Shogi Reborn: Mind's Gambit

"I heard Oki has taken on a young girl as his apprentice. Geniuses sure live differently."

"And you're raking in 50 million yen for becoming the Ryuo champion. Who do you think the real genius is?"

Some time had passed since Ten'i started taking lessons from Oki regularly. Kuzuryu visited Oki's home, or more precisely, he was helping Oki with his move.

Oki had no immediate need to leave his old home. After graduating from middle school, he had postponed living on his own, planning to move only after saving up some money. Now, almost a year after graduation, he was finally relocating closer to the Kansai Shogi Hall.

Kuzuryu, ever the good-natured person, found himself being exploited by the undeniably lazy Oki, doing unpaid labor. While carrying a computer, Kuzuryu noticed something peculiar.

"Daiki, Die, HARU, KuZu, OOO... Are these Shogi app accounts?"

Stuck on the computer were notes scribbled with numerous strings of characters, each paired with a series of numbers. A glance was enough for Kuzuryu to recognize them as Shogi app account names and passwords.

Kuzuryu himself owned multiple accounts, but the sheer number of Oki's accounts left him dumbfounded. There were over 100 accounts listed. The sight of numerous sticky notes plastered across the computer struck Kuzuryu as unsettling.

And then he realized something.

"These accounts… No, all of them… They're from banned accounts caught using software cheats, aren't they?

...No way. This can't be true… right?"

Each account name was painfully familiar. They were from accounts that had been banned on a Shogi app notorious for rampant cheating. Kuzuryu had played against many of them and lost countless times.

Whenever he managed to win, he would shout, "Take that, you cheating scum!" in triumph.

"This one too, and this… Can I check the match times for these accounts?"

As he pulled out his smartphone to investigate the match logs for each account, Oki entered the room carrying a large cardboard box. Kuzuryu quickly began unpacking to avoid suspicion and was left speechless by what he saw inside.

"Are these… all smartphones?"

"Yeah. I've been collecting old models bit by bit since I was a kid. Most of them don't work anymore, but some are still functional."

The box was filled with an array of smartphones, over 50 in total. Some were so old that they stirred nostalgic memories in Kuzuryu. However, a disturbing thought crossed his mind.

Could Oki have been using these 50-plus smartphones for online multi-board play?

Playing multiple games simultaneously is an efficient way to improve one's Shogi skills. However, it divides attention, making it impossible to fully focus on any single game. Attempting to manage multiple matches demands immense concentration. Considering the countless accounts Kuzuryu had just seen, it wasn't hard to imagine that Oki's impressive strength might be rooted in such a practice.

Just as Kuzuryu was about to speak, he noticed Oki hastily tearing up the sheets of paper listing the accounts.

Seeing this, Kuzuryu chose to remain silent about the smartphones and the massive number of accounts.

"Oki, you usually use software to study Shogi, right? Mind showing me how it works?"

"Wait… huh? No, don't look at my desktop!"

Taking advantage of the moment when Oki moved away with some trash, Kuzuryu turned on the computer screen and glanced at the desktop. What he saw surprised him: countless game icons, ranging from popular titles Kuzuryu recognized to obscure ones with very few players.

"…You're more of a gamer than I thought."

"Well, yeah, I'm pretty much a hardcore gamer. Lately, I've been doing little else but gaming."

Curious about what Oki had been running, Kuzuryu watched as Oki casually launched a well-known battle royale FPS game. The computer's specs impressed Kuzuryu as the game loaded to the play screen in an instant, but what happened next amazed him even more.

Oki's hands flew across the keyboard at a breakneck pace, eliminating enemies one after another. His movements were so fast that Kuzuryu's eyes couldn't keep up, and his actions were precise and methodical. One by one, every opponent within sight was taken out, and in no time, Oki claimed first place out of 100 players.

Seeing Kuzuryu's stunned expression, Oki's thoughts began to race.

(Oh no, Kuzuryu's completely freaked out. He probably thinks I'm some lunatic who stopped mid-move to play PUBG and win a chicken dinner.)

"Master, you've already crossed into 'lunatic' territory, so it's fine. By the way, in that last match, the final opponent appeared on screen at 4:17, didn't they? Tee-hee!"

(Why are you noticing that now? How about during the match!)

"So, Oki… just how much time have you spent on that game?"

"Huh? Oh, about 200 hours, I guess. My win rate is around 20% so far."

"Twenty percent… Is that normal for skilled players?"

Kuzuryu hesitated as he shifted the conversation to gaming, unsure if that was impressive or not. Judging by Oki's confident tone, though, it was clear he was among the better players.

"By the way, Kuzuryu, do you remember the match seven years ago between the Student Meijin and the Moonlight Chairman? I think you were the record keeper for that match, weren't you?"

"What? I've never met the Student Meijin, and I don't recall being the record keeper for any of the Moonlight Chairman's games."

Hoping to bring up Ten'i's background, Oki mentioned her father, who had once been the Student Meijin. However, Kuzuryu's blank response threw him off.

In the Shogi Promotion League, members are sometimes assigned as record keepers. Since it's not a volunteer system, the league coordinators often ask people directly to take on the role. Oki, back then, wasn't active in the public eye. Even the smallest shifts could alter who gets assigned as a record keeper.

In essence, the original sequence of events had already fallen apart long ago. Hearing that Kuzuryu had never met Ten'i's father, Oki's mind went into overdrive.

(Damn it, what now? I kind of suspected this, but am I really going to end up as her mentor after all?)

"It's not your fault or mine, Master. Still, it's true that online Shogi had a significant impact on the world. Maybe a butterfly effect caused the record keeper lineup to change. Although, let's be real, your 50-board simultaneous Shogi matches probably had a bigger impact on the Shogi community than any butterfly's wings ever could."

(Screw you. Don't analyze this so calmly. No wonder Ten'i's Shogi feels so hollow.)

As Oki argued internally, Kuzuryu began to wonder if he had said something strange when Oki fell silent. Meanwhile, the moving process dragged on without an end in sight.

Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon

https://patreon.com/Glimmer09