meitanteiosaka:

The match had come and gone as agreed, and Heiji had lost. Abysmally. Well, he figured he would, anyway. He wasn’t that great at the game, and Hakuba was obviously pro at it. A shake of the hand as the Osakan gracefully admitted his defeat, and a promise for another match, this time in a game he was more familiar with.

Heiji thoroughly trounced Hakuba at igo, even though he’d played a teaching game. A bit disappointed, he promised to teach the Brit more, so that he could be a proper challenging opponent.

It became a regular thing, their matches. Not just chess and go, but shogi, checkers, backgammon, Risk. They went through numerous board games, and even a few card games, trumping the other as they went and keeping the score wonderfully even between them.

When board games lost their favor, Hakuba suggested that they move to billiards. Each week when they met for game night (usually Thursdays), the foreign detective dragged Hattori to a different pool hall or bar to try their luck. Hakuba was, as with chess, thoroughly good at the game and at first had absolutely no trouble beating the Osakan. But Hattori, for all of his brash decisions and lack of control for physical strength, did seem to have a potential that Hakuba couldn’t quite place.

So, as they’d done for other activities, Hakuba taught him the ropes. How to hold the cue, what angles were most effective for more elaborate trajectories and thus interesting and creative wins, and of course, how to hit the damn ball without sending it flying off of the table and rolling underneath the pachinko machine. 

This, unfortunately, required the two to get close at times. With a clear goal firmly in mind, Hakuba didn’t take the contact too personally. After all, if he wanted Hattori to feel how one was supposed to handle the cue, he would have to guide him. And guide him he did, hand on his, standing close behind him, pulling it back, adjusting the angle, and then the hit, arm gliding smoothly forward with just the right amount of strength to send the ball spinning just the way he wanted it to. 

Hakuba wasn’t certain if Hattori would ever have quite the finesse that he’d hoped, but at least he was well on his way to becoming someone fun to play against After each practice session, he suggested returning to the cards for poker and black jack – complete with chips, cash, and betting dares. Given the setting, it seemed appropriate and, yet again, evenly matched between the pair of them.