@MasterLillyclaw I think this is all a metaphorical way to say that shogi was his 'ticket' to survive and escape reality, but now that he has found a fimily ('the warmth' he mentions), it ended up melting the 'ticket', in the sense that he has found a place he belongs to so he doesn't need to escape/survive anymore. This is what's confusing him, the fact that he doesn't understand anymore what's the purpose of shogi in his life.
Considering Hina just told him she doesn't want his efforts to go to waste, the only logical way this could be heading to is that Rei stops seeing Shogi as a way to survive but simply as something he enjoys. We have seen when he had a match against the meijin that he actually ended up absorbed into it, like only a person that enjoys it can. He just needs to realize it.