Summary
As the president of the Go club at Kaio Middle School, Kaoru Kishimoto is a former insei who ultimately failed to secure a professional license. After losing decisively to Akira, he resigned early and acknowledged that he was outmatched, leading him to abandon his dreams of becoming a professional. He later challenges Hikaru to a match to assess his abilities, defeating him with ease. Kishimoto’s cynical dismissal of Hikaru’s ambition to reach Akira’s level through casual club play motivates Hikaru to formally register as an insei. When Hikaru joins the insei group, he recognizes Kishimoto from their earlier encounter, noting his fondness for black coffee as the key detail that identifies him as the failed candidate the other students had been discussing.
