Reaching Ithaka
by For Eden
Chapter 2: Slowly, but Certainly
After Touya Kouyo's initial meeting with Sai and Hikaru, the go professional's schedule became difficult to keep up with. As an established go professional, he was asked to travel often in order to play official matches and attend go conventions and tournaments all over Japan. He continued to hold his weekly study group sessions for his students, while spending as much time as possible with his family. Even with all this going on, Touya made sure that he was able to add Sai and Hikaru into his schedule.
Playing Sai was something he was unwilling to give up. Especially not when the hand of god felt like it was an arm's reach away.
His body had grown weary with all the stress he was asserting on it. The constant traveling was draining his energy and the lack of rest he had at home caused his body to feel like it was atrophying. Though he could feel his body's weariness, it was not until his family doctor firmly address the issue did he really think about cutting back on something.
"Your body will fail if you continue on like this, sensei," the middle aged man warned him. "I recommend that you cut down on something in your life and start to enjoy life at a slower pace."
Cutting back on his family was not an option. The time he spent helping his wife around the house and the time he spent playing or talking about go with Akira was precious to him. They were simple every day moments that made him feel at peace.
Eight months since the fated meeting with Hikaru and Sai, Touya Kouyo retired from the world of professional go.
Life after being a pro had fewer obligations and more opportunities to rest. The former Meijin title holder continued to play go, attend conferences and tournaments (as a spectator rather than participant), and spent a lot of time with his family. Each day continued to be filled with things to do, but the weight was much lighter. The pace for activities was spread leisurely and he scheduled things to his liking. He was beginning to relax and start enjoying his life like his doctor instructed him to do.
He did not regret retiring at all. The reason why he hesitated so long about stepping down as a professional was not having the same opportunities to play against many of his peers. He enjoyed playing against his fellow peers – even if they were all competitive matches. However, he had come to realize that retiring did not affect his ability to play go. He was still able to play great games even after he retired.
His announcement of retirement had shocked the go world. Many questioned the reason why he would want to retire when he was still capable of playing the game. It was not as if his skill was slipping or he was incapable of physically playing the game. Regardless of the disappointment caused by his decision, many of the higher-dans were quite supportive and took this occasion to push forth game challenges to him. He would often play these games in the sanctuary of his home. These games were more informal and held a lot less tension and mind games that official matches tended to harbor. It was refreshing to be able to take a break for tea in the middle of a game.
Along with playing against go professionals, his schedule had cleared up considerably. He was now able to meet up with Hikaru and Sai multiple times each week. At these times, he played against the Heian era ghost, assisted Sai in teaching Hikaru go, and discussed go and everyday life with the two.
Talking to Sai- that was more difficult. He had not wanted to bother the young girl too much at first with being to go-between. However, it appeared that the she did not mind playing the role of interpreter. She relayed messages often, and they had quickly become familiar with the strange communication flow that developed between the three of them. From what he could tell, Sai was a happy ghost overall. He was excited to talk about go and spent most of his time wanting to do go related things. Sai seemed to hold an almost childlike delight with the devices of the modern world, so much in fact that Touya sometimes wondered if Hikaru were truly the youngest of them. However, it would be the occasional underlying tone of sorrow that the Touya felt under the ghost's words that made him know that the ghost had experienced so much. It had been so subtle that he was not certain if Hikaru felt it, even after spending every day with the ghost.
It was not in her nature to dwell on the sadder aspects of life.
Rather, when Hikaru talked, she spoke in a tone filled with excitement. She was animated when she spoke, scrunching up her face in various expression while waving her hands in big, swooping motions as she spoke. She laughed a lot, grinned even more, and even when she was upset her lips curled upward. She told him about a lot of things – about events that happened during the day, her mother, friends, tennis, Sai, and go. More recently, her conversation had concentrated more on go than it had before. Especially since Sai started to play go against opponents all over the world on the internet.
Playing go had started when Hikaru had gotten a computer on her birthday. The girl had been looking up Shusaku's kifu on the net when she stumbled on a net go site. Since then, the Hikaru and Sai had been playing go on the net.
Touya was able to see the influence that playing these new opponents were doing to Sai's go. The ghost was adapting to his surroundings with incredible speed and his go was constantly changing with every new opponent he played against online. Sai managed to completely shed off his dated hands that he had been so familiar with and replaced them with modern moves. Like he had predicted, Sai was turning into an absolute monster.
The go world had gone into frenzy with Sai's appearance on the internet. Sai's level of skill was recognized by amateurs and professionals alike from all over the world. Sai had caused so much ruckus that he even heard his students bring up Sai during their discussion groups. Hikaru had complained to Touya about how the two would get swamped with challenges whenever they logged on. Apparently it made navigating the site much more difficult with the pop ups. The fact that the ghost was completely anonymous had only added fuel to his popularity and Sai hunts had occurred on many occasions.
The waves that were caused by Sai and Hikaru did not go noticed by the instigators. The two remained ignorant about the go world except from the occasional details he would tell them during their conversations and the sporadic issues of Weekly Go that the young girl would take from his house.
The way that Sai and Hikaru approached go was refreshing to the older man. To the two go players, the only thing that mattered was the game itself. They played go and talked about go and cared little about the politics involved in the go world.
Hikaru was energetic when she talked about go. She liked to share with her teacher the brilliant games she witness Sai play on the internet. The young girl would replay the games that she and Sai had played by memory (and when she was stuck on what the next move had been, Sai would point it out for her). When the young girl did not have a game she wanted to share with the older man, she would ask him to share with her a game he had played recently. She would watch him replay it with rapt attention, making occasionally comments to Sai and him while he replayed it before entering a discussion with her two teachers about the game.
The middle school girl was starting to grow confident in her knowledge of the game. She was beginning to point out the areas that she assumed to be significant turning points and would ask his opinion about why he had placed a move or what he might have done to counter such a move.
His discussions of games with Hikaru were a bit different from the ones he had with his other students. It could be the fact that since Hikaru had not been too influenced by the go world; she tended to be more unconventional with her thinking. While Hikaru would pick up on important aspects of a game that she was discussing, there were times when the young girl would also bring up parts of the game that were dismissible. However, occasionally when he looked deeper into the game, he caught on to a bit of what the girl saw. He could see how much more interesting the game could have been if it had taken that turn.
Hikaru had a lot of potential in her. He could see it when she talked to him and when she played against him. She was something that was missing in the go world, a piece of the puzzle that was hiding outside of the box. She was developing fast and he knew that it was only a matter of time before she would catch up to his son Akira.
He couldn't help but wonder what type of go would result when they played against one another in the future.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, this chapter was harder to write than I thought it'd be. Thank you to everyone for reviewing my story. I am really happy people are enjoying it. Also, please note that I did rewrite chapter 1, if you did not read it yet.
Beta's Note: You all know you loved this chapter, so please review! Anna and I both want to hear from you, and concrit is always welcome! I can't notice everything, lol. Plus you all know that Kouyo POV is awesome!! Later, loves! Torina Archelda from skyehawke . com