’s Bishop with her own on the next move.

“! She initiated a Bishop Exchange …… On defense?!”

That move sent a shockwave through the gallery.

“O-Oi, Sensei?! What’s going on?! Why is everyone up in arms?!”

“…… Your lady just passed on her own turn.”

Akira yanks at my elbow in surprise and I give her a very general explanation. I doubt she’d understand how shocking this is if I went into detail.

Kakutou fu is a well-known ambush strategy. So well known, in fact, there are many counter strategies to deal with it. However, I’ve never seen this one. Thinking about it logically, that move doesn’t give any kind of advantage at all—puts her at a disadvantage actually. That’s what that move does.

Even so, Panther’s face turns paler with every move thereafter.

“Ugh ……?! Why in the heck?! How ……? It ain’t supposed to go like this ……?!”

While Ai made every move with natural precision, Panther began to doubt her own. Even her hand seemed heavy, clumsy.

Unable to figure out what Ai was after, she didn’t know what moves to make.

“There’s no way! That scatterbrained strategy shouldn’t work, not in a million years! B-but somehow …… Somehow I’m losin’?!”

I get why Panther is growling like that. She hasn’t made any mistakes …… Then again, this isn’t that level of a match anymore. It’s not as simple as keeping up the attack.

Ai has created chaos on the board, so much so that her opponent can’t tell the difference between a good move and a bad move.

An unidentified strategy creeps its way across the board.

It’s like–––an imposing darkness.

“…… I’m spent! Ain’t nothing left I can do!” said Panther, throwing in the towel as the rest of the parlor watches in awe. 

“Whoa ……!” Voices stir in the crowd. In that moment, the crown of the wild was passed to a new owner. 

Panther vigorously scratched at her scalp beneath her full head of permed hair, a sour look on her face as the two started a review session. It goes without saying that they’re talking about the move that Ai passed on.

“And here I thought ya were tryin’ to throw me for a loop …… Girl, ya’re quite the competitor.” 

“Maybe I am.”

Ai brushed off Panther’s compliment like it was nothing, but I could tell.

She wasn’t trying to simply shock her opponent.

That was no cheap trick. The Shogi match that took place on that board was much deeper and only part of a much bigger plan. Even if amateurs couldn’t tell, a professional like me definitely could.

“…… She’s ready,” I mumble to myself, knowing that our lessons have come to an end.

She has a potent imagination and the skill to bring it to life on the board. The final piece she was missing, mental strength that comes from playing against other people, has fallen into place. Now that those two are working together, her Shogi is complete. Her talents now cast a massive dark shadow over the board: that’s her Shogi style.

Looking at the completed Ai, I have no doubt.

This girl, just like my apprentice, was blessed by the Shogi gods.