[Fic] Numbered (2/?) (Hikaru no Go / Numb3rs)
Title: Numbered 2/?
Characters: Touya Akira, Shindou Hikaru
Wordcount/Rating: 1200+ words / G
Spoilers/Warnings: Lots of pseudomath, but don't worry, you don't need to understand any of it. (It'd be cool if you did though! <3)
Summary: When an amateur mathematician calls the police to report a missing person, Touya Akira meets Shindou Hikaru.
Author's Notes: This must be the fever talking. I'm too tired to write a long chapter, so I hope you guys like this one. ^_^; This chapter is dedicated to everyone who likes mathematics and fanfiction.
Previous chapters: One
The next afternoon, Touya Akira knocked on the door of the apartment where Shindou lived.
Something crashed to the floor with a loud thud. Touya thought he could feel the floor shake as he heard a pained shout and a soft curse. He winced--that had sounded like a pretty bad fall. "Are you all right?" he called out, knocking again.
"Sai?" came Shindou's voice, recognisable from the day before.
"It's Touya Akira," Touya said.
He was answered with silence, but he could hear the sounds of movement from inside. He felt foolish now, standing outside the door of someone he'd only met yesterday, someone he didn't really have a reason to visit today. He gripped the handle of his briefcase a little tighter. "Please open the door, Shindou-san. I'd like to speak to you."
More silence, and now even the sounds of movement had faded. Perhaps Shindou was hoping he would lose patience and leave.
Touya cleared his throat. "I already know you're at home, Shindou-san. There's no point in avoiding me. If you don't open the door, I'll stand here until you do."
"That's stalking." Shindou's voice was close--Touya stepped backwards involuntarily before he stopped himself. It had been so loud Touya imagined Shindou had to be standing right there on the other side of the door. Shindou continued. "If you don't leave now I'm going to call the police."
"You called them yesterday on a wild goose chase," Touya said evenly even as he felt his heart begin to beat a little faster. "Amano-san probably won't come." If Shindou did call, Touya would just have to call just as quickly and beg Amano-san to wait.
"Typical police, as helpful as ever. What do we pay our taxes for again?" Shindou sounded frustrated. "Geez, just go away and leave me alone, okay? If you're worried I'll steal your work, don't be. I read your notes, but I'm not doing any work on my research any more. You can go work on your conjecture and publish in peace, okay? That's all you stupid academics care about anyway, right?"
What? "I'm not here to threaten you," Touya said, exasperated, his free hand balling into a fist, the other wringing the handle of his briefcase. "I want to talk to you about Hilbert's twelfth conjecture. No one else in Japan is working on Abelian curves and elliptic fields or anything even remotely connected."
"I told you, we weren't working on that. Sai was superimposing elliptic symmetries on fractals, not Abelian fields."
"But ..."
In front of the still-firmly-closed door, Touya gaped as the realisation began to sink in. Isolated research was one thing; Touya wasn't a babe in the woods, and he was all too aware that intellectual theft could and did occur with a sad frequency which often drove brilliant mathematicians into years of seclusion when they were working on research. Yet to refuse to discuss one's work with someone else, someone who could follow the conversation, could perhaps even contribute when one was stuck and lost, when there existed no one else one could turn to who could adequately understand how it felt, what it was like to be so close, to know the next breakthrough was lurking right at the edges of what one could see ...
At all costs, Touya wanted to prevent that.
"If anything you did or researched helped, I'd share authorship of the paper," Touya said quickly. "You, and Fujiwara-san too, even if he doesn't come back until after the paper is published. I would never omit credit where it was due--you can ask anyone in the Japanese mathematics scene. And if my word isn't enough,"--imagine, Touya Akira's word being doubted--"I'll even sign a non-disclosure agreement. You could even be lead if your research ended up becoming the bulk of the paper! Just please, talk to me."
"Why don't you ask your father? You've got the best mind in mathematics at your fingertips, and you two seem to get along pretty well. Go away and leave me alone."
That had been unexpected. Touya paused, the words he had been about to say disappearing. Instead, he found himself saying, "You know my father?" Father had never mentioned anyone else working in this field; Touya was certain he would have mentioned it before, if so. How could this be?
"Know him?" Now Shindou merely sounded tired. "Sai never stopped talking about the great and wonderful Professor Touya Kouyou, the all-mighty, all-knowing chair of the Tokyo University Mathematics Department. I've never had a day of rest since his wonderful son Touya Akira--I know you too, see?--appeared in the newspapers as a leader in the field of topological and geometric research! Touya Kouyou and his amazing son Touya Akira, the wonder pair and the hope of Japan's mathematical research! Yeah, I know you both!"
"Then you should know his interests lie elsewhere," Touya said quietly. "Everyone knows he's been researching infinity and cognitive mathematics for the past twenty years. It's not exactly an overlapping field. He supports me and my work, but when his specialty is closer to theoretical physics, it's not exactly easy for us to discuss this over the dinner table or anywhere."
There was silence for a while. Then Shindou's voice could be heard again. "There's also Professor Shimada, or Doctor Ogata."
Touya shook his head before he remembered Shindou couldn't see him. "Shimada-sensei's a very friendly and helpful man, but I'm sorry to say ... there's nothing he can help me with any more. Ogata-san's research in the Fibonacci and primefree sequences has been of assistance, yes, but we're starting to run into stumbling blocks, too. I spend most of my time trying to explain side theories and outside sources, and he has his own research to do, too. I--"
"I don't care, go away!"
"Shindou-san, right now, you are the only mathematician in Japan with something so close to my own research you can understand pages of my notes out of sequence at first glance!"
There was no response from Shindou. Touya closed his eyes. "Please," he said. "I-- I need to talk to you badly."
For an immeasurable period of time, there was silence. The only sound Touya could hear was his own breathing; he realised, belatedly, that he had been shouting, and his chest was now heaving with agitation. He had to talk to Shindou. If it came down to it, Touya thought, would he be able to beg this other man, this unpublished researcher who made prank calls to police stations and who would probably steal Touya's own research?
Then the door opened. "Come in," Shindou said with a sigh as he backed away from the door and made room for Touya to enter past him. He didn't meet Touya's eyes.
It had actually worked. Touya gaped for a moment before he remembered himself with a start. "Excuse me for intruding." With that, Touya stepped into Shindou's apartment, briefcase clutched firmly in his hand.
(to be continued ...)
Notes on the mathematics references:
In May 1900, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, David Hilbert of Germany, gave a famous lecture in Paris in which he laid out 23 extremely challenging problems for mathematicians of the 20th century. The 12th one was a question about generating Abelian fields. Patterns generated by elliptic curves provide a very efficient way to encode and decode information. Such encryptions are small and fast to calculate, so they are ideal for quick transactions with credit cards, ATMs and online shopping.
For more information, see the science.ca profile of Henri Damon ("The Science" tab). The following fields of mathematics mentioned can be investigated further on Wikipedia:
* Abelian fields
* elliptic curves
* Infinity
* Cognitive mathematics (Where Mathematics Comes From)
* the Fibonacci numbers category
* Primefree sequences
Thanks for reading a fic with so much math in it. *hearts*
Characters: Touya Akira, Shindou Hikaru
Wordcount/Rating: 1200+ words / G
Spoilers/Warnings: Lots of pseudomath, but don't worry, you don't need to understand any of it. (It'd be cool if you did though! <3)
Summary: When an amateur mathematician calls the police to report a missing person, Touya Akira meets Shindou Hikaru.
Author's Notes: This must be the fever talking. I'm too tired to write a long chapter, so I hope you guys like this one. ^_^; This chapter is dedicated to everyone who likes mathematics and fanfiction.
Previous chapters: One
The next afternoon, Touya Akira knocked on the door of the apartment where Shindou lived.
Something crashed to the floor with a loud thud. Touya thought he could feel the floor shake as he heard a pained shout and a soft curse. He winced--that had sounded like a pretty bad fall. "Are you all right?" he called out, knocking again.
"Sai?" came Shindou's voice, recognisable from the day before.
"It's Touya Akira," Touya said.
He was answered with silence, but he could hear the sounds of movement from inside. He felt foolish now, standing outside the door of someone he'd only met yesterday, someone he didn't really have a reason to visit today. He gripped the handle of his briefcase a little tighter. "Please open the door, Shindou-san. I'd like to speak to you."
More silence, and now even the sounds of movement had faded. Perhaps Shindou was hoping he would lose patience and leave.
Touya cleared his throat. "I already know you're at home, Shindou-san. There's no point in avoiding me. If you don't open the door, I'll stand here until you do."
"That's stalking." Shindou's voice was close--Touya stepped backwards involuntarily before he stopped himself. It had been so loud Touya imagined Shindou had to be standing right there on the other side of the door. Shindou continued. "If you don't leave now I'm going to call the police."
"You called them yesterday on a wild goose chase," Touya said evenly even as he felt his heart begin to beat a little faster. "Amano-san probably won't come." If Shindou did call, Touya would just have to call just as quickly and beg Amano-san to wait.
"Typical police, as helpful as ever. What do we pay our taxes for again?" Shindou sounded frustrated. "Geez, just go away and leave me alone, okay? If you're worried I'll steal your work, don't be. I read your notes, but I'm not doing any work on my research any more. You can go work on your conjecture and publish in peace, okay? That's all you stupid academics care about anyway, right?"
What? "I'm not here to threaten you," Touya said, exasperated, his free hand balling into a fist, the other wringing the handle of his briefcase. "I want to talk to you about Hilbert's twelfth conjecture. No one else in Japan is working on Abelian curves and elliptic fields or anything even remotely connected."
"I told you, we weren't working on that. Sai was superimposing elliptic symmetries on fractals, not Abelian fields."
"But ..."
In front of the still-firmly-closed door, Touya gaped as the realisation began to sink in. Isolated research was one thing; Touya wasn't a babe in the woods, and he was all too aware that intellectual theft could and did occur with a sad frequency which often drove brilliant mathematicians into years of seclusion when they were working on research. Yet to refuse to discuss one's work with someone else, someone who could follow the conversation, could perhaps even contribute when one was stuck and lost, when there existed no one else one could turn to who could adequately understand how it felt, what it was like to be so close, to know the next breakthrough was lurking right at the edges of what one could see ...
At all costs, Touya wanted to prevent that.
"If anything you did or researched helped, I'd share authorship of the paper," Touya said quickly. "You, and Fujiwara-san too, even if he doesn't come back until after the paper is published. I would never omit credit where it was due--you can ask anyone in the Japanese mathematics scene. And if my word isn't enough,"--imagine, Touya Akira's word being doubted--"I'll even sign a non-disclosure agreement. You could even be lead if your research ended up becoming the bulk of the paper! Just please, talk to me."
"Why don't you ask your father? You've got the best mind in mathematics at your fingertips, and you two seem to get along pretty well. Go away and leave me alone."
That had been unexpected. Touya paused, the words he had been about to say disappearing. Instead, he found himself saying, "You know my father?" Father had never mentioned anyone else working in this field; Touya was certain he would have mentioned it before, if so. How could this be?
"Know him?" Now Shindou merely sounded tired. "Sai never stopped talking about the great and wonderful Professor Touya Kouyou, the all-mighty, all-knowing chair of the Tokyo University Mathematics Department. I've never had a day of rest since his wonderful son Touya Akira--I know you too, see?--appeared in the newspapers as a leader in the field of topological and geometric research! Touya Kouyou and his amazing son Touya Akira, the wonder pair and the hope of Japan's mathematical research! Yeah, I know you both!"
"Then you should know his interests lie elsewhere," Touya said quietly. "Everyone knows he's been researching infinity and cognitive mathematics for the past twenty years. It's not exactly an overlapping field. He supports me and my work, but when his specialty is closer to theoretical physics, it's not exactly easy for us to discuss this over the dinner table or anywhere."
There was silence for a while. Then Shindou's voice could be heard again. "There's also Professor Shimada, or Doctor Ogata."
Touya shook his head before he remembered Shindou couldn't see him. "Shimada-sensei's a very friendly and helpful man, but I'm sorry to say ... there's nothing he can help me with any more. Ogata-san's research in the Fibonacci and primefree sequences has been of assistance, yes, but we're starting to run into stumbling blocks, too. I spend most of my time trying to explain side theories and outside sources, and he has his own research to do, too. I--"
"I don't care, go away!"
"Shindou-san, right now, you are the only mathematician in Japan with something so close to my own research you can understand pages of my notes out of sequence at first glance!"
There was no response from Shindou. Touya closed his eyes. "Please," he said. "I-- I need to talk to you badly."
For an immeasurable period of time, there was silence. The only sound Touya could hear was his own breathing; he realised, belatedly, that he had been shouting, and his chest was now heaving with agitation. He had to talk to Shindou. If it came down to it, Touya thought, would he be able to beg this other man, this unpublished researcher who made prank calls to police stations and who would probably steal Touya's own research?
Then the door opened. "Come in," Shindou said with a sigh as he backed away from the door and made room for Touya to enter past him. He didn't meet Touya's eyes.
It had actually worked. Touya gaped for a moment before he remembered himself with a start. "Excuse me for intruding." With that, Touya stepped into Shindou's apartment, briefcase clutched firmly in his hand.
(to be continued ...)
Notes on the mathematics references:
In May 1900, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, David Hilbert of Germany, gave a famous lecture in Paris in which he laid out 23 extremely challenging problems for mathematicians of the 20th century. The 12th one was a question about generating Abelian fields. Patterns generated by elliptic curves provide a very efficient way to encode and decode information. Such encryptions are small and fast to calculate, so they are ideal for quick transactions with credit cards, ATMs and online shopping.
For more information, see the science.ca profile of Henri Damon ("The Science" tab). The following fields of mathematics mentioned can be investigated further on Wikipedia:
* Abelian fields
* elliptic curves
* Infinity
* Cognitive mathematics (Where Mathematics Comes From)
* the Fibonacci numbers category
* Primefree sequences
Thanks for reading a fic with so much math in it. *hearts*