A/N: Different POVs! A lot of face-palming. (I looked over this a few times and fixed some errors. Please let me know if you spot any grammatical errors/spelling mistakes!)
Akari no Go
Chapter 2-"Intense Match"
Sitting alone in his father's salon, Akira replayed his match between Hikaru again. He lost track of how many times he analyzed the boy's moves.
"Yes, he's here but...he keeps replaying that one game in the corner over there." He heard Ichikawa say.
"That one game?...Oh, the one he lost to a kid his age?" Akira identified the voice as Hirose, a middle-aged man that he would occasionally teach go. He flinched a little at his words.
That's right...it's the first time I've lost a game to someone my age. By 2 moku! It seemed like a close match but...Akira played a few more hands. He stared at them in disbelief. It's like that boy was playing Shidougo with me. Biting on his fingernail, Akira began to feel a bit nervous. There was another feeling inside of him that he couldn't quite describe...was it...excitement? He couldn't believe that was truly Hikaru's ability. Shindou Hikaru...I need to confirm it for myself. Determination burned quietly in his eyes. If you are really a monster or not!
"Akira-kun." Ishikawa's footsteps sounded behind him. He didn't look up at her. "Hirose-san would like to play Shidougo with you."
"W-well if Akira-sensei isn't busy..." Hirose said, nervously.
Akira already made up his mind. "Sorry but..." He trailed off.
"You're waiting for that boy, aren't you? I...guess you can't do much since you only know his name." Ishikawa said. Akira knew she was right and didn't say anything. It frustrated him that waiting was the only thing he can do. How long can I wait? How long until this energy I have within me burns out?
Ishikawa perked up, as if she remembered something. "Oh yes! I remember I gave the boy a flyer for the Children's Go Tournament!" She said. "I...don't know if he went but he may have gone there."
"The tournament today?" Akira asked. Ishikawa nodded in confirmation. He suddenly burst out of his chair and ran towards the exit. "Ishikawa-san! If he happens to come here, don't let him leave, please!"
Ishikawa and Hirose stood there, shocked, as they watched the door close. "Akira-kun's...changed."
Hirose agreed. "Well, this is the first time he has a real rival."
"...and there was that one really funny guy! Err, what was his name? Did you watch last night's variety show?" Hikaru said, in between bites of his burger. The two of them were at WcDonalds eating an early lunch. Akari was sipping on her cherry soda, sighing at Hikaru's blabbering.
"Why would I watch a stupid show like that?" She sighed.
"It's nwaff stoopid!(It's not stupid!)" He protested, still in the midst of chewing. Pieces of lettuce and bread from his mouth came flying at Akari. She cringed and whined in disgust.
"Ewww Hikaru! Don't talk while you're eating!" She yanked out a napkin from the dispenser and furiously scrubbed at her hands, where the food landed. "You know what, I'm going to the bathroom to wash my hands." Akari stood up, walking to the restrooms. Hikaru stuck his tongue out at her back.
"She's overreacting." He mumbled, chomping on his burger again. Sai came over to sit beside him after admiring and exploring the fast food restaurant.
"Hikaru, hikaru! They have a strange contraption by that huge table over there!" He pointed at the island that was directly across from the ordering counter. It contained the soda refill machine, napkins, utensils, and various other items.
Hikaru sighed, glancing at where Sai was pointing. "That's just where you refill your soda. Relax, Sai."
"But...but...strange fizzing came out when people pushed the button! That's dangerous!" Sai flailed his arms around in shock.
"That's what I've been saying...it's soda." Hikaru face-palmed.
Finally, Sai settled down. "It's amazing...how far humans have developed." He watched all the different people interact with one another in the restaurant. "The atmosphere has changed...it's more friendlier. More comforting." He gave a small smile as a young girl ran up to her parents with an ice cream cone and a big grin on her face. "Speaking of which...THE GO TOURNAMENT!" Sai shouted in Hikaru's ears.
"Alright, I get it already!" He shouted right back at him, making a few people frown in his direction. Hikaru would blush and return to what he was doing quietly but he just couldn't take it anymore. Sai was constantly complaining about it, even when the topic had been changed. "Besides, you were the one who said it in my head!"
"But you actually said it out-loud!" Sai retorted.
"Oh yeah?! You're going there, huh?" Hikaru accused. "You wanna come at me?! No more go for you!" By this point, witnesses of Hikaru arguing with himself decided to just ignore the poor boy.
At last, their bickering settled down, with Hikaru grabbing his soda and facing the other direction, away from Sai. He took a sip of his drink angrily and looked out the window, catching the sight of a familiar face peering at him. He choked on his soda and developed into a coughing fit.
"Hikaru, that's the young boy!" Sai said. Yeah, I know...Touya...what's he doing here? Hikaru pulled himself together.
Akira walked through the front door and strode up to him. Hikaru looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. "Yo, Touya...what's up?"
"Uhm..." It was silly of Akira to become speechless when he knew exactly what he wanted, just not how to phrase it.
"You weren't in the tournament?" He asked.
"No. What about you?" Akira said.
"Uh, I was just checking it out." A silence drifted between them so Hikaru decided to keep talking. "But man, that was the first time I've been to something like that...it was surprising seeing kids younger than me so serious about go." Akira's eyes widened. "It was really awesome. I was impressed."
"You've...never been serious before?" He asked, incredulous.
Hikaru lifted his eyebrow in question. "Serious?"
Akira hesitated before asking, "Can I see your hand?" Hikaru frowned but gave him his hand anyway. There's no sign of his fingernails wearing down. It doesn't look like he handles go stones often. His mind drifted back to Ishikawa making a comment about how Hikaru had never played go before. Akira frowned, not sure what to make of this.
"A-are you going to become a pro?" He asked.
"P-pro?" Hikaru then burst out laughing. "Me? A pro? Are you serious? Ha, I've never even thought of that before. Good one, Touya."
Akira narrowed his eyes. "I plan on becoming a pro." The amused boy stopped laughing and turned towards him, surprised.
"Oh...do go pros make a lot of money? Like prize money for winning a tournament or something?" Hikaru asked.
"The prize money for winning the Meijin tournament is 28 million yen($250,300)." Akira stated, coldly. Hikaru's mouth dropped in an 'O', suddenly interested.
"The Kisei tournament is 33 million($322,542)." He continued.
Hikaru waved his hands in front of him, signaling Akira to pause. "Whoa, whoa, wait. How many tournaments are there? How much money do you get if you win all of those?"
"There are 8 titles, and the total amount of money is about 120 million yen($1,172,880)." Suddenly, Hikaru's eyes turned into dollar signs at the sound of 120 million yen. He cackled evilly. Sai, you can win all of those tournaments, right? Sai frowned and objected his thoughts.
"You would only play go for money?! You're terrible, Hikaru!" He exclaimed.
"Well...I might just become a pro..." Hikaru was still infatuated with the thought of earning the big bucks. "And then grab a few titles, ya know?"
Akari chose that certain timing to exit the bathroom. She was about to call out to Hikaru when she noticed he was talking to a dark-haired boy beside him. I wonder who that guy is...Going over to them to introduce herself, Akari halted when she noticed the scary look on the boy's face.
"Might just become a pro? Grab a few titles?" Akira repeated in disbelif, anger boiling inside of him. "...those words are an insult to all the current pros."
Hikaru stepped back, shocked. Insult? Sai, did I say something wrong?
Sai face-palmed. "Hikaru, you idiot..."
"There's no way...there's no way a person like you could become a pro! A real go player wouldn't say something like that so casually!" Akira started his rant. "Saying something like that half-heartedly...do you even realize how much work is put in to become a pro?! Pain, disappointment, failure...there are players that work so hard to overcome these obstacles and yet STILL are unable to achieve a certain level. I have seen these kinds players myself." He gritted his teeth. "And yet you..." Akira was started to calm down and get a grip on himself. "I too, have worked hard to prepare myself. Everyday, since I was small, it didn't matter what the circumstances were, I played go for hours." He looked up at Hikaru, now noticing that the boy did not have the same fire of determination in his eyes. Akira wanted to laugh at himself for getting worked up over him.
Sai then noticed Akari standing nearby and greeted her. "Oh, Akari-chan! Don't mind them, Hikaru just said something foolish." Of course, she didn't respond, and Sai gave her a small smile.
Wow...Akari was stunned by Akira's rant. She had no idea that it was that difficult to become a go pro. Why are they talking about becoming a pro anyway? Don't tell me, Hikaru...
Her thoughts were interrupted by Akira. "Let's play a game right now." He said.
Hikaru was uneasy. Right now...? But I just went to that go tournament. Hmm...
"HIKARU! You got us kicked out of the tournament!" Sai yelled at him. "Let's play!"
Akira took his silence as him being afraid. "I will become a pro." He stated. "If you think you can easily become a pro...then you can't possibly lose to me here. Don't run away, Shindou Hikaru!" He held out his hand towards Hikaru, who reluctantly accepted.
Before Akira could drag away him, Akari thought it was time to step in because none of them noticed her. "H-hey! Hikaru, you can' t just leave me here!" She pouted.
Hikaru looked at Akari, pulling away from Akira. "A-Akari! Forgot that you were still here!"
She put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean you 'forgot'?"
Akira looked at her, surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm going to borrow Shindou for a while. I'm Touya Akira. Your name is?" He said politely, and held out his hand.
Akari was taken aback by the boy's politeness after seeing his furious rant from before. "You can call me Akari." She replied, shaking his hand. Akari suddenly felt shy. "Oh, uhm, can I go with you guys? Hikaru," she glared sharply at the boy, "was supposed to hang out with me today but got us kicked out of the go tournament so it kind of sucks to go back home now." Akira glanced at Hikaru was clearly was against the idea.
"Akari you go ho-mmph!" Sai covered Hikaru's mouth with his sleeve and scolded him.
"You can't leave a lady alone! Allow her to accompany us; it won't be bad for her to see a match." He said.
Hikaru sighed. "Fine...you can come along with us."
"Hey, hey, what's with that tone of reluctance?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Nothing~" Hikaru sang, locking his hands behind his head. He walked out first, and then stopped to look at the two behind him. "You coming, Touya?"
Akira and Akari looked at each other. She then pointed to herself. "Me? What about me? You're not addressing me?"
"I don't need to address you."
"What does that mean?!"
The two arguing childhood friends walked beside each other, shooting insults back and forth. Although Akira's resolve to defeat Hikaru hadn't died, he had to crack a small smile at them. He felt a bit envious at their closeness.
I have go. That's enough...right?
Akari followed Hikaru and Akira into a go salon by the train station. There was a woman that greeted them as they walked in.
"Welcome...Akira-kun!?" The woman exclaimed, seeing Hikaru behind him.
"We'll play in the back." He said. They got the attention of all the go players in the room. Several of them whispered and recognized Hikaru as the 'kid who beat Akira'. Hikaru and Akari were equally shocked by the attention they were getting.
"W-whoa, hold on!" Hikaru said. What the heck? All of these guys are crowded around our table!
"Please sit down." Akira said, already seated at the board and ready to go. Akari went to stand behind Hikaru since most of the players had crowded behind Akira.
"Hikaru, are you sure you'll be fine? I mean, this crowd..." She whispered in his ear. Hikaru glanced up at her, wary.
"I'll be fine, totally fine! Probably..." Akari shot him a worried look. "Anyway, this guy isn't even nervous. He's not normal, I tell ya."
"What's the point of telling me that?" She sighed, patting his shoulder. "Good luck, Hikaru." Akari stood back, spectating. She put her finger on her chin, thinking. Touya-san doesn't seem like your average kid, that's for sure. He seems pretty confident in his go skills. How is Hikaru going to beat him?
"Let's play an even match. I'll nigiri." Akira said.
"Nigiri?" Hikaru was confused. Sai sighed.
"Basically, you do this to determine who's black and who's white." Akira explained, remembering that Hikaru was a 'beginner'. He still couldn't quite believe it. "I grab a random amount of stones in my hand and you have to guess if it's an even or odd number by placing one or two stones on the board."
"If I get it right, am I black?" Hikaru asked.
"Yes." Hikaru placed two stones on the board and Akira started counting his stones. "...it's 12. Even."
"Heck yeah! I got it right!" He whooped. Akari face-palmed at him.
"The komi is standard."
"...6.5 moku, right?" Akira nodded. Hikaru glanced up at Sai. You better not forget about it this time.
"There was never such a rule back in Shuusaku's time." He defended. Still...you didn't think to suspect that black had an advantage.
The anticipated match was finally starting. Sai gave orders for Hikaru for the first move. "Upper right kosumi.*" He said. Hikaru, gripping the stone like a beginner, placed the stone at 17-3.
Three minutes later, Akira placed his first move. There was a quiet gasp, and Akari looked up at the people behind him. They looked surprised that Akira took so long for the first move. So it's not normal to spend that much time thinking for a move...I was about to fall asleep in those three minutes! She glanced at Hikaru's next move which was a lower right kosumi. Akari had to hold back her laughter when she saw his grip on the stone. Yup, yup, a total beginner. Touya-san holds the stone much more elegantly. She glanced at Akira and was stunned by his fierce glare. Looking over to Hikaru, she noticed that he was sweating nervously under his scrutiny. Uwahh, he's really mad at Hikaru. I guess that dummy said something stupid again.
Only for about a few more moves did Akira bend his head down and resign. He clutched the stones on the board and messed the game up. Akari gaped and Hikaru could only sit there in shock. It's over already?! But...this game only went half as far as the first time we played!
"I won." That was all Sai said. Dude...Sai, you beat him that bad? Silence enveloped the room for a while. The go players behind Akira looked at one another in astonishment. Hikaru won...right? I couldn't tell what was going on at all but it seems that he beat him pretty badly... Akari thought. But Hikaru's a beginner...how is that...
Hikaru stood up. "Touya, you're incredible. The intensity in each of your moves...I could feel it! The kids at the tournament too...and..." He frowned, trailing off. Akira wasn't listening to him. "I'm going now...bye, Touya." He turned to Akari. "Let's go, Akari."
Akari took one last glance at Akira, feeling pity for him. Of course he would be devastated...he looked so determined to beat Hikaru...not to mention that Hikaru said something insulting to him. That must hurt a lot. She announced her leave, quickly bowing, before running after Hikaru.
Akira sat there, thinking back to his conversation with his father as a child.
'Father ..do I have talent for go?' He asked.
His father chuckled. 'I do not know if you have talent but...there are two things that greater aspects.' He patted Akira's head. 'One, is the ability to work harder than anyone else. Two, is the undying love for go.'
Akira has always kept those two aspects in mind and continued to move forward but now, he hit an obstacle. He clenched his fists. Father...I've hit a big, invisible wall.
The next school day, Akari noticed that Hikaru went back to being oddly distracted.
"Are you thinking about your match with Touya-san?" She asked.
"Huh? Uh..." He looked guilty. "Yeah..."
"...you don't have to look so guilty about it. You beat him fair and square, right? But the least you could do was apologize for riling him up." She said.
"Fair and square..." Hikaru mumbled. "Wait, what was that about apologizing?"
"I saw Akira yelling at you at WcDonald's. Something about being a go pro?"
"You heard that? Oh, well..." He scratched his chin. "You know what, I think I'm going to drop by the go salon again."
"Well, unfortunately this time I can't go with you. Remember to apologize!" Akari started to head the other way from the train station.
"Would said I wanted you to go with me?" He scoffed and walked away. "Later."
"Bye! I'll throw a pot at your head the next time I see you!" Hikaru whipped his head around.
"What the heck did you say?!"
"Nothing~" Akari said in a sing-song voice, skipping away.
Hikaru shook his head. "And she says I've changed...Akari's become a lot scarier and rebellious."
Sai nodded in agreement, his face hidden behind his fan. "Girls in this era are more blunt and ostentatious. But that's not a bad thing! Women weren't really equals in my era and also in Torajirou's."
"Torajirou? " Hikaru was unfamiliar with that name.
"Torajirou is Shuusaku's birth name. He later changed his name to what people know him by now."
"Oh...I see. Well, let's go see Touya."
A/EN:
*Kosumi: Means diagonal move. In this case, Sai used this as an opening move but it can also be used for capturing, attacking, etc. other stones. Hikaru placed the stone diagonal to the third hoshi, or star point. Sai's second move was similar, just lower down on the board.
I hope this chapter wasn't too boring as it did stick pretty closely to the original story. Nothing new happened in this chapter, except for the fact that Akari witnesses all of this. I look forward to putting in my own scenes in the next chapter! ^w^
Any comments or questions? Leave a review or send me a PM.
