Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 9 - Chapter Aft

FOR THE AFTERWORD: AFTER WRITING FOR THE EIOU TITLE MATCH

The Okazaki Shogi Festival talk show.

“Apparently, Mr. Masuda was asked on the bullet train if he was me,” Taichi Takami 6-dan says while standing in the middle of the sunlit stage and flashes a friendly grin.

This city, Okazaki, just happens to be the hometown of Mr. Takami’s master, Kazuo Ishida 9-dan.

Even though he operates Japan’s largest Shogi classroom in Kashiwa City, Chiba, Mr. Ishida brings his apprentices and many popular Shogi players to Okazaki once every year to hold this massive event.

After writing an article covering the first match of the Third Season Eiou Title Match, I visited the Okazaki Shogi Festival for the first time 20 days later. I was interested to meet many of the players in attendance.

One of them happened to be the focus of my article: Taichi Takami.

Another was the player Mr. Takami just mentioned. The two of them look so similar that many Shogi fans can’t help but give their own two cents, but–––.

“Mr. Masuda told me that he had never been mistaken before and that was the first time it happened to him … which is strange because people have been mistaking me for him for years.”

“Only after you made a name for yourself.”

Mr. Ishida’s comment was quite a surprise to me.

Yasuhiro Masuda was in the middle of an instruction match, so he wasn’t on stage during the talk show, but the man is so talented that even Ryuo Yoshiharu Habu himself said, “If it weren’t for Souta Fujii, that position would belong to him.” He claimed the Newcomer King award two years in a row. Mr. Masuda even had a chance to be a professional in junior high school. Therefore, Mr. Takami had always been mistaken for Mr. Masuda all this time.

On the day of the festival, Mr. Takami had won two consecutive matches in the Eiou Title Match against Kouta Kanai. Two more wins, and he would claim his first title ……

Another player I had been following for a long time was sitting quietly next to Mr. Takami.

Yuki Sasaki 6-dan.

Also an apprentice to Mr. Ishida (and Mr. Takami’s younger brother apprentice), he probably had the highest expectations on his shoulders. Not only did he defeat Souta Fujii in an exhibition match during the Okazaki Shogi Festival last year, he was the one who stopped Mr. Fujii’s 29-match winning streak in a league match and became an instant star. Mr. Ishida thoroughly enjoyed himself recounting those stories on stage.

The last person to get the microphone turned out to be Mr. Sasaki.

Someone in the audience had asked how to recover from a slump, and each of the players took turns going down the line. Once his turn came, Mr. Sasaki prefaced his answer by saying, “Whenever I lose, the first thing I think of is ……

“How scary losing can be when I’ve committed so much effort. Back when I was a student, I had school to worry about as well …… So, there was a time when losing was scary after I graduated and only had Shogi.”

A prodigy, talking about his fear of effort. Choosing his words carefully, Mr. Sasaki continued.

“Recently, I look at it like this …… Any opponent who defeats me committed more effort overall than I did. Even if I’d pushed myself to the absolute limit, thinking there was nothing more I could possibly do, my opponent worked even harder ……”

Then, he summed it all up with this.

“I didn’t know what the word effort meant at the time.”

Back when I was first collecting material in earnest to write The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!, I made sure to ask every single professional and journalist I talked with about talent. Just what is talent? What kind of child has what it takes to become a professional? Each one of them had the same answer.

“I always knew Yuki Sasaki would make it as a professional.”

Indeed, astounding levels of talent overflowed from his match records. He became the youngest Elementary School Meijin in history in the fourth grade and became a professional at the very end of his junior high school career at the age of 16 years and one month old.

Both Mr. Sasaki and Mr. Masuda became professionals before Mr. Takami.

I thought hard about what Mr. Sasaki meant by the word effort, about what word could mean the opposite of talent.

If effort means to constantly place yourself in a fiercely competitive environment, then the still titleless Mr. Sasaki was certainly committing a great deal of effort.

Plus, if any of his younger brother apprentices who came into the professional ranks after him successfully challenged for titles of their own, that would only increase his motivation to claim one for himself.

That could be the moment when he understood what effort truly meant ……

The talk show over, Mr. Ishida and Mr. Takami conducted a Master/apprentice book signing event. The two of them went to work on signing Mr. Ishida’s latest book …… But I was stunned when I looked inside the copy I bought for myself. Mr. Sasaki’s autograph was there as well.

“You got the lucky one! This is the special prize.”

Mr. Ishida’s pen swiftly danced across the page before he slid down the table to Mr. Takami.

I’m sure if I should say anything as I look at him leaning over the book, but I decide to take a chance.

“Hello there.”

Mr. Takami looks up and stunned recognition overtakes his face.

“Ah ……! What brought you here today?”

“I came to buy this book. I heard I could get it here first,” I answered shyly. 

Then, Mr. Takami handed the book to me and said the very words I wanted to hear.

“That was a great article!”

The book in my hands, entitled Kishi toiu Ikimono (The Creatures Called Shogi Players), had three autographs inside it.

Except that the 6-dan written next to Taichi Takumi’s autograph now holds a special meaning for me.

Prodigies are surviving inside the modern eight-title Shogi world.

Each one of them reflects what the word effort truly means.

………… Sorry for just jumping in like that. Then again, I’ve always jumped into things in the afterword ……

As I stated before, I was asked to write an article for the first match of the Third Season Eiou Title Match.

Being able to experience a real title match from the inspection all the way to the afterparties was an extremely valuable experience for writing Book 9, which is why I chose to recount my experience in the afterword. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who made it possible.

The Ryou’s Work Is Never Done and all the support it has received have given me, a simple Shogi fan, the honor of writing an article for a title match as well as turn the books into a terrific anime.

I don’t have the kind of talent Shogi professional Senseis possess. That’s why I’ve had to compound effort with effort ever since I made my debut. Writing itself has always been a difficult challenge, and rather than getting easier, it’s only gotten harder with experience.

On the other hand, all the difficulty and hardships show me just how much I have grown. Being unsatisfied with what I have already penned is proof that I have improved as a writer since then.

I will keep writing, believing that I’m making progress little by little.