Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

  BATHHOUSE TRAINING

And so, my Ranging Rook training began at the Gokigen Bathhouse.

“Ryuo! Fetch me a half-and-half coffee!”

“Hurry up and teach me something, Ryuo!”

“Yes, on my way! I’d be glad to!”

I received the nickname (?) Ryuo from the get-go at the bathhouse and everyone used me as their own personal butler from then on.

All the customers are hardcore Ranging Rook party members, so being a title-holding member of the Static Rook party made me the object of their hate and contempt. They have the home-field advantage … completely.

Even the Meijin, as great as he is, wasn’t spared their wrath.

“The Demon King stands in the way of our Maestro’s Shogi world domination.”

“A Static Rooker stealin’ Ranging Rook’s latest strategies like some common thief.”

“A brute winning with Ranging Rook better than real Ranging Rook party members.”

They had all sorts of names for him. Kind of like the last boss in a videogame.

At the same time, each and every one of them has been trained by Mr. Oishi, so they’re Ranging Rook party members who I’d love to play against every chance I get. There’s more “worldliness” in this classroom than anywhere else on the planet.

Normally, titleholders wouldn’t be doing instructional lessons like this, but the owner is a titleholder himself and the customers here are diehard Shogi fans. So, playing game after game without any handicap didn’t bother me one bit.

Actually, several of them are good enough to make it to the national tournaments to represent the prefecture and are even better at using Central Rook Left anaguma than most pros because that strategy is all the rage among amateurs right now. I’m learning so much.

But above all else, I can tell that playing Ranging Rook really makes them happy, especially Central Rook. They practically glow with every move. They’re excited to play … and it shows. Happy-go-lucky.

Seeing things that I would never have thought of all the time gave me so many new ideas. Most were Ranging Rook, of course, but for some reason I started coming up with new twists on Static Rook strategies as well. I was in the classroom playing Shogi with customers every chance I got. Since I’ve lost a lot of matches recently, having full weeks off has become the usual and I can work any shifts I want (tear).

“Welcome! Oh, please take off your shoes and put them in the shelf over here.”

My post was the attendant’s counter on the first floor once the bathhouse was open for business.

Mr. Oishi looks after the boiler room, so he’s almost never at the front.

“I’m the only A League professional in the world with a boiler certification.”

He loves saying that. I don’t know why that matters, but it sounds cool.

But I tell you, the attendant’s counter is where it’s at.

“Attendant’s counter.” It’s …… a man’s dream come true!

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve only ever thought about becoming a pro Shogi player. Even still, in an essay back in elementary school called When I Grow Up I wrote: “I want to be a Shogi pro when I grow up. Then, I want to be the Meijin someday. But if I can’t, I want to work at the attendant’s counter in a bathhouse. That way, I can see naked women whenever I want.”

Master thought it was fantastic, but Big Sis wouldn’t talk to me.

“That dream …… at last ……!!”

I cried tears of joy my first day behind that counter. Tears that I didn’t even shed the day I turned pro …… 

However, those tears of joy quickly became tears of sorrow.

“…… Master? Did I just see you thinking dirty things while looking at our customers?”

“!! No, not at all …… Nope.”

“…… I have my eyes on you, Master.”

 … Because my apprentice is constantly watching me.

Ai comes over here as soon as school lets out and works like a machine all over the bathhouse. Then again, what else would I expect from someone who grew up at a hot spring? She’s thorough and flawless around the baths. She also helps out in Master Kiyotaki’s classroom, so she knows exactly what to do upstairs as well. All while constantly watching me. Scary.

Asuka gets home in the evening, usually wearing her school’s gym shirt and shorts, and always has the same sorry look on her face even though she lives here.

“Th-thank you …… I’ll, take over ……”

“Ah, sure. It’s all yours.”

“Um …… You and Ai can take a break …… I … made some food, so ……”

She takes care of household chores immediately when she gets back from high school, and then comes to work in the bathhouse once she’s done. Asuka is nothing like the party girls living it up in Umeda … a genuinely good girl.

“U-Um …… Sorry …… but this is all I can make ……”

I couldn’t help but jump for joy as soon as I saw what she put out on the table.

“Ah! That’s tonpeiyaki!”

“Ton-pei-yaki?”

Ai tilts her head. She’s probably never heard of that food before.

“Think of it like okonomiyaki’s cousin. Fried pork and veggies are all cooked together like a big omelette, but the flavor totally depends on the sauce or adding fish flakes.”

“That kind of food exists?! Osaka is amazing!”

“Tonpeiyaki …… isn’t …… all over Japan ……?!”

That news came as quite a shock to Asuka. She’s Osakan, through and through.

My apprentice and I dig into the piping hot tonpeiyaki and–––.

“Th-this …… is incredibly delicious?!”

That first-in-her-life flavor came as quite a surprise for Ai.

“It tastes a bit like okonomiyaki …… But the texture isn’t even close! The eggs are light and a little runny, but each bite is so filling …… This isn’t fair to other foods! It’s the best!”

“You got that right. It’s like an omelette, but there’s more punch to the flavor and it’s so much more satisfying.”

“Fullyful♪”

Well, Ai certainly seems to be a fan.

“Keika’s okonomiyaki is delicious, but your tonpeiyaki is very, very delicious!!”

“…… Yep.”

Keika’s okonomiyaki …… I could go for some right now …… 

I haven’t spoken to her since that phone call.

Of course, I haven’t forgotten about her …… but considering the reason why she’s upset, having me or Ai try to cheer her up would just make her feel worse. There’s got to be something I can do for her, but what ……?

While I’m trying to figure things out on my own, Ai and Asuka seem to be getting along very well.

“Asuka, Asuka! Please teach me how to make tonpeiyaki!”

“S-Sure, but …… Ai, you can cook ……? In fourth grade ……?”

“Yep! I’ll make some Kanazawa curry for you next time!”

“That …… sounds delicious ……”

Good enough to die for (I speak from experience).

“A-Ai …… You’re incredible. You can cook, everything you do at the bathhouse …… And so good at Shogi ……”

“No, you’re the incredible one, Asuka! Because you can make delicious tonpeiyaki!”

“T-This ……? Anyone can make it ……”

Asuka mumbles quietly as she looks at the elementary school girl in front of her with envy in her eyes and says, “If I …… try really hard, do you think I could become something like you, Ai ……?”

“You’ve got it backwards! There’s so much I need to learn from you, Asuka.”

“M-Me ……? I’m nothing special …… at all ……”

“That’s not true. If you’re nothing special, then my Master, who can only look at customers with lusty eyes, is the really useless one.”

Come again? Is Ai angry?

This conversation is going in a very bad direction, so I jump in and change the topic.

“Oh, Asuka, aren’t you in any clubs? Don’t you want to go out with your friends every once in a while?”

“I, um, I …… I’m not ……… very good with that kind of thing ……”

Asuka’s face turns red the moment I ask as she looks down at the floor.

“W-What I …… want to do …… is ……”

“Want to do is?”

“U-Umm …… want to do is …… S-Sho …… Sh ……”

Sh?

“U, Um! ……………… It’s, nothing ……”

Asuka scratches her head with both hands, hiding her face behind her bangs.

Training sessions with the Worldly Maestro happened whenever I found time between shifts at the bathhouse and the classroom, as long as the Maestro himself was up for it.

“One at a time is such a hassle. Both of you, come at me at once.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Ai and I lower our heads and challenge Mr. Oishi with our still-budding Ranging Rook skills.

Being double-boarded as a pro is humiliating. Oh, I was pissed, and I was bound and determined to use every bit of Ranging Rook knowledge I’d built up to make him eat those words.

However, I was the one who ended up having to swallow my pride.

“N …… nothing worked ……”

“Of course not. I’m a Ranging Rook player with nothing to sell but a hot spring. I can’t go losing to some super bathhouse owner All-Rounder who plays Ranging Rook with his head in the clouds.”

Not sure what that meant, but it sounded cool.

It didn’t matter how much the two of us played against him, side-by-side, on separate boards, at the same time, because I never got any good hits in. He wiped the floor with me during the matches, and thoroughly cleaned my clock during the review sessions.

“Don’t depend on the standards! You’ve got to let the passion in your heart flow out over the board through your fingertips! Goki-Central Rook is all about feeling a jazz rhythm! Don’t think it through! Feel it!!”

No luck.

“Stop protecting your Bishop! The Bishop is nothing but dead weight with a target on its back that gets in the way with Ranging Rook! Just give it to your opponent right away!!”

No luck.

“Your attacks are too heavy! Lighter, worldly! So what if you lose pieces! They fall like flies and your formation goes all to hell, it’s all about finding a way to get to the other King in the meantime! That’s the epitome of worldliness!!”

No luck.

“No fire! Where’s your passion?! Your skin should tingle with Ranging Rook, play like it! Why’re you training at this bathhouse!!? Go wash up and try again!!”

But even then, no luck.

I’m a pro Shogi player. The man who has become the youngest title holder in history.

I know all the Ranging Rook standard strategies by heart.

But this worldly sense is the lifeblood of Ranging Rook and extremely difficult to grasp, so my days of muffled screams of rage kept going …… 

Nothing changed on the way to the weekend, when I decided to spend my time living and working at the bathhouse.

“The most effective way to sharpen your worldly senses …… is by cleaning!”

“…… Give me a break.”

“None of that backtalk, Yaichi. This is how I got stronger. Mopping a tile floor has a lot in common with swiping a Rook across the board.”

I still think that’s pushing it …… But the fact remains that this is a valuable opportunity for me to talk with the Maestro.

With all the customers gone and the large tub drained, all of us are scrubbing every surface in sight. Meanwhile, Mr. Oishi and I are doing a boardless, verbal practice session.

We say our moves out loud back and forth for a while before Asuka, who’d been listening in the whole time and finds a break in our conversation to say, “U-Um …… That’s really …… impressive ……”

“Say what?”

“Um …… Doing Shogi, without seeing the pieces ……”

“Oh, having a mental Shogi board? It’s not all that special. Ai can do it too.”

“Yeees!”

Interjects Ai, while using a mop taller than she is, more efficiently than anyone, without missing a step. She’s in her element: like a fish returned to water.

Asuka looks at Ai with admiration and says, “Um ………… How, do you see it? The, um ……”

“The mental Shogi board? Well, it varies person to person. Sort of like dreams showing up in black and white or in color. What does yours look like, Mr. Oishi?”

“Pretty much like an actual board, with some other things in the background too. But parts are a bit blurry. Can’t see the whole thing at once. Yourself?”

“I see in colors too, but I don’t see the pieces. Just their names written in black. I can see the whole board at first, but I lose about forty percent once the battles start happening …… and back and forth from there.”

I’ve also asked Big Sis about this, so I know what kind of board appears inside Naniwa’s Snow White’s head.

“It’s a fuzzy black with all the pieces black and blurry, and everything moves around really fast.”

Or so she claims. Kind of scary.

“W-What about, you …… Ai?”

“Mine …… Hmm …… It’s the same as a Shogi puzzle. Just the lines and characters, all in black and white. Everything’s pretty clear too. It’s small, but I can see it all.”

“That makes sense since you learned how to play with Shogi puzzles.”

Mr. Oishi proposes a theory. “That being the case, it sounds like your mental image is whatever kind of board you’ve seen the most.”

So then, what’s the black, blurry thing that Big Sis has in her head ……?

“W-Well, it’s not like what you see in your head has any relation to your Shogi skills. Doesn’t matter if it cost an arm and a leg or it’s just lines on paper: a Shogi board is a Shogi board. Everyone has one board in their head that they can–––.”

“Just one? I see six.”

All three of us freeze and look at Ai in stunned amazement.

“The puzzle ones and Master’s eight-and-a-half-inch one we use for practice is there too. Also, two boards from the association’s classroom are side by side and the smartphone one in my pocket shows up too …… Ah! And my tablet one! So, altogether that would be ……” Ai counts on her fingers while saying, “Six in black and white, the tablet, the smartphone, Master’s big one, the two at the association …… So, eleven in all!”

“Elev …”

She’s got eleven in there?

“A …… and you see them all at once ……?”

Mr. Oishi’s stuttering voice sounds exactly like his daughter’s.

“All eleven at once is pretty hard. I have to move between them ……”

After a few more questions, we found out that for Ai–––the boards with color are in a separate room from the black and white ones, but she can go back and forth between the two rooms whenever she wants and the smartphone is always in her pocket, apparently.

How she has a pocket is beyond me …… 

“But the black and white ones all show up together. Isn’t it like that for everybody?”

No. No it’s not.

Mr. Oishi, Asuka and I all silently take a dig at her. None of us was really sure if it was okay to say these things out loud.

“Alright …… Should we try an experiment?”

“S-Sounds good to me ……”

Mr. Oishi and I each line up three boards, put on blindfolds along with Ai to make her play six games at once.

The two of us only have one mental board to work with.

However, as long as we follow the standards we’ve memorized to the letter, it’s possible to play blind like this.

Then again, forcing the brain to remember what’s happening on two more boards at the same time is a lot of work. Probably the same as someone without a mental Shogi board trying to play blind.

Even so …… 

“Okay, on board one 1 Two Lance, on the second …… 6 Eight Gold advances and on the third, 3 Six Rook …… Should be right, yes? I’m not violating any rules, am I?”

“For mine, um …… The first is 5 Five Pawn. T-The second …… 5 One Rook. Th-third …… how about 6 One Pawn for the third?!”

“For Master’s first, 6 Eight Silver, second 7 Three Silver and 4 Two Gold on the third. For Oishi-sensei, take it with the Pawn on the first take and promote the Rook on the second, but on the third …… I think your Pawn count is off. There are two Pawns in the same column.”

“……”

Here we are, two pro players tripping over ourselves through the mid and late games while Ai is easily tracking all six matches like it was a walk in the park. She doesn’t sound tired at all. It’s like she’s been looking at physical boards the whole time.

Floored by each and every turn, Mr. Oishi whispers into my ear, “…… Hey, Yaichi. Isn’t this young lady …… a bit scary?”

“…… I’m remembering just how much right now ……”

My apprentice …… might become far more than I ever thought possible.

So much more than I thought …… Much …… much more …… 

“…………… So jealous ……”

Those words leaked out from somewhere and echo off the walls for what felt like an eternity.