Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 18 - Chapter 5.10

  The Beginning of the End

“Yeesh! Why on earth do I have to sleep in the shack?!”

I gripe for probably the hundredth time while setting up a futon on the tatami-matted floor.

The Kiyotaki residence, not far from the Kansai Shogi Association building.

Ai Hinatsuru is staying here while visiting from Tokyo, and made me come back here with her even though our match is over.

Grandmaster was overjoyed, “Havin’ my two granddaughters home! It’s just like summer vacation!” and Keika’s cooking was edible (because hunger is the best seasoning!) so that’s fine.

BUT!

There was no need for Ai and I to bathe together, style each other’s hair or for the two of us to sleep side by side like this!

“Yes, the review session ran late and I know the last train already left, but I live within driving distance! There’s no point in me staying here tonight! And to sleep next to the one who beat me today! How am I supposed to get any sleep when the sight of you makes me remember the match?!”

Ai answers with a smirk, “You said you’d do anything I wanted, remember?”

“! …… I know!”

My word, I’m beyond annoyed!

I didn’t make that promise to end up doing this …… But a promise is a promise. Yes, yes, I’ll do what you say. I just have to do it, right?

“We’ve never had a sleepover with just us, have we, Ten-chan?”

“It’s the first and probably the last.”

“There you go again …… But that’s what I love about you, Ten-chan!”

“Yeah, yeah. Me, too,” I offhandedly echo and she angrily puffs out her cheeks at me.

But, I was being honest.

Even when we first met, I didn’t hate her. Did I go out of my way to talk to her? No …… but I didn’t feel any of the hostility I had for Ginko Sora toward her.

I was a bit happy even.

As an only child, she was the first sibling I ever had.

She invited me to a review session after our first match in the Practice League …… Then again with other members of the Sub League and Master’s grossly named Grade Schooler Practice Group. I eventually got comfortable enough around them to speak.

“…… Getting close to anyone scares me.”

“Even now?”

“Yes …… Even now.”

I open up to her.

My being able to flow into this kind of conversation so naturally has to be because I lost.

I hate losing.

But …… winning all the time is painful in its own way, too.

“For me, Shogi is a series of sad memories no matter where I go. The sadness piles up just as fast as the wins because I know if I keep pursuing strength the way things are now, I’ll end up following in my parents’ footsteps.”

“Is that why …… you wanted to end it?”

“Maybe ……”

Had Mother and Father not devoted their lives to developing artificial intelligence, I might’ve avoided this sadness altogether.

Do I even like Shogi in the first place?

Right now …… I’d like some space and some time away from it.

There’s no rush.

I’m still in elementary school, and that’s too much waiting time to commit to only Shogi.

“Using Awaji taught me so many things. Deep learning software can make more than you’ve ever dreamed of into reality. Can you believe it? The world can be changed, the future can be built with a calculator. So, basically―――”

“Basically?” she says and locks eyes with me.

I answer, dead serious.

“Devoting it only to Shogi is a waste.”

“Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That’s it?”

Ai is in stitches with laughter.

I guess my serious tone was the kicker.

She’s tearing up, even rolling on the floor and says without holding anything back, “You’re the only person in the world who would ever think to use the world’s fastest supercomputer for Shogi, Ten-chan. You’ve also spent more money on Shogi than anyone in the world. And now you’re sounding like you’re not sure if you like Shogi at all? That’s Kobe’s Cinderella, for sure.”

“Just stop.”

She’s seriously ticked me off, so I roll over to turn my back on her.

Then comes a hurried apology.

“S-Sorry, Ten-chan! I didn’t mean to tease―――”

“Ai.”

I cut her off with my back still turned.

“Shogi …… is the reason I was born at all.”

How could I not love Shogi? I’m grateful to it with all my heart.

I mean―――

“Shogi is how I managed to get through the sadness on the worst of days. It’s thanks to Shogi …… that I have such dear friends.”

“Ten-chan ……”

“Thank you, Ai.”

That’s something I can only say with my back turned like this. It’s so embarrassing, my face feels like it’s on fire.

But …… the pit of my chest is even hotter.

“I lose interest in things when I know the answer. The flame goes out. So, actually, I don’t care about Yaichi anymore.”

Part of that is true, part of it isn’t.

The human heart is complicated, just like Shogi. It’s hard to accurately quantify things.

But I’m sure Ai will understand. It’s because I’m sure that I can open up and talk about these things.

Even the emotions that can’t be put in words.

As my sister apprentice.

As my biggest rival.

As my first friend, I’m sure Ai Hinatsuru will understand.

“I like him, but I think I see my parents in him, too. So …… I know that I’ll have to leave him behind someday,” I say without turning around.

I’d just die if she saw how much I’m tearing up.

“But …… that’s not how you feel, is it, Ai?”

“………… Uh-huh.”

“The solution is still the same, you know?”

“Yes, I do …… Mostly.”

“It’s iffy, watching like this.”

“H-How’s that any different from you ……?”

“Say that again?!”

I roll over to face her like a careening boulder and grind my forehead into hers.

“Who’s the one who left without a word and is trying to turn the Shogi world upside down, huh? I’m replacing the terribly outdated association buildings, reviving the Women’s League from the brink of extinction with Ginko Sora, taking care of the youngest title holder in history after he thought he’d been abandoned and went on a reckless tear, all while desperately trying to clean up a certain someone’s mess.”

“Ugh …… Sorry …… I’m sorry ……”

“Learn your lesson, seriously.”

“…… Um, Ten-chan? I’d like a turn to talk now. Would you listen?”

“If I can sleep while you’re talking. I’m dead tired.”

I pull my head away and shimmy back onto my own futon. She can say whatever, but I’m calling it a night.

“I have eleven mental Shogi boards.”

“I know. I was on the receiving end of each one.”

I don’t have anything against Ai, but I hate that annoying late-game skill of hers with a passion! If there’s anything that can measure up to the fury that comes with having the advantage I’ve carefully built up all through the match come tumbling down at the very last second, it’s―――

“I can’t see them very well anymore.”

A gasp in the dark.

It takes me a few seconds to realize it was me. Ai’s expression is strangely calm, considering what she just said ……

“…… Since when?”

“I noticed …… during the Women’s Legend League Preliminaries when I played against Tsubasa.”

“Ser―――?!”

I spring up off my futon and almost scream. Luckily, I clasp my hands over my mouth just in time.

Grandmaster and Keika are in rooms close by.

―――No one can know about this ……!

Ai keeps on talking while I struggle to catch my breath.

“During my match with Tsubasa, my eyes didn’t work right and I had a nosebleed. I barely won in the end but …… Something hasn’t been right since then. It used to be so easy to use those boards, but now they’re drifting away and moving all on their own ……”

“……”

Why didn’t I pick up on this? There were so many signs.

Ika Sainokami falling apart.

Ai forcing things like there’s no tomorrow.

―――How could her body be unscathed ……?

Now, Ai Hinatsuru wanting to sleep next to me made sense.

She’s afraid to sleep by herself.

“Help me …… Ten-chan ……”

That wasn’t the voice of a girl prodigy who leaves defeated professionals in her wake or of the superhuman who can outthink a computer.

It was the voice of a scared little girl who didn’t understand what was happening to her.

There’s a scroll in the alcove written by Kousuke Kiyotaki 9-dan that says: My golden years start tomorrow. Moonlight is shining right on it, so it sparkles in the dark room.

They’re the cruelest words Ai Hinatsuru could hear right now.

“My golden years are almost over. Please …… I need your help, Ten-chan ……”