[Kitani]
A BREAK FROM SOLITUDE
by lucathia_rykatu
He sat alone in the coffee shop, the customers few and far between. He enjoyed the solitude as it proved relaxing, something that was hard to find on campus nowadays with all his underclassmen in the Go club asking him for matches. He had a good eye for talent, and he had known very quickly that he himself was not part of the talented. Instead, he took pride in helping others find their hidden talent by challenging them and goading them, prodding them, pushing them onto the path of a pro, the path that would one day lead to the Divine Move.
Sometimes, however, there just wasn't any talent to be found. The present was one of those times. At least, there was nothing to be found that would be comparable to Shindou's hidden talent. Perhaps the magnitude of Shindou's talent was just too overwhelming.
He had been drinking black coffee and reading the newspaper about Shindou's last match in the Hokuto Cup and trying to connect him with the directionless boy he had challenged all those years ago when a shadow fell over his paper, causing him to glance up.
"May I have a seat?" asked the smiling boy in front of him, eyes hidden behind glinting glasses. The smiling boy was dressed in a lavender suit with dark dress pants and a tie.
He very quickly recognized which school the uniform was from, and with that, he remembered the smiling boy's identity. He gestured for the boy to set down.
"What brings you here?" he asked as he set his mug of black coffee down, his tone wary.
The smiling boy just smiled. "Must there be a reason to visit my favorite cousin?"
"With you, there's always a reason," he pointed out.
The smiling boy pushed his glasses up. "True. But it can wait." Instead of explaining anything, the smiling boy called the waitress over and ordered coffee.
So much for his peaceful solitude.
As they waited for the coffee, he sighed and took off his own glasses to clean them. When his calculating cousin was in one of those smiling moods, he found that it was always better to wait for him to speak up than to say anything.
"Whatever happened to your dream of becoming a Go pro?" asked the smiling boy. "I distinctly remember you mentioning becoming an insei."
Ah, the question everyone asked. Had it really been that long since he last saw his cousin? He was tired of always being asked this question.
"That was a long time ago," he murmured once again. "I've passed that dream on to others more worthy of it." He paused, one eyebrow raised. "I'm sure, however, that you've already updated your data with that information."
The smiling boy chuckled. "True, I've done my homework about you, but I'd much rather hear the reasoning directly from the person concerned."
The coffee came.
Their conversation came to a standstill as the smiling boy thanked the waitress for the coffee, beaming a charming, polite smile at her. The waitress giggled as she hugged the serving tray to herself and bounced away.
He stared impassively at what had just occurred in front of him. He remembered something about his cousin starting a host club or something like that, but the idea had been ludicrous.
"I hope you haven't come in hopes of convincing me to join that club of yours," he remarked, as that idea was even more ludicrous.
The smiling boy waved his hand in the air. "Oh, nothing like that. We already have me after all, so we have no need for someone else whose image is so similar. Now, your talent for Go, on the other hand, is something we are sorely lacking. I'm not asking you to join our club or anything, just to come over and teach us Go."
He snorted. His talent for Go?
"And why would I want to do that?" he asked.
The smiling boy took out a picture. "I'm sure you wouldn't want precious gobans used this way, would you?"
He stared at the photo, alarmed at seeing a cheeky boy sitting on a goban.
He clenched his fist. "Who is he?" he asked.
The smiling boy shrugged. "Just Kaoru, one of the twins from the club."
Kaoru? That was the same as his name. He seethed even further. Someone with the same name as his dared to treat a goban this way?
"You don't need to be taught Go," he gritted out as he tried to suppress his anger. "You need to be taught proper behavior."
The smiling boy raised his hands helplessly. "I'm sure we've all had Go lessons at one point or another, but those haven't stayed with us. We need someone who is truly passionate about Go to teach us. Or else, how would we know why in the world we should respect something like a plain goban? Our president is very eager to learn." The smiling boy looked at him in the eye.
"Aren't you passionate about Go?" asked the smiling boy.
He drained his coffee, which had long since cooled.
He had been neatly cornered, for Kishimoto Kaoru, though he was not walking the path of a pro, was nothing but passionate about Go.
by lucathia_rykatu
He sat alone in the coffee shop, the customers few and far between. He enjoyed the solitude as it proved relaxing, something that was hard to find on campus nowadays with all his underclassmen in the Go club asking him for matches. He had a good eye for talent, and he had known very quickly that he himself was not part of the talented. Instead, he took pride in helping others find their hidden talent by challenging them and goading them, prodding them, pushing them onto the path of a pro, the path that would one day lead to the Divine Move.
Sometimes, however, there just wasn't any talent to be found. The present was one of those times. At least, there was nothing to be found that would be comparable to Shindou's hidden talent. Perhaps the magnitude of Shindou's talent was just too overwhelming.
He had been drinking black coffee and reading the newspaper about Shindou's last match in the Hokuto Cup and trying to connect him with the directionless boy he had challenged all those years ago when a shadow fell over his paper, causing him to glance up.
"May I have a seat?" asked the smiling boy in front of him, eyes hidden behind glinting glasses. The smiling boy was dressed in a lavender suit with dark dress pants and a tie.
He very quickly recognized which school the uniform was from, and with that, he remembered the smiling boy's identity. He gestured for the boy to set down.
"What brings you here?" he asked as he set his mug of black coffee down, his tone wary.
The smiling boy just smiled. "Must there be a reason to visit my favorite cousin?"
"With you, there's always a reason," he pointed out.
The smiling boy pushed his glasses up. "True. But it can wait." Instead of explaining anything, the smiling boy called the waitress over and ordered coffee.
So much for his peaceful solitude.
As they waited for the coffee, he sighed and took off his own glasses to clean them. When his calculating cousin was in one of those smiling moods, he found that it was always better to wait for him to speak up than to say anything.
"Whatever happened to your dream of becoming a Go pro?" asked the smiling boy. "I distinctly remember you mentioning becoming an insei."
Ah, the question everyone asked. Had it really been that long since he last saw his cousin? He was tired of always being asked this question.
"That was a long time ago," he murmured once again. "I've passed that dream on to others more worthy of it." He paused, one eyebrow raised. "I'm sure, however, that you've already updated your data with that information."
The smiling boy chuckled. "True, I've done my homework about you, but I'd much rather hear the reasoning directly from the person concerned."
The coffee came.
Their conversation came to a standstill as the smiling boy thanked the waitress for the coffee, beaming a charming, polite smile at her. The waitress giggled as she hugged the serving tray to herself and bounced away.
He stared impassively at what had just occurred in front of him. He remembered something about his cousin starting a host club or something like that, but the idea had been ludicrous.
"I hope you haven't come in hopes of convincing me to join that club of yours," he remarked, as that idea was even more ludicrous.
The smiling boy waved his hand in the air. "Oh, nothing like that. We already have me after all, so we have no need for someone else whose image is so similar. Now, your talent for Go, on the other hand, is something we are sorely lacking. I'm not asking you to join our club or anything, just to come over and teach us Go."
He snorted. His talent for Go?
"And why would I want to do that?" he asked.
The smiling boy took out a picture. "I'm sure you wouldn't want precious gobans used this way, would you?"
He stared at the photo, alarmed at seeing a cheeky boy sitting on a goban.
He clenched his fist. "Who is he?" he asked.
The smiling boy shrugged. "Just Kaoru, one of the twins from the club."
Kaoru? That was the same as his name. He seethed even further. Someone with the same name as his dared to treat a goban this way?
"You don't need to be taught Go," he gritted out as he tried to suppress his anger. "You need to be taught proper behavior."
The smiling boy raised his hands helplessly. "I'm sure we've all had Go lessons at one point or another, but those haven't stayed with us. We need someone who is truly passionate about Go to teach us. Or else, how would we know why in the world we should respect something like a plain goban? Our president is very eager to learn." The smiling boy looked at him in the eye.
"Aren't you passionate about Go?" asked the smiling boy.
He drained his coffee, which had long since cooled.
He had been neatly cornered, for Kishimoto Kaoru, though he was not walking the path of a pro, was nothing but passionate about Go.