Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.5

  THE ELEPHANT AND THE ANT

A miracle.

A miracle happened right before my eyes.

“How …… what? What in the world …… What just happened ……?”

Even though Natagiri 8-dan accepting defeat was displayed on the monitor, I couldn’t believe it at first.

Yaichi’s King was as good as gone. It should have been an easy checkmate.

Even I could’ve won in that position.

That’s how far behind he was. But if I were in Yaichi’s shoes, I would’ve given up long before then.

But it was Yaichi who emerged victorious.

Surviving ten checks in a row is amazing enough but …… The earth-shattering truth came to light as I listened to their review session.

“Silver, Silver, Bishop …… Three consecutive gentei aigoma ……?”

“Yes.”

Unlike me, it sounds like Ginko figured out what was happening during the match. She starts explaining it with no hesitation or surprise on her face whatsoever.

“Using the Bishop to block doesn’t happen in real matches, but Yaichi read that too. Without a doubt.”

“F …… From when ……?”

“Probably, when the Knight was deployed at 5 Eight.”

“5 Eight Knight?”

At first, I didn’t understand what turn she was talking about.

Once I saw it–––my blood ran cold.

“You’re joking …… You have to be joking?! He accurately read thirty turns ahead from move fifty-seven?! That’s impossible!!”

“Then the three consecutive gentei aigoma were just luck and coincidence? Do you seriously think so?”

“……! B-But ……!”

No matter how I tried to prove my point, the words kept getting stuck in my throat.

Gentei aigoma, a situation that literally means use any other piece to block and you’ll lose.

Surviving one means that the player read there was only one possible answer.

Yaichi pulled it off three times in a row.

That’s no coincidence …… Luck and gut feelings can’t do that either.

He had to have read it.

Read it perfectly.

Sure, it was the late game but …… There were an overwhelming number of sequences that could have played out.

Too many for a person made of flesh and bone to think all the way through. That’s something new computers armed with the latest technology would need days to do, an astronomical number of possibilities …… 

“…… Hundreds of millions ……? …… Thousands of …… Trillions ……?”

“More than that. He went further. Yaichi went beyond all of that,” Ginko said, still invigorated.

“And he arrived at the one and only correct answer. Found a place that would take us a thousand years to find, and in less than thirty minutes.”

“Th …… That’s just ……”

Having it spelled out for me didn’t help because my brain refused to accept it.

Everyone knows that you use your weakest piece for an aigoma, it’s common sense …… You read what will play out by deploying a Pawn or a Lance.

That’s why people don’t use a Silver or a Bishop in that situation …… The thought would never cross their minds.

A miracle–––No, Yaichi just outdid a miracle by doing something impossible.

That’s …… That’s …… 

“Not ……… Not human ……”

“Told you, didn’t I?” Ginko says matter-of-factly as she reveals her younger brother apprentice’s true identity. “He’s a Shogi Martian.”

 …… Even after Ginko went home, I stayed in that room by myself, feeling defeated.

I’m sure, absolutely positive, that other professional players, Women’s League players and Sub League members who saw that match feel the same way.

Their spirits breaking just because someone with that level of talent is in their midst. 

“But …… It’s not Yaichi’s fault. Even Ai ……”

It’s only natural. An elephant doesn’t feel anything for the ants crushed under its feet when it walks. It’s not evil and hasn’t done anything wrong. The elephant had no way of knowing the ants were ever there.

But the elephant …… crushes the ants like they’re nothing at all.

The ants, however, fear the elephant. Respect it and are terrified of it …… Then come to hate it.

“…… So petty …”

The whole thing is so trivial it makes me want to cry. Me, I’m just a little ant with a pile of notebooks stacked up in the corner of a room.

“This pile, these notebooks are my weapons ……? Ginko, that was cruel–––.”

It hit me just as I heard myself say it.

This pile of notebooks that I started writing when I first decided to join the Women’s League was now thicker than a Shogi board with legs was tall.

Each one by itself is just a small, flimsy thing …… But seven years of them stacked up together, they’ve become roughly the size of an elephant’s foot.

“My …… weapons ……”

I reach for the pile of old notebooks stacked up in the corner, grab the top one and open to the first page.

It’s a match record, one that brings back memories of days that were filled with hope.

It was an awkward match, Shogi like how a toddler tries to walk …… But there was joy in each move, an unchained imagination at work with each passing turn.

“Did I … actually play like this ……?”

Seeing a part of myself that I’d completely forgotten, and oddly enjoying it, I turn the page excited to see what me I would meet next.

The sun peeked in through the window before I knew it, but I still wanted to see what was on the next page.

Even when the next night fell.

And when the sun rose again.