Behind Closed Doors
-TheSilentReader-
CHAPTER 11: Go Reading
Spring Break, two years ago
Ogasawara Mansion
Finally, he had the courage to walk out of the bedroom. Kashiwagi-sempai was sleeping soundly on the futon and Yuuki tried hard not to make too much noise. He understood the sempai; he fought hard to sleep adjacently near from the slide door just to imprison Yuuki. He was trying hard to be the best idiot big brother Touko-san never had. Yuuki, too, would have felt the same way whenever some guy was pinning after her sister.
Yes, Yumi seemed too normal, too typical of a Japanese middle-class girl, but still, she was his dearest older sister. No exceptions allowed.
His drunkenness ebbed now with time; he was too enamored with the fact that after two hours of sleep, he never felt better. But he wanted to get away from the hell he was treading on. Anywhere with Kashiwagi-sempai was like eating pins. Yes, he terrified him. He was a rampaging boar whenever Yuuki was five meters near Touko, and to be honest, this evening he was even surprised that Kashiwagi-sempai found a way to distract himself from killing Yuuki.
To drink several shots of vodka was the wrong move. He had one bad shot from Kashiwagi. But he gained respect from the male heads of the Ogasawara, Kashiwagi and Matsudaira. The Fukuzawa head was too busy apologizing, but the rest of the families laughed him off. They said that to have a son as disciplined like that was a blessing. Right. Discipline corrected that he should have stopped drinking the moment he knew that what he chugged through his throat was vodka. Yuuki was even more shocked that the males regarded him well, and not otherwise.
Because he was far more respectable and formal when sloshed.
He explored the hallways of the Ogarasawa mansion, marveling the paintings and sculptures that hogged most of the space of the wide hallway. It seemed that that the house were divided by two wings, each garnering a different theme: the east wing had the Japanese ambiance; the west wing, comprised the English atmosphere. He had seen the east wing before, and awed the Japanese traditional paintings. He was even surprised to see some of the great works from the Edo period. He was even able to identify works of Ike no Taiga. Yumi could have gone for hours just loittering both wings. She must have spent thirty minutes for every one painting displayed.
And he was right. The temperature was conditioned to preserve the masterpieces, thus, feeling a little cold, Yuuki pressed his robes a little tighter. He noticed a presence down the hall.
"I could stay here for hours, just watching this painting."
It was an Itou Jakuchuu, a copy of the famous Pictures of the Colorful Realm of Living Beings.
"I had a feeling you'd be here." Yuuki replied.
Yumi and Yuuki stayed for quite a while staring forward. Yumi was cold, even though she had a blanket wrapped around herself. Therefore, Yuuki put his arm on his sister's shoulders. "I think we should sleep now. Aren't you tired? This party made me so damn tired."
"And drunk."
"And drunk." Yuuki seconded.
"You don't seem so drunk now." Yumi scoffed.
Yuuki did not reply anymore. It seemed that Yumi was not happy with the idea that three families found him sloshed and stenched with vodka. Yumi tried to open the topic that bothered her the rest of the evening that she only found solace after watching the painting. "It was never an idea that you need to drink everything anyone offered to you, especially when Kashiwagi-san was eying you like a hungry hyena."
"He had hots for me?" He mocked her with another innuendo. Boys are boys. Maybe I'm still woozy.
"Frigging idiot. Kashiwagi is after your brain juice and he's gonna suck it out of you using a vacuum cleaner." She retorted. She rolled her eyes, because Yuuki was laughing at her crass words. "Through your nostrils."
She continued. "I mean, really. You should always look pleasant, Yuuki. Men clearly know the difference between a drunk adolescent and a responsible man." She looked at him with sad eyes.
"I know," He hated that he imbibed the goddamned vodka. The old man encouraged him; he did not even bother to reject.
"But you were too… proper when you're intoxicated. I'll give you that." She consoled her.
"Great, I need my sister to stroke my shattered ego."
They stared at the same painting for duration. She found her voice again, and it resonated in the silent room. The air conditioner hummed in the dark background. "Let's go to the library. Go time."
"At this hour? Do you have enough brainpower to even consider your request?"
"I'm the one who should be asking that, you idiotic reprobate."
They exited from the east wing to the west wing, to go to the library. They tiptoed to the English hallway, and Yumi was trying her best just to skim the hallway, not to actually gawk to every art piece she found.
They opened the door of the library and peered inside. So far, only a fire lit the room. They went inside, and found the fireplace. There was a Go set behind the coffee table.
"Come on, the Go's in there." Yumi was rather brave to even initiate the idea of invading a room—like the library. On an ungodly hour of the night.
"Cool." Yuuki sounded like he had an epiphany.
"It's late, Yumi." Sachiko's voice echoed in the library.
Nevertheless, they were given permission by the muse herself, not to go to bed and play Go. She too, was reading something, thus, she was beside the fireplace, sitting on a single couch, comfortably stationed there, with one feet on the base of the chair. Only in one condition, she'd watch.
An hour passed by, and the pieces of black and white chips were accumulated half of the board. This game was rather fast, unlike the previous games the Fukuzawa usually had at home. Plus, Sachiko-sama was watching. "This is getting so interesting." Sachiko returned her gaze from the book that she was reading, to the board. She was unable to decide where her attention should lay.
Yumi had her chips black, Yuuki preferred the white one.
Thirty minutes later, Shachiko already drifted into a slumber. Her book was upon her breast, unattended. Yumi paused the game to put a blanket to her Onee-sama, even though she had her thick robe on, and went back to the game.
The Fukuzawa siblings began to talk in whispers.
"I've seen you, back there at the balcony." She softly put a black piece upon the board. It drew a soft clack.
"That's not new." He deadpanned. He planned not to remember anything from last night. At least for now.
"Alone with Touko." She hit the right spot. Just as she blocked his potential eye and conquered one of his minor territory.
"Tawdry strategy, Yumi. You're bringing this up during a Go game?"
"I'm just concerned."
"You and I know better."
"I know. Just…"
"Just?"
"Nothing." She decided not to lecture him further. She felt that this night brought him into despair. He never lost control. He was calmer, more rational than her. She had a feeling why he allowed himself to drink that liquor; it was because of the balcony scene. He should be rejoicing that he somehow had an effect upon Touko, but why get drunk? Because he thought he went too far? That's not too far. Offering her a coat was not too far. His unfazed innocence was evident with the way he responded to it.
She's not ignorant, for heaven's sake. But damn, he acted like a hopeless virgin.
He should have washed his face—anything to relieve himself from being such a responsive man. But please, liquor was never the option.
She's tired. This game must end. She knew how he felt. It was evident from his moves, and his strategy. It reflected on his white chips.
"I won."
They fell asleep on their individual chaise longues. The warmth of the library made them sleep easily after the game. They did not bother anymore to go back to their rooms and separate beds. The board was laying on the table, with all the pieces, both black and white still on their places.
It was four a.m when they finished playing. Dead was the ambiance of the whole mansion, glorified by the silent inhabitants, sleeping peacefully on their beds and futons. There was a muffled cry of a bird. There was a slight humming of the air conditioner outside the halls. There were the cracking bits of embers along the fire chamber. Peace. Everything was at peace.
An hour later, Touko walked inside the library, with a book in hand. She sneaked silently through the door. The air was amply warm, that a blanket was not needed to be comfortable. She put back the book that she had been reading, back to its home on the corner of a bookshelf. Her breathing was the only the thing she could hear. Until a muffled cry gently erupted across the room. She looked to its source. It was near the fireplace.
She again, was on the stealth mode. She already knew the source of the muffled cry. She tried, really, she did, not to go near the source, but it was too hard not to quench her augmenting curiosity. She went near to the couches and found out that three people were silently dozing off. Sachiko-sama was further from Yumi and Yuuki. The siblings were in front each other. Dozed off. Touko stared to these two. It was fascinating that both of them were the same, even when sleeping.
Dammit. She bumped on to one of the feet of the table. It gave a slightly loud thud against the floor. She began to scan all of the persons sleeping. They were oblivious of the abrupt noise.
Dammit. She was looking more to Yuuki than Yumi.
She'd seen Yumi asleep before; this was not new. But seeing a boy sleeping, especially the boy who she realized she didn't want to be associated anymore. He was giving her mixed emotions. Mixed emotions bring forth confusion. Duh. Therefore, do not dwell on a potential problem.
Yet, she crouched beside Yuuki, watching him breathe, his chest rising and falling. His arms were crossed onto his torso. The incandescent luminosity coming from the fireplace touched the hard contours upon his face, his chest, his arms, and his hands. She watched him there, just watching the light danced a static dance around him.
Crack. Oranged wood cracked through the fire, consuming itself.
He was intoxicated. She was surprised that she found him here. The Go board lay covered with chips upon the table. It was a finished game. She looked at Onee-sama and Sachiko. They were off to Lala Land, just like Yuuki. She reverted her vision and the direction of her face to Yuuki. His hair disheveled. His bangs messy on his forehead. Faint was his perfume.
She stared.
She drew her face near to him.
He sighed.
His hot breath crept though her neck, her collarbone. She still smelled the faint spirit of vodka upon his breath. But, she could not place this stench. It was remarkably otherwise. She was momentarily surprised with such realization. She retracted slowly, her eyes half opened. Her mouth slightly opened.
She adjusted Sachiko and Yumi's blankets. Seeing that Yuuki had none, she released her shawl that snaked on both her arms and placed it on top of Yuuki's body. She tucked the edges on his neck and sides. He stirred for a while, and muttered, "Not the vacuum". She tried not to laugh out loud. The shawl did not cover him all over, but that was all she could give.
Then she left the room with a soft click.
The wood emitted a loud crack.
The black won over the white.
Sachiko and Yumi fully opened their eyes. Separately, and unknown to each other's consciousness, they prayed for Maria-sama's forgiveness, for being such a sneak.
Spring, few weeks later:
It was not easy being in the Yamayurikai. The fact that only six of them was left to continue the duties left by the former Roses was quite difficult. The difficulty of neither the tasks nor their number was the problem, but the lack of members who would be designated to do them.
Fukuzawa Yumi, the Rosa Chinensis. Toudou Shimako, the Rosa Gigantea. Shimazu Yoshino, the Rosa Foetida.
Matsudaira Touko, the Rosa Chinensis en bouton. Nijou Noriko, Rosa Gigantea en bouton. Arima Nana, the Rosa Foetida en bouton.
Touko was still new to the role, while Nana needed time and preparation to grasp fully her own. Thus, Touko and Nana first observed the flow of meetings in the first week of the term.
Well, they have done it with only six people before. But it seemed that the Yamayurikai never accomplished the maximum membership. Because what they lacked, was a second year en bouton, which, according to the traditional but informal unspoken canon of the seour system, there was no petit seour could have two grande seours. Nevertheless, Touko's job in the student council was expected to be like riding a bike: once you learn, even after a long time of hiatus, you could always maintain balance between two wheels. And so far, her Onee-sama praised her for being overly methodological about every task she achieved.
Her job was not anymore just serving tea, or replacing and arranging flowers.
With that, she was inwardly rejoicing. Sprinkled with praises from Yumi, Touko couldn't hide the red on her face.
Still, coping up with hiding such her mirth from Yumi's compliments was now hard. To think that her grande seour had her wrapped in her finger, she always had fun being at Yumi's disposal. Since the Roses were now equal in terms of academic levels, discussions during official Yamayurikai meetings were livelier, more passionate, more opinionated. Even still, the purity and serenity (Yoshino was now quite the exception) at all times were maintained.
In comparing Yumi with Sachiko: Sachiko had advantage in traditional and formal obligations and tasks, while Yumi had an uncanny and incomparable prowess in streetwise situations and predicaments. However, Sachiko's strengths were somehow shouldered by the current Rosa Gigantea. The middle of such extremes was buffered by the current Rosa Foetida. They were exactly like the Triumvirate of Roses comprising Sei, Youko and Eriko, only that the bearings of the Red and White Roses swapped.
Yumi, though, found pleasure in silently comparing Sachiko with Touko. They were almost the same. She often wondered the training of girls belonging in high status, and the absence in the case of middle class girls like her. Touko's exceptional difference from Sachiko, based from Yumi's experience, was Touko's loose perception and reception for men. Sure, Sachiko had male admirers, but she never (and it would be a long time before that change) entertained and be close to one within ten-meter radius. Touko, however, liked the attention. And she enjoyed it immensely during official meetings in Lillian's brother school, the Hanadera Academy for boys. But that was another story.
Nevertheless, the Lillian Academy for Girls was still as pure and elegant as the day it was founded.
New students would fill in the evocative absence of the graduates. Spring break had gone by and nothing significant happened except for Sachiko's private graduation party. With that, the first thing that the Yamayurikai members talked about during break-times were Noriko's daring tolerance for liquor. During the party, the ladies were gathered to watch Sei's great test against liquor. Noriko usually was very aloof whenever Sei was around; she always keep her guard against her eldest sister. But after Noriko had her first gulp, she began to be at ease. Sei was giving her the liquor, mixing Noriko's juices with different types of alcohol, but at the same time intently watching if the kouhai not to be carried away. The amalgam for Noriko and Sei's friendship was alcohol. Very unladylike, but it lasts anyway.
"…And Noriko-chan said, 'Sempai, please be kind to me. I don't think that I can't handle it anymore.' with a broken voice.
"But then, she still had five of those nasty concotions Sei-sama mixed. That was totally awesome." Yoshino piped.
"Youko-sama could not even stop Onee-sama from taking advantage of you." Shimako was not helping Noriko even when she said it in a soft manner.
The laughter in the room was heard against the Biscuit door. Noriko could not believe what she was hearing, and she was always looking to Shimako for confirmation in every account Yoshino announced to the eager Yamayurikai audience. Shimako could not help but nod at everything.
"It's true, Noriko. When you're with Onee-sama, you're a different person altogether." Shimako sighed and smiled at her. Shimako just told her that Noriko lost to her Onee-sama, in a very subtle way.
"I…" I lost to Sei-onee-sama! "I was… under the influence!"
"Noriko-san, that's the point." Touko's expressionless voice rang across the room.
Touko wanted to end the conversation. But then her last statement made the crowd induced gentle laughter, and further assault Noriko and the former Roses that attended the party. Girls would always be girls; they all talked about dresses, especially Sei's, and boys, especially Kashiwagi and Eriko's boyfriend. The moment Eriko went inside the dance hall, all eyes of those who personally knew her had their eyes on the man dancing with her. Rei and Yoshino was not yet formally introduced to the man, and both felt like the grande seour was obligated to introduce him to the petit seours.
"Yamanobe-sensei. He's a teacher in Hanadera, right?" Yoshino rested her chin on her right hand. She looked at Yumi, who was sitting on the windowsill watching the atmosphere outside. Spring… spring is always nice. Yumi halfway looked at her petit seour, and produced a soft smile. Even the way she sat on the windowsill… goodness, she had this "Youko" air. Yoshino began to detect a tsunami of maturity from her—which was resonated at tenfold according to Yoshino's rough estimation. It seemed that she was so behind, comparing to Yumi and Shimako.
"Yes, he is."
"He's very handsome." Noriko and Shimako sighed. Hearing that both of them carelessly spit out what was on their minds, both seours looked at each other and exposed their flushed faces. The Yellow Rose smiled wickedly. "I never thought Eriko-sama had a boyfriend like that. I thought he was just a dinosaur geek with a bad hygiene." She deadpanned.
"You called him unclean? I've seen him before, yet I almost could not recognize him during the party." Rosa Gigantea began to defend herself.
"Yeah, well… Eriko-sama seemed be influencing that man. Ever since her graduation, Yamanobe-sensei was already half in-love with her. They barely know each other, yet Eriko-sama already knew how to handle him." Yoshino was now trickling information, bits by bits. Women and their gossips. "And besides, with Eriko-sama trailing him since graduation, she really made sure she gets what she wants."
"How do you know?" Yumi budged from her little world and intersected into the conversation. Someway, Touko was amazed by how her Onee-sama portrayed herself to be uninterested with the party gossips, yet, she could trace the slight twitch of Yumi's left eyebrow, when something interesting came up. Only Touko noticed this kind of mannerism.
"They kissed."
"On graduation day?" Noriko poked.
"On Eriko's graduation day." Yoshino was smirking. Nana was just hovering behind the gossiping seours, serving hot black tea and thin rice crackers neatly arrange in small plates. Noriko and Shimako both grabbed a piece of cracker, while Yoshino drank her tea. Nana did not react on anything they said, but it was obvious that she too want to hear about her Grandmother. She was that feisty.
"Wow." Noriko muttered while a soft crack was heard from the cracker inside her mouth.
"Feisty." Nana could not help but to voice it out.
"Why does no one here considered kissing among high school students normal?" Touko muttered her side comment. But no one seemed to hear her.
"She was still touching her lips all the way before the Yamayurikai had picture-taking." Yoshino said after sipping her tea.
"Was it torrid?" Someone from the room asked the group.
"Touko? You don't just ask such personal question." Yumi spoke without deterring her head from the scene outside. All others gasped from the question. Yoshino was already coughing, while Nana cleared up the tray in her hands to massage her grande seour's back.
"Just bored. I mean, really." Touko tried to be unconcerned with the gossiping. But their giggles were just too loud. And the fact that it was boys and romance they were talking about, of course a woman like her was inclined to listen. She hate to admit to herself that she was having that problem… problem with boys. Ever since she performed Amy in Little Woman during the last Culture festival, Hanadera boys, an ample number of them, had been wandering along the school gates.
"Why are we talking about men? They're just bothersome and unexciting, like they are of different species." Touko was fiddling with her rolls.
Yumi never recognized this until Touko became her petit seour, and somehow, she was still unsure whether she would reveal this information to Yuuki. Being Yuuki's brother, of course she disapprove of the men hunting for her petit seour, and for Yuuki's nonexistent perseverance. So far, with his zero progress, he was half a man she expected.
"Do you truly mean that, Touko?" Noriko and Yumi cried in unison. But each of the girls had different resolve etched on her face. Noriko looked as if she wanted to take her words back. Yumi had it oppositely; she looked at Touko with concerned eyes, and small smile. But such eyes changed drastically to a laid-back one.
Crickets chirped, birds sang, the spring breeze blew through the window, against Yumi's hair. It was a long time before Touko replied, "No." She turned to the rest of the flock, "Sorry."
Boys.
Please, give us breaks.
The topic was reverted to boys, but the focus was not only was Yamanobe-sensei, but also the famous Ginkgo Prince and his apprentice. At the exact moment that Yoshino mentioned Kashiwagi among the body, almost everybody exclaimed how 'gorgeous' he was. The fact that the comment were almost seconded by all Yamayurikai members except Yumi, she just ignored the giggles by looking further amongst the clouds above—maybe for a little bird two miles ahead of her. She almost wanted to sink and unite with the wooden windowsill when somebody from the gossipers mentioned the Yumi and Kashiwagi's 'compromising position' during the party.
"What did Onii-sama do this time?" Touko perked rapidly from her seat and turned to Noriko, grabbed both the latter's shoulders and stared at her with vehemently. Yumi, however, seemed to be trying with all her might not to defend herself.
That man seriously is making my life a living hell. Yumi almost killed him with telepathy.
Touko transferred her searing eyes to Yumi and wailed, "Onee-sama?"
Yumi now faced her imoto, trying to be calm so that the latter would decide to lower the steam off her face. "Kashiwagi rescued me from falling down, that's all. It was just coincidental that all the members of Yamayurikai found me in a very embarrassing position."
"I felt the whole time we were at the party that Onii-sama was really making a profession out of your irritation, Onee-sama." Touko muttered. The body was now focused on the conversation of the Crimson Rose family, their heads volleying from one person to the other. Nana, who was now cleaning used teacups, reduced her cleaning speed and lessened the rate of flow of water from the faucet to hear their 'isolated conversation'.
"He sure did." Yumi ended the conversation with a thin smile.
The Crimson Rose family members sighed in unison. It's true; women were from Venus, while men were from Mars. Yumi felt like she wanted to play Go with someone… with anyone right now. She knew for herself that she was not as perceptive as Sei-sama or Youko-sama or even Tsutako-san, but only in Go she could fully interpret strengths and weaknesses of the person playing. She played with Sachiko before (and defeated her!) and began to understand her. Her chips were glued together, she seldom put a solitary chip far away from her stablished territories. Interpretations came in full blast in Yumi's mind, she's true to what she showed to other people: very reserved, very carefull not to let others invade her space. Sachiko's strategies in Go pretty much bared her soul. Even the slightest irritation while the grande seour was playing was reflected with the arrangement of her aggregated round chips. Yumi never revealed this style of "reading people" to anyone, even to Sachiko.
If Tsutako had her camera, Yumi had her Go.
"Touko, do you know how to play Go?" Yumi asked as she jumped softly from the windowsill.
"Yes, Onee-sama. Why'd you ask?" This was the first time Yumi asked her to anything… logically related.
"Nothing. Play with me?" But she bit lip back right after she requested Touko for one game.
"Okay. Maybe later."
They finished their additional chores. While they were evacuating the room, Touko approached Noriko and the former put a hand on the latter's shoulder and said, "I want a very detailed report about this, Noriko."
Noriko had no choice. Seeing that her friend was lethally serious, not fulfilling Touko's wishes would leave her without a friend for two days… "Okay." Or less.
Later that day:
"Sorry to intrude. Could we use one of your Go sets?"
Yumi and Touko went to the clubroom of the Board Games Club, a small room among many. They knocked on the door, then someone inside called recognized their presence thus followed suit to open the door. Yumi, being the grande seour, was behind Touko, who assumed the role of a spokesperson. The club member who opened the door was its president. Somehow, she recognized Touko, therefore, it was apparent that the Rosa Chinensis wanted to see the club.
"It's an honor that you visit. Join us?" The club president politely requested.
"Iori-san, you don't have to be so formal." Yumi faced Iori and widely smiled at her.
"Yumi-san," Iori was blushing (was she really this happy to see the Rosa Chinensis?), "is this your first time visiting the club?"
"To be honest? No, actually." Yumi twitched her eyebrows, and from her look, Touko detected the contentious smile from her Onee-sama. "I went her quite a few times." Yumi further blushed from her confession.
"I did not know any of this." The club president muttered.
"Oh, yes! I told your subordinates not to tell anyone whenever I'm here." Sneaky Yumi.
The club president was not alone inside the room. Yumi never wanted this to be a big deal, thus, she turned to the club president before the latter announce Rosa Chinensis' presence beyond the door. "It would be a good thing, if we keep my attendance here a secret." Yumi was actually pleading for her private time with Touko, alone. University exams were coming soon, and this moment might not happen again.
They settled on a corner of the room, devoid of any distraction. The clubroom was usually quiet, a mandate required upon entering the room. They were not disturbed. All members were only minding their own board games anyway.
"It never came to me that you're a Go freak." Touko sank into the wooden chair. Yumi followed.
"Most games of the Yamayurikai involve three or more people. In a way, Go was not an option. And the Rose Mansion has no Go." Yumi settled on the black one. Touko motioned her hand for the container with white chips.
"Sad about that?" Touko suggested by a twitch of her fingers for her first move.
"Nah. I have someone to play it with." Yumi put her chip on the near the right corner opposite to Touko's first move.
First moves from both females were done in swift exchanges. It was obvious that Yumi was testing waters; she was determined to let Touko play her strategy first before Yumi could play a counterattack. If Yumi's opponents knew about some superficial and initial tactics Yumi was instigating, then Yumi had no choice but to be led by the opponent's flow. But Touko was not yet changing anything suspicious yet with the arrangement of her chips.
"And who is this opponent?"
"My brother." The moment Yuuki was mentioned into the conversation, Touko's hand, in a very small duration of a second, stopped. Then it quickly reflexed. Based from Touko's reaction, Yumi could assume that Touko's defense strategy would turn for the offensive. She was now spreading the white infuence upon the board. She even blocked one potential eye Yumi was silently making, while she was stregthening her base.
That's how Touko worked. When something sensitive comes up, she usually turned for the offensive… the aggressive, to block further anything that could be distinguished as her weakness.
"Was he good?" Touko caught the bait. She was now on the offensive; Yumi anticipated that she would block a possible "alive eyes" at a middle right side of the board.
"Very. He's almost at par with me."
Ohhh. What kind of player are you, Onee-sama?
"Had anyone defeated you yet?" Touko smirked at the thought of defeat. Defeat was definitely Yumi-like. But she was not so sure if this unanticipated role worked for Yumi.
"Yuuki did, twice. Mother does, every time. We had a scoreboard back home. Have you noticed the small corkboard in the living room? All records were there, we renew the list of scores every month. All of us play it." Yumi was now submerged into her daydreams. It was also shocking that Touko was trying her best not to inquire more about her brother. It was safe not to say that her blush was all over her face. To announce it to her face would be suicide.
"Like a tournament?" Touko could not remember any corkboard anywhere in the Fukuzawa living room. She only went to their house twice. The only significant one was almost spent inside Yumi's room, with its owner reaching out her hand and almost hugged Touko. Too much comfort from her Onee-sama (back then) was like bed of roses. With a thumbtack among the petals, the point facing upward.
"Yup."
"Yuuki defeated you, twice? You mean, of all the times that you played?" Was Yumi a good player, or that Yuuki was just so dumb and tactless?
"Yeah. He only defeated me twice. A game usually lasts for several days, but…"
"But?"
She hesitated to reply. It was evident with Yumi's hand on the container of the black chips. Now, her face was focused on Touko's face. Then, to the white chips. Yumi tried to remember Touko's last fifteen steps. "We always had a close fight, but he said that, somehow, at some point of the game, I gain something that makes me ahead of him. But I got careless twice."
"Oh." She didn't want to remember one of her most embarrasing moments. "Now, Onee-sama, once again I see you stroking your own ego."
"Sorry, but it's true!"
"You lost just because you're careless?" Very Yumi-like.
"Yup. He said that at that time, I'd spent less time thinking my moves. I was too drastic, like I never planned strategies ahead, and seldom looked at his moves. That was the first time I lost to him." Yumi was rather nonchalant while telling Touko her secrets. To think that she was talking jargon now.
"When was that?"
"The time when I had a falling out with Onee-sama. That rainy spring a year ago." Yumi was beginning to get redder and redder with each of her confession pouring out from her mouth.
It was for a while—too many minutes before she followed another question.
"And the second time?" Touko could almost read her thoughts, except the current strategy that her black chips were implying. She's really good.
"It was the opposite. He said that I was thinking too much, thinking of too many strategies to win. I looked at smaller details, and neglected the big board in front of me." Somehow, Touko knew the answer. "It was in December, just last year."
Another long pause. They almost filled half of the board with black and white round chips. They almost have the same number of chips, with good number of alive and dead eyes. They were still at par with each other.
"I can't believe I actually affected your Go playing."
Yumi looked at her with such warmth that it actually provoked fear in her heart. Touko looked again at her white chips. "Pretty much. You're very important to me."
"You're really close, aren't you?"
"That's the way we handle things—no secrets with each other. Even though he's from Mars and I'm from Venus." What the heck Onee-sama talking about now? That was a lame comparison of men and women. It didn't sound good, too.
Yuuki… it was pretty hard not to avoid him in any discussion. Somehow, someway, Yumi always reminded Touko that Yuuki actually existed. As another problem.
"You never won against Miki-obaa-sama? How about your father?"
"Consider her as the constant champion, the Fukuzawa representative."
"Wow, that good."
"Dad's the sore one. Never won against her. Yuuki, Dad and I usually fight for the last place. Yup. But it's always the challenge to defeat her." Yumi hide her smile behind her right hand.
"Have you ever played with Sachiko-sama?" Touko wanted the topic about Yuuki to end as soon as possible.
"Yup."
"Did you lose?"
"Nope. She wanted a rematch, though."
Was Yumi-sama that good? If she defeated Sachiko, how would she ever win against her? Was Yumi really an average girl? Or was she just too shy to show her own strengths?
Now that the room was totally silent, and there was no more verbal exchanges between the seours, Yumi began to fully take advantage her methodical knowledge in Go. She began to assault Touko's defences, not taking anymore chances. As they clacked pieces of chips onto the board, Yumi's concentration began to overwhelm Touko and swimlutaneously consumed Yumi.
She never seen her grande seour as fierce as what she was seeing now. If she showed this determined face before, she might have feared her. But as Yumi construct her strategies on the 19x19 board, Yumi was acting strangely again.
She was snickering every time Touko placed a piece of white chips onto the board. There was also a moment that Yumi yawned, and even slept during Touko's turn. These kind of irritated Touko.
"Please be serious with me while playing."
"I always am, Touko. I may be different from how I act during playing, but very serious nonetheless. Don't mind me; mind the chips."
I only reflect the counterattacks against my opponent's strategies for me to win. To be the opposite of how the person played Go was the only way to read her. It was provocation, the sliest way to play, but it was a sure shot. That's also why Yuuki was at par with her skill; they were quite similar.
It took another thirty minutes for Touko realized that Yumi-sama had the upper hand.
"Crap." Touko still could not admit an early defeat.
"Wow. The words your mouth fabricates. " Yumi tried not to be too happy.
"Sorry. But you almost deviour all of my teritorries." Touko snickered. She really did tried hard to regain her teritorries, but it was too late. Yumi already planted her defences at some points of the game that Touko did not notice Yumi's very simple strategy. Divide and conquer.
"That's because you tend scatter your chips opposite of what you initially planned. And the fact that you scatter them carelessly…"
"Onee-sama, please spare me of Go lectures."
"I mean really, can't you see the similarities?" Onee-sama, what are you trying to say? Touko's brows were now in odd angles.
"What are you talking about?"
That your attitude and feelings coincide with the way you plot out your chips. I just acted otherwise, and conquered yours. You're aggressive, you usually scatter chips into strategic points that usually agitate me, almost too close to my teritorries that it almost look that you never cared for your turns, your chips' potential. But you did it too carelessly. I've felt that kind of intimidation from you before, but now, I had a way to get through you. That's why you lost.
"Nothing. Don't mind it."
And that might be your approach if ever you finally realized your feelings for Yuuki. I would not lift a finger, but I'm afraid that you won't see him. Or give him a chance.
The seours went home, both unaware of the things around them. Yumi and Touko were staring at the window of the bus. They see the same scenery, but they had different matters in mind. Touko was still figuring out about how she lost in the Go match. Yumi was trying to say something. Th petit seour could not point it out, though.
Divide and conquer. Divide and conquer. What does that mean?
TO BE CONTINUED
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This one was a fast draft. I know only a little of Go, and played it once or twice. But I'm not sure if I'm good with it. I suck at chess, so I didn't consider it. Furthermore, everyone plays chess. But Go's so unpredictable, that it could be played in endless possibilities and strategies.
If you've really read the earlier chapters, Go was mentioned in one of my Lillian OC dossiers-of course, she was somehow related to the Red Rose Family. There, I've said it. As you could see, this story was not only focused on Touko and Yuuki anymore. Main characters, nevertheless. The other characters are just so pleasing to include in the story.
Another thing: I've been the last chapters have the wrong spelling of Sachiko's surname. Damn it, I just realized this while reading them in my docmanager. So please, bear with this... and the other wrong spellings and grammars.