[Nongshim]
by lacygrey
A World Without Go
Cold water trickled around his bare toes making him shiver in the night air. With a shoe in each hand and his feet in the thin layer of water, Waya strode into the fountain. Here, in the middle of a city, among crowds and noise, there was a childish delight in finding such a place. The fountain formed an enticing spiral pathway sunken into quay, with a rounded rock at the centre. Putting his shoes down there, he turned to look back up at Nase, who was standing laughing at the edge of the fountain. "Well what are you waiting for?" he called.
She stayed on the brink, her snug pink top bright under the harbour lights. Nase still looked as though she was seventeen he thought, as though she was still the insei she had been before she had left it all behind. Why she was hesitating? Did this seem silly to her? She took a step forward, but without removing her shoes, treading carefully so as not to let the water over the tops.
"There, where's the harm in that?" he said "What happened to your spontaneity? Don't you take chances anymore, do things to surprise people? It's like with-"
"Like with my Go?" she finished for him as she arrived at the bottom, and they both smiled because it had to be the tenth time today he'd likened something to Go. Then her expression changed; the smile turned mischievous. "Sometimes," she replied and, quicker than Waya could react, she'd snatched his shoes and was running back up out of the fountain and into the night.
"Wait! Nase! Wait for me! I don't know this city! Come back! I can't speak English!" Waya gave chase but, with her sneakers still on, Nase was faster. The hardness of the paving stones struck the soles of his feet as he ran after her, away from the streetlights and into the gloom of a park. He could see her pink top bobbing ahead and picked up speed as he felt soft earth beneath his feet. He could catch her, he was fitter than most Go pros, or so he often told himself; not that that was saying much. "Nase!" Then on an impulse he called her NetGo name: "Pachie!" Ahead of him he saw something strange. Her pink-clad form was moving upwards in the air. He approached. Shapes in the darkness took form as he recognized the outlines of swings and slides, they were in a playground, and Nase was climbing a rope net.
He started climbing toward the giggling, then realized she was on the other side of the net: hanging on with one hand and waving his shoes with the other. "Come back," he repeated, and, as he got within reach, he put a hand through the net and grabbed her ankle. The surprise almost made her lose her balance and she let go of the shoes as she clung on. They made a dull thud in the sand below and she gave another laugh, but just a tiny one.
Letting go, he climbed up level with her.
"Come back really, I mean." He forced himself to go on. "Why don't you come back to Japan?" He heard her catch her breath, but the darkness hid her expression.
"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it. You never really gave up, did you? you still play NetGo…Don't you Pachie?" With a single movement she released her hold on the net and pushed off into nothing, landing softly somewhere in the dark. He descended slowly; she was waiting.
"How did you find me on NetGo?" she asked. "You challenged 'Pachie' again and again…Why?"
He rounded the net, searching for his shoes. "There's a kind of play I always watch for on NetGo."
"You took me for Sai? You can't have! I lose so often." She sounded incredulous.
"But your style has a certain something that's like-"
"Oh, any player who's studied Shusaku would…" She trailed off. "Are you still hoping Sai'll come back?"
"I want to play him and I'd like to thank him too." Waya tied his shoes. "No one has done more for internet Go: great players flocking to the web, more people learning and more people on my website, downloading my Go problems, then my videos, and then I get a call from a TV company and…I'm better known in Japan than Shindou is, even though I'm nowhere near his level."
She said nothing and he wished it wasn't so damn dark, so he would have been able to see her face.
"People ask about you," he continued. "The girls who want lessons, so many saw you on the Ki-in poster. They all ask me what happened to you."
"Aren't those girls more interested in you?" she teased.
"They're interested in Go or they don't last five minutes in my study group!"
They started to walk back toward the lights. "It's hard to fail," she said, "At the pro exam, at the university entrance exam, at making a good marriage…And all because of Go. I want to do something well. I teach Japanese well." They made their way past sweet-smelling food courts, cafés and gaily-lit restaurant boats along the waterfront. The place bathed in a backdrop of pop music, giving the sensation of an eternal Friday night. Finally, beneath the rising whine of a monorail train, they made for the ferry port. "But I still dream of being a pro," she said. "And every year I find I'm counting the chances I have left. I guess then once I'm thirty those dreams will finally die away."
"But you've lost already if you never try," he said. "Come home Nase."
***
Standing together on the rear deck of a ferry, they watched the harbour lights grow smaller. "Maybe," she finally replied. It wasn't so much an answer as a promise that this was a game they would continue.
A World Without Go
Cold water trickled around his bare toes making him shiver in the night air. With a shoe in each hand and his feet in the thin layer of water, Waya strode into the fountain. Here, in the middle of a city, among crowds and noise, there was a childish delight in finding such a place. The fountain formed an enticing spiral pathway sunken into quay, with a rounded rock at the centre. Putting his shoes down there, he turned to look back up at Nase, who was standing laughing at the edge of the fountain. "Well what are you waiting for?" he called.
She stayed on the brink, her snug pink top bright under the harbour lights. Nase still looked as though she was seventeen he thought, as though she was still the insei she had been before she had left it all behind. Why she was hesitating? Did this seem silly to her? She took a step forward, but without removing her shoes, treading carefully so as not to let the water over the tops.
"There, where's the harm in that?" he said "What happened to your spontaneity? Don't you take chances anymore, do things to surprise people? It's like with-"
"Like with my Go?" she finished for him as she arrived at the bottom, and they both smiled because it had to be the tenth time today he'd likened something to Go. Then her expression changed; the smile turned mischievous. "Sometimes," she replied and, quicker than Waya could react, she'd snatched his shoes and was running back up out of the fountain and into the night.
"Wait! Nase! Wait for me! I don't know this city! Come back! I can't speak English!" Waya gave chase but, with her sneakers still on, Nase was faster. The hardness of the paving stones struck the soles of his feet as he ran after her, away from the streetlights and into the gloom of a park. He could see her pink top bobbing ahead and picked up speed as he felt soft earth beneath his feet. He could catch her, he was fitter than most Go pros, or so he often told himself; not that that was saying much. "Nase!" Then on an impulse he called her NetGo name: "Pachie!" Ahead of him he saw something strange. Her pink-clad form was moving upwards in the air. He approached. Shapes in the darkness took form as he recognized the outlines of swings and slides, they were in a playground, and Nase was climbing a rope net.
He started climbing toward the giggling, then realized she was on the other side of the net: hanging on with one hand and waving his shoes with the other. "Come back," he repeated, and, as he got within reach, he put a hand through the net and grabbed her ankle. The surprise almost made her lose her balance and she let go of the shoes as she clung on. They made a dull thud in the sand below and she gave another laugh, but just a tiny one.
Letting go, he climbed up level with her.
"Come back really, I mean." He forced himself to go on. "Why don't you come back to Japan?" He heard her catch her breath, but the darkness hid her expression.
"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it. You never really gave up, did you? you still play NetGo…Don't you Pachie?" With a single movement she released her hold on the net and pushed off into nothing, landing softly somewhere in the dark. He descended slowly; she was waiting.
"How did you find me on NetGo?" she asked. "You challenged 'Pachie' again and again…Why?"
He rounded the net, searching for his shoes. "There's a kind of play I always watch for on NetGo."
"You took me for Sai? You can't have! I lose so often." She sounded incredulous.
"But your style has a certain something that's like-"
"Oh, any player who's studied Shusaku would…" She trailed off. "Are you still hoping Sai'll come back?"
"I want to play him and I'd like to thank him too." Waya tied his shoes. "No one has done more for internet Go: great players flocking to the web, more people learning and more people on my website, downloading my Go problems, then my videos, and then I get a call from a TV company and…I'm better known in Japan than Shindou is, even though I'm nowhere near his level."
She said nothing and he wished it wasn't so damn dark, so he would have been able to see her face.
"People ask about you," he continued. "The girls who want lessons, so many saw you on the Ki-in poster. They all ask me what happened to you."
"Aren't those girls more interested in you?" she teased.
"They're interested in Go or they don't last five minutes in my study group!"
They started to walk back toward the lights. "It's hard to fail," she said, "At the pro exam, at the university entrance exam, at making a good marriage…And all because of Go. I want to do something well. I teach Japanese well." They made their way past sweet-smelling food courts, cafés and gaily-lit restaurant boats along the waterfront. The place bathed in a backdrop of pop music, giving the sensation of an eternal Friday night. Finally, beneath the rising whine of a monorail train, they made for the ferry port. "But I still dream of being a pro," she said. "And every year I find I'm counting the chances I have left. I guess then once I'm thirty those dreams will finally die away."
"But you've lost already if you never try," he said. "Come home Nase."
***
Standing together on the rear deck of a ferry, they watched the harbour lights grow smaller. "Maybe," she finally replied. It wasn't so much an answer as a promise that this was a game they would continue.