Tenai, set to join the Shoreikai, arrived at the players' room in the Kansai Shogi Hall on her master's instructions. Today marked the first game of the three-match series to determine the challenger for the "Dragon King" title, a showdown between the Meijin and Ayumu. Consequently, Kuzuryu, Sora Ginko, Oishi Tamasho, and Kagamizu 3-dan were also present.
As the number of Shoreikai members and journalists steadily increased, Tenai ignored them and secured a spot in front of one of the two monitors. She maneuvered through the crowd with ease, thanks to her acquaintance with Oishi Tamasho, who was seated in the center nearby. On the screen before Tenai, the "Nico Nama" broadcast began. Oki was serving as the commentator, with Shikabane as the host.
「Mr. Oki, we are honored to have you with us.」 (Shikabane)
「The honor is mine.」 (Oki)
「...You seem to be lacking your usual energy today, Master?」 (Shikabane)
「It looks like it will be a long day, so I am simply conserving my strength.」 (Oki)
Once Oki and Shikabane finished their opening greetings and introduced the players, Konogi Sota—a Shoreikai member—noticed Tenai and called out to her.
「You are Yashajin Tenai, correct? You have become quite the topic of conversation in the Shoreikai as Master Oki's disciple.」 (Sota)
「Ah, you... I believe I have seen you before?」 (Tenai)
「I am Konogi Sota. I was the game recorder for the third round of the Shogi Emperor tournament last month; I imagine you saw me then.」 (Sota)
「...So you are Konogi Sota. My master told me you are the most dangerous opponent within the Shoreikai.」 (Tenai)
「Heh. As expected of Master Oki. I happen to agree with him. How about a round? I think we can fit in a game of 10-second Shogi before the official match begins.」 (Sota)
Konogi urged Tenai to move, and they sat facing each other across a Shogi board. With time still remaining before the official match, the face-off between Yashajin Tenai (a new Shoreikai member, 2-kyu) and Konogi Sota (Shoreikai member, 1-dan) quickly drew the room's attention. After the piece toss, Konogi took the first move.
「Miss Yashajin, in your opinion, what would be a meaningless opening move?」 (Sota)
「Rook to 1-8.」 (Tenai)
「...That is a truly impossible move. It is not just meaningless; it is a negative move that actively harms the player.」 (Sota)
Konogi had no intention of taking the initiative, so he asked Tenai for a meaningless move as a way to pass his turn. Tenai answered "Rook to 1-8" without hesitation. Her reasoning was simple: her master, Oki, often used "Rook to 9-2" to pass the turn when playing practice matches against her.
Feeling completely thrown off, Konogi opened with Gold to 3-8. Seeing this, Tenai murmured "Hmm" and moved her Gold to 3-2. Although the opening involved an exchange of bizarre moves, once the formations were complete, both players had constructed surprisingly solid positions given the strange start.
The game proceeded under "10-second rules," with both sides moving at lightning speed, barely pausing to think. Konogi's ability to instantly identify the best move was currently superior, though Tenai was no pushover. In the endgame, however, Tenai overlooked a chance to checkmate Konogi. Conversely, Konogi successfully read a complex mating sequence and cornered Tenai's king. It was a difference of a single move, but Tenai lost.
「Phew, that was dangerous. Overlooking that checkmate opportunity was truly painful.」 (Sota)
「...It does not matter.」 (Tenai)
Tenai looked visibly disgruntled after her loss to Konogi as she returned to her seat before the broadcast monitor. Compared to her other abilities, Tenai suffers from a weakness in finishing games with a checkmate—a direct result of her master Oki's teaching policy.
「Ah, you had better not study that Tsume Shogi book. The problems are pointlessly long.」 (Oki)
「But solving simple problems is meaningless, too.」 (Tenai)
「Long mating puzzles are just as useless. Real games are fundamentally different from Tsume Shogi.」 (Oki)
「Is that so?」 (Tenai)
Early in their training, Oki had dismissed long puzzle sequences as meaningless, arguing that she had far too many other skills to develop first.
「For example, with that book, you already know the solution requires a long sequence of moves, right? You look at the board intending to finish off the King, knowing for a fact that a checkmate exists from the start. In a real game, however, you do not even know if a checkmate is possible.」 (Oki)
「True, there is no such thing as an unsolvable Tsume Shogi problem.」 (Tenai)
「In actual play, you often encounter situations where you think checkmate is guaranteed, but it isn't. Or you assume it doesn't exist and launch a desperate attack, only to discover later the opponent was actually in checkmate. Therefore, if you want to train, you must first learn to discern whether a checkmate exists or not. As for Tsume Shogi, practicing short problems derived from real game situations to learn basic patterns is sufficient.」 (Oki)
In this match, Tenai had correctly judged that Konogi's King was in a checkmate position. Yet, under the pressure of "10-second Shogi," she failed to read the final steps required to execute it. Consequently, she resorted to defense, and Konogi crushed her.
「The match has already begun... Huh? Rook to 3-2?」 (Tenai)
「A Third File Rook on the second move... what a surprise. A genuine surprise. I used to rack up wins with that strategy, but it is a relic of the past now. Yet, the Meijin chose it for this critical match. The intent is...」 (Oishi)
「To throw the opponent off his preparation.」 (Sora)
The moment the match between Konogi and Tenai ended, everyone in the players' room locked their attention on the Meijin's moves. Although the game was in its earliest stages, the Meijin had launched an offensive right from the second move. No one disputed Sora's muttered remark about disrupting the opponent's preparation. The defensive castle itself morphed into an offensive formation, and the two players began a brutal war of attrition.
Then, just as the Meijin failed to clinch the game and the tide seemed to have turned decisively in Ayumu's favor, it happened.
「The waiting room in Tokyo also declares a certain victory for the First Player!」 (Tokyo Reporter)
『Mr. Oki! Is it safe to say the advantage now lies with Kannabi 6-dan?』 (Shikabane)
『No, the scales will tip with Silver to 6-6... He has no choice but to take the Silver at 6-6, but doing so will nullify the mating threat, and the initiative will return to the Meijin.』 (Oki)
"Silver to 6-6"... It was a move no one had spotted—neither in the Kansai players' room nor the Kanto waiting room. Oki explained it with a calm smile and a casual tone, as if analyzing a routine move. A torrent of comments flooded the screen: "Silver to 6-6?!" and "I see it now!"
Immediately after, the Meijin played Silver to 6-6. The balance of power flipped in an instant. Left with no escape, Ayumu was forced to drag the game into a repetition of moves. A rematch was declared, and Oki continued his commentary, even though his eyes had begun to resemble those of a dead fish from sheer exhaustion.
When the second match concluded, a heavy silence descended upon both the Kanto analysis room and the Kansai players' room. Part of it was due to witnessing two matches played at a level beyond their comprehension. But the greater cause was the commentator, Oki, who had delivered a shock to the professional players that outweighed the impact of the competitors themselves.
Oki usually fell behind in the opening, only to turn the tables in the middlegame and end the match—win or lose—with a single-move difference. Professional players had long harbored secret suspicions that he did this on purpose. However, his commentary, which sounded almost like a prophecy, confirmed it for them: that man fights while holding back a portion of his strength.
As for those who already knew, they were reminded once again that the heights where Oki stood were far out of reach. Among them was Kuzuryu, who realized with painful clarity just how vast the distance between him and Oki truly was.
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