! Important: If this story reminds you of a different fanfiction you've read before, don't be surprised! Please read my Disclaimer (Chapter 1)!
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Chapter 30
That move, yes, it was the turning point in the match. Taking a moment to remove his glasses so that he might clean the lenses, Ogata pondered the board position before him. It was the third time this week he had found himself reviewing this game, despite the fact that he had other things to focus on, such as his challenge for the Meijin title. After all while he was down in that series 2-1, a victory next week would return everything to a best of three.
Yet here he was, reviewing once more the play of a mere 2 – Dan who had only become a pro the previous year. He knew the ludicrousness of it, how most other pros would have thought him silly for doing such a thing with the Meijin title on the line. Ogata knew better though. Whether he was a 2 – Dan or a 9 – Dan, a player did not simply make it into the Kisei League and post a 2-0 record through pure luck. Granted his opponents thus far were not exactly the most prime measuring sticks given Ichiryu's slump and Kuwabara's well known lack of enthusiasm outside of his own title defense, but both would still crush any pretender who was unworthy to be here.
Even knowing all that though it would still be quite easy for someone to suggest that he take it easy with this game so that he could focus on higher matters. Yet Ogata was going against that thinking, instead preparing himself for the battle ahead of him tomorrow.
Returning his eyes to the board, Ogata couldn't help but be drawn to the same conclusion once again. That one move by Hikaru, it changed the entire aspect and dynamic of the match. Not just any turnaround either, but a massive one that swept Kuwabara back and then with the subsequent push afterwards had left Kuwabara with no time to recover. He'd come to the same conclusion the previous two times that he had reviewed the match and still found it completely inconceivable.
Two nights ago he had spent a full hour going over the sequence of moves that had led up to that stone and after, searching for some sign of its coming, a hint that the move would soon come. The problem was that none of Kuwabara's moves seemed like mistakes as he watched them play out before that move, and that there truly was no warning of any such counter being imminent. It was truly a move that simply appeared out of nowhere.
Shifting his sitting position slightly as he rubbed his chin, Ogata reached over to his cup and took a sip of tea. It was difficult really to get a complete grasp of Hikaru's skill from what was available to him. After all, while Hikaru had volumes of game records for Ogata's old matches to choose from, Ogata really had very little to work with from Hikaru's previous games. The only games that Ogata had access to were his Shinshodan match, his pair of matches from the Hokuto Cup, the final game of the Young Lions Tournament and his matches from the Final preliminary and main league for the Kisei Tournament. He could add in of course the game he'd seen at the Young Lions Tournament against Murakami when Hikaru was an insei along with his match against Ashiwara that he'd had recreated for him afterward during the study group, but there was little else.
Sadly though, save for one or two of the records, the other games were useless. Nothing that came before the match against Ko Young Ha was capable of letting him judge the boy's current skill and several of the preliminary matches his opponent had given away the match. He'd taken a look at the Ichiryu match as well, and while he could extract a sense of Hikaru from it, Ichiryu's play, especially toward the end, made it rather useless. That left him with three games of value; Ko Yeung Ha, the final against Akira Toya, and the one before him, the game against Kuwabara.
Reaching to his other side to grab his lighter along with a pack of his Lark cigarettes, Ogata bit one out of the pack and flicked the lighter switch. Of the three, this was the game that was the most interesting; and perhaps the most frightening. That was the scary part, that the boy possessed a creative instinct that could create brilliance out of nowhere, to be able to spring back into a match without any warning of impending danger. A talent that could not be prepared for, only found through the actual play of a game. It was just like the type of skill he had seen from Sai.
Rising to his feet as he rubbed the back of his neck, Ogata exhaled sending a stream of smoke up into the air. Sai, the enigmatic figure that lurked in the shadows, an unknown player capable of defeating even his master, Koyo Toya. Hikaru must beSai's student. The similarities in their play, the very nature of Hikaru's style, it all smacked of Shusaku, just as that other boy, Morishita's student whatever his name was, had said. A Shusaku with modern joseki, that had been how that boy had described Sai. Hikaru smacked of the same thing, if not a less refined version.
Heading out of the room and over to his study, Ogata reached for the fish food next to the tank and proceeded to sprinkle it into the tank. To play Sai, a player of such indomitable skill, it was something Ogata desired greatly. That was why the bet had seemed like such a wonderful thing, a means by which he could corner Hikaru into arranging it. Whether it took place in person or over the net was of no consequence, the game itself was what was important. If he could guarantee that, what was risking the Meijin title in comparison?
