Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 10 - Chapter 3.5

  UNDYING WINGS

Saying goodbye to Ai Yashajin, I head straight for the Kansai Shogi Association Player’s Room.

The one I want to see just happens to be playing a practice match, in the middle of a review session by the looks of it.

“Ryou, you have a minute?”

“Agh? Got a death wish?”

Ryou Tsukiyomizaka-Women’s King turns to face me. She’s scary as hell, like the girls who hang around with the rough crowd ……

But, I don’t let her eyes frighten me. Staring straight into them, I hit her with a name.

“Tsubasa Gakumeki. You know her, right?”

As soon as I say it–––.

““…………””

Not just Ryou, but her opponent Machi Kugui-Yamashiro Ouka goes suspiciously quiet.

So, they do know something …… Once I know my guts are right on the money, I try to figure out the meaning behind their silence.

“I’m already dead.”

What Ai Yashajin said really sticks out. A former Sub League member and …… death. The fastest way to figure out what it all means is to ask someone with the same experience.

But, asking her to talk about it has to hurt so much worse than reviewing a lost match …… I bet she’s going back and forth wondering if she should dig up those buried memories or not right now. Ryou takes a minute to think it over before simply saying.

“Fugu.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll tell you for fugu. Feed me some puffer fish, got it? Fugu.”

I was wrong. Seems she was only figuring out her negotiation terms: what she wanted to eat.

“F-Fugu?! I’m sorry to say it, but that’s not something you can just ask for out of nowhere ……”

“O-Ryou, that is heartless. Can you not see that Ryuo-san is under duress?”

Machi throws me a lifeline. As wealthy as she is, eating fugu isn’t anything special for her and she isn’t so shallow as to prey on other people’s weaknesses.

“Fugu is a winter fish. Even cats wouldn’t eat it out of season.”

“Tsk! Fine …… I’ll settle for udon noodles.”

“Oh, in that case.”

I put my hand to my chest in relief. They can help themselves to as many bowls of udon as they like.

“However …… I get to choose the place, got it?”

She says while flashing rows of sharp teeth. Meanwhile, Machi’s already making reservations on her phone next to her ……

““And here we are♡””

I realized I’d made a terrible mistake the moment our taxi pulls up in front of the restaurant.

“C’mon, Trash. Get inside.”

“Udon is udon, but …… This is an ‘udonsuki’ place, isn’t it?!!”

Think they sound the same? Well, they’re not! They’re totally different!!

Udonsuki is an Osakan creation. A lot like sukiyaki, you take all the ingredients you want, put them in a pot, and cook them all up at once. Udon noodles just happened to be one of the ingredients.

Especially this restaurant out on the wharf because, aside from being the one that came up with udonsuki in the first place, the flavor and prices are through the roof. Master even brought me here once when he was in a good mood, but ……

Ryou and Machi leave me behind to pay the taxi driver, waltz right into the restaurant and order the most expensive course meal like it’s nothing at all. Our “party” starts in a small tatami room that we have all to ourselves.

““Gooood stuff!””

They must be hungry from playing practice matches. Go ahead, stuff your faces. Eat all you like, just do it with your own money!

“Another black oolong tea! Scratch that, let’s just get the unlimited refills!”

“Has the summer special ‘boiled conger eel’ begun? Not yet? What a shame!”

You were going to add conger ON TOP OF ALL THIS?!

So, the rich noblewoman whose sense of money is all out of whack has come here to show all of us simpletons just how great she is. Seriously, her ordering something that expensive like buying a piece of candy nearly gave me a heart attack ……

“…… I’m buying all of this, so would you please tell me already? You’ve got good info, right? About Ms. Gakumeki ……!”

“Cool your jets, Trash. How about enjoying the flavor? Here, have a shrimp. It’s the head.”

“Because you already ate the body, so I’ll pass!!”

Ryou must’ve thought it was funny because she’s laughing up a storm. Gulping down the last of her black oolong tea, she orders another one before she starts talking very quietly.

“…… Tsubasa, she’s a hero to my generation.”

“A hero?”

“Undying Wings …… Gakumeki-san is two grades above myself.”

I must’ve looked pretty confused because now Machi is chiming in.

“She contested with boys all across the nation, claiming victory in Shogi tournaments until finally becoming the first ever female Elementary Meijin in the sixth grade. She entered the Sub League from there. The first girl in history to do that was Gakumeki-san. Her exploits earned her the nickname ‘Undying’ at that time, and ‘Wings’ taken from her given name, Tsubasa.”

“She proved to all of us that ‘even girls can make it that far.’”

“Her Shogi goes without saying, but even her mannerisms were what we all admired and strived to attain …… We held her in the highest respect.”

“Sure do! ‘Respect’ hits it right on the nose.”

Back when Ryou, Machi, and Ayumu were fourth-graders, Ms. Gakumeki was in sixth.

No wonder they saw her as a hero. I quietly whisper to myself.

“Surprising ……”

“Tsubasa’s achievements?”

“No, that I would hear the word ‘respect’ from both of you like that ……” 

“Want to get boiled up along with the udon, do you?”

Ryou unleashes her menacing aura as Machi turns the gas burner up to maximum, flames enveloping the pot. What terrifying teamwork. Cut it out.

“Just out of curiosity, I’m the one who won Elementary Meijin in third grade when both of you and Ayumu were in fifth …… Do you have any respect for me?”

“You winning just pissed me off. That’s why I slugged you.”

“I experienced a great variety of emotions, but respect was not among them.”

Wow, they’re cruel.

“What about you, Ryuo-san? Gakumeki-san won the title before yourself, so why have you never heard her name?”

“You could say I never thought about what happened before I won …… The only reason I entered was because my master pretty much forced me to. Win or not, I was going to be joining the Sub League either way, so yeah.”

“Geh! You freakin’ Shogi martians ……”

Ryou spits out the words.

But ……

“I don’t want to say this about someone that you two respect so much, but …… Ms. Gakumeki’s Shogi is a bit ……”

“………… It wasn’t always like that. Not until she joined the Sub League, anyway.”

Say Ryou, sounding almost angry.

“The first thing I did after taking extended leave from the Women’s League to join the Sub League was go straight to see Tsubasa play. The Kanto Sub League doesn’t hang onto match records, so was the first time I’d seen her play in years …… But, it was shocking. She’d never played that style before.”

“It seemed like she was playing with a different set of rules,” I tell her. “I thought her unique sense for the game was her strength, but …… That wasn’t originally her style?”

“She is hard-core Static Rook, at least until she joined the Sub League she was. I like to be on offence, but even I could tell she had a real talent for taking the fight across the board. She was leagues better than anyone.”

Says the person called the “Aggressive Archangel” under her breath as she stares at her lap.

“I …… I wanted to be just like her. But then she …… damn it!”

“There is not a single one in our generation who does not share O-Ryou’s sentiments.”

Machi ads as if consoling her best friend.

“Most have forgotten about her because Ginko broke all her ‘unbreakable’ records, however …… Ginko was too strong from the beginning. Comparing the two is downright bizarre. Ascending to 2-kyu as a female on the Sub League is a grand achievement in its own, is it not?”

“But, you know. I might sound like a sore loser for saying this, but from where I’m standing, Tsubasa’s talent is right up there with Ginko’s.”

Says Ryou, her eyes flashing.

“I’ll admit it, Ginko’s strong. Haven’t won against her yet. But the way Tsubasa played before she joined the Sub League had a flare to it that Ginko doesn’t have. Talent shone through.”

Talent …… Huh.

Glancing down at the noodles getting whipped around in the boiling water, I mumble.

“…… Sounds like the Sub League churned her in the wrong direction.”

“The wrong direction?”

Machi sounds confused. She’s the only one here who hasn’t experienced the Sub League for herself, so it probably doesn’t click.

“The Sub League is made up of prodigies that were unbeatable in their hometowns. They always won if they played whatever felt was right. Basically, if they attacked, they’d win.”

Ryou chimes in with, “But, they’d hit a wall for the first time in their lives when they get to the Sub League. Only when prodigies face off do they realize they need to know how to win without just charging straight ahead. There’s some real once-in-a-generation prodigies in the Sub League. Ordinary prodigies’ strats are a joke …… So, they start studying up on the early game or whatever.”

Her explanation pretty much sums up the Sub League in a nutshell.

Only a handful of players can make it straight through.

The other prodigies have to change their style to some extent.

“Some people switch to a hyper defensive playing style. That’s not a big deal for ones who were defensive in the first place, but that’s a major transformation for the ones who weren’t …… and it destroys their Shogi.”

I still remember what a defensive Player said to me after I beat him.

“I chisel away at my own life only to lose …… This hurts too much ……”

Master Kiyotaki also plays defensively, and he’s gritted his teeth so hard over the years that his molars have been worn down to nothing.

Nobody wants to win by stopping an opponent’s attack.

Play defensively, and you’ll end up pushing yourself too hard.

“Big Sis always played a balance style, so she didn’t have to adjust all that much. Her Shogi sense never wavered. But ……”

“Gakumeki-san broke, is what you’re saying ……?”

“She developed an extremely passive playing style where her goal was to force a repetition draw on offense or defense. Then, once her opponent was frustrated enough to do an all or nothing attack, she’d simply hang back and crush it. If her opponent was onto her plan and took the same passive stance, she’d wait for an opening and try to nyugyoku …… In a way, it’s a complete style of Shogi.”

Rather than corner the opponent’s King and checkmate, she tries to amass as many points as possible for a stalemate. It’s muddy, gritty Shogi taken to the extreme.

Sort of like a deep-sea fish.

“Ms. Gakumeki survived of the turbulent waters of the Sub League by sinking down into the dark, painful depths where nothing else could breathe.”

Thinking of what spending 10 years that far down would do ……

“…… Ryou, did you ever play against Ms. Gakumeki when you were in the Sub League?”

“I was only in the Kanto Sub League for a single year. Tsubasa was already up at 2-kyu back then. All I did was fall from 6-kyu to 7-kyu. Never had a shot ……”

Wounded hearts can heal, but they reopen so easily. I feel sorry for her, making her talk about all this.

“O-Ryou, your time in the Sub League was years ago now, yes? For how many years was Gakumeki-san stagnant at 2-kyu ……?”

“No one can advance in the Sub League with the 50-50 record. Do that in the Pros, and you won’t be forced into retirement. But, you have to string wins together in the Sub League to advance. Stay at one rank too long and the age limit kicks in.”

Thanks to her unique transformation, Ms. Gakumeki was able to just survive in the league.

But, the Sub League does three matches each day. Play for a stalemate every time and your body will give out sooner or later.

In order to reach the dan rankings, in order to take flight into the open sky, you have to stick your face out of the water first.

But for deep-sea fish …… They can’t breathe if they try to do that.

“I’m already dead.”

Surely, what she meant was ……

“Anyway.”

Ryou says after downing the last of the broth in her bowl.

“Learning nyugyoku Shogi ain’t something you can do at the drop of a hat. Playing nyugyoku against the computer makes the software flimsy as hell so the match records are worthless. Can’t even practice with it. That apprentice of yours makes a beeline right for the enemy King, so this matchup is beyond horrible for her. What’re you gonna do?”

“Good question ……”

It’s just as Ryou said, this is a terrible match for Ai Hinatsuru.

There is no strategy I can give, or even a way to teach her how to deal with this style.

If she’s going against a deep-sea fish, then–––.

“I guess I’ll have her take flight.”

““Huuh?””