Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.6

  FATHER AND DAUGHTER

Like taking hold of the latest missile and whacking your opponent over the head with it like a baseball bat—

That’s how Mr. Oishi described today’s match.

“Not even a shred of finesse. Here I gave you this beautiful missile called Ranging Rook, but for some reason you only know how to use brute force.”

“S-Sorry ……”

“What were you doing here the past two weeks? Come just for a soak in the bath?”

 …… I’ve got nothing.

I went back to the Gokigen Bathhouse once the match ended—and now I’m getting lectured by the Maestro himself in his fancy, jazz bar-esque classroom.

I may have won by finding a miracle sequence in the end, but it’s not like I was trying to do that from the start. In terms of both research and worldliness, Mr. Natagiri was clearly better than me. All I did was pick up the victory that happened to fall through his fingers.

That being said, the Internet is going nuts. Even the message boards that always rip on me now have Yaichi Kuzuryu 8-dan up on a pedestal and are singing my praises.

It goes something like this.

“Ryuo PowerHOUUUUUUUUSE!!”

“Three gentei aigoma in a row!? Talk about a miracle!”

“Utterly destroys an A League player his first time playing Ranging Rook …… The guy’s a genius.”

“Now that’s the real Dragon King.”

“Don’cha think Kuzuryu’s wakin’ up recently?”

“Agreed. It’s like he leveled up after taking an apprentice.”

“You hear his second apprentice is a grade schooler as well?”

“That leveled up too.”

Something tells me my reputation is spiraling even further into the abyss, but I’m too happy to care. Saving that thread for sure!

“Heh♡ Hehe♡”

“I’m giving you a piece of my mind here. Wipe that smirk off your face, it’s giving me the creeps ……”

“S-Sorry ……”

“…… I’ll be honest with you–––,” says Mr. Oishi, poking a copy of my match record with his finger.

“I didn’t think you could beat Natagiri. No matter how talented you are, I didn’t think there was a chance in hell your floundering Ranging Rook could break Natagiri and the Meijin’s joint research. …… However, it seems you are far more talented than I ever imagined. You live up to your title, Ryuo.”

“…… Talent … is important. Putting in effort is important too. But––– ……”

“But?”

“……”

I look over into the corner of the classroom.

My tiny apprentice is over there, completely caught up in a game of Shogi with one of the classroom’s customers.

“There’s something even more important than talent and effort. I think I won today because I found it.”

“Oh? So, what would that be?”

“Desire.”

“……!”

Mr. Oishi’s eyes open a little wider with surprise.

My thoughts are on Ai playing Shogi in the corner. I say with as much conviction as I can muster, “Talent is a big part of it. But only dreams and desire can push that talent to its full potential. That’s why people can put in the effort and why kids get better so quickly.”

My desire to be like Master Kiyotaki led me to become a pro player.

My admiration for Chairman Tsukimitsu drove me to become a Move Loss Bishop Exchange specialist.

And now–––my dream to be like the Meijin makes me want to be the best.

“The more experience we get, the more of the real world we know, we start hiding from it. Scared to lose, worried about what people around us think, we try to project a certain image of ourselves …… We stop trying to challenge the impossible. But I think it might be better to set our sights on what we want and just go for it, without all the fuss. That’s how I feel.”

Whether we can do it or not doesn’t matter.

Because, for people like us who can’t live without Shogi …… Once we know that, we’ve got no choice but to aim for the top.

“I’m going to keep playing Ranging Rook. I’ll play Static and Ranging to become an All-Rounder …… I’ll show everyone I want to be like the Meijin with what I can do on the board. No matter how many people tell me I can’t, no matter how many times I get called kuzu-trash, I’m sure this feeling I have is right.”

Mr. Natagiri’s Shogi taught me that lesson. It’s not your research results that are important. It’s having an end goal in mind, a reason to keep researching that becomes your greatest weapon. To keep challenging that next wall.

“………”

Mr. Oishi lets out a long sigh and scratches his head, pinning his hair behind his ears.

“……… So Natagiri and I aren’t even on the radar. Smart aleck brat …… So, this is a prodigy.”

“Come again?”

“So, this is Osaka’s biggest bonehead is what I said.”

Huuuh––– ……?

“But yeah, never thought Natagiri and the Meijin would’ve spent that much time researching Extreme Rapid Battle. Might be a good idea to put Goki-Central on the back burner for a while.”

“But, Goki-Central is the ace up your sleeve, isn’t it? Are you seriously not going to use it during placement matches ……?”

“I’ll use Side Pawn Capture.”

“What? That’s Static Rook–––.”

“Side Pawn Capture with 8 Five Rook.”

“Okay.”

“Think about it and rotate ninety degrees.”

“……?”

I turn my mental Shogi board on its side.

“See? That’s Central Rook.”

I swear, this guy’s got a screw loose somewhere.

Just as I was trying to get my head around the Maestro’s idea, I heard, “Um.”

Asuka—not really sure when she came up to the classroom—gets Mr. Oishi’s attention.

“The bathhouse …… is closed ……”

“Ah. Thanks. Yaichi’ll do the cleaning, so you can head out.”

 …… Fine by me. It’s not like I’ll get much sleep the night after a match like that anyway.

Maybe I should ask her to take Ai over to the main building too. We can spend the night there and then go back to the apartment early tomorrow morning.

My train of thought made it that far …… when I noticed the awkwardness in the air.

Asuka is still standing next to us and doesn’t show any signs of moving.

“What is it?” asks Mr. Oishi in a sharp tone.

“I-I, umm …… I want …… here ……”

Flinch! I can tell she’s scared out of her wits, but Asuka speaks up clearer than usual.

“I’ll stay …… to learn Shogi …… from Yaichi.”

“……”

Neither Mr. Oishi nor I said anything right away.

But he didn’t look surprised … More like a moment that needed to happen had arrived.

“I thought I told you to give up on Shogi.”

“…… You won’t be teaching me, Father.”

I didn’t say I would teach you either …… 

Ignoring my predicament, father and daughter lock eyes.

“……!”

The first one to look away was Asuka.

However, she didn’t budge. Staring at the floor, she bit her lip in an attempt to overcome her father’s overwhelming aura.

“…… It looks like words aren’t enough to get through to you,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“Hey, Ai! Could you come here a minute?”

“Whah?”

Her game having just ended, Ai makes a hurried bow to her opponent before coming over to us with a very confused look on her face.

Probably the biggest reason why Mr. Oishi taught the two of us how to play Ranging Rook …… It wasn’t to help me improve, or to help Ranging Rook gain popularity … It was to break Asuka’s spirit.

People’s spirits break before the battle begins in the face of tremendous talent. All they can think of is: There’s no way I can win, and give up before trying.

Mr. Oishi wanted to use Ai’s talent to snap Asuka’s spirit like a toothpick. To make her abandon Shogi altogether.

But it seems to have had the opposite effect.

For me personally, I kind of like it when people take a hard stance. Especially when it’s someone as quiet and reserved as Asuka who refuses to take no for an answer where Shogi is involved …… Doesn’t that just tug at the heartstrings?!

“Hey.”

“Owch?!”

The Maestro smacks me across the face. Why?!

“…… Don’t look at my daughter with bedroom eyes.”

H-How sharp is this guy ……!?

“…… I know, I know I don’t have talent ……”

She apparently missed what just happened, because Asuka is squeezing the daylights out of her gym shorts while forcing words out of her mouth and staring at the floor.

“W-What you’re …… trying to tell me, Father … I understand what you’re saying through Ai. I get it …… That …… That’s why–––.”

Asuka looks up.

Then yells at the top of her lungs.

“If I win against Ai …… I want, I want you to let me learn Shogi again!!”