Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 9 - Chapter 5.5

  STAR COINS

“Today’s players have arrived! Everyone, please treat them to a big round of applause!!”

The commentator Ms. Rokuroba gestures to the large, majestic doors at the entrance to the chapel as both open to the left and right at the same time to reveal Big Sis and Ai Yashajin to the crowd.

The chapel staff puts the icing on the cake by adding music to their entrance. The crowd is going wild.

Oddly enough, it’s midnight.

Watching Big Sis in her kimono and Ai in her white dress walking down the aisle is like seeing a fairy tale come to life.

Seriously, this scene belongs in the pages of a book. As long as they leave out the part where these two were fighting to the death until just a little bit ago.

“Snow White and Cinderella… moving forward ……”

Even as I whisper under my breath, I can still feel the hostile vibes coming from both of them.

Except that Big Sis, the winner, doesn’t look satisfied by her victory at all. Other people might miss it, but for me it’s obvious. She’s angry.

…Which is surprising because she pulled off five straight Queen Title Match victories to become the first ever Queen of Queens ……

Meanwhile, a jumble of emotions are passing over Ai Yashajin’s face after her challenge failed.

Depression …… doesn’t seem to be one of them.

She must still be feeling the aftereffects of battle because her cheeks are flushed red. Her eyes look watery from here.

–––Well, she did just hit a wall for the first time …… I don’t blame her.

I give her an encouraging smile when our eyes meet, but–––.

“……!!”

Humph!

The second we make eye contact, Ai blushes even redder and yanks her gaze off to the side. She blatantly looks away. Yeah, her heart is wounded ……

“What a fantastic match, Sora-Queen and Miss Yashajin. Now, join us up here at the altar.”

Switching the microphone off, Ms. Rokuroba says, “Ginko, go over next to Kuzuryu-sensei. Runt, you’re on this side.” Then, into the mic.

“I’ll hand the reins over to Kuzuryu-sensei.”

“Me?! Why?!”

“Rather than me singing her praises, the Queen would much prefer that you do it, Kuzuryu-sensei. Aren’t I right?”

“……”

Big Sis doesn’t respond to Ms. Rokuroba’s verbal jab.

I realize she is half teasing and half being nice, but …… She’s wrong.

I am absolutely sure that the last thing Big Sis wants to hear me say is congratulations.

“…… All right. Then–––.”

I reach up to the top left of the big board and snap down a piece.

–––9 One Dragon.

The moment I take my hand away …… shocked murmurs spread through the chapel.

“Hey ……”

“W-Wouldn’t that be ……?!”

“No way ……?!”

A shock that turned the world on its head.

Yes. It’s–––.

“Ai.”

Rather than Big Sis, I direct a question at my apprentice standing on the other side of the big board.

“Why didn’t you take the Repetition Draw? I’m sure you knew it was there.”

It was there for the taking just after Big Sis’s King started the revolution.

The defender’s King leaving its position at 9 Two left an opening wide enough to get the offensive Dragon in behind the defensive formation at 9 One. Doing so would force the King to go around in circles and trigger a Repetition Draw.

In the match, Ai chose to put her Dragon at 7 One and used it to purely chase the King from behind. It’s hard to read what will happen in that situation, and there wasn’t enough time during the commentary for me to break it down on the big board, so I didn’t bring up the Repetition Draw, but–––.

Big Sis hit Ai with the very same dilemma that my apprentice had given her.

Her plan was to force Ai to choose a Repetition Draw, which is the same as losing, and then crush her in the rematch.

It’s just that Ai chose a different answer …… I, and probably Big Sis too, want to know the reason.

Her eyes locked onto the big board, Ai slowly nods after a long moment and says, “…… Yes. I noticed it. I knew I could do a Repetition Draw.”

“Then why didn’t you take it? Did your pride not allow you to settle for a Repetition Draw because you were on offense?”

“No. It’s not that I didn’t choose the Repetition Draw. I couldn’t.”

Ai provides her reasoning.

“It’s because I–––am the Queen Challenger.”

“……!”

Big Sis and I look at her with wide eyes as Ai Yashajin enthusiastically explains.

“Title holders are expected to play matches they can’t afford to lose. However, challengers have to win. I only played respectable Shogi once I was determined to keep pressing forward no matter what.”

Ai broke so many Shogi taboos during the third match.

By continuously attacking on and off the board, the third match was the first time Ai played like a true challenger.

She’s still a way away from claiming a title, but …… She got her foot in the door.

Her will to proactively attack is what made that possible. If Ai threw it away and escaped using the Repetition Draw, she would have lost the right to call herself a challenger.

–––So she figured it out. All on her own, too.

What I wanted her to realize wasn’t something so trivial as a new sequence for Bishop Head Pawn ……

“Not bad. Pisses me off, though.”

Ms. Rokuroba turned her mic off, but I can still hear her whispering under her breath.

Even the other Women’s League players inside the chapel right now are looking at Ai like she is positively glowing.

Magic doesn’t have anything to do with it.

Cinderella kicked off her glass slippers and proved to the whole Shogi world that she was worthy of being a challenger. That she deserved what players absolutely need: trust.

Her bare feet planted firmly on the floor, Queen Challenger Ai Yashajin speaks to the crowd.

“I knew the Repetition Draw was there. But I thought I could win without taking it. That shows that my reading abilities are not up to par with Sora-Queen’s. Most of all …… I didn’t have the courage to choose a Repetition Draw on offense …… I wasn’t brave enough to be at a disadvantage as the defender once again. I lost, plain and simple,” Ai says while lowering her head to Big Sis before continuing. “Also …… to everyone from Kobe.”

Next, she bows to all the fans sitting in the pews.

“Thank you for continuing to support me all the way to this late hour. I’m sorry I couldn’t win. I’m disappointed I couldn’t live up to your expectations, and that ……. really, really hurts ……”

The little tremor in her voice was enough to show exactly how Ai is feeling. Seeing her courageously own up to it is making some fans’ eyes water.

“But, I learned something very important from this loss.”

Looking up, Ai’s face stays solid as a rock.

“Having pride as a title holder, and the strength to abandon that pride to win a single match—that’s what I don’t have, not yet.”

Even after her loss, there’s a bright sheen in this 10-year-old girl’s eyes that only people determined to face forward have.

A challenger’s face.

“I will strive to acquire the muddy, stubborn playing style that my Shogi family …… specifically the Kiyotaki line, my Master and Grand Master are known for. Also, I will go back to basics and rebuild my Shogi from scratch in order to catch up with my aunt apprentice, Sora-Queen, even a day earlier.”

“……!! Ai ……”

I’m this close to bawling right now.

Ai Yashajin has insisted on keeping so much distance between herself and the rest of the Shogi family all this time that she’s never called me family before. Seriously, the waterworks are on standby.

But it wasn’t just me.

Ai brought up Master Kiyotaki and Big Sis as well.

Knowing in my heart that her parents are watching this, I give them an update.

–––…… It looks like I was able to give this girl a family.

I couldn’t help her win.

But this girl is willing to accept something much bigger than that.

Stepping away from the mic, Ai yells as loud as she can to everyone in the audience, “I’ll challenge as many times as it takes! I’ll become so much stronger! So, please, help motivate me to reach my full potential!”

The girl who’d outright refused to accept help from anyone else is now mustering up the courage to reach out.

Not to cling.

She’s looking to grasp.

“Keep watching my matches! I will not disappoint you!!”

The chapel swells with a warm round of applause.

Naniwa’s Snow White claimed eternal glory today.

The magic that turned Cinderella into a challenger has disappeared.

But–––.

She continued to shine even after the spell was broken.

The glow she has now is stronger and more beautiful than it was before she lost.