Just a Game

Chapter 4


Hikaru looked up and stared at the sign in front of building that reads 'Japanese Go Institute.' He dropped his head and sighed. 'What am I doing here?' he asked himself. He turned back to walk away when he heard his name being called.

"Oi, Shindou-kun!"

Hikaru turned around and saw Isumi-san walking towards him together with a boy wearing glasses that he remembered he saw in the Weekly Go with Waya and Isumi. He sighed again. 'I guess I don't have any choice, eh?'

"Ohayo, Isumi-san," Hikaru greeted Isumi, then glanced around. "By the way, where's Waya?"

"He's still having his picture taken together with his opponent for today's game," Isumi explained.

"Isumi-san, who's he?" the boy with glasses asked.

"Ah… gomen." Isumi apologized, then introduced them to each other. "Ochi-kun, this is my friend Shindou Hikaru. Waya and I met him in a go salon a few months ago. Shindou-kun, this is Ochi Kosuke. He also passed the Pro exam with Waya and me."

Ochi lifted his glasses and spared him barely a glance. "I see. Nice to meet you." 'Go salon, eh?' he thought as he assessed the person in front of him based on his appearance. 'Why would anyone waste their time in a Go salon? Must be a low-level player.'

Hikaru smiled sheepishly. "Nice to meet you, too."


Isumi opened the door. "This is where we're gonna watch Waya's game from the television screen. We could recreate his game using one of the gobans here," he said to Hikaru.

"Oh…" Hikaru responded. "I thought we're really going to see Waya play."

"We can't discuss if we're going to watch it there," Ochi said. "Haven't you watched a formal match before?"

Hikaru scratched his head. "Not really… The old geezers at the salon are quite noisy when we play."

"Tch," Ochi grunted as they entered.

"Oi, Isumi-kun, Ochi-kun. You're finally here."

"Ohayo, Morishita-sensei," Isumi and Ochi bowed in greeting.

Morishita clamped Isumi at the back. "Hah, so you're gonna be the next. And against Kuwabara Honinbo. Make sure you give that old geezer a hard time." He glanced at Hikaru and asked, "Your friend?"

"Hai. This is Shindou Hikaru, a friend of Waya and mine," he answered. "Shindou-kun, this is Waya's sensei, Morishita Shigeo 9 dan."

Hikaru bowed his head in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"Welcome boy. This seems to be your first time here. This would be a nice experience for new go players like you," Morishita said.

Isumi sweatdropped at that. 'New player, eh?'

Then he glanced around the room and saw Saeki and Shirakawa. Isumi and Ochi exchanged pleasantries with them while Hikaru just stood there clueless of what to do.

"Shindou-kun?"

He looked at the guy with glasses and he really seemed familiar.

"Ahh! Shirakawa-sensei!" Hikaru said in surprise finally recognizing him.

"Eh? You know each other," Morishita asked.

"He came to my class once together with one of my students," Shirakawa explained. "So how's Akari-chan? I was wondering why you never came back. Maybe because of what you did to Akoto-san?"

"Hehe," Hikaru covered his embarrassment with a laugh. He remembered that time when Sai was pissed by an arrogant man who keeps on insulting his weaker opponent. Sai wanted to challenge him. But instead of doing that, he took the bowl and dropped it on Akoto-san's head causing the man's wig to fall off. Shirakawa-sensei had scolded him for that. But that wasn't the reason why he never returned. It was because he learned during that day that the boy that he had played with was the son of the Touya Meijin, the strongest go player in Japan. And he also learned that the son was supposedly as good as a pro already. And he defeated him, or rather Sai helped him defeat him. That kid will surely seek him for a rematch. And true enough, he saw him rushing into the children's go tournament looking for him. Good thing he was able to hide before Touya saw him. But he heard him ask a man in a white suit if there was a kid named Shouji Riku who entered the tournament. He ran away from that place knowing fully that after the commotion he caused in the tournament and the defeat of Akira Touya from his hands, he was going to be in deep trouble.

"That was quite a long time ago, more than 3 years. Right, Shindou-kun?" Shirakawa smiled at him.

Hikaru smiled back uncomfortably.

"So, you just learned the game three years ago?" Saeki said. "You should join the Insei so you'll improve more."

Isumi sweatdropped again. 'Insei? I'm not sure if even you're a match against him, Saeki-san,' he thought.

"They're starting the match now," Morishita said. And they all took their seats. Morishita, Shirakawa, and Saeki took a goban in order to recreate Waya's game. Isumi, Ochi, and Hikaru sat in a nearby table and also took a goban.


"Hmm. Tachibana-sensei's move here is really good. It blocks off black's attempt to get into the corner."

"Yes, but even if Waya is at a disadvantage, he is playing surprisingly well today. This move here… blah… blah.. blah…"

Hikaru listened to their conversation as he stared at the board in front of him. He was impressed with how they analyzed the game. He would normally play a game the way Sai would. Since he learned go from Sai, he would sometimes approach an opponent the way Sai would play against him. And it would confuse him when a player, especially a weak one, made a move that was different from what he had thought out. Morishita-sensei and the others continue to discuss on the best possible moves. Some of their moves were different from what he or Sai would play on that given situation. But it was kind of refreshing to hear their thoughts, their logic and opinion on why they would make that move.

The door opened and Amano of the Weekly Go entered. "Morishita-sensei, ohayo."

"Ah, Amano-san," Morishita greeted back.

"I just want to ask if I could set an interview with you regarding your next game with Ichiryo-sensei," Amano said.

"Oh that. Well, I…"

"Ah! That's a good move, Waya!" Isumi exclaimed which caused Morishita and Amano to turn back to the game.

"Huh?" Hikaru was awakened from his trance and stared at the television.

"Hmm.. indeed," Morishita said scratching his chin. "That hand will cost white 4 mokus in territory on that side. Seems like Waya still wants to fight, eh? That's my boy."

Amano chuckled.

Hikaru transferred his gaze at the board after Isumi had added the stone the Waya had just moved. 'Yes, that is a good move. But… that is not the best move. White is already in an advantage. That move only helped to gain a few more territory for black but it will not hand him the game.', he thought. His eyes scanned through the whole board. 'There was only one way to win and that is to revive the black stones on the left. A very complicated one but Waya already missed it when he made that move.'

"He'll lose," Hikaru said before he could stop himself.

"It's obvious that he's at a disadvantage," Ochi said with his usual superior tone, as if trying to show to Hikaru that he was just stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Isumi agreed. "But he really played well. It's quite a close game; it's just that Tachibana-sensei went above him."

"But… he could have won," Hikaru whispered still staring at the board.

"Huh?" Isumi and Ochi turned their eyes on him. Morishita, Shirakawa, Saeki, and Amano also turned their heads at what he said.

Without realizing that all eyes had turned to him, Hikaru pointed into the board and tried to explain it to Isumi.

"This side of white is weak. If black moves here, it would look like that he's attacking this area and white will have no choice but to defend here," Hikaru said. "Black will then move here, and will the countered by white here." Hikaru placed one stone after another as he continued. Isumi's eyes widened at the result. By sacrificing a few stones, black would have cut through white's defense and would have gained control of the area at the left.

"But when Waya made this move, it's already impossible to execute this plan since this area will already be blocked," Hikaru continued. "But he would have won if he saw that. Right, Isumi-san?" he looked up at Isumi-san and Ochi who were still staring at him wide-eyed. Then he finally noticed that Morishita, Shirikawa, Saeki, and another guy were gathered around the table and were also staring at him with awe.

"Ah..I..eh…" Hikaru stuttered. He felt like he did something really unusual to make them stare at him like that. He pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Gomen, Isumi-san. But I really need to go," he bowed to the people in front of him. "Thanks for letting me come here. I'm leaving now." He rushed to the door and closed it after he went out.

The six people were left staring at the door. Then Saeki broke the silence when he asked. "Sensei, did you see that move?"

The 9 dan looked back into the board but remained silent.

Amano recovered from his shock. "Who was he? He's not a pro, right? Is he an insei?"

Isumi sighed. "No. He's just a friend Waya and I met in a go salon."

"Nani?!"


That's it for this chapter! I'm not a go player, so I'm just making that game up. I don't know if it sounds realistic or not. Hehehe. Although I learned a little about go while playing against the computer in a 9x9 board. I sucked! I can't defeat the computer without handicap! (sigh)

Hope you enjoyed this one. Please review…. :-)