The next morning brought a very excited Hikaru to the very same place were he had once pledged never to go. 'A Go salon,' thought Hikaru. 'I'm not even all that sure that I know how to play Go.'
"Shindo-san!" a patron of the salon called. "What brings you here today?"
Hikaru's Grandpa smiled. "My grandson wants to play Go with me. I bet he thinks that he can beat me."
"Does he know about your childhood?" another patron asked.
"I tried to tell him, but he must not have been paying attention." Hikaru wasn't paying attention then either. He was staring off into space, memories of all of the games in his dream came back to him.
Dream
"6-12. Hikaru, are you okay?" Sai asked.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I just was sure that you were going to do something else." Hikaru replied..
"What? Where?" asked the ghost, curious.
Shindo looked at the board thoughtfully. "7-13."
The ghost gasped. "Hikaru! I never would have thought of that! If you would just apply yourself, then you would become great!"
Hikaru laughed. "Thanks, but I doubt it."
"Don't laugh! If you learned how to play correctly, then we could play all the time." Sai was running around the room like a child. "It would be soooooooooooo much fun! Lets play Go Hikaru!"
Hikaru was doing his best to keep a straight face. He was playing a game of Go with Heihachi, his Grandpa. Actually, Sai was playing, Hikaru was just placing the stones.
Hikaru could still remember that game. It had seemed like Sai was playing Shido-Go with his Grandpa. Hikaru recalled every move of every game that he had ever played. It was all racing through his head, all of the games, his knowledge of the game. He did know how to play the game. He could easily beat his grandpa, because he had done it before. He was a pro. He played Go for a living. At least he used to.
Hikaru slowly regained his senses of the world around him. Hikaru's grandpa was looking at him.
"Are you ready to play?" Heihachi asked.
Hikaru smiled. It had been much too long since he had last played. Hikaru had missed it more than anyone could ever imagine. "Grandpa, if I win, will you but me a Go board?"
"Sure, why not? It's not like you can really beat me. Good luck!" Hikaru's grandpa called. They exchanged the customary pre-game words and nigiri.
Hikaru won black. He placed his first stone at 17-4.
Heihachi quickly responded. Pachi.
Pachi.
Pachi.
Pachi.
Heihachi was surprised. Hikaru actually knew how to play Go. He didn't just hurriedly learn the rules, Hikaru really had a deep understanding of the game.
After the game ended, (Hikaru won) Heihachi took Hikaru out for ramen. As usual, Hikaru was super excited and ran about, looking at the menus, and taking deep breaths, smelling the wonderful mixing of flavors. He could tell what the most popular dish today was. "Ramen with rice, pork and seasoning please!"he told the waiter.
"Coming right up Shindo!" came the waiter's reply. People at the ramen shop knew him. The costomers, and the employees recognised him from his regular visits. "What about you sir," he asked Hikaru's grandpa.
"I'll just have the same thing as my grandson. I don't have ramen very often, so I will just have to trust Hikaru's choice."
When the waiter had left the table, Heihachi started talking about Go. "Hikaru, who taught you to play? You beat me without any trouble, and it actually seemed like Shoudi-Go. I am going to set up a game between you and Akira. You might be able to win, but I warn you, he is good. Akira Touya is good enough to be a pro, and actually, he is going to take the pro exam this year. If you beat him, I'll pay for you to take the pro exam too."
Hikaru looked at him. "Where have I heard the name Akira?" he pondered.
Hikaru's grandpa laughed. "I talked about him last night at the party. Does that help?"
"A little." Hikaru thought about his dream. He could have sworn that he had heard that name, even before yesterday.
"So Hikaru, when did you learn to play?" Heihachi asked.
"Oh," the teen said. "I'm not really sure. It feels like a long time ago, but I just learned recently, I don't even have a Go board, and this was the first time that I played with real stones. I don't remember where I learned to play, but I don't have much experience, and I am probably just lucky."
"Hikaru, if you honestly have never played an opponent across a real board before, then your Go is truly incredible. It is a lot easier to play Go on the internet because nothing is at stake. You won't gain anything by winning, or lose anything if you lose. When you play a game face to face, your pride is at stake. The victor will have the pleasure of knowing exactly who they beat."
They went outside the ramen shop, and walked toward the car. Suddenly Hikaru perked up. "Have you ever heard of Sai?" He was from Hikaru's dream, the ghost that guided his Go. Heihachi shook his head no. "He was sort of my teacher, but it was never official, and I never was asked to pay for the lessons."
Hikaru's grandpa smiled. "That's great Hikaru. May I meet him? He must be a wonderful player."
Hikaru's good mood quickly headed south. "I'm afraid that I don't know where he is. One day he was playing Shido-Go with me like usual, then the next day he was gone."
Hikaru was not sure exactly what went on in his dream, but it seemed to teach him Go, and somehow tied his destiny to it.