Tetsuo Kaga

Kaga is confrontational, sarcastic and deliberately rebellious. He smokes despite being underage, intimidates younger students and cultivates an image of someone who has little patience for authority.

His hostility toward Go is more complicated than simple dislike. His father forced him to train from childhood and remained dissatisfied with Kaga's results, particularly because Kaga could not surpass Akira. Shogi becomes something Kaga chooses for himself rather than another standard imposed upon him.

Despite his abrasive behavior, Kaga repeatedly helps people around him. His actions toward the Haze Go Club show that he has not completely rejected either Go or the friends who still care about it.

Kaga is a skilled amateur Go player because of extensive childhood training. Although he no longer pursues the game seriously, his fundamentals remain far stronger than those of an ordinary school player.

He is also an accomplished shogi player and leads Haze Middle School's Shogi Club. His preference for shogi is both genuine and an assertion of independence from his father's plans for him.

Kaga's competitive instincts remain sharp in either game. When he returns to a Go board, he can draw on years of training despite claiming that he no longer cares about the game.

Kaga first becomes involved with Hikaru through a school festival Go event. His ability immediately reveals that the intimidating Shogi Club president has considerably more Go experience than his attitude suggests.

When Haze needs enough players to enter a middle-school Go tournament, Kaga joins Kimihiro Tsutsui and Hikaru. His participation gives the inexperienced team a strong third player and exposes Hikaru to organized team competition.

Kaga later graduates from Haze, leaving the Go Club to its younger members. His appearances become less frequent, but he remains one of the people associated with Hikaru's earliest period of playing Go for himself.

Hikaru Shindou meets Kaga early in his development as a Go player. Kaga recognizes that Hikaru Shindou has unusual potential and helps him participate in Haze's team competition.

Kimihiro Tsutsui is Kaga's schoolmate and the dedicated founder of Haze's Go Club. Although Kaga teases Kimihiro Tsutsui, he also helps his club when it needs another player.

Akira Touya is the childhood Go prodigy Kaga repeatedly failed to surpass. Kaga's experiences being compared against Akira Touya contribute to his resentment toward Go.