Key doesn't own Hikaru no Go, blah blah disclaimer blah—sue someone else. This will be an odd Hikaru x Akira piece, starting out shonen-ai and ending who knows where. Anyway, don't tell me you weren't warned. Now on with the show!
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Prologue
It was to be a promotional tour of sorts—two Go players were to be chosen at random for a weeklong trip. It was supposedly to teach some of the more remote towns and villages how to play go, but it was more like an all expenses paid vacation to some of the best ryokan in the Japanese countryside. It was one of the better perks of being a pro player, and some of the older pros viewed it as their right alone.
The uproar started when Shindo Hikaru and Touya Akira's names were drawn. Two of the new generation who had barely begun to play, some argued, were hardly worthy of such a trip since many of the oldest members of the Go Association had yet to go. After all age was worth something wasn't it? Touya in particular wouldn't have minded giving up the trip, as a weeklong stay in such close quarters with the other boy was more akin to his vision of hell than of a dream vacation. Shindo wouldn't have minded the all expenses paid condition, but the next volume of his favorite manga was coming out that particular week, and it was unlikely at best he'd find it in some of these backwater places.
It should have been the end of it seeing as neither one wanted to go, had a careless man not remarked—and rather loudly, the Touya Akira's selection had to have been arranged by his father. Infuriated, Touya was not only going to go, but to make Shindo go as well. Under other circumstances Hikaru wouldn't have gone along with him so easily, but seeing how deeply the remark had wounded him he decided to keep his spot.
Hikaru thought, "I might not enjoy the trip, but those bastards sure as hell don't deserve to either."