Chapter 9: Young Lions' Tournament Round 2: Enter the Tiger
This year's Young Lions' Tournament seemed unusually feverish as Ogata Seiji strode through the double doors of the competition hall. The organisers of the tournament were particularly strict about smoking in this hall, due to the young age of the players, so he paused briefly to take one long last drag from his cigarette. A smoke ring rose in the air as he extinguished the cigarette, and he began to scan the room for familiar faces. He noted the larger number of pros than generally turned up for a minor event like this. Sighting a familiar mop of reddish hair in a far corner, he had only taken a single step before –
"Ho ho ho ho!"
Ogata grimaced. Taking a deep breath, he quickly composed himself before turning to look upon the sly, wrinkled face of Kuwabara Honinbou. "I didn't expect to see you here today, Kuwabara-sensei," he responded in wary greeting.
"Ho ho ho!" The glint in the old man's eyes reminded him of a predator leering at its favourite prey. It was not a pleasant thought, and Ogata's mind ran through the various excuses he could use to distance himself. "The boys at the Weekly Go have been keeping me busy lately – always asking me to write this and that. They're probably hinting that I should retire already!" Kuwabara chuckled hoarsely. "I came to hand in my latest manuscript, but ..." A toothy grin flashed at him; "I think I also need to remind them that it's still too early to count me out."
So he's also here to watch Shindou play against Akira. I should have expected this old fox.
"So, Ogata-kun …." A feral smile played on Kuwabara's lips. "Did you want to bet on the winner again this time?" He pulled out a wallet and thumbed it meaningfully.
"I would have thought you learned your lesson last time, old man," Ogata sneered coolly at him.
"Ho ho ho ho! Says the one who wanted to bet on the boy anyway," Kuwabara replied with a mocking tilt of a bushy eyebrow.
"Hmph." Ogata did not deign to respond to the insinuating smirk.
"How about I let you get the first pick again this time, hmm?" His smile was positively wicked now. "So who would it be now? Touya's son, or that kid?" He puffed happily on his cigarette as he scanned Ogata's face. "It's not like anyone else has to know."
Ogata glowered at the old man for a long moment. One hand inched unconsciously towards his pack of cigarettes before he managed to divert it to his wallet. "Shindou's got potential, I'll give you that. But it's still too early for him to challenge Akira." Sniffing disdainfully, he pulled out a wad of bills and folded them in half in his left hand as the wallet was tucked back into a pocket with his right.
"And you would know that, wouldn't you?" the old man snickered. "I heard something very … interesting." He could practically hear the venom dripping as fangs arced back to strike. "Your Honinbou league game against Touya's son … degrading the lad when he's down – that's not very sporting, is it?" Kuwabara leaned forward and patted him patronisingly on the arm. "It's too early to let a title get to your head, Ogata-kun. Ho ho ho!"
"Are you the one to lecture me on sportsmanship, old man?" Ogata spat at him, emanating a cold fury. His fingers itched for a cigarette. Damn it! That old geezer … trying to provoke me in a place like this. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. A finger reached up to adjust his glasses. I won't let him get to me; if I let his words affect me now, he'll turn it against me in the title matches. "I won't be falling for any more of your tricks," he finally declared in cool, clipped tones; "Your intimidation tactics only reveal your own insecurity. I will be adding the Honinbou title to my name this year."
The old man's eyes narrowed for a long moment as they scrutinised him. Then, finally – "Just be sure you can defend your titles, huh, Ogata-kun? You wouldn't want your feet swept out from under you."
The doors suddenly swung open behind them. "– watching the match," came a young voice as a group trooped into view. Several pairs of startled eyes turned to glance at them as they filed past, bowing respectfully.
"Ogata-san?" A soft, mildly surprised voice piped up from behind the group.
"Akira-kun …" Ogata nodded at the boy. His eyes swept over the odd assortment of young Go players he had walked in with. Well, well, well … looks like someone's learning to socialise a bit. That must be Shindou's influence too. "And Shindou-kun – I'm looking forward to watching your game."
Hikaru had been walking beside Akira, and he stopped briefly to acknowledge the two men with a quick bow.
Ogata watched as the pair made their way towards the bulletin board. In terms of skill, he mused, Ko Yeong-Ha was still ahead, but he could understand Akira's obsession with Shindou Hikaru. When that boy played, endless possibilities seemed to open before him, and each move was like a tiny illumination lighting a path to some unknown destination.
Tch. I didn't get to bet on him again.
On the far side of the room, the boys had finally made their way to the seating chart and found their names. Hikaru and Akira had taken their seats to mentally prepare for their upcoming game, while the rest milled around for a while longer.
"What's the matter, Waya?"
"Oh." Waya turned back to the group, startled out of his thoughts. "Ah, nothing much. I just noticed that Ogata-sensei and Kuwabara-sensei are betting again."
"Betting? On the Young Lions' Tournament?" Isumi asked, surprised. "I didn't think the pros were all that interested in this event. Although, I admit I haven't seen quite this many before. Not to mention someone like Kuwabara-sensei …."
"It's Shindou again, isn't it?" Ochi cut in suddenly, his voice harsh and laced with a measure of envious bitterness. "Shindou … and Touya Akira." His eyes slid over to the dark-haired boy.
Isumi looked at Ochi curiously for a moment before asking, "What is this about?"
Waya sighed and scratched his head tiredly. "The New Beginner Dan series last year. Both of them came to watch Shindou's match against Touya Meijin."
"Both of them?" Isumi's eyebrow shot up in surprise. The people who huddled in the live telecast room were generally insei friends and fellow new beginner dans who came as moral support. There would be an occasional pro or two who studied under the same mentor, but even so, the games were generally so low-profile that many did not find it worth their time.
"And Touya Akira too," Ochi muttered darkly. He still had goose bumps every time he recalled the boy's intensity as he replayed the terrifyingly overpowered game that came from Shindou Hikaru – or so he claimed. He had never seen Shindou demonstrate such unsurpassable strength, although his game against the Korean insei, the qualifying match against Yashirou, and the North Star Cup showed glimmers of it. And yet, ever since the pro-exams, he had known that Touya Akira was completely obsessed with the boy. It smarted dreadfully – but the sight of Shindou's and Yashirou's unconventional game had finally forced him to admit that he had fallen behind. Not that his pride was going to allow him to stay that way though.
"Kuwabara-sensei was the one who invited Ogata-sensei to bet on the outcome. And he picked Shindou."
The group gasped in collective disbelief as Waya shook his head. "Don't even bother thinking about it. I could add that Amano-san said Touya-sensei had requested the match-up himself" – Waya noted the bulging eyes and slack jaws detachedly – "but it'll just make your head hurt even more. We have our own games to focus on."
"Yeah," Honda agreed. "I'm up against Mashiba next – he looks to be in a bad mood."
The others followed his line of sight to see the red-haired man leaning against a wall, scowling and fidgeting nervously with his shirt collar.
"He barely eked out a win in the last round," Nase explained, keeping her voice discreetly low. "He was up against one of the top ranked insei."
"You'd better watch out," Waya prodded Honda playfully with his elbow, "He plays a mean game when he's in one of those moods."
Honda nodded with a firm resolve in his eyes. Mashiba, huh? He's definitely not Shindou …if I get the first move, a first-hand tengen might just be enough here, if only to throw him off. His hands clenched tightly into fists. Do not fear – keep walking forward; keep learning. This is the unending path of the pro. Those words had practically become a mantra to him these days, almost a lifeline when he felt himself drowning in the swelling waves made by the giants that surrounded him.
The loudspeaker crackled as a microphone turned on. "Participants who passed the first round, please find your seats."
Wordlessly, Hikaru and Akira picked up the go-ke on the board in front of them and placed them to the side. It didn't take long before a veritable crowd formed around them. The two rivals sat opposite each other in complete silence, unperturbed by the jostling and jockeying of the crowd. Akira's hands were placed neatly on his lap, eyes half-lidded as if in meditation. Hikaru was gripping his fan firmly in one hand, exuding a stillness that seemed incongruous against his lunchtime boisterousness.
"We will now start the second round. Please nigiri and begin."
In the sudden silence, the clatter of go stones echoed through the room.
Odd. I'm black. Hikaru took a deep breath and surveyed the board. Since his previous (and only) official game with Touya, they had played countless games together. He'd become familiar with Touya's style, and vice versa. Each other's strengths and weaknesses, preferences and dislikes – they both knew them all, and this game would prove to be more the challenging because they each knew that, too. To win, they both needed to push themselves beyond their current boundaries – it was going to be an unpredictable game.
I'll have to show him a new thing or two.
Hikaru balanced a go stone delicately between his fingers, taking a moment to savour its cool, smooth touch before tapping it smartly down on the upper left star position. Let's go, Touya!
The opening hands flew by quickly; each of the boys had already decided on their opening strategy since the day they received their notices about the Young Lions' Tournament. Nevertheless, when Akira broke away from the jouseki to aggressively attack the stones in the upper right, Hikaru grinned unconsciously through his mask of deep concentration. Unpredictable game indeed.
Murmuring broke out among the crowd.
"Attacking so early?" one pro whispered quietly to a nearby colleague.
"That's unusual for Touya Akira," another man muttered, frowning. "His play is usually so patient and well-balanced."
Stones clicked in the go-ke as Hikaru pondered his next move. He could sense Touya's intensity and deadly calm without even looking up at the other boy. The hand his rival had just played was a confident, calculated move, and the lone white stone glittered boldly near its black neighbours, as if declaring, I'm going to crush you. A last click of the go stones, and Hikaru plunked one firmly on to the board, ignoring Touya's threat and going deep into his opponent's territory.
And that, Hikaru smirked with satisfaction, says 'You can try.'
The noise level rose almost exponentially in the room as the crowd watched, horrified, as Hikaru blithely ignored Akira's incursion into his upper right territory and responded with the attack of his own in the lower left corner.
"He's too cocky," one spectator concluded with a regretful sigh. "Did his first-board game against Ko Yeong-Ha get to his head? This could have been an interesting match if only he'd play a bit more cautiously. And I came all this way to watch this game too."
His friend tried to reassure him. "Perhaps it's just a case of the nerves, like his first game against China. It's Touya Akira, after all. And he did rally back impressively; that was a good game and worth watching."
A nearby young pro shook his head. "You can't just ignore a threat like that, especially when it comes from Touya."
Amano listened carefully to the sibilant whisper of opinions being voiced around him. His meticulous notes took in both the state of the game and the state of the spectators – and the players themselves. And of what he could see, Touya-kun didn't even start when he saw Shindou-kun's move. On the contrary, there seemed to be a gleam in the boy's eye – a sharper look – and a tenser stiffness of the shoulders that bespoke of a battle that had only just begun.
Having carved out their intentions on to the board, the boys' stones ebbed and flowed as a pitched battle commenced on the two fronts. Lines connected and broke, shapes formed and transformed as traps within traps were laid out and stratagems unfurled. The undercurrent of doubt waned in the air, to be replaced by grudging respect as Hikaru fended off Akira's attacks and pressed his own. One moment, it seemed like Akira would be able to choke off his formation in the lower board, but in the next, Hikaru's stones appeared to flow around and connect, turning the tables on his opponent as they threatened stones near the center.
And sprung a trap that Akira had laid early in chuuban.
Onlookers gasped in awe as Akira played his hand. Beautiful, precise, cutting – it was a Touya Akira hand in every sense of the word. And many of these very same onlookers were well aware of its devastating power, how it was capable of destroying painstakingly-constructed shapes and the will to fight all in one fell swoop.
As Akira peered at the constellation of go stones before him, he could faintly hear the whispers of pros around him brushing at the edge of his consciousness.
"That's it, then," one declared softly with a tone of finality.
"That kid played an unexpectedly good game, but he's too green to challenge Touya Akira just yet," another responded in agreement.
"I don't know about that," a third interjected. "He's a very strong player, but I have to agree that Touya got the better of him this game."
Akira's fingers rubbed a go stone slowly as he pondered the board in deep concentration. It seemed like Shindou had fallen into the trap, but he knew better than to believe it. The few weak hands in the upper right were mere distractions as well. The seemingly dead cluster of stones nearby was going to be a threat, he sensed, and he was going to have to play carefully if he were going to succeed in cutting off all of Shindou's carefully-laid escape routes, for the other boy rarely stepped into one of his traps without having first planned how to get out – and turn the tide in his own favour.
From their innumerable past games, he'd found that, while he was able to outmaneuver Shindou more often than not, out-thinking him was a trickier proposition. The boy showed an ability to read the game as deeply as him, and only time and experience stood in the rapidly shrinking gulf between victory and defeat. And at the cusp of that gulf, Akira prowled, eyes searching for –
There!
There. Hikaru firmly laid down a black stone. The path he needed to take was going to be extremely tricky, with someone of Touya's caliber as his opponent, but only in such life-and-death moments could they transcend the game. Touya's response came unhesitatingly, and he knew that the other boy, too, was prepared for this final battle. Stones flowed as hand after hand was played like a well-rehearsed script. And then –
"Why did he do that??" Hushed voices suddenly broke out into whispers around them.
Hikaru gritted his teeth. He had miscalculated.
Hikaru had offered bait that was just one stone too inviting, and Touya had foreseen his intentions. The other boy had actually taken it, and in the process sacrificed a cluster of stones he would have otherwise saved.
"He couldn't possibly have missed that!" came one despairing moan.
"Touya had a strong lead already!" another added, "All he had to do was keep pressing until his opponent yields."
Isumi, Waya and Ochi had by this point wrapped up their games and moved to watch the Shindou-Touya match. "What do you think?" Waya whispered to his friends. Not that he studied Touya Akira's kifu religiously (No way!), but even he knew enough to notice that it was certainly unusual. The hands were aggressively powerful, with a threateningly deadly sort of elegance. Waya gulped nervously, feeling the tension crackling in the air, as he noted Shindou's unflinchingly intent stare at the go board.
Ochi glowered. "They're seeing something we're not," the short boy responded with a dark glare.
The timer ticked away relentlessly as minute after minute passed.
"I've lost."
The crowd started in surprise.
And then blinked again when they actually registered that it was Shindou Hikaru who had yielded, and not Touya Akira. Confused murmurs welled up in the crowd as they tried to figure out what on earth had just happened.
The boy with bleached bangs ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have played a hane there. Is that when you figured it out?"
"No," Akira shook his head in response. "This was the only path you could have taken to victory, after all. However, if you had connected here instead …." He rearranged the stones on the board to demonstrate.
"But you could have gone here in response," replied Hikaru as he dug out another stone to prove his point, "and my shape wouldn't have been able to hold up to an attack in this corner."
"Why did you yield?" a man standing close to Hikaru's elbow suddenly interjected. "With Touya-kun's last play, you would have cut down his lead to a single moku, and if you then took his group there and defended there –" the man's finger jabbed at the board as he spoke; "you would have taken the lead."
Akira shook his head again. "That was not his plan, you see." He leaned forward, plucking the decisive white stone that had ended the game, and placed it instead with the cluster he had sacrificed. "If I had saved this cluster …." Those words hung in the air as his delicate fingers picked up stone after stone, playing out the plan that Hikaru had laid out. The noise level rose slowly as various individuals in the audience gradually caught on.
When the boy wrapped up his explanation, Hikaru waved a dismissive hand over the board. "But then Touya saw that the crux of the play was right here. He thwarted it by sacrificing his stones there and instead took the bait that I actually needed for the final step." He sighed deeply and admitted, "If we continued, by the end of yose, I would have lost by one moku."
Amano had to remind himself to breathe as he hastily jotted down the two boys' post-game explanations. Neither he nor the audience had expected such an intricate game. It was both recklessly daring and composedly calculated. It was what he had hoped for, and yet entirely unexpected.
So this is the future of Go. He took a moment to wipe his sweating palm against his pants before continuing to write.
Amano cleared his throat, and the crowd subsided for the respected editor of the Weekly Go. Clicking on his pen and resting the tip expectantly on a page of his open notebook, he adjusted his glasses and asked, "This might be a bit unusual, but I'd like to interview the two of you together right here, if you don't mind." Shindou didn't look too distressed from his defeat, so he didn't anticipate a refusal.
The two boys nodded wordlessly.
He ordered his thoughts for a moment before he spoke. "Touya-kun," he began, turning first to the smartly-dressed boy, "For a long time, there have been rumours that you view Shindou-kun as your rival. For the record," Amano peered at the pair owlishly, "is this true?" A sudden hush fell like a heavy blanket around him.
Personally, he knew it was true; from the moment it was first brought to his attention by Ogata-sensei, he had been followed by a tense Touya Akira impatient for word of the pro exam results, and saw this confirmed when Touya-kun had accepted Shindou-kun's challenge on the eve of his return to the pro world.
Not many doubted Shindou-kun's ability after his performance at the North Star Cup, but most still did not perceive him as being on equal standing with Touya Akira. Even fewer would believe that this vaunted star of the new generation would ever deign to view a peer as his rival, especially when he was already hot on the heels of the veterans at the top of the Go world. Amano wanted them to accept it, and feel the same surge of optimism he felt at the impending revitalisation of Japanese Go.
Akira blinked in surprise and replied the only way he could when bluntly confronted with such an unexpected question – with the truth. "Yes." Urgent, excited whispers rippled through the assembled crowd upon hearing his calm, unperturbed pronouncement. Among the new pros, Waya stared at the slight boy in disbelief as Ochi only gritted his teeth harder. I had to work so hard, and tried to bargain with him just to get him to notice me, the latter thought bitterly, and yet here he acknowledges a rival like he's answering a question about the weather ….
"So, Touya-kun, when did you first see Shindou-kun as a rival?"
"Hmm," Akira leaned back into his chair, his eyes distant and reflective, "indeed .…"
This was a difficult question, and in many ways, a very personal one. While those around him and the patrons of his father's Go salon were aware of his first encounters with Shindou Hikaru, the games themselves seemed to remain a deep secret the two of them shared. Well, and Ochi, to whom he had revealed the second game. Within those two precious games, however, lay the secret of Shindou and Sai; with those two games, he was confident that he knew more about Shindou and Sai than anyone else – and he wasn't sure whether he was ready or willing to share that.
"From the first time we played," he responded finally. That should be a good compromise.
"From … the … first … time … they … played," Amano murmured as he wrote the words down. "Ah, your first match-up against Shindou-kun was this past autumn, wasn't it?" he asked absently, his pen scratching against the paper of his notebook.
The silence seemed to widen to Akira as he contemplated whether to just nod, or to correct the man. It wasn't like there was any need for the history of his acquaintance with Shindou to be a secret but there was something about making it a media titbit that seemed to defile the strange bond that had dragged them, kicking and screaming, together. But, it was also against his nature to lie, and Amano-san did phrase it as a question.
"It was about three and a half years ago," he responded slowly and reluctantly.
Surprised at being corrected, Amano glanced up at the boy for a moment before jotting the numbers down. His brow scrunched up as he tried to work out the dates in his head. Frowning, he muttered, "Isn't that even before you took the pro exam? Shindou-kun wasn't even an insei then …."
Nearby, Hikaru's friends eyed each other uncomfortably. They still remembered the rumour that went around when he had first become an insei – and they also remembered his unpolished play. What did Touya Akira see in him at that time? Or rather, what did he see that all of them had failed to notice? Only Ochi did not turn to look at the rest of his peers; he knew exactly what Touya Akira was referring to.
Meanwhile, Hikaru fidgeted nervously in his seat. He was uncomfortable with this line of questioning, especially since it had been Sai that Touya chased for the longest time.
Amano noticed him shift anxiously, and decided that any further questions of such nature could wait for a more private moment. The two boys would probably be more forthcoming if they were comfortable with his discretion. Changing tack, he asked instead, "You appear to be quite familiar with each other's playing style. Did you spend a lot of time preparing for this match by studying each other's kifus? Or, I guess, as rivals, you've always studied each other's games?"
"Of course they are familiar with each other's style," the reporter Kosemura interrupted with a superior, knowing grin. "They took a week off before the North Star Cup to practice."
Amano nodded as he wrote that down.
Hikaru groaned inwardly. Morishita-sensei was going to throw an absolute fit when he read this week's edition of the Weekly Go. Consorting with the enemy! Treason! He was going to get more than an earful for this. Probably several good doses of scary-faced Morishita from across the go board. Nevertheless, he nodded wordlessly (after throwing a warning glare at the too-honest-for-his-own-good Touya), somewhat grateful that the man's answer had relieved him of the need to mention their regular games at Touya's Go salon.
Waya watched quietly as the two boys answered the reporter's questions – one a friend, the other, a foe – or so he'd always thought. But just as unexpected and unbelievable as it was to see Touya Akira treating Shindou as a peer worthy of respect, it was getting increasingly difficult to hold on to his antagonism. That in itself was a bit disconcerting, as that stoked anger was among the powerful driving forces that kept propelling him forward in the professional Go world. He dredged his memories and drew up that most potent source of resentment – the pro exam – and his thoughts resumed on the track they had lodged themselves into earlier in the day.
At the amateur tournament, Sai had seemingly homed in on the handle 'Akira' and issued a challenge, which was most unusual. Unlike most skilled Net Go players, Sai had been what one could call an equal-opportunity opponent. He was a voracious player who took on anyone of any skill level. He rarely played anyone a second time, if only due to the flood of players who wished to challenge him.
Had Sai been deliberately trying to play Touya Akira? 'Akira' could have been anyone, and yet…. The silent, mysterious Sai who never spoke (except to utter that unbelievably childish boast to him) had immediately responded to Touya's request for a game with a specific date. The strangeness of these memories were just too much.
An elbow jabbed painfully in his side. "Ouch!" Waya exclaimed in annoyance as he jerked his mind back to the present. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Why are you all zoned out like that?" Isumi asked with a gentle smile. "Come, the interview's done and Shindou is clamouring for ramen."
Waya grinned as he saw the other boy waving energetically at them. Touya Akira, on the other hand, was ensconced in a group with Ogata-sensei and Ashiwara-san. "You're the only one who lost, Shindou," he declared with a fiendish smirk, "so we're having sushi and you're going to treat us."
"Noooo!" Hikaru's protesting wails bounced off the walls as the group dragged him out of the hall.
As Amano pocketed his reporter notebook with great satisfaction and moved to leave the competition hall, he noticed that, within the shifting crowd, Kuwabara Honinbou stood unmoving and still. The old man was facing the hall's double doors but his eyes seemed to be staring blankly into empty space. "Kuwabara-sensei?" Amano said with a respectful hesitance. "Kuwabara-sensei, is something the matter?"
The old man blinked a couple of times when he heard his name called. "Ah, Amano-kun, I was just thinking," he responded in a rough voice. "Don't mind the antics of an old geezer like me."
"Don't say that, Kuwabara-sensei!" Amano protested immediately. "The Go world respects your insights greatly." One hand fingered the pen he had slipped back into his pocket. He could sense something here – a story, perhaps. Or maybe some startling new perspective. He could feel his heart begin to race as he continued, "Please share your thoughts. Is it about the game that was just played?"
Kuwabara rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "He's different."
"Different?" Amano echoed in surprise. Kuwabara-sensei was always rather unpredictable. "Who?"
"That kid," came the unhelpful response.
Amano resisted the urge to scratch his head. Did he mean Touya-kun? Or Shindou-kun? But Touya-kun's game has always been very polished, even as his play has become deeper and deeper. On the other hand ….
"Ah, you mean Shindou-kun?" he hazarded a guess.
The old man nodded.
"Well, he's certainly different from before his string of defaults from last summer," Amano concurred hesitantly, when it didn't seem like the Go master would elaborate. "There's an intensity and drive that …
Kuwabara had a faraway look in his eyes as he interrupted the rambling reporter. "His aura is different. How very, very intriguing."
The old man walked away slowly, leaving a very puzzled-looking reporter behind him.
April 6 2007
Finally! This chapter has been a very, very long time coming. The gap between chapters 7 and 8 might have been longer time-wise, but getting the Hikaru-Akira match written has really been the main block even before chapter 8 was posted.
I'd like to thank everyone for the very encouraging reviews. I must admit I write only when fancy catches hold of me, and that Dreamweaver's review really spurred me into finally pushing out the Hikaru-Akira match in order to say: Don't worry! I want to see that Go salon scene too! It's planned to be around another six or so chapters into the story – although I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get there either.