Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 7 - Chapter 1.4

  MASTER AND APPRENTICE

“Sigh ……”

This is an awkward ride home to say the least.

Worry is written all over Ai’s face in the back seat of the taxi right next to me as I just sit there, numb to the world.

“…… Master? Umm …… Uhh ……”

“Yes. Everything’s okay …… You don’t have to worry,” I say to calm my apprentice down, but those words were actually for me.

Saying them out loud is the only way I can hide how shaken I am.

“That’s the thing about Master Kiyotaki, the littlest things can set him off. Some really silly stuff made him boil over back when I was a live-in apprentice, so I’m used to dealing with it. Yep.”

That’s a lie.

Sure, he would flip his lid at the most meaningless things in day-to-day life, but the little things never once got him angry at either Big Sis or me when it came to Shogi.

…… While it is true that he peed out the window after losing to me in a non-league match last year, all players understand that pain and won’t blame him for it. So that doesn’t count.

“Master has a B-2 placement match coming up, you see. But he’s been busy the past few weeks going to Big Sis’s and my award ceremonies and setting up the party so he hasn’t had time to do any Shogi research. The pressure must be getting to him ……”

“Isn’t Grandpa-sensei …… having a hard time … in the placement matches ……?”

“He sure is …… It’s because he got a demotion point last season ……”

“Demotion point?”

Ai tilts her head with a cute little fumyuu sound coming out of her mouth. That’s her “?” sign.

“The placement matches are built on a complex system. Each class has their own conditions for getting promotion points and demotion points.”

Out of all the different leagues, it’s the rules making up the placement matches that are hardest to understand.

It’s the result of rules being adjusted to match each era since they’re directly tied to a player’s lifeblood, league matches.

“I belong to the lowest ranking class, C-2. There are fifty of us in total. We get matched up against ten other members and those records determine which three players will get promoted.”

“Three?! That’s all?!”

“Well, going undefeated will get you promoted no matter what. If five of us don’t lose a single match, then all five will get promoted to C-1.”

“S-So strict ……!”

“It’s because there are so many of us. If five players go 9 wins 1 loss, then the two with the lowest placement won’t get promoted even though they had the same record.”

That’s what we in the Shogi world call hitting the ceiling.

“Um, Master? What placement ……?”

“It’s based on last season’s record. Players who came down from a higher class are at the top while the ones who promoted into that class start at the bottom.”

“That would mean all the professional Senseis have a placement, right?”

“Yep. That’s why they’re called placement matches.”

“That makes sense!”

…… Which makes my standing in the Shogi world strange because I stand at the top as the Dragon King Ryuo, but my placement is near the lowest of the low. I’m in both edges at once.

“And Master Kiyotaki is in class B-2. That’s third from the top. Only the top two can promote while the bottom five get hit with demotion points. Get two of those demotion points and you go down a class.”

Players get demoted from A and B-1 simply if they don’t win enough matches.

But all classes from B-2 and below have the point system, so players are guaranteed at least two years at that rank.

“Do demotion points stay with them forever?”

“Nah, they can get rid of them by either getting a winning record the next season or finishing at 50 percent two years in a row.”

“Win …… half?”

Ai looks confused.

Getting through the Practice League with only a handful of losses and taking down high-ranking Women’s League players in the Mynavi Open like she did, the idea of breaking even might not seem so difficult. I mean, kids her age get stronger every single day, like sleeping is all the practice they need.

But that’s not true for Master.

Players his age start losing their Shogi sense as well as physical endurance. They have to work at least twice as hard as younger players to climb back up in the rankings once they start slipping ……

“Master Kiyotaki fought hard when he was in A, but he got demoted to B-1 the season right after he failed against the Meijin for the second time and ended up falling all the way to B-2 the next season. Now that he’s got a demotion point there, he could wind up in C-1 this year.”

“He was winning in A not too long ago, so why can’t he win in the lower classes? Is he in a slump ……?”

“Part of it is his age, but …… That’s just how competitive the Shogi world is.”

A is a battle of gods. It’s where those who are in a league of their own gather to determine the best of the best.

That’s not to say B and C are a cakewalk, though.

“B-1, especially, is so competitive, it’s called the Demon’s Den.”

“Demons?!”

“It’s a place where veterans with enough skill to be in A clash with up-and-coming younger players in a series of death matches. Labels like former A Rank or challenged the Meijin don’t mean anything in there. Instead, they get hit with demoted weaklings are weak and other insults like that.”

Losing all but one match in B-1, Master managed only two wins in B-2 the next year and got a demotion point.

His A ranking from only two years earlier didn’t mean a thing.

That shock had to hurt …… It’s just … Master always acted so cheerful back then and I didn’t notice ……

“……… Could it be ……?”

“? Could what?”

“…… Maybe, maybe he was already planning to retire ……”

“Huh ……?”

“Tons of players would retire the moment they got demoted from A back in the old days. Master is pretty old-fashioned …… And he’s not just a former A ranking player. He’s a Meijin Challenger.”

Suddenly, I’m reminded just how much reverence Master has for the Meijin’s position in the Shogi world.

It wouldn’t be all that strange for him to think he wouldn’t just ruin his reputation getting demoted like this, he would also damage the Meijin’s reputation.

“B-But … Grandpa-sensei wouldn’t retire, would he? He’s never said anything about it before.”

“That’s probably …… my fault.”

“Your …… fault?”

“Yeah. I was in the 3-dan division, fighting for a chance to turn pro in junior high school the same year that Master got demoted from A. I think he didn’t announce his retirement so I could focus on my matches.”

Master has kept killing himself. All for my sake.

I’ve become Ryuo, defended my title and gone undefeated in the placement matches so far all thanks to him.

Despite that, I casually said that the one thing he treasured all his life was …… How could he not get angry?

“That’s exactly it. I was in the middle of a ten-match losing streak at this time last year, remember? But he kept cracking jokes, cheering me up …… And then I … damn it!!”

“Master ……”

Anger at my own stupidity boils over as I slam my fist down onto my knee. Ai looks at me with sadness in her eyes and holds my fist in her hands.

She didn’t say a word, but the look on her face is saying don’t blame yourself loud and clear. I let the muscles in my fist relax before gently placing that hand on my apprentice’s head.

Eyes glistening like a little puppy, my apprentice jumps into my arms.

She’s trembling, almost like she’s afraid of being abandoned on the side of the road.

Seeing her like this, it suddenly clicks.

“………… Me, too ……”

“? You …… too?”

“No, it’s just ……… I’ll probably react just like he did once you get stronger than me, Ai.”

“Uwhee?!”

Ai flies off of me, almost literally, and shakes her head no as hard as she can.

“H-How could I ever be stronger than you, Master? There’s no way!”

“But you’re already better than me at Shogi puzzles.”

“Shogi puzzles and Shogi on a board are different!”

…… So, she won’t deny that she’s better at puzzles than I am ……

This is the kind of straightforward honesty that makes kids so brutal.

Well, all players have this innocent brutality in them somewhere.

Sometimes it comes out like a breath of fresh air …… Other times it can make a lot of people angry at you.

This girl, a jumble of innocent yet brutal honesty, youthful energy and talent, says, “I sure hope Grandpa-sensei wins!”

“…… So do I. Really.”

My apprentice’s straightforward, dazzling smile is just too bright for me, so I look out the window instead.

Seeing the Kansai Shogi Association out of the corner of my eye as we drive past, it looks more like some kind of eerie wild animal.

A fierce beast that feeds off Shogi players’ misfortunes ……