Hello all. I'm supposed to be re-writing my other story, but my muse for that one is on vacation. Instead, this came to me. I quite like it. Enjoy.
EDITED: 8/22/10
One Day of the Year
Normally, on most days, Shindou Hikaru was out and about, either laughing with friends or playing Go with them on the few days he did not have a pro game.
But there is one day of the year that Hikaru never goes out, and some of his more sensitive friends try to stay clear.
The first year this happens, he calls in sick to the Go Institute and asks to cancel his game for the day. It is the same for each year, and the Go Institute no longer bothers to schedule games for him that day. After their own selective games, each year on that day, Waya leads Isumi to his grandfather's attic.
He sits there in front of a goban, opening and closing his fan. A kifu sits to the side of him, and a complicated game is set out on the board.
"What are you doing here? You aren't sick, slacker!" Waya exclaims the first year, and continues to ask him after.
Hikaru gives him no answer, and continues not to.
Because no one would believe him. That's what he says.
"You only have to try us," urges Isumi, but still he refuses.
"Come play a game with us, Shindou," Touya suggests, who decided to tag along one year when he canceled a game they had.
No answer. And yet, for once, he clears the board off. The three exchange a glance, and Touya hesitantly makes his way to the board, only for Hikaru to start placing stones by himself.
But it is not any game. It's their first game.
Touya's eyes flash in rage, and he storms out, under the bemused gaze of Waya and Isumi. He does not come back, even after Hikaru apologizes, and says that it has to do with 'someday.'
Hikaru slowly places the stones back in their place, and sets up another game from a kifu.
"Shusaku, Shindou? You're replaying those games? What's the point?" Waya wants to yell, but Isumi is already leading him away. They would try again next year, he says.
And Hikaru sits there in the attic, fan opening and closing, only one word in his mind:
Why?