Hikaru no Go: I taught you Go, and you made the Kisei cry?

The middle-aged man on the referee's stand glanced at his watch, waited briefly, and then announced loudly:

"So, is everything ready? Now, we can begin."

The boy sitting opposite Su Ran was stunned for a long time before he finally came to his senses after hearing the referee's words.

He clenched his left fist and reached into the chess box with his right hand.

"Hidesaku Honinbo?"

"Is this kid... mocking me?"

"What a joke! Honinbo Shusaku is long dead!"

Anger surged in the boy's heart, and with a "smack," he pressed the chess piece onto the chessboard with his finger!

First move, four columns and four rows, star!

Su Ran calmly placed her piece, responding with a different star position.

The boy followed closely behind.

After four moves, both sides have secured key positions.

At that moment, the young man made his move.

"Let him see what I'm capable of!"

The boy picked up a black chess piece from the chess box and slammed it down!

He placed another black piece next to Su Ran's original sixteen columns and sixteen rows of pieces.

"Fifteen columns, sixteen rows, bang!"

Su Ran's eyes flickered slightly as she looked up at the boy with a defiant expression.

"We encountered it on the fifth move."

"They launched their attack without even setting up a proper strategy."

"Trying to teach me a lesson by launching a swift and fierce attack?"

"That's... way too arrogant..."

"So, how should I reply to him?"

"Should we praise his courage or cruelly crush his hope...?"

After a moment of contemplation, Su Ran quietly placed her piece.

Hey.

A silent battle, without a trace of gunpowder, yet amidst the flashing blades, the slightest carelessness could result in decapitation.

Teacher Yin suddenly looked at the development of the chess game.

"Faced with Peng's provocative move, did Bai Zi choose to temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack with Da Fei...?"

"This kid from Kawaii Middle School... has a very gentle playing style. No, or rather, it is gentle yet firm, combining both. Within its gentleness lies a hidden potential for a counterattack."

"That reminds me of an ancient Go player from the Edo period..."

"Like a swarm of snakes lurking in a dark cave, Kuroko had unknowingly entered the cave."

"Did Hei Zi hear the faint sound of the white snake flicking its tongue?"

……

Su Ran's moves were swift and decisive, while the young man opposite him grew increasingly grim.

In the middle of the game, the boy collapsed in despair, the chess piece between his fingers trembling slightly.

He wanted to place his piece, but found that no matter where he placed it, it seemed there was no way to change the outcome.

"How is this possible... I, I'm one of the three generals of Kaiou Middle School, how could I be... by Kawawa..."

"No, there must still be hope!"

The boy gritted his teeth and stared intently at the chessboard.

Time ticked by, and Su Ran remained silent, not urging anyone on.

The boy opposite still had time. Even if he needed to finish thinking, as long as he didn't exceed the time limit and it was within the rules, Su Ran wouldn't interfere.

Much later.

The boy lowered his head and said weakly, "I admit defeat."

"Did you know that Honinbo Shusaku, who was undefeated with black, never claimed to be good at going first?"

Su Ran nodded slightly, spoke in a low voice, and then pushed back his chair and stood up.

"I appreciate your concession."

After leaving those words, Su Ran left her seat.

The boy closed his eyes, his chest heaving violently, and tears slowly slid down his cheeks.

Teacher Yin didn't offer any words of comfort. He stared intently at the chessboard on the table, his eyes filled with amazement.

"Teacher Yin... I... am I really useless? I actually lost... How could I lose so easily..."

The boy shrugged slightly, trying his best to hide his disheveled crying.

Teacher Yin snapped out of her daze, saw the boy with teary eyes, and shook her head: "I think you played very well, but you were a bit too arrogant and unlucky to run into such a strong opponent."

"Teacher Yin..."

The boy's voice grew weaker and weaker, choked with sobs: "That guy, that guy, who is he... When I played chess with him, I felt as if a god was sitting opposite me..."

“Every attack I launched was effortlessly neutralized by him, and after each successful counterattack, I faced his relentless counter-offensive…”

"Completely...unable to breathe..."

"He... is too strong... too strong."

The boy's confidence was completely shattered, and his body trembled with fear.

He no longer had the courage to pick up a chess piece.

It's as if every move you make in chess is being read by you.

They were even caught off guard by a trap planted by the other side without them noticing.

Unaware of his surroundings, he walked in and walked right into a trap.

That feeling almost drove him to the brink of collapse; in fact, it terrified him!

Teacher Yin remained silent for a long time: "If you were to play another game against that boy, do you think you would win?"

"I……"

The boy opened his mouth hesitantly, then shook his head dejectedly: "I can't win, I can't win... He's too strong, there's no way I can beat him, and, Teacher Yin, I don't want to experience that feeling again!"

"That feeling, as if someone can see through everything about you."

Teacher Yin stopped talking.

He glanced in the direction Su Ran had left, then lowered his head to tidy up the chess pieces on the table for the boy.

Throughout this time, the boy remained in a state of utter dejection.

"His moves... are very similar to those of a Go player from the Edo period named Ota Yuzo."

Teacher Yin helped the boy tidy up the chess pieces and slowly said, "The fourteen-year-old Honinbo Shusaku, facing the thirty-six-year-old Ota Yuzo, resolutely chose to draw his sword."

Having said all she could say, Teacher Yin did not elaborate further.

He walked behind the two Neptune generals and watched the match between the two Neptune generals and Gouda Takeshi.

But the battle between Su Ran and the three Sea King generals just now lingered in his mind.

"The child was so frightened that he was trembling and didn't even have the courage to pick up a chess piece again..."

"I dare not pursue with a trembling body, nor challenge with a heart full of awe..."

"In his eyes, opponents with superb chess skills are like gods..."

"In this world, how many people dare to draw their swords?"

……

Trap or opportunity? I've been waiting three years for this move!

My thoughts jumped out of the previous game of chess.

At this moment.

Teacher Yin's attention was focused entirely on the game in front of him, between the two Sea Kings and Gouda Takeshi.

By standing behind the two generals, he was already implicitly cheering on Haiwang Middle School.

"Takeshi Goda and Kaioh are evenly matched in skill, and the game is so close that it will be difficult to determine a winner in a short time..."

"I never imagined that Neptune Middle School was really this strong..."

Su Ran looked at the chessboard in front of her with some worry, her mind flooded with the experience of tens of thousands of games, constantly analyzing the winning probability of each move made by both sides.

Su Ran also drew inspiration and continued to grow from the experience of tens of thousands of simulated games.

"Young man, you are one of the three generals of Kawage, right?"

Teacher Yin looked at the chessboard and asked Su Ran in a soft voice.

"Ok?"

Su Ran turned her head slightly and looked at Teacher Yin, her eyes flashing.

He remembered this teacher, Mr. Yoon, a Korean who came to Yingzhou with impressive Go skills and became the Go consultant for Haiwang Middle School.

"Well, what happened?"

Teacher Yin smiled and said, "Why would a child as strong as you participate in this kind of competition, and why are you in the third place?"

"I did it all for someone."

Teacher Yin was slightly taken aback: "Someone? In this Go league, is there a player that even you have to take seriously?"