Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 6 - Chapter Pr

  THE SHOGI GODS

“Gods?”

“’At’s right.”

I’m pretty sure it was just after I became Master’s apprentice.

I was six years old and Ginko was four (I didn’t call her Big Sis yet) when he took the two of us out on a day trip.

Part of it was because I’d just left Yamaoka in Fukui Prefecture for the first time, so I remember everything flying past the windows being so new and exciting as I sat next to Ginko in the back seat while Master drove.

…… But, being from Kansai in the first place, Ginko wasn’t interested in the scenery at all. Instead, she demanded that I play Shogi with her.

She became Master’s apprentice two weeks before me, meaning I had to do whatever she said. I wanted to play Shogi too, so I followed her orders right away.

In the end, we played on that collapsible magnetic Shogi board that Ginko always carried around with her in the back seat the whole way. We just use our mental Shogi boards nowadays, but we couldn’t play a game without an actual board and pieces back then.

I think it was at about the time we finished our fifth match that the car came to a stop and Master said, “Here we are.”

As for where we were …… It smelled strange. A girl a bit older than us was waiting to show us around. She was strange too, always swinging a toy sword around.

That’s when Master told us something even stranger yet.

About the Shogi gods.

“In this world, ya ain’t goin’ any higher if the Shogi gods don’t like ya.”

“We can’t get strong?”

“Nah, ya can get plenty strong. But if the Shogi gods got somethin’ against ya, ya never gonna turn pro. Certainly never be the Meijin.”

“We can get really strong, but never be a pro ……?”

Hearing that made me shiver in fear.

Because, I mean, I wanted to be just like Master.

I came to Osaka because I wanted to be a pro Shogi player.

Which is why, when I heard that these mystifying Shogi “gods” could stop me, it was scary.

I knew how to get better, how to get stronger.

Play lots of Shogi and try really hard.

But …… 

“What do I need to do to make the Shogi gods like me?!”

I desperately pleaded, pulling on Master’s pant leg and begging for an answer.

He gently patted me on my head as I shook and told me several ways that I could gain the Shogi gods’ favor.

Listening to him, all the anxiety and worry started to melt away.

But, Ginko had other ideas.

“…… There are no gods.”

Ginko was (and pretty much still is) the type of person who won’t accept what someone says as is.

She seriously looked like an angel. I didn’t think she was human the first time I saw her, more like a fairy or spirit right out of a storybook. Whatever she was, I believed she was something beyond human with all my heart. (The fact that she would always watch me from a distance without saying a word only made it seem even more likely.)

–––Pros have Shogi fairies living in their houses!

Seeing Ginko for the first time only made my respect for pro Shogi players grow even more. Wow! Pros are amazing–––! That kind of thing.

So, it was very easy for me to believe in the existence of Shogi gods. Ginko on the other hand, despite looking like a being from another plane herself, rejected them outright.

She was pretty much a crystallized miracle, but she didn’t even try to believe in gods or miracles herself. As a result, zombies and ghosts scared her more than most people (and still do).

“No gods at all.” Ginko said defiantly.

Master didn’t get mad at her. Instead, he said, “They’re ‘round. Gods are here all right. They’re lookin’ after ya and Yaichi right now.”

“Then, where are the Shogi gods?” Ginko said, getting even more insistent. “I’ll never believe you if you don’t tell me!”

She looked up at Master, silently challenging him with a look in her eyes as she clutched that plastic Shogi board to her chest.

I hadn’t known her long, but I had already figured out that pose meant Ginko would never change her mind.

So I was anxious to see what would happen next–––.

Master flashed a big grin and put his hand down.

“They’re here.”

Showing her exactly where the Shogi gods lived.

“And here.”

It was after that, in that strange place, that we saw one in real life.

We saw a Shogi god appear right before our eyes.

Ginko and I believed from that day on.

Believed that the Shogi gods are real.