Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 5 - Chapter 1.5

  SHOCKED WASTELAND

“The sealing move is–––   Pawn taken at 2 Four.”

Day 2 of the match starts with the observer announcing the sealing move.

The Meijin did exactly what I expected, but there’s still a part of me that breathes a sigh of relief when the observer makes the announcement. That means I didn’t spend all that time thinking last night for nothing.

The match then starts going exactly how I predicted.

He must think he used too much time yesterday. The Meijin is keeping up the pace. Since I already read through everything that’s happening, I match him step for step.

–––I’ve got thirty minutes of waiting time over him. If I can keep this up until late game, I’ll be sitting pretty!

I kept playing with that thought in the back of my head but …… My hand stops in midair.

“……………… Isn’t this …………?”

I stare at the board in disbelief at what just showed up.

It’s exactly what popped into my head when I was out walking on the beach last night …… But it was so lopsided in my favor, I threw it out because I thought reality isn’t that nice. Well, here it is.

“…………?”

I sneak a glance at the Meijin.

The man sitting across the board from me is cleaning his glasses like he was relaxing at home. There’s no negativity, no stress at all. It’s not the kind of relaxed that comes from thinking things don’t look good, but oh well either.

“???”

I can’t tell what he’s thinking at all, so I look back down at the board and think through everything one more time.

–––Has he set a trap somewhere ……?

I check my formation for holes, but I’ve got an anaguma. It’s not exactly an impenetrable fortress, but I know my defenses are stronger at the very least. I don’t see any traps either.

All I need to do now is focus on how to attack.

I stopped thinking about the sequence when I got to this spot last night because I thought, in the unlikely event it actually showed up, victory was in the bag. If one hundred pros looked at the board as it is now, I’d bet that all one hundred would say it’s just a matter of time until I win. I’m that far ahead.

Think of it this way: I’d be the only one with face cards in my hand if we were playing poker. Not only that, I’ve got plenty of time to figure out my next move.

So I set to work to figure out exactly how I’m going to land the final blow–––.

–––––– ……………Huh?

The more I thought about it, the closer I lean in toward the board. I frown.

The reason.

–––There’s …… nowhere to attack?

That can’t be right.

Seriously, I’ve got a Dragon in his territory, I traded my Bishop for both his Gold and Knight and I’ve got full control of the sequence. With all these things going my way, I should be able to a cook up a devastating offensive.

But at the same time.

Even with all the best ingredients–––they’re useless if you don’t have anything to make.

“Hm ……?”

My eyebrows climbing up my forehead without realizing it, I lean even further over the board.

–––That hard? …… With all these great ingredients to work with? Seriously?

But the deeper I read, the more I realize it’s not just hard.

No matter what sequence I follow, I can’t find a single one that works in my favor. Not one.

So, basically …… 

–––Could, I be …… in really bad shape ……?

To say I’m shocked would be putting it lightly.

Whoosh …… A cold chill runs down my spine but my head and face start burning up. It feels like I caught one heck of a cold and the stomach flu at the same time. My heart is pounding against my ribs so hard it hurts.

Careful to keep my voice steady between these thundering heartbeats, I turn to the recordkeeper and asked in a calm, quiet voice.

“Record, please ……”

“Here you are.”

Focusing hard enough to keep my hands steady, I take the papers from him.

I didn’t ask for it so I could see who made what move when. I remember all that clear as day.

There are numbers written down beside each move that I need to check–––waiting time usage.

“…………!!”

A scream near broke free the second I saw those digits.

Since Day 2 of the match started, the Meijin has only used seventeen minutes of waiting time.

That’s less than two minutes per move. Considering we had eight hours to start with, that’s almost nothing.

I was absolutely sure that the Meijin was thinking: oh well, and went with the sequence because he didn’t have a choice, certain that he thought he used too much time on Day 1 and had to make up for it.

But …… I was wrong.

The Meijin didn’t feel like he was losing.

“……… Oh no ……”

Words fell out of my mouth even though I thought it was locked up tight. The realization hit me so hard that my heart had to cry out somehow.

–––No way …… Has he read it?! …… all the, way through ……?!

“…………!!”

I give the sheets back to the recordkeeper.

But I couldn’t keep my hands from shaking anymore.

The papers aren’t all that thick, but I can hear them wobble.

“Pardon the interruption. I’m here to take lunch orders ……”

Someone from the hotel staff enters the room with menus in his hand.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less about lunch. Now’s not the time for eating. I’d have given up the whole break for more time to think.

……But, skipping lunch might show the Meijin how shaken I am right now …… 

Nah, the fact that I’m thinking about that at all means he already knows. Even so, I’m trying to keep up the act. It’s the only defense I’ve got left.

I skim through the menu and point at something that I can just wolf down and be done with it.

“This …… The house club sandwich.”

Meanwhile, the Meijin didn’t order a thing.

–––He’s not eating lunch? Why not ……?

I’m so on edge that even his not ordering lunch sends my train of thought into a tailspin.

Skipping lunch is perfectly normal. He might’ve just overeaten at breakfast, or he might be the type that’s happy enough with the snacks served during the match between the breakfast and dinner provided during title matches.

It’s also possible that the food here in Hawaii didn’t agree with his stomach.

But I’m in such bad shape that I think–––Don’t tell me …… The match is as good as over?! Did I mess up that bad?!

Nothing else came to mind.

Your heart hurts when formations crumble.

And the match itself …… ends when your spirit breaks.

Including the lunch break, I thought as hard as I could for over two hours but couldn’t find a way back from the brink. The only thing I figured out during that time was that I’d been too naïve. The more I thought about it the more I felt that poison circulate and etch away at my fighting spirit.

I put a Pawn in enemy territory as soon as the match got started again, but it was just a bluff.

The Meijin keeps up the high pace he’s had since this morning. I knew it, he’s already read to the end.

“Ouch ……”

Seeing the Meijin’s Pawn plow through what I thought was a strong anaguma felt like watching someone else’s problem. I’m in no shape to keep up the fight, let alone find a way to come back from behind …… 

I go on attack just for the hell of it, but the Meijin defends perfectly.

Then …… on the 92nd move …… 

The Meijin deploys a Gold right next to my King and I bow my head.

“…… I lost.”

2:45 in the afternoon–––it’s over.

The Shogi match I thought I couldn’t lose at the end of Day 1 ended in failure before the afternoon snacks were brought out on Day 2.

“One at a time! Do not rush into the room!”

The match recorder and cameraman were swallowed up by an avalanche of journalists at pretty much the same moment I threw in the towel. The observer tries to do crowd control, but nobody’s listening.

Shutters start clicking as soon as the media floods in, cameras at the ready as they jockey for the best position.

The best position–––basically, where they can get a good shot of the Meijin’s, the victor’s, face.

“………”

The two of us just stare down and don’t say a word. We don’t move a muscle. Can’t.

At this point, journalists working for newspapers and magazines have the right to ask questions first.

But, the players …… me, I’m so depressed that I’ve brought the room’s vibe down with me. Those journalists couldn’t say anything.

It was the chairman who broke the ice.

“…… Thinking about it logically–––.”

I have no idea when he sat down next to the board because he was real quiet about it, but he tells a room so crowded there’s nowhere to stand what my heart wants to say.

“…… Making an anaguma, completing a two-for-one trade, possessing a Dragon with control of the sequence …… would normally be very promising for a player with the first move ……”

He sounds genuinely surprised.

Even Chairman Tsukimitsu, a Move-Loss Bishop Exchange specialist to this day, didn’t think the match could turn south. Just like I didn’t.

“So then, you’re saying–––.”

A Shogi journalist finally speaks up and cautiously confirms what he heard.

“The Meijin’s Bishop deployment was magic?”

“Magic? What just occurred cannot be put in such simple terms.”

The chairman snaps back in an unusually harsh tone and says in a slightly fearful voice, “That …… was a miracle.”