A/N: I hope this chapter doesn't feel like too much of a filler. I promise some very interesting things will happen in the next few chapters. I also hope there aren't too many grammar/formatting issues in this. I haven't had time to edit, but my laptop is dying and I wanted to share. Thanks for reading, and please let me know if there's anything you'd really like to see, because my storyline is flexible!
Chapter 4: In which Hikaru makes new friends…
"Sorry we had to cut that short, Sai."
Hikaru was pressed against the side of a row of subway chairs, holding her backpack in front of her to create a little distance between herself and the ocean of other rush-hour passengers. Sai, to avoid the trauma of having countless people passing through his body, had floated to the top of the car and was sitting in seiza in the air above Hikaru's head.
"It's alright, Hikaru. I'm very happy I got to play that boy, even though we could not finish our battle."
"Was he any good? He seemed really intense towards the end there."
"He was very good, especially for someone so young. Yes…very, very talented indeed. He has a natural feel for the game. His plans of attack and analysis of the whole board were already very mature."
"Woah, that good, huh?"
"He still has a long road ahead of him, but I can already see his dragon claws beginning to show. He will be quite formidable one day."
"How good is he compared to you? Would you have won that game if we'd finished?"
"I am fairly certain I could have won, but I would not have played with all my strength if we had stayed. Perhaps I would have won by three or four moku without komi."
Sai seemed to say this more to himself than to Hikaru.
"What? So you weren't playing to win, even after he got serious?"
"No, I was playing a teaching game."
"A teaching game?"
"It is as it sounds. You play a teaching game with the objective not of winning, but of guiding your student to place their stones in the right place. It is a very powerful way to help another advance their playing."
"Huh. Sounds like you're pretty used to teaching."
"Yes. When I was alive, I spent most of my days at the emperor's court playing teaching games with His Majesty. And with Torajiro, I often taught the Shogun and his court as well."
"I guess Touya didn't realize until halfway through that you were playing a teaching game."
"No. In fact, I believe he started out planning to play a teaching game with you."
Hikaru rolled her eyes. Of course he did, but it wasn't like she could blame him. After all, she didn't act like she would be a very fierce opponent. Not to mention, she herself actually had no idea how to play go. Nonetheless, it still piqued Hikaru that Touya hadn't taken her very seriously from the start.
"Ah. Well. Maybe you'll get to play him again if we go back. That salon's a bit far from my house, though. I wonder if there's somewhere nearer to home."
"Oh, Hikaru, let's go anywhere you want! I don't care where I am, as long as I can play go!"
"Yes, Sai, I know, I know," Hikaru smiled indulgingly. "That was a lot of work, but I think I had fun. As long as you teach me enough so I don't get bored, I'll take you to play go all the time."
"Really? Hikaru, you're the best! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Sai, please! Your ghost aura is really too much for me handle!"
"Oh, goodness! My apologies."
Emerging from the subway station in Yanaka, Hikaru half sprinted to her house. She had twenty minutes before Suzuki-sensei was supposed to show up, and, just as her teacher had predicted, Hikaru had not tuned her harp.
"I'm home!" she announced as she burst through her front door. She scanned the shoes in the entryway, and let out a relieved breath when she didn't see anything unfamiliar.
No one replied to her announcement. Her mother probably had a performance with the orchestra tonight, and her father was either there with her or kept late at his dentist's practice.
Hikaru pounded up the stairs to her room and dropped her backpack by her desk. From her bookshelf, she retrieved her tuner, which resembled a short and lopsided letter T, and a little monitor with a cord that attached to a black clip. At the harp, she clipped the clip to one of the metal pegs that jutted out from the left, and put the tuner onto the corresponding peg that jutted from the right. Repeatedly, she played the string that the peg controlled, twisting the tuner with each pluck, keeping an eye on the monitor. When she was satisfied, she moved down the harp, tuning each string.
Sai watched this whole process with some fascination.
"Hikaru, what are you doing? What is this device? How does it know if a string is tuned properly? Hikaru?"
Hikaru rolled her eyes, chuckled, then explained the whole tuning process. It wasn't very complicated, after all, and besides, Sai had been brought up in a nobleman's family and knew the basics of the koto. The principle was the same.
The tuning had taken Hikaru longer than usual, as the rising spring humidity caused her harp to be perpetually out of tune. By the time she was done, Hikaru was expecting Suzuki-sensei at any moment.
"Oh, Sai, I nearly forgot," Hikaru exclaimed, popping out of her stool to dig in her bag. She extracted the two coke-stained kifu from earlier, still damp, contained in the shopping bag from the bookstore.
"I'm sure some of these are still salvageable, and I'll hang them around the room so you can read them while Sensei is here. And at night, too. You don't ever sleep, right?"
"That's very thoughtful of you, Hikaru. And I suppose I cannot sleep, although I do tend to silence mind at night. I've found it provides effects similar to sleep."
Sai floated around Hikaru as she cut out the kifu pages with unstained games and taped them up in order. By the time the doorbell rang, she had covered her whole sliding closet door.
"Ah, there you are, girl," said a brisk Suzuki-sensei as Hikaru opened the front door. Her teacher hurried past her into the entryway and removed her black leather oxfords. She was a short, stout woman with mostly-grey hair cut into a very short bob. Her spectacles were bright red ovals that slanted up like cat eyes. Today she wore a black cardigan over a white, round-collared blouse and a long skirt resembling a patchwork quit.
"Took you long enough. I suppose you're home alone? Such a shame, such a shame. I don't see nearly enough of your mother and her pretty face since she stopped accompanying you to lessons. Oh, well, I suppose you growing up can't be helped. I hope you're not giving her too much trouble these days, eh?"
Suzuki-sensei had known the piano teacher of Hikaru's mother, which was also how Hikaru had come into the harp teacher's tutelage at a young age.
Hikaru could only laugh, a nervous lift in her eyebrows.
"I hope I'm not too much trouble, either," she offered. She showed Suzuki-sensei to the stairs, then hurried to the kitchen to dispense some hot water into a cup with genmaicha. As she slid the door of her room open, carrying the tea, Hikaru saw that Suzuki-sensei was standing in front of her closet, staring, quite intrigued, at her wall of kifu. Sai was staring at the teacher's outfit, his face perplexed.
"Sensory overload, Sai?"
"Hikaru-chan, what are these things on your door? Looks like quite the mess, all taped up like this."
"Oh, those are kifu, Sensei. They're records of previous go games."
"Huh, go you say? Yes, I see, I see…I did learn a little bit about the rules when I was younger. Who knew you young people still played this sort old-people's game? My husband has friends who go to go salons every day! Say, girl, when did you start learning this? And why are all these pages on your door? Looks like you cut them from a book or something. You mustn't do that to books, you know that!"
"Uh…" As usual, Hikaru was at a loss for which question to respond to first. And, as usual, she needn't have worried, because she didn't get a chance to answer any of them.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're branching out, girl, but really, you couldn't have found a more age-appropriate hobby? Well, at least you can't hurt yourself playing a board game. You know what Takeda-san at the music college told me? One of her viola students went skating with her friends and fell and sprained her fingers! What a disaster! At least it was her bow hand, so finger dexterity shouldn't be too much of a problem, but honestly! My goodness, Kami-sama have mercy! Young people are so careless. And you too! Fainting and falling the way you did yesterday!"
"Right. Sorry again, Sensei." Hikaru nearly did a ninety degree bow.
"Alright, alright, go sit down. I can't stay long, you know. The old man gets grumpy when I'm late for dinner. Hrmph! As if he ever cooks a five-star meal…"
Hikaru sat down at the harp amid Suzuki-sensei's ramblings on. Eventually, the harp professor pulled the new notes out of her bag, and had Hikaru play through the pieces to make sure she understood them.
Her parents had still not returned by the time Suzuki-sensei left, but because of her fainting spell the night before, her mom had not made dinner at home. There weren't even leftovers to heat up. Hikaru sighed, and pulled a packed of udon noodles from the fridge. She put them into boiling water along with some shoyusoup base and spinach, then cut in a couple slices of pork from the freezer.
"Let's see…what else can I put in here…" Hikaru had opened up the dried foods cupboard, scanning her mother's collection of colorful packages. Finally, she decided on some dried mushrooms and thick sea kelp. Hikaru plucked out a few of each and threw them all into the pot, then put the lid back on.
"Hikaru, did you just put those mushrooms straight into the pot?"
"What? Yeah, I always do that," Hikaru raised her eyebrow at Sai, who was now studying her pot with concern.
"But you're supposed to soak them in water, so they get soft!"
"….What?" Hikaru felt that Sai's comment had broken her brain.
"Yes, yes, if I remember correctly, you must soak them in warm water overnight, then lightly slice the tops of the mushrooms before you use them."
"How on earth do you, a Heian nobleman, know how to prepare dried mushrooms?"
"Oh!" Sai had the audacity to look surprised at her question. "Why, this was how the cook for Honinbo Shuwa prepared mushrooms. Sometimes at the Honinbo school in the early days, when Torajiro used to get hungry in the middle of the night, he would sneak into the kitchen, and the cook would give him some extra food. We always saw her preparing mushrooms, and he would help her wash them."
"That's…really sweet, Sai," Hikaru beamed. She knew next to nothing about this Torajiro, Sai's previous host, but from what Sai had told her about his life, and now this story, he seemed like a sweet boy.
"You must miss him a lot, huh Sai?"
"Yes, I do," Sai nodded, his eyes cast down, a shadow drifting across his features. "He was always such a kind, noble person, even in his youth. And always so curious and eager to better his own go ability. We spent many good days together."
Hikaru was silent as she ladled the noodles into a bowl and sat down to eat.
"Sorry you're stuck with me this time around, Sai," Hikaru finally said, staring down at her soup. She had felt the way Sai's emotions changed as he played go today. She had seen the glint of ferocity as he attacked with his black stones, and the little squint of satisfaction as he countered Touya's attacks with ease. It must have been nice when he was with Torajiro, someone who understood him, and could play go with him whenever he wanted. All she could do was put down stones and try to keep her eyes from glazing over.
"You must be pretty disappointed, huh?"
"No! Please, Hikaru, how could you think that?" Sai stood bolt upright in his chair. "Hikaru, you are different from Torajiro, but it is my very best luck to have met you. Just from today, I can see that you, too, understand me, as Torajiro did. How could Kami-sama have given me a better fate than meeting you?"
"Really, Sai? You don't have to be so nice, you know."
"I am doing no such thing. I am glad that I met you this time around. Thank you for indulging me."
In a way, perhaps you are most like me, Hikaru. You do not even know how to play go, and yet you will humor an old ghost by letting me play. You must truly love your music. Only one who shares my sense of calling can understand my desire to play. I only hope my presence will not be a hindrance on your life.
But Sai did not say this to Hikaru.
Hikaru spent the rest of the evening practicing. She started off with long finger exercises, then spent two hours working through Suzuki-sensei's new notes in the Renié, which she was preparing for a competition in June. Another hour was given to run-throughs of the four other pieces she was currently working on. Hikaru finished the session with a short practice of the pop arrangements for band practice tomorrow.
"These sound very different from the pieces you were playing before. Very simple," Sai remarked. Hikaru had thought he would completely ignore her practicing, but despite his engagement with the kifuon her closet door, Sai seemed to be paying attention to Hikaru's playing.
"Yeah, these mainly chords," Hikaru shrugged. "They're are only fun when we're playing in a band, or someone's singing along."
Done with her practice schedule, Hikaru went to dig around her backpack for her homework. As usual, her undemanding academic schedule meant less than an hour of homework, so by the time she was done for the day it was still relatively early for a teenager to go to bed. Besides, her parents weren't even home yet.
Hikaru showered and changed, then lay against her pillows, texting her friends and having an offhanded conversation with Sai. At one point, she was motivated enough by Sai's pestering to trudge downstairs, retrieve the telephone book, and look up local go salons. To her surprise, Hikaru actually did manage to find one just one stop away from the station near her house. She wrote down the address and slipped it into her homework planner.
"Great, Sai! Tomorrow we can go here."
"Wonderful, Hikaru, just wonderful. I'm so excited already!"
"So, were these kifu any fun to look at?" Hikaru was now cutting out the pages of the second coke-stained book and taping them to another wall.
"Yes, they are. It seems that all these games are between highly skilled players, and I am learning their modern ways."
"Fantastic."
At lunch the next day, Hikaru and Akari wolfed down their meals in less than ten minutes and bounded for the music rooms. Well, Hikaru bounded, but stopped every few steps to wait for Akari, whose cello made it rather difficult to perform any sort of fast movement.
Three of the senpai they had met in middle school had started a chamber music club the year before. They needed two other people to play with them at the club fair and concert coming up next week. This was commonly referred to as the talent show, because the highlight was always the performance, through which the music and dance clubs tried to attract new club members. For the chamber music club, this involved playing some pop songs on classical instruments.
Hikaru had originally declined to participate when Akari asked her on the first day of school. Who had time to participate in a talent show their first month of high school? She was busy enough as it was.
Akari, however, was nothing if not persistent. This, added on to the new knowledge that Akari had a big crush on one of the senpaialready in the club, had persuaded Hikaru to agree. Hikaru had never been in a club before, because she had never had any talents aside from harp. As their school did not have an orchestra, there was no club that needed a harpist. Now, Hikaru wondered if she should join. She liked the idea of being in an afterschool club. It made her feel more like a normal high school student.
This lunch-time practice session, as it turned out, was quite necessary. Everyone's parts were well-rehearsed, but they had trouble synching their playing. The two cellists, in particular, were frustrated, because the piece would often unravel as they began their parts. Hikaru was bored. Her part consisted mainly of rolled cords, and they were not getting any more interesting as the lunch hour dragged on. Sai was even more bored. He sat in the empty chair beside Hikaru, chin propped on hand, thinking about the kifu he had all but memorized from Hikaru's closet wall.
When the lunch hour was over, Hikaru had second thoughts about joining the club. She was not looking forward to all the other practice sessions before next week's show, and as a result, looked a little dejected as she walked down the hall with Akari.
"What's wrong, Hikaru? You look kind of down," Akari asked. She was not looking too chipper herself, given her poor performance in front of her violin-playing crush.
"I'm alright!" Hikaru answered, perking up her face. "You're the one who looks down."
"Well, it was sort of embarrassing not being able to play in sync back there," Akari sighed. "Mori-senpai and I are meeting up after school to work on our cello parts, though, so tomorrow should be much better."
Hikaru smiled. Her smile turned into a simper.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Akari. Nakayama-senpai didn't seem to mind at all. He seemed really happy just to have you there, actually."
Akari's whole face turned beet-red. She went to give Hikaru a slap on the arm, which Hikaru artfully dodged with a chuckle.
The two made their way back to class.
When school let out that day, Hikaru again burst out of her chair and was at the train station in less than ten minutes. Even Sai was impressed at her speed. For Hikaru, somehow, taking Sai to play go felt particularly important to her. It had been a bit difficult to keep up with Sai's lesson yesterday, but Hikaru felt an strange determination to see more games and a stronger determination to let Sai play. She took the Yamanote line and got off at Tabata station, then began looking around for the address. Finally, she gave up, called the number she had written down the night before, and asked the gruff voice at the end of the phone for directions.
This go salon was on the second floor, but the building did not have an elevator. The interior was also incomparable to the atmosphere of the salon from yesterday. This salon was much smaller, and lit with fluorescent lights. The go boards were placed on rows of plastic wood-grain tables flanked by thinly cushioned green chairs. Newspaper clippings dotted the otherwise bare walls, and in the corners were boxes of what looked like soft drinks and instant ramen.
The place was also loud. And stuffy. And smelled strongly of tobacco.
"Here we are, Sai."
Hikaru plastered her most encouraging smile on her face and headed in to the counter.
"Hi, Mister!" Hikaru chirped.
The thin old man turned around and peered at Hikaru through his spectacles.
"Hi there. You that girl who called just now?"
"Yes, I am."
"Looking for a game? That's 1,100 yen."
What? Eleven thousand? Why is this dingy place more expensive…
"Yeah, I'm here for a game, but I don't want to pay unless there's someone who can play me right away."
The old man chuckled. "Well, you're certainly impatient. I guess all young people are, these days."
Hikaru laughed a little nervous laugh. "Well, it's just that I had to wait half an hour at the place I went to yesterday, and I couldn't even leave because I'd already paid."
"Hey, missy, I'll play ya!" A booming voice behind Hikaru startled her. She whipped her head around to see a tall, large old man with bushy eyebrows that looked like two scruffy cat tails.
"If you win, I'll even pay your entrance fee! How's that?"
"Really? Yeah, I'm down for that!" Hikaru agreed almost out of instinct. Have someone else pay for her entrance fee? Yes, please.
"Hikaru, what you're doing feels an awful lot like gambling, you know," Sai looked at Hikaru with a disapproving head tilt.
"Pssh Sai, you're thinking too much. This guy's just being nice! It's not gambling."
Then, as if to prove her point, she looked at the man and smiled her sweetest crescent-eyed smile.
"But let's be clear, "Hikaru said to Uncle eyebrows, "I'm not paying for your entrance fee if you win, Mister." The large man boomed with laughter, and the owner and some patrons sitting nearby joined in.
"Don't you worry, missy," the man chuckled, "It'll be my gift. If you win, that is."
Hikaru followed his lead to the back of the small salon, getting some curious glances from the other patrons along the way. She noted that the demographic of this place really was 100% old uncles.
"First time here, missy?" Uncle eyebrows sat back into his chair and looked at Hikaru with the same curiosity. "How long you been playin'?"
"Oh, for a while." She exchanged a private smile with Sai. The pair had spent the train ride deciding on the little white lies Hikaru would tell regarding her skills at go.
"You any good?"
"Sure, I'd say I'm pretty good."
"Hah! Alright then, girl's got spunk!" said Uncle eyebrows. "Pretty good, huh? How 'bout I give ya two stones to start.
"What, no way!" Hikaru exclaimed, acting indignant. "You promised to pay my fee if I won. Can't have you saying it wasn't a fair game!"
This reasoning seemed to work just as well on the old man as it had on Touya. He leaned back into the chair, which creaked under his weight, and lit a cigarette.
"Your choice, missy, but you take black. Can't have the guys in here saying I bullied a little girl, now can I?"
Laughter filled the salon, and Hikaru rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Your guidance, please."
As the game unfolded, Hikaru noticed that the beginning shapes of this game felt very different from the one yesterday. White was clearly not expanding nearly as well as black was, staking out much smaller pieces of territory and looking altogether somewhat disorganized.
"Um, Sai? This guy isn't as good as Touya-kun from yesterday, is he?"
"Well-spotted, Hikaru. No, I'm afraid not. He isn't bad, but nowhere near the boy's skill level."
"Oh, that's too bad."
""He is only an amateur, someone who, no doubt, cannot spend all his time on go. For that, his skill level is actually quite impressive."
"You know, you're too nice, Sai. You have a positive thing to say about everyone."
"There are always nice things to say, Hikaru, and anyone can be a worthy opponent. I think I'm going to stretch this game a bit longer, come to think of it…Yes, I want to see more of this man's interesting response tactics. "
They exchanged more hands, Hikaru watching the old man's face tense more with each move. It was a quick game, and in the end Uncle eyebrows didn't stand a chance. He resigned before yose.
Hikaru was taken aback. The game yesterday had lasted nearly twice as long, and they hadn't even finished.
"Woah, Sai! That was fast. You must be a lot better than him."
"That was not so fast for the level he was at, Hikaru. I even took my time."
"But yesterday's game…"
"Hikaru, you'll find, as we keep playing, that most people we meet will not be able to play at the level the boy played yesterday."
"Really? That good, huh? Lucky us that we bumped into him on the first day."
Uncle eyebrows was now staring at Hikaru with a suspicious curiosity.
"Say, missy, who exactly are you? You're too good to be an amateur."
"I…what?" Hikaru snapped back to the situation in front of her, and avoided Uncle eyebrows' narrowed gaze.
"You're not a pro, are you? I have a friend who was a pro, and I could beat him with a two-stone handicap. You're probably better than he is!"
"A pro? Like a professional go player? No way, that's ridiculous. I'm still in high school!" Hikaru stammered, trying to look nonchalant. She hadn't been prepared for this line of questioning.
"Hey, high school isn't young!" A voice beside them butted in. "For the past few years all the new pros were high school age!"
Around them, some patrons were getting out of their seats and coming over to stand above their table, examining their game.
"A pro, you said?"
"Yeah? Where? That girl?"
"What, she beat Kiyashi? He's one of the better ones here."
"Let me see, let me see…"
A proper crowd had formed around their little table in no time. Even the owner peered over his counter.
Oh my god, what is going on?!
"No, I told you! I'm not a professional!" A number of old guys were nodding at their game, all impressed. Hikaru's eyes widened.
"An insei, then?" one man asked. He was stroking his long white beard as he peered at the board, then at Hikaru. "She beat you up pretty good, Kiyashi."
Kiyashi scoffed. "Hey! I was just holding back, tryin'a be nice to the young lady! Didn't know she'd be so good...So, missy, are you an insei?"
"An…insei? What's that?" Hikaru leapt at the chance to change the subject.
"Eh, guess not," Kiyashi muttered, going back to staring at the game.
"You play this good and you don't even know what insei are?" The bearded man exclaimed. The others looked even more curious.
"Uh...nope."
"They're students at the Go Institute, the Nihon Ki'in. They're kids in junior high or high school, all training to become pros." This explanation was given by a stout man carrying an expensive-looking cane.
"Wow, really? That's pretty cool. Do they still go to regular school?
"Yeah, they do," another man put in. "An insei kid lives on my block, and I always see him and his friends going to school in the mornings. Or, at least, I can hear'em! A loud bunch of brats they are!"
Laughter started around the crowd again.
"I wonder if Touya-kun from yesterday was an insei, Sai."
"You could be right, Hikaru. Ah, how wonderful! No matter how society changes, there will always be young people who devote their lives to go and places that help them do it!"
"Now, then, missy," Kiyashi started up again. "You're not a pro and you're not even an insei? How come you're so good?" The others murmured in agreement.
Hikaru had thought her questions had distracted the crowd, but no such luck. She let out a nervous breath. She had known Sai was very good, obviously, but she hadn't expected his playing to attract thismuch attention. They all thought he was pro level? What did that even mean? Why were they making such a big deal out of it?
Just how strong was Sai?
Yikes, what do I even say?
"Geez, I'm not that good," Hikaru chuckled nervously.
"What are you saying! Look at this, proof's right here! How are you this good as an amateur?" Kiyashi was nearly clambering out of his chair. More murmurs of agreement.
"You're all just being too nice, really," Hikaru insisted. "I only learned from a friend of mine so we could play, that's all. Besides, what can you tell from one game, right?" By now, Hikaru was just offering the first explanation that came to mind.
Though some of the uncles still looked at her with skepticism, others had turned back to study the board.
"Well, it was a pretty short game," someone quipped. "Maybe we're overreacting."
"Hah! Maybe missy here looks really strong because Kiyashi is too weak!" someone else suggested.
Kiyashi's indignant outcry was drowned out by another chorus of guffaws.
Hikaru hadn't even let out a sigh relief when she heard the bearded man say,
"You know what, I bet you're right. Come on, missy, I'll play ya. Let me show Kiyashi how it's done."
"As if! If you can beat her, I'll eat my shoe!" Kiyashi did not take kindly to this suggestion.
"Whatdyasay, missy? I'm way better than that old guy."
"Sai? What do we do? Uuuugh this is really not going according to plan…If they think I'm too good they'll start asking more questions! Then I can't come back…and this place was the closest to my house!"
"Play another game, Hikaru."
"What? Didn't you hear me? You're too good, Sai."
"Not to worry. I'll play some teaching games. That should be enough to convince them that you're just a fairly strong amateur."
"You can do that? Play at their level?
"Of course."
"Won't they notice?"
"The boy yesterday didn't notice right away, and he was much more skilled."
"Well, if you're sure…wait, you said games? Plural?"
"Just you watch, Hikaru. These men all love go. More than one is going to want a game with you before you leave."
As it turned out, Sai was right. Hikaru thought it a little disconcerting that he could read these modern people better than she could.
The game against the bearded man lasted through to the end. Sai took his time playing the man, guiding him to the right moves without letting it show, and won him by six moku. It was a substantial win, but nothing compared to the first game. Even before their game was over, other guests were clamoring to play Hikaru as well, and none were as loud as Kiyashi.
"A rematch! I demand a rematch! No way you beat me to a pulp back there and only won Kishimoto by six moku! Rematch!"
Both ghost and girl were more than happy to oblige. When the game ended, Hikaru smiled her sweetest smile at her opponent.
"See, Mr. Kiyashi, I'm really not thatgood. I bet you thought I couldn't be strong because I'm a girl, and really didgo easy on me the first time." Hikaru could be very convincing when she wanted to be.
"Alright, alright, quit being so cheeky, little missy. You still beat me by five moku. I still don't know how the hell you're so good…"
Despite his words, Hikaru could tell that he wasn't going to question her further about being a pro. Satisfied at this turn of events, Hikaru played another game before going home. Before she left, however, the patrons who couldn't get a game in with her badgered her until she promised to come back soon, so long as one of them paid for her entrance fee. Happy with this outcome, Hikaru left the building and headed to her house.
"So, that turned well alright after all," she grinned at Sai, taking a long breath of fresh air after being cooped in a smoke-filled salon for hours.
"Yes, and although today's games were not very intensive, I did still thoroughly enjoy myself."
"Well, good, I'm glad you did," Hikaru nodded. "I think we can go back there. But seriously, Sai, I didn't think you'd be so good that people would start asking questions. Did you see them back there? They were pretty demanding."
"Yes, it appears so. I'm sorry Hikaru. I don't really know what to do either. With Torajiro, everyone just assumed he was a prodigy because he had started learning go so early in his life."
"Well, just don't draw any more unnecessary attention to me, okay? If you can just play at the level of your opponent like you did today, things should be okay. Wouldn't be too hard, right?"
"No, not to worry."
"Alright, let's hurry, Sai. I'm starving and Mom promised to make curry tonight."
As they hurried along the sidewalk, however, Hikaru could not help but worry. She didn't want to draw any sort of attention to herself, but if she kept making Sai play at a level much lower than he was capable, how could he achieve what he had stayed in this world to do? How was he supposed to play this so-called "divine move" if all his opponents were old uncles at the go salon?
