Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go belongs to Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata.

Flashback - Bold and Italics

"Speech" - Double Quotes

'Thoughts' - Italics and Single Quotes

Narration - Nothing

Enchanted Curse

Chapter Three - Summer Tunes

Seconds ticked by as he stared intently at the clock. Glancing around, he saw many of the other students do the same while their sensei finished packing up his papers for the day. Like many of his fellow classmates, Hikaru had already finished placing his notes into his bag. He turned away from the clock to stare at the now blank board up front.

Mentally reviewing the day's lecture, Hikaru sighed in relief; he had been able to understand most of the lecture since the material covered today hadn't been too complex. He would still have to review some previous material though, so as to not forget the concepts he actually took the time to learn. He would never hear the end of it if Akari caught wind of a bad grade, how he had wasted her time and how she was going to drill the ideas into his head until he dropped from exhaustion and et cetera.

Not to mention that if he ever had a bad grade, his minuscule allowance would be withheld. He didn't mind much if that happened since he planned on raiding his grandfather's attic for something he could pawn, but he didn't really want to cut it off in the first place. He supposed it was extra incentive to actually pay attention to his studies. The allowance he got payed for the manga and video games he wanted.

A loud ringing cut through his thoughts as the din echoed through the school.

Immediately, students burst from their chairs and headed towards the door. His own cheer was overwhelmed by many others, signifying his last day as a fifth grader. As he slowly stood to get up, Akihiro and Keishi maneuvered through the crowd until they reached his seat. The two had been his first friends when he entered into elementary school. The three of them aimed to get into the soccer team at Haze Middle School. They were making good progress, even if he was a bit on the short side.

"Yo, Hikaru! Ready to head out?" Akihiro confidently spoke, looking extremely excited at the prospect of running around and playing soccer.

As usual, Hikaru spied their soccer uniform under his friend's normal uniform; Akihiro wore the clothes practically everyday barring special occasions that required more formal wear. He even knew his friend would personally wash his uniform everyday just so he could wear them the next day without smelling terribly weird. It just showed how passionate Akihiro was about soccer.

"Y-you know that we h-have still... Uh, still have a-an hour before it a-actually starts, r-right?" Keishi stammered.

Keishi, Hikaru found, perpetually stumbled over his words which irked his friend to no end. It wasn't that his friend was shy, quite the opposite actually. He was the most social out of the three, but he could get tongue-twisted like no other. People often overlooked it after getting to know him awhile, but Keishi never lost the stutter. Although his friend may have looked easygoing and quiet, the burning determination in his eyes was unrivaled; he would make a great addition to the soccer team.

"I'm ready. You two just aren't fast enough for me." Hikaru taunted, twisting and turning his way out of the classroom.

"Hey-" Ahikiro scowled.

"Wa-wait!" Keishi panicked.

He sprinted through the hallway, hearing the footsteps of his friends and Akihiro's curses following him. He laughed, grinning back at them as he slowed down just enough for them to catch up. They reached him relatively fast, soon engaged in an intense conversation about their next opponents for the soccer match next weekend.

Pachi.

Hikaru paused by a closed classroom door, something tugging the corners of his mind. More clicking sounds permeated through the wall at irregular intervals, at times speeding up or slowing to crawl. His hand unknowingly reached for the handle, ready to discover the mysterious sound behind the door.

"Hikaru! What's the hold up?" Akihiro called from down the hall.

He turned towards his friend, his hand dropping back down and a sheepish smile quickly replacing his curious expression as he caught up to his friends. Apologizing and directing the conversation back to soccer, he continued towards the stairs. The sound was shuffled to the back of his mind. Instead, the excitement of summer soon captured the three friends. However, Hikaru took a quick glance back at the empty hallway before continuing on, sounds forgotten in favor of hanging out with his friends.

Vaguely, he noted that the noise sounded a bit like music.

[Pachi] - A Japanese sound effect; A sharp, snappy sound. Can be a click, crackle, clap, crack, etc.