KATANAGATARI 3

■　■

Togame the Schemer.

On their way back to Owari from Shogi Village, leaving behind Tendo and Dewa, Shichika asked Togame whether she could have maintained her spectacle of blind shogi with Kiguchi, predicting all her moves, for an entire game.

“It’s only possible to predict the other player’s moves reliably in the first stages of the game, when force of habit and temperament shine most brightly. I’d say that I had fifty moves in me. Once you move into the latter stages of the game, the board gets so mixed up there’s no use trying to guess. All you can do is bet on the most likely option.”

“Huh…”

“Like I told Kiguchi after the fact…shogi is too complex a game to learn everything about a player in ten rounds. But once you start calling out your moves like that, in rapid fire, the other player feels as if you’re reading them like a book. The fact they aren’t saying their moves out loud works to your advantage─since they must at least have considered the move I predicted. Basically, it’s a kind of psychological warfare.”

“Psychological warfare, huh. Count me outta that. Makes me wish you’d pulled those guns out when I fought Meisai Tsuruga.”

“Fool. Battle is your bailiwick. Today was a very special case.”

“Yeah, you’re right. My bad.1 But wait, if you’re able to get under her skin like that, did we really need a lucky break? I could’ve beaten her regardless. She was a sitting duck. Anybody could have beaten her.”

“That’s tempting to think, now that you’ve won, but I assure you that you won because you were the amateur. My greatest fear about this strategy was obviously that Kiguchi would finish things before we had our chance─but I was also worried about her more ingrained abilities, the muscle memory created by her constant training. That realm is not my forte, but when warriors head into battle, their body does a large part of the thinking on its own, without the mind, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah.”

“I could distract Kiguchi all I wanted, but if you were just some average swordsman, swinging your sword normally, she likely would have snapped back out of reflex, with her muscle memory. Hence why your amateurish nature, unpolluted by the standard precepts, was essential to this scheme.”

“You think I like being called an amateur? Personally, it’s depressing. But yeah, I get how someone would have to rely on reason in order to respond to an unexpected move. And with Konayuki─well, I did my best. Still…”

There was something else that had been bothering Shichika.

But he hadn’t had the nerve to ask until they were a good distance away from Tendo.

“Strictly speaking, wasn’t that a violation of the rules? Interfering with the fight by bothering one of the players feels kinda unfair.”

“Did you really just ask me that?” Togame was astonished. “Of course it was unfair.”

“…”

“We had to think outside the board. She went into the fight assuming it would be quiet on the sidelines. But guess what. That fight was really two versus one─and that was more than Kiguchi could handle. I’m always refereeing fights for you, but I thought I’d play my trump card, just this once─although in all fairness, it is a card that never should be played.”

“You’d think that she’d say something, though. Kiguchi was a stickler2 for rules─”

“But remember, Shichika, who made that violation?” Togame asked. “Me, the referee.”

“…Right.”

Her rebuttal left him speechless.

She could probably overlook all but the most flagrant violations─

But what could be more flagrantly unfair?

“I thought─Schemers won through strategy.”

“Well, yes. So if Kiguchi thought that I was out of line, she should have spoken up.”

“But─she didn’t.”

“Don’t you see why?”

Here, Togame.

Laughed maniacally.

She sounds like sis, Shichika thought. It was disturbing.

“In that town─proposing a game of shogi could never be seen as a violation.”

“Ahh…”

The holy land of shogi players.

It would be analogous to banning swordplay from that holy land of swordsmen, Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, back in Tosa.

Right.

That’s what made it─a strategy.

“Alright. So, you’re saying that if you’d given me advice or started screaming or whatever, she probably would’ve called you out on it.”

“It would have made no difference. Kiguchi is a top-notch swordsman─once she’s in her element, facing an adversary, I daresay she blocks out everything, background noise or otherwise. Any attempts to distract her by yelling or trying to confuse her, which was out of the question anyway, would never have broken her attention. The sole exception─being shogi.”

“Gotcha… She grew up in the shogi capital of Japan. How could she say no to shogi?”

“That’s it.”

That’s it, huh? thought Shichika.

Zanki Kiguchi was unable to dismiss3 a shogi challenge.

She said that in her teens she was an avid player─but she must have been in love.

Which explains how even after devoting her whole life to swordplay─those memories had yet to fade.

Explains─why she agreed to play Togame in the first place, although she must have realized that the Schemer was up to something when things escalated to the nine-game showdown.

To recap─in the wake of the battle for Oto the Cured...

Zanki Kiguchi had one more go-around with both Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri, battling each independently.

Her first fight being a final bout of shogi with Togame.

This time, however, they agreed─to play with no holds barred.

“Give me everything you’ve got,” Kiguchi told Togame.

After that last scheme of hers, it was all too apparent that Togame had been holding back─but at this point, there was no reason to pull punches.4 As requested, Togame went all out─and schooled Zanki Kiguchi.

In a mere forty-two moves, Kiguchi, who had the first move, gave up the game.

This, she felt, was the actual5 Togame. Kiguchi’s voice, when she declared I’m out, was more brisk than in any prior bout.

And so onto the second fight. A final duel against Shichika Yasuri.

This, obviously, being a test of swordsmanship─but with no pads or boundaries.

Kiguchi armed with Oto the Cured.

Shichika swordless and barefoot, ready for action.

While Togame played the role of referee, this one-point match was strictly casual6─

Kiguchi balked at the idea of fighting an unpadded opponent, but it was up to Shichika, as the victor, and he insisted.

Since they were only having fun, a little postgame7 event, they agreed to take it easy, unlike the final bout of shogi between Kiguchi and Togame.

Dialing it back to about six tenths.

Restraining themselves.

And so, may the best sword win─fight.

Shichika was victorious.

His clincher8 being Hyakka Ryoran playing off Form Three, the Tsutsuji.

The Fatal Orchid he had used against that Sword Saint, Hakuhei Sabi─which goes to show how strong a foe Zanki Kiguchi proved to be for Shichika.

“I admit defeat.”

Lowering her wooden sword at Hyakka Ryoran, which Shichika had reeled in just in time, Kiguchi knelt down on the dojo floor and bowed her head to meet her hands.

Her posture─marvelous.

“I underestimated you, Master Shichika. Please forgive me for treating a fantastic swordsman like yourself as if you were an unschooled pupil.”

“Whoa─there’s nothing to be sorry about. Come on, don’t apologize. There’s nothing wrong with any of your swordplay.”

On the contrary.

If something was wrong with this picture─it was Shichika.

“Being weaker with a sword─feels like some kind of curse.”

Her words hit home, surprisingly hard.

At any rate─they were done clashing with Kiguchi.

No more shogi, no more swordplay.

Which is why.

“As promised, I now relinquish Oto the Cured.”

“Hey, thanks. But…”

Perhaps this would have been better left unsaid.

Yet Shichika said it without thinking.

“Are you sure? I mean, doesn’t it verify you as the master or whatever?”

“I no longer have the right to wield this sword─or maybe it’s the opposite. I have received more than my fair share of strength from the Cured. At some point, you need to let go. It’s about time─I left home.9 Every baby bird needs to hop out of the nest someday.”

“…”

“You may use it for the sake of the nation, or you may break it in two and throw it away. The Cured is yours now, to do with as you please.”

With that.

Saying nothing whatsoever, unlike Shichika─Togame the Schemer accepted the wooden sword that Kiguchi proffered.

Saying nothing─though she must have wanted to.

“Come back and visit anytime. And when you do, I’ll have the shogi board ready to go. Until then, I’ll look forward to it, safeguarding the trademark of the Heartland School.”

“Trademark…but I thought Oto the Cured was the trademark?”

“Only the heart can slay what chokes the heart. Hence the name Zanki. From now on, I am the trademark of the school.”

As Kiguchi spoke, her stoic mien relaxed, ever so slightly.

“The face of the brand.”10

Needless to say…

Shichika hoped that someday he would have the chance to fight another swordsman like Kiguchi─this, too, being an observation that he would not have made a short time ago.

As it turns out.

Zanki Kiguchi had kind of a goofy side…

Didn’t realize she liked puns…

“Looks like there’s only three swords left─you think the Maniwacs beat us to all three of them?” asked Shichika.

“I’m not so sure. Those guys don’t have what it takes…though I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them fell into their hands.”

Having thus obtained Oto the Cured, for the time being Togame the Schemer had secured her political reputation─they could now return to Owari without shame.

The Cured, of course, they shipped first-class ahead of them.

Allowing them to make the trek home unencumbered.11

These walks home were essentially their only downtime─back in Owari, there would be no time to rest.

Especially with Princess Negative around. And Emonzaemon Soda. Not to mention the Maniwa.

Out of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki─three remained.

“So, Shichika. This last adventure brought up something that we have to deal with going forward, as much as I wish we could ignore it.”

“Huh? Oh, you mean that I become a total wuss when I pick up a sword? I mean, there’s no way this same circumstance is gonna happen twice─”

“No, although that is a serious concern… It’s about the Old Shogun.”

“The Old Shogun? What makes him a concern out of the blue? Didn’t he die forever ago?”

“It may have been forever ago, but I can’t stop thinking about the Great Sword Hunt. I had this question on my mind these past ten days, the whole time I was working on my scheme: How come the Old Shogun was unable to capture Oto the Cured?”

“How come…”

“Lacking venom─or leaching venom─all that stuff aside, it’s just a wooden sword. No razor edge, not really heavy─a wooden sword, plain and simple. So how did the historic owner of Oto the Cured repel the forces of the Old Shogun? The only thing that slowed us down this time was accommodating Kiguchi’s way of doing things─compared to all the other months, don’t you think this month was pretty easy?”

“Uh…when I asked her something similar, she told me that the Heartland School didn’t actually own the sword back then.”

“It makes no difference whether the sword was owned by them or someone else. That fails to explain why the Old Shogun was unable to capture it.”

Shichika had no idea how to respond to this.

Togame was exactly right.

What had stopped the Old Shogun from capturing Oto the Cured?

But were they sure─he hadn’t captured it?

“In enacting the Great Sword Hunt─the Old Shogun’s official motive was to build the Katana Buddha. His ulterior motive was to hunt down all the swordsmen. His true motive was to collect all of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki─but in light of this new information, there is a strong possibility that he was harboring an additional true motive, deeper than the first. Here I am, thinking that we’ve come this far from learning from the Old Shogun’s mistakes…but maybe his Great Sword Hunt failed for a different reason entirely.”

“Okay. Therefore?”

“Therefore─never mind.” Halfway through her sentence, Togame shook her head. “It’s just a possibility. Not worth getting worked up about. Forget about it.”

“Forget it? Pretty tough, when you just leave me hanging12 like that…”

“Oh, what’s this?”

Togame laughed.

A laugh fraught with obscenity.

“Are you asking me to make you forget everything again?”

■　■

On the trail of Seito the Garland. Heading off─to Oshu.

Indeed, the childhood home of Togame the Schemer, though known as such to almost no one, was the very place they hoped to find Seito the Garland, their next target of the Twelve Possessed─thus bringing her back to her hometown, after nearly twenty years away.

Oto the Cured: Check

End of Book Nine

To Be Continued

1 面目ねえ MENBOKU NEH “no face or eyes”

2 うるさい URUSAI (usually) loud; (here) finnicky, annoying

3 ないがしろに NAIGASHIRO NI make light of

4 手を抜く TE WO NUKU “pull back the hand” give less than your best

5 真髄 SHINZUI “true marrow” essence

6 かたいこと言いっこなし KATAI KOTO IIKKO NASHI cast formalities aside

7 決闘後 KETTŌGO “after battle”

8 決まり手 KIMARI TE “decisive hand” winning move

9 親離れ OYA BANARE “distance yourself from your parents”

10 看板娘 KANBAN MUSUME “sign girl” woman employed by a shop to attract customers

11 のんびり、徒歩での NONBIRI, TOHO DE NO leisurely, and on foot

12 気になること KI NI NARU KOTO a thing or words “becoming spirit” stuck in one’s head