Blind Luck2: No Way Back Chapter 8
May. 19th, 2011 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onkoonaBlind Luck2: No Way Back
Chapter 8
A rattling knock on the shower door startled Sai out of his thoughts. The door slid open a little, letting steam out and colder air in.
'Sorry to startle you, just came in to pick up your wet things. I've put a towel on the sink and some clothes on the side board. It's a jogging suit, it should fit well enough.' Ogata said gently.
Using the time to pull himself together, Sai moved away from under the spray a bit, spluttering as a stray jet hit him in the mouth, then he finally said, 'Thanks, I'll be right out.' over his shoulder, effectively dismissing his friend.
The shower door closed and the blind man exhaled.
'I thought we were going to the Go club,' Sai asked after Ogata told him to put the bagged sweater in his bag before the titleholder started to push the blind man out the door.
'First we're going to get you some decent clothing,' he said, stooping down to put on his shoes. Sai slipped into his sandals after retrieving them from his cubby hole.
'Ogata-san, I don't want to spend any more money on clothing,' Sai said, not letting Ogata's tugging move him further out of the house. The other man wasn't tugging very hard; if he had, he would have been able to make the lighter man come with him, whether Sai would have liked to or not. But the blind man's refusal to move was respected by the tile holder in the most direct way possible; he stopped tugging and started explaining.
'I was thinking we could take back that sweater and you can get something else. I know my 'friend' Shitateya has more affordable things in his store. Serves him right for pushing.' Ogata almost sounded gleeful at the prospect. Sai was merely speechless.
'Uh, that is,' Ogata back paddled when Sai said nothing to his plan, 'If you want to keep the sweater, you can do that to. I still owe you money from the bet.' he suggested.
That money was really haunting the blind man; he wanted to scream 'it isn't mine!' but he didn't. It was pointless to argue over this with the Go pro, since it was Kawai's money anyway. Sai wondered how he was ever going to pay the man back?
Sai came back to himself, 'Uh, no, I think I do want to exchange the sweater, if, uhm, you're sure it's not going to damage your reputation...?' he asked tentatively. Exchanging sounded like a very good idea. Sai had considered the money and the sweater a lost cause; he could never have worn the thing comfortably.
Ogata swung the front door open and stepped out the apartment. 'I am sure,' Sai said, and he had to admit: he sounded it too.
xXXx
With Ogata doing the guiding and the handling of Mr. Shitateya, it hadn't take long to exchange the nice sweater for 2 long sleeved t-shirts, a pair of leggings and most of Sai's money back, all thanks to Ogata's expert verbal twisting of Mr. Shitateya's arm. The titleholder even made the former ghost feel he was going a little far when he demanded the retailer take another 10% off the total bill for bad salesmanship (as in misjudging a customer's means) towards Sai.
Mr. Shitateya did everything asked of him and gave Sai a sincere sounding apology. Sai accepted it immediately. The fashion store owner promised to do better next time.
In the end the clothing cost Sai only Y3400, putting Y4,599 back into his pocket and the addition of the new clothes almost doubled his worldly possessions.
But for all the good ending of the affair, Sai was not exactly happy about how his friend had handled the situation. Sai was grateful for the help, very grateful, but both the situation of Sai needing such help and the forceful way Ogata had supplied it bothered the blind man still, as he rode in the passenger seat of the pro player's fancy car towards the Go club.
oOOo
They didn't arrive at the Touya Go Club until 4:15. And walking into the club, Sai's ears were subjected to the high pitched sounds of a shouting match between Touya and Hikaru, hitting its crescendo.
'If you think I'm going to bother with you if you keep making these piss-poor moves all the time, you are very much mistaken!' young Touya screeched. Sai put his hands to his ears, pressing down to block out the noise.
'What do you call that weak play in the corner then?' Hikaru countered at the top of his voice.
'I'll have you know that was a solid move! Not everybody barges through a game like an enraged bull, it pays to exercise some caution!' Touya sounded ready to explode.
'Caution, my eye! Cowardice, you mean! It just shows you're too much of a sissy to make any real moves!' Hikaru shouted back.
'KNOCK IT OFF, THE BOTH OF YA!' Ogata bellowed. The boys fell silent. Sai dropped his hands away from his ears cautiously. He found this fight between his new young friend and his old young fiend quite unsettling. What there animosity between these two also? Would he be caught in it too? He hoped not; he really liked both boys.
'If you two can't play nice, maybe you just shouldn't play at all,' came the titleholder’s exasperated sigh.
Two sets of footsteps moved loser.
'We're just having a friendly argument,' Touya deadpanned. Sai was wondering, if this was a 'friendly argument', he couldn't imagine what truly adversarial between these two would be like. His ears were still ringing!
'And any ways, he started it,' Hikaru's melodious voice added.
'Hey!' Touya exclaimed indignantly. But before they start in on each other again Ogata interrupted,
'Well, keep it down, there are people who want to concentrate here. And play games. Is anybody actually interested in playing?' he added.
Both boys answered in affirmatives, Sai adding his 'yes, please!' to the sentiments.
xXXx
It turned out everybody wanted to play their newest friend, and Sai wanted to be able to follow any and all games played, so the older pro came up with a solution.
He suggested they play a teamed match; one team would play black, the other white in one game on one board. First the first member of black would lay a stone, then the first of white followed by the second of black and then the second of white and the first of black again, and so on.
There would be no conferring within the teams; the second player would have to work out an appropriate continuing move for his side of the team, by trying to follow his team mate's plan.
Sai was intrigued by the new rules, looking forward to playing.
They formed the teams by having Sai draw stones for each of them, from 4 stones, (2 black, 2 white), laid out on top of the Goban. As Sai couldn't see what he'd draw, it seemed fairest.
The blind man drew white for Touya and himself, komi was set at 5,5.
As they started playing, Sai had forgotten to put back the stone that marked him as being on the white team. It felt so satisfying to hold it, he didn't want to interrupt the game to hand it over to Touya to play. He grasped it tightly in his fist as a lucky charm.
The game itself turned out to be very interesting; none of the pros had much team spirit, each being used to being their own man within Go. And even though the suggestion had come from the titleholder, it was he and Hikaru that were having the biggest problems.
Sai, who was 4th to play each round, did his best to anticipate what Touya's next move after Hikaru's would be and tried to make a move that would best help him. Touya seemed to pick up on this some and between them they managed to make some workable strategies.
Hikaru played 3rd, Ogata having started, but it became clear rather quickly that Ogata couldn't do much with Hikaru's sometimes very decisive moves. As the game progressed, Sai detected that a consensus had indeed been reached between the two; Hikaru did his own thing on one side of the Goban while Ogata did his on some other part of the board.
Sai pondered for a few rounds if and how he should use this new insight. And then decided that both his opponents where pro players, and would take a good lesson from being obliterated today. And he knew just how to do that.
He drew Touya's attention to their opponents' choice of play by playing a few well-placed stones in the next few rounds. Touya then played a stone that Sai interpreted as 'understood'. Sai went on the offensive, this time leading instead of following his team mate, like he had been. He kept his strategy on a match with Touya's level of play, which seemed to work as Touya's moves followed the plan almost flawlessly.
The other team started to sweat, giving each other grim looks. They did change their strategy, but just couldn't find a flow together. Then they abandoned the attempt and each concentrated on foiling as much of the white team's gambits as possibly. They played it out to the bitter end, as apparently neither Ogata nor Hikaru were willing to throw in the towel.
By the time the very last stone was played the board was a big mess, and black had lost by 77 /moku/, (could have been worse; at one point they had been 105 /moku/ behind).
Sai very much enjoyed the post-game discussion over dinner (sandwiches and a mug of soup for him, take-away ramen for the rest).
xXXx
After dinner both boys had to leave. But Hikaru didn't leave before trying to set another time to meet.
/'I'll be here from 2 again tomorrow, Touya too,'/ he whispered. Sai nodded his understanding. /'Don't hesitate to call if you need anything,'/ with that he left.
Sai had very much wanted to talk to Hikaru alone, to ask him more about his past and their time together, but there just didn't seem to be any time. Also he still owed the older pro player a much more immediate debt and the former ghost did know how to practice patience. He readied himself for this night’s game with the titleholder.
oOOo
Ogata had suggested they go home for the game, and Sai had had no objections.
In the man's flat, Ogata first looked over the mail and Sai asked to call the shelter, to let them know he wasn't coming. That is if Ogata still wanted him as a houseguest, Sai queried. Ogata assured him he did, and Sai made the call. Maybe it was a bit much to ask if he was allowed to stay so many times, but above all the blind man did not want to impose on his gracious host.
As Sai put down the receiver, Ogata said, 'You don't have to ask every night, you know.'
'I, uh, just want to be sure,' Sai felt like he was defending himself against some accusation, but he could not quite fathom what he stood accused of.
'And do you have to call them every night?' Ogata continued.
'So they know I'm not coming, and they can give my bed to someone else,' Sai patiently explained.
'Of course,' the pro agreed, 'But why not tell them you're here and have done?'
Sai bit his lip, he really didn't want to tell the other man too much of his life at the shelter. He settled for revealing, 'If I give up my place officially like that, I might not get it back...'
'Why would you want to go back there anyway?' Ogata asked.
Sai stayed silent on that; he did not want to insult his host by suggesting he thought he might not be welcome the next night. This was really his own insecurity talking, he knew that; his own inability to read the Go pro's intentions for Sai's future.
Hoping to change the direction of the conversation, he said,
'Anyway, my winter stuff is still there...'
'Well, we can pick that up tomorrow morning,' Ogata countered, almost sounding gleeful.
Sai wasn't sure why he was hesitating; the idea was a good one, after all he had lived here for some days now and compared to the shelter, this flat was paradise. So why not make it official? But some doubt niggled at the back of his mind still.
'We'd have to go early, because the doors close for the day at 9am,' Sai informed him, half heartedly trying to let that fact be a deterrent.
'Arg,' the other man said in a flat tone. 'We'll make it,' he added with more confidence and flopped onto the couch noisily.
Sai shelved his thoughts as Ogata suggested playing.
The blind man felt a whole lot sharper than he had for last night's game, despite having had a long day. And the titleholder also seemed to be on the ball, for Sai quickly had to give the game his full attention.
xXXx
Don’t forget to review!!!
Chapter 8
A rattling knock on the shower door startled Sai out of his thoughts. The door slid open a little, letting steam out and colder air in.
'Sorry to startle you, just came in to pick up your wet things. I've put a towel on the sink and some clothes on the side board. It's a jogging suit, it should fit well enough.' Ogata said gently.
Using the time to pull himself together, Sai moved away from under the spray a bit, spluttering as a stray jet hit him in the mouth, then he finally said, 'Thanks, I'll be right out.' over his shoulder, effectively dismissing his friend.
The shower door closed and the blind man exhaled.
'I thought we were going to the Go club,' Sai asked after Ogata told him to put the bagged sweater in his bag before the titleholder started to push the blind man out the door.
'First we're going to get you some decent clothing,' he said, stooping down to put on his shoes. Sai slipped into his sandals after retrieving them from his cubby hole.
'Ogata-san, I don't want to spend any more money on clothing,' Sai said, not letting Ogata's tugging move him further out of the house. The other man wasn't tugging very hard; if he had, he would have been able to make the lighter man come with him, whether Sai would have liked to or not. But the blind man's refusal to move was respected by the tile holder in the most direct way possible; he stopped tugging and started explaining.
'I was thinking we could take back that sweater and you can get something else. I know my 'friend' Shitateya has more affordable things in his store. Serves him right for pushing.' Ogata almost sounded gleeful at the prospect. Sai was merely speechless.
'Uh, that is,' Ogata back paddled when Sai said nothing to his plan, 'If you want to keep the sweater, you can do that to. I still owe you money from the bet.' he suggested.
That money was really haunting the blind man; he wanted to scream 'it isn't mine!' but he didn't. It was pointless to argue over this with the Go pro, since it was Kawai's money anyway. Sai wondered how he was ever going to pay the man back?
Sai came back to himself, 'Uh, no, I think I do want to exchange the sweater, if, uhm, you're sure it's not going to damage your reputation...?' he asked tentatively. Exchanging sounded like a very good idea. Sai had considered the money and the sweater a lost cause; he could never have worn the thing comfortably.
Ogata swung the front door open and stepped out the apartment. 'I am sure,' Sai said, and he had to admit: he sounded it too.
xXXx
With Ogata doing the guiding and the handling of Mr. Shitateya, it hadn't take long to exchange the nice sweater for 2 long sleeved t-shirts, a pair of leggings and most of Sai's money back, all thanks to Ogata's expert verbal twisting of Mr. Shitateya's arm. The titleholder even made the former ghost feel he was going a little far when he demanded the retailer take another 10% off the total bill for bad salesmanship (as in misjudging a customer's means) towards Sai.
Mr. Shitateya did everything asked of him and gave Sai a sincere sounding apology. Sai accepted it immediately. The fashion store owner promised to do better next time.
In the end the clothing cost Sai only Y3400, putting Y4,599 back into his pocket and the addition of the new clothes almost doubled his worldly possessions.
But for all the good ending of the affair, Sai was not exactly happy about how his friend had handled the situation. Sai was grateful for the help, very grateful, but both the situation of Sai needing such help and the forceful way Ogata had supplied it bothered the blind man still, as he rode in the passenger seat of the pro player's fancy car towards the Go club.
oOOo
They didn't arrive at the Touya Go Club until 4:15. And walking into the club, Sai's ears were subjected to the high pitched sounds of a shouting match between Touya and Hikaru, hitting its crescendo.
'If you think I'm going to bother with you if you keep making these piss-poor moves all the time, you are very much mistaken!' young Touya screeched. Sai put his hands to his ears, pressing down to block out the noise.
'What do you call that weak play in the corner then?' Hikaru countered at the top of his voice.
'I'll have you know that was a solid move! Not everybody barges through a game like an enraged bull, it pays to exercise some caution!' Touya sounded ready to explode.
'Caution, my eye! Cowardice, you mean! It just shows you're too much of a sissy to make any real moves!' Hikaru shouted back.
'KNOCK IT OFF, THE BOTH OF YA!' Ogata bellowed. The boys fell silent. Sai dropped his hands away from his ears cautiously. He found this fight between his new young friend and his old young fiend quite unsettling. What there animosity between these two also? Would he be caught in it too? He hoped not; he really liked both boys.
'If you two can't play nice, maybe you just shouldn't play at all,' came the titleholder’s exasperated sigh.
Two sets of footsteps moved loser.
'We're just having a friendly argument,' Touya deadpanned. Sai was wondering, if this was a 'friendly argument', he couldn't imagine what truly adversarial between these two would be like. His ears were still ringing!
'And any ways, he started it,' Hikaru's melodious voice added.
'Hey!' Touya exclaimed indignantly. But before they start in on each other again Ogata interrupted,
'Well, keep it down, there are people who want to concentrate here. And play games. Is anybody actually interested in playing?' he added.
Both boys answered in affirmatives, Sai adding his 'yes, please!' to the sentiments.
xXXx
It turned out everybody wanted to play their newest friend, and Sai wanted to be able to follow any and all games played, so the older pro came up with a solution.
He suggested they play a teamed match; one team would play black, the other white in one game on one board. First the first member of black would lay a stone, then the first of white followed by the second of black and then the second of white and the first of black again, and so on.
There would be no conferring within the teams; the second player would have to work out an appropriate continuing move for his side of the team, by trying to follow his team mate's plan.
Sai was intrigued by the new rules, looking forward to playing.
They formed the teams by having Sai draw stones for each of them, from 4 stones, (2 black, 2 white), laid out on top of the Goban. As Sai couldn't see what he'd draw, it seemed fairest.
The blind man drew white for Touya and himself, komi was set at 5,5.
As they started playing, Sai had forgotten to put back the stone that marked him as being on the white team. It felt so satisfying to hold it, he didn't want to interrupt the game to hand it over to Touya to play. He grasped it tightly in his fist as a lucky charm.
The game itself turned out to be very interesting; none of the pros had much team spirit, each being used to being their own man within Go. And even though the suggestion had come from the titleholder, it was he and Hikaru that were having the biggest problems.
Sai, who was 4th to play each round, did his best to anticipate what Touya's next move after Hikaru's would be and tried to make a move that would best help him. Touya seemed to pick up on this some and between them they managed to make some workable strategies.
Hikaru played 3rd, Ogata having started, but it became clear rather quickly that Ogata couldn't do much with Hikaru's sometimes very decisive moves. As the game progressed, Sai detected that a consensus had indeed been reached between the two; Hikaru did his own thing on one side of the Goban while Ogata did his on some other part of the board.
Sai pondered for a few rounds if and how he should use this new insight. And then decided that both his opponents where pro players, and would take a good lesson from being obliterated today. And he knew just how to do that.
He drew Touya's attention to their opponents' choice of play by playing a few well-placed stones in the next few rounds. Touya then played a stone that Sai interpreted as 'understood'. Sai went on the offensive, this time leading instead of following his team mate, like he had been. He kept his strategy on a match with Touya's level of play, which seemed to work as Touya's moves followed the plan almost flawlessly.
The other team started to sweat, giving each other grim looks. They did change their strategy, but just couldn't find a flow together. Then they abandoned the attempt and each concentrated on foiling as much of the white team's gambits as possibly. They played it out to the bitter end, as apparently neither Ogata nor Hikaru were willing to throw in the towel.
By the time the very last stone was played the board was a big mess, and black had lost by 77 /moku/, (could have been worse; at one point they had been 105 /moku/ behind).
Sai very much enjoyed the post-game discussion over dinner (sandwiches and a mug of soup for him, take-away ramen for the rest).
xXXx
After dinner both boys had to leave. But Hikaru didn't leave before trying to set another time to meet.
/'I'll be here from 2 again tomorrow, Touya too,'/ he whispered. Sai nodded his understanding. /'Don't hesitate to call if you need anything,'/ with that he left.
Sai had very much wanted to talk to Hikaru alone, to ask him more about his past and their time together, but there just didn't seem to be any time. Also he still owed the older pro player a much more immediate debt and the former ghost did know how to practice patience. He readied himself for this night’s game with the titleholder.
oOOo
Ogata had suggested they go home for the game, and Sai had had no objections.
In the man's flat, Ogata first looked over the mail and Sai asked to call the shelter, to let them know he wasn't coming. That is if Ogata still wanted him as a houseguest, Sai queried. Ogata assured him he did, and Sai made the call. Maybe it was a bit much to ask if he was allowed to stay so many times, but above all the blind man did not want to impose on his gracious host.
As Sai put down the receiver, Ogata said, 'You don't have to ask every night, you know.'
'I, uh, just want to be sure,' Sai felt like he was defending himself against some accusation, but he could not quite fathom what he stood accused of.
'And do you have to call them every night?' Ogata continued.
'So they know I'm not coming, and they can give my bed to someone else,' Sai patiently explained.
'Of course,' the pro agreed, 'But why not tell them you're here and have done?'
Sai bit his lip, he really didn't want to tell the other man too much of his life at the shelter. He settled for revealing, 'If I give up my place officially like that, I might not get it back...'
'Why would you want to go back there anyway?' Ogata asked.
Sai stayed silent on that; he did not want to insult his host by suggesting he thought he might not be welcome the next night. This was really his own insecurity talking, he knew that; his own inability to read the Go pro's intentions for Sai's future.
Hoping to change the direction of the conversation, he said,
'Anyway, my winter stuff is still there...'
'Well, we can pick that up tomorrow morning,' Ogata countered, almost sounding gleeful.
Sai wasn't sure why he was hesitating; the idea was a good one, after all he had lived here for some days now and compared to the shelter, this flat was paradise. So why not make it official? But some doubt niggled at the back of his mind still.
'We'd have to go early, because the doors close for the day at 9am,' Sai informed him, half heartedly trying to let that fact be a deterrent.
'Arg,' the other man said in a flat tone. 'We'll make it,' he added with more confidence and flopped onto the couch noisily.
Sai shelved his thoughts as Ogata suggested playing.
The blind man felt a whole lot sharper than he had for last night's game, despite having had a long day. And the titleholder also seemed to be on the ball, for Sai quickly had to give the game his full attention.
xXXx
Don’t forget to review!!!
