Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 18 - Chapter 4.09

  A Voice from the Darkness

“………… I have failed ………”

The New Crown mutters, draped over my shoulder and alcohol on his breath.

The after party was short, but Ayumu was such a stickler for social obligations that he drank all the sake rice wine put in front of him. Drinking any of it after nearly 500 moves would make anyone crash. The only thing I could do is carry him back to his room myself. Everyone else is already asleep!

“Shouldn’t this be the other way around? Doesn’t the loser usually drown their sorrow in a bottle and the winner has to take them back to their room? Yeah?”

“………… Utter fail …… ure ……”

He can barely talk. Damn! This guy is adorable.

“I didn’t even know you drank.”

“…… The Meijin and Natagiri 8-dan …… instructed me …… at our excursion ……”

Hopefully that’s where the lesson ended ……

I lay my best friend down on the bed, but he looks like he’s in a bit of pain.

“Should I loosen your sash?”

“…… Please ……”

I undo his kimono as he sprawls out on the bed.

You know, I’ve never even taken Big Sis’s clothes off before …… The fact that the first person I’ve ever disrobed is a guy is just too sad. Yeesh, he’s even got silk boxers on ……. pure white ones ……

“Now that I think about it, Ai was there to watch us play beside the board in a Crown League Match, wasn’t she?”

“Yes ………… When we played …… until sunrise ……”

I still remember it like it was yesterday.

The streets of Naniwa right before dawn.

Ai crossing the street in front of the Kansai Shogi Association building. She was so full of adrenaline after watching Ayumu and I play. I’ll never forget what she said.

“I wanna play Shogi just like you!”

Those words saved me.

And then …… by my friend who played that Shogi with me.

“…… Thanks, Ayumu.”

I sit on the edge of the bed and say with my back to my friend. I’m too embarrassed to look at him, though.

“―――Thanks, Ayumu, for showing me that I’m not alone.”

There’s no stopping the advance of computers.

But I’ll never feel alone again. Now I’m certain of it.

No matter how much progress I make, someone who can catch and overtake me will show up. I guarantee that plenty of people in the distant past have felt that same despair.

Correct moves, mistakes. Loveable idiots who will wager their lives to teach you that there is not only one correct move or mistake. I won’t doubt that anymore.

That’s …… what being a Shogi player means.

“Come on, Ayumu. I’m baring my heart over here. Would it kill you to say something back ……?”

Zzz …… Zzz …… Zzz ……

I look over my shoulder to see my half-naked best friend out like a light.

“Already asleep?! Come on?!”

I smile and quietly leave the room so I don’t wake up the snoozing winner.

Now back in my own room, I lock the door immediately.

Running on fumes myself, I stumble my way inside and kick off my traditional sandals, letting them land wherever. Blindly searching for the light switch along the wall didn’t get me anywhere, so I press onward into the darkness.

Then flop face-first onto the bed.

“…………”

Closing my eyes …… the reality I’d tried so hard not to see hits me like a ton of bricks.

―――I lost. To Ayumu.

Yeah.

A lot happened, but a loss is still a loss.

Even though I had the overwhelming advantage of a supercomputer as a study partner, I wasn’t strong enough to win in the end.

“………… Ugh ……”

My molars clatter.

The pain makes my whole body tremble as if shivering in the cold.

“Mngh ……… Ngh …………”

Dry heaves like hiccups come up from the pit of my lungs, making the most pathetic little noises. I clench my gut to keep them down, but it’s no use.

“Urrggghhhhhhhhhhh ……”

I cried with my face buried in the bed sheets.

“Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……! WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Hot tears pour out of my eyes and they aren’t slowing down ……

It hurts. Losing to Ayumu hurts so bad!

Part of me doesn't want anyone to see me like this, but the other wishes someone was here with me so bad it stings. Tidal waves of regret wash over me. If only I'd shown my ace in the hole in the first match and won. Who cares about the solution or the future of Shogi? If I’d known it would hurt this much, I should’ve asked Ai Yashajin about death flags when I had the chance. Cowardly? So what? Losing hurts so much worse!

So this …… is the agony of losing a title ……!!

“Mnggghhh …… W-Waaahhh …… Uaaaaggghhh …………”

I’ve cried like this before.

It was after a Placement Match I thought was in the bag but Zaou-sensei destroyed me right before he retired.

That day, I cried my heart out into Big Sis’s lap in the Player’s Room at the Kansai Shogi Association. Pretty much like a little kid who just lost his first game of Shogi.

“…… Ginko ……”

I wish she were here.

I want her to tell me it’s going to be okay. To feel her touch, to hear her soothing voice. I wanted to tell her everything I can’t say to anyone else.

R-r-r-riiiiiing! R-r-r-riiiiiing!

A shrill sound blasts through the darkness.

That’s not my smartphone.

It’s the hotel’s phone on the nightstand that’s ringing.

“……!”

Jumping up, I quickly wipe off the tears and snot. Clearing my throat a few times, I pick up the phone and say in a brighter tone than usual to hide the fact I’ve been bawling.

“Yes?”

A familiar voice responds.

“How badly does losing your first title hurt, Yaichi?”

“………… Ai.”

My second apprentice sounds like she’s about to go out for a picnic, which is rather striking to hear in this dark room.

She isn’t here, of course, but I can just see the look on her face right now.

She’s teasing me.

“Don’t tell me you thought a Nyugyoku Victory Declaration wouldn’t happen in a match between people, did you? I was sure that was part of your Shogi solution. Were you underprepared? Or did you think Ayumu Kannabe wasn’t good enough?”

“Ai, listen. Here’s what―――”

Just as I was going to explain that Ayumu made it to the Shogi future I saw.

That we weren’t alone anymore.

But―――

“Right now you’re high on adrenaline and exhausted after an extremely long match, as well as feeling the afterglow that comes from a few reassuring words from your best friend. Both of those will be gone after a good night’s sleep. Here’s what’ll be left when you wake up.”

She whispers through the phone like she’s telling me a secret. The truth.

“A burning desire to win.”

“…………!”

A sudden wave of nausea hits, like she just carved out the squishiest part of my heart with an iron spoon.

“The bottom line is that you underestimated Ayumu. You always have. That’s why you deliberately held back in the first match and losing is so painful. You have plenty of chances to ask me anything and everything about death flags, but you thought you could win without them, didn’t you? It’s not too late, you know.”

Ai rips off layers of my soul so easily, it’s like she’s peeling an onion. She exposes pieces I never wanted anyone to see each time.

Stop …… I beg you ……

“I’m about to start killing off all the players who you are supposed to handle further down the road, just like I did to Ika Sainokami.”

She’s not just saying she’ll beat them.

She’s announcing that she will inflict so much damage when she wins that they’ll never want to touch a Shogi piece again.

Kill their hearts.

“The Meijin, Sota Kunugi, Mitsuru Oishi, Yo Okito, Seiichi Tsukimitsu, Jin Natagiri, and the one who took your title today, Ayumu Kannabe. I’ll kill them all. Then, yes, if she has the inclination, I’ll torment Ginko Sora like a bug!”

Ai adds that such weak talent wouldn’t be worth her time to take care of personally with a mocking laugh. She’s talking about the first female pro Shogi player ever.

Once the laughter fades, Ai starts talking again.

“Then you’ll understand that I’m the only one on earth who belongs at your side. I, the only person who understands Shogi’s solution and how to implement it in a match, am the only one who can play Shogi at your level ………… So, just watch. Have a front-row seat.”

What is she planning?

I want to ask but the words get stuck in my throat. My vocal cords are too scared to work.

“I’m going to turn the first player you recognized as talented into a bloodbath.”

“Wh-Who ……?”

“The player you identified and became so enthralled with that you kept her out of everyone else’s reach at your side. The one you raised with all your heart, and your heart wants to play against more than anything in the world. The one you really …… want to spend the rest of your life playing Shogi with.”

Her voice gets rougher by the second.

Throttling the feelings, the future hidden away in my heart.

“Stop, please!! Not another word―――”

“Ai Hinatsuru.”

The voice disappears from the darkness. Ai Yashajin hung up.

When suddenly―――

The door I know I locked clicks open and someone walks inside without bothering to take off their shoes.

“Ah …………”

I turn around with the phone receiver still in my hand and find an agent of darkness standing there.

Sunglasses over her eyes, the woman says in a tone so overbearing, I know I’m not allowed to refuse.

“Kuzuryu-sensei. Prepare to depart.”

I didn’t ask where we’re going.

Our destination is obvious.

Hell.