From then on Scott and I started meeting on the Yahoo! Japan chess site every night at a prearranged time. I learned the fundamentals of chess from him, and he got to ask me strange questions (Were there always a lot of "cosplayers" hanging around Akihabara dressed up as manga and anime characters? What kind of food was odenkan?). Naturally, we were also waiting for Zhang to come along again and reveal the solution to the "mystery coin" puzzle.
Scott said he'd come up with one explanation but wanted to ask about certain details. Having failed to come up with anything, I said Zhang had probably just thrown out a riddle that didn't have a solution, but Scott didn't think so. In any case, without talking to Zhang again we'd never get it sorted out, so even though he was a real pain to be around we waited impatiently for him to show up.
But people never seem to be around when you need them. Scott's screen name and mine were displayed whenever we were logged in, so Zhang must have known we were waiting for him, but the only ones who dropped in on us were other chess players. Every night for a week I told myself, "tonight's the night," but it never was.
In addition to our screen names, numerical ratings indicating our respective chess-playing abilities were also displayed; Scott took on players with high ratings, while I played the ones with low numbers. I progressed to the point where I started winning my matches—provided the opponent was a low-rated beginner like me—and chess itself gradually became more interesting. After I got the hang of certain rules that are unique to chess, I had a better understanding of the similarities between chess and shogi, and this enabled me to put my knowledge of shogi to good use. For days I played game after game, knowing I'd be rated higher after each victory and lower after each loss.
Naturally, I conversed with some of my opponents via the chat window, but I didn't get to know any of them the way I'd gotten to know Scott. Most of the time we didn't even exchange the basic pleasantries at the beginning or end of the game. We had nothing in particular to talk about, so we just played chess. It was kind of odd that I had become more friendly with Scott, an American, than with any of these other opponents, who were probably all Japanese, like me. I asked him why he thought this might be, and he thought about it for a minute before answering.
>>I don't know the word for it in Japanese, but I think it must be the stimulation.
I'd never heard this word before so I dug out my English-Japanese dictionary, which had been gathering dust ever since I finished studying for university entrance exams. "Stimulation": shigeki, kofun, kobu.
>>You mean we get stimulation from each other?
>>Right. I want to know more about Japan, and I learn about Akihabara from you. I teach you about chess and thinking puzzles. We both enjoy it.
That was probably it. We had mutual interests—chess and Akihabara and manga—and we could teach each other and learn from each other about this stuff, which was fun. And now we had another item of common interest.
>>AND we're both hooked on Zhang's mystery coin puzzle.
>>There you are—now that's stimulation. It's stimulating our minds.
Okay, so he was talking about intellectual stimulation. I'm not much of a deep thinker myself, but Zhang's puzzle seemed tailor-made for Scott, the onetime aspiring detective.
>>By the way, what are you doing?
>>Right now? Playing chess with you.
>>No, I mean . . . since you never became a detective, what do you do? Are you in school?
I'd never asked how old he was, but I figured he must have been around my age. Since he played chess with me every night like this I assumed he led a pretty carefree life. His reply wasn't what I'd expected.
>>I'm a cook. You know, just like The Chef or Mister Ajikko.
He told me he worked in a cafeteria in New York and that he was in his thirties. He said he made sandwiches, slicing the vegetables, cooking the meat, and adding the cheese and sauce, but what he really wanted to do was work at a sushi bar. I figured this was because he was partial to Japan, but he said the pay would be better and he'd be able to sleep later. He said his cafeteria job started in the morning so he played Net chess over breakfast before going to work.
>>Oh, so it's morning there. It's the middle of the night here in Japan.
>>Right, different time zones. We're on opposite sides of the world.
While we were having this conversation, our long-awaited acquaintance suddenly reappeared: Zhang's ID popped up on the screen.
>>Oho, it's Zhang! We've been waiting for you.
True to form, Zhang ignored Scott's greeting.
>>Got it yet?
From his surly tone, I had the sense that he was taunting us, as if we could never get it. Scott rose to the challenge.
>>I've solved the mystery. First, though, would you be so kind as to answer a question?
It was like a line from a detective comic book. Amused by Scott's genteel language, maybe, Zhang responded agreeably.
>>Very well.
>>All right, here's my question. Please answer yes or no.
Scott's message appeared instantly. I had visions of him blazing away at the keyboard at a furious pace.
>>The man in the story has never seen fish before, right?
Edited by Japan Echo Inc.