Updates ... More and more and more! This so awesome! I am really very happy you all decided to review, especially those who are new to the Sugoroku following.
Hey! Guess what! I told you all last week I had a dog show to go to, which was why I submitted that last chapter a little early. Well, on Saturday my little rough collie Téa (yes, named after the American Anime version...only because I didn't know her as Anzu yet!) took a third in her American Bred Class and on Sunday she took a first! Her registered name is Sheranda's Faithfully Yours. Get it? Faithfully Yours? I thought it was a nice play on one of my fave characters! She's kind of like the character too. She makes friends easily, sticks with them and can be seriously tough when she has to be. I can't wait to get a male collie and name him Yugi! LOL! His registered name will have 'King of Games' in there somewhere! LOL!
Okay, I know. You're bored now. I'll move on.
PyroDragon2006 ... I'm sure we've all had those moments where a mom or dad just totally ticks us off and Sugoroku should be no different...especially with the way he thinks! This is how he is able to see beyond what we would normally think first and move on.
Ciardra ... Welcome aboard! Glad you're liking my 'spin' lol. I like 'malnourished' to describe his character. It completely fits the way I think about his part in the Manga/Anime. I'd never heard of "Ender's Game" before your review, so I looked it up to find out what it was, and now I've got to read it! It sounds like an awesome book! Just the kind of thing a sci-fi nut like myself should have read already! I can see why you thought it seemed so similar. Actually, the idea of the military school for my story was pulled from truth to some degree as Germany was big into starting their soldiers as early as possible right before WWII. In a superb and un-passable display of subconscious propaganda, Hitler actually held boys shooting contests, model plane flying contests, among other events, and the winners of such contests were taken and put into special schools to enhance those abilities. Japan did a similar thing later in after the example of the Germans, though it is not known to what degree they actually went with it. I just filled in the blanks with my own imagination.
beginner150 ... Another new face! Glad to have you here and I'm very pleased that I've caught your attention...or should I say that Sugoroku has caught your attention? No matter. Keep checking back. Soooooo much more too come!
Tamara Raymond ... I missed you Tamara! We all get busy sometimes so no worries. I'm VERY happy you're liking the imagery. Its my middle name! Okay, so its not. Its really Anne, not that anyone cares... I received your e-mail with your suggestions on the chapters and I've made many of the gramatical changes you included for chapters 6 -9. As usual, I appreciate your suggestions and will also be going back to see about juicing up Sugoroku's personal thoughts for chapters 8 and 9. Any changes I make regarding content, will be announced here in my greetings. As for the B-day thing...I didn't know what his birthday was before I started this, so I just made a guess based on his personality and the similar birth signs. Boy was I off! However, now that I know, I can make a few adjustments. Though it throws my outline off slightly, I can make it work out just fine and happily, it actually compliments what happens later with his interactions with a character in a future section I've been working on... So as usual, I thank you. : )
Babygatomon ... Welcome back Babygatomon! I thank you for the compliment on my writing. I'm thrilled you're so happy with it and my portrayal of Sugoroku thus far.
Scarab Dynasty ... Just want to thank you for that little blurb you gave my story on chapter two of your "YuGiOh In Production: Memos of the Cast". That was awesome...as was the inclusion of Sugoroku, aka Solomon, aka Grandpa, in chapter two. That was so funny. I could so see Grandpa embarrassing Yugi like that! And yes, be-speckled people rock, especially since I'm one of those! OO
Looks like that's everybody so far. Boy! If the Sugoroku train gets any bigger, I'll need to add another passenger car and put these greetings at the end! ... Okay everyone! Here we go!
Trixie21
Okay, you all know the drill. I have to take up valuable space and time to say that I do not own any part that is the coolness of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. That honor goes completely to Kazuki Takahashi. Authoress as she bows subserviently before her shrine of great creators... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"
This Old Man: Sugoroku's Story
Part 1: Japan
11. East Meets West…
Sugoroku woke early the next morning, and before his parents had even yet stirred, he was up and out the door, swiftly on his way to the docks.
Within him, there sat a swelled feeling of excitement and almost elation, at the thought of seeing his first American, up close and personal. He hoped that they would be as open to him as he planned to be with them.
He had worked himself up most of the night, imagining all the ways he could get himself noticed and perhaps liked, and with a number of, in his mind, truly imaginative and ingenious ways to get their attention, he felt ready to take them on. But unfortunately for Sugoroku, he had forgotten one thing. He was still just a boy. A rather small one for his age at that, and when he reached the fence that separated the dock where the American ships were berthed, he stopped dead as his eyes widened at the immensity of what lay before him, putting into perspective very quickly, how tiny in size and life he really was.
The massive creations of the Americans sat still in the water, their steel gray-blue hulls shimmering in the early morning sun. Fairly bristling with armament and gun barrels with bore holes bigger than his head, the ships alone were enough to make him shrink back and reconsider. But when he saw the large American men, running and drilling about everywhere; he was, for the briefest second, almost positive his father might have been right from the start. But something staid his feet from turning. He made no retreat.
His curiosity, as had happened so many times before this, had won out, and the boy stayed.
He gazed in awe at the men as they ran almost tirelessly back and forth across the docks. He studied them as they marched in precision drills, turning as if they were really one machine instead of individual men. He gawked as they carried heavy bulks of food and water to trucks, with little more than a light sweat, and he watched them go on and off their ships like swarms of ants in a colony.
For more than half the day he watched them. He could not get enough of it! They were so different! So interesting! They way they moved, the way they talked… Though it was still his country, it was like another world beyond that fence.
But the standing moment of the day for Sugoroku, was the moment he saw several men set out a little table and chairs, and start to play a game.
He could not see everything from where he stood, but there was a board set on the table, and on the board were raised pieces that were moved about from turn to turn. Straining his eyes and every muscle, he leaned forward on the fence and tried desperately to discern what the game could be.
Suddenly, one of the men, a sandy haired fellow with a wide mouth, waved his hand at Sugoroku.
No.
Not waved…
Gestured.
He had gestured to Sugoroku as if to say 'come over'.
Disbelievingly, Sugoroku looked to either side of himself, then behind, just to be sure there was no one else around that the man could be inviting.
When Sugoroku looked back, the same man gestured again.
Come over.
Fear and excitement flooded through him simultaniously and unable to resist, he quickly clamored over the fence and approached the little group, his heart eager and his eyes wide with energized curiosity. When he was within 10 feet, he paused as he took them in. They were even bigger up close!
The sandy haired man spoke to Sugoroku in a voice which to him, seemed rather soft and smooth compared to the way the men of his culture spoke, with their hard accents and clipped pronunciations.
Sugoroku tilted his head slightly and attempted to repeat what the man had said, but to the Americans it came out as "comb meer".
Several of the man laughed, but it was a good natured sound in the boy's ears and he smiled a bit as well.
The sandy haired man put his index finger up as if to say 'wait', then cupped his hand around his ear as though saying 'listen', and after repeating the same phrase, he then pointed at Sugoroku with a nod.
Ever game to try something new, Sugoroku gave English a second try and out came "C…come heeere". A little drawn out, but good enough. The men smiled as they nodded while the sandy haired man smiled broadly, and after saying the phrase one last time, he again motioned with his hand. Sugoroku smiled to himself, realizing he had properly guessed the first time, the meaning of the words. 'Come here' meant to come over to the caller, and this he did, taking the last few steps before the smiling sandy haired man.
The fellow ruffled Sugoroku's wild hair in an almost playful manner as he continued to grin. The men around them were speaking now in turns, and while he could not understand the meaning of any of it, he understood their inflection and their expressions, and they seemed pleased to have him there.
He watched as his sandy haired inviter spoke to a man, who then nodded and ran off to a nearby ship, and for what seemed like ages, he looked from man to man, listening intently to their voices, and wondering what was going to happen, the game all but forgotten. At least, for the moment.
After some number of minutes, the man who had gone off had returned, but he was no longer alone. Beside him stepped a slightly younger man. A young Japanese man…in an American uniform!
Sugoroku stared at the dark eyed newcomer in open shock as the Japanese man spoke in English easily to the other men, before looking at the boy and smiling.
"Good afternoon," he said in Japanese.
Curiously, there was a distinct lack of accent to it. He was speaking his language, but it was if he was not Japanese at all.
"My voice surprises you?"
Sugoroku started slightly.
"Yes," he admitted. Then, "You, were taken by the Americans?"
The man chuckled softly.
"No. I am an American," he replied.
Sugoroku blinked rapidly several times, before the man supplied more to his answer.
"I was born and raised in America. My grandparents moved there some number of years ago, became citizens, and my mother was born an American, as was my father through his family."
"That is why they put you in their military?"
"No, I volunteered."
Amazement was Sugoroku's as he thought over the idea that this man, this Japanese man, had willingly offered himself to fight with the Americans against the country of his origin.
"Why?"
"For the same reason any man might willingly serve. To protect their country. I live in America. It is my home and as such, I will be loyal to her and defend her, as any man here in Japan might defend this country."
Sugoroku nodded as his initial surprise faded. He could understand that. This man, though he was descended from Japanese natives, was no longer truly Japanese per se. At least not in mind. He was American...Japanese American. This man had grown up in their world, and so made it his. It explained why he now served with these men and why he had no true Japanese accent.
A question was asked by the sandy haired man, and the Japanese American nodded in answer before saying, "My friend here is Mark Sayers and my name is Thomas Ito. Please, what is your name?"
"Mutou Sugoroku," was the boy's almost proud reply.
Speaking again in English, his new friend Thomas introduced him to the other men. The smiling Mark held his hand out and saying "Sugoroku" in greeting, held his hand out.
"Mutou," corrected the boy as he took hold of the man's hand and found it shaken quite firmly.
Thomas shook his head, "Forgive me for not explaining. In America, most people introduce themselves with their first name before their family name. When one man does not know another well, or beyond a professional level, they will say 'Mister' before the other man's family name. I would be Mr. Ito. It would be the same way you say Ito-san for formality. Friends and family of a person, or those that the person designates as acceptable, may call him by his first name. I introduced you as Sugoroku Mutou, as would be their custom. He, in his way of friendliness, called you by your first name. If you truly desire being called by your family name, I can tell them."
Their customs, being only marginally different, didn't seem to present any possible problem to Sugoroku, and in his beginning steps of acquaintance with these men, it seemed the better course to allow them their habits. It was for him, a special delight to be already acknowledged in the fashion of a friend, and on the lesser side, his breaking away from his father's ways made anything different, very welcome.
"No," he said, "They may call me Sugoroku."
The tone with which he replied, made it clear that no translation was needed for the men to understand, and they nodded in acknowledgement.
After a long moment, Thomas said, "They say that you have been watching from beyond the fence for much of the day, and when they came out to relax, you seemed especially interested."
The reason for Sugoroku's original curiosity restored, the boy looked at the board on the table, and the intensity with which he stared at it, made it clear enough what his true interest had been all along.
"I was interested in their game," came the boy's distracted answer.
The fair skinned American, Mark, looked at the boy's flushed excited face, and for a second time, needed no translation to understand what was said.
He quickly stood, and saying the boy's name, offered the chair to Sugoroku.
The boy turned his face up to look at Mark in stark surprise. He wanted Sugoroku to sit? Did that mean he would get to play too?
Hoping beyond hope that the answer was a positive, Sugoroku sat down in a hurry, and looked back up at Mark expectantly. The men chuckled as Mark grinned his easy grin and kneeled beside Sugoroku. He, and the man on the other side of the table, reset the pieces of the game quickly as Sugoroku watched, easily noting the definite order as to which piece went where.
When the board was set, Mark swept his arm above the board and said, "Chess."
"Chess," repeated Sugoroku, understanding it was the name of the game.
Mark picked up each piece on the board in turn, and as he held them individually before Sugoroku, he said their name once, before letting Sugoroku try. Each piece was then followed with a demonstration of its movement abilities, including how it could take another piece.
This game lesson culminated with a quick show of the object of the game. To capture the opponent's king.
Sugoroku had suspected that this was object of the game after being introduced to only four of the pieces, and had happily realized, that with some minor differences in style, movement, and rules, that this "Chess" was no more than the American version of Shoji.
He smiled broadly.
As long as he remembered what moved how, he would be able to play this game very easily. There were fewer pieces and an opponent could not use a captured piece to make his own army bigger. It was so much more simplified than the game he had obsessed over for most of his life.
What a surprise these Americans were in for!
Next Chapter: A New Job And The Issue Of 25 Yen…
R and R's gratefully appreciated: )