"Are you sure we shouldn't stop?"

"Yes! Yes, of course I'm... nng, ow... sure!  Just shut up and get on with it!"

"But if it's really stuck in there, don't you think we should..."

"You're the one who told me to do it!"

"I didn't think you really would! I knew you were stupid, but I didn't know you were that stupid."

"Just make your move, Waya, and we'll worry about it when we're done."

Easy for you to say, thought Waya as he looked across the goban at Hikaru, who had a sock held to his nose to stem the trickle of blood from his right nostril.  You don't have to look at you.  He shook his head a little and focused on the board.  And you don't have to worry about the shame of possibly losing to an idiot with a go stone up his nose.

Even now, just minutes after it had happened, he wasn't quite sure how the topic had come to the dare.  It was a fairly serious game, with a bet of a week's worth of ramen riding on it, and he'd been more focused on the game than the rolling of banter and insults.  Had it come from when Hikaru had said he could beat Waya with his eyes closed?  Or had it been when they'd started getting hungry and pondered a set of edible go stones, where you got to eat what you captured?  Somehow it had come up, though, and the words "I dare you" had been spoken, and then when Hikaru had captured one of his stones, he stuck it directly into his nose with a flourish.  And then could not remove it.

Waya had some half-formed thought about how he knew the creation of eyes was a vital part of the game, but he'd never heard anything about noses, and he had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.  Hikaru tried to blow his nose a little again, creating an interesting honking noise, and Waya made a move quickly so he didn't have to concentrate anymore.  The vision of Hikaru blowing his nose and shooting the stone directly into just the right place danced into his mind, and he closed his eyes so keep from looking at the uneven bulge of Hikaru's right nostril.

"You're going to regret that," Hikaru said, voice nasal and distorted, and set his stone into place.  Presumably with his fingers.  Waya opened his eyes to look at the board and started to swear.

The only way I can win this is... "The one in your nose does not count as a point."

"It should count as two!"

"Just shut up.  I resign.  Let's go to the hospital already."

Hikaru rocked back onto his heels and grinned.  "Stop and buy me ramen first."

"What? You aren't going to be able to taste it with that stuck up there!"        

Hikaru tossed the bloodied sock onto Waya's bed and stood up.  "The taste of victory is all I need, Waya." He rubbed a little underneath his nose with his finger and looked thoughtful. "It really threw you off! Maybe I should try it in an official match. Think they'd let me do that?" He laughed and went for his jacket. "Imagine what Touya would do!"

"Just shut up, Shindou." Waya grudgingly put on his jacket and found his wallet. "Your voice sounds weird."