Ryuuou no Oshigoto volume 18 read:

After a long delay Bookwalker has finally translated volume 18 of Ai Hinatsuru's adventures.  This was a good book because it focused on the two best characters, Ai and Ai.  They had a dramatic shogi match as two pros facing off against each other for the first time in the story.  Ai Yashajin tried to mimic a computer's way of shogi while Ai Hinatsuru tried to find weakpoints in AI shogi and exploit them.  Ultimately Ai Hinatsuru won, becoming the true heroine of the story.

The story ended on a down note, though, with Ai H. saying she was already losing her talent for shogi and it wouldn't be long before she had to retire.  The series is also ending in only 2 books.  In Japan there's only one book to go, slated to be released in June 2025.  But who knows if English readers will ever get to see the last two volumes.

Obviously as one of my 100 waifus I'd dearly like to see the ending to Ai Hinatsuru's tale.  But whatever ending the author has in store for Ai, I've already written the ending for Ai I want and I'm sticking to it.  I think readers would actually prefer my ending over his too.

I only have one event story left to play in Heaven Burns Red.  Almost all the event stories have been splendid, giving me a newfound respect for the characters featured.  Jun Maeda hasn't lost his touch.

I've also embarked upon my 47th reread of '100 Waifus' with the hope of proving the book is finished and doesn't need any more edits before year's end.  I'm up to Chapter 3 and so far so good.

The next season of Precure has been announced, 'You and Idol Precure,' another pun.  I like idols and magical girls so a crossover of the two sounds like a good idea, but it all depends on the execution.

Russia is making progress in Toretsk so maybe it will go from -1 in 5 to 1 in 5 soon.

I have a few songs I want to add to my music hall of fame and an equal number I want to subtract once I've edited everything correctly.  But I still have 1,640 songs to screen before I can even worry about that.  It would be nice if I could finish my book and music at the same time.

If there was still anyone foolish enough to think Biden was honestly following the 'rule of law' when he prosecuted Trump, they can now see I was right all along -- he doesn't believe 'no one is above the law,' because he made himself and his son above the law quite brazenly.  He just thinks his enemies aren't above the law, which is about as convenient a belief as any drug lord fighting a gang war.  Democrats have always been corrupt lying hypocrites, but it's rare for them to reveal themselves to the public so clearly like this.  I hope somebody wakes up and learns from this example.