~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~Hikaru no Duel Monsters~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shindou" shouted Yuugi as he was still far from the other boy.
Hikaru stopped in his way and waited for the other boy to catch up his breath, then asked "Yuugi, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you that I have a game today?"
"I know" started Yuugi "I just came to say goodbye. I'm going back to Domino City this afternoon" there was a slight disappointment in his voice but he seemed also happy to go home.
"What? Already?" Hikaru knew that he was going to miss his new friend and his monsters and so would Waya. He wished he didn't have to say goodbye, or at least not yet. Yuugi could say some strange things and be a little weird sometimes but he was a good friend. What if he would never see Yuugi again?
"I want you to have this" said Yuugi giving Hikaru a card "This card reminds me of you, of your faith and strength, it suites you."
"Thanks" Hikaru took the card and read Magician of faith. He didn't really understand in what way he resembled the pink haired girl on the card but he accepted Yuugi's gift anyway. He wanted to give Yuugi something too but what? Then suddenly he had an idea and took his portable go board from his backpack.
"Here, take this. I know you don't play go and all but you can keep it as a souvenir or something."
Yuugi hesitated at the site of the portable go board. He only gave Hikaru a card as a symbol of their friendship, he didn't expect the other boy to return the gesture and even if he did a go board was too much.
"Are you sure? Don't you need it?"
"Nah, that's OK. I have one more at home" answered Hikaru giving the other a bright smile.
"Thanks. I have to go now, bye!" said Yuugi as he turned to leave. He stopped after a while and looked back to see Hikaru still standing in front of the Institute. He waved and the other waved back their last goodbye.
When Yuugi was out of his site Hikaru entered the Go Institute. He was already late for his game….
He was always late for his games, usually because he couldn't get up in the morning or because he couldn't find something in his permanently messy room. This time however he managed to come on time just to be stopped in the way by his new friend. It just wasn't his lucky day.
He entered the game room and took a seat in the only empty place left and bowed.
"Onegaishimasu"
"Onegaishimasu" answered his opponent bowing slightly then starting the game.
The game went well for Hikaru, he won again. If he kept winning he would soon be a 3 dan just like Touya.
Hikaru was ready to leave when Akira called his name.
"What do you want Touya?" he wasn't in the mood to argue with Touya again.
"I came to apologize" answered the green haired boy.
Hikaru couldn't believe his ears. Touya Akira doesn't apologize so easily and he definitely doesn't apologize to him. Never. Hikaru was already used to the fact that Touya would never admit he was wrong in front of him. His rival was so stubborn that sometimes Hikaru wandered how he managed to swallow his pride in front of the elders and be so polite that he was given as a model to other teenagers.
And yet there he was, swallowing his pride in front of Hikaru and doing something Hikaru never expected him to do.
"I shouldn't have said that you are not a good player and that you're not worth of being my rival. I wouldn't want anyone else as a rival."
"Now that's something you don't hear every day. The great Touya Akira apologizing to an ordinary player" Hikaru knew it wasn't a nice thing to say but he couldn't help it, he was sill angry with Touya. He expected the other boy to snap back at him but he didn't.
"I hope you will still come at the go salon sometimes…when you don't play with your new friend that is."
"He left. We can't play anymore" Hikaru said bluntly and Akira could sense the sadness in the other's voice. "And….sure, I'll come by sometimes."
Akira felt relived that things will come back to normal. He didn't expect Shindou to forgive him right away but he was going to wait until that happened.
"Touya-kun! Oh Shindou-kun is here too, that's great." The boys turned around at the sound of Amano-san's voice and sure enough the journalist was coming happily towards them. "How were your games today?" he asked but it was obviously enough that he didn't really care about that. There was only one answer to this question when you asked Shindou Hikaru and Touya Akira. He was exited about something and it had nothing to do with the two go prodigies' latest wins.
"It went well" both boys answered in unison and looked at each other hoping the other had the answer to the unasked question.
"That's great, really great" concluded the journalist troubled by the delay. "The Weekly Go was just informed about the Institute's new project of spreading the go fever among children and you two were selected to participate. I know you weren't announced about it yet but I wanted to be the first one to tell you. So what do you think?"
Hikaru and Akira looked at each other again, a little more puzzled this time. None of them understood what Amano-san was talking about.
"I think it is a good idea to show the game to other children after all they are the future pros" concluded Akira.
"Yes but didn't the Institute do that before right here in Tokyo?" asked Hikaru.
"Well see, Shindou-kun, that's it. They only did it in Tokyo. That's why they want to do it in other cities where there are no Go Institutes and Insei Schools. I heard that you two were assigned for Domino City. Don't you find it really strange that they don't have proper insei schools in the City of Games?"
"Domino City you say?" Hikaru's face lightened up by excitement. He's been dreaming of going to Domino City eves since Yuugi told him about it. He wanted to see all the arcades, game stores and thousands of games they had there and who knows, he might even find Yuugi and buy some Duel Monsters cards and build a proper deck and challenge someone and….
"Shindou? Shindou are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh yea." He was brought back to reality by Akira's voice.
"Well then I'll leave you two. I'm sure that by tomorrow you'll be informed with the details" said Amano-san bowing.
As soon as the journalist was out of site the two boys turned to leave too.
"Say Shindou, what were you spacing out about before?" wandered Akira.
"Domino City" Hikaru answered bluntly making Akira ask for details. "Yuugi, the boy with the Duel Monsters cards is from Domino City and he told me many things about the place. It sounded like fun."
"For Kami-sama's sake Shindou we're going there with a job not on a holiday. Why can't you be serious about it? We will be representing Tokyo's Go Institute and we have to make a good impression" Akira scolded his rival.
"No Touya, you should be more relaxed about it and learn to have some fun. You won't die if you try a new game sometimes. No one is asking you to give up on go or something just to try something new for a change. And I wasn't going to neglect my job either."
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"Come on Shindou, hurry up. We'll miss the bus if you don't hurry."
"Jeez Touya, I'm buying a map. We'll need it you know."
The boys had arrived at the Domino airport one week after their conversation with Amano-san from the Weekly Go. The next day they had been officially informed about their leaving to Domino City where they were supposed to teach go at the Domino City's Game Academy. Their staying there was going to be determined by the success they had among the students from the Academy and among the younger children who would participate at the go classes given after the Academy classes were over.
From what they were told the boys knew that the Game Academy was preparing its students to be duelists but it also had classes for other games like Japanese, Chinese and International chess, go, arimaa, Capsule Monsters and Dungeon Dice Monsters though some of these classes weren't so good. It seemed that their porpoise there was to help the go class to become one of the best classes at the Academy and make the student gain interest in the game.
"All right but hurry up will you?"
"I'm ready, let's go!"
They took the bus to the Domino Grand Hotel where they would meet the head master of the Academy.
On their way there Hikaru looked left and right exited. He had never seen a city like that before and he used to think that nothing could impress someone who had lived all his life in Tokyo. He couldn't mistake more. As the buss passed the entrance to Kaiba Land guarded by two statues of the Blue eyed white dragon, Hikaru ran to the back of the bus just to see it a while longer.
"Look Sai, isn't it amazing? That must be the Blue eyes Yuugi told us about, remember?"
"Ne, Hikaru? Do you think we could go there sometime?"
"I'll make sure we go there, Sai. We might even find Yuugi and go together."
"Really?" the ghost jumped around happily "Will you let me play go against him again?"
"Go?" Hikaru seemed a bit upset "Don't you want to try something new for a change?"
"I want to play him again" Sai suddenly became serious and from the look on his face Hikaru understood that Sai considered Yuugi his rival. And why wouldn't he? After all Yuugi had managed to draw the best out of Sai and Sai gave him the same determined look Akira gave Hikaru whenever they played each other.
"Can't you just sit down Shindou? Stop behaving like a child!"
"Oh come on Touya. Aren't you impressed? Not even a little bit?" When Kaiba Land was out of site Hikaru took his seat next to Akira.
"It's just a theme park for children, nothing to be impressed about" said Akira serious as ever.
"Yuugi said they have 3D image projectors in there and you can watch the Duel Monsters games with 3D monsters."
"That's just for show off."
"Jeez Touya, is there anything that impresses you at all?" mocked Hikaru.
"Of course there is."
"Oh really? Like what?"
"Sai…he impressed me."
"Right. Go again."
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"No…" Hikaru gave up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~HnDM~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn't hard for Akira and Hikaru to find the Hotel after they got off the bus after all it was the tallest and most spectacular building in the area but what surprised them the most was their welcome committee. A little boy around twelve years old with long, black, a little messy hair dressed in jeans and shirt was waiting for them in the hall. When he noticed them entering he stood up from the couch he was sitting on with a laptop on his knees and greeted them, letting them know he was the one waiting for them.
"I'm Mokuba Kaiba" said the boy "My brother is a bit busy at the moment and he couldn't come but I'll take his place." Even though he was very young the boy had a professional air and seemed to know what he was doing.
"Is your brother the headmaster of the Game Academy?" Hikaru asked stunned.
"My brother owns the Game Academy" answered Mokuba with a tone of superiority. "As a mater of fact he owns almost the entire city." This was an overstatement, right? It had to be. How old could this kid's brother be and how important?
"We were supposed to meet the headmaster of the Academy" said Akira bluntly and a bit annoyed that he had to deal with a little kid.
"You were offered the privilege to meet the president of Kaiba Corporation in person and you don't know how to appreciate the honor?" shouted Mokuba but Akira was still not impressed. He just wanted to get this conversation over with and find someone who would tell him details about their job or go to his room at the hotel, take a hot bath and play some go….it didn't really matter which one of the two it was as long as he got rid of this annoying kid.
"Anyway" Mokuba continued "You were sent here to teach the go class so here is your schedule. Two times a week you will have open public classes in a room specially prepared for that purpose here at the hotel. You will be staying here in one of the VIP apartments. Here are your keys" he gave each of them a set of keys "If there is anything you need you have a phone number on the papers I gave you. A car will be sent tomorrow morning to take you to the Academy but only for tomorrow. After that you will have to take the bus. Any questions?" Neither of the boys came up with questions so Mokuba said his goodbye and left in a hurry.
Akira took his luggage and headed to the elevator "Hey Touya wait up!" shouted Hikaru seeing the elevator's doors closing "You could at least warn me that you're leaving."
"There nothing left for me to do here so of course I'm leaving" said the green haired boy finally giving the other a look.
Hikaru was reading his schedule when Akira wanted to leave so he didn't notice the other boy heading to the elevator and he seemed pleased.
"We have all our classes in the morning. It seems that they put the boring stuff in the afternoon."
"And what might the boring stuff be?" asked Akira just for the sake of a conversation.
"You know….math, English, geography, history, science….that kinda stuff."
"I like science, it's not boring and English is useful. The other subjects have their porpoise too I think."
"I'm never going to understand you Touya…never."
"You already understand my go…"
"I wish I understood more though" whispered Hikaru to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~HnDM~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
