Isobe no Go
-This fanfic is written in honor of one of my favorite but lesser known characters of the series, Isobe Hideki. He is the poor, delusional boy who comes to challenge Touya to prove he is the best child at go. Little does the egotistical, self absorbed kid realize just how sucky he is compared to Touya until after he plays him. However, I wanted to cut the guy some slack because I like him, so this is a short little "what if fic". "What if Isobe Hideki were actually good enough to beat Touya Akira?" Well you're about to find out.
It was another sunny day in the megatropolis of Tokyo. Nestled somewhere in the maze of high rise skyscrapers and neon signs was the small, unsuspecting offices of Hagino Incorporated. Sunlight streamed in through purple curtains, casting a glow across the go ban where Isobe Hideki and the president of Hagino were playing their weekly game of tutoring go. Isobe was a young yet somewhat haughty Japanese boy from a rich family. His hair was short and wavy, and he never seemed to really smile, but always had this look of pompous disdain for his surroundings. After studying the board for several minutes, the president began to scratch his head and sigh.
"My my, I can't beat you, ah, excuse, me, I can't beat you master even with 9 stones," said the president in awe of the prowess of the young boy.
"This keima here was the losing move. If you had simply played kosumi here, there wouldn't have been any problem."
"Well you are right, you cut my shape apart and then attacked all of my groups."
Several seconds later a secretary came in with a tray carrying a glass of orange juice and coffee.
"Didn't I say last week that I won't drink orange juice?" said the little emperor, opening one eye and looking with disdain at the secretary.
"It's alright, but remember, the master drinks Banana juice."
"I…I'll bring it right away," said the startled secretary with a short bow.
"You'll have to excuse her, the normal secretary is on vacation and she's the temp. But really, you are quite good, even better than before the Children's Go Tournament. No wonder you won the title of Children's Meijin so easily."
"That title is totally worthless," said Isobe, picking up a large pile of white stones and putting it back in the go ke.
"Totally worthless? What do you mean? You competed in a vast tournament of over 2,000 children to win that title!"
Isobe simply gave a slight sigh and closed his eyes a moment.
"It's worthless because it was so easy. Besides, I can't say I'm the best when he's still out there…"
"He? Who do you mean?"
"Touya Akira."
"The son of the Meijin? I've read about him in Weekly Go, he is said to be a genius at the game."
"Yeah, tell me about it. While I was at the tournament I heard some other kids talking about him. I can't stand the guy, looking down at us from the shadows. He doesn't play because he says it will make everyone else stop trying. How could you appreciate winning a tournament without playing a guy who thinks he's better than everyone? Really, it makes me wonder if he is any good at all."
The secretary soon returned with a glass of banana juice and coffee. Eager to correct her earlier mistake, she immediately set the drinks down.
"If I remember correctly Touya Meijin owns a go salon in front of the train station. If he does, then I'm certain his son would play there now and again."
Isobe picked up the glass and took a long swig of juice. Touya Akira had always been a thorn in his side. Isobe was supposed to be the young go genius. His parents spared no expense in getting professionals to come weekly, training him in the art of Go. Despite all of his work, Isobe still had to play second fiddle to some phantom child whose skill hadn't been seen and therefore yet unverified. Isobe made up in his mind that there was only one way to rectify the situation, bring down Touya.
"Where is that go salon?"
"Hmm?" said the president as he thanked the secretary.
"Tell me where the go salon is."
Isobe walked down the street with his usual "I'm too good to be here" expression etched on his face. Hands in his jean jacket pockets, his phone began to chirp. After fishing for it and retrieving it, Isobe hit the OK button on his cell phone.
"Hello? Oh, hey mom. Yeah. Yeah I got it, Murami 7 dan will be by tonight? Got it. And don't forget to tell Dad about the money."
After a few more minutes, Isobe finally reached his destination: Touya Meijin's Go Salon.
"Finally Touya, I'll wrench you from out of your protective darkness and take you down," thought Isobe, pumping himself up to take down his adversary.
Walking through the door, Isobe felt that despite the salon being owned by the great Meijin himself, nothing really seemed to be out of the ordinary. The walls were painted an off pink color, there was little in the way of adornment save for a wall scroll on the opposite side of the room.
"Welcome!" rang out the cheery voice of Ishikawa.
In his trademark manner, Isobe simply walked past Ishikawa and looked all around the go salon.
"Just as I expected, a bunch of old men. Hmm, can the guy I'm looking for really be in a place like this? Wait, there he is…"
Isobe caught sight of the dark haired little go genius, Touya Akira, playing by himself in a tucked away corner. Touya was far from the menacing Go warrior Isobe had envisioned, but instead was a cute little boy.
"Who is that kid?"
"That kid? You mean, Akira-kun?"
"Touya Akira?"
"Yes"
"It's him, finally…" thought Isobe.
"How much is it to play here?"
"For kids it's 500 yen"
Placing the money down, Ishikawa san happily accepted and placed the coin in the cash register.
"So I hear Touya is good, is it really true?"
"Of course it is. Why, do you have doubts?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
"Then why don't you ask Akira-kun to play a game with you?"
"That's what I've come here for."
Ishikawa san was a little surprised at the gall of the unknown little kid.
"Storming into the go salon and acting like he owns the place. Then he tells me he doubts our Akira-kun's ability. Well in the end I guess it'll be alright, Akira-kun will show this little boy just how good he is," thought Ashikawa as she escorted Isobe to Touya.
"Akira kun."
Broken from his state of concentration, Touya simply responded with a quaint "heh?" and looked up. Smiling ear to ear, Touya saw the stone faced Isobe.
"This boy says he'd like to play you, is that alright?" said Ishikawa.
"Sure, how strong are you?"
"I won the Children's Meijin Tournament."
"Really! That's awesome!" said Touya, his face brimming with youthful excitement.
"What's so awesome about it? You weren't even in it."
The childlike glee Touya had, now seemed to slowly fade away into nothingness. Deep down he wished he could go to tournaments like the other children, but Touya knew he had no rivals among kids his age. It was a sad state of affairs really, for if he could find just one kid to match him, he could find new worth in the game.
Taking off his jacket and sitting down, Isobe began to size up his prey.
"I've come here to beat you. In order for everyone to recognize me, I have to beat you. The title of Children's Meijin isn't enough."
Touya was a naturally happy child and always smiling. He didn't even show a speck of intimidation at the sound of "Children's Meijin champion". Isobe began to really wonder if this was the real deal or not.
"That's impossible, poor kid. That's why Akira-kun should hurry up and become pro," thought Ashikawa smiling, holding in her pity for the young lad. "I'll be back with some tea."
"Damnit, he doesn't seem to care. All right…" thought Isobe, mentally prepping himself.
"I am Isobe Hideki. If I win, tell everyone that you lost to Isobe Hideki, alright?"
Brimming with joy and glee, Touya perked up at the thought of losing. Up until now the only real opponents for him were other pros, his father, and Ogata sensei. But they were old fogeys and had already paid their dues in the Go world. If a kid could do what others could not…
"Sure! I'll tell everyone! Isobe Hideki right? Let's play, can I nigiri?"
Thoroughly shocked by the positive response, Isobe almost couldn't properly grasp his stones to nigiri.
"You're first! Onegaishimasu."
"What's with this guy, he seems so happy," thought Isobe. "Onegaishimasu."
Grasping a shiny black stone from his go ke, Isobe tapped into a well of determination he didn't think he had. He too, wanted someone to face off against evenly, and maybe Touya would be the one. After placing the first stone on the upper right star point, Isobe looked up at Akira's face and was shocked.
"His…expression is totally different than before. He's totally serious."
Isobe was right, Akira's intensity and focus were far beyond the ability of even some adults. His deep green eyes focused on the board like a powerful laser. Isobe straightened up in his chair. There was no way he was going to lose this match.
The battle on the board started furiously from the beginning. Ignoring Isobe's first approach move, Touya approached Isobe's stone, and a cut throat battle stretched across the board. Neither of the boys had expected the other to be so strong, and the feeling of excitement showed itself in the dizzying shape forming on the board.
"This battle is going back and forth, am I losing? No, no, I'm winning, but only by a little bit. He's just as strong as they say, no, even higher than that," thought Isobe, planting a stone down the board.
"I may have lost strength on the right, by the left side and corners are still my domain. I just have to maintain my hold until the end…" thought Touya.
Looking up from his tutoring game, Ashiwara turned towards where Touya and Isobe were sitting.
"Hmm? Akira-kun is playing another kid?"
With both of the mental faculties of the two go warriors practically spent, the game ended. Panting quietly, the two boys looked up at each other, and began to reorganize the board to count territory. Ashiwara walked up behind Isobe holding a cup of tea and looked at the board.
"White, 87.5 moku" said Isobe.
"Black 89 moku" said Touya.
"Akira-kun…lost…?" said Ashiwara in total disbelief. The phrase seemed to ring throughout the air of the go salon, flittering to the ear of every single patron, causing them to scramble like a herd of wild elephants to see the game.
Hanging his head low, Touya trembled slightly, his face unseen. Isobe let out a sigh of relief, and smiled to himself.
"Akira-kun?" said Ashiwara, concerned over Touya, who hadn't said anything for a few minutes.
Lifting his head, Touya had the worlds largest smile on his face, his eyes livelier than they had been for years.
"I lost!" exclaimed Touya with tears of joy streaming down his eyes.
Isobe was rather startled to see someone so happy over losing, especially over such a fiercely competitive game. However the win was his, and the better player was clearly shown.
"Akira-kun lost! That's impossible! Show us the game!" said the patrons as they circled like buzzards around the table.
"Isobe…Hideki right?" said Touya, the tears slowly drying up.
"Yes, from now on you'll tell everyone you've lost to me," said Isobe, grinning egotistically and cleaning up the go stones.
"I'll be sure everyone knows! Hey, why don't you come here more often, you can beat me some more!"
"Hmph, well now that everyone knows who the stronger player is I don't see why. However I'm sure from time to time we could play," said Isobe, sticking his nose in the air and grabbing his coat. "Right now I must leave, but I'll be back."
"Who was that kid? He's as strong as Akira-kun, why haven't we heard of him?" said the patrons, who were all thoroughly startled by what just happened.
Touya, overjoyed with himself, couldn't wait to play Isobe again. A rival, finally, a rival.
It was the next day, a fateful day. Shindou Hikaru, a blonde little sixth grader, had joined forces with Fujiwara no Sai, an ancient go spirit. Sai had been annoying him to find someplace to play go, and Hikaru decided that the go salon by the train station where his grandfather played was as good a place as any. Walking in, the little boy was greeted by the smiling Ashikawa.
"Welcome! Oh, hello, is it your first time here?"
"It's my first time ever. Can I play with anyone here?"
"Of course. Here, just write your name down and your strength."
"My strength? Hmm, I really don't know. But I think I should be pretty good. Hmm."
Hikaru scanned the room looking for someone suitable to play with. There were a bunch of old men just like his grandfather staring down at go boards with wrinkled expressions on their faces. On the far side of the salon were two boys playing.
"Hey, there are kids here after all. Can I play them?" said Hikaru pointing at them.
"Well, they are kind of busy it seems. Maybe later, how about you play Ishikawa san?" said Ashikawa, leading Hikaru into the go salon.
Isobe and Touya were locked into another fierce game of reading ability and cunning. Touya had his usual look of pure intensity, drowning out the world around him. He didn't even hear the surprise and shock of the patrons as they lost to a blonde haired eleven year old.