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31_days2008-05-29 11:59 pm
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2008-05-29 11:59 pm
[May 29] [Hikaru no Go] Stones in Narrow Spaces 28/?
Title: Stones in Narrow Spaces 28/?
Day/Theme: May 29 - Can't you show me nothing but surrender?
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: none
Rating: General
--------------
Shindou was not sure what to make of Ogata. He had merely been telling Ogata off for always harping on the Shuusaku goban when the man started to accuse him of knowing something Shindou had not the slightest idea of.
In the middle of a game, too!
Now the man was staring at him as though he couldn't believe his ears.
"Ogata-san?" Shindou leant forward to study the man, and surreptitiously checked the surroundings in the event that, however incredible--as in horror movies--a monster from the deep had just appeared, and his opponent had just been eyeballed by it. (In which case, it was time to grab Touya, raise the alarm and get the hell out of there.)
But everything else seemed normal.
Shindou waited, starting to worry, and decided to play a daring--Touya would call it risky--hand that had been floating through his mind since the game began. He reached into the go-ke, took out a stone and placed it right in the centre of the goban.
Still no reaction from Ogata.
Curses, Shindou thought. It'd have worked on Touya. It was his little secret that an outrageous hand now and then kept things lively between them. "Ogata-san?" he said again. "It's your turn."
The commentator (Shindou had forgotten his name, but Touya probably knew it) assumed a sober expression as he approached. "Ogata-sensei, are you feeling all right?"
Maybe it was the sound of a new voice, or perhaps it was just that whatever had been stuck in Ogata's mind had worked itself loose. Shindou watched in fascination as Ogata's expression grew alert, sharp and most important of all--current. Then he watched as Ogata studied the goban and caught the moment his tengen hand was spotted.
"Such recklessness-" Ogata said in a voice that was far too soft.
"What?" Shindou asked.
Ogata said, "Why did you give the Shuusaku goban to Touya Kouyo?" He played a hand low, near the edge, despite the fact that he should have attacked Shindou's tengen hand right away.
That realisation made Shindou irritated, and his voice came out short when he asked, "Do you mean that I gave it away, or that I gave it to Touya Kouyo?" The twitch at the corner of Ogata's hair indicated that it was Touya Kouya he was referring to. "You mean, why not to you?" Shindou asked before he played a hand
Ogata frowned as though Shindou had shouted an obscenity. "Excuse me?" he managed to say.
When Shindou was younger and Sai was still with him, he had been aware that this was the man who had, out of the blue, dragged him into the Touya Go salon to play a game with Touya Kouyo. Later Ogata had recommended him for the insei exam, and even turned up at Shindou's first Wakashijisen. Ogata had done a lot for him, really. He really wanted to play with Sai, too. So why was Touya Kouyo the only possible receipient of the goban?
"Because only Touya-sensei can use the Shuusaku goban as a goban." Shindou was surprised to find that what he meant to be a glib answer was more or less the truth. What he had told Touya was true--he wanted to give Touya Kouyo something of Sai. But it seemed that he had also sensed something else: that of all the people who suspected the connection between him and Sai, only Touya Kouyo could see the Hand of God that lay underneath the game and not be affected by the goban's reputation. So.
Ogata started to speak, then studied the goban between them instead. He placed a stone.
He was still avoiding the tengen, Shindou noticed. It was as though Ogata could already read the route to disaster in that hand. "Can't you show me nothing but surrender?" he said.
"What?" Ogata's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "I have no intention of surrendering, Shindou-kun."
"But you are," he said, and hearing his voice, reedy yet confident, Shindou had the oddest feeling that he was standing beside himself, watching himself talk to Ogata and using Go that he had learnt from Sai. He could almost see how how far away the Hand of God was, a physical distance that was equivalent to a walk among the stars.
"You're avoiding my tengen because you think that I have more tricks up my sleeve, and you want to watch and wait rather than engage it right away."
"That's not-"
Shindou continued. "You want the Shuusaku goban because you believe it has some special quality. You would not truly play on it; you merely playact because you want to put it on a pedestal. But though the Shuusaku goban is important-"
"It is an antique, Shindou."
"It is nothing unless you use it as a goban, and to want it in any other way is a surrender." He stopped then, for Ogata looked angry.
"That's ridiculous."
"Then why do you want it so much?" Shindou asked. Behind that question came the realisation of where the Shuusaku goban was...
(TBC)
Day/Theme: May 29 - Can't you show me nothing but surrender?
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: none
Rating: General
--------------
Shindou was not sure what to make of Ogata. He had merely been telling Ogata off for always harping on the Shuusaku goban when the man started to accuse him of knowing something Shindou had not the slightest idea of.
In the middle of a game, too!
Now the man was staring at him as though he couldn't believe his ears.
"Ogata-san?" Shindou leant forward to study the man, and surreptitiously checked the surroundings in the event that, however incredible--as in horror movies--a monster from the deep had just appeared, and his opponent had just been eyeballed by it. (In which case, it was time to grab Touya, raise the alarm and get the hell out of there.)
But everything else seemed normal.
Shindou waited, starting to worry, and decided to play a daring--Touya would call it risky--hand that had been floating through his mind since the game began. He reached into the go-ke, took out a stone and placed it right in the centre of the goban.
Still no reaction from Ogata.
Curses, Shindou thought. It'd have worked on Touya. It was his little secret that an outrageous hand now and then kept things lively between them. "Ogata-san?" he said again. "It's your turn."
The commentator (Shindou had forgotten his name, but Touya probably knew it) assumed a sober expression as he approached. "Ogata-sensei, are you feeling all right?"
Maybe it was the sound of a new voice, or perhaps it was just that whatever had been stuck in Ogata's mind had worked itself loose. Shindou watched in fascination as Ogata's expression grew alert, sharp and most important of all--current. Then he watched as Ogata studied the goban and caught the moment his tengen hand was spotted.
"Such recklessness-" Ogata said in a voice that was far too soft.
"What?" Shindou asked.
Ogata said, "Why did you give the Shuusaku goban to Touya Kouyo?" He played a hand low, near the edge, despite the fact that he should have attacked Shindou's tengen hand right away.
That realisation made Shindou irritated, and his voice came out short when he asked, "Do you mean that I gave it away, or that I gave it to Touya Kouyo?" The twitch at the corner of Ogata's hair indicated that it was Touya Kouya he was referring to. "You mean, why not to you?" Shindou asked before he played a hand
Ogata frowned as though Shindou had shouted an obscenity. "Excuse me?" he managed to say.
When Shindou was younger and Sai was still with him, he had been aware that this was the man who had, out of the blue, dragged him into the Touya Go salon to play a game with Touya Kouyo. Later Ogata had recommended him for the insei exam, and even turned up at Shindou's first Wakashijisen. Ogata had done a lot for him, really. He really wanted to play with Sai, too. So why was Touya Kouyo the only possible receipient of the goban?
"Because only Touya-sensei can use the Shuusaku goban as a goban." Shindou was surprised to find that what he meant to be a glib answer was more or less the truth. What he had told Touya was true--he wanted to give Touya Kouyo something of Sai. But it seemed that he had also sensed something else: that of all the people who suspected the connection between him and Sai, only Touya Kouyo could see the Hand of God that lay underneath the game and not be affected by the goban's reputation. So.
Ogata started to speak, then studied the goban between them instead. He placed a stone.
He was still avoiding the tengen, Shindou noticed. It was as though Ogata could already read the route to disaster in that hand. "Can't you show me nothing but surrender?" he said.
"What?" Ogata's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "I have no intention of surrendering, Shindou-kun."
"But you are," he said, and hearing his voice, reedy yet confident, Shindou had the oddest feeling that he was standing beside himself, watching himself talk to Ogata and using Go that he had learnt from Sai. He could almost see how how far away the Hand of God was, a physical distance that was equivalent to a walk among the stars.
"You're avoiding my tengen because you think that I have more tricks up my sleeve, and you want to watch and wait rather than engage it right away."
"That's not-"
Shindou continued. "You want the Shuusaku goban because you believe it has some special quality. You would not truly play on it; you merely playact because you want to put it on a pedestal. But though the Shuusaku goban is important-"
"It is an antique, Shindou."
"It is nothing unless you use it as a goban, and to want it in any other way is a surrender." He stopped then, for Ogata looked angry.
"That's ridiculous."
"Then why do you want it so much?" Shindou asked. Behind that question came the realisation of where the Shuusaku goban was...
(TBC)