Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 9 - Chapter 1.2

  A GRAVESTONE THAT SINGS

A black stone sits enshrined at the top of a hill that overlooks the sea.

At this holy place where only those with permission may enter, I–––Ai Yashajin, feel the ocean breeze on my back.

“Father …… and mother. I’ve made it to the title match,” I say to the black stone in front of me.

It’s my parents’ gravestone.

They should be resting right beneath it.

I say should be …… because I never saw their remains being lowered into the earth with my own two eyes.

I was still quite young and didn’t fully understand the meaning of a funeral …… I didn’t fully comprehend that my parents had died.

All I knew was that the three of us would never sit around a Shogi board again.

When that finally clicked, only then did I start the process after what had happened. It was pure sorrow.

I sat down at a Shogi board by myself …… and started playing through father’s match records each day. Every time, I was hoping to hear his voice come from them as if he were still alive ……

“Father, I’m using your pieces.”

My Master, Yaichi, had a full set of Shogi pieces made at Shumai Honinbou’s workshop as a present to celebrate my becoming a Woman’s League player.

Those pieces were engraved with my deceased father’s handwriting taken from match records he wrote himself.

This was possible because Sub League member Hiuma Kagamizu 3-dan collected match records from when father was still alive.

I use those pieces for research now.

“It’s so easy to read your pieces, father …… My eyes never get tired no matter how long I play. I get so many ideas when I use them that it’s like you’re there watching me! If father were here, he would move this piece. It happens all the time!”

Then, I start explaining yesterday’s match as clearly as I can.

The Mynavi Women’s Open Challenger Match.

Because I want father to know about the Shogi I played.

“Machi Kugui was the most difficult opponent I have ever faced. The Bishop Head Pawn strategy I used against Ryou Tsukiyomizaka wouldn’t work on Machi the Tormentor …… But, surely you knew that, father? You know my Bishop Head Pawn’s weakness. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to fix it yet …… The same is true for my struggles with Move-Loss Bishop Exchange. But! I should be able to use the Normal Bishop Exchange standards you taught me just fine! Plus, I have all the new variations that came to me when using your pieces, so–––.”

There was so much to say that an hour passes before I knew it.

Not again. This always happens when I come here.

“Mother. I’m sorry for only talking to Father. There was just so much I wanted to tell him about Shogi that I kept going on and on ……”

I give her a polite bow in my mind.

She was so gentle, kind and beautiful …… But also a little aloof, a woman who was always a little girl at heart.

“You always read me those picture books, remember? And I noticed how you always got a little grumpy whenever Father and I would start talking about Shogi.”

My parents met at a Shogi club at a university in Tokyo.

But honestly, mother was never all that strong of a player. I think it was because she didn’t love Shogi all that much.

I never had a chance to ask her when she was alive, but …… I’m almost certain she learned how to play Shogi so she could get close to father.

This is why she surrounded me with things girls are supposed to like when she had a daughter.

Picture books, pretty clothes, dolls to play house with.

I think she wanted me to be like one of the princesses from the fairy tales.

But it was Shogi that interested me.

Trapped between mother and father, it was Shogi that gave me an idea how to bridge the gap.

10 years ago …… A Women’s Title was set in place the same year I was born.

The first Women’s League player to ever claim that title wore jewelry worth millions of yen and a gorgeous dress when she was bestowed her title at the ceremony. The whole scene looked like it belonged in the pages of a fairy tale.

That title was––– Queen.

Reading about it in a Shogi magazine when I was little, I told my parents loud and clear, “I will be the Queen of Shogi!”

Father was overjoyed. Mother seemed to have mixed feelings at first, but we eventually came together as a family, smiling. My being bestowed the Queen title became our dream, all three of us.

How ironic!

The title within my reach is–––.

“Did you know? People call me Kobe’s Cinderella now. Funny, don’t you think? Me, Cinderella …… Does it make you happy, Mother?” I ask the black stone.

I get the feeling …… Mother is smiling right now. Just like she did back then.

“But, I’m still not interested in those picture book worlds. A princess meeting a prince, falling in love …… That world doesn’t matter to me.”

More to the point, I don’t understand how someone comes to love someone else.

Everyone else is my enemy.

That’s the world of competition and I love how cut-and-dried it is.

That’s why the romance thing escapes me.

There’s no point in learning about it.

“It’s not because I’m in elementary school. Moving on to junior high and high school …… I don’t see myself changing at all. Sorry ……”

I’ll probably get married eventually to carry on the family bloodline.

That’s my duty as a Yashajin.

I’ll follow through with it with the same determination as I do when I set out to win the match in front of me. I’ll have a husband someday and then a child as well.

But I just can’t see how that household would play out.

“………… Would I be able to live happily with a family if I were teaching Shogi ……?”

I wonder.

If I were asked if the Shogi world is a happy one, I think I would answer no.

If I were asked if it’s interesting, I would say yes in no time.

“Well, I’d better be on my way.”

It’s very relaxing here.

So much so that night can fall without me noticing.

That’s happened more than a few times in the past. I’d sneak out of the manor and come here by myself. Akira and the others then show up, frantically looking for me ……

But I don’t have time for that anymore.

“I’m sorry. I won’t be coming back for a while. It might be a little lonely until then, but please forgive me.”

I stand up and bow my head low.

I’m determined.

Until the Queen Title Match is over, I won’t be coming here. Without that level of commitment, I won’t be able to accomplish this daunting task.

I came here today to show my parents just how determined I am.

“The next time you see me, I will …… I will be the Queen. Our dream will come true.”

With that, I go back down the hill.

Never once looking back.

The breeze that gave me a push going up the hill is now blowing hard against me.