Chapter 3
Storming out of the Go-salon, Hikaru took a glance at the signs to figure out the directions to the train station. 'Sai, that was awesome! You're really strong! With your strength we can play many people and make tons of money!', Hikaru laughed out loud, his thoughts whirling around the newly opened possibilities. "Hikaru, forget about that! I'm not going to play for money!", Sai cried, insulted by the mere thought of playing his beloved game only to satisfy Hikaru's thirst for money. 'Geez, Sai. Can you even imagine how rich we could get? No one would be able to beat you, and .. a sudden thought crossed Hikaru's mind, '.. but then again ..To find people willing to play for money will probably not be so easy if they do all think like you. Man, why are Go players so stuffy!'
"You think so, because you don't understand the very nature of Go. The hard work we put in the effort to rise above our opponents and overcome ourselves - to reach a whole new level we've never thought possible, to finally achieve the 'Hand of God'. The path of Go is plastered with defeats and tears, but each time you overcome a hurdle, nothing can compare to the feeling of victory and fullfillment, feeling the 'Hand of God' getting closer and closer with each win.", Sai proclaimed passionately.
'..You really mean it, you won't play if it's for money?' "Hikaru! Did you hear even one word of what I said?" 'Aaah! Alright, alright, stop clinging on my neck, you're strangling me!', as Sai let go of Hikaru, the teen started coughing, oblivious to the stares people were giving him for his weird behaviour on the platform of the train station.
'Geez, you're really a pain, Sai. Let's go, the train's coming.'
Being back home, Hikaru lay down on his bed, a manga in his hands he hadn't read yet while Sai was taking in every detail in Hikaru's room, followed by an "Ah" and "Oh". In front of a black, square something on Hikaru's desk, Sai stopped to figure out what it could possibly be. "Hikaru, what is that thing on your table? Indeed, there are really strange decorations in this time period." 'That's not some decoration, Sai!', Hikaru stated, laughing at the silly ghost. 'It's called a computer, you can do lots of things with that, playing games, writing letters or essays for school, or even go on the internet and talk to friends.' "Huh?" Sai was thoroughly confused.
'Alright, let me show you, since you won't understand otherwise", Hikaru replied, still grinning. His friend was really dense. How could anyone not know about computers? But then again, he wasn't from this time after all, so no big surprise.
After waiting a minute until the computer booted, Hikaru showed Sai how it worked.
'See, going online now, I can search for all kind of things, play different games with people from all over the world and watch funny videos.' Sai had a hard time absorbing everything. "A magic box, indeed, it is magic", he wondered out aloud.
Hikaru started laughing. 'No, Sai, it's not a magic box, it's called technology but don't ask me what makes it work, that's way over my head.' Sai looked thoughtfully at the magic box. No matter what Hikaru said, it was still beyond him - and since he wasn't able to comprehend it, he would call it as he saw it fitted to be called. A sudden thought struck him. Did Hikaru say, people could play games with this box? He better asked again. "Hikaru, if you can play different kinds of games in this box, does it include Go?" Yiiikes 'What?' Hikaru asked, feeling cornered. Great, just great! Now, the blame was to put on no one else but him - he let the words slip out of his mouth and now Sai had this expectantly look on his face, eyes shining with excitement. He sighed. How couldn't bring himself to lie to make it easier for himself.
'Yes, you can probably play Go online as well. I've never tried it, though.' Sighing again, Hikaru asked the inevitable. 'You want to try..?'
Ogata Seiji, 9-dan and current holder of the Judan -title, closed the door after Ashiwara, one of the study group members had left his apartment. He had brought over some kifus Ogata had asked for, as he had an upcoming match with Kurata 8-dan and wanted to get familiar with his opponent's playing style. Not that he'd never played him before - and won, of course, but it had been a while and Kurata had most likely gained strength since then.
Putting the kifus away since he had no desire to occupy himself with that yet, Ogata headed towards his computer. He had played a formidable match today against the sour-faced Ichiryu and needed to clear his head by playing less strong opponents now. They always provided a nice distraction, maybe zelda was online, a shodan from the same Go institute as Ogata had got to know a short while ago, or perhaps kenji. As he logged in, loads of people started sending requests to play him. 'seiji' was widely known at netgo, known as a powerful opponent with great skills, hence play-wise greatly sought after. Most people assumed the pro Ogata Seiji behind the alias.
Not wanting to play just any crappy player, Ogata declined all requests. Hmm.. No player I know online.. But what's with this game, why are there so many observers?
Interested why so many people would watch a simple game, he took a glance at the names. Mamba vs. sai. Never heard of them. Following the others example, Ogata also clicked on to appease his curiosity. At first glance he assessed the game. Black was winning. He played a beautiful game, cutting of his opponent's white stones before he could connect, forcing white to give up on the center. White wasn't even near black's level. Who was black? Sai.. Interesting. But what is your real strength? How will you play against a stronger opponent? As for now it's hard do determine your level even though you're certainly strong. Will you also be able to play such a good game against me? Ogata sneered. It was highly unlikely.
Finally, mamba also realized that he had lost and resigned. Humph, you should have given up 20 hands ago, dumbass. As he thought about challenging sai himself, some other guy preempted him. jiaozi. Now that was going to be interesting. Behind the alias 'jiaozi' was a Chinese pro he personally knew. He'd also played him a couple times on netgo and he was a strength to be reckoned with. Ogata laid back in his chair, highly absorbed in the unfolding game before him.
One and a half hour later, it wasn't possible for Ogata to sit back and relax any longer. As a matter of fact, he hadn't been able doing that after both players had laid down about 20 stones. Sai played the white stones this time and was supposed to play defensively against such a strong player as jiaozi, but he quickly turned the tables. Sai was the aggressor and slaughtered his poor opponent. How was that possible! When playing against mamba, sai had definitely hold back, not wanting to crush him so bad as mamba wasn't a high level player yet, of that Ogata was sure now. But with jiaozi as opponent, sai had quickly figured out that it wasn't just an amateur he was playing, so he went out fully against him. Playing 2 or 3 more hands, jiaozi resigned, as there was no chance to catch up again and a few seconds later sai disappeared from the list.
Ogata stared at his monitor, memorizing the game so he could replay it later again. A chill ran down his spine.
Who on earth was sai? Why hadn't he heard of him before? He wasn't one of the pros from the institute, he would have recognized their styles. Next to sai's name had been written that he was Japanese, but he couldn't bethink anyone playing like that. Odd.. This playing style.. It was totally outdated, no one played such moves anymore since some of them would be called dangerously open, hence vulnerable. But sai had protected these risky moves nonetheless and the most frightening, or in Ogata's view, thrilling thing was, that there was so much room for growth for that player. That such a person exists.. Playing exactly like shuusaku, he must have studied him a lot. I have to play him!
Hikaru logged out, stretching in his chair, yawning loudly. 'That should be enough for today, Sai. This last week we played so much Go that it even started hunting me in my dreams. Geeez, maybe we should take a break from it for .. let's say, a month or so, what do you think, Sai?' Hikaru grinned, knowing his ghost would start a tirade after hearing him say such an outraged thing. When he heard no sound, Hikaru turned around to see Sai, still looking at the monitor, smiling. "That was a good game, Hikaru. This person was very strong so I had to go out fully on him. How I've missed that.. Playing such strong opponents." He sighed wistfully. Turning his head to the teenage boy, Sai started studying him. "Hikaru, you've watched me play the last week, and I've noticed that you were engrossed in the match as well. Don't you want to try playing yourself?"
Hikaru cringed. Mentally not prepared to deal with his unwanted new interest in Go yet, he averted his eyes and got up, walking towards his bed. 'Tomorrow's school, so I better hit the sack. Good night, Sai.'
Knowing the boy needed to get used to the idea first, Sai didn't inquire any further and bid him good night as well.
Hikaru turned towards the wall and closed his eyes. Sai was right, he had really sponged up the games Sai had played. Hell, he had even memorized each one of them! Finding himself interested in Go wasn't so easy to accept. He should know better, weren't there only old people in that Go world? Alright, he had seen that boy around his own age at the salon, but it was probably only someone asking for directions, or the milk deliverer, or.. whatever. He wasn't willing to let his youth fade away like that, sitting hours upon hours with some old geezers, watching them placing down stones with their shaky hands. But against all logic, this game started getting exciting. Drifting into sleep, Hikaru saw himself floating in the air in some unknown place, setting down Go stones on glowing lines and stars of an invisible goban.