TRACING THE MEMO

Synopsis – Shindou Hikaru awakens to find himself hospitalized, seemingly having lost 3 years of memories. Despite his 12-year-old mind in his 15-year-old body, is it possible that a shadow of Sai still exists somewhere?

Note: This story takes place after Sai's disappearance, during Hikaru's search for Sai.

The Usual Disclaimer: All original characters rightfully belong to their proper owners. I only have the privilege of borrowing them.

CHAPTER TWO

After closing the door tightly behind her, Fujisaki Akari glanced worryingly at the two young pros who accompanied her in her unsettled state, trying not to explode as she leaned against the door, as though the action could provide great support.

The pretty boy, whom she knew as Touya Akira, had an unreadable expression on his face, looking lost in thought. She sighed. Even at a time like this, Hikaru's rival had not lost his composure.

She noticed Waya's fist shaking. Curious, she switched her attention to him. His eyes were squeeze shut, and she realized it wasn't his only fist shaking, it was his entire body. He gritted his teeth, as though it would contain the bomb inside of him, ready to explode, literally.

"Gah! I can't stand it anymore! What the heck is wrong with that Shindou!" Waya yelled.

Akari shuffled her feet. A painful tug pulling at her heart. A sensation causing tears to form and overwhelm her.

"I just want to punch him!" Waya added with a ferocious but determined face.

She winced. The likely possibility that her dear friend had lost his memories waved in front of her, almost sneeringly and mockingly. And she very much didn't want to accept it as the truth.

Hearing approaching footsteps, the three of them encounter a brunette lady, looking very much in her mid thirties. Her hair, fixed in a bun, looked a bit messier than usual, and her face hollowed from anxiety.

Using the palms of her hands, Akari pushed herself from leaning against the door to greet the lady with a bow. "Good morning Mrs. Shindou."

"Ah, Akari-chan. It's great to see you here," the lady replied, a small smile forming on her small sad face. She turned to face the two young boys with a questioning look. "Morning, gentlemen."

"Good morning, Mrs. Shindou," Touya and Waya greeted, bowing.

"I believe I haven't introduced myself before. My name is Touya Akira,"

A look of recognition formed on her face. "Ah, Hikaru would always mention you. He'll be so happy to know that you're visiting him."

Akira returned the smile. Perhaps Akari was the only one who caught how sad his smile was.

Waya took it as his cue to gather his manners and introduced himself. After all, he had only seen the mother once, but that was quite some time ago, when Hikaru had brought his mother along for the insei entry exam. Never had they chatted. "I'm Waya Yoshitaka, madam. A friend of Shindou Hikaru."

The mother nodded towards him, acknowledging him. "Thank you for looking out for my son."

Akari eyes fell on the grocery bag Mother Shindou was carrying. From the little opacity of the bag, she guessed the majority of the containers held nothing but food. "Hikaru woke up a moment ago, but he might have gone to sleep by now."

Mrs. Shindou's eyes widen at the news. A tearful yet gleeful look plastered on her face. Akari absorbed the mother's reaction, considering whether to share the dreadful news of Hikaru's possible memory loss.

"Excuse me," Mrs. Shindou managed before rushing into the room. Akari frowned. The lack of time made the decision for her. The mother will have to figure it out for herself.

"We should contact the doctor and let him know that Hikaru's awake," she suggested.

"If he's even awake," Waya muttered.

She bit her bottom lip. Hikaru had demanded he wanted his sleep, forcing the visitors to exit the room. He seemed to have plenty of sleep already, and he still wanted more sleep?! Did he not realize how worried everyone was? Or did his memory influenced his brash and rudeness, which she had thought he grew out of, when he wanted to be left alone? Akari just didn't know what to think. She wasn't sure what loomed ahead, and if she was even prepared to face it. Will Hikaru still be the same? It was her biggest concern.

She found her way somewhat blindly to a chair positioned opposite of her. A few other chairs lined themselves along the wall.

Touya Akira steadily approached her. "By the way, Fujisaki, about yesterday, thank you for notifying me about Hikaru's plight."

With a jolt, she stared at Touya, surprised. Noticing her reaction, a wave of uncertainty spread across his face. "Um, you were the one who called the Touya residence, no?"

"Ah, no, couldn't have been me. I don't know your phone number."

Waya motioned to take the seat next to Akari.

"What made you think it was me?" she asked, curiously.

Akira looked sideways, blushing slightly. "Erm, well, the speaker's voice sounded like yours, so I guess I just assumed it was you."

"Oh," she muttered, bewildered, wondering whose voice could possibly sound like hers. "Come to think of it, I got a text message the day before. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known Hikaru was at the hospital before Mrs. Shindou informed me. Looking back, I noticed it was from someone I don't recognize."

Akira's face hardened, his body tensing slightly. His sudden movements fed her curiosity. Did he find something suspicious? Couldn't be. But something continuously gnawed her. Though it was tiny, it was enough to make her uncomfortable.

She turned to face Waya, his face serious and deep in thought. "Ne, Waya. How did you know about Hikaru being hospitalized?"

"I received an email late last night," he replied softly.

Did Akira email Waya? She didn't know much about Hikaru's pro friends, but since they know each other, surely there's a good and tight relationship. She wondered, do guys usually email each other?

"An email from 'S', someone I don't even know," Waya added quietly, unblinking and unmoving, a faraway look in his eyes.

She could feel a chill traveling through her system. She shivered the chill away. What in the world was getting her all riffled up?

"Well, whoever it was that contacted us, we should thank them," she concluded loudly, hoping to rid of the uneasy feeling by doing so.

Judging from the pretty boy's face, Akari was careful not to sigh, relief that at least someone understood her unreasonable uneasiness. He took the empty seat on the other side of her.

"I don't mean to pry, but what happened to Shindou? I mean, he said he fainted after just seeing a goban," Akira asked.

"Ah, that." She couldn't help but become somber again, not noticing the sudden extreme of attentiveness in Waya. She remembered it was when her friend had begun to change greatly. She would never forget it. "Well, 3 years ago, we were rummaging through his grandpa's attic, and found a go board. He was saying a bunch of stuff, which was starting to spook me, so I left the attic," she shuddered slightly at the memory. The dim attic still spook her, especially since she could still remember the weather raging its rain and thunder just outside. "A moment later, I heard a loud thud, and found that Hikaru had collapsed. No matter how much I called out to him, he wouldn't wake up. After I was able to get a hold of Grandpa Shindou, an ambulance came to pick him up. The next day, he seemed perfectly fine. Although…he did act a bit strange and vomit in the middle of class."

"Eh, vomit?! You never found out what made him faint?" Waya asked, a disgusted look on his face when he mentioned vomiting.

She shook her head. "I never found out what caused him to collapse. Whenever I asked, he dismissed it."

Unless Hikaru's memory recovered, she doubted anyone will ever know anything relating to the incident leading to his hospitalization and loss of memory. Or even the secrets he seemed to be hiding. She wasn't completely blind that she didn't know there were a lot of things he kept from.

Akari's eyes widen. What will happen to Hikaru's memory?!

A thought occurred to her. "Do you think Shindou will vomit this time around?"

"What?! Who wants him to vomit?!" Waya cried, scrunching his face.

"I just thought…that maybe…since the last thing Hikaru remembers is fainting from that time, he might get the feeling of vomiting…again."

"Hm, so maybe, if a similar thing happened, there's a chance that it might trigger Shindou to remember something…" Akira said, considering the idea.

"Why go through something as messy and disgusting as that? Just make him play Go," Waya grumbled.

"But there's a chance that Hikaru might not remember Go," she replied. "Because he didn't begin Go until a few days after he fainted."

Waya stared at her, clearly speechless, his eyes widening. Akira looked slightly distracted.

"Then…drag his go teacher here to pound him into remembering," Waya finally responded, determination marking his face. "Just give me the name and I'll look for him!"

"Um…I think Hikaru sort of progressed by himself. I don't think anyone ever taught him, except for the few times he went to Go class."

The guys stared each other. She noticed the exchanges of several different faces between them, wondering just what was being communicated.

"We'll make him relearn Go!" Akira finalized.

"And…and…" Waya narrowed his eyes at Akira. "Stop stealing my lines."

Akari smiled. Maybe there was something she could do for Hikaru after all. An overwhelming feeling of hope renewed her energy. "Let's have lunch! And then, we'll start operation Recovering-Little-Hikaru!"

"Alright! Sushi time! But um…that name sounds a bit…," Waya commented, not daring to complete his sentence after noticing her blush feverishly.

A/N: I noticed I made an obvious mistake in the last chapter – I switched Waya's first and last name around. But just making sure, is Yoshitaka correct, or is it Yoshitake? I'm starting to get confused… If no one will like to correct me, I'll be sticking with Yoshitaka.

Anyway, my friend is willing to help check the chapters of this story, so updates will be weekly at the most. I really did not like how I've written the encounter with Hikaru's mother. It was so force and bland. Maybe you might notice what's missing or wrong with it and suggest it to me?

Also, I was not sure whether to address characters using Japanese honorifics – kun, san, chan, sama, etc – or "westernize" it a bit. Let me know your preferences. Heh, and I have to becareful so that I don't mix Akari and Akira by mistyping them.

Hope to get some feedback on what you think so far, either in terms of the characters, idea, writing, just anything in particular you think would help It pleases me to know that someone is enjoying this story. By the way, can someone help me? I don't think I ever figured this out, but how to reply to the reviewers directly? Otherwise, I might end up answering everyone at the end of the chapters. In any case, thank you everyone, who read, especially those who took your time to review.