[Naya]
by measuringlife
To Be Shown the Seashore
17.
Nase stretched as Osamu washed off the stones. Another Sunday gone, another step closer to being a pro. Things had quieted down since Waya, Hikaru and Isumi had left. All the new Insei that replaced them didn't have half the spirit they did. Not only that, the new Insei were younger and cliqueish and kept to themselves. Imanishi and Uchida had gone pro the last exams. Nase had missed them due to a ill-timed bout of flu, Iijima had some family event that drew him away - a relative's death - she'd never quite gotten the details.
Like every Sunday, everyone else made plans for afterwards, and Ren and Jun were tight as ever.
She had just been slipping on her coat when she noticed Ijima, which wasn't an uncommon thing in itself. They often talked, or even walked part of the way home, but today something felt off. He had never seemed overly nervous around her, but this time he stared at the ground for a long moment before he even said anything.
"Nase... would you like to get something to eat?"
Had he simple asked her outright with no hesitance, she would've thought nothing of it and accepted right away. But there was a light tint to his cheeks. His cool demeanor felt quite forced. He was obviously quite nervous, and he'd never been nervous around her before. This wasn't just a friendly after-games outing like all the other times.
Iijima really wasn't her type. Not that she had a an ironbound ‘type', so much so that she'd only date jocks or men with black hair, but she'd never looked at him that way. They weren't technically friends - Go acquaintances, was probably more accurate. And Insei went out to eat with each other all the time, so that wasn't particularly suspect. It had been a couple months after a friend of her friend's boyfriend had followed her around all day only to abandon her in a Go Salon muttering something about her having ‘adults eat from her hands'. He was kind of a jerk anyways.
Iijima took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. He'd always seemed constrained, boxed in, yet he seemed to be less reserved around her.
"Sure, but only if you take me to a Go Salon afterwards."
She thought it was a very good way of testing the guy in question. It certainly had worked on the last one.
"That's fine," he said.
They stopped by Kawabura Sushi on the way. A friend had recommended it to her, one who'd gone into Tennis and not Go. It was the younger son, a friend of her friend who greeted them. He smiled shyly and nodded in their direction.
They ordered futomaki and hosomaki respectively (fat and thin, which got her to start reciting Jack Sprat would eat no fat, his wife would eat no lean- which felt like a song stuck in her head).
They didn't talk much, or Nase talked and Iijima listened, still stuck in a sort of repressed awkwardness. But then, it'd always been a lot of her talking and him listening. It was nice to find a person who was such a good listener.
After visiting Kawamura Sushi, she lead him right to the Go Salon she'd visited before. The usual crowd was there, with the smoke swirling and Yakuza-like atmosphere. When she took on a guy who looked like an assassin from a Yazuka movie, his only comment was that was a nice play.
No freaking out, no assuming that she'd done weird sex games with perverted salarymen types.
She thought he might be one worth keeping.
--
From that day, it settled into a routine. Her Sundays were spent with him, and before she knew it, her weekends were as well. When her friend asked if she wanted to be set up for a date, she'd smile and say I already have one. Soon they were meeting for Go games on the weekdays and keeping track of each game's winnings. So far, they were pretty even. 72/74, with him only two behind. They counted kifu like some people went to movies, and spent plenty of time recreating famous games. They'd even recreated a famous one by Honinbo Shusaku once, inspired by Shindou's interest in the figure.
Iijima became more talkative, less compressed. It was like he had been hiding himself all along, and around Nase he'd finally found a way to release all of this and be less of a stoic.
She even brought him home to the family, knowing very well that her father would interrogate him and that her mother would already want dibs on naming the first child.
But Iijima seemed alright with this third-degree. He always gave off the impression that he felt himself incredibly lucky to even be there, by her. And it was nice to have a guy who thought she was utterly amazing, to the point of having to pinch himself to make sure it was real.
18.
Another pro exam come and gone, and another year. Jun and Ren had made it, those little devils. She'd gone against one of them and not seen the move he was threading together until it was too late. That Ren was definitely on the sneaky side. After that loss her winning streak disappeared. She'd only lost out by one game, but that was enough to put her out of the running.
Maybe her loss had unnerved him, or maybe he'd stayed back for her, so like Jun and Ren had said, we either lose together or we pass together. She wasn't sure which, but a little selfish part of her was glad that he'd still be there for Sundays and that he wouldn't be away on pro games she couldn't participate in.
She trailed her toe up his bare foot. Iijima held her hand tight, and yet his attention was far away. Yet another time he'd been so close, and yet so far from the pro. It'd been especially hard on him.
She'd started to learn little things about him in that time. She knew he wanted to become a pro more than anything, and he started playing with his grandfather at a very young age. She knew that the reason he'd missed the pro exam last time was for the funeral of his grandfather, who he'd desperately wanted to become pro for to thank for all the years and teaching him the love of the game.
She knew all these things now.
"We'll win next time, Ryo."
19.
She'd offered the trip last year as a diversion, considering it was away from yet another failed pro exam. However, the idea never quite came to fruit. This year, they'd gripped each other's hands and sworn the promise of we'll both come out pros.
She didn't know most of the Insei well this year. By now most of the people she'd known had either given up or moved on. The new batches were of the younger set, with mothers who still wetted down cowlicks and fussed over their clothes.
They practiced every moment they could. All their dates dissolved into frantic Go games until Iijima could practically count kifu backwards for many of Honinbo Shusaku's games. But when it came down to it, the constant training paid off. Iijima Ryo came in the top spot with only one loss, and Nase Asumi came in the second with two losses.
This year, however, there was nothing to stop them from going.
--
"We deserve it, after taking them all by storm. We can walk right up to Shindou and Waya and Isumi and tell them ‘we're pros now, so watch out!'"
She tipped back a can of Chu-Hi they'd picked up at the vending machines outside his apartment. Of all her friends, she was the only one who hadn't gotten drunk early - not that she hung with a wild crowd. In fact it seemed almost laughable considering her birthday was just coming up in a couple months and he was already 20.
They could've gone out somewhere, but she would've been limited to something non-alcoholic. So, they settled for a few cans of Chu-Hi. Like they'd promised then, they weren't leaving either behind. If one went, then so did the other.
Ijima's brow creased in concentration. "It'd be expensive."
"I've got an uncle with a place down there... he'd probably let us use it as long as we didn't damage it."
"Go games cause so many beach house trashings," Iijima said dryly.
She laughed. "Maybe if Shindou and Touya are playing, but not us. We get along too well."
She swiped his Chu-Hi and took a long sip.
"Isn't that about enough?"
"Tell me, what did you notice first about me?"
"Your personality," he said.
"Are you saying I'm not pretty?"
"No - it was... a brightness. The first time I noticed you, you were laughing. And that's what sticks with me - your happiness. Of course you were pretty but you didn't seem like anything real... like a model, maybe. Something I'd never reach."
He pushed the hair from out of her face where it had fallen in a gesture that showed both tenderness, and a sort of fear that what he was touching would disappear. His face was flushed from the high alcohol content (those Chu-Hi could pack a punch, that was for sure) and from some embarrassment. She was just drunk enough on both victory and Chu-Hi to do something particularly impetuous, like dancing in the rain or-
"We should dance right now! In our underwear!"
She pulled off her black shirt and threw it on the floor. She hadn't even put on a camisole that day, and she wore nothing but her lucky bra with four leaf clovers on it.
"...Ok, you've had enough," Iijima said.
"Don't we deserve to dance in our underwear after winning the pro exam?"
She peeled off her jeans unsteadily and almost fell over once or twice. He reached to steady her.
For a moment he said nothing, as if he were deep in thought. Iijima took off his shirt in a way so solemn that she almost laughed, and not just because she was drunk.
"Let's dance," he said.
--
One hung over morning later, the tickets were booked. It wasn't every day a Go tournament happened to also be on the beaches of Chiba prefecture. She'd been to these shores ever since she was young and yet it still was special each time. Back then she'd had three friends, all boys: Saeki (of no relation to the Saeki of the Go world.) and the two Fuji brothers, Shusuke and Yuuta, all three of which had gone into the world of Tennis. They still played Go together whenever they met, except for Yuuta who could never get the hang of the game.
So Chiba was a place of memories for her. She brought her favorite bathing suit (for bikinis were useless for actual swimming) and enough sunscreen to ensure that even Iijima wouldn't get burnt.
They wouldn't technically be participating in this tournament, considering it was for high-level players only and they'd just passed the exam, but it would be good to reunite with old friends and not say well, I'll win the pro exam one of these years! while feeling awkward.
Nase wouldn't have minded eating out every day, but Iijima packed a large bag of rice along. They went shopping at the pier's fish market for just the right fish for Yakizakana. She slipped her hand in his and took half the groceries. He got to carry the meat, she got the vegetables for tomorrow's Kamameshi. There would be time for Takoyaki at the street vendors and Chirashi for a midday snack later on, but dinner would be their time together to wash away all the time of the world and simply play Go.
They still found surprising things about each other, even with the time spent together. Iijima was quite surprised to find her to have particularly brave tastes, loving everything from Wasabi Sushi to Ika no Shiokara and Ikanankotsu.
She didn't think he'd be the type to turn away from a pretty girl in a tight mini dress that left very little to the imagination and mutter Asumi is prettier anyways.
-
It wasn't even the second day before they ran into Shindou and Touya. Shindou wore a brightly colored, almost garish orange shirt emblazoned with the number 5. Touya, as always, was ridiculously overdressed, enough to get heatstroke in this weather.
"Shindou-kun!" she called out.
He looked confusedly about until he caught sight of her. "Oh, Nase?"
"We're pros now, both of us!"
"Congratulations!"
"Congratulations," Touya echoed. He was far less effervescent than Shindou, but then technically he was only a friend of a friend, and she'd never seen Touya get too excited anyways. He was seemingly the calm, composed type - at least until Shindou came around and he started exploding.
"How are the rankings? We haven't been able to check yet, though we wanted to come cheer you on a little - and enjoy the beach."
She laughed a little, Shindou joined in. Iijima and Touya kept quiet, however.
"Well, so far Waya and Yashiro got knocked out. They're both hopping mad, especially Yashiro as it was Yeongha who did it. In fact, it was weird - like Yeongha came specifically to wipe the floor with Yashiro. Touya is on top, of course."
He gave Touya a sly grin. Touya, however, seemed to be in mid Angry-At-Shindou mode, which he flipped to quite often. "Of course I'm on top. If you wouldn't make glaring mistakes like the match against Kurata-Eight Dan then perhaps you'd be the one topping."
"Touya, Touya, I told you. Leave the fighting for the bed - hotel room.. We got scolded by Ogata-sensei three times already. Besides, I only made those mistakes because Kuwabara distracted me."
Touya crossed his arms and sniffed indignantly.
Shindou looked from them to Touya and back again.
"Excuse me, guys. Touya here needs to cool off."
Shindou tugged Touya's arm closer to the water.
"Shindou, stop it," Touya hissed. "I'm not dressed for it-"
Shindou peeled off the eyesore that was Touya's argyle purple and yellow shirtless sweater, leaving only the rose-tinted dress shirt, complete with a pocket protector which could only be a thinly veiled gag gift by Waya. Too bad Touya couldn't tell when someone was adding to the train wreck that was his fashion sense.
Shindou pulled him out to the waves, laughing all the while he pelted Touya with water.
A slow smile spread over Nase's face. She'd done something fairly similar to Iijima last year, except it involved a pool and him staying at the side a little too long. She knew coupley behavior when she saw it.
"They're together," she said.
"They're rivals..Sometimes a bond like that can come off as close."
"They're together. In fact, I'd bet you ten kisses that they're dating."
"Betting kisses?" Iijima said, obviously perplexed.
"Yup. A cousin used to bet slaps, but I always thought kisses would be a more interesting bet. I bet you ten kisses they got a shared room, and there's only one bed."
Iijima's gaze still lingered on them. Touya had begun to fight back in the water war. At first he'd tried to stomp away in a fit of rage, but Shindou always grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, at times to the point of falling together.
The frown lines looked strained, as if he were trying very hard not to laugh along, and only pride kept him from doing so.
"...I accept," Iijima said, though his voice sounded much less confident.
--
Iijima put on some rice to cook. She cut the vegetables, he prepared the meat. They worked best like this, side by side, symmetrical to the same goal. She'd been surprised at first that he could cook as she came from a family whose men could barely open a can, let along make a meal.
She ate with her legs crossed, which hiked her skirt up, though Iijima certainly didn't mind. Sometimes, she grabbed food from his plate even though they had the same thing, same seasonings, even. It was comfortable, spending time like this.
They set up the Goban after cleaning up. This was always how they ended the day, a way to relax and hone their skills all at once. And it had been going well, with him having only a slight advantage when a perfectly mischievous thought crossed her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.
"How about a bet?"
He looked up. "Another one?"
"You've captured territory so that'd be about-"
She pulled off the sweatshirt she'd donned when it got colder that night, and smiled in a manner most suggestive.
"...Strip Go?" Iijma said.
"You owe me some for the territory I've captured," she said cheerily.
Iijima took off his shoes and plain white socks, and finished with removing his belt.
Nase toyed with the strap on her camisole, and then pulled it off altogether. Her bra had pink flowers on it, which was a new addition. She'd never cared what her underthings looked like until there was someone else to be showing them to. Even though she knew he wouldn't particularly mind if she wore an old white sports bra.
He let out a long breath and turned very determinedly to the game. It wasn't that his plays became sloppy, per say, more that he failed to see the greater scope of things.
"I think you owe me a shirt."
She leaned over and pointed, playfully. Leaned over a little too far apparently, as he chose that moment to show all that secret dominance he'd never let anyone know about. He pulled her to him, making Go stones scatter and effectively ruining their game. But then he was kissing her and she didn't much care.
Later, after there was a mess from the aftershocks of a passionate outburst. There were black and white stones spread all over the floor. Her Go-ke had overturned on its side, his was upside down. His glasses had ended up under the bed, a bed which they hadn't even made it to. Needless to say, it would be impossible to count kifu at this rate.
"What should we put on the list? Which one won?"
"I think...it's a draw, technically. Though we both know I won."
She traced her toe over his foot, traced her hand up his arm. He wasn't a model, but he was hers. What would've happened if she'd refused him on such shallow terms as never dating someone like him before?
She was glad for this, for him.
--
Iijima slept late the next day. Nase slipped out early, determined to win that bet. She'd made sure to get Shindou and Touya's hotel room number from Isumi, as Isumi was kind and polite, and unlike Waya, he wouldn't ask why she wanted it.
As chance would have it, the door wasn't entirely closed. Never one to let an opportunity escape her, she peeked in. A brown acrylic sweater and neon long sleeved shirts sat side by side. Jeans and khakis, a few corduroys and a grey sweatshirt with 12 on the front. Shindou's things were piled on the floor, dirty clothes strung across the floor. In fact, it was a leg of a pair of slightly ripped jeans that had kept the door partially open.
There were two beds, which surprised her. One was unmade and the other was so perfectly kept that she wonder if even Touya could be that neat.
She could hear the sounds of a shower. She took a few quiet steps closer and inclined her head towards the door to better catch whatever was being said.
Shindou -
No one's around. Sheesh, we haven't had a minute's privacy lately. Waya, Isumi and Yashiro coming for late-night training, meeting Iijima and Nase when we try and sneak off... you'd think they were trying to keep us apart.
What Touya said next was muffled, but she head his gasp of Sh-Shindou! followed by an unmistakable moan.
Well. That was certainly enough to garner her a win. She tiptoed out and moved the pair of pants out of the way before she closed the door.
--
Iijima had just come out of the shower himself when she returned. His hair was still wet and smelled of a shampoo that was supposed to smell like "Morning Dew" and was the least girly of her things. She hugged him behind, which only elicited a hmm?. When he turned far enough, she let go, leaned up and kissed him.
"I won," she said.
"If I had won, then what would have happened?"
"You would have kissed me. Nice bet, huh? You now owe me 9 more, to be doled out for the rest of your life on my command."
"I think... that's a promise I can keep."
--
The next day she caught sight of Touya and Shindou again on the beach. Touya seemed far less cross, even from this distance. Whatever quarrels they'd had were behind them, at least for the moment. Shindou let his arm over Touya's shoulders lazily, and Touya didn't even complain. Much, at least.
They weren't even trying to be subtle anymore. Then again, since when was subtlety any talent of Shindou's?
"Should we go talk to them before we leave?" Iijima said.
"No, I think they need some time alone."
They headed down further instead, where a game of badminton was being played by her old friends. Along with Saeki and the Fuji brothers was a boy in glasses, who was tall and broad-shouldered and kept close to Fuji in his own distant way. Meanwhile, midway through their game, Saeki ruffled Yuuta's hair, causing Fuji's smile to seem strained and a twitch to start at the corner of his jaw.
"..is it something in the air?" Iijima said.
Nase laughed. "It's a good thing you missed it. It'd be a lot more lonely if you'd run off with Isumi."
"Hey, wait a second- it was Waya and Isumi who were close. Not me."
"Oh? Do you want to bed on it? Ten kisses says they're either together, or will be within the next year."
"It's a bet," he said.
Because whatever the outcome of a bet like this, they'd both still be winners.
To Be Shown the Seashore
17.
Nase stretched as Osamu washed off the stones. Another Sunday gone, another step closer to being a pro. Things had quieted down since Waya, Hikaru and Isumi had left. All the new Insei that replaced them didn't have half the spirit they did. Not only that, the new Insei were younger and cliqueish and kept to themselves. Imanishi and Uchida had gone pro the last exams. Nase had missed them due to a ill-timed bout of flu, Iijima had some family event that drew him away - a relative's death - she'd never quite gotten the details.
Like every Sunday, everyone else made plans for afterwards, and Ren and Jun were tight as ever.
She had just been slipping on her coat when she noticed Ijima, which wasn't an uncommon thing in itself. They often talked, or even walked part of the way home, but today something felt off. He had never seemed overly nervous around her, but this time he stared at the ground for a long moment before he even said anything.
"Nase... would you like to get something to eat?"
Had he simple asked her outright with no hesitance, she would've thought nothing of it and accepted right away. But there was a light tint to his cheeks. His cool demeanor felt quite forced. He was obviously quite nervous, and he'd never been nervous around her before. This wasn't just a friendly after-games outing like all the other times.
Iijima really wasn't her type. Not that she had a an ironbound ‘type', so much so that she'd only date jocks or men with black hair, but she'd never looked at him that way. They weren't technically friends - Go acquaintances, was probably more accurate. And Insei went out to eat with each other all the time, so that wasn't particularly suspect. It had been a couple months after a friend of her friend's boyfriend had followed her around all day only to abandon her in a Go Salon muttering something about her having ‘adults eat from her hands'. He was kind of a jerk anyways.
Iijima took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. He'd always seemed constrained, boxed in, yet he seemed to be less reserved around her.
"Sure, but only if you take me to a Go Salon afterwards."
She thought it was a very good way of testing the guy in question. It certainly had worked on the last one.
"That's fine," he said.
They stopped by Kawabura Sushi on the way. A friend had recommended it to her, one who'd gone into Tennis and not Go. It was the younger son, a friend of her friend who greeted them. He smiled shyly and nodded in their direction.
They ordered futomaki and hosomaki respectively (fat and thin, which got her to start reciting Jack Sprat would eat no fat, his wife would eat no lean- which felt like a song stuck in her head).
They didn't talk much, or Nase talked and Iijima listened, still stuck in a sort of repressed awkwardness. But then, it'd always been a lot of her talking and him listening. It was nice to find a person who was such a good listener.
After visiting Kawamura Sushi, she lead him right to the Go Salon she'd visited before. The usual crowd was there, with the smoke swirling and Yakuza-like atmosphere. When she took on a guy who looked like an assassin from a Yazuka movie, his only comment was that was a nice play.
No freaking out, no assuming that she'd done weird sex games with perverted salarymen types.
She thought he might be one worth keeping.
--
From that day, it settled into a routine. Her Sundays were spent with him, and before she knew it, her weekends were as well. When her friend asked if she wanted to be set up for a date, she'd smile and say I already have one. Soon they were meeting for Go games on the weekdays and keeping track of each game's winnings. So far, they were pretty even. 72/74, with him only two behind. They counted kifu like some people went to movies, and spent plenty of time recreating famous games. They'd even recreated a famous one by Honinbo Shusaku once, inspired by Shindou's interest in the figure.
Iijima became more talkative, less compressed. It was like he had been hiding himself all along, and around Nase he'd finally found a way to release all of this and be less of a stoic.
She even brought him home to the family, knowing very well that her father would interrogate him and that her mother would already want dibs on naming the first child.
But Iijima seemed alright with this third-degree. He always gave off the impression that he felt himself incredibly lucky to even be there, by her. And it was nice to have a guy who thought she was utterly amazing, to the point of having to pinch himself to make sure it was real.
18.
Another pro exam come and gone, and another year. Jun and Ren had made it, those little devils. She'd gone against one of them and not seen the move he was threading together until it was too late. That Ren was definitely on the sneaky side. After that loss her winning streak disappeared. She'd only lost out by one game, but that was enough to put her out of the running.
Maybe her loss had unnerved him, or maybe he'd stayed back for her, so like Jun and Ren had said, we either lose together or we pass together. She wasn't sure which, but a little selfish part of her was glad that he'd still be there for Sundays and that he wouldn't be away on pro games she couldn't participate in.
She trailed her toe up his bare foot. Iijima held her hand tight, and yet his attention was far away. Yet another time he'd been so close, and yet so far from the pro. It'd been especially hard on him.
She'd started to learn little things about him in that time. She knew he wanted to become a pro more than anything, and he started playing with his grandfather at a very young age. She knew that the reason he'd missed the pro exam last time was for the funeral of his grandfather, who he'd desperately wanted to become pro for to thank for all the years and teaching him the love of the game.
She knew all these things now.
"We'll win next time, Ryo."
19.
She'd offered the trip last year as a diversion, considering it was away from yet another failed pro exam. However, the idea never quite came to fruit. This year, they'd gripped each other's hands and sworn the promise of we'll both come out pros.
She didn't know most of the Insei well this year. By now most of the people she'd known had either given up or moved on. The new batches were of the younger set, with mothers who still wetted down cowlicks and fussed over their clothes.
They practiced every moment they could. All their dates dissolved into frantic Go games until Iijima could practically count kifu backwards for many of Honinbo Shusaku's games. But when it came down to it, the constant training paid off. Iijima Ryo came in the top spot with only one loss, and Nase Asumi came in the second with two losses.
This year, however, there was nothing to stop them from going.
--
"We deserve it, after taking them all by storm. We can walk right up to Shindou and Waya and Isumi and tell them ‘we're pros now, so watch out!'"
She tipped back a can of Chu-Hi they'd picked up at the vending machines outside his apartment. Of all her friends, she was the only one who hadn't gotten drunk early - not that she hung with a wild crowd. In fact it seemed almost laughable considering her birthday was just coming up in a couple months and he was already 20.
They could've gone out somewhere, but she would've been limited to something non-alcoholic. So, they settled for a few cans of Chu-Hi. Like they'd promised then, they weren't leaving either behind. If one went, then so did the other.
Ijima's brow creased in concentration. "It'd be expensive."
"I've got an uncle with a place down there... he'd probably let us use it as long as we didn't damage it."
"Go games cause so many beach house trashings," Iijima said dryly.
She laughed. "Maybe if Shindou and Touya are playing, but not us. We get along too well."
She swiped his Chu-Hi and took a long sip.
"Isn't that about enough?"
"Tell me, what did you notice first about me?"
"Your personality," he said.
"Are you saying I'm not pretty?"
"No - it was... a brightness. The first time I noticed you, you were laughing. And that's what sticks with me - your happiness. Of course you were pretty but you didn't seem like anything real... like a model, maybe. Something I'd never reach."
He pushed the hair from out of her face where it had fallen in a gesture that showed both tenderness, and a sort of fear that what he was touching would disappear. His face was flushed from the high alcohol content (those Chu-Hi could pack a punch, that was for sure) and from some embarrassment. She was just drunk enough on both victory and Chu-Hi to do something particularly impetuous, like dancing in the rain or-
"We should dance right now! In our underwear!"
She pulled off her black shirt and threw it on the floor. She hadn't even put on a camisole that day, and she wore nothing but her lucky bra with four leaf clovers on it.
"...Ok, you've had enough," Iijima said.
"Don't we deserve to dance in our underwear after winning the pro exam?"
She peeled off her jeans unsteadily and almost fell over once or twice. He reached to steady her.
For a moment he said nothing, as if he were deep in thought. Iijima took off his shirt in a way so solemn that she almost laughed, and not just because she was drunk.
"Let's dance," he said.
--
One hung over morning later, the tickets were booked. It wasn't every day a Go tournament happened to also be on the beaches of Chiba prefecture. She'd been to these shores ever since she was young and yet it still was special each time. Back then she'd had three friends, all boys: Saeki (of no relation to the Saeki of the Go world.) and the two Fuji brothers, Shusuke and Yuuta, all three of which had gone into the world of Tennis. They still played Go together whenever they met, except for Yuuta who could never get the hang of the game.
So Chiba was a place of memories for her. She brought her favorite bathing suit (for bikinis were useless for actual swimming) and enough sunscreen to ensure that even Iijima wouldn't get burnt.
They wouldn't technically be participating in this tournament, considering it was for high-level players only and they'd just passed the exam, but it would be good to reunite with old friends and not say well, I'll win the pro exam one of these years! while feeling awkward.
Nase wouldn't have minded eating out every day, but Iijima packed a large bag of rice along. They went shopping at the pier's fish market for just the right fish for Yakizakana. She slipped her hand in his and took half the groceries. He got to carry the meat, she got the vegetables for tomorrow's Kamameshi. There would be time for Takoyaki at the street vendors and Chirashi for a midday snack later on, but dinner would be their time together to wash away all the time of the world and simply play Go.
They still found surprising things about each other, even with the time spent together. Iijima was quite surprised to find her to have particularly brave tastes, loving everything from Wasabi Sushi to Ika no Shiokara and Ikanankotsu.
She didn't think he'd be the type to turn away from a pretty girl in a tight mini dress that left very little to the imagination and mutter Asumi is prettier anyways.
-
It wasn't even the second day before they ran into Shindou and Touya. Shindou wore a brightly colored, almost garish orange shirt emblazoned with the number 5. Touya, as always, was ridiculously overdressed, enough to get heatstroke in this weather.
"Shindou-kun!" she called out.
He looked confusedly about until he caught sight of her. "Oh, Nase?"
"We're pros now, both of us!"
"Congratulations!"
"Congratulations," Touya echoed. He was far less effervescent than Shindou, but then technically he was only a friend of a friend, and she'd never seen Touya get too excited anyways. He was seemingly the calm, composed type - at least until Shindou came around and he started exploding.
"How are the rankings? We haven't been able to check yet, though we wanted to come cheer you on a little - and enjoy the beach."
She laughed a little, Shindou joined in. Iijima and Touya kept quiet, however.
"Well, so far Waya and Yashiro got knocked out. They're both hopping mad, especially Yashiro as it was Yeongha who did it. In fact, it was weird - like Yeongha came specifically to wipe the floor with Yashiro. Touya is on top, of course."
He gave Touya a sly grin. Touya, however, seemed to be in mid Angry-At-Shindou mode, which he flipped to quite often. "Of course I'm on top. If you wouldn't make glaring mistakes like the match against Kurata-Eight Dan then perhaps you'd be the one topping."
"Touya, Touya, I told you. Leave the fighting for the bed - hotel room.. We got scolded by Ogata-sensei three times already. Besides, I only made those mistakes because Kuwabara distracted me."
Touya crossed his arms and sniffed indignantly.
Shindou looked from them to Touya and back again.
"Excuse me, guys. Touya here needs to cool off."
Shindou tugged Touya's arm closer to the water.
"Shindou, stop it," Touya hissed. "I'm not dressed for it-"
Shindou peeled off the eyesore that was Touya's argyle purple and yellow shirtless sweater, leaving only the rose-tinted dress shirt, complete with a pocket protector which could only be a thinly veiled gag gift by Waya. Too bad Touya couldn't tell when someone was adding to the train wreck that was his fashion sense.
Shindou pulled him out to the waves, laughing all the while he pelted Touya with water.
A slow smile spread over Nase's face. She'd done something fairly similar to Iijima last year, except it involved a pool and him staying at the side a little too long. She knew coupley behavior when she saw it.
"They're together," she said.
"They're rivals..Sometimes a bond like that can come off as close."
"They're together. In fact, I'd bet you ten kisses that they're dating."
"Betting kisses?" Iijima said, obviously perplexed.
"Yup. A cousin used to bet slaps, but I always thought kisses would be a more interesting bet. I bet you ten kisses they got a shared room, and there's only one bed."
Iijima's gaze still lingered on them. Touya had begun to fight back in the water war. At first he'd tried to stomp away in a fit of rage, but Shindou always grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, at times to the point of falling together.
The frown lines looked strained, as if he were trying very hard not to laugh along, and only pride kept him from doing so.
"...I accept," Iijima said, though his voice sounded much less confident.
--
Iijima put on some rice to cook. She cut the vegetables, he prepared the meat. They worked best like this, side by side, symmetrical to the same goal. She'd been surprised at first that he could cook as she came from a family whose men could barely open a can, let along make a meal.
She ate with her legs crossed, which hiked her skirt up, though Iijima certainly didn't mind. Sometimes, she grabbed food from his plate even though they had the same thing, same seasonings, even. It was comfortable, spending time like this.
They set up the Goban after cleaning up. This was always how they ended the day, a way to relax and hone their skills all at once. And it had been going well, with him having only a slight advantage when a perfectly mischievous thought crossed her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.
"How about a bet?"
He looked up. "Another one?"
"You've captured territory so that'd be about-"
She pulled off the sweatshirt she'd donned when it got colder that night, and smiled in a manner most suggestive.
"...Strip Go?" Iijma said.
"You owe me some for the territory I've captured," she said cheerily.
Iijima took off his shoes and plain white socks, and finished with removing his belt.
Nase toyed with the strap on her camisole, and then pulled it off altogether. Her bra had pink flowers on it, which was a new addition. She'd never cared what her underthings looked like until there was someone else to be showing them to. Even though she knew he wouldn't particularly mind if she wore an old white sports bra.
He let out a long breath and turned very determinedly to the game. It wasn't that his plays became sloppy, per say, more that he failed to see the greater scope of things.
"I think you owe me a shirt."
She leaned over and pointed, playfully. Leaned over a little too far apparently, as he chose that moment to show all that secret dominance he'd never let anyone know about. He pulled her to him, making Go stones scatter and effectively ruining their game. But then he was kissing her and she didn't much care.
Later, after there was a mess from the aftershocks of a passionate outburst. There were black and white stones spread all over the floor. Her Go-ke had overturned on its side, his was upside down. His glasses had ended up under the bed, a bed which they hadn't even made it to. Needless to say, it would be impossible to count kifu at this rate.
"What should we put on the list? Which one won?"
"I think...it's a draw, technically. Though we both know I won."
She traced her toe over his foot, traced her hand up his arm. He wasn't a model, but he was hers. What would've happened if she'd refused him on such shallow terms as never dating someone like him before?
She was glad for this, for him.
--
Iijima slept late the next day. Nase slipped out early, determined to win that bet. She'd made sure to get Shindou and Touya's hotel room number from Isumi, as Isumi was kind and polite, and unlike Waya, he wouldn't ask why she wanted it.
As chance would have it, the door wasn't entirely closed. Never one to let an opportunity escape her, she peeked in. A brown acrylic sweater and neon long sleeved shirts sat side by side. Jeans and khakis, a few corduroys and a grey sweatshirt with 12 on the front. Shindou's things were piled on the floor, dirty clothes strung across the floor. In fact, it was a leg of a pair of slightly ripped jeans that had kept the door partially open.
There were two beds, which surprised her. One was unmade and the other was so perfectly kept that she wonder if even Touya could be that neat.
She could hear the sounds of a shower. She took a few quiet steps closer and inclined her head towards the door to better catch whatever was being said.
Shindou -
No one's around. Sheesh, we haven't had a minute's privacy lately. Waya, Isumi and Yashiro coming for late-night training, meeting Iijima and Nase when we try and sneak off... you'd think they were trying to keep us apart.
What Touya said next was muffled, but she head his gasp of Sh-Shindou! followed by an unmistakable moan.
Well. That was certainly enough to garner her a win. She tiptoed out and moved the pair of pants out of the way before she closed the door.
--
Iijima had just come out of the shower himself when she returned. His hair was still wet and smelled of a shampoo that was supposed to smell like "Morning Dew" and was the least girly of her things. She hugged him behind, which only elicited a hmm?. When he turned far enough, she let go, leaned up and kissed him.
"I won," she said.
"If I had won, then what would have happened?"
"You would have kissed me. Nice bet, huh? You now owe me 9 more, to be doled out for the rest of your life on my command."
"I think... that's a promise I can keep."
--
The next day she caught sight of Touya and Shindou again on the beach. Touya seemed far less cross, even from this distance. Whatever quarrels they'd had were behind them, at least for the moment. Shindou let his arm over Touya's shoulders lazily, and Touya didn't even complain. Much, at least.
They weren't even trying to be subtle anymore. Then again, since when was subtlety any talent of Shindou's?
"Should we go talk to them before we leave?" Iijima said.
"No, I think they need some time alone."
They headed down further instead, where a game of badminton was being played by her old friends. Along with Saeki and the Fuji brothers was a boy in glasses, who was tall and broad-shouldered and kept close to Fuji in his own distant way. Meanwhile, midway through their game, Saeki ruffled Yuuta's hair, causing Fuji's smile to seem strained and a twitch to start at the corner of his jaw.
"..is it something in the air?" Iijima said.
Nase laughed. "It's a good thing you missed it. It'd be a lot more lonely if you'd run off with Isumi."
"Hey, wait a second- it was Waya and Isumi who were close. Not me."
"Oh? Do you want to bed on it? Ten kisses says they're either together, or will be within the next year."
"It's a bet," he said.
Because whatever the outcome of a bet like this, they'd both still be winners.