Disclaimer - these are not my characters, this is not my world or set up, all credit, thanks and apologies go to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi.

Chapter 4

Hikaru's heart was pounding as he raced up the stairs to his bedroom. Mom wasn't home, but just in case, he closed his door and crossed the room to the far corner to his bed. He'd suffered enough embarrassment at the magazine stand, he didn't want anyone walking in on him while he paged through his purchase.

He reached into the shiny plastic bag and pulled out his very own copy of Girl's World - The number 1 magazine for Japanese teenagers. Hikaru flipped past the spring fashions and exercise guide to the "Idol of the Week" with its full page spread.

"Smart and Sexy" read the headline. Beneath it was Akira Toya dressed in baggy, skater fashion. The loud orange and green t-shirt hung loosely over the longer than shorts, shorter than pants bottoms. Not only was he wearing a baseball cap, but it was turned backwards. Even more out of character, the photographer had gotten Toya to make the victory symbol with his fingers, and to smile while doing it.

The remaining photos were portrait shots with Toya looking equally un-Toya like. Not that he looked bad. Hikaru was expecting a jump in middle-school girls at the next go exposition. Poor Toya, sucks to be you.

Waya had been waving the magazine around this afternoon, but Hikaru had felt uncomfortable looking too closely at it. It felt disrespectful, Not that Hikaru hadn't resolved to purchase the magazine and tease Toya unmercifilessly about it. But Hikaru had a history of irritating Toya, and it just didn't seem right for Waya to butt in.

Hikaru read the article carefully. The first part seemed mostly accurate, describing how Toya learned go from his father and how he went on to become a professional. He was quoted by saying that there was one particular player that pushed him on and Hikaru felt a rush of happiness.

The second half of the article was filled with question and answers factoids - birthday, blood type, favorite foods, etc. Apparently Toya was a closet fan of Little Nipster, enjoyed playing basketball and singing karaoke with his friends, and was eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Harry Potter series. Hikaru suspected that it hadn't only been Toya's wardrobe that had been modified.

The next bit of text was in pink:

Q. Do you have a girlfriend?

A. No

Q. Why not?

A. Go takes up a lot of my time. Besides official matches, there's lots of expositions and tutoring. Also, I'm still attending high school and plan to take college entrance exams soon.

And he's not really into women, Hikaru thought. The article bothered him. It was irritating they way they invented a look and personality for Toya that had nothing to do with the person himself. It wasn't like the real Toya wasn't plenty interesting.

Hikaru continued reading.

Q. If you did have a girlfriend, what would she be like?

A. I'd like someone with a lot of energy. A girl who's easy going about most things but also driven, someone who would challenge me and push me to be a better person. And it would be great if she could play go.

Hikaru was glad he hadn't stuck around for Waya's reading of the article. He already felt a bit red around the ears. Probably best not to bring up this article with Toya after all.

Hikaru took one last look at the photos before carefully closing the magazine and sliding it into his old math folder. No one would find it there.


Mitani Yuki watched from behind a trash can as Shindo Hikaru entered the restaurant. Finally after nearly a week of shadowing his old schoolmate, he had him right where he wanted him - alone, isolated, trapped. It had not been easy.

Yuki had been surprised by just how few places Shindo frequented. The Go Institute for matches, the community center where he did most of his teaching, and that posh go salon that you couldn't pay Yuki to enter. In his opinion go salons belonged in smoke-filled basements next to pachinko parlors. The main problem was that Shindo was usually with friends, and while Yuki wasn't afraid of Shindo's friends, especially that Toya guy he was always hanging out with, Yuki was itching for a one to one "discussion". Yuki had almost resorted to waiting for Shindo by his house, but he didn't want to risk Fujisaki seeing them.

He waited a few more minutes to give Shindo time to place his order before following him in. He found the half bleached head of hair right away, wedged into a corner between other ramen connoisseurs.

"Hey Shindo," Yuki called out in his best tough guy voice, "I'm challenging you."

"Guhg," said Shindo through the ramen noodles. He managed to slurp them up and swallow without choking before saying in a bit more articulate voice, "What?"

"A challenge." Yuki repeated, taking care to enunciate.

Shindo appeared clueless, and, given what Yuki knew of the guy, he probably was. But that still didn't excuse the fact that he'd broken Fujisaki's heart. For all of Yuki's bluster, he'd been in very few fights, but he felt this one was justified. In any case, it would certainly feel good to finally have it out with Shindo.

A huge grin spread across Shindo's face. "Sure, that would be great," We'll see how well you smile after I get a few punches to your face. Shindo turned to the large and, in Yuki's estimate, slovenly patron sitting beside him, halfway through what looked to be his fourth bowl of noodles, "You know any place round here?"

The patron gave Yuki a careful look, and nodded, "Sure, few blocks from here, it's up the alleyway."

"Great." said Shindo and in an amazing display of gluttony, finished up his bowl in one full slurp. A final noodle flicked against his nose before disappearing into his mouth and, despite having a perfectly good paper napkin dispenser on the table, he used his sleeve to wipe his face. What was it that Fujisaki saw in this guy? Shindo stood up and said, "Lets go."

There was a second slurp and Yuki realized that the fat guy was joining them. Great, not only was Shindo going to have backup, but the guy was built like a sumo wrestler.

They left the shop with Shindo happily leading the way. He still moved like a middle schooler, big steps counterbalanced by full motion arms. Not a care in the world.

Shindo's friend saddled up to Yuki and asked, "So, what's this all about?"

"It's a matter of honor." replied Yuki, to which the man nodded, and gave Yuki a more careful look. It felt like he was being sized up, like a racehorse.

It didn't matter, Yuki decided. This was a matter of honor, and Yuki was on the side of good. Even his sister, usually the great reconciler, had said that Shindo was in the wrong. She'd actually had a full out hissy fit about Shindo's cruel treatment of Fujisaki. According to Yaeko's boyfriend's roommate, Shindo had been a perfect oaf the entire date and then told Fujisaki he wasn't interested in her. Yaeko informed him that if he ever pulled such a stunt, she'd kick his butt. A proper gentleman waited until the next day to dump a girl, that way she had one perfect day. As he followed Shindo and the stranger, Yuki clenched his fists in anticipation.

Of course, Fujisaki still refused to condemn Shindo. According to her version of the story, the date was her idea and she'd known that it was a long shot, and it wasn't Shindo's fault. She kept coming back to that point. What about Shindo was so great anyway? Yuki figured a victory over Shindo would lower his status a bit.

They turned into an alley that wasn't nearly so unpopulated as Yuki would have liked and then the fat guy started walking into a dingy building. As Yuki followed down the stairs, he caught the familiar sound of tapping. Next he knew, he was in a go parlor.

"350 yen," Shindo said to him, "You got enough or do you need me to cover for you."

"What?" Yuki sputtered as he took in his location, "Why are we here?"

"We really couldn't play in the ramen shop, could we?" asked Shindo, "You did say you wanted to challenge me to a go game, didn't you?"

"I ... "

The grandma behind the counter smiled cheerfully up at them. "It's good to see young people taking up the game. Too many kids these days are only interested in those violent fighting video games." She held up the small coin tray. Not much choice but to pull out his wallet and pay.

Yuki was going to have to fall back to plan B, the one he hadn't made. He watched Shindo make himself comfortable at the table, setting up the board and checking the bowls. The movements were second nature, the boisterous teen replaced by a professional. This was Shindo's element, and the best Yuki could hope was to hold his own. At least he could give Shindo a piece of his mind.

"So, how good is he, Shindo-kun?" asked the fat man as they sat down, "How much of a handicap should you give him?"

"Umm," for the first time of the encounter, Shindo looked unsure, "Mitani-kun been playing in city competitions, so maybe 9 stones."

"Nine stones!" Now Yuki wanted to beat him up even more, "I've only lost to you once in my life Shindo."

"Really?" asked the man. He turned to Yuki, and gave him a more discerning look.

"Yah," Shindo admitted, "We were on the same middle school go team."

"You played on a team? I thought you were an Insei during middle school?"

They yammered on as Yuki placed his black stones on the board. It was embarrassing, but Shindo was a pro and Yuki was an experienced enough player to know what that meant. Still, nine stones would be a hard advantage to overcome, if he played smart, he should be able to keep it to a tie. After all, Shindo hadn't been a pro for that long, how good could he be.

Ten minutes later, Yuki had his answer. He'd watched helplessly as Shindo winnowed his lead to barely two stones. Intellectually, Yuki had known Shindo was good, but he'd never really admitted to himself what that meant. Now he was experiencing it first hand. At least Shindo wasn't being condescending or worse, going easy on him. Yuki's opponent was completely focused on the game. There were people who paid for such a privilege. Masochists.

"How often did you guys play in middle school?" asked the fat guy, who's name Yuki had learned was Kurata.

"Every day." Said Shindo as he captured a set of stones. Now they were tied.

"And you only won once?" The disbelief was audible in Kurata's voice.

"I'm not that weak." snapped Yuki, "And besides, Shindo sucked back then. He was third chair at the competition."

"Oh, I heard about that," Kurata said, "But didn't he play well enough to beat the number 1 team, before they disqualified him for being too young?"

"No, I mean yes, that but time, but ..." This was idiotic, no worse, it was irritating. That people should know this much about Shindo's history. Like they were studying him, researching the future Meijin or whatever title Shindo would eventually capture. Fine, Yuki would fill them in.

"Look, this is how it went. That first tournament, Haze didn't even have a go team. It was just Tsuki, this psychopath Shoji guy and Hikaru playing third chair. Through some fluke, the team beat the team from Kaio 2 to 1 and would have won the tournament, but like you said, Shindo was only in grade school, so they got d.q'ed. Then, the next year, we went again. I played first chair, Tsuki second, and Shindo was third again, cause he was still the weakest player. And that year we got second because Kaio was all pumped up to play us and beat us all. Shindo only started to get good after summer break. And maybe if he'd stayed on the team, we might have finally beaten Kaio for real, only that's when he entered the Insei, which was the end of Shindo's amateur status."

Pa-ching. Shindo had laid down another stone. Yuki looked down at the board. It was over, Shindo had won the game.

Kurata was nodding. "That sounds about right. About a year and a half to go from knowing nothing about the game to being a pro. Most pro's take a bit longer, but usually when things start clicking it all comes together, and of course you get to that point where you're not thinking about anything else."

"Well," insisted Yuki, "he still sucked at the beginning."

"Everyone sucks at the beginning."