Chapter 16

It was a good thing Sai's next opponent wasn't too good, for his thoughts kept on returning to things completely unrelated to go. His mother's words kept on echoing in his mind. You don't have to just suffer quietly… different medications might work… He didn't know if his opponent noticed his absentmindedness or not – though she had to realize Sai wasn't playing quite as good a game as could have been expected from him. Probably she just thought that as he had already passed he didn't feel the need to try so hard anymore.

Even so, Sai won his game with three and a half moku. Looking around he saw that Akira had already finished his game. He left the test room and saw the boy waiting outside, in the company of a middle-aged man.

"This is Amano-san," Akira said when Sai came to them. "He's a reporter of Go Weekly."

Sai bowed a little. "Pleased to meet you," he said, but his eyes were on Akira. "Congrats," he said, and Akira grinned.

"Thanks. Amano-san was asking if we could stay by on the last day for an interview, once the last who passes is decided."

Sai blinked. "Interview?" Suddenly he realized that the magazine he had always eagerly waited would soon start having records of his games in it. Well, at least as soon as he would be playing games on a high enough level… "Well, I guess?"

"Congratulations to you too, Fujiwara-kun," Amano said. "I understand you're one win short of passing undefeated. It is quite a feat!"

"Thank you, Amano-san."

"Truly," the man went on, "Touya-sensei's students are quite extraordinary this year. I wonder how many future pros of such caliber he will yet deliver us!"

"Fujiwara was good enough to become pro already when he joined my father's study group," Akira said quietly.

Sai glanced at him and saw something annoyed in his expression. "Though, of course," he hurried to say, "I have learned much under Touya-sensei. I was very privileged to be allowed among his students."

They exchanged yet a few more pleasantries, before they separated. "What is it?" Sai asked, eyeing Akira curiously. "You seem somehow annoyed."

"You'll realize it yet," Akira muttered. "It's not just a blessing to study under my father. At least you're not his son."

Sai continued looking at him wonderingly, but the boy didn't elaborate and he decided to drop the subject.

"I hope Waya will win," he said instead, as they started their way to the go salon. "I saw both him and Ochi won their games today."

"They had easy opponents," Akira said. "If you're friends with Waya, I guess I'll cheer for him too, then. But I must say I think Ochi's game might be a bit stronger."

"If Waya plays like he played against me…"

"If," Akira agreed.

When they entered the go salon, wild cheering erupted among the customers, and a group of men gathered around them in an instant.

"Congratulations, Akira-sensei!" "We knew you'd do it!" "How could he not?!" " To your pro career!"

Ichikawa squeezed herself among them all to Akira and for a moment looked like she'd give him a proper bear hug. "Akira-kun!" she just exclaimed. "Oh what a wonderful day this is! I'm so happy for you!"

"You guys do know," a dry voice put in, "that Sai passed before him?"

Ichikawa gave a half-annoyed, half-amused glance at Hikaru, who had appeared among the cheering crowd, but smiled then at Sai.

"Congrats to you too, Sai-kun", she said. "You two are quite something!"

"Our Meijin's students, how else!" someone exclaimed, and others were nodding.

"How was your game today, Akira-sensei?" someone asked, and with a look at Sai Akira let himself be whisked to a go board to tell about it.

Sai and Hikaru looked at each other.

"Figures," Hikaru said quietly, watching the crowd gathering around Akira's table.

"Never mind," Sai said with a laugh. "Come, I'll show you the game I played against Ochi in the test. It's great!"

Once he finished replaying the game Hikaru was nodding. "So he's playing against Waya for the last spot? Who do you think will pass?"

"I don't know… Akira said he thinks Ochi's more likely to pass, and maybe that's true, but Waya definitely has a chance. And I hope it'll be him."

"We'll see soon," Hikaru said. He was quiet for a moment. "Wow," he said then. "It's kinda hard to believe you're a pro now. I mean, I always knew you'd make it, but still. Somehow unreal."

"I know," Sai nodded. "I've been feeling that way too." He looked at Akira, who was still in the middle of a celebrating crowd, and walked to him.

"I think I'll be going home now," he said, and Akira gave him a surprised look.

"Already? I thought we could still play a bit." He glanced around, at his fanclub. "Listen, I'm sorry if…"

Sai was shaking his head. "No… I'm just tired. I want to rest well before tomorrow… it would suck to lose the last game, you know."

Akira didn't look completely convinced but didn't argue, and Sai and Hikaru left the place.

"So, what about the party?" Hikaru asked. "When is it?"

"Oh!" Sai stopped. "I forgot to ask." He glanced over his shoulder, as if wondering if he should go back. "I'll call him later," he decided then and continued walking.

Hikaru followed him silently, watching him as they walked. "Is everything okay?" he asked then. Sai gave him a glance.

"What do you mean?"

Hikaru tilted his head a bit, thoughtfully. "I don't know. I just… it kind of feels like… something's bothering you. You've been so quiet and all. Which is kinda funny, as everything's going so fine."

"Oh," Sai said and walked on, not looking at Hikaru.

"Is it… connected to… that stuff?" Hikaru asked, not looking at him either but staring at the ground as he walked, kicking some small pebbles on the way.

"Yes," Sai admitted after short consideration. "It's not anything serious, though. In fact, I think it should be a good thing. I don't know why I keep on dwelling on it all the time. Almost made some stupid mistakes in my game today because of it."

"Yeah?" Hikaru gave him a sideward glance.

Sai shrugged a bit. "It's… my mother figured out some things, and we're going to go to see the doctor soon, so that I'll get medication for, you know, for this," he gestured shortly to his chest.

"Mmmkay," Hikaru said. A long while they walked in silence. "I probably should just shut up and stop asking," he suddenly snapped. "I never know what to say when you tell me something!"

Sai shook a bit, fought against it. Then he started laughing. "There are so many times when I wish you'd shut up, but these aren't among them," he said. "But you don't need to say anything, Hikaru. It's just…nice that you're asking."

He reached for Hikaru's hand and squeezed it.

"I guess I'm not saying anything then," Hikaru mumbled, pulling his hand back and still staring at the ground. What Sai saw of his cheek seemed pretty red.

"Do you mind if I talk?" he asked, and Hikaru shook his head.

Though he felt like he had a lot to say, it took Sai a long while to find the words.

"I don't know why it needs to be so complicated," he finally sighed. "I just… sometimes I wish I could ignore this all and just, just be, you know? And every now and then I manage to do that and all seems to be going fine, and then someone says or does something that… that just shatters everything. So that I have to remember everything again. Like when they ask me if I'm a boy or a girl." He snorted. "I'm really tempted to stop replying to that question for ever. You know, one day I went to this shopping center and there was this girl with customer feedback forms, and I was going to fill out one, and then the first question after your age was if you were male or female. It's just… I can't understand what that had to do with anything there!" He laughed a bit. "I gave that form back to the girl and said it had too hard questions. She looked so confused.

"It's so stupid… I know it'd be easier for me to be what… what everyone thinks is a normal boy, but it's just that… I don't feel like I am that, and… I don't know, maybe it is like mother once said, that I'm feeling confused just because my hormones are confused, and if I start the androgen therapy I'll just be happy about it once everything is 'as it should be', but… I don't know. I'm scared of that, you know? It kind of feels like changing who I am, and I don't know… I mean, why do I need to change? I want to be myself, as I am, and of course, if I didn't have this condition I would probably be a, you know, normal boy, and maybe I'd think all these thoughts are just weird, but… who knows. Maybe I'd still think the same. But anyway, if I didn't have this condition I wouldn't be who I am now, right? I'd be someone else, at least somehow different. So thinking about that is just stupid, too.

"And I know this medication we're getting probably isn't anything that would change me that much – I think, I don't know, I need to ask the doctor. You know, maybe I'll go to see doctor Adachi again, by myself, before I start taking anything doctor Akimoto will prescribe me. I just want to know exactly what it will do to me. It's just scary, you know? All these hormone treatments. It's… scary."

He finally paused, and Hikaru gave a breath. "Uh. Umm. Yeah. It… does sound a bit scary. But… I guess, ummm…"

"Hikaru," Sai said with a laugh. "I told you, you don't need to say anything, right? Just, thanks for listening to my outburst."

"You're welcome," Hikaru muttered. "I guess it's good… if you can get that stuff out of your mind before tomorrow. I mean, you're right. It would totally suck if you lost tomorrow!"

"I'm not going to lose tomorrow," Sai said quietly. "I won't let that happen. I'll leave these thoughts outside the game room."

They had stopped, having reached the subway station where they would go their separate ways. Sai looked at Hikaru who, still with slight blush on his cheeks was keeping his eyes down, hands buried deep in his pockets and feet shifting, and really wanted to give him a hug. But, he figured, it would probably make the boy feel even more awkward, so he resisted the urge.

"I'll call you when I know about the party," he just said, and Hikaru nodded.

On the subway back home Sai stared through the window to the darkness, and thought back to that day when he had first met Hikaru. A boy with bleached bangs, big mouth and restless feet, who had been the first in this city to ask that question, "are you a boy or a girl?" A question he had by then already learned to hate. He had seen, though, that Hikaru didn't mean anything bad with it (unlike some of his previous classmates back in Kyoto). Most likely, he thought, most people asking that question didn't mean anything bad, either. They just didn't know any better.

And how could they? Thinking about it, there he was, already in the last year of middle school, and what had they been taught in school about these things? Practically nothing. Such terms as homosexual and bisexual had been mentioned in passing, he remembered, and maybe also some others… but he didn't remember any textbook ever mentioning intersex, and he was pretty sure he had read them carefully. He kept on thinking about this all the way home, and when he arrived there he had decided he would have to do something about this. What, he didn't yet know.

...

The last day of the pro exam started with a downpour. Sai and Akira were chatting quietly as they waited for the games to begin. Sai noticed Waya when the boy came, and they nodded in passing, but Waya didn't stop to talk with him. He didn't look overly nervous, though, mainly just determined, which was a good thing, Sai thought. He looked around to see Ochi, but didn't see the boy anywhere. He wondered how Ochi was dealing with his two losses, after having been so determined to pass without a single one.

Thinking about passing made him remember the party. He had never made that phone call. "So, what about the party? Is it okay?"

Akira nodded. "Yes. Saturday next week, right? Mother actually got all excited about it, she wants to arrange everything."

"That sounds great!"

"Who do you want to invite?"

"At least Hikaru and Akari, of course… and I was thinking about some people from our school's go club, if you don't mind. And maybe, if I can reach Tsutsui-senpai, and…" He thought of Kaga and his strange antipathy against all things Touya. Maybe that wasn't a good idea. And… thinking about Kaga he suddenly remembered that he still owed the older boy a favor. Or two.

"Just invite who you want to," Akira said, not seeming to notice his hesitation. "I don't know, I was thinking of asking the people from the study group."

"Um, yes… but aren't they… a little old? I mean, among a group of middle school students…?"

Akira paused. "You think so? Well, maybe you're right… but I think Ashiwara-san would like to come. He'll fit in among any kids easily…"

Sai couldn't help chuckling. "You're right about that!"

People started entering the test room, and Sai and Akira followed them.

"Hard to believe it's the last day," Sai said quietly at the door. "We've been coming here for three months now. I'm kind of used to it! It'll be strange to go to school on every day again…"

He stopped to look at all the people settling down by their go boards. He was slightly impressed that everyone had shown up – after all, there was only one game here that mattered, the one between Waya and Ochi. No matter how great games the rest of them would be playing today, their chances of passing had vanished long ago.

There's always the next year, Sai wanted to tell them – though he knew many of these people would never pass the pro exam, and for some this had been the last change before they hit the age limit. But at least they had tried, he thought. That was the important thing. To know that you had at least tried to reach your dreams.

Someone punched his side softly, and he looked behind, wide eyed. "Stop dreaming, Sai," Akira said. "Go to your board."

"Oh… of course…" He realized that everyone else had already sat down and scurried quickly to his place, feeling a bit red-faced. He gave a quick apologetic bow to his opponent, and the last games of the pro exam started.

In honor of the last day Sai told himself to concentrate properly on this game, and ignore everything else that was going on in the room. He would see how Waya's game ended later, and perhaps Waya would even show it to him some day. He took his time in his game, adapting to the rhythm of his opponent, who was one of the weakest players in the test. During the break, he avoided looking at Waya's game, though he couldn't help noticing that the boy looked quite stony-faced.

He didn't play his hardest against his opponent, but still a little before the endgame would start the man shook his head and resigned. "Thank you for the game," Sai said, bowing his head. He cleared the board without a hurry and got up. As he knelt down by the chart to record the game he paused, holding the stamp in his hand. One more white circle after his name, completing the line of 27 circles. The very last one. He pushed carefully the stamp against the paper and drew the sign of win by resignation in it. There. It was over.

He stood up and looked across the room. Some games were still on, but he saw that Akira was already finished. Waya and Ochi were still playing, though. He walked out of the room without looking at them. Akira, who had been following the game, ran after him.

"Full straight of victories, right?" he said. Sai nodded, but didn't say anything. Instead he walked to the break room and sat down to wait.

Akira sat down next to him and watched him curiously. "Are you alright?"

Sai nodded a bit. "Yeah… is it silly to feel like I'm going to miss the pro exam?" he asked. "It just was so much fun, all these games we got to play!"

"We're going to play lots of great games in the future, once we start as pro," Akira said with a small laugh.

"I know." Sai sighed. "I just wish we could start sooner than next spring. I don't want to wait that long!"

"At leas we will have the shin shodan games in January."

"Yes!" Sai perked up visibly at that. "That is going to be so much fun! I wonder who I'm going to play against?"

"We'll see. Those things won't be announced before we get the exact dates and invitations for the games."

Sai thought of that quick meeting with Ogata and Kuwabara, and wondered if the Honinbou had been serious when he had said he might request to have the game with Sai. Probably the old man had already forgotten about that… Sai wasn't quite sure what he wished. Playing against the Honinbou would surely be wonderful – but on the other hand, the man was really creeping him out a little.

Exclaiming voices came suddenly from the test room, and both Sai and Akira looked up. "I think the game is over," Akira said, standing up. Sai didn't move, though, and so the both of them remained in the break room, waiting. Soon three men entered the room, talking. They didn't seem to notice the two boys before Akira spoke up.

"Did the game end?" There was no need to specify which game he meant.

"Yeah," one of the men said. "Ochi won."

"Damn," Sai muttered throwing his head a bit backward and staring at the ceiling.

"We should go to congratulate him," Akira said.

Sai nodded and gathered himself up from the chair. They ran into Ochi outside of the room.

"Congratulations on passing," Akira said, and Sai nodded too. "Congrats," he said, as warmly as he could.

"Thank you," was all that Ochi replied.

"Amano-san wanted to have a short interview with us all," Akira said as Sai peeked into the test room. He saw Waya still sitting by his board, head hanging. Isumi and some other insei were gathered around him.

Sai considered going in and saying something, but he didn't know what. "Oh, there he is," he heard Akira say then, and turned to look to see Amano approaching, and so he pulled himself away from the room, leaving Waya in the care of his friends.

The interview with Amano was a really short one. The man mainly asked some general, almost cliché questions – how do you feel now – and Sai and Ochi about their background with go. Akira's questions, Sai noted, somehow seemed to involve his father one way or another.

When Amano was done with them and they were about to leave, Sai spotted Waya just leaving the building and hurried after him.

"Hey!"

Waya looked behind and stopped, though he seemed to hesitate.

"I'm really sorry it went like this," Sai said, coming to stop next to him. "I hoped you would pass."

Waya shrugged, though the gesture seemed a bit forced. "That's life."

"Yeah. I guess. I hope you'll try yet one more time. You should have passed this time."

"Not with you two around," Waya said, his voice dry. Sai swallowed. Somehow he couldn't help feeling guilty. His feelings probably showed on his face, once again, for Waya looked a little embarrassed.

"Sorry…" he mumbled. "I don't really care to be talking right now."

Sai nodded. "I understand. I… I hope we'll see again some day. "

Waya just nodded and went his way. Yes, not a good idea to invite him to the party, Sai thought as he watched after the boy.

.

Sai's mother had again come to pick him up. They didn't talk much on the way home. Sai was quiet, watching out of the window, thinking about how difficult everything was – the fulfillment of someone's dreams would be the destruction of someone else's. His mother tried talking to him a little, but after a few absentminded replies left him in peace.

At home he was already on his way to his room when he remembered the party, and he turned back. "Mother, Touya's having a small party for friends Saturday next week, to celebrate becoming a pro. We thought I could go there too – it would make sense, as we're both the Meijin's students, too. Is it okay?"

"I think so. You should still ask your father once he comes home. Which reminds me, he's coming home early today, so don't go anywhere."

"Okay. I'll be in my room."

At some point he heard his father coming home, but didn't yet go down. He was reading online what little news he could find about the pro exam. It was strange to see his own name in the news – he couldn't ditch the feeling that it had to be someone else who just happened to share his name. The mention of him passing with nothing but wins – "defeating even Touya Meijin's son" – raised a smile on his lips, though. Yeah, surely he had the right to be at least a little bit proud of himself.

He remained by the computer until his mother called him down to eat. It was a little early, but perhaps that was just because father had come early too. As he descended the stairs a delicious smell reached his nose, though, and he hurried to the dining room.

"Congratulations, son," his father said when he entered the room. "I must admit I didn't believe you would be able to do this – and definitely not that you would do it without a single loss. I am not completely happy about the situation, but what was promised, was promised. As long as you do take care of also your studies, we will not interfere with your new career."

"Thank you, father." The delicious smell was making Sai's nose itch, and he tried not to peek behind his father to see what exactly was on the table.

"We thought we could have a little party today, to celebrate," his mother said. "Come, let's get started."

Sai didn't need to be urged twice, and he headed to the table right away.

.

Next day, at school he did get quite many congratulations, mostly from the teachers. His classmates were mainly just curious and a little disbelieving – he'd really become a go pro? It hadn't been just an excuse to skip classes? – but their interest was quite short-lived. Go, as Sai well knew, wasn't in general considered the coolest thing ever.

The go club, though, was beyond ecstatic. He delivered his invitation to those he actually knew – there were some new members in the club, but he didn't really feel like inviting strangers to Akira's home. Kaneko, Mitani, Natsume and of course Akari and her friend Kumiko. He also called Tsutsui who, how else, was perfectly well aware of his accomplishment and so excited over the invitation he could barely talk.

After school he was quite soon crashed back to the reality. His mother hadn't wasted time with the doctor's appointment, and that was where he headed right after school. He would have wanted to have some more time to think about it first, but didn't want to back away after having agreed to it. This time, at least, his mother stayed out of the room while he undressed.

The doctor didn't luckily waste much time on the examination. "Tanner stage 3," he muttered to himself, turning from Sai to his computer. "Might require mastectomy…" He didn't explain and Sai didn't ask, but stored the words in his mind for later research.

"Can I put my shirt back on?" he asked and the doctor nodded.

"Yes, yes of course. You could ask your mother to come in, too."

He printed out some papers while Sai pulled his shirt over his head and called his mother in. "Here," the doctor said, turning to them. "I believe it is best we try this first. Though it's most often used to prevent estrogen-related gynecomastia, there is a recent study showing that it is effective also in case of PAIS. We should be having results in a couple of months or so."

He gave them the prescription and information of the medicine, and they talked a while about the possible side effects, and that was it. Sai and his mother walked out with the prescription, stopped at a pharmacy on the way home, and came home with the medicine. At home Sai's mother yet took out all the papers, read them carefully through, and then looked at him across the table.

"Well," she said. "How about we get started with this?"

Sai gave a start. "You mean right away?"

"What's the point to wait?" she asked with a shrug. "Wait a moment and I'll measure you the right amount." She opened the bottle, smelled it, and wrinkled her nose a bit. "My, this smells bad. I think it's best to have it with something."

She took out some orange juice and measured the medicine into it. "Here." She gave the glass to Sai and smiled encouragingly. "Just swallow it in one go. I'll give you some more juice to wash out the taste."

Sai took the glass with small hesitation. But, he figured, if he wasn't going to start taking this medication he should have said something before they went and got it. He gulped it down and coughed, grimacing. "Awful!"

"Here, have more juice," his mother said, pouring some into his glass, and he quickly gargled his mouth with it.

Afterward he went up to his room, quiet and pensive, listening to his body as if he could have somehow felt the medicine start its work. Luckily there was a lot of homework to distract him – it had been piling up a bit during the pro exam – and he let himself be completely emerged in them.

The next day he did a bit of research about the medicine online, and saw it really was quite widely used for treating gynecomastia. He also found some references to the research doctor Akimoto had mentioned. He figured there really wasn't any point to call doctor Adachi about this. The main question wasn't the medicine, but whether or not he wanted to get rid of the gynecomastia, and for that there could be only one answer.

.

The days passed, and Sai tried to get back into the rhythm of normal life. On some days when he woke up he found it hard to believe he truly was a pro now, for so far nothing had changed. He went to school, met with Hikaru and Akira, took his medicine – and was sure he would never get used to the taste. Weekend passed, and he hoped they would have the party right away, and not a week later. For some reason he couldn't fathom he was a feeling a little down, even the excitement of having passed the pro exam seemed to be gradually fading away. Or not away, really… it was still there, but as if behind a thick cloud. He remembered it, but couldn't really feel it, like a song the melody of which he couldn't quite catch.

Withdrawal symptoms of the pro test? He smiled a little at the thought, slouching on his chair in front of his schoolbooks, not quite feeling like studying. He did miss those games, and he still felt bad for those who had not passed it. He wondered how Waya and Isumi were doing. He wished he'd had a chance to talk a bit with Isumi at some point… he still couldn't quite understand what had happened in their game.

He also hoped that Waya and Hikaru would continue building their budding friendship. He was depressingly sure that Waya most likely wouldn't care to meet him anymore, but perhaps, especially after Hikaru would join the insei too, those two would get closer. …close enough that Waya would invite Hikaru to his study group? He had a feeling he was daydreaming there. Better, probably, not to think about it before Hikaru would be one of the insei. Who knew, maybe he even wouldn't…

He cut that line of thought off as soon as it began. Of course Hikaru would pass the insei test. He opened the math book. Time to start working – maybe that would chase all these pointless thoughts away.

.

When Saturday came he was still feeling a little down when he woke up, but he told himself to put all the glum thoughts out of his mind for the day. He was going to meet Hikaru after noon, they would have lunch together (ramen, he somehow suspected) after which they might visit some go salon or something, and once Akari was free from her dance class she would join them and they would head to Akira's home. It would be a great day. He really looked forward to meeting everyone. It had been so long he had seen Tsutsui, and he really hadn't had time to frequent the go club either for ages.

"How about ramen?" was basically the first thing Hikaru said to him when they met, and he couldn't help laughing out.

"Fine for me! But I choose the place."

As they were sitting in the place Sai had accepted, eating (Sai) and slurping (Hikaru) their ramen, Hikaru kept on blabbering about the pro exam and the approaching insei exam. Sai mainly listened, nodding every now and then. In the midst of Hikaru's views about that game Ochi lost to Sai, Sai suddenly said, "I started that medication."

Hikaru paused, mouth open about to receive some more ramen. "Oh?" he said then.

Sai nodded. "I guess it's for the best. We might actually go to swim next summer." His tone was a bit dry, though.

"Well, that would be fun." Hikaru pushed the food into his mouth and swallowed. "Is it going okay?"

"I only started it a bit over a week ago. A bit early to say. It tastes awful, though." He grimaced. "The awfulest stuff I know. "

"Mmm." Hikaru poked his food with his chopsticks. "That sucks. Why does medicine have to always taste bad? Is there some rule about it?" He looked up at Sai. "So… are you okay about it?"

"Mostly," Sai said with a slight shrug. "Yes, I am," he added then more firmly.

"Good," Hikaru stated, and started eating again.

"I guess."

A while they ate in silence. "I went yesterday to the Heart of Stone," Hikaru said then. "It was kinda annoying how much they were buzzing about you. Well, you and Touya."

It was Sai's turn to pause from eating. "What did they say?"

"Well… mainly they were just impressed about your 27 straight wins. And they kept on asking me if I knew your game with Touya. I thought I could show them that game with Waya instead, but didn't yet."

"No, I meant… what… or did they say anything about… well, you know."

"Oh." Hikaru put some food into his mouth and this time chewed it a bit more thoroughly than before. "Well, yeah. I guess most of them really had thought you were a girl. And they were kind of confused about it. Why you didn't tell them, that is. I didn't say anything."

"You think I could come there some day?" Sai asked quietly, eyes on his plate.

"Sure," Hikaru said. "I bet most of them would love to have you there. Anyways, you're a pro now. But they're going to ask a lot of questions."

"I can imagine," he sighed.

When Akari met with them a few hours later, she was practically bouncing with energy. "We're meeting too seldom these days!" she exclaimed. "You two are always just somewhere together… I know I'm not good enough to play against you, but still! We should go to movies or something every now and then!"

"You're right," Sai said, deciding to ignore the weird look Hikaru was giving Akari. He had thought Hikaru had already matured a bit and got over his worst girl antipathy, but now he was once again complaining about Akari joining them, just as he had in the elementary school. "Life's just been quite busy recently…"

Akari nodded. "I can understand that. And hey, congrats again!" She grinned. "It's not like any of us would have doubted that you'd make it, but still, that was really something!"

"Thank you," Sai smiled at her.

"Shouldn't we be going?" Hikaru asked, sounding a little grumpy, and Sai started leading their way toward Akira's home.

A/N: And so the pro exam is over. Thank you for reading, as usual!And a big thank you for all reviewers too, it's always great to hear from you guys. ^^