Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 9 - Chapter 3.5

  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

The next day.

The second Queen Title Match began with Ai Yashajin making the first move.

“Hello everyone on the north coast! I’m baaaack–––!!”

Now after lunch, Ms. Rokuroba has the stage to herself as she starts doing commentary at the big board.

She’s wearing a knit dress with no shoulders and an extremely low neckline, which is making all the Shogi fans who made the trip out here very happy. Me? Of course I’m happy. too.

“Tamayon!” 

“I love you!! Marry me!!”

“Why, thank you everyone☆ But, sorry. I’m already married to Shogi, so marrying anyone of you ain’t gonna happen!!”

Boom! The whole place explodes with laughter. Only Ms. Rokuroba, with her sharp tongue and no-holds-barred commentary, can get away with teasing the crowd like this.

Both her outfit and comments have been at full throttle since the start of match, reason being–––

The match, which everyone came here to see, ended so quickly.

Ai used her best Bishop Exchange strategy and went in for a decisive blow right out of the gate, but the sequence she prepared for today completely caved. It’s been all Big Sis since then.

From a pro standpoint, the match was already over by the time lunch came around.

The only interesting thing left now is figuring out when Ai will surrender.

Which is why Ms. Rokuroba is so desperate to keep the crowd entertained.

Dropping the Shogi analysis completely, she’s been bringing the observer, Mr. Natagiri, the analyst for the match, Master Kiyotaki and myself up onto the stage for rapid-fire talk sessions and comedy bits. What’s more, she’s been doing this the whole time without leaving the stage.

Signing autographs left and right, I’ve lost count of how many rounds of rock-paper-scissors she’s played with the audience to decide who gets them—the match is moving so slowly we can’t do a Next Move Quiz.

Shaking hands and telling stories about the inner workings of the Women’s League all with a smile on her face, she’s not letting any fans get bored for a moment. She won’t let them regret making the trip out here.

Even male pros can’t get a big board analysis session this revved up. Actually, it might be something only a Women’s League member could pull off because they know how important events like this are. I can tell Ms. Rokuroba got this popular not just because of her Shogi skill and good looks, but also her willingness to please and her strong sense of responsibility. They’re shining through right now.

Seeing her professionalism and willpower with my own eyes, I’m seriously impressed.

When I mention that to her as we stand next to the big board, she says: “No, no, this is the usual.”

Like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Doing big board commentary for one of Ginko’s title matches like this one is a sure-fire snooze fest unless you liven it up yourself.”

“?”

What is she talking about?

Sure, today’s match didn’t turn out so well, but Big Sis is so popular that her being in the match alone brings people in droves ……

Whoops, I’ve got to keep the conversation going. So, I change the topic.

“You have faced Sora-Queen before haven’t you, Ms. Rokuroba? As someone with firsthand experience, what is your impression of the Queen?”

“Hmmm~ …… What’s the best way to put this? If I had to put it into words, it’d be–––.”

“An expression works too.”

“The video game boss whose HP never goes down.”

“…… Huuh?”

“You know, the hit points never go down… the ones that pop up in RPGs? In role-playing games… The boss where you try everything under the sun but can’t beat it? That battle where you think you’re doing damage but the HP bar doesn’t shrink at all?”

“I …… guess so?”

Pro Shogi players tend to love games.

Not just board games, but even regular video games, too. We have a lot of free time, so there’s plenty of time to get really hooked on one. Since we love discovering new things in trial-and-error strategy-type games, there’s a good chance Shogi players will make it into the finals whenever there are public tournaments.

Pros have made appearances on TV networks that broadcast video game content, including Ms. Rokuroba if I remember right.

I was sure that’s where this conversation was heading, but … it goes a heck of a lot deeper than I thought.

“For me? If I’m playing against a Women’s League player, even if she has a title, I’m confident I could get in a few good hits. If it’s a three-match series, I know I can get one off her. That’s what the game of Shogi is, right?”

“Yes, I agree with that.”

“But Ginko is different. No hits connect. It doesn’t even look like she’s taking damage at all. No matter how many special attacks I dish out, they amount to zero damage. What’s worse, all her regular attacks hit for 9,999. She nullifies defensive magic by default. She’s one of those How am I supposed to beat this?–type bosses. The totally broken ones that destroy the game’s balance. That’s what it’s like playing against her.”

“Well, but …… What about Empress Ika Sainokami or ……”

“Ika plays with a hair trigger and I’d say she has talent to contend with the best of them, but a lot more goes into winning than that. Why else do you think her winning percentage isn’t that high? She has zero defense and her HP is low, a glass cannon. Her speed and attack power are through the roof, though.”

“So you’re saying that B- …… Sora-Queen has high defense and HP as well?”

“Even a 15-year-old boy being 3-dan in the Sub League would be thought of as, like, the next powerhouse in the pro ranks, right? That’s why all of us in the Women’s League have given up. Ginko isn’t the same species as us. We lose, but what else do we expect? She should just hurry up and get to the pros.”

Ms. Rokuroba sounds calm, cool and collected.

She’s not trying to get a laugh out of the audience.

It’s more like she’s finally getting something off her chest that’s been there for far too long.

“Watching Ginko play is painful, plain and simple. You get sick of it: sick of how this girl is going to be looking down on us for the rest of our lives. What’s the point of researching anyway? I mean, to devote yourself heart and soul to something and then not be able to leave a scratch? It hurts really bad.”

“…………”

“Look, I’ll be honest here. The Women’s League is stagnant right now. There’s nothing more boring than a match where you know who’s going to win before it starts and no matter how good you play, people are always going to say, But you’re not as good as Ginko Sora, right? The Women’s Shogi world right now is just a game where Ginko Sora wins in the end. That must be boring to watch, am I right?”

Ms. Rokuroba yells to the crowd.

“W-Wait, Ms. Rokuroba! Don’t you think boring is too strong of a–––.”

More than half the people here have to be Big Sis’s fans. We’ll have to face their wrath if we say anything bad about Naniwa’s Snow White……!!

But, it turns out my expectations were completely wrong.

They’re applauding.

“………………”

Words fail me. I have to laugh this off. I have to keep the conversation going, but no words are coming out.

I can’t believe it. Aren’t most of these people rooting for Big Sis?

Well, then again ……

It’s true that today’s match was decided by the mid-game. Fans who came here expecting to see a battle for the ages probably would call it boring.

Big Sis made her Women’s Shogi debut back when she was in grade school and has never lost to a Women’s League Player. Even the Meijin’s winning percentage is around 70. His best season ever barely cracked 80. In other words, he was losing once in every five matches. While he has claimed and defended titles in straight runs before, it doesn’t happen very often.

Big Sis–––is 55-0. Not a single loss.

What’s more, almost all of them are perfect wins from start to finish.

Today wasn’t the first time the Shogi match itself was boring. It wasn’t the first time the audience wasn’t entertained by big board analysis alone.

It’s always like this.

Even Big Sis’s most devoted fans are getting tired of watching her win ……

Hold up, hold up! Now’s not the time to be thinking about this. I’ve got to keep the conversation going!

“W-Well, then how about the Queen challenger?! You’ve played against Ai, yes? What do you think of her playing style ……? What impression do you get from her?”

“Miss Yashajin …… How should I put it? It’s, I don’t know …… Interesting?”

“Interesting? Her playing style?”

“She’s cheeky, but her Shogi and her personality aren’t childish at all. Honestly, I hate having such a young girl like her in this league. Still, I end up wanting to know more about her. Her Shogi has something, an it factor. I want to know what it is, which makes me want to play against her as much as I can from here on out.”

Once Ms. Rokuroba finishes that sentence, she brings up someone else who I never considered.

“I’m sure that today’s match recorder, Miss Noboryou, feels the same way.”

“Ms. Noboryou, too ……?”

“I heard that when she lost to Miss Yashajin back in the finals, she turned pale as a ghost and literally couldn’t stand up. But, yeah, a female player in the Sub League losing to a Practice League member would be quite a shock.”

“…… Yes, it would.”

“But, that very same Miss Noboryou asked to work as the match recorder for this Women’s Title Match. I don’t think she’s only here to see Ginko.”

“She asked to work this match?”

“That’s what I’ve heard.”

What a surprise.

Working as a match recorder is pretty much an obligation for Sub League members and 3-dan players get first choice. Which means that kyu ranking members have to take whatever is left over …… More often than not, they have to work extremely long matches or the women’s matches that won’t benefit their own research. That’s the way it is in Kansai anyway. I wonder if Kanto is different.

Speaking of which …… I remember and ask her.

“Which reminds me, Ms. Rokuroba, you worked as the match recorder for the quarterfinals, didn’t you? What was your motivation?”

“I thought it was a good chance to learn something. The lucky thing was that so many reporters were there that I got lots of attention just by sitting in the match recorder’s spot. Now that Shogi match was fun to watch. Miss Yashajin, on defense against that Miss Tsukiyomizaka, using Bishop Head Pawn. I had a front row seat and couldn’t wait for the next move the whole match.”

I agree that that match record is Ai’s magnum opus.

She concentrated so hard that she conked out with a fever on the bullet train on the way home …… Watching her that day, that’s when I first took the possibility of her becoming the Queen challenger seriously.

No.

Even the possibility of her beating Big Sis–––.

“That Shogi was so much fun that time flew by, even working as the match recorder. But, it would’ve been a real struggle if it turned out like today’s …… Ah! She made a move.”

Keeping an eye on the monitor at her feet while talking, Ms. Rokuroba is the first to notice that Ai has finally moved a piece.

Her King had been in starting position for the entire match, but now it moved for the first time.

But it wasn’t so she could hold out.

“She’s setting the scene.”

Just as Ms. Rokuroba said, Ai threw in the towel just a few moves later.