Hikaru stood nervously infront of the old Japanese-style home. He glanced around to double check that he had the right home before hesitantly knocking on the front gate. An elegant-looking woman with short black hair answered the door. She stared at him for a while in confusion before recognition dawned on her. "Oh! You're the one who went to visit my husband while he was in the hospital. I'm sorry, but I don't think I remember your name," she said, a warm smile on her face.
" Yes, nice to see you Toya-san, I'm Shindou Hikaru. I was wondering if I could talk to Toya-Meijin about something. I hope I'm not being a bother," Hikaru said, trying his best to be polite.
" Oh, not at all! Come on in. I'll show you where he is," she said, waving him in.
With a muttered "Sorry for intruding" Hikaru followed her in. He followed her in, not really focused on his surroundings as he thought about what he was going to say. Consequently, he didn't notice that he walked right past Akira Toya. Akira stopped in shock.
'Hikaru! What's he doing here! And what was that about?! Walking right past me as though he didn't notice me!' Akira thought, before beginning to follow them.
(A.N.- *cough cough like you're one to talk Toya.)
Hikaru was led into a large tatami room where Toya-meijin sat in front of a go board, reviewing old games. Toya looked up at Hikaru, before gesturing for him to sit down. Akiko left the room, sliding the door closed behind her.
Silence reigned in the room as Hikaru thought about what he was here to say. Toya-meijin waited patiently, his attention fixed on Hikaru. Outside, Akira squatted down by the tatami door, curious to see what Hikaru was here to speak to his father about.
After about five minutes, Toya-meijin finally broke the silence. "I heard from Akira that you are going to stop skipping games Shindou."
Hikaru blushed and looked down, embarassed. "Oh, so you heard about that too," he stated, ashamed about his behavior in the last couple of months.
"Yes. Now, moving on, what did you come to talk to me about?" Toya-meijin asked
"Oh, right! I came here to tell you that I will no longer be able to set up games for you and Sai anymore. And, moreover, that Sai is no longer able to play against you," he told him regrettfully.
The Meijin, taken aback asked "May I ask why?"
Hikaru, remembering the lie he came up with said "Well, he kind of, um, died," he said, shifting uncomfortably as the lie came a bit too close to home for him.
Akira, listening from the outside, was shocked. Toya-meijin's eyes narrowed as he carefully watched Hikaru. His lips pursed together in thought before saying "I suppose this has something to do with why you stopped playing."
Hikaru looked up, shocked before his gaze shifted to the side awkwardly. "Yes, it does," he admitted.
Akira, shocked at his admission, fell to the floor with a slight thump.
Hikaru and Toya-meijin both glanced at the door before returning their attention to their conversation.
The meijin watched Hikaru silently before asking "Could you please tell me what your relationship with him is?"
Hikaru considered it a bit before shrugging. "I don't see why not as long as you don't tell anybody."
"I won't. I kept your secret last time, didn't I?"
"Right," Hikaru took a moment to collect his thoughts before beginning, carefully avoiding the mystical elements of the story. "Well, one day, I sort of just met Sai. He couldn't play go without help, and started to persuade me to play for and with him. When I refused, he made me sick, so I ended up playing anyway. At first I really had no interest in the game so I just copied his style. That was when I played against Akira, actually. After a while I started to get hooked. I wanted to develop my own style of play instead of just using his. At that time, I was still a pretty bad player, so I refused to play Akira when he came to seek me out. That's probably why Akira was so dissapointed after the tournament, since he was playing against my still developing style, not Sai's superior style of play. I started wanting to play my own games instead of letting Sai control my moves, so, as a result he barely got to play anymore. After I discovered Netgo, I just signed him up and controlled the mouse while he dictated all of the moves. That was a great couple of months, watching his go change and learning more indepth knowledge about the game as I helped him play. After a while though, we were attracting too much attention so we had to stop. After that, I convince my grandpa to buy me a go board and we would play against each other. That was around the time I became an insei. After I passed the pro test, he became restless. When you asked to play me in the Shin Shoudan series, he begged me to let him play you. I was reluctant since I would be getting a reverse komi, so I refused. But he kept needling me about it so I caved and forced him to play with a 15 point handy cap. He once again dictated my moves and afterwords, he whined about wanting to play you again. I got ticked a guilt tripped him about taking away something that was supposed to be an important game to me. After that, I started as a pro. When you collapsed, he asked me to go check up on you and when I went you mentioned that you were playing internet go, so I decided to set up a game between you two. I thought he would be satisfied for a while, but after the game, he changed. He became more urgent about playing me and more melancholy. He got on my nerves and then one day, he suddenly er, died." Hikaru explained, almost saying disappeared, but saud died at the last moment.
Toya-meijin sat, contemplating what Hikaru had said for a while before asking "And this caused you to stop playing go?"
"Erm, right. After he died I was filled with guilt. By the end of it, he barely got to play anymore, even though he was such a good player. I swore off playing go until the god of go gave him back to me, or rewind time so that I could play with his style and let him play instead."
"And what changed your mind?"
"It was actually Isumi. He came back and got me to play a game by saying it was for his sake, so that he could go into the pro exams with a clean slate. In the middle of the game I placed a stone exactly where Sai would have placed it an broke down. I realized that Sai's spirit was in my go and took it as a sign that Sai wanted me to keep playing. After a while, I realized that I would have to explain why you wouldn't be able to play him anymore and came over here."
The meijin thought about the things that didn't line up, like how Sai could dictate Hikaru's moves when he wasn't in the room, or how Sai seemed to somehow know that he was going to die, but decided not to press the subject. "Thank-you for coming to tell me Shindou. I know that isn't the whole story, but thanks for telling me what you could."
Hikaru smiled and stood up to leave, feeling better now that he'd told at least part of the story to someone. Akira met him on the way out and walked him to the front gate, acting as though he hadn't ease dropped. As he was leaving, Hikaru told Akira "It's not nice to ease drop on people you know." Before happily leaving a sputtering Akira in good spirits.
owari
Author's rambles:I had no idea what I was doing with this, but I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave comments and any suggestions you would like to make. If you happen to read anything else I write, I'm very sorry for the lack of updates.