If there was ever anything Touya Kouyo prided himself on more greatly than his achievements in Go, it was that he always remembered to be a parent.

He had seen other parents whose children showed great potential urge them on always to be one step better, always to defeat others. While he could appreciate a certain intensity, there were some things best not forced onto children. He himself had fostered Akira's keen interest in Go at first out of a want to indulge his son more than his own love of the game. When Akira lost (which happened less and less frequently as the months of gameplay went by), he was never scolded by his father, never heard shouted the words, "Why didn't you do better, you stupid boy?" as too many other prodigies no doubt did– from the ones who were supposed to love them! Kouyo always made certain that he would be remembered as a firm but gentle guiding hand, not a vicelike grip striving to mould his son into a tool for his own fame.

True, he might partly owe his success there to needing no more fame for himself. But it was more than that, he liked to think.

-

It had surprised and pleased him when Akira lost a game to another child. He had forgotten, Kouyo thought, the bittersweet intrigue of going wrong, and wanting to know where. Each loss was, as each victory, a chance to study further what was strong and what lacking in one's play. After winning too many times, it was possible to forget that.

But here wasAkira, rediscovering himself, his Go, through the childish pain of defeat and a quirked brow, murmured apologies to his father who was really overjoyed but could not show it– giving the impression that a loss was celebrated would be ludicrous and needlessly sentimental.

In another moment, he would have considered propriety as a mentor, and thought of Akira's training in Go. Sometime else he might have asked Akira to explain how he thought he lost, help him to understand what might be done differently. Sometime else he might have been primarily a mentor preoccupied with what he wanted to teach this little prodigy given into his keeping, and forgotten how hard he strived to remain a father.

But it was a beautiful, and with Akira, rare, thing: the fragile and complex defeat written in the eyes of his son who was only a child. And so Touya Kouyo found himself dropping to his knees to put loving, comforting arms around this child who was still, oh, would maybe always be, did he dare to pray?– his son.