"So you're finally playing your first Meijin match tomorrow Honda?"

Taking a sip from his drink, Honda replied, "Yeah, against Toyama 2 – Dan. It does seem like it's been forever since I told you guys."

Chuckling, Hikaru responded, "It just seems like it's been forever because you're not playing that much. You only have your Dan games and the Meijin right now. It'll pick up eventually though."

Frowning, Honda shot back, "Easy for you to say. You've got the Honinbo, Meijin, and Tengen tournaments Shindo, not to mention the Kisei League."

Waya inquired, "Hey Shindo, don't you have a game tomorrow too?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, my Honinbo 2nd Prelim against Yoshinaga 4 – Dan. Honestly though, I'm more interested in my game on Thursday."

Cocking an eyebrow, Honda responded, "Which game is that? Can't be another Kisei game already can it?"

Hikaru shook his head. "No, it's my 1st Round match in the Tengen 2nd Prelim against Matsunaga 6 – Dan."

Frowning himself now, Waya responded, "Come on Shindo, couldn't you at least give the lower Dan matches a little thought? I suppose it's nothing like playing Kuwabara-sensei in the Kisei League, but still. There's got to be some challenges for you amongst the lower Dans."

Honda chimed in, "so we're all playing tomorrow huh?"

Hikaru nodded and added, "Touya is playing tomorrow too. If he wins he'll be a 4 – Dan then." Then looking over to Waya Hikaru said, "Hey Waya, isn't Saeki really close to making 5 – Dan too? I thought I heard him say something like that the other day."

Waya nodded. "Yeah, he just needs to win a couple more. He'd better do it this year too, you too Honda, or else it will get much harder to go up in rank."

Cocking an eyebrow as he took a sip from his drink, Hikaru responded, "Why do you say that?"

Taking a sip from his own drink now, Waya then answered, "Because they're changing the rules next year."

Their eyes widening, Honda and Hikaru stared at Waya in shock. Hikaru then got out, "What…why?"

"It's only a rumor right now," Waya replied, "but apparently they're talking about getting rid of the Oteai since it costs a lot of money to play them. It's not sponsored like the other tournaments are after all. Not to mention that players like you Shindo can make it up to the Kisei League as a 2 – Dan."

"Then how will they promote people in rank?"

Waya shrugged. "I don't know exactly, probably based on our records in other tournaments though. I just know what Sensei told me after all, but he said there might be a few other ways to get promoted other than through winning lots of games."

"Like what?" Honda inquired.

"Not so sure of the details…maybe if you win a title or something. I just know that it's supposed to be harder to move up in rank is all. We'll just have to wait and see."

Turning to look out the window, Hikaru pondered this. Harder to move up in rank. He was only a 2 – Dan, and yet now he might have to stay that way even longer than before? Akira would at least be a 4 – Dan by that time, but him, he'd already been promoted this year. Might he have to stay at 2 – Dan for over a year, even longer maybe? Honda and Waya were in the same situation too. Reaching 5 – Dan meant not having to play in the 1st preliminaries of all the tournaments save the Kisei. If it'd be harder now to move out of 2 – Dan and Shodan ranks… then again for Waya, who had to take out Morishita's daughter after every promotion, it might actually be a good thing.

After some teasing from Waya, which included something about what boys and girls were supposed to do together, Hikaru had departed for home. Rounding a corner Hikaru continued down the sidewalk. Honestly it was beginning to get annoying, all the jokes about him and Nase. It was hard enough figuring out just why others couldn't let them be plain teacher and student as they really are. With all this extra stuff thrown in, it was just plain stupid. He'd just have to tell Waya that next time, and if Nase was there he was sure she'd want to do the same.