KATANAGATARI 3
─If she does that.
I’ll go with: Pawn to 3-4.
“Bishop to 2-2.”
No sooner than she thought it─Togame announced her move to follow.
Swapping bishops with her out of nowhere.
A hasty move─but wait a second.
─T-Take with Silver General.
“Silver General to 8-8.”
With that.
Togame moved her silver general as well, balancing the vertical symmetry of the board.
─It’s like…
She can see my moves before I make them.
This was blind shogi.
A way of playing that requires two competitors of unaverage ability─but not a shogi board. The game is played with the imagination, a test of memory as much as skill. This was obviously no easy feat, but almost anybody from the village could play this way, to some degree.
Back in her teens, Kiguchi used to do this all the time.
But Togame’s version─was another thing entirely.
Kiguchi was not saying her moves out loud─she was only thinking them. Saying them inside her head.
But as if reading her thoughts─as if seeing every single move that she was going to make. Like she was seeing everything, even the thoughts leading up to each decision─
The Schemer launched an offensive.21
With her moves.
Announcing each next move─the instant Kiguchi had decided.
And with each announcement─Kiguchi thought only of her countermove.
After which, Togame moved again.
On and on.
Over and over─chipping away.
At her focus.
Breaking her down─wearing her out.
At this point, she was about to blow22─
“Bishop to 5-5.”
Togame was relentless─as if she’d read those thoughts too.
Kiguchi knew.
The simplest way to disrupt Togame’s strategy─all she had to do was not think about the next move.
It takes two to play a game of shogi.
If one player walks away from the game, there cannot be a winner.
And yet─it was exactly as Princess Negative had proclaimed at Mansion Negative in Owari, though speaking on a topic unrelated to this match.
People can think all they want.
Not thinking, though, is strangely difficult.
Even Shichika, who had a hard time thinking about anything, had an even harder time thinking about nothing; this was only truer for a poet warrior like Kiguchi.
Nay.
The Schemer was─urging her to think.
Thinking of anything except the fight was tantamount to23 letting down your guard─
─Alright then.
Gold General to 7-2.
Kiguchi purposely made a weak move─one which wouldn’t come to life down along the line, but didn’t hurt either, in effect passing.
─Let’s see her act on this.
“Bishop on 9-5.”
Togame somehow saw through even this and responded accordingly─speaking softly, almost in a whisper.
Indeed, her voice was quiet.
At that volume, she could distract Kiguchi without distracting Shichika.
Reason being─Shichika knew nothing about how shogi was played.
Let alone blind shogi.
He couldn’t even tell you how a rook moved.
In contrast to the grand scheme that she had used against his genius sister, Nanami Yasuri, at Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, which had kept both Shichika and Nanami in the dark─this was the exact opposite, a terribly small scheme.
It would have failed on anyone but Kiguchi.
On anybody but Zanki Kiguchi, the poet warrior!
“Khh…”
─Alright, Lance on 5-8!
The move─defied all reason.
Moreover, she was placing a captured piece─no way it could be read.
This made it check, too.
Unless Togame took the lance, it was Kiguchi’s game─but there was no way that the Schemer could expect her to just throw away a piece like that─
“Take with King.”
─She got me.
Togame seized the lance like it was nothing.
─So that’s why.
That’s why we played nine games.
It didn’t matter whether she had won or lost.
As long as she got to play─a number of games.
Hence─why Shichika’s guess was about half right.
Her approach to the shogi board─
How she responded to certain moves.
Over the course of those nine games─or actually, ten games, if you include their first match eleven days before, Togame had been sizing up Kiguchi.
Hence how she saw her “Gold General to 7-2” and “Lance on 5-8.”
─Who is she?
Some mindreading wight?24
After all, they had only played those ten games.
Even if she had been playing not to win, but to size up Kiguchi─one game had at most two hundred moves.
Ten games would be two thousand.
Hardly enough to cover every pattern that could cross the board.
Had the Schemer─filled in any blanks with her imagination, gaining a total mastery of how Zanki Kiguchi played the game?
It takes two to play a game of shogi.
But at present─Togame the Schemer was running the show solo.
Like she was working through a shogi problem─from the first move, she had been forcing Kiguchi through the game, coercing her into each move!
Wh-Who does that?
Her focus had been cracked.
No─more like, her focus had been diverted to a game of shogi.
Just stop thinking.
Just stop thinking.
Why can’t I stop!
“Pawn to 5-6.”
Knight to 3-3.
“Knight to 7-7.”
Rook to 8-4.
“Gold General to 4-7.”
Silver General to 4-2.
“Lance on 5-5.”
Pawn to 9-4.
“Head.”
Huh?
Shichika’s wooden sword─smacked Kiguchi on the forehead.
Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu versus Zanki Kiguchi, Twelfth Master of the Heartland School.
A quiet, abrupt, and unceremonious ending.
Believe it or not, it had been difficult for Shichika to hit Kiguchi, even with her standing right in front of him.
But now that he had, he did manage to stand fast for her counterstrike.
1 ぐっと我慢 GUTTO GAMAN suppress a strong emotion
2 言葉を曲げる KOTOBA WO MAGERU bend words, i.e. go back on them
3 委細承知 ISAI SHŌCHI “agreed on the details”
4 独壇場 DOKUDANJŌ “stand alone on the dais” nonpareil
5 予告 YOKOKU say going in
6 いい経験 II KEIKEN good experience
7 反則行為 HANSOKU KŌI “rule violations”
8 あからさまな AKARASAMA NA blatant
9 不正をする FUSEI WO SURU commit wrongdoing
10 えこひいき EKO HIIKI partiality
11 駒 KOMA units whereby boardgames like shogi and chess are played character cues equine imagery
12 法 HŌ law
13 無理筋 無理ではない MURISUJI MURI DE WA NAI illogical move not impossible
14 助言をする JOGEN WO SURU advice, coach
15 水を差す MIZU WO SASU “throw cold water” discourage
16 機は[…]熟した KI WA[…]JUKU SHITA the time is ripe
17 真剣勝負 SHINKEN SHŌBU “match with real swords” a serious fight
18 乱れはない 乱せばいい MIDARE WA NAI MIDASEBA II no disturbance then just disturb
19 妨害 BŌGAI “obtrusive obstacle”
20 鈍い NIBUI dull (sword); stupid
21 切り込んでくる KIRIKONDE KURU “come cutting in” ironic, since no swords are involved
22 自滅 JIMETSU self-destruct, dig one’s own grave
23 同義 DŌGI “same significance”
24 覚りの妖怪 SATORI NO YŌKAI “monster of consciousness” rooted in Japanese folklore