Heat 2: White - submitted by Mickey
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Kurata Atsushi, holder of the Ouza title for the past two years, was not at his best when he was eating. That was at least something on which both enemy and friend could heartily agree: the way Kurata devoured pieces of sushi, plopping them into his mouth like M&Ms, the way his cheeks filled, hamster-like as he chewed, and the way he sucked the smears of wasabi and soy sauce from his fingers--those were sights from which mortal eyes should be averted.
Shindou, however, sat very straight in seiza with his arms crossed, staring down the length of his nose at Kurata, pointedly waiting for him to finish. He might have been waiting for an opponent to surrender. Any moment now, he was probably going to tap his fan against the table.
Beside him, Touya nudged Shindou on the shoulder, keeping his gaze with circumspect sobriety
on his teacup, determined not to look up until he was sure Kurata had finished eating. Shindou always said he looked like a girl when he behaved like that, but Touya saw nothing wrong with good manners.
"Ah!" Kurata said finally, making a burp of repletion. "That was good," he went on, with another, much louder burp. He looked at them, looking as if he had noticed Shindou and Touya only then. "When did you two get here?"
"Listen, we didn't-" Shindou started, only to have Touya nudge him again. "We got here twenty minutes ago," he said instead, scowling.
Touya took note of empty, glistening dishes on the table. It seemed Kurata had ordered only three set meals this time: that was a good sign. "Good evening, Kurata-san," he said.
"Hm." Kurata sat back, resting his hands on his belly. "I thought you didn't get my messages."
"I was waiting for Touya," Shindou said.
"I had something on earlier," Touya explained.
Shindou scowled at Kurata. "Yeah, I called to tell you that, but your phone was dead. I figured you were in a game or something, and switched off your phone," he said. He always did, and it made contacting him difficult, because he invariably forgot to switch it back on.
"Some of our phones have this function called a silent mode, Shindou," Kurata said. "The battery ran out, that's all."
Shindou shrugged. He hated even the least interruption when he was in the middle of a game, and believed everyone felt the same. "Anyway, what's up?"
"I assume you saw the goban outside." Touya was not the only one to see Shindou stiffen, but Kurata went on as though he had not seen the reaction. Kurata had his own theories about Shindou's affinity for Shuusaku ("It has to be more than just respect," he had said to Touya once), but it was not something he ever made reference to when he spoke to Shindou. "I admit, it's a bit dramatic, to use such a famous game, but it's relevant."
Shindou's interest sharpened visibly at that.
Touya gave a tiny nod. He had been expecting that since he identified, as Shindou had, the Ear-Reddening Game rearranged on Kurata's goban before they came in.
"You probably know of Ishida Ryou, the actor," Kurata went on, "the one who will be acting as Honinbou Shuusaku in the movie. It's all over the entertainment pages."
Surreptitously, Touya shot a look in Shindou's direction. Shindou had been outraged at the casting decision when news about the biopic had surfaced, protesting to all who would listen--there weren't many--that Ishida was too young, too silly, and too ignorant to play the role of one of the most famous Go players in history.
He was also one of Japan's most popular idols, after making his debut in a romantic comedy-cum-tearjerker that that broken viewership records and made his face instantly recognisable to millions in Asia. No one quite knew why the newly minted idol had decided on a script about a Go player who, although well-known for his prodigious talent, had died prematurely at the age of thirty-four. Word had it, though, that Ishida had played Go as a child.
"This is about that movie?" Shindou said. "Whatever it is, I decline."
Kurata asked, "They've asked you to be a consultant for the movie, haven't you, Shindou?"
"Yeah. And I turned them down."
Touya looked at him directly. "You never mentioned that," he said to Shindou.
"Because it was meaningless!" Shindou said, his voice rising. "It's not like it would-" he stopped, and shook his head. "I have better things to do than babysit an idol."
"It's about Shuusaku's ghost."
Touya could have sworn that Shindou flinched at that, a minute tensing of his entire body as though someone had suddenly shouted in his ear. That reaction surprised him more than Kurata's words had. "What do you mean, Kurata-san?"
"Well," Kurata paused dramatically, his gaze studying Shindou's reaction, "you know that the Go Institute is working with the studio to make sure the scenes of Go are authentic. Kosemura-san is reporting on the whole business, and he told me that lately odd incidents have been happening on the set."
Shindou swallowed audibly; he was avoiding both Kurata and Touya's gazes by staring down at the tatami floor.
For his part, Kurata seemed not to notice anything unusual, but Touya saw that that he was in fact paying full attention to Shindou's every movement. "They say that Ishida-san has not been sleeping well since filming started. He's talking to himself-"
Shindou flinched.
"-and he plays Go games by himself late into the night..."
Shindou squeezed his eyes shut.
"Is that all?" Touya asked.
"Ah, not just him," Kurata said. "Other things too. At first it seemed like nothing. Some missing pages from the script, misplaced kifu, problems with the set furniture and lighting, and so on. Workers on the set made a few tasteless jokes, as they tend to do when the movie is about a dead person."
Shindou took a deep breath, and raised his head. "What else?" he asked, as though bracing himself. "There's more, isn't it?"
Kurata's eyes were still intent on him. "Bloodstains on the gobans."
Shindou shivered.
There was nothing but silence after that. Kurata might have been a statue, he was sitting so still.
Touya could hear the cicadas outside the windows now, and even further in the distance, the soft roar of high-speed traffic. He considered what Kurata had just told him, matching it in his mind with how Shindou had behaved, and waited for Shindou to decide. It would all depend on Shindou, he thought.
"Is there something you would like to say, Shindou?" Kurata asked softly.
Touya never thought Kurata would take such a step as that. Shindou was known to a defender of Shuusaku's reputation--most people in the Go community were aware of it--but only a few knew that Shindou was sensitive about talk of ghosts. Though a tentative belief in the supernatural was not uncommon in Japan, whenever the subject came up Shindou was quick to end the conversation, as though it was a topic too personal to go into. Yes, there was some mystery there, but apart from Touya--or Ogata, though he denied any interest--no one else had ever came right out and asked Shindou about it.
Kurata had keener eyes than most gave him credit for.
Then he heard Shindou snort, and looked up in astonishment.
"You nearly got me," Shindou was saying to Kurata as he changed from seiza to sit cross-legged, a sign of relaxation.
"I did?" Kurata said. He looked amused, though it seemed to Touya that there was a faint regret in his slow smile.
Shindou said, "For a moment, I nearly-" He stopped, scowled, and stuck his tongue out at Kurata. "If it were really bloodstains, the police would have been informed," he continued.
Touya let out a breath he had not realised he was holding, and smiled, aware that for a moment, he too had hoped...
"Oh." Kurata seemed deflated.
"Oh yeah, you can't trick me that way!" Shindou shook an admonitory finger. All the tension seemed to have flowed out of him. His eyes flashed, then the gaze in them became intent, a sign of his rapid thought process before the goban. "Someone's trying to sabotage the filming?"
Kurata raised his eyebrows, but he nodded. "Yes. The bloodstains on the gobans were just paint, but there have been threatening messages to Ishida to stop the filming. The studio has been keeping it quiet, calling it a practical joke, but the crew is getting uneasy."
Touya interrupted, "That's the police's job, isn't it?"
Shindou crossed his arms. "Someone is not happy at the choice of Ishida to play the lead role. Big surprise," he told Kurata.
"Yes, I know your views on that, Shindou. But would you go to the extent of issuing death threats?"
"Of course not!"
Kurata sat back as well. "You're well known as a Shuusaku supporter, and many in the Go world respect you for your knowledge of Shuusaku's games. The studio has been asking the Go Institute if you would be willing to act as consultant on the set."
"They're hoping that Shindou's reputation would stop whoever is sabotaging the filming," Touya concluded. "Since his presence would mean he supports Ishida."
"I don't!" Shindou retorted.
"Shindou, you respect Shuusaku a lot, I know," Kurata said. "You have good contacts with the Shuusaku Museum in Innoshima, and you've edited that new commentary on his games. Would you rather the filming fail, and let that spoil Shuusaku's reputation?"
Shindou's jaw fell. "But-"
"The Go Institute asked me to speak to you because they know how stubborn you are. They hope that you can at least visit the set once. Maybe it will stop the practical jokers, maybe it won't, but it's worth a gamble."
"Huh." Shindou's expression was still that of a player at the goban. "And since when do you gamble, Kurata?"
Touya glanced at him, taken aback at the knowing tone in his voice. "Shindou?"
"Kurata-san, actually doing something without calculating the odds?" Shindou said. He looked like he was about to stick out his tongue again any moment now.
Kurata gave a loud gaffaw. "You got me."
Shindou made a face. "You're using me to draw out the practical joker."
"Wouldn't you like to know who is sabotaging a movie about Shuusaku?"
"Put in that way..." Shindou gave Touya a rueful look, and turned to Kurata again. "All right."
/end