"..." normal conversation
'...' between Sai and Hikaru

Chapter 6

The silence was killing him.

Neither of them had moved ever since Hikaru's declaration.

And the Meijin's unrelenting stare sure as hell wasn't helping him in any way.

Hikaru desperately wanted to say something. But he simply didn't know what he could say.

He never intended to just blurt it all out like that. Goddammit, he had come back in time for this! Why would he screw everything up now, simply because he seemingly couldn't keep his mouth shut. He lowered his eyes as he felt actual tears out of frustration and desperation gathering.

Hikaru would never forgive himself, if he cost Sai his best chance at having an actual opponent to play.

Then a hand landed on his shoulder and Hikaru automatically looked up at his ghostly companion.

Sai was smiling down at him reassuringly.

'Hikaru. Sometimes, simple honesty is the best way to approach a problem.' His companion said calmly. 'We will see what comes of it.'

Hikaru breathed in, smiled tremulously and turned back towards the Meijin. Who was still watching him with that penetrating stare, following his every movement.

There was a long pause.

Then. "Show me." The Meijin demanded.

And Hikaru almost wanted to laugh. At least itwasn't a complete denial from the man. But that didn't really change much, because how in the world was he supposed to prove this?! If he had a way to prove Sai's existence, he wouldn't be in this position in the first place!

"How?!" He asked somewhat hysterically.

The Meijin was silent again, still watching. How utterly unhelpful.

The silence was gaining that oppressive edge again. And Hikaru's patience snapped. He was so not doing the silent stare down thing again.

"Look, sir. I can't show you. I would if I could. Seriously, if I had any way to show you, I would. But this is not some ghost story where Sai can move objects or possess people or make the lights flicker. He is just here. To play Go. The only proof of his existence we can give you, is Sai's Go. And that should be enough." Hikaru finished forcefully.

Unexpectedly, at his rant something in the man's expression lightened as the Meijin leaned back in his seat. He was still watching Hikaru with an unnerving intensity but at least that oppressive feeling was gone.

There was a slight pause, before the Meijin said almost lightly, "I can feel his presence. Not right now, but across the board. Whenever you switch places, I can feel him."

And Hikaru just stared.

Because, what in the ever bleeding fuck?

Sai blinked.

This was certainly not what they had expected. This acceptance seemed almost too easy...

On the other hand, if the Meijin could see his presence on the board and feel his presence across the board, well, that really might be enough for a true Go player.

How truly astounding.

Hikaru was still staring. The Meijin believed him? Japan's best Go player simply believed his assertion that there was a ghost with them right now?

And he had even less of an idea what to say now. Because no matter how much he had hoped, he hadn't really wanted to believe that the Meijin might actually just accept Hikaru's claim.

He was lost for words.

The Meijin's focus still wasn't wavering and at this point, Hikaru was almost starting to get used to it.

That didn't change the fact that he still had no clue what to say.

Finally, the Meijin spoke up again.

"I'm assuming, he is from Shuusaku's time then?"

Goddess above, just how self-assured was this man for him to not only accept the existence of ghosts but also the fact that there was one with them right now, only to then ask about that ghost's personal history based on his playing style?

Hikaru was in awe and it took him a few seconds before he tried to formulate an actual answer.

Which was also the exact point in time, when he realized that they never even considered what to do or what to say in case the Meijin actually believed them. Hikaru almost wanted to laugh at their relentlessly optimistic pessimism.

Hikaru's pessimism that this couldn't possibly work, combined with Sai's optimism that made him try anyways. And both of them unrelentingly stubborn.

What a pair they made.

Still, he tried to cobble a coherent answer together.

"N- No, actually. Well, not entirely. Sai is from the Heian period, but he appeared to Shuusaku the same way he did to me. On the Go board, Sai is Shuusaku." He tried to explain.

Here, the Meijin actually raised his eyebrows, finally showing some surprise.

Really?! This was what actually surprised the man? Sai's actual age?

Seriously, there was something wrong with Go players. The whole damn lot of them.

Hikaru could only hope that he will never join them in their particular brand of crazy.

Kouyou watched the boy sitting across from him.

As ludicrous as his explanation sounded, it also made an absurd amount of sense. Well, as long as he ignored the claim of there being a ghost standing at their table.

But it definitely explained all of the other discrepancies about the child.

His two hands of Go, one of them far exceeding the boy's age just in years of experience, the change of presence across the board and assuming that this 'ghost' had taught the child Go in the first place it also explained the similarities of the two hands. Truly the hands of a Master and his student.

So, no matter how ridiculous the explanation seemed, it also made far too much sense for Kouyou to just ignore it.

And the child's complete helplessness when asked to prove the ghost's existence was also quite convincing. If this were some kind of prank Kouyou would have expected the boy to have prepared some sort of supposed proof beforehand.

And his stuttered explanation of the ghost's history, also clearly hadn't been rehearsed in any way.

This really seemed genuine.

Well, at the very least he could now claim to truly have seen everything.

Hikaru made it home in something of a daze.

The Meijin had believed him. Seemed to truly have believed him about being haunted by a ghost, about learning Go from a ghost, about playing Go for a ghost.

And the man had asked Hikaru - and Sai! - to come back to the salon next weekend, so they could play again. Play for real.

The man wanted a real match against Sai. No time restrictions, no interruptions, no distractions.

Even in his wildest dreams, Hikaru hadn't thought his attempt at finding a real opponent for Sai could turn out this perfectly. If only because he had never even considered just straight up telling the Meijin the truth. Not to even mention, to simply be believed.

Sai was pretty much on cloud nine right now, after having been directly addressed by the Meijin to ask for a real match. He hadn't stopped babbling excitedly since.

Hikaru glanced over at the ghost bouncing at his side.

Sai was happy.

And Hikaru just smiled.

A/N: Sorry, for the short chapter! But I can't seem to get past this point so I thought I'd post it and hope that inspiration strikes me XD
Thanks for all your reviews!