Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go was created by Hotta and Obata, I am merely borrowing their characters. No money was made in the creation of this work and no disrespect is intended to the creators and owners. This is a piece of fanwork written by a fan for fans. Please support the real artists, the creators.
Journey of Illumination
By Lady Lark
Chapter Two – The Urge to Succeed
April 8, 2002
The cherry blossoms swirled in the morning air as Akari walked up the steps of Mitaka High School. Absentmindedly, she straightened the front of her blazer, distinctly aware of how different it was from the sailor suit Haze Junior High had. Both males and females wore navy blue blazers with the school crest on the lapel. Boys wore navy slacks while the girls had a choice of either a plaid or navy pleated skirt. The high school was also very progressive, being one of the first schools in the prefecture to allow girls to wear slacks instead of skirts. Akari wasn't sure how she felt about this. She preferred skirts herself, but she could see where pants were more practical in the bitterly cold winter months.
After passing through the front entrance, she stepped off to one side to consult her student planner. She wanted to make sure that she went to the right place to change into her school shoes. But when she looked at the map, she didn't see a place to do that. Confused, she followed a group of upperclassmen girls to see where they went and was stunned to find that they headed directly for their homeroom.
Shrugging at the strangeness, she consulted her planner once more. She had been assigned to class 1-B which was on the third floor of the building. Finding the stairs, she headed for the third floor all the while scanning the crowd for a familiar face. Reaching the landing, she was pleased to note that her classroom was only a few feet from the stairs.
How convenient!
Sliding the door open just as the bells in the clock tower began to chime, Akari heaved a sigh of relief. She wasn't late. Seeing that there was an empty seat still open by one of the windows, she crossed to it, settling her book bag on the hooks hanging off of the side of the desk.
She settled herself in the seat and glanced out the window. The view was to the south and she could see both the baseball and soccer fields from her seat. It was the perfect seat for daydreaming and Hikaru would have loved it.
Thinking of her friend made her wistful again. She had read in Weekly Go that he was preparing for the new Japan/China/Korea cup. She wished she could go cheer him on. She wondered about this new player, Yashiro. She hoped that Hikaru had managed to talk to Touya Akira. She remembered Hikaru's rival from the three times she had met him. The first had been when Touya had tracked down Hikaru at the Go club meeting.
Before she had the chance to sink into her memories, the homeroom teacher opened the door. Out of habit, the class rose to their feet and bowed at their sensei's arrival. The middle-aged man beamed at their politeness and walked over to the desk where he set down a stack of books.
"Good morning, class. My name is Tanaka Masao. I will be your homeroom teacher for this school year. Let's all do our best to make it a good one. This is class 1-B, so if you're in the wrong class I suggest you find the correct classroom now."
One girl near the front of the room looked shocked and leapt to her feet, grabbing her book bag with one hand. "I am so sorry. Please forgive my stupidity," she said, bowing deeply.
"It's quite alright, miss. The classrooms are labeled so you should be able to find the correct homeroom easily."
The girl bowed once more and slipped out of the room. After she had left, Akari took the opportunity to scan the room to see if either Kaneko or Mitani was in her homeroom. Neither were she noted.
Tanaka-sensei shuffled the papers on the desk until he found the one he was looking for. "This is the class list. The current class representatives are Himura Yasuo and Kurokawa Sayuri, they will change based on class ranking," he paused. Both stood up when their names had been called – Himura was a slender young man with messy hair whereas Kurokawa was a short, painfully thin girl, with long hair pulled back into a single braid. The teacher nodded at them once and both students sat down.
Tanaka handed the class list to Kurokawa and continued with the typical first day of school business. He posted the weekly class schedule, which she copied disinterestedly. He also listed the various clubs and their after school meeting locations. She perked up at this, and was pleased to hear that the Go and Shogi club had their own room on the fourth floor. She made a note to go check out the club after school.
The first four periods passed quickly with each teacher going over the general outline of the course and handing out a list of assignments. Akari took down each of the assignments in her planner and started to wonder how she would every find the time to do her homework and be a member of a club.
Finally lunch time arrived. She fished around in her bag and pulled out her bento. Then she felt torn. She wanted to stay and socialize, but she also wanted to go look for Mitani and Kaneko. Maybe, if she ate her lunch quickly, she would have time to do both. Turning to the girl sitting next to her she struck up a conversation about junior high and club experiences.
Akari glanced down at her wristwatch and sighed. She only had about twenty minutes left. She gave her neighbor an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry. But I want to go check the other classes to see if I can find a few of my former schoolmates."
The other girl nodded. "That's fine with me. I'm going to try to work on a story for the Journalism club anyway. Make sure you are back on time though. You don't want to miss the introduction to the next class."
"I won't. It was a pleasure meeting you!" she called as she ran out the door. Her first few stops didn't come up with anything. She turned to walk down the hall to the next classroom, when a familiar voice stopped her.
"Oi, Akari. There you are! We've been looking all over for you."
She turned to see Mitani and Kaneko walking together. She giggled and bounced up and down. "Mitani-kun, Kaneko-chan! It's great to see you guys!"
"It's good to see you too, Fujisaki-chan," Kaneko said with a smile creasing her wide face.
"What class are you guys in?"
"We're both in 1-E," Kaneko answered, pointing at Mitani and herself.
"Lucky! I'm in 1-B. I don't know anyone there. Although one girl seems pretty nice," she elaborated. She glanced at her wristwatch and winced; she only had five minutes before the next class started, but she really wanted to stay and catch up with her friends.
Mitani caught her glance. "You can go, Akari-san. Our classroom is right there," he said in a quiet voice.
"Okay, Mitani-kun. Kaneko-chan. I'll see you after school at the go club," she said cheerfully, turning to run back to class.
"I'm not joining the club here." Akari stopped and faced the other girl slowly.
Kaneko looked uncomfortable, her hands fiddling with the buttons on her blazer.
"Why not?"
"I'm one of the class reps."
"That's wonderful!"
"It is," she agreed with a nod. "But it also means that I have a lot more responsibility. I have to be on the festival committee as well as the school planning committee now, and I still want to join the volleyball club."
"You don't have the time," Akari said, a heavy feeling in her heart.
"No, I don't."
Taking in her friend's dejected posture she knew that Kaneko was torn. It was an honor to have scores high enough to qualify as the classroom rep. But she knew that the shy, overweight girl loved the interaction and acceptance that she found playing Go. Akari reached over and gave Kaneko's hand a quick squeeze. "I understand."
"I knew you would, but I still feel bad."
"Don't. This is important to you. And we'll still be friends. Just make sure to tell me when your games are so I can come cheer you on!"
Akari could see the tension flowing out of Kaneko's body and she sighed. Underneath her hard exterior, the girl was really very sensitive.
"You'd better get back to class," Mitani interjected.
She looked at her watch again. "Eeep! I have to run. See you later!" she called taking off at a run.
She skidded to a stop in front of the door, to catch her breath. Sliding the door open, she gawked at the teacher within.
The woman had short, bright red hair and pixie glasses. But the most startling thing about her was the fact that she was obviously not Japanese. Akari stared at the woman who turned to her and gave her a quick wink. Chagrined, Akari sketched a hasty bow and walked to her desk.
Overhead, the clock tower chimed signaling that lunch was now over.
"Hello, class!" the woman said in English. "I am Kay Roberts and I will be your English teacher this year." She repeated her introduction again in Japanese. "Before we get started I thought that it would be good to get to know each other? You can ask me a question, in English, and I will answer your question in either English or Japanese. My choice. Okay, who's first."
All of the boys' hands shot up. She pointed at one. "Honda Tetsuo, Kay-sensei. Do-do –uh – you – havu – a – boyofurendo?" he stuttered out.
"A bit forward, Mr. Honda. The answer is – that is classified information," she answered in English.
The rest of the questions and answers tended to fall into two categories. Personal – which Kay deflected in English. Or general – which she answered in both Japanese and English. Akari was amused by how the teacher forced them to use their English in order to find out what they wanted to know. All too soon, Kay-sensei, she didn't like being called Roberts-sensei, gathered up her things and moved onto the next classroom.
The rest of the day flew by as they finished up with biology and physical education. The class reps drew lots to decide which rows of students would clean up the classroom that week and Akari blew a sigh of relief that her row's week was week two and not week one.
Grabbing her bag, she literally flew up the stairs to the fourth floor. The announcement this morning had said that the room would be labeled, but she wasn't sure how. Starting at the end of the hallway, she walked down the corridor looking up to see if the room was had a sign or some other kind of marker. She got about halfway down the hall when she heard the distinctive sound of go stones being placed on the board.
She opened the door, to find Mitani sitting across from tall lanky boy with deep red hair. The older boy kept opening and closing a fan as he played the younger man. Akari had a niggling feeling in the back of her head as she watched the two, the upperclassman looked familiar.
As if feeling her eyes on him, he looked up to find her staring at him. "Are you here for Shogi, the game of kings, or are you another one of these stupid Go players?"
His words, coupled by his arrogance made something click in her mind. She did know him. "I'm sorry, Kaga-sempai, but I'm here to play Go."
"What's your name?"
"Fujisaki Akari."
"Well, stow your bag and pull up a chair. I'll play you next," he said placing a stone on the board disdainfully. "It won't take me long to beat this loser here."
Akari winced and watched Mitani bristle under Kaga's derision. The younger boy's hands clenching and unclenching the material of his slacks in anger and frustration
"Don't count me out, sempai. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves."
"Oh yeah? Well you had better pull them out, because in six moves you will have lost both of the top corners and side."
Akari glanced at the board, trying to see the vulnerability that Kaga mentioned. Kaga was playing white and Mitani was playing black, she noted absently. She couldn't see anything other than a few stones that appeared dead. Setting her bag down under the table, she positioned one of the free chairs so that she could watch the game.
One stone laid by Kaga began to extend his territory to threaten the upper right corner. Mitani noted the threat and strengthened his wall along that side. The second stone woke up the sleeping soldiers in Mitani's territory, making them a threat again. The young man groaned and closed yet another chink in his wall.
Kaga chuckled and laid his third stone, this one placing a cluster of three stones into atari. Akari's eyes widened and she could see what Kaga had been referring to earlier. Mitani's position was vulnerable because he didn't take the time earlier to eliminate one of Kaga's stones sitting outside of his wall, which appeared to be unconnected to any other stones. That one stone made it possible for Kaga to take the three stones which were the key to Mitani's control of the top part of the board.
Akari now tried to put herself into Mitani's shoes and see if there was a way to salvage any of his territory. She immediately decided that there was no way that she could save the three stones. The only opening led her right into a ladder situation, and that was something that needed to be avoided at all costs. Kaga was going to take those stones; he didn't need to be given any more. The only solution she could see was to focus on each corner separately, making an eye and closing one wall. That way she could save the corners even if it meant sacrificing the side.
She looked at Mitani to see that his brow was furrowed in deep concentration. Slowly, he fished out a stone and held it between his fingers. He glanced at the stones in atari but instead played just beneath them, placing one of the white stones into atari.
Snapping shut his fan Kaga surrounded the black stones and took his prisoners. Mitani sighed and placed a stone, but the damage was done. The center was opened and his corners were once again vulnerable.
Five moves later and Mitani conceded, knowing that he no longer had enough territory to make a win possible.
"You haven't gotten any stronger since the last time I saw you play."
"What?"
"Against Shindou in the three-way game that I forced him to play to determine if he was ready to be an insei. You haven't gotten any better at Go since then."
"How can you say that? I've been playing for two years since then."
Kaga just shrugged. "It's not my fault that you haven't learned anything since then."
Mitani glared at him, his mouth opening and closing as the boy tried to find something to say. "I don't need this!" he declared finally, grabbing his bag from the back of his chair. "And I don't need this Go Club!"
"That's fine with me! We don't need players who don't have the wit to become better after two years," Kaga retorted, then to insult Mitani further he added, "Shogi is by far the better game, anyway."
The slam of the door sliding shut was Mitani's response.
Akari was torn. Half of her wanted to chase after her friend and encourage him to come back, the other half wanted to stay and give Kaga a piece of her mind.
"Don't worry about him, he'll be back."
"What?" she asked, startled.
"You are planning on going after him aren't you?"
"I was considering it."
"You don't need to. If he is any kind of Go player, he'll be back to challenge me. He won't let that sort of insult go and the only way for him to get satisfaction is to beat me."
Akari shook her head. "I don't know. Mitani-kun is very volatile, he stopped playing Go after Hikaru left and it took me a long time to get him to start playing again."
Kaga looked at her assessingly. "I thought you looked familiar. You were that girl who followed Shindou around all the time. So you play now. How good are you?"
"Not very. Mitani is a better player than I am. You wouldn't get much of a challenge out of me."
"Maybe not at an equal game. But you are still going to play me. All new players have to play me to get ranked. That way we know who is the strongest. The rest of the team trusts my judgment."
Akari nodded. It seemed like a fair system. "All right, I'll play you." She looked at the board again, trying to determine Kaga's strength. "I think maybe a five or six stone handicap would be good," she concluded.
"Why do you say that?"
"Ummm, well, against Mitani-kun I normally have a three-stone handicap. And you seem a bit better than him. You're able to read deeper and respond better to threats. But you're arrogant, and that is a weakness." She motioned to a cluster of stones. "If Mitani-kun had played here, instead of trying to stop you from taking the center, he would have kept all of this corner and made it so that what you got in the center was only a few moku. Your entire thrust was based on the assumption that Mitani-kun wouldn't try to protect these stones. If he had played here from the beginning, all you would have gotten were those three stones and nothing else."
Amber eyes narrowed slightly, as he surveyed the board. "You're right. However, I left those stone open so that he could potentially save the corner."
Akari gasped. "You were tutoring him!"
"One of my jobs as captain is to make sure my players improve," he stated pompously.
"Still, Mitani-kun didn't know that!"
"Feh! He's gotten soft. I wasn't baiting him when I said that he hadn't improved. He hasn't, but I am not blaming him entirely."
"Why not."
"Because some of it is your fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Because you aren't a challenge for him. You are all inferior players and you can't get better if the only people you play against don't challenge you, then you have no reason to get better. And as the head of the Go Club, it was your responsibility to make sure he got the challenge he needed."
"Oh. I guess I didn't think about it that way. I haven't been fair to Mitani-kun, have I?"
"No, but it isn't all your fault either. Mitani could have chosen to seek out better players, but he didn't."
"Still . . . "
"Don't blame yourself. Now the way I see it you have three choices. One, you can run out of here and after that loser. Which if you do that, means that you doubt my word and will not be allowed to join the club. Two, you can play me in a game of Go with a six stone handicap. Or three, you can have half a brain and realize that Go is for wusses and that the real game is Shogi. In which case, I would be happy to show you how to play." He paused and looked at her expectantly. "So what is it going to be?"
Giving Kaga a stern look, Akari sat down across from him and started clearing off the stones from the previous game. "I am a Go player. I may not be very good, but I will not turn my back on the game like some people I know."
He laughed at her insult. "You have spunk! Good. Okay, place your stones."
Laying out one stone on each of the top and bottom stars, Akari prepared herself to face Kaga.
"Onegaishimasu," she said with a slight bow.
"Onegaishimasu," he returned and then placed his first stone.
They played for several minutes in silence, Akari concentrating on holding most of the corners and at least two of the sides. They'd had two fierce battles that had cut into her handicap a bit, but in general she was holding her own. The bottom of the board was hers, and she made sure that she didn't fall for the same trick that Mitani had, which had earned her a small nod of approval from Kaga.
"How long have you been playing?" he asked, placing a stone on the board.
"Hmmm . . . are you trying to distract me?"
"Maybe. Is it working?"
She laid a stone which put him into atari. "Not really."
"Good. So answer my question."
"I first learned how to play towards the end of sixth grade, around the same time Hikaru learned I guess." Kaga grunted, encouraging her to continue. "But I really didn't start playing seriously until seventh grade when Tsutsui-san showed me how to really play the game. Before that, I really just watched Hikaru."
"Who were your teachers?"
She thought about it for a second, while studying the board. "Tsutsui-san was my first real teacher. Then there is Shirakawa-sensei who teaches the community Go class. Hikaru taught me a little, when he was around, but most of the time he concentrated on what he wanted to do. Then there was Mitani-kun and Kaneko-chan who tutored me after Tsutsui-san graduated."
"So you haven't had a real teacher."
She bristled under the insult, but she understood his point. Aside from Shirakawa-sensei, all of her teachers had been amateurs. And while the Go Class teacher was a professional, he didn't do one on one tutoring very often. "Everyone has taught me so much, but I want to learn more."
"Good, because you aren't bad."
"Huh? What did you say?" She was certain that she hadn't heard him correctly.
Kaga surveyed the board intently. "You aren't that bad of a player. You aren't good, but like Mitani, you haven't been playing against good players. Which has made it more difficult for you to improve."
"But I'm not as good as Mitani-kun or Kaneko-chan."
"I don't know this Kaneko. But if you got a little tutoring, you would overtake Mitani quickly."
She nodded acknowledging his words, but she didn't say anything. Instead she placed a stone on the board that threatened a cluster of Kaga's stones. She didn't really intend on taking that territory, but she wanted the distraction from her weak left side.
Kaga responded like she hoped and she filled in one hole in her defense. He placed a second stone in response to the threatened cluster. Akari smiled and placed a stone blocking his attempt to connect to one of his walls. Scowling, he placed another stone. Relieved that he didn't attack her weak stones, Akari placed the final stone strengthening her group.
When she looked up, she saw Kaga nodding in approval. "Good play there. If you hadn't threatened me when you did, I would have taken those stones."
"I guessed. I knew I had to do something. My shape was very weak and if I lost it, I was going to have to scramble to hold on to my lead."
"It was a good gambit."
"You knew what I was doing, though, didn't you?"
"Not initially. But your smile earlier gave it away. You need to work on your game face."
She lifted her hands and covered her mouth in embarrassment.
"Don't worry about that now," he advised her. "Worry about this." He placed a stone on the tengen, the very center star.
She acknowledged his challenge with one of her own. She was not going to lose this game. Not if she had any say about it!
They moved into the endgame, filling in dame points and filling out walls. All of the battles had already been fought; this was mostly solidification of territory. Although Akari knew from playing Tsutsui, some players excelled at yose and she couldn't let up the fight.
Finally, they both decided that there was no more territory to be gained. Moving the territory into squares, to make it easier to count, they added their prisoners to the other's territory, diminishing the amount of land actually taken.
"I have forty-seven," Kaga announced.
Akari double-checked her count once more, before she looked up at the upperclassman. "I have forty-eight," she said with a grin.
"Good job, Fujisaki. It looks like you gauged your difficulty correctly."
"Thanks, Kaga-sempai."
"Do you realize how difficult that is?"
"Not really. I just watched you play Mitani-kun and saw how much better you were than him. And I know how strong I am against him, so it just clicked."
"Still, that means that you really know your own strength, even against someone you have never played before. That is something that most amateurs take a long time to learn. And you've mastered it."
She blinked. "I hadn't thought about it that way."
"You're not a prodigy like Shindou was, so don't let it go to your head. But you aren't stupid or unwilling to learn, which can mean a lot."
"Thank you, Kaga-sempai. You realize that my main teachers were Mitani-kun and Tsutsui-san."
The older boy thought about it, and then winked at her. "You may be better than you think then. Those two are barely good enough to teach the basics. If you got a decent teacher, well you might actually have some potential. Have you ever considered getting professional training?"
Akari blushed. "I have been thinking about it, but I am still debating the merit of such a step."
"Then you really aren't as stupid as you look."
Ignoring the insult, she blushed even more. "I'm not certain how to go about it. I thought I would talk to my Go Class sensei and ask him."
"That sounds like a good plan."
"Kaga-sempai, would you tutor me as well?" she asked suddenly, gathering her courage.
He looked stunned for a moment, and then laughed in delight. "Me? Be your tutor? No offense, but hell no! Shogi is my game. I gave up Go years ago, I am not going back."
"But you are the captain of this club," she pointed out.
"Because there was no one else willing to do it who had any experience. "
"So you do play, though."
"Only to test out new members."
"What about in tournaments?"
"I only play there if we are short by one player. I prefer Shogi," he said stubbornly.
"I see."
"Speaking of tournaments, there are currently four women on the team, not counting you. If you want to participate, you will have to beat two of them for a place on the team."
"How good are they?" she asked.
"You'll have to play them and find out."
"So you aren't going to give me any hints," she said dryly.
"If you need a hint, think about what I said."
She replayed his words in her mind several times. After the fourth time, she realized something. "You brought up the tournaments to me . . . telling me what I need to do to get on the team. That implies that you think I am good enough to make it on."
"Bingo!"
She bowed at him. "Thank you, Kaga-sempai. I hope I don't let you down."
"I don't think you will, Fujisaki. But you'd better look into that training. I want to play you in an even game before I graduate!"
AN:
First off, I want to say thank you to my Betas -- The Panasonic Princess, Broken Visage and Troy Thomas. They were very helpful and found lots of mistakes that I missed in the 12 times I read this thing since November. I also want to say thank you to the reviewers of FFARG for their suggestions for chapter 1. Rest assured I will be implementing some of them.
I removed most of the Japanese in this story at a Beta's suggestion, but not all. Some of the words do not translate well or give the same feel, especially not in terms of the Go game. I don't like how "Onegaishimasu" is translated as "Please" so I won't use it. But in general, I am still up in the air.
I apologize right now for any mistakes I made in terms of describing the game of Go. I do not play very much and have only played against amateurs. Although one of them is ranked – I just don't know what. So most of my data and terms are coming from Sensei's Library and Peter Shotwell's Go! More Than a Game book.
I inserted one of my friends into the story, although I changed her name to protect her anonymity. She really is a teacher over in Japan. Although she was initially what she called a live tape recorder – she actually honed her skills enough to be a full time teacher at an elementary school where she teaches English and helps out the Art teacher. I miss her a lot, but I get all sorts of neat info about Japan and their school systems from her. As well as information about what to do and where to go in Tokyo. Don't be surprised if I incorporate some of her stories into this fic.
Mitaka is a real school over in Japan as well. When I first started doing research for this story two years ago, the uniforms were what I described. Just this year, they switched to an open dress code where students can wear what they want so long as it doesn't conflict with their ability to learn. This is extremely progressive. Also if you are interested in looking up more info, Mitaka-cho is also home to the Ghibli Museum.
If you have any cultural questions or anything else feel free to e-mail me, I will be happy to try to answer them.
Thanks For Reading!