KATANAGATARI 3

■　■

Albeit after a few twists and turns─things were proceeding according to the plan set forth by Togame the Schemer. Their greatest obstacle was Kiguchi’s insistence that Shichika was not yet ready to face off against her─which was the honest truth, since he had made essentially no progress in the course of their ten days of training…but Togame talked her into it.

“Declining to face off against an adversary, citing a perceived difference in ability, is quite the show of arrogance, Madame Kiguchi─nothing is so absolute in swordplay. Any gap in skill is neutralized, once both parties have raised their swords.”

This was sophistry.

If Togame really believed this rubbish, she should have spoken up eleven days ago; nevertheless, her sophistry was enough to persuade Kiguchi.

She was preying on her seriousness, her oh-so-serious nature.

Further still, Togame had successfully convinced Kiguchi to partake in the shogi showdown, which reaffirmed Shichika’s faith in her powers of diplomacy. She’d gone in saying that negotiating with a person like Kiguchi was impossible─but things worked out in her favor.

Perhaps Togame had deliberately gone for the narrow chance.

“I had been hoping we would have a chance to play another round.”

Or perhaps she had a hunch─that Kiguchi would take the bait.

All disputes were settled over shogi.

This was a fact of life in the village where Kiguchi came of age, and becoming Master of the Heartland School had no effect on her affection for the game.

Turning things around, this made Shichika feel as if Kiguchi had little interest in their rematch─but if that was how it was, he had to grin and bear it.1

Kiguchi had but one condition─once this was all over, she asked to abandon any further efforts to obtain Oto the Cured.

There would be no next time.

She made it clear that this would be their final try.

Coming from a person like Kiguchi, a declaration of this sort was not open to interpretation.2 To Shichika, whose assigned strategy was riding on a fluke, giving him at best only a fifty-fifty chance of winning, the statement was unsettling.

“Affirmative.3 Let’s play.”

Thus.

Togame accepted her condition.

Whereupon─they played nine games of shogi.

Togame was unstoppable.4

That said, she stopped short of an overwhelming victory, instead beating Kiguchi five to four, the very score she had foretold5 to Shichika.

Togame had performed as follows─1: win, 2: win, 3: loss, 4: loss, 5: win, 6: loss, 7: win, 8: win, 9: loss.

Shichika was simply amazed at her ability to lose on purpose, even if it was for her scheme─but what’s more, in terms of how things actually played out, her five wins and four losses were all outstanding. Her winning games, as in her victory eleven days earlier, were neck and neck until the very end, and when she lost, she drew the game out for as long as possible.

Shichika did not understand the rules of shogi.

This made it hard for him to guess how Kiguchi felt about the results─if she had caught on to the fact that Togame had taken pains to win one way and lose another to manipulate the final score, then she’d decided not to bring it up.

Perhaps she thought choosing how to win was the prerogative of whoever was stronger.

─As with swordplay.

Either way.

The stage was set as Togame had intended, with one chance at a one-point match.

“Are you ready, Master Shichika?”

Dressed in her pads─wielding her sword of wood, and standing at the starting line, Twelfth Master Zanki Kiguchi checked in with Shichika Yasuri, similarly dressed in pads, wielding a wooden sword, and standing at the starting line.

Though he was not exactly ready for action.

If anything, the opposite.

All the same.

“Ready,” Shichika answered. “Let me just say first, though─thanks for everything, over the past ten days. I may have been an awful student who didn’t come away with anything of use, but the opportunity meant a lot6 to me.”

“No, you taught me more than I could ever have taught you─I’m afraid this only proves I am unqualified to be a teacher. I owe you an apology for being so incompetent.”

“Hold off on the apologies. If I beat you in this match, that proves you did things right after all, know what I mean?”

“I suppose so… Um, Master Shichika, you’re holding your sword incorrectly.”

“What? Oh, okay.”

He fixed his grip.

In forgetting all he knew of kendo, he had gone too far.

Indeed.

Although his victory depended on him being an amateur, there were a number of basic things he would do well to keep in mind─and Togame had drilled them into him afresh the night before.

Specifically, what was off-limits.7

It would not do for him to be disqualified.

Kicking was prohibited.

As were throws and grappling moves.

Obviously, he had to hold onto his wooden sword.

No attacks to the lower body─and so on.

That said, because the referee was none other than Togame, she could probably overlook all but the most flagrant8 violations. Kiguchi likely saw this as a fitting handicap─why else would she allow Togame, companion of the enemy, to play the role of arbitrator?

Or perhaps she honestly believed no bakufu elite like Togame the Schemer─liaison of the Military Directorate, would violate the rules.9

For her part, Togame was hoping to avoid any stark violations anyway, while leaving a little room for playing favorites.10

Togame the Schemer would take the Cured by strategy─it had gotten them this far.

Shichika was beginning to see the big picture─and though Togame told him he was better off going in blind, the way things had turned out made it impossible for him not to think.

As much as thinking was a pain for him.

The nine-game shogi showdown determined the number of bouts between Shichika and Kiguchi─but given this agreement, what had possessed Togame to only beat Kiguchi five to four?

What was the meaning of this feckless, meaningless behavior?

At first the answer was unclear to Shichika─but now that he was facing off against Kiguchi, a guess was taking shape inside his head.

It seemed to him─Togame had used her wins and failures to evaluate Zanki Kiguchi.

However much a parlor game.

Shogi remained a game of war─the only thing distinguishing it from the fight at hand being whether the two players wielded swords or pieces.11 That there was no necessary correlation12 between proficiency at shogi and proficiency in swordplay was a fact that Togame knew better than anybody out there─but in playing several games against a poet warrior like Zanki Kiguchi, she saw a chance of gleaning something of the strategies that the Master of the Heartland School would use in combat.

In that sense, it didn’t matter whether Togame won or lost.

As long as she got to play─a number of games.

She wanted to learn how Kiguchi would operate when faced with different challenges─to learn how Kiguchi comported herself in the heat of battle.

They say a shogi play-by-play bears traces of your personality.

In those nine games, Togame had been trying to learn something about Kiguchi─and to do so, experiencing a good number of failures, namely four, had been essential.

All the more because Togame wanted Shichika to beat Kiguchi in one go─to that end, she craved a mastery of how Kiguchi won and how she lost.

Armed with this knowledge.

Togame─surely planned to use it in the battle between Kiguchi and Shichika.

This was risky business.

That said─they were still in business.13

If she was able to predict how Kiguchi would swing, their chances would improve─

─But then again.

If I don’t understand her strategy, what difference does it make? If she’s playing referee, there’s no way she could pull me aside, while I’m fighting, and help me out.14

But in actuality.

What Shichika had guessed was about half right.

Considering his mental acuity, this level of precision was praiseworthy─but in practice, what Togame had in mind was far more elementary.

It was a scheme that only could have worked in Shogi Village, in these circumstances, and under these conditions─but the very fact that Shichika, who had been told that he was better off not knowing, had been able to deduce that much just goes to show how brazen of a scheme it was.

Though thinking was a pain for him.

He couldn’t help but think it over─

“Alright then, Master Shichika, let us begin.”

“Hold on,” Togame said to this prompt from Kiguchi.

It sort of killed the mood,15 but she had to say this, or she could never give the signal to begin.

“Just to be clear─is there no other way we can convince you to relinquish Oto the Cured? You swordsmanship is top-notch─I’m sure that many in the bakufu would readily employ the services of the Heartland School.”

“I have long since abandoned such ambitions. Who needs a sword these days? I said as much to Master Shichika just yesterday. After devoting my whole life to this sword, I am prepared to give my life for this sword,” Kiguchi turned down Togame’s offer summarily─as if her answer were prescribed.

“Only the heart can slay what chokes the heart. Hence the name Zanki. I am Zanki Kiguchi─Twelfth Master of the Heartland School. Show me what you can do.”

“Don’t worry, I was gonna show you anyway, but you’ll probably miss it─if you’re torn to smithereens.”

Putting aside the fact that his catchphrase had become a bit perfunctory.

Things were certainly heating up─16

“Alright,” Togame said.

Then gave her standard line.

“May the best sword win─fight!”

Hearing the signal─neither of them moved.

Vigilant.

Shichika, the novice, was trying not to dive in recklessly, while Kiguchi, the master, was hesitant to win the fight too quickly.

This, obviously, could be turned to their advantage.

The fact that this fight was the real deal,17 but with wooden swords─and steeped in an air of seriousness that came from the relationship of this instructor with her pupil, offered a great advantage to a person like Togame─and so the Schemer.

Added this─in the same tone as her standard referee line.

“Pawn to 7-6.”

Announcing her move.

■　■

Their model was the fight on Mt. Odori versus Konayuki Itezora.

As Togame had assured Shichika time and time again, she was certain that he could have beaten Konayuki if only he had fought her normally.

In that case, why did he lose?

Apart from the fluke, why had he lost? After all, a difference of ability in his favor was not a logical explanation for what happened.

Simply put, he let his guard down─Togame had instructed him to take it easy on her, since she was just a little kid and everything.

If you stay focused─and brace yourself for action, you usually obtain a result commensurate with your ability.

Which brings us to Zanki Kiguchi.

Would somebody with such powers of focus that she failed to notice two intruders in her dojo─let her guard down against Shichika Yasuri, even when his difference in ability was so pronounced?

Most likely not.

Her school of swordsmanship gave life.

Only the heart can slay what chokes the heart.

She was not fighting Shichika, so much as herself─what reason would she have to let her guard down?

Her focus was impeccable─so why not peck away18 at it?

Sneak up on her and yell, make things go bang─such ploys are usually enough to break somebody’s focus, but an obnoxious disturbance19 was nothing to Kiguchi.

Something quieter, however, might do the trick.

To that end.

In the last of her nine games against Kiguchi, Togame had lost, in order to go first in a tenth game!

“Pawn to 7-6.”

Hearing these words.

Zanki Kiguchi froze.

An avid gamer in her teens, Zanki Kiguchi, after taking on her name of shame, lived only for the Heartland School of swordplay, but she was anything but slow on the uptake.20

In fact, she prided herself on her intellect.

She knew exactly what Togame was up to.

Kiguchi fully understood how scary it was to fight an amateur─in part, perhaps, because the Kyotoryu was geared toward mortal combat, whereas the Heartland School was geared toward sporting practice.

She would not let her guard down.

She had braced herself, so as not to overthink the way Shichika moved or to get confused by unfamiliar movements.

Though compelled to look out for her pupil─she had no plans to break her focus.

So, when Togame called out her move, Kiguchi understood that she was trying to distract her─and recognized that the Schemer had thrown the final game intentionally─in order to be accorded the first move in the next.

Nevertheless.

When she heard those words.

Pawn to 7-6.

Kiguchi could not help but think about her countermove─not thinking intentionally, but automatically. After all, Zanki Kiguchi was born and raised in Shogi Village─