Chapter 9
Time Suspended

The world seemed to shrink to the confined space of the board, where every piece now weighed as much as a mountain. The position on the ōgiban was clear: Takeshi's victory was mathematically inevitable. A truth any experienced player would have recognised, leading to an honourable resignation. Yet his opponent played on, unperturbed, as if time itself had no hold on her.

In the half-light of the carriage, her face kept that unreadable expression which was beginning to haunt Takeshi. Her features, unfathomably deep, seemed to reflect not imminent defeat but an infinite patience. A patience that turned every move into a drop of water slowly wearing away a rock.

Takeshi's initial generosity had turned into a trap of which he was becoming aware too late. What he had taken for a simple friendly game was now revealing its true nature: a test of endurance whose rules escaped him.