Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 4 - Chapter 5.2

  THUNDERBOLT

Everyone’s mouths go bone dry watching that first move.

“All eyes are on Miss Sainokami’s opening move …… Although there’s no telling what she will do,” says Big Sis, fingers tightly wrapped around her microphone.

Ika Sainokami is grinning across the board at Ai as she reaches toward her Rook on the right-hand side.

–––Now, how far will she slide it ……?

That’s the question on everyone’s mind, but Ika didn’t pick up her Rook.

She grabbed a Pawn. But not just any–––.

“Edge Pawn?!”

First move–––9 Four Pawn.

This isn’t just unexpected. Moving the edge Pawn forward is the same as giving yourself a handicap.

“…………!!”

It’s a blatant taunt. But Ai keeps her cool and advances the Pawn in front of her Rook one space further.

Ika responds by opening her Bishop’s Path. A pretty orthodox move, but ……

“…… Kuzuryu-sensei. What do you think …… Miss Sainokami is trying to do?”

“I can’t tell what she’s planning …… But Miss Hinatsuru must stay calm and choose her moves wisely. The first one to break under pressure loses a Bishop Exchange-style match. Keeping her Bishop’s Path closed is certainly on the table.”

But, after a bit of thinking, Ai opens the path. That’s as good as saying: I’ll take you head on and win.

“Yhhi!”

Ika makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a hiccup as she reaches out toward Ai’s Bishop, and takes it. Ai completes the exchange.

Then, Ika grabs her Rook on her next turn and–––.

“Hihi! Face–––to-o-o-o–––face!!”

Slides it all the way down to where her Bishop was. This is ……?!

“Dai–––!!”

Once we saw that, Big Sis and I blurt out what she’s about to do.

What it’s called when the two Rooks are lined up across from each other–––.

“Direct Opposing Rook ……!!”

Big Sis asks me in a discreet voice to hide her own surprise.

“Kuzuryu-sensei, what …… kind of strategy is this?”

“It starts as regular Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook, but one player moves their Rook over to line up with their opponent’s. Since that takes a lot of turns to set up, directly shifting the Rook into the same column to save time is called the Direct Opposing Rook strategy.”

“Sounds very aggressive ……”

“It is. The match turns into a power struggle. Only a handful of professional players can pull it off ……”

I don’t think I have to say it, but I’ve never seen a Women’s League player use it before.

Therefore, this’ll be Ai’s first time going against this strategy.

“……?!”

With no idea what’s coming next, uncertainty flashes across Ai’s face. Her hand stops in midair.

But Ai is burning with vengeance. She advances the Golds and Silvers normally used for defense across the board in a high-speed rush. She must be planning to use her first move advantage to crush the attack in the early game before it gets going.

Ika keeps pace, advancing right along with her.

Watching these two, it feels like the first one to run out of waiting time will lose. Neither is stopping to think. Standards don’t really exist for this strategy, so that’s the last thing I expected to see.

“…… Yaichi. What do you think that’s after?”

Big Sis switches off her microphone to talk with me and refers to a Women’s League title holder as that. She must hate her so much she doesn’t want to say her name ……

“…… She’ll probably shift the Rook from the second column to the fourth. That way, Ai’s forward Pawn becomes useless–––.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Come again?”

“That may be playing against a mere grade school girl, but why choose a risky strategy like Direct Opposing Rook? There are much simpler ways to win, like Ishida Style or Central Rook.”

Putting in the way ……

I doubt that Ika has any experience with Direct Opposing Rook to begin with. Doing research is next to impossible because almost no pros play it.

So it all comes down to the live match. It’s talent against talent.

“And why do you think that is being so quiet? If the two of you saw each other at the challenge matches, there’ve been plenty of chance for that to make passes at you.”

“You’re right …… But, then why ……?”

“You see … that’s trying to prove something. That she’s better. That she’s more talented than your chosen apprentice. That’s why she waited for a chance to play against her. That isn’t out to destroy the pipsqueak or to have fun at your expense. Extreme egotists only think about themselves.”

So, basically, this match is–––.

“A love letter. From a twisted vixen,” hisses Big Sis as she stomps on my foot. Owch.

And the match is going exactly how Ika planned. She dodged Ai’s rushed attack with no problem.

“Agh …… gh,” Ai groans in pain. Hand hovering, her waiting time is ticking away.

“You … you’re Yaichi’s live-in apprentice, aren’cha?”

Ika suddenly strikes up conversation.

“Must be so nice. You play Shogi with Yaichi every single day, don’cha? Learning this move and that move, always playing with Yaichi …… While he refuses to play with me no matter how much I ask, you get to play every single day, every single day, every single day, every single day, every single day–––.”

This is not normal, seeing someone shudder like a broken machine and talking to their opponent in the middle of a match.

“………?!”

Ai is ignoring her, looking at the board instead. But I can tell she’s shaken. I don’t blame her.

The Sub League member working as their match recorder looks like he wants to say something, wondering if he should step in. It’s just that Ika isn’t breaking any rules. Horrible manners though ……

To make matters worse, fans in the audience are going nuts, applauding and cheering the eccentric player.

“Sparky’s off-the-board tactics just went into overdrive–––!!”

“Now that’s what I came here to see!”

Crazed fans cheering for her put wind in her sails, and Ika pushes the envelope even further. Egging on someone like her gives them more and more ideas and they become impossible to rein in.

“Ever wanted what someone else has so bad it hurts? I’ll teach’cha what it’s like–––.” Then Ika picked up the Bishop she’d deployed next to her King and said with a bizarre spark in her eyes, “Worldliness.”

A ferocious flash of light sweeps across the board.

“……!!”

It’s a beautiful light that only players can see. Pieces collide in flashes, creating a brilliant otherworldly spectacle of continuous annihilation.

But this massive pillar of light zips down in a vertical column to strike a single piece, leaving only a barren square in its wake.

Her worldliness–––is a thunderbolt!!

“Is she …… numb?”

I bite down on my lip. When two worldly players face off, the defender has the advantage.

In Shogi, the word numb is used to describe how one player is caught completely off guard and loses their formation in the blink of an eye.

Ika’s worldliness is different from other Women’s League players at the most basic level. Striking the board time and again, her thunderbolts numb opponents in one strike.

I thought Ika would extend her lead bit by bit but–––.

“Have annnnother!!”

“?!”

Worldly Thunder lands yet again!

It was a vertical strike last time, but this worldly thunderbolt came in from the side! A dastardly plan to turn Ai’s King into a naked, sitting duck ……!

“…… Is she going for a final push?”

“S-Sure looks that way ……”

I concentrate on the board to read what could happen next along with Big Sis. Average people can’t read the plan behind successive vertical and horizontal worldly strikes, but it slowly starts revealing itself.

“Ugh …… Khhh?!”

“Hyeee hihihihihi haaa!!”

Ai’s face contorts with the fear of not knowing where the next punch is coming from. Ika’s pieces are running rampant across the board.

Then–––victory was in her sight.

“Theeere. That’s—a—check—path!”

All she has to do is take the abandoned Gold in the middle of the board and Ai’s King is as good as checkmated.

Even Big Sis, as good as she is, could only marvel at Ika’s second level of worldliness.

“She’s strong ……”

Seeing this just reminded me how much.

Woman’s League Empress Ika Sainokami––––––is horrifyingly strong!

“…………”

Backed into a corner, Ai endures by squeezing her knees. She’s holding out, thinking as hard as she can. Maybe she’s going through her defensive options?

But, even if she holds off this attack ……

“Saaay,” Ika says, leaning down over the board to look up at Ai.

“How ‘bout when I win, I get to take your place.”

“……?”

Ai looks up from the board at her opponent for the first time.

Ika leans even further forward, hovering over her chair, getting so close to Ai that their noses almost touch. She starts snapping her front teeth together and says, “Don’t you think it’s a waste? Yaichi having to play against a talentless nobody? So let’s swap. That way I can get much, much stronger.”

“……?!”

Surprise shows up on Ai’s face.

Then–––rage.

“Think how fun it’ll be. If I were living with Yaichi, he’d play so much Shogi with me every single day. The two of us would go somewhere every day, and just play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play with nobody else, just us playing, playing, playing, playing, playing, playing, playing, playing–––.”

Listening to all that, for some reason it was Big Sis who spoke up, not Ai. And in a frigid tone. “…… Well, someone sure likes you. Why not just live with her? That would solve everything.”

“Say what?! No! I don’t want her anywhere near my apartment!”

“Uh-huh. So then, you really prefer grade schoolers?”

“Why do you always say stuff like that?! I’m not interested in little girls all, it’s Ai’s passion and talent that–––.”

“…… You idiot.”

It kind of feels like Big Sis is picking a fight with me. Also, kind of cute. What’s been up with her recently?

But that’s not important right now.

“It’s sooooo boring. Every single day. Every single match is so boring. Women’s League players, you know.”

Ika keeps blabbering on.

It’s not like she’s talking to Ai though, more like to everyone here …… No, like she wants the whole Shogi world to hear.

“Ginko Sora, Rina Shakando, Ryou Tsukiyomizaka, Machi Kugui, they’re all fakes. None of ’em can see a damn thing.”

“……”

After being called fake, the temperature around Big Sis plummets, chilling me to the bone. Naniwa’s Snow White is angry. That girl is gonna die ……

But, Big Sis didn’t try to deny her.

Ika played against Big Sis once before and lost.

The reason–––she broke the rules.

But it didn’t have anything to do with the game. She put a piece she captured on Big Sis’s piece stand.

Ika was so absorbed in the match that she tried to force what she read would happen in a few moves on the board. Big Sis didn’t read that far ahead.

That’s why everyone thought the same thing when Ika threw in the towel, and Big Sis admitted it.

Big Sis won the match but …… Ika was more talented.

“Once Yaichi teaches me everything he knows, I’ll take every title in the Women’s League for myself, then join the Sub League and become the first full female pro before Ginko. Then nobody’ll need Women’s League players. Watching talentless weaklings play Shogi makes me wanna hurl.”

Ika’s picking up speed and volume, one notch away from screaming.

“All of ’em are stupid, one-trick ponies playing Mino Castles! Ranging Rook without a speck of sense! Trying out Static Rook without learning the standards, treating it like some fashion statement! I’m rotting, playing against weaklings like them all the time! It’s torture, having to live and rot every siiiingle daaaaaay!!”

“……!!”

Big Sis grinds her molars together. Her hand is shaking, microphone clenched in her grip.

The only reason she’s not saying anything–––the sheer level of talent Ika is putting on display is just that overwhelming.

In the Shogi world, strength is everything.

With strength, you can do no wrong. But if you’re weak, your very humanity gets rejected.

Ika Sainokami is an extreme egotist. She wholeheartedly believes that her talent makes her the strongest, and that that means everything else exists only for her.

If the Shogi world’s system is designed to find the strongest talent, then it’ll accept her way of thinking. If the Shogi world is built solely on talent, then what Ika said is the truth. Surprisingly, she’s made the same conclusion as Ms. Shakando.

But …… even if it’s true, I don’t want to raise Ai to become someone like Ika.

Both women may have the same strength and be part of the Women’s League, but Ms. Shakando and Ika couldn’t be more different.

What I want is for Ai to become a Women’s League player like Ms. Shakando.

Someone that’s not just a strong player …… but has a strong heart to match. That’s what makes a true Women’s League player.

Someone who won’t give up just because of a talent gap, someone who isn’t afraid to get muddy holding out as long as they can and keeps trying no matter what …… a player like Ginko Sora.

So.

“…… Take her down, Ai.”

Take down that monster who only knows how to sit on the talent she was born with like a pedestal and look down on everyone else. Take down the extreme egotist who only thinks about herself.

–––Destroy that idiot who thinks she’s the only one suffering!!

Did my thoughts get through to her?

“…………… Here.”

“Nhee?”

“Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, hereherehereherehereherehereherehere.”

Ai’s body starts swinging back and forth like a crazed metronome.

Her big, round eyes open even wider as her pupils zoom left and right. Those whispers I’ve heard so many times coming from her mouth, Ai leans so far downward that the tip of her nose brushes against the board.

Ika wasn’t the only one surprised by this bizarre sight. The whole gallery is so shocked they don’t know what to think.

That’s right. All of you: take a look.

Look at my apprentice, precious enough to give you chills.

My apprentice, intense enough to make your spirits tremble!!

“Herehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehere––––––––––––Okay!!”

Ai makes a strong nod and rises to her knees on her chair.

Then, she looks down on Ika Sainokami with an arrogant stare and declares.

“About your proposal.”

“Ah …… gh?”

“I refuse!!!!”

With that, Ai reaches as far forward as her little body will go and snaps a piece down onto the board.

“……… Huuh? Haaaaagh?!”

Ika’s eyes rocket open once she sees it.

Ai’s move–––wasn’t defensive. But to go on the attack … she put the enemy King in check with a 5 Three Gold!!

“Cutting corners?! Here? Now?!”

“…… Nice!”

Big Sis quietly screams while I nod.

Yes. That’s the only option. I’ve been waiting for my apprentice to press forward. No amount of defense will win a match if you can’t put pressure on the enemy King. You have to be brave and step forward.

Go! Ai!!

Take another step!!!

“Heehee! …… Check, huuuh? You ain’t scaaaaarin’ meeeeeeee!”

Ika’s King escapes to 7 One where it’s safe behind a Gold and Silver, an iron wall.

It looks like she got away but–––.

“–––Here!!”

Ai pushes even closer.

Her Gold slips through the iron wall to 6 Two all by itself!

Ika shrieks with laughter.

“Givin’ me that Gold for free?! Haaaaa?! Whaaat?! What fooooooor?!”

“……!!”

I can hear Big Sis grinding her molars from here.

It’s not just Ika.

Big Sis didn’t see it either.

But once Ai made her move, they realized just how perfect it was.

“………… Whaa?”

She blinks several times a split second behind Big Sis.

“Ah …… Huh? What, what, what? That’s not right. How could? How’s …… Whaaat?”

Her head swaying back and forth like a pendulum on her shoulders, Ika starts to piece together the strange thing happening on the board.

Then, her pupils shrink into tiny little dots.

“I’m ……… losing?”

It’s not to that point yet …… But her formation collapses into chaos.

Ai’s sudden advance must’ve been the last thing she expected because Ika cautiously, meekly takes the Gold that charged into her territory.

That opened a seam.

And that’s–––.

“Here!!”

Ai deploys a Rook right to enemy territory using zero waiting time.

Ika moves to block it, but Ai follows through by slicing the Rook across the board like a long sword sweep to the very center, 5 Five, and then flips it over to promote.

––––––Dragon King, Ryuo.

The Promoted Rook, also called a Dragon, the strongest piece in the game appearing in the middle of the board is Ai’s eloquent answer.

“I am the Ryuo’s first apprentice!! I won’t let you have that!!”

I’m not the only one invigorated by that move.

“Ahah!”

Ika looks up from the board and stares right at Ai’s face.

“Ahahaa! Sooo …… That’s how it is.”

Her pupils are huge. It’s like she’s looking at something in a completely different world.

“You …… You can see too!!”

Saying that, Ika jumps up on the spot. Her bare feet land on the edge of her chair as she hunches over the board and starts playing Shogi like a gargoyle sitting atop an old European castle.

Unprecedented match posture.

“Heeheehee! Hehehehehehehehehehehe!!”

“Hereherehereherehereherehereherehere-herehereherehereherehere––––––––––––.”

Ika, squatting on the edge of her chair, and Ai, sitting on her ankles in hers.

Both are reading the board like wildfire in their postures of choice.

This contest of talent titans that extends beyond the Women’s League realm turns into a battle of brute force. On the board and off the board, this match is anything but normal.

“Blaaaaaaaaaaaa––––––zing!!”

It’s gotten so intense that Ika rears her head back and howls at the ceiling. She even rips off the ribbon around her neck in mid howl before deploying a Gold right in front of Ai’s Promoted Rook. Only someone without all the lights on upstairs would act like that. This is a tournament, with a live audience ……

But the staff doesn’t step in. The players are making moves back and forth so fast there’s no time to interrupt the match.

Then again …… who would ever dream of interrupting a match this intense?

Who could ever look away from Shogi with this kind of speed?

“Here!!”

Ai makes her move without using a second of waiting time! I mean, Ika’s fingers had just let go of her piece and snap! Again and again!

“Heehee! Who do you think I aaaaaam?! Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrly!!”

Ika is also playing at breakneck speed. Each of her moves takes only a second or two.

Worldly Thunder prides herself on talent and speed. I bet anything her pride wouldn’t let a nameless grade school girl out-speed her. However–––.

“Here!!!”

“Heehe!!”

“Here!!”

“Hee …… He!”

“!!”

“Nghh?! …… Hn …… Heehee!!”

Ika, keeping pace with Ai’s no-time onslaught, pauses for a moment to think it over with her hand still in the air. She can’t keep up anymore.

“Sainokami-Empress, you have no waiting time remaining. Please proceed with one-minute Shogi.”

The match recorder turns off the chess clock and picks up a stopwatch.

I’m not sure when it happened, but the waiting-time tables have turned.

Murmurs of disbelief pass through the crowd.

“…… Sparky’s run out of waiting time before an opponent ……?!”

“T-That’s gotta be a first ……?”

“Holy! That little girl …… She isn’t just some kid!!”

Shogi fans watching other matches start gravitating toward this one. It’s like their board is a shining beacon of light drawing everyone closer.

A Dragon sits in the middle of the board at 5 Five.

“Heehee …… hee ………… Hghh, gh ……?”

Any novice would take it in a heartbeat, but Ika has left it alone.

It’s pinned down, she even deployed a Gold to keep it that way, but for some reason Ika isn’t taking it.

She’s reached toward the center of the board over and over, but then recoiled like she got zapped by static electricity every time.

Ai is sending Ika a message over the board, more like a questioning challenge.

–––Can you take my Dragon?! Do you have the guts?!

Big Sis whispers to me in a puzzled voice, “She’s not pulling the 5 Five Promoted Rook back ……?”

“That’s the right move.”

“Huh? But–––.”

“It is. Without that Dragon, Ai will lose. But she can’t win without it either …… In that case, the best choice is to leave it there and put pressure on Ika with speed and force her to make a mistake.”

“?! She figured all that out … that fast? The pipsqueak ……?”

She did.

Since Ai can see what the pieces do without reading the board, she can work out these situations faster than Big Sis. I figured out what Ai’s going for because I can do the same thing.

I’m pretty sure Ika can see just like us too, but the pressure from having to instantaneously read the board and being afraid of what Ai can do is slowing down her thought process just a tick.

“Hee …… heehee!”

Then, Ika messes up.

Nah … saying Ai’s aura made her mess up would be closer to the truth. She tried to defend without taking the Dragon.

Ika accepts it … accepts that the grade schooler sitting in front of her is better than she is.

“Here!”

Ai opens a Check Path right away and Ika defends.

That move sealed it.

“It’s over.”

“Yeah. This match is over.”

Big Sis calls it just as I was about to.

Ika keeps putting Ai’s King into check, struggling until the end, but Ai didn’t even need to deploy pieces from her stand. She simply slid her King out of harm’s way and it was all for naught. Of course, she did it without using any waiting time at all. Ai’s fury is behind it all.

Women’s League Empress Ika Sainokami had drawn Ai into Direct Opposing Rook, a strategy she’d never seen before, and hit her with two worldly thunderbolts to build a commanding lead.

Ika had far more experience and game sense, had overcome pressure before and even possessed better reading ability.

But there was one place …… just one …… where Ai was more talented than Ika. Something important that Ai had that Ika didn’t.

That’s–––an unbreakable spirit.

“Gheheehee …… Y-You’re gooood.”

Sounding like the last gasp of a dying extreme egotists, Ika slaps all the pieces on her piece stand onto the board to signal she’s throwing in the towel.