Chapter 3: Sai
Akira had never encountered a Tsumego like this one. The puzzle was made up of over 200 Go stones, spread across almost the entire board. Simple Tsumego puzzles consist of about 10 stones, whereas the more complicated ones may involve 50-60 stones. But none had ever been so complex as this, nor as intriguing.
Even more amazing, however, was the way the puzzle was presented. Akira was left speechless when he first saw it. Wandering around randomly in the forest, he was drawn to a distant clearing with a mysterious bright object in the middle of it. Walking closer, he saw that the white light came from multiple emeralds suspended in air. And then he noticed the darker sapphires alongside the white emeralds, glowing with a faint blue light. The stones were not random, however, but had a strangely familiar pattern to them. Akira stared at the stones for some time before suddenly realizing that they belonged to a Go game in progress, laid on an imaginary Go board. The stunning beauty of the gems prevented Akira from noticing it earlier.
Akira, however, was quickly drawn into the game. As he analyzed the positions, it became increasingly implausible to him that the arrangement could have arisen from a normal game. It felt liked someone had deliberately placed the stones in those position. And then it dawned on Akira that this must be a puzzle, an exceedingly complicated Tsumego.
White was clearly dominating the game. It was threatening the Black territory in the corner, and poised to cut off the Black dragon in the middle. However, the remaining possibilites are so numerous that it was impossible to conclude a defeat for Black yet. In attempting to surround the Black dragon, White exposed itself on the left side. But could Black take advantage of the weakness in time to save its dragon?
Akira pondered these possiblities and more. He finally decided on a course of action for Black. Magically, a sapphire appeared in the position where he decided to make his move. "White" responded almost instantly. In a few moves, Akira realized that his plan was hopeless - there was no way for Black to save both its corner and the dragon at the same time, and the loss of either meant certain defeat. Akira abandoned his train of thought, and the stones resumed their original formation.
10 attempts later, Akira was no closer to the solution. The invisible hand that was playing White seemed to anticipate his every move, cutting them off almost effortlessly. Akira did not give up; his failures drove him to become even more determined to solve it. Something compelled him to do so, as if his life depended on it.
Then he saw it - by abandoning both the dragon and the corner, and attack the White territory on the left decisively, he would more than make up for the loss. Akira placed 1 quick move after another, and after about 5 moves, all the emeralds suddenly turned into sapphires. It appeared to be White's way of saying "I resign".
"Gosh, that was a strange dream." Akira sleepily rubbed his eyes, and saw that the sun had just risen. "The game felt so real. It was such a beautiful puzzle - I will have to show it to Hikaru. But first, I have to get out of here."
Akira realized he was lying down beneath the tree that he kept returning to when he got lost. He looked around, and saw that the trees around him were arranged almost in a perfect grid.
"That is really strange. Why did I not notice it yesterday?"
And then he saw it - a string of pebbles pointing forward.
"Well, then, let me follow them. I have nothing to lose."
Akira started to walk in the direction indicated by the pebbles. It was easy to keep to a single direction, since the trees were in a grid. 30 minutes later, however, he returned to the same tree again.
"This is impossible. I am certain I walked in a straight line."
As he pondered what to do next, images from his dream suddenly came to him.
"Let me try to recall - where did I place my first move? 13-5? Right, it was at 13-5."
Almost by impulse, he walked forward, counting 13 trees, and then turned right, counting 5 trees. And sure enough, he found another tree, a different one this time, with pebbles pointing to his left.
"Gosh - whoever set this up, he went into a lot of effort to do it! Alright, next move, 11-8..."
From a distance, Akira could sort of make out 2 people seated at a table. On closer look, Akira almost jumped when he saw that one of them was Hikaru. He called out to him, but Hikaru seemed almost in a trance, and did not respond. And then he noticed the stones on the table, and the tall, thin man seated opposite Hikaru. Apparently, they had been playing Go, and the game was close to reaching the Yose stage.
The game looks bleak for Hikaru. Whichever way he played, he seemed unable to avoid a loss of at least 6.5 moku.
"A fascinating game, no doubt. But why on Earth would Hikaru follow this strange man into the woods to play Go?" Akira looked at Hikaru, hoping to find an explanation, when all of a sudden Hikaru made a move deep into White territory.
Akira gasped. "Hikaru is going in too deep! He will never survive in there!"
That was when he noticed a rustling of the leaves in the distance. He looked up, and saw another figure perched on a tree. It was a man with a tall black hat, long hair that came to his waist, and flowing white robes. Apparently, Akira was not the only one watchin the game.
