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31_days2007-09-16 11:39 pm
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-09-16 11:39 pm
[16 Sept] [Hikaru no Go] And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 16/?
Title: And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 16/?
Day/Theme: 16 Sept/Why do you keep counting?
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
Where did Shindou find his students?
Intellectually, Touya knew that Shindou got teaching assignments the same way he did--through the Go Institute. The majority of people who hired Go pros as teachers fell into two main groups: young, aspiring Go pros, and older amateurs who studied Go in their spare time. But why did it feel as though Shindou had got the weirdest students possible in the mix?
Last week, he had taught a girl who insisted that she was good enough not to use the 13x13 board anymore.
Touya had agreed, with some trepidation, and they had began to play. After only fifteen hands, though, he concluded that the only advantage in using the 19x19 board was that it lengthened the physical distance between them. Her dark eyeliner made her eyes look bigger than they really were--Touya had not realized before how alarming that was, until he was forced to come within a goban's reach of her. .
It didn't help that faced with a larger goban, she was totally lost. Her Go, Touya saw, was not even suitable for a smaller goban--it was too immature. It took all of Touya's tact to suggest that she should hone her skills on the small goban first.
She had scowled, and said, "You too?"
"Excuse me?"
"That's what Shindou-sensei said," she said. "Except he wasn't as polite. He said I sucked at Go, and should play tic-tac-toe instead."
"W-what?" That was inexcusably rude.
She giggled. "Your expression, sensei!"
Touya made himself look at her more sternly.
She grinned, not one whit abashed, and continued, "I thought Shindou-sensei was the only pro who was that honest. All the other pros I had before just let me use the full-size goban. I had to endure ten other pros before I got him. Count that. Ten!" She held up both hands, fingers widespread. "Then, just when I was getting ready to throw him out, he told me to stop pretending, and play properly."
'Pretending.' Touya suddenly understood why Hikaru had her as a student. "And will you do so now, Murakami-san?" he asked.
She smiled, more genuine now. "Of course, sensei." She cleared the goban. "Shindou-sensei always gives me four stones," she said.
Touya raised his eyebrows.
"Six stones," she admitted.
"I'll hold you to that," Touya said, and they played in earnest.
It was a good game after all.
That was last week. Yesterday's student was different, and so was today's. Touya was starting to regret his offer to help Shindou...
Yesterday's assignment was a boy of about ten who couldn't seem to sit still enough for a game, but to Touya's relief, calmed down after they started to play. His Go was strong for his age, giving credence to the claim that he intended to become a pro one day.
Until the game proceeded to seichi. He was a little slower than Touya in arranging the territories into easily-counted squares, and when they finished, he continued to stare at the goban.
Touya could have told him that he had won the game by two-and-a-half moku, but he wanted Itsuki-kun to find out for himself. So he waited. And waited. Finally, he prompted, "Itsuki-kun, what are you doing?"
Itsuki looked up. "I'm counting the territory, sensei," he said earnestly, and pointing at the goban, he began counting under his breath, "One moku, two moku, three..."
It took twenty minutes, because he kept losing his count. When he was done, Touya taught him the proper way, but Itsuki only shrugged. "That's what Shindou-sensei always says. But I want to count it one by one; it's more real, that way."
Yes, Shindou's students were odd. Even the seemingly normal had odd quirks, like the one who sat in front of Touya, recording the game they had just played. It wasn't that Touya disapproved of the practice. It was the way Oshima labouriously counted off the intersections in his low drone as he wrote. "-16, 17. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 16-5. Next..."
Touya was about to snatch the kifu sheet out of his hands and record the game for him. It was torture to sit and wait.
But finally Oshima was finished. He thanked Touya for his time, and asked, "And is Shindou-sensei getting better now?"
"Yes, he is." All of Shindou's students were concerned.
"Oh, good." Oshima said, turned to another page on his notebook, and made a note there. He looked up and met Touya's curious eyes. "I like to count how many times I've seen Shindou-sensei."
It wasn't until Touya was on the way home that he realized that he liked to count how many times he'd seen Shindou, too.
------
Day/Theme: 16 Sept/Why do you keep counting?
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
Where did Shindou find his students?
Intellectually, Touya knew that Shindou got teaching assignments the same way he did--through the Go Institute. The majority of people who hired Go pros as teachers fell into two main groups: young, aspiring Go pros, and older amateurs who studied Go in their spare time. But why did it feel as though Shindou had got the weirdest students possible in the mix?
Last week, he had taught a girl who insisted that she was good enough not to use the 13x13 board anymore.
Touya had agreed, with some trepidation, and they had began to play. After only fifteen hands, though, he concluded that the only advantage in using the 19x19 board was that it lengthened the physical distance between them. Her dark eyeliner made her eyes look bigger than they really were--Touya had not realized before how alarming that was, until he was forced to come within a goban's reach of her. .
It didn't help that faced with a larger goban, she was totally lost. Her Go, Touya saw, was not even suitable for a smaller goban--it was too immature. It took all of Touya's tact to suggest that she should hone her skills on the small goban first.
She had scowled, and said, "You too?"
"Excuse me?"
"That's what Shindou-sensei said," she said. "Except he wasn't as polite. He said I sucked at Go, and should play tic-tac-toe instead."
"W-what?" That was inexcusably rude.
She giggled. "Your expression, sensei!"
Touya made himself look at her more sternly.
She grinned, not one whit abashed, and continued, "I thought Shindou-sensei was the only pro who was that honest. All the other pros I had before just let me use the full-size goban. I had to endure ten other pros before I got him. Count that. Ten!" She held up both hands, fingers widespread. "Then, just when I was getting ready to throw him out, he told me to stop pretending, and play properly."
'Pretending.' Touya suddenly understood why Hikaru had her as a student. "And will you do so now, Murakami-san?" he asked.
She smiled, more genuine now. "Of course, sensei." She cleared the goban. "Shindou-sensei always gives me four stones," she said.
Touya raised his eyebrows.
"Six stones," she admitted.
"I'll hold you to that," Touya said, and they played in earnest.
It was a good game after all.
That was last week. Yesterday's student was different, and so was today's. Touya was starting to regret his offer to help Shindou...
Yesterday's assignment was a boy of about ten who couldn't seem to sit still enough for a game, but to Touya's relief, calmed down after they started to play. His Go was strong for his age, giving credence to the claim that he intended to become a pro one day.
Until the game proceeded to seichi. He was a little slower than Touya in arranging the territories into easily-counted squares, and when they finished, he continued to stare at the goban.
Touya could have told him that he had won the game by two-and-a-half moku, but he wanted Itsuki-kun to find out for himself. So he waited. And waited. Finally, he prompted, "Itsuki-kun, what are you doing?"
Itsuki looked up. "I'm counting the territory, sensei," he said earnestly, and pointing at the goban, he began counting under his breath, "One moku, two moku, three..."
It took twenty minutes, because he kept losing his count. When he was done, Touya taught him the proper way, but Itsuki only shrugged. "That's what Shindou-sensei always says. But I want to count it one by one; it's more real, that way."
Yes, Shindou's students were odd. Even the seemingly normal had odd quirks, like the one who sat in front of Touya, recording the game they had just played. It wasn't that Touya disapproved of the practice. It was the way Oshima labouriously counted off the intersections in his low drone as he wrote. "-16, 17. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 16-5. Next..."
Touya was about to snatch the kifu sheet out of his hands and record the game for him. It was torture to sit and wait.
But finally Oshima was finished. He thanked Touya for his time, and asked, "And is Shindou-sensei getting better now?"
"Yes, he is." All of Shindou's students were concerned.
"Oh, good." Oshima said, turned to another page on his notebook, and made a note there. He looked up and met Touya's curious eyes. "I like to count how many times I've seen Shindou-sensei."
It wasn't until Touya was on the way home that he realized that he liked to count how many times he'd seen Shindou, too.
------