Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.2

  BUILT UP

“Yaichi’s using Ranging Rook ……?!”

The words fall out of my mouth as I watch the computer screen.

Second floor of the house. There’s an old computer set up in the room where Ginko and I are practicing. There’s no mistaking that that’s Yaichi on the screen, and that he’s using a Ranging Rook opening.

“…… I knew he was practicing with Oishi-sensei, but I didn’t think he would ……,” Ginko whispers with her face so close to the screen she could bite it.

It’s a weekday, but apparently there’s no school today because of some event. She made that up, it’s obvious. However, I can’t be too strict with her because she’s helping me get better at Shogi.

She and I went through all of my Practice League match records from yesterday before Yaichi’s match got underway.

My results–––1 win, 3 losses.

I avoided the clean sweep, but far from getting rid of the B, I couldn’t break even.

If I don’t win twice in the next Practice League session, I’ll really be in danger of dropping out.

Winning just one match feels like a massive hurtle right now.

I didn’t think that I’d win just because I’d been doing these practice sessions with Ginko–––.

No, I need to be honest with myself.

Maybe I’ll start winning right away?

That naïve thought was in the back of my head the whole time.

Ginko saw that naïveté with one quick glance at my match records.

“Too plain,” she told me, spitting out those words. “Technique isn’t your problem. Too many wasted moves. It’s like you’re not even thinking.”

 …… There was nothing I could say to that.

But trying to play Shogi knowing that being forced to drop down a rank might actually happen is like trying to play with a noose around your neck. It’s impossible to think everything through.

“Even so, you have to.”

“How ……?”

“By using everything you’ve built up.”

“Everything I’ve built up …… I don’t have ……”

“Sure you do. Right over there.”

Ginko pointed to a pile of notebooks in the corner of the room.

Research notebooks that I’d written myself.

Every single one of my match records is in there, along with things I’ve learned in the Practice League, and little tidbits I picked up while listening to professionals doing review sessions when I worked as a match recorder.

But at this point, it feels like a collection of things that other people know, their knowledge …… the meaningless diaries of a dress-up doll about her Shogi playing style.

“They’re not useless. Once you’re able to think for yourself, they’ll become valuable weapons.”

“Weapons? Those notebooks?”

“You have plenty of weapons, Keika. The real you is strong. But, because you think you’re weak …… because you have no confidence, you don’t play with your own style. You are your own roadblock.”

Me, strong? Surely, she had to be kidding.

Ginko went off like a cannon as soon as that thought passed through my head.

“Come on, Keika. Play with more confidence! That’s the most important thing for any competition!! It’s the only thing!!!”

That voice was sharp as a knife …… I nearly jumped back in surprise at Ginko’s tone.

Yaichi’s match appeared on the screen right after that.

All the Static Rook knowledge he’s built up …… After becoming Ryuo, he’s trying a completely new style of Shogi, changing himself.

That takes a great deal of courage.

Could I do that? Try something completely new during an important match.

Could I possibly do that? Change myself …… 

Yaichi takes hold of his Rook and forcibly slides it to the center of the board.

It was a bold move, and he looked like he’d done it ten thousand times over. He’s burgeoning with confidence that I don’t have.

“Really good form.”

“That’s just form.”

Ginko is being a bit harsh. It seems that she ran into Yaichi at Oishi-sensei’s …… Something happened, something she couldn’t put up with. Because after that, her demeanor during our sessions became much more intense. And she’s been saying, “All the grade schoolers are going down in a bloodbath,” any chance she gets …… 

“But …… Do you think Yaichi will be okay? Gokigen Central Rook hasn’t been doing well recently ……”

“It hasn’t. Trying to use an old stick like Goki-Central against pros armed with ferocious attacks like Extreme Speed should end in a massacre.”

What’s worse, his opponent is a well-known researcher, Natagiri 8-dan. There’s a good possibility that victory could get out of reach in the early game.

“But, if he’s built himself up with Oishi-sensei–––.”

“He’s called the Worldly Maestro for a reason ……”

He may have a way to deal with the Static Rook’s Extreme Speed Silver. Ginko and I wait with baited breath to see what anti-Extreme Speed strategy Yaichi has up his sleeve.

But we didn’t get to see one.

The piece that Natagiri 8-dan grabbed wasn’t the Silver.

It was–––.