You May Play the Divine Move
Two months later, Shindou Hikaru received a letter in the mail. He opened it and read,
Shindou,
Ichikawa-san has counted for me and says you have said, "Oh, I see," at least three times each on the days you went to the salon without me. I have bested you yet again, for I played against my father this morning and only had to say it twice.
This hospital does not have a subscription to Weekly Go, regrettably, and so I wish to know your won-loss record. (Ogata-san, as you may well imagine, refuses to tell me.) Also, what on earth are you doing? I'm in room 341, and I am reminding you as I have concluded you must have forgotten. I will have you know I look exactly the same since my body is "not responding" to chemotherapy.
Get here; I've been thinking of a game between us and it's been at the forefront of my mind for many days now.
Touya Akira
Hikaru stared at the letter from Touya. He had thought of Touya a few times, wondering if Touya was bored out of his mind. Apparently, he was.
"Hikaru?" his mother asked. "Who is that from? And the Ki-in sent you another match schedule today."
"Touya," said Hikaru. "See you." He began to put on his shoes.
"Um, Hikaru, where are you going?" his mother said.
"I'm going to see Touya," Hikaru replied.
"All right; just get home before dark." His mom went back to the living room where she had been reading.
Hikaru reached the hospital in fifteen minutes and stood outside the front. He looked at the small garden towards the back and saw a trail.
"Well, Touya, you can wait ten more minutes," Hikaru said to the air. "You've probably got someone up there anyway." And he turned down the path and began to walk down it, thinking about Sai, as he sometimes did when he took walks.
He spun around when he thought he heard Touya's voice say, "Yes, it's much better outside. The doctors seem to think if I so much as twitch something's gone horribly wrong."
"Are you sure we can do this, Akira-kun?" another voice asked.
Yep, that was Ichikawa Harumi, the Go salon lady's voice. Definitely Touya, then. Hikaru kept walking, figuring that he would run into them eventually. Then Touya would probably demand a game, and he wouldn't let Hikaru leave for at least another hour afterwards so they could have a decent discussion.
"We're fine, so long as we don't inform the doctors that I've gone out," Touya said, sounding closer now. "If they do find out, you can tell them you made sure I was in my wheelchair the entire time."
"But, Akira-kun, you weren't in your chair the entire time."
"It was only a few minutes that I actually walked; they needn't know about that," said Touya. "They seem to think I can only lie around. But I'm winning this corner fight and I'm going to keep black out with a kakari at the five-seven point."
"Um, Akira-kun…?"
"Yes?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Never mind, Ichikawa-san. It's nothing."
Hikaru saw the two as he rounded the bend. Even though he had overheard talk of a wheelchair, it seemed very odd that Touya was seated in one, looking exhausted. He wearing clothes for relaxation, not his Kaiou uniform or clothes for a match. This was not the intense, mature Touya he usually saw.
Touya suddenly looked ahead and realized he was there. "Shindou. You came."
"Hello, Shindou-kun," Harumi greeted.
"Hey," Hikaru said awkwardly, waiting for the challenge that was supposed to be coming from Akira. But no, it was only the half-hearted, "Shindou. You came."
"We were just going inside," said Harumi.
"Y'know, maybe I should tell that nurse that you were out here," Hikaru said, trying to get Akira to act like the normal Akira, the one who would always overreact to everything he said.
"Shindou!" Akira exclaimed.
"That's better," said Hikaru.
"What are you talking about, Shindou?" Akira demanded. "Are you here to play a game or not?"
"Yeah," said Hikaru, glad that he had provoked the real Akira enough so that he would act like he usually did. "Let's go."
Harumi sighed. "You can't yell at each other in a hospital, you two."
"Watch me," Hikaru and Akira said at the same time.
"He's bound to do something wrong; he's Shindou," said Akira. "Anyway, perhaps the doctors will take it as a sign that I have my energy back."
"If I get in trouble, I'll blame it on him," Hikaru said, pointing to Akira with his thumb.
Harumi sighed as the two teens glared at each other, having just realized what the other boy had said.
"What d'ya mean, I'm bound to do something wrong?!"
"You, blame me? You've got to be kidding!"
Even as Harumi sighed again, she smiled. Shindou-kun obviously didn't know how withdrawn Akira had become lately, but he had been the perfect medicine in terms of getting Akira's regular personality to come back.
"Well, why don't we actually play and find out?" Hikaru challenged.
"Fine! Onegaishimasu!" Akira shouted, not sounding very polite at all.
"As you two might have noticed, there's not a board here," Harumi pointed out.
The two boys looked blankly at each other for a few seconds.
"Oh," both said.
"Let's go back in, then," said Akira, not sounding happy about the prospect.
"It's time for your medicine, anyway," Harumi said, checking her watch. "Didn't you say the nurse would come around four? It's three fifty now."
"It is?" Akira said. He swore quietly enough so that Ichikawa didn't hear him. "I said the nurse comes at fifteen till four."
Hikaru took that to be a bad thing. "So, want me to think up an excuse?"
"Sure, Shindou," said Akira. "You always have been good at excuses. Speaking of which–"
"Um, I'll go head them off!" Hikaru yelled, running back towards the hospital.
"He's making this sound like a corny movie," commented Harumi.
Akira laughed a little. "I would have pitied the world if Shindou hadn't become a Go player."
When Harumi and Akira entered, they found Hikaru bowing frantically to the head doctor while making up excuse after excuse for barging in the door and yelling his head off. Akira took the opportunity to motion Harumi towards the elevator, and she got the message. Akira was safely in his bed (and Ichikawa had left) by the time the nurse – who had been distracted by Hikaru's arrival – to show in his visitor.
"Hello, Shindou," said Akira. "Back so soon?"
Hikaru bit his lip to keep from saying anything or laughing.
The nurse looked perplexed. "Er, Touya-kun, has he ever come to see you before?"
"No, actually," said Akira. He saw the nurse preparing another shot and said, "Can we just give it up? I know it's not working."
The nurse froze.
"Could I try an alternative?" Akira asked. "What are the other options?"
The nurse glanced at Hikaru, who had sat down and was trying to figure out how to set Akira's Go board up so that both of them could reach it easily.
"I don't care if you talk about it in front of Shindou," said Akira.
The nurse was surprised. Her patient had been quite adamant about the doctors not saying anything about his disease when he had visitors. But she asked, "How do you know that it's not working?"
"Simple," said Akira. "I've done research." He indicated his laptop. "My hair hasn't fallen out."
Hikaru sniggered.
"That's not funny!" Akira exclaimed.
"So that's what you meant," Hikaru laughed, "when you said you looked the same! Hey, can I come again once you're cured? I want to see that!"
"If you see me without my hair then you'll have to dye those stupid blond bits in the front back to black!" Akira retorted.
"They've always been that color!" said Hikaru.
"That's not genetically possible!" Akira shot back.
"Well, how is your hair green, then?" Hikaru demanded.
"Um…I don't know," Akira admitted.
"My point has been made," said Hikaru.
"Excuse me, but I'm trying to take care of my patient!" the nurse interrupted.
"Excuse me, but I really don't need it," Akira said.
"Of course you do," said the nurse.
"Shindou, let's choose for color already," said Akira, observing Hikaru had managed to set up the board. "I say you've got an odd number."
"Sorry, it's even," said Hikaru, after counting eight stones.
"I'm always white, have you noticed that?"
"Yeah, actually – you're a really bad guesser, aren't you?"
"I am not!"
"You are so," said Hikaru.
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I'm not the one who guesses when I do the nigiri sometimes?" Akira asked him.
"Uh…no."
"My point has been made," said Akira.
"Touya-kun, can't you please let me get this over with?" the nurse asked.
"After my game," Akira said, taking the Go bowl Hikaru was holding.
"But–" the nurse started.
Akira glared at her with his intense game eyes. "After my game."
"Okay," the nurse agreed meekly. She left quickly. Sometimes, that boy terrified her.
"Now that she's gone…," Akira trailed off. "Onegaishimasu."
"Onegaishimasu," said Hikaru. And their game began.
Three hours later….
"That went fast," Hikaru remarked.
"Let's go back to the middle game," suggested Akira. They quickly took around half the stones off the board. Akira pointed to a spot near the middle and said, "This was a mistake. If you had cut me off here, you would've been more successful in this fight in the endgame."
"Oh, I see…. But if you had gone here instead, you would've gotten all this," said Hikaru, indicating ten points with his hands.
"Oh…I see…."
They went on like this for some time, until….
"Oh, I see," Akira said for the fifth time.
"Hah! You got to five times before I did!" Hikaru said triumphantly.
Akira sighed. "Fine. You win."
Hikaru gave Akira a look that said, "Are you sure you're okay today?" He actually said, "Thanks for the game." But he thought it was very strange that Akira was agreeing with him on the "Oh, I see" count – usually they would have to yell at each other for ten minutes until the conflict was resolved or until Hikaru left.
As Hikaru turned to leave, Akira said, "Shindou, wait."
"Yeah?" said Hikaru.
"Would-you-please-come-again-tomorrow?" Akira said quickly.
"What?"
"Would-you-please-come-again-tomorrow?" Akira said, even faster this time.
"Uh…," said Hikaru, trying to work out what Akira had said. Five seconds later he said, "Sure. Oh, yeah, I've only lost once. I only need a few more points before I'm promoted, so hurry up and get out of here or I'm going to pass you up!" He said, "Heh heh!" before walking out the door to Akira's furious cry of, "Shindou!"
After the first time, Hikaru visited Akira once a week (the one time he had forgotten Akira had gotten his phone number, called him from the hospital, and yelled at him for ten full minutes until Hikaru had promised to come – and then when he had actually showed up Akira had yelled at him for ten minutes more).
Three months after the first visit, Hikaru was promoted to two-dan. When he told this news to Akira (who made Hikaru tell him his won-loss record as well), Akira seemed gloomy.
"You're not losing points because of your forfeits," said Hikaru. "Isn't that what the leave of absence is for?"
"I can only play people who come here," Akira said. He stared out the window at the falling snow as he continued, "because the doctors say if I leave that I will catch something else, as my immune system is apparently not in the best of conditions."
Hikaru didn't really understand that much about A.L.L., so he didn't ask Akira anything about it. All he knew was that chemotherapy wasn't working, for some reason, since Akira's chin-length hair had yet to fall out. Hikaru assumed that wasn't a good sign, but as long as Akira could play Go, he wasn't on the brink of death.
"My father comes every other day with my mother, and Ogata-san or Ashiwara-san come to play me on the other days. Kurata-san came once. When Ichikawa-san comes, I can only play teaching games with her. But your games are most like playing the others, because you are not predictable," said Akira. "I know Father's, Ogata-san's, and Ashiwara-san's styles so well that if I was asked to play a game that they would have played, I could do it. Mother doesn't play Go…she says I should stop for a while." Akira sighed. "I've been here too long."
Hikaru would have agreed if Akira had been looking more up to an argument.
"When I'm tired, Father knows, and Ogata-san knows, and even Ashiwara-san knows, and they play predictably so that I may fully understand the game. But you always play all-out against me, which is why you must continue to come. I must not get used to this repetitive playing, because in the most important game, I can't expect anything," said Akira.
Hikaru was the only one Akira would usually mention his other game with, and Hikaru wasn't quite sure what it was. Hikaru knew it was a game Akira wasn't playing with anything tangible, so he left it at that.
"The end game is coming – my territory still needs to grow a bit larger, and there is a large fight somewhere, all the time," Akira continued. "As soon as that fight for the board is resolved, I will be able to read it to the end."
Hikaru only nodded. Sometimes Hikaru just let Akira talk, because Hikaru thought it would be pretty boring spending five months in a hospital and have only adults to talk to.
There was silence for a while. Hikaru sat down next to Akira's Go board and said, "Touya, let's play."
"All right, let's," said Akira.
The game passed in silence, something extremely rare for the two. Afterwards, since Akira – the one who usually started the discussion – did not say anything, Hikaru said, "Do you think I should have pulled back here?"
"Maybe," Akira said. "I actually thought you read that well. Though if you had pulled back, you might have gained enough influence down here that I would have had a harder time getting in."
"You could have gone here instead, though," said Hikaru, pointing.
"Oh. I see."
By the end of the discussion, the "Oh, I see" count stood at six for Akira and two for Hikaru.
"Aha! You said it four more times than I did!" Hikaru exclaimed. He had done better than last week. Now this would surely provoke an answer from Akira.
The answer wasn't what Hikaru would have expected. It was simply, "Yes."
"Touya…has something else gone wrong?" Hikaru finally asked, after a minute and a half. It was the first time he had inquired about Akira's treatments, but Akira didn't notice this.
"They want me to have some kind of surgery soon," said Akira. "They've been very vague about it, but I've researched the few things they've said. If it is successful, I will probably be allowed to go home by my birthday in the spring."
"That's great," said Hikaru. It was – all the pros felt the absence of one of the greatest of them all.
"But if it doesn't work, there's not much they can do anymore," Akira said very quietly.
"Oh, come on, it's going to work," said Hikaru. "Don't be so depressing, Touya! Geez, you always take things way too seriously."
"There is also a chance of…," Akira stopped and restarted with, "If we need to get to surgery, they'll do it. But the doctors may not have to."
"Well, you'll probably be fine before they have to do it, then," said Hikaru. "Touya, we haven't been in a title match yet. Let's get there already."
"That would be nice."
"I'm going to get to three-dan so fast you won't be able to blink."
"Probably."
"Argh, won't you argue about anything?" Hikaru said.
"What's there to argue about?"
"Anything!" Hikaru repeated. "Are you trying to be a lifeless vegetable?"
"SHINDOU!" Akira shouted at him.
"There you go," said Hikaru. "Man, I think you need to yell more. It gives you energy, I swear."
"Get out, Shindou!" Akira yelled.
"Okay!" said Hikaru, waltzing out and smirking.
"And don't you dare forget to come next week!"
"Got it," Hikaru said, flashing Akira a thumbs-up before closing the door.
"He's right," Akira murmured when Hikaru had gone. "I do feel more energetic when I shout that way."
He fell asleep a minute later.
Please continue to stick with the story! This is my first uploaded fic, so niceness in reviews would be quite appreciated. However, if you do dislike it, thank you for actually reading the second chapter and review anyway. Only one more chapter to go! Thank you all!
