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Chapter Text

Today, we have the privilege of sitting down and speaking with Shindou Honinbou. Going pro at age fifteen, Shindou advanced alongside the famous Touya Meijin the younger, and their rivalry is nothing short of legendary. Just having turned thirty this year, they’ve graciously granted us the opportunity to ask them about their lifelong rivalry.

Monthly Go: So, Shindou-sensei, tell us how it began. Your famous rivalry with Touya-sensei.

Shindou Honinbou: I was twelve. I had never played go before. I was not a very good kid, and I’d been in my grandfather’s attic looking for something to pawn. I found a go board, and I’m not sure how one thing led to another, but my interest must have been piqued, because I tried going to a go class. Ashiwara-sensei was running it, but I didn’t know who he was at the time, of course. Anyway, I caused trouble there and got kicked out, and that’s when I was told about things called go salons. That’s how I stumbled into the Touya salon.

MG: And that’s when you first met Touya-sensei.

SH: Yeah. I came in and said, “Hey! There’s a kid just like me, I’ll play him!”

MG: You had no idea he was already pro-level, though.

SH: No way. I didn’t really know what a pro was, and I certainly didn’t realize a twelve year old could be a professional at anything.

MG: So, what happened next? Who won the match?

SH: Who won is not important, but what is is that I totally insulted him. And everyone who’d ever played go ever. Did I mention what a terrible child I was? (laughs) And that’s when he demanded a second game, to defend his honor or whatever. That’s when I got hooked, I think. He was so intense in that second game. I’d never seen such intensity. And from a kid my age? I think I was attracted to that intensity. I wanted to care about something that much too. And I wanted to see him look at me like that again.

Somehow, it made sense at the time, but the next thing I did was completely avoid him. I wanted the next time I faced him to be as an equal. As someone worthy enough to face that intensity. It goes without saying I was not up to his level.

MG: Legend has it that Touya Koyo, then Touya Mejin and your rival’s father, challenged you after that second game to asses your abilities.

SH: Almost. I got so intimidated by him that I ran away after the first few moves.

MG: So you decided not to play Touya-sensei for a while. When was your next match?

SH: Actually, in a middle school tournament. Akira didn’t understand why I wouldn’t play him, so he kind of stalked me. He joined his middle school club and demanded to be third board so he could face me.

MG: What was the result?

SH: Oh, I lost miserably. Akira was so angry, I was sure he’d never want to play me again.

MG: So what next?

SH: He didn't want to play me again. (laughs) But then a lot happened, because I wanted to earn his rivalry back. I became an insei, then I became a pro.

MG: You advanced very quickly. There’s no evidence that you studied under anyone, so how did you grow and become a pro so fast? Who was your teacher?

SH: Well, what I tell people is that I studied under Shushaku. I’d heard that he was the best go player ever, so I studied him. I played and studied his games so much, it was like I was playing against him every day. He was my teacher.

MG: Yes, your affinity for Shusaku-style play is well documented. It’s fitting that you’ve earned his name.

SH: Thank you.

MG: Briefly after you became a pro, you forfeited a lot of matches. Did Touya-sensei approach you about it?

SH: Did he ever, the little stalker. He came to my middle school! He seriously hunted me down and demanded I come back. I guess I’ve just always been good at pissing him off. (laughs again)

MG: When was your next game with Touya-sensei?

SH: First round of the Honinbou preliminaries the year I went pro. It had been years since we faced one another. If I remember correctly, Akira actually mentioned how many years and days it had been since we last played. It didn’t even seem obsessive to me at the time, because I’d been anticipating it so badly. We were both a little obsessed.

MG: Shortly after that match where you were reunited after years of not playing, preparations began for the Hokuto Cup. Many people were upset that you took the first seat in the tournament against Korea. Was Touya-sensei upset as well?

HS: Surprisingly, not very. In retrospect, I think it may have been because he understood the need to reject tournament assignments in order to play someone you needed to play.

MG: And you needed to play Ko Yongha, correct? It was a shock when he used his opportunity to greet the audience to berate Shusaku.

HS: I did. Remember, I was sixteen. I mean, he was being pretty childish too. But I wanted to fight him, and luckily, Kurata-sensei and Akira were nice enough to give me the chance to do so. Akira wasn’t even that mad at me when I lost.

MG: The following year, Japan won the Hokuto Cup, and Touya-sensei challenged Ogata sensei for the Ouza title.

HS: Yeah, and lost every game, the jerk. It took two more years before he won a title.

MG: And seven for you.

HS: Those seven years were brutal.

MG: Why was that?

HS: By then, Akira and I had moved in together. And when he repeatedly thwarted my attempts at a challenging seat. For years. It was really hard to fight for a chance at a title, fail, and then face the man who bested you over dinner.

MG: You two have lived together for eleven years, correct? Has that helped you in your go career?

HS: That was the idea. Instead of meeting places to play one another, we could just play before bed. We could study and discuss games, and hold study sessions together. It worked out well, very beneficial.

MG: When you were 24, you won the Tengen title.

HS: And then Akira took it away the next year.

MG: He had three titles, then.

HS: And I had none, again. Seriously. Could you imagine living with this guy?

MG: At 27, you took the Honinbou title, and have held on to it ever since.

HS: And I will for the rest of my life.

MG: Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask the questions that our readers have been most curious about, though they delve into more personal territory.

HS: That’s to be expected. I knew what I was signing up for.

MG: It’s been speculated that you and Touya-sensei are in a relationship. Can you speak to that?

HS: As much as I’d like to parse words, because clearly, we are in a relationship in that our lives are highly related to one another, I do know what everyone’s been getting at. And they’ve been getting at it since we were sixteen. I’ve found it easiest and least incriminating to say this: Akira and I have dedicated our lives to go, and I think we’ve found unparalleled partners in one another for that journey. If I were to take a girlfriend or a wife, I’m sure she would be dishonored by my inability to pay as much attention to her as I do Akira. That’s all I can say about that.

MG: Thank you for sharing that much with us, Shindou-sensei. We appreciate your honesty and your time today.

In just a few weeks, Touya Meijin will be challenging Shindou Honinbou for the Honinbou title for the fifth time. We will all be anticipating that match.

Chapter Text

In the second part of this interview series, we approached Touya Meijin for his version of the story of his rivalry with Shindou Honinbou. He holds three titles and is the inarguable master of the Japanese Go circuit. Here is his interview, conducted without knowledge of Shindou-sensei's answers.

Monthly Go: So, Touya-sensei, tell us how it began. Your famous rivalry with Shindou-sensei.

Touya Mejin: I was twelve, and he showed up at our salon. He played an amazing game, and I was shocked. My confidence was shattered, and I was determined that I needed to play him again if I was to become a pro.

MG: Who won?

TM: (Sighs) He did, actually. But we played again, and after running away from my father, who tried to confront him about it, he refused to play me again.

MG: Ever?

TM: I had no idea how long he meant. But I assumed ‘ever,’ and I was devastated because I considered beating him to be a marker I had to pass before I could advance and go pro. I didn’t know what to do, so I chased him. I actually joined my middle school go club, entered a tournament, and demanded to be third chair so I could play him.

MG: And then what happened?

TM: I beat him. Mercilessly. He didn’t stand a chance. it was awful.

MG: So Shindou-sensei beat you twice, then when you got to play him again, he lost miserably? Was there an explanation for that?

TM: None that I’ve gotten. (Touya-sensei looks a little bitter about this, we were given permission to note.)

MG: What did you do after that?

TM: Tried to forget him. I was so incredibly disappointed, I decided to go pro and leave him in the dust where he belonged.

MG: Sounds brutal. How did he react to that?

TM: He came after me this time. He quickly became an insei, and then a pro, and after that awful period of him not showing up to matches for what seemed to be an eternity, we got to play again in the Honinbou preliminaries.

MG: And you beat him.

TM: I did. But after that, we began to work closely together, and after the first Hokuto cup, we worked side-by-side quite a bit.

MG: Can you say anything about that first Hokuto cup? Everyone was very surprised that Shindou-sensei was in your first-seat spot for the Korea match.

TM: Oh, yes, that. Shindou had a bone to pick with Ko Yongha, what with his soft spot for Shusaku and Yongha’s ridiculous antagonizing. But by then I’d learned to trust Shindou, so if he needed to beg for the first chair, I knew he must have a good reason for it. So I didn’t protest, and neither did Kurata-sensei.

MG: And how did you feel when he lost? Were you angry at him?

TM: To tell you the truth, no. Not at all. I felt sad. With him. He’d challenged Yongha for Shushaku’s honor, to defend Japan and her history, and failed because he was not strong enough. I knew that feeling. Whether or not I was supposed to be in that seat didn’t matter.

MG: Why did you two move in together a couple of years later?

TM: Oh, well. The idea was that it would be convenient. Since we played so often, and discussed so much, and I wanted to move out of my father’s home anyway, it made sense at the time. But I didn’t realize that it was going to be absolute hell. With Shindou failing to get or keep titles while I accumulated them, he got very depressed. And sometimes very angry.

MG: Did you fight?

TM: Every day. I mean, we still do. But we never hurt one another. We’re just very good at irritating one another. Though, I suppose you mean that day we both arrived for the Tengen challenger match visibly assaulted. And the answer is yes, we definitely assaulted one another the night prior. And it was the first and only time we lay a hand on- we fought physically. We never did, and never will, do that again. We’ve done quite a few idiotic things to one another, but that was definitely the most regrettable.

MG: Hopefully, you’ll permit us to ask you a personal question, as it’s one the go community has been looking for an answer to for as long as you two have been in the spotlight. Are you and Shindou-sensei in a relationship?

TM: (Touya-sensei pauses for a long while.) I’m not sure how to answer that. I do wish Shindou were here, as he is, bizarrely, much better at coming up with tactful responses to such sensitive questions. He is my partner. In a sense. And I don’t intend to have anyone else closer to me than him. Is that sufficient?

MG: That’s certainly a good response. Thank you for your honesty and your time today.

Look for extensive coverage of the Honinbou challenger matches between Shindou Honinbou and Touya Meijin in next month's issue.

Chapter Text

Hikaru came into the apartment, slammed the door and made a bee-line right for the living room, where he found, expectedly, Akira looking up from the very same magazine he had clutched in his own hands.

“I like how you referred to me by my first name throughout the entire interview," Akira said, almost sarcastic. "Very sweet. No doubt about it now."
Hikaru cocked his head, throwing his fists on his hips as he approached the couch. “It just feels weird calling you anything else, now. I’m not like you, who can just switch what you want to call me based on how pissed you are at me.” Hikaru flopped on the couch, throwing his feet up on Akira’s lap, who raised an eyebrow at the broach of his personal space– not that it was ever his to begin with, really.
“Can we talk about how you gave them permission to note that you looked bitter when questioned about my shift in ability?”
“Oh come on. I’m allowed to get a little grumpy about it once and a while. It’s been over a decade.”
“Fair enough.”
“Everyone totally knows, don’t they?” Akira asked, thumbing through the article absently.
“Are you kidding?” Hikaru said with a raised eyebrow, incredulous. “Anyone who figures it out based on this interview knew already. Your father referred to us as his sons in that interview last month. Did anyone give him the memo that we were still technically in the closet?”
“As if anyone can tell my father what to do, honestly," Akira relied, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of father, I’d forgotten that he totally ambushed you after our second game. Which you played that game?”
“The ‘sai’ me. Also, it was Ogata who ambushed me. For the record. It's like his hobby.”
Akira sat up. “Ooh. Are we answering questions about 'sai' now?”
Hikaru shook his head. “No, just that one, because it was innocuous. Didn't you notice me changing the subject?”
“Hmm,” Akira mumbled. “So what’s this bullshit about you studying under Shusaku?”
“Did you just say ‘bullshit?’”
“I did. There’s no way you got that good with only kifu as your teacher.”
“Obviously that’s a cover.”
“Who was your real teacher, then?”
“I’m not answering that.”
Akira sighed. It’s not like he was in the dark for lack of trying.

There was a moment of silence as the two perused the interview again, until Hikaru spoke up.
“I totally forgot about the pre-Tengen fight. Holy crap.”
“Yeah, remember? I thought I was going to have to call the police.”
“Oh, that would have been a great headline,” Hikaru remarked. "Two Young Go Pros Get In Brawl- Police Called, Titles Revoked Forever.""
“I’m just grateful that we don’t have long nails or anything.”
“I wouldn’t still have eyes if you had nails, Akira.”
“Likely.”
“I also wouldn’t be able to take off my shirt in the gym locker room,” he said in a low, almost purring voice, making scratching gestures with his hands.
“Don’t get cheeky, Hikaru. It’s only nineteen ‘o’ clock.”

He said it like it was too early for friskiness.

Obviously that was ridiculous. And Hikaru set out to prove as much.

Chapter Text

“So you’re...seeing one another?”
“Waya! Honestly, this is not new news!” Isumi chided.
Akira and Hikaru were both blank-faced.
“We’ve been living together for eleven years,” Hikaru deadpanned. “Eleven. Years.”
“I don’t know, I just...I was giving you the benefit of the doubt!”
“Waya, you were in denial. Face it.” Hikaru said.
“No, I just. Thought your. Relationship was purer than that.”
Hikaru snorted. “Waya, there is nothing pure ab-”
“Shindou!” Akira hollared, slapping his lover on the back of the head. “Honestly. Is that necessary?”
Hikaru grinned. “Get a load of the look on his face and tell me is isn’t!”
“Alright, kids,” Isumi moaned, rolling his eyes. “I’ll take Waya home so you don’t traumatise him any further.”
“I’m not traumatised! I can handle the idea of two men...uh...”
“No you can’t,” Hikaru tittered.
“Goodbye, Shindou,” Isumi offered, yanking Waya by the collar.

Hikaru thought he heard, as they exited, “Now do you understand why Yoko looks at me funny when I spend the night playing with you...?”