Work Text:
Her errands done, her daughter in tow, Kondou Akiko was looking forward to getting home and having a few hours to relax before her son came back from school. The elevator had to stop at nearly every floor on the way down, of course, with people doing their usual shuffling dance to get in and out of the cramped quarters, so she held Sayuri's hand tightly. At four, she was getting too big to carry.
"Stay close to Mama, now. We'll be home soon."
"Can I watch Zoo?" Sayuri asked.
"Yes, dear. You may watch Shimura Zoo when we get home. Make sure you hold Mama's hand," she reminded her daughter as she tried to let go to play with the buttons on her coat. It was nice that her favorite program was a cute little show, pleasant to watch, where no one got hurt too much. "And after Shimura Zoo, we can play with blocks!"
Everything seemed to be going so well! Then they stopped at a floor where two old men came in, and while the riders shuffled to give them space, Akiko heard a familiar squeal of delight that meant her daughter had seen something fascinating. Honestly, weren't little girls supposed to be shy?! But hardly had she heard the squeal when she felt her daughter's little hand slip away again, Sayuri running through child-sized gaps in the crowd to deboard the elevator.
"Sayuri! Excuse me!" she spoke up. "My daughter... excuse me!"
One of the gentlemen pushed the hold button, and the crowd compressed enough for her to get off, although she could hear the disapproving clucks and whispers, no doubt calling her a woman who didn't know how to watch her child properly. Well, let them think so.
"Sayuri!"
"Mama, look, look!" She took her daughter's hand back, shaking it gently while Sayuri stood on her toes to look in a little window. "The men are playing a fun game!"
She looked in the window, wondering how her daughter had even spotted the players from the elevator. Sayuri couldn't have had more than a second to look out through the press of people. "What game, sweetie?" she asked. There were men inside, certainly, most of them old and gray at this hour, sitting in pairs around wooden boards.
When her daughter didn't answer, and did nothing but stand transfixed with her face and hands pressed to the window, Akiko looked at the sign over the door.
An Igo parlor?! Well, this was awkward. Her own father, rest his soul, had gone to one from time to time, and those were hardly the kinds of places where she wanted her daughter watching the patrons through the window.
"Mama, can we go in?! I want to play the game!"
"Sayuri..."
Trying to keep her daughter from running at the door was something of a struggle, but not nearly as much of a struggle as trying to find a way to explain that there might be rough people inside, drinking and smoking and gambling and doing goodness knew what. She'd almost certainly get the question, "What's gambling?" in response, and she didn't want to have that conversation in front of a crowd of old men planning to lay bets any more than she wanted her daughter sitting in a cloud of cigarette smoke surrounded by foul-mouthed old men.
"Sayuri, this isn't a place for children. It's a grown-up place."
"But I want to play the game!"
"I'll play a game with you when we get home. We'll play blocks. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"But I want to play this game!" Now she was yelling practically loud enough that someone inside had to be able to hear. How embarrassing!
Akiko tried to close her daughter's mouth. "Quiet, now, Sayuri. We're going home. Come on." But even when she tried to pull Sayuri by the hand, she rooted her feet in place.
"I want to play!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, and then puffed out her cheeks to hold her breath as if to say she wouldn't move or breathe until she was allowed to go inside.
Not half a second later, the sound of barreling footsteps ended in a young man with blond-dyed bangs and a loosened tie over a rolled-up dress shirt bursting out the door, a look of surprise on his face that seemed like a lot more than even a child throwing a tantrum warranted. So it wasn't just old men who played in this place, but unreliable-looking businessmen who were apparently playing hooky from their offices? This was getting better and better. But maybe the young receptionist coming out behind him would be on her side, and help Sayuri understand that this wasn't a place for a child. The receptionist looked like a nice enough woman.
"Shindou-sensei?" the lady asked the man with the blond bangs. "What happened?"
Shindou-sensei? A young man like that was someone people called sensei? Well, maybe he was a novelist or something. That would explain why he wasn't at work and didn't look at all polite.
He blinked a few times at Sayuri, still holding her breath and staring right back at him. "It's... nothing. Sorry, Harumi-san. I thought... I heard someone I knew..."
Akiko took the opportunity to bow and pull her daughter closer to the elevator, before Sayuri could continue her staring match with the still unreliable-looking Shindou-sensei. "I'm very sorry to have disturbed you. My daughter and I were just leaving. Come on, Sayuri. Let's go. Let's leave the nice people alone."
More stubborn than she had ever been in her somewhat stubborn life, she kept holding her breath and shook her head, looking back at Shindou-sensei with challenge in her eyes. And goodness, she was starting to turn red!
The man knelt down with a bright smile. "Sayuri-chan, huh? My name's Shindou. Are you the one who wants to play?"
She nodded so hard, Akiko could feel it through their linked hands.
"How old are you, Sayuri-chan?"
That was enough to get her to breathe again, thank goodness, as she put up four fingers, counted them carefully and showed them to the man. "This many."
"That many?! Wow! And do you know what Go is, Sayuri-chan?"
Completely serious, she put out her thumb, counted again, and showed him all five fingers.
"Oh, someone's been studying!" Shindou-sensei laughed. Maybe he was a school teacher whose school was out on break? But what school would let a teacher bleach his hair?! "So, Sayuri-chan, what if I told you that usually, you have to be at least this many..." he said, holding out five of his own fingers. "... to go into a Go Parlor?"
Her daughter frowned, gearing up for a fight. "But I want to play!"
"Well, let me talk to your mother, Sayuri-chan, and see, if you promise to be a very good girl, if she'll make a special rule to let you go inside. But you'll have to follow everything Harumi-san here tells you if your mother says it's okay. Can you do that, Sayuri-chan?" She nodded again, less vehement but more happy, and Shindou-sensei stood up to whisper. "Ma'am..."
"You can call me Kondou. It's a pleasure to meet you, Shindou-sensei. Do you... work here?"
"Oh, no, Kondou-san. I don't work here. My friend just owns the place. And believe me, I wouldn't take a kid into most Go Parlors either. But Touya runs a good shop. It's quiet, it's clean, the guys are polite. And they'll have to answer to Harumi-san here if they're not. She'll be fine!"
Between disturbing the shop, and the shop owner's friend being so understanding (if not reputable-looking), and her daughter's pleading eyes, she relented with a sigh. "Well, I suppose a few minutes can't hurt." Before her daughter could cheer too much, she knelt down with a finger to her lips, and Sayuri echoed the gesture. "This is a quiet place, Sayuri. Like the library or a hospital, so use your inside voice and you can play for a few minutes."
"Yay!" she nearly squealed until she remembered to bring down the volume, and ran over to tug on Shindou-sensei's pant leg. "Let's go!"
"Okay, Sayuri-chan. Let's go." He turned back to nod, checking that it was all right with her, then smiled at the receptionist. "Why don't I cover their fee, since they weren't planning to stop?"
"Shindou-sensei, I couldn't possibly--"
The receptionist objected almost as quickly, "Touya-sensei would have my head if I let you pay for anything, Shindou-sensei. Today's on the house. Please come in, Kondou-san. It's nice to see young kids interested in Go, after all! Why, I remember when this one first came in..." she said, pointing to the blond-haired man with a smile.
"Hey, now, Harumi-san! I was almost in middle school!"
"Hikaru-niisan, let's play!" Sayuri whisper-screamed, tugging on the man's pant leg some more.
"His name is Shindou-sensei, Sayuri," she reminded her daughter. Where on earth had she even gotten Hikaru from? But the two of them weren't listening. They were walking off in a world of their own towards one of the tables set up in the parlor (which did look very peaceful and well maintained, without any particularly scruffy clients), while Akiko stayed near the front door for a moment to sign the reception book. She could keep an eye on her daughter from this angle while she settled everything with the receptionist.
"I'm so sorry to impose, Harumi-san. I don't know what came over her!"
"It's no worry! You know, the owner here was even younger than her when he started playing."
"Really? And the owner's friend... Shindou-sensei...? He's a good person, I suppose?"
"Oh, goodness!" The receptionist clapped her hand over her mouth. "You really are new to Go! I'm so sorry to say it like that... but that's Shindou-Honinbou! He's one of the top players at the Go Institute! I thought you knew..." Harumi-san pulled a framed magazine article off the wall, showing the blond man accepting an award on stage. "It's really an honor to know he started playing in our parlor way back when, although..." she whispered, leaning over the counter, "... it can be a nuisance, too. He and the owner still get in shouting matches over games sometimes, just like when they were in school."
"He's a professional Go player?" And according to the magazine, his given name was Hikaru, just like her daughter had said. The name Honinbou was a title he'd won. Well, he must have mentioned his name while he was talking to her, she supposed, and she simply didn't remember. But goodness gracious, she'd have to apologize to that man for misjudging him, and for putting him in such a situation... She pulled out the 500 yen fee and handed it over. "I must insist. You've been too kind."
At least, she tried.
"I couldn't possibly. Touya-sensei wouldn't want me to charge any guest of Shindou-sensei. Please, go right ahead."
With a bow, she headed over to the table, where Shindou-sensei had found her daughter a booster seat so she could reach the board. "Not bad, Sayuri-chan! So that's how you capture stones. Now let's try this one... You'll be black again." He laid out a pattern of black and white stones on the board. "Can you tell me how many liberties you have here?"
"One!" Sayuri answered, pointing at the one space where black wasn't surrounded by white.
"And where do you want to play for black to get out?"
"There."
He laid down the black stone for her next to the others, branching out toward the open board, then put one of the white stones next to it, blocking off her move so there was only one open space again. "And I guess I'll go here. What's next?"
She pointed silently at her one open space. Shindou-sensei put down a black stone, and then another white stone, corralling her play in, but there still one open space left despite that. Her daughter paused, though, and didn't point it out right away.
"What's the matter, Sayuri?" she asked. "Are you enjoying the game?"
Sayuri looked up, smiling brighter than if she'd just heard they were getting ice cream. "Yeah! Hikaru-niisan is teaching me!"
"Sayuri, that's Shindou-sensei."
The professional's smile almost matched her daughter's. "I don't mind, Kondou-san, really! We're friends, right, Sayuri-chan?" He held out his hand, and she tapped it in a child's best attempt at a high five. "So what do you think? Where do you want to play?"
"Not there," she answered. "It won't work."
His eyes going wide under his blond bangs, the young man asked, "You can see that already?"
She pointed at the board, saying, "Here, here, here, here..." over and over as she moved through points in a step-ladder fashion until she got all the way to the edge. "And then Hikaru-niisan plays here, and my guys are dead."
"You figured it out!" Shindou-sensei laughed. "You've got good eyes! That's one of the traps you've got to know about if you're going to play Go. I guess you're ready to try a puzzle, huh?"
"No, I want to play a game!"
"Sayuri, you should thank the nice man for teaching you. We don't have time to play a game today, since we have to go home in a few minutes. But if you want to come back another day, we can come back." This was, as promised, a nice enough place, not like the Go Parlors she'd heard her mother scolding her father about when she was a child, and supposed to not hear.
"Yay!" she chirped, then put her finger to her mouth when Akiko did the same to remind her to stay quiet.
"And if you beat five puzzles," Shindou-sensei added with a smile, "I'll play a game with you next time I see you. How about that?"
"Okay!"
"So like I said, you don't just want to capture stones in a game. You want to build strong walls so the other guy can't get in your spaces, right?" He put down a few white stones around one corner, and five black stones inside those. "So, there's one place you can play here that means white can't do anything. Can you find it?"
Her daughter studied the corner, more intently than she'd seen Sayuri watch anything before, and pointed to the spot that would turn two black stones into a triangle like the other three. Akiko wasn't sure why that was right, but Shindou-sensei seemed to think it was a perfect answer.
"That's right! So white can't play there, or there... so you're safe! Good job! Here's the next..."
It took them seven puzzles for Sayuri to win five, but by the time she was done, Akiko had a sense that this wasn't going to be something her daughter let go. Getting her out of the Go Parlor might involve carrying her out, chair and all... down the stairs, since they'd never fit in the elevator. But the sparkle in Sayuri's eyes was something to see. Shindou-sensei, meanwhile, must have been truly touched to see a child so young enjoying his profession. If she hadn't known better than to think a person would burst into tears in public over a game, she could have sworn Shindou-sensei was on the verge of crying every time Sayuri smiled and bounced and yelled, "Hikaru-niisan, one more, one more!"
"What did I promise, Sayuri-chan? If you win five, next time I see you here, we can play a game. So when you come back, you'd better be ready!"
"I will!"
"Okay, why don't you let Harumi-san help you with your coat so I can talk to your mother?"
"Okay!"
He kept his smile on while Sayuri ran the whole way to the entrance with her coat, then faced her, looking every inch the professional with his business card out, and his face so full of... something burning, to the point where Akiko had to stop herself from jumping at the transformation.
"Here's my card, and a list of good joseki books for a beginning player so Sayuri-chan can practice at home. Please let me teach your daughter. Please."
"Shindou-sensei..." She accepted his card, although her hands were shaking. "That's... such an honor, but I can't even promise she'll remember this next week..."
"She'll remember. I promise you, your daughter will remember. Even if it's nothing more than calling me when you plan to come to the Go Parlor, please let me be her teacher. I'm sorry to insist. I know... there's no way I can really explain this... but it would mean everything to me."
She could hear in the way his voice cracked when he said it that he wasn't exaggerating. "Is it because... That is, can you really tell so soon that she's so good a player?"
"Sayuri-chan... reminds me a lot of someone. Who may have been the best. No..." He looked towards the windows for a moment, maybe to hide the fact that he was even closer to tears than before. "Somebody who loved Go more than anything. That's why--"
"Mama, Hikaru-niisan! What are you talking about?"
He knelt to meet her, smile back on his face. "Just that I was wondering if you wanted a goban of your very own! Should I bring one for you next time?"
"Shindou-sensei, we couldn't possibly accept!" Those were expensive! Why, just seeing the price tags on the boards for sale near the entrance made her blood run cold. They'd have to save up for months to buy one on their family's budget. To take one as a gift from someone they'd just met would be absolutely unthinkable!
The professional nodded silently, seeming to understand. "Well, then, how about this? When you beat me in a game, you can have that board. My late grandfather left it to me, so it's kind of old and dusty, but it's a good board. I've got my own, though, Sayuri-chan, so I'd really like this one to be with someone who's going to take good care of it, and play on it a lot. I think... the person it belonged to... would like that. Do you think you can show me that you'll do that?"
Even Akiko couldn't help agreeing to those terms, even if not as excitedly as Sayuri did. This was all so sudden, and so strange, but she was hardly going to turn down the honor of a renowned professional -- even one who looked unreliable at first glance -- asking for the chance to teach her daughter. Chances like that were rarer than gold.
And she supposed it wouldn't do any harm to stop at the bookstore and pick up one of the lesson books Shindou-sensei had recommended. If Sayuri was going to take an interest in the game, it might be the only way to keep peace in the household.