Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.4

  10 BILLION ATTEMPTS AND 

1 QUADRILLION DEATHS

“One thousand hours.”

“…… Come again?”

Wondering what Mr. Natagiri meant, I lifted my head out of my hands.

“I’ve spent at least one thousand hours exclusively researching Extreme Rapid Battle. More than twice that researching Gokigen Central Rook in general, and at least ten times that researching Ranging Rook strategies.”

“……”

“I’m playing Ranging Rook with that much preparation. Tell me, Yaichi, how much preparation have you done to play Ranging Rook?”

I started using it about two weeks ago so …… Maybe, one hundred hours.

As for Extreme Rapid Battle, ten hours tops.

I mean, of course I’ve been studying the standard strategies since I was a little kid, but that’s basic knowledge. Pros don’t count that as research.

“One thousand hours of prior research. One hundred of those were spent working with the Meijin …… You think you can overcome that disadvantage?”

I can tell exactly what is behind that smooth smile.

He’s angry.

He figured out that I haven’t put enough time into preparing and saw through my: If I can’t win with Static Rook, I’ll play Ranging shallow thinking …… Mr. Natagiri is furious.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to stand up for myself.

Nothing I can say with words, and nothing I can do on the board.

It feels like he’s always a piece ahead–––.

No, not just one piece. Several hundred …… At least several thousand pieces worth of research separate us. And that research is supported by his willpower—an intense desire to get better at Shogi.

It’s not just a matter of skill.

I’m losing to Mr. Natagiri in desire too …… 

“Uh ……… ghn, uh ……”

I look back down at the board, more groans of agony coming out.

The problem isn’t only being at a piece disadvantage anymore.

He’s got a Rook and a Bishop, two big pieces right on his front line and an army of pieces waiting in the wings on his piece stand.

I’d be willing to bet that Mr. Natagiri has worked out that he’ll win by one move should a battle start now.

Just like two weeks ago, when he worked out the gentei aigoma …… 

“If you still think there might be something, it’d be better to give up now. Remember what I said? The Meijin and I ended Gokigen Central Rook last night.”

“………”

“Our research is perfect. Nothing could ever break it.”

Perfect. A wall that can never be broken.

Faced with a wall taller and thicker than I ever thought possible, without a single crack I might add, my spirit snapped like a twig.

–––Am I going to run away crying again?

“……!!”

Zing! Pain zips through my whole body.

The scabs that kept my scarred-up heart from hurting were ripped off as open new wounds burst open. It hurts, enough to make me clench my teeth until they scream, to make me whine in pain.

I know this agony all too well.

Unendurable agony that goes right through the heart.

Agony that I must never get used to.

The agony of defeat.

–––It’s impossible, so why not give up? That wall won’t break, so why even try?

“…………!!”

My spirit is already broken. I’ve already accepted the loss.

But the more that sinks in, the worse the pain gets. Sharper.

My chances to come from behind …… are pretty much zero.

But the idea that there still might be something I can do, even in this position, became painful and wouldn’t let me lose. Not logic, but my instincts as a player.

There’s only one way to make the impossible possible.

That’s–––to face it head-on.

There have always been huge walls in my way.

I could never win against my father and brother when I first started playing Shogi. I lost every match for two months straight in my first Shogi classroom. Even though she was two years younger than me, I couldn’t win against Big Sis. And my first win against Master when he was playing without a Rook came two years after I became his apprentice. I got hit with a B in the Sub League, lost my first pro match in the worst way possible and went on an eleven-game losing streak after becoming Ryuo.

Everyone probably laughed at me when I was a kid, saying that I wanted to turn pro. To them, it was impossible.

However, I became Ryuo.

I went back for more whenever I lost. And when I went back, I lost again. My heart was always in pain.

Even so, always going back for more taught me that it was the only way to make the impossible possible.

And … 

No matter how many walls you break, a bigger one is always waiting beyond it.

No matter how many impossibilities you overcome, you’re always hit with an even bigger impossibility.

It can’t wait for tomorrow, nor the next match.

Now, from this very moment–––I will challenge the best!

My eyes glued to the board, I ask the match recorder, “Time so far?”

“You have used thirty-four minutes.”

“What’s left?”

“Twenty-five minutes and thirty-four seconds.”

––– …… Will I make it?

My opponent has one thousand hours of research. What’s more, he has results found with the Meijin and an A League 8-dan working on his side.

Can I overturn their conclusion–––in only twenty-five minutes and thirty-four seconds?

This C-2 pro with less than two years of experience is going to try.

It might be reckless. Maybe even audacious.

Because seriously, I’m so much weaker than those two.

I’m weak, but–––I am the Ryuo!!

“………… Haaa ……”

I lift my head and draw in a deep breath to get as much oxygen into my lungs and brain as possible.

Clench both fists.

Then, I put them down on the tatami mat to support all my weight as I lean over the board.

Looking straight at it–––looking only at the Shogi board.

The time when I told my apprentice to not look away from the hard stuff and keep going forward pops into my head.

I bet that Ai is watching this match on her smartphone at her school right now.

She’s not the only one.

Maestro, Big Sis too …… Even Mio and Keika might be watching this.

But, most of all–––.

“……… The Meijin ……”

The one I will have to face someday.

The one I’m trying to surpass right now.

–––The Meijin is watching RIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!

“!!!”

I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood, the pain becoming the fuel I needed to send my reading speed into overdrive.

I saw my King die so many times in my head.

Some sequences resulted in an instant death, others resulted in a slow, tormented demise.

The more I read, the more death I saw, the situation becoming bleaker by the second.

“GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

All that death is so heavy, my spirit is about to shatter. All the different possibilities that are unfolding before my eyes …… I’m being crushed by Shogi’s infinite possibilities. How many are left? Trillions? Quadrillions? No amount of regretting my recklessness will fix the new death for me at the end of the next sequence.

Read.

Even so, read.

Again.

Again. Again.

Againagainagain.

Againagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagain however many times it takes.

To the ten billionth attempt and the quadrillionth death.

To what lies beyond.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––There was only one place left.

“……… Found it.”

“Huh?”

If it hadn’t been for Mr. Natagiri’s response, I don’t think I would’ve realized I said something. It was probably along the lines of: Found it.

My sense of time gone, I look up and glance over at the clock.

I’ve used …… twenty-five minutes and thirty-four seconds.

“Kuzuryu-sensei. Your allotted waiting time has expired, so please proceed with one-minute Shogi,” I hear the match recorder say, but it doesn’t faze me one bit.

I don’t need time anymore.

“Understood,” I answer him and make my move at the same time.

“Hm?! Moving there means …… Oh, I see. You’re going to put my King in check with your next move ……”

Mr. Natagiri analyzes what I did and says, “But it’s pointless.”

With that, he deploys a Lance pointed directly at my King.

I’ll win if I attack now rather than defend.

He had to believe that, putting that Lance down so assertively.

“……”

I follow suit, putting Mr. Natagiri’s King in check rather than reinforcing my defense the instant he pulls his hand away from the board.

Watching my speed and demeanor, he looks up at me and says, “…… Alright. Setting the scene, are you?”

He smiles.

“But you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are not weak in any sense of the word, Yaichi. It’s just that the Gokigen Central Rook strategy itself has collapsed ……”

Then Mr. Natagiri slaps a Rook down next to my King to put me in check for the first time.

I move my King out of the way.

Next, he deploys a Knight to put me in check for the second time.

I take that Knight with a Pawn to survive another turn.

He deploys another piece, a Bishop, to put me in check for the third turn in a row.

Here.

I reach for my piece stand.

Mr. Natagiri must’ve misunderstood what I was about to do, probably thinking this was when I was going to throw in the towel because he has a sympathetic smile on his face.

“Trust me, Ranging Rook and you don’t go together. Next time, I’d love to go against that fantastic Move Loss Bishop Exchange of yours. And I’m sure that the Meijin would enjoy–––.”

But there wasn’t a shred of quit in me. The reason I put my hand on my piece stand was to get one to block his attack, an aigoma.

The piece I deployed on the board without a moment’s hesitation was–––a Silver.

“…… Silver?”

Mr. Natagiri’s smile practically flies off his lips.

“You’re blocking with a Silver? …… A Silver? You have a Knight right there ……”

Normally, you’d want to use the weakest piece you have for an aigoma. Chances are the opponent will take it, so it’d be better to keep the stronger piece than let your opponent have it.

However–––this is the only option.

Mr. Natagiri took the Silver, as anyone would, and put me in check for the fourth time.

I block it again, and he presses the attack to put me in check yet again, the fifth time.

Here too.

I make my move again with no hesitation. Another aigoma.

“Again ………… Silver?”

The meaning behind my aigoma starts to dawn on him–––.

“…………………………………………………………… It couldn’t be.”

For the first time, he’s figured out exactly why I deployed two Silvers in a row.

“That can’t be. No, that’s not ……… No, no, no?!”

Yes.

That’s exactly it.

The two Silvers I played–––.

“…… Gentei aigoma? Both …… of them? And …… t-two in a row? ……… No?! It-it just can’t be …… and one more?!”

Jaw hanging open, Mr. Natagiri figured it all out.

Figured out that he’d already lost.

In a situation where he should win nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a hundred, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a million, there was just one …… One way that he could lose out of a quadrillion possibilities.

“Th …… This can’t be …… Did it, really happen? R-Really ……?”

I get why he’s so shocked.

That doesn’t change the fact it just happened.

There was one hole so tiny that it couldn’t even be seen by a microscope in his almighty absolutely perfect wall. One hole smaller than a miracle.

And the wall came down.

I, broke the wall.

“T-That …… Should be impossible ……”

Mr. Natagiri’s fingers tremble, his body swaying as he puts my King in check for the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth times.

I don’t think he was holding out because losing hurt too much, it was more because he couldn’t believe his eyes.

But this match was already over. The board, that had been burning with intensity just a moment ago, showed a much cooler conclusion.

There was only one answer.

–––––––––Surrender.

Once Mr. Natagiri saw my King evade check for the tenth time in a row, he weakly put his hand on his piece stand and lowered his head in a silent bow. If he hadn’t put his hand down, he probably would’ve fallen over.

I say nothing but return the polite gesture.

“…………”

Mr. Natagiri, the recordkeeper and the journalist … everyone in the room isn’t saying a word.

The air is heavy with disbelief that goes beyond winning and losing.

What just took place on the board was so rare that even astrologers wouldn’t have predicted it. Everyone is feeling the impact, the echoes fill the room …… Overwhelmed by Shogi’s depth.

The chances of a gentei aigoma showing up in a real match are slim to none.

For there to be two in a row, that happens once in a decade if even that.

It was a miracle that I found a sequence to take the win …… However, that means that Mr. Natagiri’s research was so thorough, so perfect that it took a miracle to overturn.

“…… Was there …… anything, I could’ve done ……?” he asks after throwing in the towel.

Mr. Natagiri is fighting to keep his voice steady, his eyes glued to the board as he speaks.

“Here–––.”

I rearrange the pieces, rewinding our match to the point where he deployed a Knight behind his King, move fifty-seven.

“If you’d put down a Lance instead of the Knight.”

“Ah ……!”

It sure didn’t take him long to understand. He starts to reach for the piece, almost like a reflex, but pulls his hand back like he thought better of it.

That hand was shaking, just a little bit.

At first, I thought it was because he was hurting. But on second thought, that pain is exactly why he’s so good. It’s his strength.

Having other players look down on him day after day, saying he had no talent, he turned to that pain for strength. That smooth smile is just an act. There’s no one in the pro Shogi world who wouldn’t feel pain getting treated like that. But his desire to win never went away, not for a single day. That’s why he could work harder, put more effort into research than anyone else. And not just regular effort … extraordinary effort.

By sitting across the board from him, by seeing the depths of his research in action, I got a sense of his devotion to Shogi …… I got to experience all of those hours firsthand.

And, I learned.

Just like I’d hit so many walls, I learned that he had overcome his own. That he’d faced so many more impossibilities than I have. That he’s more passionate, more severe, more muddy and stubborn …… A genuine Shogi player.

I just sit here, my whole body numb with happiness for a few moments …… when Mr. Natagiri looks over at me and says, “… Would you mind answering my earlier question?”

“Come again?”

“About your Ranging Rook preparation. How much did you do?”

“Two weeks ……”

“Huh?!”

His eyes flew open in surprise before he burst out laughing, leaning backward to support himself.

“Ha-ha! Two weeks! Only two weeks! Well, I’ll be! Prodigies really are different! Normal people wouldn’t try a new strategy against an All-Rounder with only two weeks of preparation! Especially against someone they’d lost to three times in a row?! Whew, the things prodigies come in with! It’s no wonder they win!”

“…… Sorry?”

“No, no. It’s fine. I just can’t get over the two weeks bit ……”

Hah! He laughs again and continues with the same gusto.

“…… My promotion to A League must’ve gone to my head. Part of me thought that no one could disprove the results that the Meijin and I found together, that I would win just by using it. But I was mistaken …… There is another, more important weapon.”

That said, Natagiri 8-dan straightens his posture, lowers his head in a deep bow and says, one more time in a loud, clear voice, “I’ve lost this match …… Thank you.”

I was so happy to finally win against him.