Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 1 - Chapter 5.6

☖ END GAME

“Big Sis! Why the heck did you torture her like that——?!”

Right after the final move.

Leaving Ai hunched over in a sobbing ball, Big Sis stood up to leave without doing any kind of review session, but I grab her shoulder first.

And to my surprise she was shaking.

“………… I couldn’t move in.”

“Huh?”

“…… I was trying to win. Much earlier. But ……”

She whispered so softly that only I could hear as her skin, still warm from battle, twitched ever so slightly.

Big Sis——was intimidated by Ai’s sharp skills.

She was afraid that the tide could turn against her if they started going blow for blow during the entire match. That’s why she didn’t take any opportunities to end the match quickly and chose to torture Ai into submission from a distance.

It wasn’t that she didn’t attack.

She couldn’t attack.

Ginko Sora, said to be the strongest in history, the undefeated Snow White, was afraid of a nine-year-old elementary school girl with only three months of Shogi experience.

She’d tried to frighten her opponent, but ended up getting scared ……

“…… Next time I’ll kill her quickly,” she whispered, almost to herself, before slapping my hand away and leaving the arena behind.

Next time.

With those words, Big Sis acknowledged Ai’s talent.

The next time they play——basically she’s admitting that Ai is capable of challenging her for the title of best woman in history while avoiding recognizing her as my apprentice at the same time.

Unfortunately.

That next time won’t——.

“…… Well, that’s that.”

Ai’s mother makes a quiet yet firm declaration.

“……!”

Ai shuddered.

Just as the Shogi board’s legs look like a kuchinashi berry, those who play the game cannot make excuses in front of it. Doing so is more disgraceful than losing.

That’s why Ai didn’t say anything—because she understood that doing so meant she’d lose the right to play Shogi at all.

I take another look at the girl holding back both words and tears in front of the Shogi board without saying a word.

This girl saved me.

She helped me, who couldn’t even play my own style of Shogi, play my own way once again.

That unbreakable spirit invigorated mine one more time.

Everyone who witnessed the match—including Sub League members, Practice League members, pro players, Women’s League players, association staff and family members——they all witnessed a match that would steal the heart of any Shogi lover. I’m so fired up I want to play a match right now because I saw that game.

And for that——I’ve got some gratitude to pay back.

“Ai.”

“……?”

Two eyes just barely keeping tears at bay turn toward me when I say her name.

——You want to keep playing Shogi, don’t you?

Without asking, even without saying a word, I knew the answer right away.

Just by looking at those little fingers still clinging to one of the pieces.

“Ai. Stand up and give Sensei a proper farewell. Thank him for everything he’s done during this short time——.”

“Please wait.”

I step between them, but Ai’s mother turns toward me as if she’d been expecting this and calmly states her case.

“…… We agreed that my daughter would stop playing Shogi if she lost even once, did we not?”

“Yes. I’m aware.”

“In that case——.”

“However, that’s what you want for her, yes?”

“What ……?”

“After watching that match firsthand, I’ve decided that I will do anything it takes to take Ai as my apprentice. So——this time, I would like to scout her.”

With those words, I got down on my knees.

Then, putting both my hands on the tatami mats——.

“I give you my word that she will become a Women’s League player …… I will make her good enough to claim a title! So, I beg you, please allow your daughter to continue playing Shogi!”

I put my forehead to the mat as soon as those words were out of my mouth.

Full prostration.

Even Ai’s ever-calm mother was taken aback. Ai was so surprised that she dropped the piece onto the board, the echo bouncing around the room.

“It’s true that I’m only sixteen, never went to high school, just a kid without any real-world experience or qualifications …… But! I’m the best the Shogi world has to offer!!”

Ryuo? Very strong.

That goes without saying. It’s one of the top Shogi titles! Only the one who wins against pro players, Women’s League players, amateurs and anyone who wants to play and survives that baptism of fire tournament and climbs to the top of the Shogi world’s ten million players can become the ultimate Dragon King—and that’s me.

Therefore, when it comes to Shogi, I’m infallible!

“And I’ll only get stronger from here! But it won’t be only me, I swear I’ll become the kind of player who makes everyone around me stronger as well!”

Shogi may be a simple board game.

But I don’t know anything else that can inspire people to the same degree that Shogi can.

Matches that light a fire in people’s hearts just by watching, like the one that Ai and Big Sis just played.

Knowing that I can play just like that, determined to get even better than I am now, I lower my head once again. And again, no matter how many times it takes.

“That is what I am! Please, let me take Ai as an apprentice! I beg you!!”

There are talented children whose parents prevent them from playing Shogi.

But at the same time, there are cases where pros convince the parents to let their children become an apprentice.

I used to think that all the professional players who came before me were sacrificing themselves for the future of Shogi when they took an apprentice. I was certain of it. That it was a sense of duty.

But I was wrong. I didn’t understand something very important.

They simply wanted to develop the talent, see what kind of Shogi player they would become and have a front row seat along the way.

——I want to connect with this kid with Shogi.

That’s what I understand now.

“M …… Me too!”

Ai, who had been quietly listening up to that point, sat down next to me kneeling on the floor, put her tiny hands on the mat and said as loud as she could, “I, I want to keep playing Shogi! I want to be Master’s apprentice and get lots and lots stronger! I don’t want my last game to be a loss!!”

Then she nearly head-butted the floor next to me, prostrating herself too.

“Father! Mother! This is the only time I’ll ever ask you for something in my life! Please …… Let me keep playing Shogi!!”

“Please!!”

People around us are looking at the Ryuo, head on the tatami mat and shoulder to shoulder with an elementary school, and saying, “Master and apprentice, yielding ……”

“Double prostration ……”

I heard them, and I can practically feel them backing away.

But what’s wrong with that? We Kansai Shogi players are strong and stubborn to a fault. We’ll keep hanging on by a thread until the opponent gets annoyed enough to give up. Hang on that long and you get dragged through the mud. Even so, I’ll keep prostrating myself as many times as it takes!!

“Please ……!!”

Ai and I keep our heads down and wait for a response, wait for her mother to say something.

However, she wasn’t the first to speak.