5.
When I got back to the suite I was ready to kill somebody. The moment I got in - and it turned out only Ogata was there - I let him have it.
"How can they treat a genius of his level like that?! The monsters! He had bruises on his wrist; big huge bruises! And he looked pale and drawn and he wants out, he said so, he wants out!" I yelled as Ogata stood by silently. I grabbed one of the couch's throw pillows and threw it at the wall, desperately trying not to do the same to the glass vase that stood on the side table. "Arg!" was all I could add before flopping onto the couch and running my hands through my hair in attempt to calm down.
"Are you done?" Ogata asked ice cold, and took another puff of his cigarette. I felt the anger drain out of me; I'm never angry long.
"Yeah."
"Good," he said, bending over to stomp out his cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table and at the same time retrieving the kifu note block, handing it and a pen to me.
"Touya-kun is on his way. Start writing up the game so we can have a look at it." I took the items and gave Ogata a glare just for good measure. Just as I'd put down the first few moves, Touya came in, using a doorkey.
You can say a lot about Touya and Ogata's lack of social skills, or even basic human emotions, but when Go was involved the three of us were in sync. As I recreated the game, the two of them looked over my shoulder and they analyzed it at the same time and got exactly out of it what I had gleaned while playing it: Sun was not happy where he was and was open to alternatives. But they would have to include his family.
They talked about it over my head for a while but I was too drained to complain about it and when they got ready to head out to their respective games, I didn't object to being locked up in my bedroom once again; it was protocol after all, for when a cover player got 'active.'
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
Later that afternoon, after Master T, Ogata and Touya came back victorious and Isumi came back defeated, we had another pow-wow. The DNA results had come in and apparently there was much to discuss.
I mostly held my trap as, surprisingly, it was Master T and Master Shirakawa who did most of the talking. I had known they were of a similar age but I hadn't known they were childhood school mates and that the subject of the conversation would be another school mate of theirs.
"The results are positive, just as we'd expected after we got Sun's description; he is the long lost Fujiwara heir," Master S opened the meeting. "What bothers me is that sister and that niece that Sun mentioned. Shindou-kun, are you sure about that part?" I confirmed I was sure; desperate concern like that wasn't faked.
"So couldn't Fujiwara-donno have had twins? It happens, you know, and we only know of her pregnancy, not of the actual result. And we aren't sure of Sun's sister's date of birth either, so she could have had a second child," Ogata put in.
"Hmm," Master T said pensively. "Either could have happened. But the point is moot anyway; Sun won't move without his family, and I can understand that. If he'd had a wife and child, we would be considering including those, even if they were Chinese themselves."
"It's because Sun is not Chinese that we're doing this at all!" Ogata raised his voice. "Chinese people belong in China, Japanese people belong in Japan! The gall these Chinese have to take and kill a Japanese diplomat and then steal his wife and unborn child, or children, and trying to make them Chinese just to put one over on us at a Go tournament!" he yelled.
"Now now, Ogata-kun, calm down, you know it didn't quite go like that. Fujiwara-donno and his wife were just caught in the revolution 20 years ago. We should be happy that young Fujiwara and his sister weren't killed at that time. Now we have a chance to get them back and we must be circumspect on how we do it or we risk losing both him and the sister, and the niece too, which will probably be more than Fujiwara-sama's heart can take."
I was back sitting on the couch while the others sat forward talking intently. I knew of the 'incident' 20 years ago of course, and tried to put Sun's story within that frame work. This is what I understood: Sun was the son of a Fujiwara-clan diplomat, who in turn was a son (the only son, as I later learned) of Chancellor Fujiwara, liaison of the Court to the Shogunate; a Very Important Person in Japanese politics. So effectively Sun was the Chancellor's only grandson. So it was clear we, Japan's spies, had to get Sun out. Not in the least because he was of Japanese blood and therefore had automatic citizenship, something we take very seriously here, but also because of his family connections. I wondered if Sun knew any of this.
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
The rest of the tournament was a whirl of cloak and dagger, most of which I missed because I was either in my room during the games or flanked by Master S, Master T and Isumi in the evenings. Imagine that; Master T watching my back! I knew it was protocol but Ogata took a moment to impress on me quite firmly that I was to lay low until we all got home; it was an order. It put a stop on me having the same type of fun I had had the previous years, but considering what was at stake - the safety and future of the man I love - I was not complaining or objecting to the treatment. Well, not much anyway.
The only thing I did object to was that I wasn't allowed to help. I was well aware that I just didn't have the the field training to be of help, but it was frustrating nonetheless. I did my part; be an airhead in public and play plenty of cover games in private with Isumi, me trying to emulate Ogata's play style while Isumi tried to play Touya's way. And then playing that way against Master T and Master S, urg, not easy!
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
Our team tried, we really tried, but there just was no way to get close to Sun again at the tournament. Just as someone had organized that I would go up against Sun in game four, so someone else had made sure Sun only went up against country men from there on, all the way to game ten, the final game of the tournament, where he played Master T.
Sun's Chinese opponents were no dummies either. I've seen the kifu, those were life and death struggles, every single one of them! And now that I knew a Chinese player - or Sun at least - would be punished if he lost, I could understand why the 'dragons' fought so hard. And privately I was glad to have been knocked out of the tournament already because I don't think I could comfortably play another dragon to win ever again.
In the end Sun won the final but the man was whisked way immediately after the game. The tournament ribbon ended up getting presented to a Chinese official who accepted it in Sun's name. We all went home depressed and my stomach started churning and wouldn't stop even after we got off the boat back in Japan.
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
The moment I got back to Edo I was 'debriefed' again. This time Ogata and Touya were flanked by some men with very stern faces. Ogata told me to tell the whole story again, "This time without omissions," his tone brooking no argument. I gulped when I saw no less than three sets of recording devices sitting on the table, their recording lights ominously blinking, waiting for input. I told them everything, my thoughts and feelings too.
After three hours my story was told and all questions they put to me I had answered as best I could. I felt drained; literally pumped dry of information. I got up as the unintroduced men and Touya got up, thinking the debriefing was over. But Ogata, who had stayed seated while Touya was still gathering up his papers and his recorder, waved for me to stay. I stood uncertainly while the three others filed out, Touya giving me a serious look just before closing the door behind him.
"Sit," Ogata said unceremoniously. I retook the seat I had been in all afternoon. For a long moment I just looked at Ogata, who pulled out a cigarette and made a show of lighting it and taking a long pull on it. He blew out the smoke, instantly stuffing up the air in the small conference room. I was too drained from the debriefing and too numb from the events at the InGoTo to feel any emotion at this point. In hindsight I think I should have felt worried for having been held back; I did have that royal chewing out coming and Ogata had always been the person I liked least at the Institute. But, over the time I had been a Go Pro and a spy, my respect for the man had grown; he was always there when any of the spies needed him. So a tirade from this man would hit hard, even though I deserved one.
Ogata strongly puffed on the cigarette two more times before pulling over an ashtray and dumping the ash into it with a flick of his finger. He then laid down the cigarette, took a breath and started talking.
"I don't have to tell you what you did wrong in that first debrief on the island, do I?" he asked and I shook my head and looked down. I knew I should have told them about that kiss. Rule #1: always be truthful with your supervisor.
Ogata sighed. "For a few moments there, we thought our plan had failed," he said.
"Plan?"
"Yeah," Ogata picked up his cigarette and sat back in his chair putting a leg on his knee. "After all that finagling we did so that you'd be the one to get in that elevator and then making it crash; would have been a lot of bother for nothing."
I felt a hot wave of something wiping away my numbness. 'A lot of bother for nothing?' Hold on the whole elevator thing had been contrived? And my kissing Sun had been planned? How...?
"It's in your profile, you know," Ogata said. I must have looked like a fish, mouth hanging open with shock, because he continued smirkingly, "We knew if we'd put you there, your wide-eyed naivete would do the rest. The only thing that was a gamble was Sun; we just couldn't get enough info on him to do a proper psych work-up. But even with the basics that we knew, giving him a chance to meet some one truly honest, we hoped that he would bite, and he did."
I found myself falling back onto the chair I hadn't even realized I had stood up from. The whole thing had been planned, with me as the patsy!
I didn't realize I had said my thoughts aloud until Ogata said, "Not at all! You were placed in a situation we knew you were eminently suited for, and you did better than expected. Now that you have made a real emotional connection to Sun, he will be that much more tied to his true home, Japan, than mere blood ties to people he's never met would yield."
Yes, I'm a spy and yes, I know that means that my service to my country trumps all, but at that particular moment I felt incredibly dirty and used. "So it was all a spy plot, a Romeo trap?" I asked in a dull tone, looking at the floor. No answer came to that, and for a while there was just the sound of puffs being taken and smoke being blown. Ogata was always good at blowing smoke.
I sat there feeling sorry for myself. Selfish I know, but there you are. Then something occurred to me; my feelings about Sun were still very real, and I had no reason to believe Sun hadn't been honest about his feelings. No matter how or why, we were connected by love and I wasn't going to give up on that, no sir!
I think I shouted that last part at Ogata. I had stood up again, had my fist balled as if ready for a fight and my heart was beating a mile a minute.
"Shindou," he said, getting up and stubbing out the cigarette and moving towards the door. "Thank you, for being true to yourself and your psych profile." And with that he closed the door.
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
I think I turned into royal pain after that; I kept hounding the Touya's, Ogata, Waya, Isumi, anybody and everybody at the Go Institute for information. I just had such a horrible feeling of doom about Sun's fate; it felt so wrong.
After a week of this, I was called into the briefing room at the Go Institute. And I thought, 'this is it, now they tell me the Chinese killed him, that he's dead and that there aren't even any ashes to bury,' and I felt ice running though my veins. Or they're going to tell me I'm sacked, but I did consider that unlikely; I've never heard of any Go Pro getting sacked.
I knocked on the briefing room door and was called to come in at once. Inside Master H, Master S, Master T and Ogata sat down at the conference table while Touya stood shuffling some paper about from a briefcase to the table and back. I waited until I was motioned to sit, where upon Touya also sat, pulling up a writing pad and pen from among the papers on the table.
I felt chilly as Ogata started to speak, "As you are personally involved with the case and privy to some of the particulars as well, we, all of us here, have decided you are to continue to be an active player in the matter of Sun Shun." At this point I opened my mouth to speak but Ogata waved me down and I closed it again.
"However, from now on we expect you to curb your incessant questioning. Is that clear?" he said, his voice cold and strict. I looked apologetically, nodded 'yes' and turned my gaze to my hands in my lap. Ooops, overdid it, I guess.
"Sir, how is Sun?" I asked after having given Ogata enough time to say more had he wanted to. I looked up at the spies and saw Master T exchange a telling look with Ogata. Oh no. I think my scared thought was clearly reflected on my face because Master T then said, "We have heard nothing bad on that account."
"Nothing good either," Ogata added, sounding morose. He then looked at me and said, "Sun has not been seen on internetGo since before the tournament. We are worried. We need to question you again on both encounters you've had with him."
Mentally I sighed; I had been officially debriefed for both meetings twice already but if it helped any, I was prepared to get debriefed a thousand times more. I told them that.
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
For another week nothing happened - except my now daily meetings with interrogators, sketch artists, profilers, shrinks and people without named occupations, probably more spies - but then my phone rang in the middle of the night and I had exactly two minutes to get dressed before I was to be picked up by two very burly army dudes and taken god knew where.
My heart came down from my throat only when I saw Master T as I arrived at the unknown location: a windowless briefing room inside a underground bunker a few hours drive from Edo. The place was lined with computer and video screens, running computer programming and showing the view of several night time infrared head-cams respectively. The people wearing the head-cams were moving quickly, making the video feeds wobble wildly.
"Good evening, Shindou-kun," Master T said in his usual unflappable tone. I greeted him back and joined him in front of one of the bigger video screens. My army escort saluted in perfect sync, 'Sir,' turned around and marched out the same way we had entered. Creepy really.
"Sorry about the escort; time is of the essence," Master T said.
But before I could answer there was a radio crackle and Touya's disembodied voice rang out, "T2 to T1. We are getting close. ETA 2 minutes." And I was starting to decipher what the video feed on the big screen represented; it was the head-cam of a person on board a military chopper, the kind that had the side open. Intermittently I could see the feet of the head-cam owner stand on the landing struts of the chopper. I could see the man's left hand holding onto a strap preventing him from falling out of the bobbing vehicle that was at first flying over water and then over grass and bushes.
"ETA 1 minute," Touya reported. The grass was getting closer, now being pushed flat by the down draft from the chopper's blades. Then it looked like the chopper suddenly dropped and Touya shouted, "We're down, go, go go!" over the radio and I could see figures, soldiers, pass in front of Touya's head-cam. Six, seven, eight of them all disembarking the chopper and hitting the ground running. Then Touya moved, and the video shook from side to side as Touya ran. I could just see the front end of the rifle that he was obviously holding.
Touya barked orders to T4, T6 and T7 that meant nothing to me since I knew none of the codes they used. I did note he didn't talk to his dad once, not even when the bullets started flying.
You know, when you watch a war film or a TV show that has war in it, it's easy to follow the action. But when you're just getting the head-cam and voice feed from only one of I don't know how many combatants, it's impossible to follow anything. All I can tell you is that after the first bullet rain - of which I can't tell who shot them but I can tell you Touya survived - there was a huge fire blazing behind Touya - I think - and then there was an explosion that threw him off his feet - I'm guessing from the head-cam movement - then he was back on his feet, barking out some more incomprehensible orders that ended with 'go, go, go!'
He then started moving and I could see some others joining him going in the same direction. They reached the side of a low building that had a bright light - at least in night vision mode - over a closed steel door. Touya ordered someone to ram the door and I could hear that happen as Touya looked the other way and moved his head from side to side, scanning for the enemy at his companion's backs.
With a crunch the door gave and Touya was moving again, ordering someone to stay at the door. I think I counted three people plus Touya going inside. The interior was well lit and Touya flipped from night vision to regular vision, which we also got on the monitor. He ordered his men to spread out to do a search. He took a left hand corridor. It was darker there and then I saw a shadow move. Then there was earsplitting gun fire from Touya and the figure fell. Touya moved closer and when he reached the figure he rolled it over and took a good look. Male, Chinese, green uniform, low rank, blood, gaping hole in his chest, dead. A gun slipped out of the man's hand just as Touya let go of the sleeve he had grabbed to turn the man over.
"East corridor clear, killed one guard who wasn't out," Touya reported, calm as a cucumber. He moved to a steel door with a tiny window inset at eye level.
"West side clear, everybody's out cold from the gas," someone reported.
"North side clear, same here, all down," in came yet another voice.
"Starting room by room," Touya said and used a hammer like implement to bust the padlock on the door. He entered quickly, shining a torch light - in the cell it was really dark - but found it empty and moved on. He did three rooms like that - all empty - before ending up back at the entry door.
"I have a woman and child here," someone reported.
"Good, get them on a stretcher," Touya ordered. I looked at Master T and he nodded. They'd found the sister and the niece.
"Anybody see Sun?" Touya asked.
"I have nothing but soldiers here," someone reported.
"I have two prisoners here, but no one that matches Sun's description," someone else reported.
"T7, where are you?" Touya barked.
"North corridor, at the end," came the answer and Touya started moving again, this time one corridor down from where he'd gone before. This one took first a turn left than one right and Touya came upon a widened part of the corridor where there was a table and chairs and three Chinese soldiers lay slumped over the table, their faces in their half-finished noodle bowls. They must have gotten caught by the gas in the middle of their food break. If my heart hadn't been hammering in my throat I might have laughed; it was quite a funny sight.
"Here, sir," the Japanese soldier that had come into Touya's view said, indicating one of the open steel doors with the down turned front end of his sub-machine gun. Touya went in with the flashlight.
Inside was a very dirty and wet looking cell with two bunks in it, one on each side and a filthy bucket sitting between them. Each bunk held a human shape. Touya tried the first; a short haired male of about 30 years of age, who had very Chinese features, out cold. Touya moved to the other bed. The figure there had his back turned to Touya's head-cam, but it was clear that he too was short haired and very dirty. My heart sank; what if Sun wasn't here at all?
Then Touya laid his black leather gloved hand on the man's shoulder and rolled him over. He got closer so we could see the sleeping man's face."That's him," I shouted. "That's him!"
"T2 to T1, say again, over?" Touya's voice came.
"T1 to T2. Positive ID. It's him. Bring him home. How copy, over?"Master T said loud and clear.
"Copy that. Will do. T2, out," Touya said.
I found I had to sit down and I did so at the central table. They'd found Sun. Dirty but alive. Without his lovely hair but ALIVE. And that was all that mattered.
-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-
TBC
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