[kataoka satoshi]
FIVE NOTES ON ONE OF SEVERAL IMPROBABLE INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF TOUYA KOUYO
by huabot
1.
"Hey!" Shindou-kun said. Akiko dropped her flat stare from Seiji to look down at the kid, who was standing with his hands on his hips in a pose he must have got from a sentai show. His scarf was still wrapped around his neck, black-yellow-blue, and Seiji half-expected it to go flying over his shoulder in the wind of his self-assurance. "Are you listening?"
Akiko smiled in a motherly sort of way. It reminded Seiji of his own mother at least, especially the way she ignored Shindou-kun's question entirely. "But Shindou-kun...where are you parents?"
"Mom and dad went away. Listen to me about Kei-chan."
Akiko had been listening with good humor, Seiji knew, even if she'd been using it as fuel for the constant stream of mental reproach beamed in his direction, but at between that her hands, clasped in her lap, went white at the knuckles. "Your parents...went away?"
"To Fukuoka. I'm staying at my grandpa's just for the weekend."
There was a moment of silence as the two adults slumped in relief.
Shindou slumped too. "He's really not here?"
"The Meijin should be home soon," Akiko allowed, "But Shindou-kun, we ought to call your grandparents. Don't you think they'll be-"
"I don't know the number. Anyway, I want to talk to the Meijin."
Akiko gave Seiji another look. It seemed like much more than minutes ago that the kid's story had been so amusing Seiji had somehow overlooked the fact that he was just a kid - about Akira's age, maybe. Or, he'd noticed, of course - that was part of why it was so funny - but he'd been bemused by the force of the kid's argument. And the Meijin should have been home, anyway; they had an appointment.
"I wonder if it's in the phone book - or should we call the police?"
"But it's on my phone!" Having been struck by a lucky jolt of memory, Shindou hurriedly fished around in his jacked and pulled it out. "Don't call the police, I'd really be in trouble. Big trouble. Really big trouble." He pushed a few buttons and handed the phone over; Akiko accepted it hesitantly but brought it to her ear. "Oh! Hello- No- Shindou-san, is it? This is Touya Akiko. Your grandson-"
Seiji looked back to the boy in question - he'd slumped to one side again, looking thoroughly miserable and tugging at his scarf. It was more than warm enough in the house to take it off; Seiji had a thought about ghost stories and missing heads. But Shindou was real enough. He twisted his scarf between his hands, watching Akira at the go-ban through the open door.
He'd ignored the other boy after his initial double-take, concentrating on making his case to Akiko. Seiji could almost see calculations trying to re-formulate themselves in Shindou's eyes now. He leaned forward. "That's Touya Akira, the Meijin's son."
He wasn't much of a teacher, he'd been discovering lately - his talents with go lay elsewhere, but he felt a small swell of satisfaction at the look on Shindou's face, the dawning realization - and then Shindou screwed up his face as Akiko passed him the phone. He spoke to the person on the other end with what was, Seiji supposed, a not entirely shocking lack of good manners.
"He really ran off on his own," Akiko told him, as though she had hardly imagined such a thing was possible for children before. "How do you get yourself into such things?'
Seiji was trying to formulate a reply to that - the kid had come running up to him outside of the Touyas' gate, after all, and it was clear that it was Touya Kouyo he was interested in - when Shindou flipped the phone shut and hopped to his feet.
"What about him," he said, pointing to Akira. "Can he really play?"
Akiko looked like she didn't quite know how to answer this question, Seiji decided valor was the better part of discretion. "Of course. Akira-kun is quite a prodigy."
"What's that? What? Whatever. I'll take him. He can play Kei-chan and tell the Meijin."
"Shindou-kun-"
"He doesn't look busy, does he?" He was on his feet again and through the doorway in a flash. Akiko got to her feet to look after him.
"Ogata-san..." she began, looking back over her shoulder.
Akira had looked up from the board and was watching Shindou approach.
Shindou glanced between the board and Akira. "You can play?"
Akira nodded.
"You heard me?"
"A little."
"You believe me?"
Akira shook his head. Shindou shook his head right back at him and grabbed him by the hand, turning around and pulling him back toward the other room. There was a grin on his face and over his shoulder Seiji could make out the astonished look on Akira's face.
"Ogata-san-" Akiko began again.
2.
"I tried to bring her, but she didn't want to get into the bag." Akiko kept one eye on the rear-view mirror as Shindou-kun enthusiastically mimed trying to shove a cat into a bag and then raised his arm and pulled down his sleeve, where a of set scratches curved angrily around his forearm.
"Oh," Akiko said, dismayed. She'd wondered whether there was any cat at all, or if the boy's active imagination had made the thing up entirely. And it was a nasty scratch. "You ought to have said something, Shindou-kun. I could have taken care of those."
"It's okay, I'm tough." Shindou took a long time pulling up his sleeve, half-awkwardness and half-carefulness. When he was done he looked over to Akira.
"You don't believe me?"
Akira had been quiet since they'd settled into the car. In contrast to Shindou's slumped shoulders and swinging feet, he was sitting up neatly in the confine of his seatbelt. His expression did indeed look doubtful.
"Why is your hair like that?" he asked. Shindou's bangs were blond; a precocious style for a boy his age, Akiko thought.
"Because I like it."
Akira looked even more skeptical. Shindou-kun ignored him and addressed Akiko again.
"Kei-chan is Keizen. My grandpa found her in the shed and she could always play go from when she was a kitten." Back to Akira - "You don't believe me."
"Of course not," Akira said. "Go's not easy. Animals don't play."
"Even my grandpa can do it."
"And Shindou-kun?" Akiko asked, trying to keep her voice even.
"Me? No way, too boring."
"I don't mind proving you wrong," Akira said. "About- about both things." Shindou-kun grinned at him; and just like that something about his assurance made Akiko wonder for the first time what it meant that he really did believe that his cat, or his grandfather's cat, could play go. What sort of people was she driving to? They'd sounded properly concerned and normal enough on the phone, but then she hadn't really raised the issue of the cat.
"There something I wanted to ask you, Shindou-kun, about finding our house."
"Your house?"
"How did you-"
"That's because the old man's gone before, and I went too. And then I was stuck in that old house and it was so boring and Kei-chan goes crazy when that guy shows up. She always does whatever she wants. Why does an old man like a cat that much?" Shindou crossed his arms over his chest.
"Your grandfather was-"
"Oh, yeah. He was scared to talk to you all. So we stood outside and ate ice-cream."
"I see. You came all the way from having been with your grandfather once before?"
"Remembering's easy. But I had to spend my own money on the train."
3.
The cat played go. At least, Akiko could discover no trick about it. Kei-chan put her paw over the board and a person placed the stones as she indicated; in this case Shindou-kun had volunteered, much to his grandfather's astonishment. It was easy to guess that he was not usually so accommodating. There had been a great deal of apologies and smoothing over at first, but in the end it seemed the grandfather was ordinary and Kei-chan was, as advertised, a cat. A tiny cat with white fur and mis-matched eyes.
Akiko had been told she was deaf in her left ear, but she noticed it flicking about as though the cat was listening for something. Shindou was on that side and certainly doing his best to provide both of the players with something to listen to.
"Why is your hair like that?" was his latest question.
Akira ignored him, placing his stone precisely. He had quickly sunk his attention into the game, at least as far as Shindou-kun would let him, and seeing that had convinced Akiko as much as anything might.
"Do you go to school?"
"Of course I do," Akira said. "Excuse me." He had spent a little while studying the board with that little frown line he got right down the middle of his forehead that always made Akiko's fingers twitch, and he placed his stone. The cat moved her paw, and Shindou placed her stone. It was the smoothest exchange of hands in a quarter of an hour, and Shindou-kun managed to hold silent, if not still, for a few more moves.
"I don't see how you consider this fun," he burst out, having missed Akira's last move. He was busy rolling the stone around on his nose, not even looking. The cat had given up batting at the board and was now batting at his sleeve. "It's not even a real game, like soccer."
He sat up. "Are you listening?" Akiko bit back a smile at that. Shindou-kun, for all his fidgeting, didn't seem inclined to go amuse himself.
"But I don't like soccer," Akira said. "If you want, I can lay the stones for her." Shindou-kun sighed and made the move with a glance.
"What kind of kid are you?" he asked her son morosely, pulling out the next stone and trying to balance it on his nose again.
Beside her, Shindou's grandfather drew in a breath to reprimand him and let it go in a heavy sigh as she touched his arm.
Akiko, who had sometimes asked herself a similar question, smiled.
4.
Seiji had been close with the Meijin for long enough that he could remember an Akira with much shorter legs, but somehow the eight-year old Akira of today looked smaller than ever at his father's side. Maybe it was because he was acting his age more than usual. He'd talked quickly and excitedly of nothing but his visit since yesterday, at least within Seiji's earshot. Seiji's own teaching games had never been received with such enthusiasm.
Touya-sensei glanced back and caught his amusement; he lifted a corner of his mouth in response and slowed his steps a bit to lean back and stage whisper, "Ichiryu will have a field day with this if he ever finds out." Seiji smirked at him and breathed a streamer smoke into the day, which was already a flat grey.
It wouldn't just be one person. It'd be Kuwabara and Serizawa and... any pro Seiji could think of, really. Luckily, the Meijin didn't seem concerned for his reputation.
And, in the end, there was a go player somewhere in this house. The teaching game Akira had shown them had the hand of a skilled player behind it, with an old-fashioned style that one didn't see much of.
Seiji stubbed out his cigarette and stepped inside. The Shindous' house had a faintly musty odor, but every surface was polished clean. Inside, lined up to meet them, stood Shindou-kun and his parents and grandparents. Shindou was squirming in his button-up shirt, and the rest of the family didn't look much more at ease.
As soon as they'd gone through the formalities, Shindou-kun wormed his way forward to grab Akira's hand and tried to pull him away. Akira was having none of it. He twisted free in a rare flash of temper and looked after his father into the room where Keizen was already sitting at the go-ban.
Seiji followed his gaze and found his attention caught. The cat was looking at them. Even from here Seiji could see the odd-colored eyes standing out against her pale fur. The left one was such deep blue it was almost violet.
"Hey!" He looked down - Shindou had his fists on his hips again. "You said - I found that old board and cleaned it off just for this." A demand than a plea. "Don't chicken out now."
Akira made a face. He glanced back into the room where his father was settling at the board. Strange, but there was surely a gathering atmosphere. Seiji had been present at too many games to attribute the pressurized feeling just to the weather outside.
"Don't worry about that," Shindou said, smiling in his sudden way. He took Akira's hand again and pulled. "They'll be doing that for a long time. So come on. Show me what's so great."
There was a pause, Akira's arm pulled out tight and his whole body straining away, and then all at once he let himself be led. Shindou half-stumbled into a run and the lack of resistance, surging around the corner with his victim in tow.
Seiji was poised to follow when a slight but familiar sound woke him. He shook his head and moved away from the fading footsteps, into the wound-tight room.
He couldn't imagine why he'd even thought about going after them. As much as he enjoyed teasing Akira...opportunities to tease his father were few and far between.
5.
The cat lost - by 1/2 a moku.
by huabot
1.
"Hey!" Shindou-kun said. Akiko dropped her flat stare from Seiji to look down at the kid, who was standing with his hands on his hips in a pose he must have got from a sentai show. His scarf was still wrapped around his neck, black-yellow-blue, and Seiji half-expected it to go flying over his shoulder in the wind of his self-assurance. "Are you listening?"
Akiko smiled in a motherly sort of way. It reminded Seiji of his own mother at least, especially the way she ignored Shindou-kun's question entirely. "But Shindou-kun...where are you parents?"
"Mom and dad went away. Listen to me about Kei-chan."
Akiko had been listening with good humor, Seiji knew, even if she'd been using it as fuel for the constant stream of mental reproach beamed in his direction, but at between that her hands, clasped in her lap, went white at the knuckles. "Your parents...went away?"
"To Fukuoka. I'm staying at my grandpa's just for the weekend."
There was a moment of silence as the two adults slumped in relief.
Shindou slumped too. "He's really not here?"
"The Meijin should be home soon," Akiko allowed, "But Shindou-kun, we ought to call your grandparents. Don't you think they'll be-"
"I don't know the number. Anyway, I want to talk to the Meijin."
Akiko gave Seiji another look. It seemed like much more than minutes ago that the kid's story had been so amusing Seiji had somehow overlooked the fact that he was just a kid - about Akira's age, maybe. Or, he'd noticed, of course - that was part of why it was so funny - but he'd been bemused by the force of the kid's argument. And the Meijin should have been home, anyway; they had an appointment.
"I wonder if it's in the phone book - or should we call the police?"
"But it's on my phone!" Having been struck by a lucky jolt of memory, Shindou hurriedly fished around in his jacked and pulled it out. "Don't call the police, I'd really be in trouble. Big trouble. Really big trouble." He pushed a few buttons and handed the phone over; Akiko accepted it hesitantly but brought it to her ear. "Oh! Hello- No- Shindou-san, is it? This is Touya Akiko. Your grandson-"
Seiji looked back to the boy in question - he'd slumped to one side again, looking thoroughly miserable and tugging at his scarf. It was more than warm enough in the house to take it off; Seiji had a thought about ghost stories and missing heads. But Shindou was real enough. He twisted his scarf between his hands, watching Akira at the go-ban through the open door.
He'd ignored the other boy after his initial double-take, concentrating on making his case to Akiko. Seiji could almost see calculations trying to re-formulate themselves in Shindou's eyes now. He leaned forward. "That's Touya Akira, the Meijin's son."
He wasn't much of a teacher, he'd been discovering lately - his talents with go lay elsewhere, but he felt a small swell of satisfaction at the look on Shindou's face, the dawning realization - and then Shindou screwed up his face as Akiko passed him the phone. He spoke to the person on the other end with what was, Seiji supposed, a not entirely shocking lack of good manners.
"He really ran off on his own," Akiko told him, as though she had hardly imagined such a thing was possible for children before. "How do you get yourself into such things?'
Seiji was trying to formulate a reply to that - the kid had come running up to him outside of the Touyas' gate, after all, and it was clear that it was Touya Kouyo he was interested in - when Shindou flipped the phone shut and hopped to his feet.
"What about him," he said, pointing to Akira. "Can he really play?"
Akiko looked like she didn't quite know how to answer this question, Seiji decided valor was the better part of discretion. "Of course. Akira-kun is quite a prodigy."
"What's that? What? Whatever. I'll take him. He can play Kei-chan and tell the Meijin."
"Shindou-kun-"
"He doesn't look busy, does he?" He was on his feet again and through the doorway in a flash. Akiko got to her feet to look after him.
"Ogata-san..." she began, looking back over her shoulder.
Akira had looked up from the board and was watching Shindou approach.
Shindou glanced between the board and Akira. "You can play?"
Akira nodded.
"You heard me?"
"A little."
"You believe me?"
Akira shook his head. Shindou shook his head right back at him and grabbed him by the hand, turning around and pulling him back toward the other room. There was a grin on his face and over his shoulder Seiji could make out the astonished look on Akira's face.
"Ogata-san-" Akiko began again.
2.
"I tried to bring her, but she didn't want to get into the bag." Akiko kept one eye on the rear-view mirror as Shindou-kun enthusiastically mimed trying to shove a cat into a bag and then raised his arm and pulled down his sleeve, where a of set scratches curved angrily around his forearm.
"Oh," Akiko said, dismayed. She'd wondered whether there was any cat at all, or if the boy's active imagination had made the thing up entirely. And it was a nasty scratch. "You ought to have said something, Shindou-kun. I could have taken care of those."
"It's okay, I'm tough." Shindou took a long time pulling up his sleeve, half-awkwardness and half-carefulness. When he was done he looked over to Akira.
"You don't believe me?"
Akira had been quiet since they'd settled into the car. In contrast to Shindou's slumped shoulders and swinging feet, he was sitting up neatly in the confine of his seatbelt. His expression did indeed look doubtful.
"Why is your hair like that?" he asked. Shindou's bangs were blond; a precocious style for a boy his age, Akiko thought.
"Because I like it."
Akira looked even more skeptical. Shindou-kun ignored him and addressed Akiko again.
"Kei-chan is Keizen. My grandpa found her in the shed and she could always play go from when she was a kitten." Back to Akira - "You don't believe me."
"Of course not," Akira said. "Go's not easy. Animals don't play."
"Even my grandpa can do it."
"And Shindou-kun?" Akiko asked, trying to keep her voice even.
"Me? No way, too boring."
"I don't mind proving you wrong," Akira said. "About- about both things." Shindou-kun grinned at him; and just like that something about his assurance made Akiko wonder for the first time what it meant that he really did believe that his cat, or his grandfather's cat, could play go. What sort of people was she driving to? They'd sounded properly concerned and normal enough on the phone, but then she hadn't really raised the issue of the cat.
"There something I wanted to ask you, Shindou-kun, about finding our house."
"Your house?"
"How did you-"
"That's because the old man's gone before, and I went too. And then I was stuck in that old house and it was so boring and Kei-chan goes crazy when that guy shows up. She always does whatever she wants. Why does an old man like a cat that much?" Shindou crossed his arms over his chest.
"Your grandfather was-"
"Oh, yeah. He was scared to talk to you all. So we stood outside and ate ice-cream."
"I see. You came all the way from having been with your grandfather once before?"
"Remembering's easy. But I had to spend my own money on the train."
3.
The cat played go. At least, Akiko could discover no trick about it. Kei-chan put her paw over the board and a person placed the stones as she indicated; in this case Shindou-kun had volunteered, much to his grandfather's astonishment. It was easy to guess that he was not usually so accommodating. There had been a great deal of apologies and smoothing over at first, but in the end it seemed the grandfather was ordinary and Kei-chan was, as advertised, a cat. A tiny cat with white fur and mis-matched eyes.
Akiko had been told she was deaf in her left ear, but she noticed it flicking about as though the cat was listening for something. Shindou was on that side and certainly doing his best to provide both of the players with something to listen to.
"Why is your hair like that?" was his latest question.
Akira ignored him, placing his stone precisely. He had quickly sunk his attention into the game, at least as far as Shindou-kun would let him, and seeing that had convinced Akiko as much as anything might.
"Do you go to school?"
"Of course I do," Akira said. "Excuse me." He had spent a little while studying the board with that little frown line he got right down the middle of his forehead that always made Akiko's fingers twitch, and he placed his stone. The cat moved her paw, and Shindou placed her stone. It was the smoothest exchange of hands in a quarter of an hour, and Shindou-kun managed to hold silent, if not still, for a few more moves.
"I don't see how you consider this fun," he burst out, having missed Akira's last move. He was busy rolling the stone around on his nose, not even looking. The cat had given up batting at the board and was now batting at his sleeve. "It's not even a real game, like soccer."
He sat up. "Are you listening?" Akiko bit back a smile at that. Shindou-kun, for all his fidgeting, didn't seem inclined to go amuse himself.
"But I don't like soccer," Akira said. "If you want, I can lay the stones for her." Shindou-kun sighed and made the move with a glance.
"What kind of kid are you?" he asked her son morosely, pulling out the next stone and trying to balance it on his nose again.
Beside her, Shindou's grandfather drew in a breath to reprimand him and let it go in a heavy sigh as she touched his arm.
Akiko, who had sometimes asked herself a similar question, smiled.
4.
Seiji had been close with the Meijin for long enough that he could remember an Akira with much shorter legs, but somehow the eight-year old Akira of today looked smaller than ever at his father's side. Maybe it was because he was acting his age more than usual. He'd talked quickly and excitedly of nothing but his visit since yesterday, at least within Seiji's earshot. Seiji's own teaching games had never been received with such enthusiasm.
Touya-sensei glanced back and caught his amusement; he lifted a corner of his mouth in response and slowed his steps a bit to lean back and stage whisper, "Ichiryu will have a field day with this if he ever finds out." Seiji smirked at him and breathed a streamer smoke into the day, which was already a flat grey.
It wouldn't just be one person. It'd be Kuwabara and Serizawa and... any pro Seiji could think of, really. Luckily, the Meijin didn't seem concerned for his reputation.
And, in the end, there was a go player somewhere in this house. The teaching game Akira had shown them had the hand of a skilled player behind it, with an old-fashioned style that one didn't see much of.
Seiji stubbed out his cigarette and stepped inside. The Shindous' house had a faintly musty odor, but every surface was polished clean. Inside, lined up to meet them, stood Shindou-kun and his parents and grandparents. Shindou was squirming in his button-up shirt, and the rest of the family didn't look much more at ease.
As soon as they'd gone through the formalities, Shindou-kun wormed his way forward to grab Akira's hand and tried to pull him away. Akira was having none of it. He twisted free in a rare flash of temper and looked after his father into the room where Keizen was already sitting at the go-ban.
Seiji followed his gaze and found his attention caught. The cat was looking at them. Even from here Seiji could see the odd-colored eyes standing out against her pale fur. The left one was such deep blue it was almost violet.
"Hey!" He looked down - Shindou had his fists on his hips again. "You said - I found that old board and cleaned it off just for this." A demand than a plea. "Don't chicken out now."
Akira made a face. He glanced back into the room where his father was settling at the board. Strange, but there was surely a gathering atmosphere. Seiji had been present at too many games to attribute the pressurized feeling just to the weather outside.
"Don't worry about that," Shindou said, smiling in his sudden way. He took Akira's hand again and pulled. "They'll be doing that for a long time. So come on. Show me what's so great."
There was a pause, Akira's arm pulled out tight and his whole body straining away, and then all at once he let himself be led. Shindou half-stumbled into a run and the lack of resistance, surging around the corner with his victim in tow.
Seiji was poised to follow when a slight but familiar sound woke him. He shook his head and moved away from the fading footsteps, into the wound-tight room.
He couldn't imagine why he'd even thought about going after them. As much as he enjoyed teasing Akira...opportunities to tease his father were few and far between.
5.
The cat lost - by 1/2 a moku.