The Implication That Follows

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Hikaru didn't think anything was strange, but Waya mumbled, "Figures."

"What?" he asked, settling into one of the unoccupied tables.

Waya tilted his head towards the couch at the far side of the salon. "Touya and that guy."

Hikaru took a look. Sitting on the couch were Touya and Ashiwara, happily chatting. He considered going over to say hi, but decided it wasn't necessary. "What with them?"

Waya gave him a measuring look. "...Never mind."

"Hey, what?" Hikaru frowned. He reached for the go-ke. "Nigiri?"

Waya took the other go-ke in response to the second question. "Nah. If you think everything's normal then it's better to leave it that way."

He took a handful of stones and put his hand on the go-ban, but Hikaru ignored it. "You're just making me more curious. Come on, what is it?"

Waya considered, then shrugged. "From the looks of it, they are together."

Hikaru stared. "You're kidding."

"Take a look at their position."

Hikaru looked again, and now that Waya mentioned it, he noticed the arm slung across Touya's shoulders.

He blushed a little. "Wow. Really?"

"I think so," Waya said. He looked pointedly at Hikaru's go-ke, indicating that he was waiting, but Hikaru was too busy stealing looks to notice. He sighed. "It's not that uncommon nowadays. You don't have to be so shocked."

"It's just..." Hikaru tried to find the words. "Well... it's Touya, you know?"

Waya raised an eyebrow. He readily had opinions on why it should be obvious that Touya swung that way, but Hikaru wasn't likely to appreciate them. "Yeah, he is still Touya. I still don't like him, and you are still his rival. Don't tell me you're homophobic?"

"I'm not," Hikaru hastened to say. He was still sneaking glances.

Waya shook his head. "Shindou, get over it, okay? As much as I don't like him, I don't want to cause a rift between the two of you." He placed his fist on the go-ban with emphasis. "Now come on, play."

Hikaru tore his gaze off the couple. "Yeah," he said slowly, and picked up his stones.

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Once you noticed a person, suddenly he's everywhere, Hikaru thought. Then again, it might be perfectly logical that Ashiwara would be here rooting for Touya in his match against Kurata.

It was a good thing the game started soon after he came, because Hikaru found himself secretly observing Ashiwara before the battle provided a better focus. He'd been doing the same thing to Touya these past few weeks, whenever they met. Searching for any change in Touya's behaviour, lack of concentration, secretive attitude-- finding faults with him, simply put.

It wasn't that he had a problem with Touya being gay. Heck, he would have an equally hard time accepting it if Touya had gotten a girlfriend. He just didn't like the impact of the relationship on their rivalry.

Hikaru was sure his own focus had gone down terribly because of all these thoughts going on at the back of his mind, so didn't the fact that Touya didn't seem to defeat him much more badly than usual mean that Touya's concentration had dwindled just as much?

He scrunched his face as the present game ended with Touya's loss. It'd been a good game actually, but Touya could've seen that opening a few hands back and attacked instead of defending that corner, and...

"Good game, Akira," Ashiwara patted Touya's shoulder as he came out from the match, before turning to the other player. "Congratulations, Kurata-san."

Kurata accepted graciously, then beamed at him. "Shindou!"

Hikaru listened reluctantly to his animated talk, while glancing at Touya talking to the other pros, including Ashiwara, every other minute. When it looked like Touya was about to leave, he hurriedly excused himself from Kurata and called out, "Touya!"

Touya waited as he made his way through the small crowd. "Shindou," he greeted.

"You wanna go to the Go salon after this?" Hikaru asked. "To discuss this match." And perhaps drop some hints that his relationship was distracting him too much and making him lose matches.

"I'd love to, but I have a study group later," Touya replied.

That'd be the Meijin's study group, including Ashiwara. "Next time then," Hikaru said, a little annoyed.

"I see you can't wait to offer your criticism," Touya said. He didn't look too happy about the game either, so Hikaru figured that he'd seen his mistakes in hindsight.

"Definitely," Hikaru pounced. "I can't believe you missed the chance to salvage your left territory. Where were you looking?"

"I was careless in allowing the opening, but there wasn't a move that could--"

"I saw one, you just weren't focusing properly--"

"I did too. You played a similar move our second last meeting and I've considered all possibilities--"

"Nah, you were equally distracted in that game," Hikaru huffed.

"You're the one who was distracted," Touya retorted. "I remembered you lost your match that morning and then you kept looking at me guiltily as if waiting for me to criticize it."

So he did notice? Hikaru didn't even remember that game he lost, but let Touya think so if it saved him the need of coming up with an excuse. "Then why didn't you?"

"You made so many new mistakes in our game, I didn't have time to touch on those."

Hikaru opened his mouth to counter, but paused as he noticed Ashiwara coming up behind Touya.

"I'd hate to interrupt such a lively discussion," Ashiwara said with a grin. "But it's lunchtime, so would you boys like to go with all of us?"

Hikaru tried to recall a time when Ashiwara's friendly hand on Touya's shoulder didn't look to him like a silent warning to keep off.

Touya agreed to the invitation, which was why Hikaru declined.

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"One more game," Hikaru said, defiance in his eyes.

Touya took a glance at the counter. "Sorry, but Ashiwara-san's waiting, so..."

Hikaru waved it off. "You can ask him to play with one of the customers in the meantime." He was tired of acting normal, of convincing himself nothing had changed, of not thinking about Touya and Ashiwara. And while he was making all these efforts, Touya just happily decided to leave their game for his date?

Touya gave him a look. "That won't be nice." He put the lid on the go-ke, and stood up. "I really have to go. See you next Saturday."

"Thursday," Hikaru scowled. "We have matches, remember?"

"I remember that," Touya said, a little puzzled by the sudden hostility.

Hikaru turned away and began recreating a game. "Have a nice date."

Touya stopped.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aren't you in a hurry? Just go," Hikaru said sullenly.

"Shindou, I did apologize. Now stop with your childish tantrum already."

"Who's throwing a tantrum? I just wished you a nice date!"

"And you suppose I didn't catch the sarcasm?"

"Oh, fine! Touya, just because you have a boyfriend, it doesn't mean you can ditch our sessions, okay? There, I've said it, totally unsarcastic."

Touya stared.

So did all other pairs of eyes in the room, as Hikaru just realized.

He turned red. "I'm sorry," he said. He supposed Touya wasn't out of the closet yet.

Without a word, Touya grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Hikaru hissed.

Touya dropped his arm roughly, and fixed him with a deadly glare. "There are things you cannot joke about, Shindou!"

"What joke? It's only the fact. And I would've thought you'd trust me enough to tell me about it rather than make up excuses like this one!" He was pissed off at so many levels.

"There really is a gathering at Ogata-san's--" Touya paused as he suddenly realized the issue. "You thought I was dating Ashiwara-san?'!"

He was loud enough, and the room turned to Ashiwara, who was all bewildered eyes and red cheeks.

Ichikawa began to laugh.

Hikaru honestly hadn't thought of questioning the soundness of Waya's deduction until then. "Eh. You're not?" he asked sheepishly.

"What on earth made you think that?" Touya said incredulously.

"I saw you... w-well, his arm over you and everything..." Why was it that Touya's glare could make any reasoning sound ridiculous?

"I did grow up with him," Touya grunted, which on Hikaru's ears sounded like 'none of your business'. "We are most certainly not--" he coughed, "-- romantically involved."

"...Sorry." Hikaru scratched his head. "Also, I didn't mean to imply that you're, uh, that way, but I'm cool with it anyway, so, yeah, whatever. Sorry."

"Forget it," Touya sighed. "And I'm really sorry for ending early today. We need to get the drinks before heading to the place, so..."

"Sure," Hikaru said, a little crestfallen.

Touya hesitated. "Do you want to come along?" he asked. "I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable around them so I didn't ask earlier, but I'm sure Ogata-san will be glad to see you."

"I'd better not," Hikaru said. He needed more time before he could look Ashiwara in the eye again.

"All right then," Touya said.

"But um, hey, I'll still be here for the next few hours, so if you, um..."

"Okay," Touya said, "I'll come back here once I'm done. I don't plan to stay there long anyway."

"Okay."

He watched Touya leave, and let out a sigh.

"Bored already, Shindou-kun?" Ichikawa came up beside him, grinning widely. "Kiba-san here would like a shidougo game, if you please..."

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It was past the opening hours when Touya re-entered the salon. Hikaru fixed a pointed look on him, every step to the table.

Touya calmly sat down across him. "Ogata-san blamed me for not bringing you along."

"He should have invited me personally."

"That's what I told him," Touya said, almost smiling.

"Akira-kun, Shindou-kun," Ichikawa called. "I'm going. Could you lock up after you're done?"

"Ah, sure, Ichikawa-san," Touya answered. "Sorry for keeping you."

"That's fine," she smiled. "Have a nice date."

The two boys stared after her.

"Uh," Hikaru said after some time. "Why didn't you say something to her?"

Touya looked embarrassed. "What could I have said? It was awkward."

"You were making such a fuss when I said it earlier," Hikaru returned.

"She wasn't out to annoy me like you were," Touya said, averting his eyes. "It's getting late. Let's play."

So this he didn't mind, Hikaru thought, and he fought a sudden urge to grin.

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