Rethinking boundaries.
[ Locked to Echizen: I won’t apologize for pushing you -- I am your friend, and I still believe I had enough reasons for concern. But it was never my intention to hurt you. For that, I’m sorry.
And I didn’t have a chance to say this: congratulations. Your finishing move was exquisite. You’ve always exceeded expectations, Echizen, and today was no exception. ]
[ Private: I don’t know if Echizen has changed, or I simply never knew him. I suppose I didn’t consider the latter possibility much; he’d always possessed a streak of straightforwardness that I’d admired. That was one thing Echizen had in common with Tezuka. And I’d always known Tezuka. Or so I thought. His match with Atobe destroyed that illusion. Perhaps, I was similarly wrong about Echizen.
Seven years ago, my reasons for wanting to face Echizen was -- I admit it -- selfish. Tezuka faced him as his captain, in order to change him. I faced him because he interested me. Because I’d never had an opponent who pushed me the way he did, who rose to each of my challenges so beautifully. I’ve had other opponents who excited me or pushed me to evolve. But even out of all those, Echizen was special.
Echizen tells me there’s no deep, tragic secret. That his priorities simply changed.
If that’s true, why does he stifle himself so much? I saw a brief glimpse of the old Echizen today, when he defied all expectations and used Drive B to take the game from me. It’s also the happiest I’ve seen him since we met on the cruise.
Am I being presumptuous, I wonder? It isn’t, strictly speaking, any of my business. But the way he used to burn so brightly, without any regard for other people -- I miss that Echizen. Other than Tezuka, very few have interested me as much as Echizen did, and--
...Perhaps Tezuka isn’t the only reason I need to redefine personal boundaries. ]
[ OOC: Posted on April 17, 2012 and backdated to April 3, 2012, set shortly after the Prince of Billiards log. ]
And I didn’t have a chance to say this: congratulations. Your finishing move was exquisite. You’ve always exceeded expectations, Echizen, and today was no exception. ]
[ Private: I don’t know if Echizen has changed, or I simply never knew him. I suppose I didn’t consider the latter possibility much; he’d always possessed a streak of straightforwardness that I’d admired. That was one thing Echizen had in common with Tezuka. And I’d always known Tezuka. Or so I thought. His match with Atobe destroyed that illusion. Perhaps, I was similarly wrong about Echizen.
Seven years ago, my reasons for wanting to face Echizen was -- I admit it -- selfish. Tezuka faced him as his captain, in order to change him. I faced him because he interested me. Because I’d never had an opponent who pushed me the way he did, who rose to each of my challenges so beautifully. I’ve had other opponents who excited me or pushed me to evolve. But even out of all those, Echizen was special.
Echizen tells me there’s no deep, tragic secret. That his priorities simply changed.
If that’s true, why does he stifle himself so much? I saw a brief glimpse of the old Echizen today, when he defied all expectations and used Drive B to take the game from me. It’s also the happiest I’ve seen him since we met on the cruise.
Am I being presumptuous, I wonder? It isn’t, strictly speaking, any of my business. But the way he used to burn so brightly, without any regard for other people -- I miss that Echizen. Other than Tezuka, very few have interested me as much as Echizen did, and--
...Perhaps Tezuka isn’t the only reason I need to redefine personal boundaries. ]
[ OOC: Posted on April 17, 2012 and backdated to April 3, 2012, set shortly after the Prince of Billiards log. ]