Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 7 - Chapter 4.4

  JOINT HALLUCINATIONS

The Player’s Room is too quiet for how many people are in here. It’s like everyone took a bucket of water to the face.

Players, Sub League members and reporters alike are all watching the board displayed on the monitor.

And, one more thing.

The analysis board between the first female member of the 3-dan division ever and the youngest member of the 3-dan division ever–––in other words, the board where Sota and I are analyzing Yaichi and Zaou-sensei’s Shogi.

“He’s checkmated. There’s no getting out of this one,” Sota announces at almost the same instant the software comes to that conclusion as all the anxious reporters surrounding us get ready to go to work.

Zaou-sensei plays his next move.

After a long, long wait–––––––––Yaichi puts his hand on the piece stand.

“The Ryuo lost!!”

The reporters who had been glued to the monitor all get to their feet at once.

“Zaou-sensei snaps the Ryuo’s winning streak in his final match!”

“An 80-year-old beat a 17-year-old title holder? What is he, a specter?!”

“Was it overconfidence?”

“Nah, that was a heck of a match ……”

“Well, the Ryuo’s chances of promotion are pretty much nil.”

Cameras at the ready, the reporters file out of the room.

One of them comes up to me to ask for a comment.

“Um …… Sora Dual Title. What do you think caused this result–––?”

“Hey!”

“Ah! ……… Please excuse me.”

But bows his head in a panic when another reporter speaks up. He probably remembered my connection with Yaichi and is trying to keep some distance out of respect.

–––It’d be fine with me if he asked though ……

All the local TV crews on standby in the multipurpose room upstairs are springing into action. Seriously, I can hear them all the way down here. What a ruckus.

Soon, just two people are left in the Player’s Room.

Me, along with Sota.

“You’re not going upstairs?”

“The last train is about to leave.”

Sota commutes here from his parent’s house in Nara. Last trains always leave around this time. Which means, he’s waited till the very last minute.

I pose a question to the grade schooler stuffing his things back into his backpack.

“So.”

“What’s up?”

“Why …… why do you keep following Yaichi around? There are plenty of other players who have better winning percentages and use more software than he does ……”

The answer I got was the last thing I expect to hear.

Sota puts on a friendly smile and tells me.

“Modern Shogi is just so boring!”

“Bor …… ing?”

Hardly the words of modern Shogi’s prodigal son like Sota.

He goes into more detail looking at the confusion on my face.

“People try to give the current system an important-sounding name like modern Shogi, but really all this is just reading abbreviation. Reduce the amount of resources committed to defense by keeping your King well protected and focus those resources on attacking instead. It’s all to make a pinpoint attack.”

“…………”

“Shield yourself with thick armor and joust with a single spear. The whole world is nothing more than I challenge you to a duel. They call it modern, but their way of thinking is stuck in the feudal era.”

“B-But! Isn’t creating a situation where it’s easier to win and harder to lose all part of being a pro? Pros can’t prove they exist without winning–––.”

“Yes. And as a result, the same type of Shogi keeps showing up, right? Just look at the yagura. All that people use nowadays are 4 Six Silver and 3 Seven Knight variants. They think they’re pursuing true Shogi theory but they’re just standardizing insignificant details.”

“Well …… That may be so, but ……”

“Young players are researching with the top, so both high and low come to the same understanding and play the same Shogi. Both share the same values, so no revolutionary ideas ever come up. As a result, veteran players have created a system where they can maintain their place at the top. The feudal age is complete. The Meijin is the face of it all. He can play any style. However, he never comes up with a unique style of his own.”

What Sota just said is as close to taboo as a Sub League member like me can get.

But, taboos don’t exist for prodigies. The one with more talent is correct in this world.

“Everyone got comfortable with the situation in the end,” Sota says matter-of-factly.

Then, speaking with the confidence that being a prodigy makes him correct.

“The Shogi world rapidly changed into a hierarchical society with the infallible Meijin standing on top of it all. Shogi’s fundamental creativity got pushed to the wayside …… Joint practice sessions created joint hallucinations that gave players a false impression that they were the ones driving the change. Everyone is having the same dream. That’s the same as being asleep. Boring.”

“Are you saying that software is what’s waking people up from that dream?”

“Shogi played by people and Shogi played by computers are different. Software Shogi is grotesque. It’s easy to criticize software by making these claims. But in reality, the arrival of software exceeding human capabilities triggered a revolution in the Shogi world.”

“…………”

“That’s right. The top pros are all experiencing the same hallucination. A happy dream where they have comfortable, lofty positions–––.”

Sota’s eyes melt, almost like he’s dreaming, too, as he speaks.

“But, Yaichi is different.”

…… Different? Yaichi?

“How …… so?”

“Yaichi doesn’t let the board become simplistic. He doesn’t try to refine the standards. In fact, he muddies them up and then rides that chaos like a surfer on waves …… Yaichi is the only one who continuously plays the way software has shown it should be played.”

Enthusiasm starts pouring out of every word.

“Isn’t it amazing? The rest of humanity didn’t discover this brand new way of thinking until it united its resources to create AI and the data showed it to them, but Yaichi was born with it.”

“……”

So many words come to the tip of my tongue, but I stop myself each time I’m about to say something. My skin is covered in goosebumps and I can’t control it.

–––Yes …… They’re similar.

The way Yaichi leaves his King only slightly defended while doing well-balanced attacks is similar to how software plays Shogi. And, he was actually better at it back when the two of us were live-in apprentices.

For example, he used to be really good at using the Right King formation when he was little.

It was called degenerate and all sorts of horrible names back then, but public opinion changed when software started using it quite a bit.

Almost like …… The software is proving the Shogi sense Yaichi was born with to be right …… Like that’s what software was for ……

“I asked Kiyotaki-sensei about it, and he told me all about how Yaichi played when he was younger and …… He was truly amazing! Prodigies like that don’t exist! He’s even more talented than the Meijin, isn’t he? In my book at the very least, Yaichi Kuzuryu is the best player in history.”

Sota’s eyes are positively gleaming.

“Modern Shogi has made Yaichi weak. He shouldn’t bother learning standards at all. He made some mistakes today, but I think that’s just because he’s become overspecialized.”

Overspecialized …… one of the computer Shogi terms people are using, I think.

It’s used when a program becomes so used to a certain set of circumstances that it can’t deal with new information.

Sota must be saying that Yaichi researching the latest strategies and software match records made him like that, but …… That word touched a nerve.

“Are you saying that overspecializing made him self-destruct?”

“Zaou-sensei developed his Shogi sense before modern Shogi became a thing. He exists outside the joint hallucination. That’s why during the match today he delivered a message to Yaichi, who’s dreaming along with them, saying, That’s just a dream.”

Then, Sota adds with all the confidence in the world.

“If Yaichi had gotten rid of his modern Shogi sense and played the way he normally would, I doubt he would have lost.”

“………… What do you think you know about Yaichi?”

I’m furious. So furious even I don’t know how angry I am.

I get to my feet and yell at the top of my lungs.

“Yaichi …… Yaichi isn’t some software program. He’s a person made of flesh and bone. He’s lost more times than he can count, he’s cried and worked harder than anyone else. He didn’t get strong on talent alone. He’s a gritty, stubborn human being with passion and fire in his veins. So, what could you possibly know about Yaichi?!”

“I know.”

That’s all Sota said.

But, I felt more than heard what he said next.

–––More than you do, at least.

“Man, I can’t wait to play Yaichi in a league match!” Slinging his school backpack over his shoulder, Sota continues, “Well, I’ve got a train to catch. Good night.” He flicks his head down into a short bow and leaves the room, gently closing the door behind him.

“……………”

Left alone in the Player’s Room, I …… collapse back into my chair.

No matter how much I want to let this anger flow and set him straight on everything, my instincts as a player to calmly read kick in and they tell me that Sota’s analysis was right.

I’ve always been the one who knew exactly how talented Yaichi is.

–––The invincible prince of the Shogi Martians …… Yaichi’s real identity. My younger brother apprentice ……

A prodigy whose talents are special even among the Shogi Martians.

Even I can tell that Yaichi belongs to a different race, but for some reason a machine like Sota drawing the same conclusion got under my skin.

–––Why ……? Why did I get so angry ……?

I space out sitting by myself, those thoughts going through my head.

Suddenly, the door to the Player’s Room slides open.

“Sota? Did you forget something?”

It’s Yaichi.

He’s pale as a ghost and his eyes aren’t focusing.

There’s something obviously very wrong with him. It looks like losing that match hit him really hard. So hard, in fact, he could fall at any moment.

“Yai–––.”

“…… I blew my best chance!!”

“……?!”

I don’t know what to say.

Reason being, Yaichi’s clinging to me and bawling his eyes out.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!! Ngh, awh …… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

He’s breaking down without caring who’ll see him.

His face is buried in my knees, sitting on the floor right in front of my chair.

“I, I …… I’m the Ryuo! The Ryuo can’t be in C-2! The Ryuo can’t lose to a player about to retire! The Ryuo can’t be this weak!! Ngaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Waaahhhhhhhhhh!! Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaah, waAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

“…… It’s alright.”

I gently hold Yaichi’s weeping head between my knees and hands.

Softly running my fingers through his hair, I quietly whisper into his ear.

“It’s okay. It’s okay to lose. It’s okay to get a little stuck …… You’ll promote before you know it, Yaichi. You’re a lock for the A division …… You’ll be Meijin ……”

That’s when it finally hits me.

–––I’m …… happy about this.

Yes. I am happy. Happy that Yaichi got stuck in C-2. Happy that he won’t be leaving me where I am. Now that I’m in the 3-dan division, he won’t be leaving me behind.

I just didn’t want to admit it. That’s why I got so angry listening to Sota.

Because he pointed out how different Yaichi and I are. Even though he’s waiting for me ……

But.

–––A year or two won’t be enough ……

Far from it. Yaichi is already in a place I could never reach in a thousand years.

––– …… So far away. Hard to believe he’s in my arms right now.

Yaichi sobbing like he used to back in the days when he called me Ginko-chan, I embrace him with so many heart-wrenching thoughts running through me that my chest feels like it’s going to burst.

Sota could be right about modern Shogi being some kind of joint hallucination.

If it’s true, I want to see the same dream.

Even if …… it is a boring hallucination.