It is a horribly cold night; icy winds dance across the desolate streets as if it belongs to them, and the leaves which had been spared by the cold flutter in the breeze. The sky is devoid of stars, as it usually is in Tokyo, but tonight the great dark expanse feels emptier than ever. A row of evenly-spaced streetlights line the street, illuminating the area around it with a eerie white light. A lone figure stands on the lonely road, wearing a coat over her top and short skirt, and a muffler is wrapped snugly around her neck. However, despite the armor that she dons to protect herself from the chill, she feels cold, and rubs her hands against each other. She exhales, and wisps of white appear, then fade. The girl peers up at the window on the second storey of the house she is standing in front of; the light, filtered and dull from behind the gauzy curtains, reveals to her the shadow of the person she has come to see. The silhouette of a boy is sat down in front of another shape-a goban- motionless at first, but then his dark arm reaches down and picks up something and places it on the goban, and then he is still again. Akari watches him repeat this process a few times, before turning tail and heading home. This is not the Hikaru she wants to see. This is not the Hikaru she longs for. She wants Hikaru the igo pro to be Hikaru her outgoing best friend, again. She hopes for this, as she watches him through the window day after day.
Hikaru had stopped playing go altogether. He attends school in the mornings, and every night, as Akari passes that second floor window the Goban is alone and neglected like a disowned pet, and Hikaru is never near it. Sometimes she sees him reading manga on his bed, facing upwards, with one leg crossed over the other, long arms stretching upwards with each side of the book held open by each hand, and sometimes she sees him with a play station controller in his hands, probably battling his way through a new role-playing game. And then, sometimes, she sees him curled up in a ball close to the window, head buried in his knees. She cannot feel joy in the fact that her wish for him to quit playing igo professionally has come true, because Hikaru's hollow smiles and dull, lifeless green eyes cause her throat to constrict and angry tears to pool at her eyes. Now, she thinks, she wants Hikaru Shindou beg-dan back.
She feels an unspoken joy when she spies her bosom friend before the goban every night, again. She watches him fondly from her usual place on the street and whisper thanks to the person who had pulled her Hikaru back from his abyss of depression. She sees him place a shale stone expertly on the board, like the Hikaru of yore, and then, satisfied, shifts her feet in the direction of home.
She still wishes to have the Hikaru of her childhood back, and she does not know when or how or whether he will return, but until then, Akari will wait.
I sincerely apologise for any inconsistencies with canon!--I haven't read/watched Hikago for quite a long time, har ahr. You could always think of it as AU. ;D
Also, let's pretend that Hikaru's bedroom window is that big, okay?