On the evening of the day when Tenai (Ōki's student) and Ai (Kuzuryū's student) faced each other for the first time, Kuzuryū was sitting with Ai reviewing the game record. This was the first confrontation between Ai and Tenai, which ended with Tenai's loss by violation.
「Here, Ai used the Knight (Keima) as a blocking piece, right? There are several ways to capture this Knight, but what was likely in Tenai's mind was this scenario... And the illegal Knight move perfectly halted Ai's attack.」 (Kuzuryū)
「Amazing... Did Tee-chan read all of that beforehand?」 (Ai)
「Yes. ... I have seen a similar violation before.」 (Kuzuryū)
「Eh?」 (Ai)
Kuzuryū informed Ai of the developments Tenai had read, and then referred to a similar violation that occurred previously. It concerned the violation that happened in his training sister's game, Sora Gin'ko, against Saijin Ikazuchi, where Saijin placed a piece that should have been his captured King on the opponent's board.
「At that time, Saijin Ikazuchi was seeing the position a few moves ahead. In contrast, Tenai's violation came after more than ten moves. Although the path was somewhat fixed, Tenai read a greater number of moves.」 (Kuzuryū)
「Does this mean Tee-chan has greater talent than that old lady?」 (Ai)
「The talent cannot be determined yet. But it is clear that her actual strength has not reached my training sister's level yet. However, Tenai's master is that Ōki...」 (Kuzuryū)
「Is that... is Master Ōki strong? He always struggles in the opening phase... but his not using any thinking time is amazing, isn't it?」 (Ai)
「... He enjoys wrestling with the professionals. He does that so the audience doesn't get bored.」 (Kuzuryū)
Nothing is more boring than competitions whose outcome has already been decided. Even the current [Expert's] winning percentage is seventy percent. At his peak, it was eighty percent. But Ōki's game record this year is 63 wins against 3 losses. His winning percentage exceeds 95%.
Kuzuryū faced Ōki several times with all his strength when they were in the Promotion Society. All those matches were overwhelming, complete defeats for Kuzuryū. At that time, Kuzuryū felt that Ōki resembled a Shogi program, but when he observed Ōki through Tenai's Shogi, Kuzuryū reached one conclusion:
Ōki did not become stronger thanks to coexisting with Shogi programs, but rather became stronger by subjugating Shogi programs to his power.
The number of people who realized this does not exceed a few, including Kuzuryū and Ayumu. Kuzuryū relayed this truth to Ai.
「It is certain that Ōki's evaluation will increase further in the upcoming Computer Shogi Battle. If you are interested, it will be broadcast live online, and it would be best if you watched it.」 (Kuzuryū)
「Is... is a human stronger than a Shogi program?」 (Ai)
「Excluding Ōki, humans are weaker than Shogi programs. But Ōki might win. That is the magnitude of the power gap between Ōki and the rest of the professional players.」 (Kuzuryū)
Here, Kuzuryū clearly conveyed to Ai the fact that Ōki surpasses him. This information caused significant turmoil for Ai, who believed that Kuzuryū (the Ryū-Ō) was the strongest. Nevertheless, Kuzuryū continued his discourse.
「But he is also human. No matter how strong he is, I will definitely catch up to him, and I will surpass him.」 (Kuzuryū)
「Master...!
I, too, will definitely defeat Tee-chan! I want to win! I want to become stronger, more and more...!」 (Ai)
The two promised each other that they would become stronger, and then they continued to play together. Since they continued playing until dawn, this, of course, caused an upheaval in their schedule for the next day.
After playing against Ai, Tenai immersed herself further in online Shogi. She enjoyed the feeling of absolute power where she could automatically read the Shogi board, yet, even when fully utilizing this power, she still lost.
The game of Shogi, even online, allows you to somehow understand the opponent's feelings. And certainly, the whispers of the opponents' hearts are supposed to reach Tenai in some way.
「Lose on time, your time runs out, lose on time, your time runs out, lose on time, your time runs out...」 (Opponent)
「Make a mistake, make a mistake, make a mistake, make a mistake, make a mistake, make a mistake... Alright, a clicking error! I win!」 (Opponent)
「Are you a Shogi program? Die.」 (Tenai)
「Hahahaha, falling for such a move confirms you are an easy victim. I will put this person in the easy targets.」 (Opponent)
「Don't mess with me. Just die, you idiot.」 (Tenai)
... Well, online Shogi is mostly about negative emotions. Tenai, who has reached the sixth-grade level online and plays on eight simultaneous interfaces, is currently doing her utmost just to reach a draw, and she usually loses more games than she wins.
With Tenai's ascent from the fifth to the sixth grade, her chances of confronting groups with intense "negative energy" also increased. These opponents create lists of people they can defeat and stubbornly cling to the goal of winning by time-out. Although they are far worse than Promotion Society players in various respects, they are exactly like them in pursuing victory alone.
Up to the fourth grade, defeating an opponent of the same grade granted +15 points, while a loss deducted -15 points. But upon reaching the fifth grade, a win becomes +12 points, and a loss is -18 points. When you reach the sixth grade, a win is +10 points, and a loss is -20 points. In other words, you must win two out of every three games to avoid sliding downwards. For this reason, Tenai regressed to the fifth grade several times.
Upon reaching the eighth grade, even when the opponent is of the same grade, a win grants +5 points, and a loss deducts -20 points, a struggle for points that cannot be salvaged. This is why it is difficult for professional Shogi players to maintain the eighth grade, and you find the seventh and sixth grades filled with strong amateur players and Promotion Society members.
These opponents play fiercely as if they are betting their lives on points that are worth nothing. I do not know what motivates them to do so. This is the kind of site where Tenai plays.
「Ugh... I lost again, and I fell back to the fifth grade! Seriously, where do all these strong people come from?」 (Tenai)
「There are former Promotion Society members, secret professional players, current professionals, and late-blooming Shogi geniuses who congregate here in abundance.」 (Ōki)
「Late-blooming Shogi geniuses?」 (Tenai)
「There are many who start playing Shogi in high school or university. These people are told: "Your encounter with Shogi was late, so you cannot become a professional player."
But they possess talent, so they continue to become strong in Shogi. These people also end up here.」 (Ōki)
『Master, you also encountered Shogi late in your previous life, didn't you?』 (Ai)
(... Well, it was a late encounter.) (Ōki)
Professional players are strong because all of them are Shogi geniuses. However, there are other Shogi geniuses besides professional players. There are those for whom the path to professionalism was closed due to parental objection. There are those whose encounter with Shogi was late. There are those who left the Promotion Society (Shōreikai) after failing to pass the 3rd Dan League (Sandan League). And there are those who surrendered from the start to the idea of not becoming professionals.
These individuals who love Shogi but could not become professionals eventually end up in online Shogi. Here, some of them may be able to play without anyone blocking their path. They turn into addicted, point-hungry people.
Precisely for this reason, playing on multiple interfaces against them has this effect. A player's strength increases through the repetition of games against opponents who are stronger than them. Well. I wonder when Tenai will cross the second hurdle. Increasing the number of games is inevitable to overcome this hurdle.
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