The sound of the elevator door opening along with the sudden silence from those around him piqued Ochi's curiosity as he turned around from his examination of the schedule board to see what had caused such a response. For an instant Ochi felt his blood freeze and his eyes widen before both returned to normal as he looked upon the figure of Akira Toya 4 – Dan exiting the elevator. Moments later conversations picked up again as Ochi watched on a few seconds longer then turned back to check the schedule once more. He hadn't thought that Akira had a game today but… no there it was, against Kawasaki 3 – Dan in the Meijin tournament.

"Hey Toya-sensei, come over here please! We're looking over Shindo's game against Ogata and we'd really appreciate your opinion on this position!"

With a soft chuckle that seemed so innocent Touya smiled and began to move over toward the group. "All right, but just for a minute. I want to head to the game room shortly."

Frowning contemptuously as he watched Akira make his way over to the counter, Ochi snorted in disgust. Others might have seen that innocent smile as just that, but Ochi knew better. Underneath that sheep clothing was an arrogant brat with a major superiority complex. Just watching him walk annoyed him, acting as if he actually was the young Prince of Go that so many others made him out to be. Akira would probably have to leave the country to find a Go Salon or school Go Club member that hadn't heard his name.

While Akira might have been one of only a handful of young pros that Ochi respected, his overwhelming popularity due from what people expected of him rather than what he had done was quite irksome. How he would love to wipe that smile off Akira's face, to make him look upon him with the serious, focused expression that Akira gave to those players he truly respected himself. Unfortunately Ochi's strength was not enough to answer such a challenge and he knew it. Right now there was only one other Japanese lower Dan pro with the strength to answer such a call, the other young Prince of Go.

"Thank you Mr. Amano for letting me cut the interview short. I promise we can talk again after my game today."

Once again silence hit the room as a voice Ochi knew well emanated out of the opening elevator doors. "Not at all Shindo, I can't have you be late for your match today, not with your 19-game streak on the line."

As Hikaru Shindo stepped off the elevator followed by Amano, Ochi felt his frown increase. Unlike the others here today, he had not taken the time yet to look over this now infamous match between Hikaru and Ogata, preferring to wait until it was printed in the next Weekly Go. Under normal circumstances he likely would have taken a look in preparation for this match, but not with Hikaru, he knew this opponent well enough already.

He didn't hate Hikaru, didn't even dislike him really, it was the way Akira Toya looked at Hikaru and not him that Ochi couldn't stand. They may have been equals as pros, colleagues on the job, but Akira Toya did not see Ochi as a rival the way Ochi saw him. Akira had eyes for only one person as a rival, the teenager that Ochi watched now, the Upstart Prince, Hikaru Shindo 2 – Dan.

"Hey Shindo!" Isumi called out, "We're discussing your match, can you explain this move here? We're divided on why you chose this move over this other move."

Smiling brightly as he altered his path, Hikaru nodded as he replied, "Hey Isumi, Waya, Kadowaki, nice to see you. Sure I'll take a look, don't know how useful I'll be though."

Several members of the crowd broke into laughter as they parted to allow Hikaru and Amano, who seemed quite interested in hearing the game commentary as well, access to what was now revealed to be a small magnetic Go board. As he was about to reach the counter however Hikaru suddenly stopped as his eyes met Akira's. For a long moment the two princes stared at one another, a slight tension in the air, but then it was gone as Hikaru cracked a wry grin and said, "Good morning Touya."

A coy smile sliding across Akira's own face at those words, he returned, "Good morning Shindou. You played a brilliant game against Ogata last week. A truly beautiful match. " He lowered his voice, "I can't help wishing to be the one responding to your moves in a match like that…" Hikaru smiled. It wont be long, Akira!

"Yes it was," Amano added, "at times toward the end Toya I almost felt like I was watching your father play. Ha ha, I probably shouldn't speak like that though. By the way Toya, I'm looking forward to seeing your match against Zama Oza tomorrow as well. Now that Shindo here has defeated Ogata you must keep up."

"Touya will do just fine Mr. Amano," Hikaru interjected, "I'm quite sure of it. I'll of course be there tomorrow too."

"Thank you Touya, Mr. Amano," Akira added with a slight bow, "I certainly attend to do my best."

Akira then approached Hikarau and lowerd his voice. "Shindou, are you coming to the Go salon anytime soon? It would be nice…to…to dicuss the Ogata match, you know."

"Oh…that would sure be nice…but I've been overbooked these days. Sorry Toya." Hikaru tried to force a smile.

"Okay then. Never mind!" Akira turned to his heel to leave, trying to refrain a sigh.

"But hey, Waya's throwing a party tomorrow. Do you want to come?"

"Waya-san? But…I barely know him at all. It doesn't seem like he like me, either. "

"Come, Touya! Waya said if you're my friend, then he'd like to get to know you more….I'll be glad if you come, Touya!"

"In that case…then I'll be there."

###

Removing his shoes and stashing them away before heading into the playing area, Ochi moved to the bulletin board to check where he would be seated and upon finding it made his way off to the third row of boards. Taking a seat on the far side of the goban Ochi took a deep breath and then exhaled, his eyes focusing down on the board before him.

He had won five straight games since his loss to Akira in the 1st Round of the Meijin Tournament's 1st Preliminary back in August, but such a streak paled in comparison to the nineteen game streak Hikaru had accumulated. Unlike Akira, Ochi did not feel fear and intimidation when playing Hikaru, despite having yet to defeat either one as a pro player. Everyone hyped Hikaru, top pros like Ogata and Kuwabara took interest in him, but for Ochi Hikaru was still just one of the two players that had passed with him. He might have been in the Kisei League, but as Waya had said before, Hikaru was his classmate, his rival… and he supposed his friend. Even so, he had no intention of becoming the twentieth straight notch on Hikaru Shindo's belt, even if it meant his notch would be next to Ogata Judan's notch.

A few minutes later Ochi spotted Hikaru entering the room followed immediately by Akira , then a good five seconds after that by Waya and Isumi. While three of them made their way to the bulletin board, Hikaru instead scanned the room until his eyes locked onto Ochi, at which point he began to make his way over.

As he took his seat across from his opponent, Hikaru said, "Good morning Ochi. Feeling good today?"

Snorting at Hikaru's remark, Ochi replied, "Good morning. Does it really matter to you, it's not like we're playing in the Kisei League after all."

Cocking an eyebrow at that, Hikaru shook his head and grinned broadly. "True enough, but it's not everyday that the two of us get to face a quality opponent in the 1st Preliminary now is it? So I hope you don't think I'm taking this game lightly Ochi, because I have too much respect for your strength to do something that foolish."

His eyes widening slightly, Ochi replied, "Hmph, well just as long as you don't think I'm going to just let you make it into the 2nd Preliminary."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Moments later Waya walked by behind Hikaru and took a seat next to him on his right. "Hey, we're next to each other again."

Turning and nodding with a smile, Hikaru replied, "Yep, this ought to be fun, the whole passing class together like this. Oh Waya, thanks for putting down my lunch order for me."

Replying with a friendly wink, Waya responded, "No problem Shindo. I understand you have to do those interviews and such. Hey, once the three of us make it into the Tengen Main Tournament maybe they'll want to do an interview with all three of us huh?"

Laughing at that, Hikaru just added, "Yeah, that would be fun."

###

"Sorry about that guys, hopefully they won't follow us here."

Waving him off as he took a seat at the booth of the burger joint down the street from the Go Association building, Waya replied, "It's ok. We'll just order some drinks and have our lunch here. Not like you asked all those people to bother us like that. Idiots."

"Yeah. But while the other players interrupting to ask about Shindo's match was bad enough," Isumi responded as he took a seat across from Waya, "compared to the amateur players on the 2nd and 1st floors the pros were considerate."

Chuckling as he glanced over at Hikaru who was taking a seat next to him in the booth, Waya added, "Did you ever give that cute girl your autograph Shindo?"

"Oh shut up Waya." Hikaru shot back contemptuously. "I hope this stuff settles down though by next Thursday, I have to face Sasaki 6 – Dan in my Tengen match then."

"Well hopefully it will," Waya commented as he began to reopen the wrapping on his pork bun, "since it'd suck if only one of us made it to the Tengen Main Tournament."

"Oh come one Waya, you and Isumi-san are doing so well, too." Hikaru then remarked. "Believe me, these expectations and pressure look better from outside than inside. I just wonder how Touya handles it all the time…"

"Probably because Toya came in with so much hype that stuff like beating Ichiryu was expected of him." Waya answered between bites of his lunch. "Besides, Touya's pretty isolated, I mean do you ever see him having lunch with anyone…apart from you, Shindou? You're more approachable. Then there's the fact that he's Koyo Touya's son. Not many people want to upset the former Meijin."

"Besides," Isumi added, "If they talk to you now then it seems cooler for them that they knew you before you won the Kisei title."

"But I haven't even won the right to play in the challenger, let alone challenge for the title." Hikaru rebutted.

Chuckling at Hikaru's remark, Waya replied, "Yeah but you're the upstart that just pulled into the lead by bumping off Ogata. You should do more than just play Go online. I was reading over some online Go message boards the other night and several of the… 'experts' I guess is the word, on those boards are picking you to run the table. One guy even said that the betting odds on you just shifted dramatically."

"What am I, a race horse?"

"Come on Hikaru," Isumi chimed in, "you should know that if it can be bet on, people will do it. Look at all the people who lose betting on the Nihon Series. That's just how things are."

His eyes widening as sudden recollection hit him, Waya swallowed his food and then said, "Oh Shindo, speaking of titles and final series, did you hear about Ko Yeong Ha?"

Cocking an eyebrow as he turned to look at Waya, Hikaru answered, "Huh? Ko Yeong Ha? What about him?"

His excitement starting to build, Waya replied, "I just remembered but I saw an article about it online the other day. It said that Ko Yeong Ha had won the right to play for the Ch'eonweon title!"

Shock and confusion beginning to cover Hikaru's face, he responded, "The Cheo-what?"

"The Ch'eonweon title," Isumi provided. "It's basically the Korean equivalent to the Tengen title, although I believe their tournament is somewhat different. This is interesting news, ought to make the next Hokuto Cup quite interesting, especially if both of you have a title by then."

His eyes glancing up out the window as he stared off into nothing in particular, Hikaru repeated, "The Chunwon title huh? Hmmm."

"Heh, I can't wait for the Hokuto Cup," Waya interjected, "this time I'm going to be one of the three Japanese representatives. I won't let Ochi or that Kansai guy beat me!"

"Yashiro" Hikaru added.

"What?"

"His name is Yashiro."

"Oh," Waya responded. "Well this time I'll be sitting next to you Shindo when you beat the pants off Ko Yeong Ha."

"You might not have to wait that long to see Shindo face him again Waya." Isumi chimed in. "The preliminary matches for the Toyota Cup will be starting in January with the main tournament in March."

Recognition appearing across Waya's face, he replied, "Oh yeah, the Toyota Cup. I'd forgotten that one was coming up."

Recognition however, had not been so kind to Hikaru. "Umm guys… what's the Toyota Cup?"

Chuckling at this, Waya then replied, "Well I guess it is pretty new, so I'll let you off on this one."

Confusion still plastered upon Hikaru's face, Isumi answered, "The Toyota-Denso Cup, it's a big international tournament that takes place every two years here in Japan. This will only be the second tournament. Participation is determined through a preliminary tournament. Only the top four players from last time are seeded."

"Oh." Hikaru replied, comprehension beginning to dawn on him.

"Trust me Shindo, it's big, Ko Yeong Ha will definitely be in it," Waya added with a grin. "After all, they don't call it the World Oza Championship for nothing."

###

Klak.

Placing his stone firmly on the board without the slightest waver or doubt, Hikaru scanned over the board even as he removed his finger from the stone. Ochi had certainly gained strength since he had last played him back in May. The Ochi from before would not have been able to see through his attack to the upper left so easily. When it came to analytical thinking, there were few lower Dans as talented as Ochi, giving careful thought to the whole board.

Klak.

His expression unmoving as he observed Ochi's latest move, Hikaru quickly reached for his own bowl. Unfortunately for Ochi, Hikaru had also improved since that time.

Klak.

This is what he had promised his classmate and friend, his full concentration and strength, and he had delivered. Anything less than this would have been an insult to Ochi's pride, and in fact would have likely hurt worse than this crushing defeat would. It all just came down to…

"I… resign."

A warm smile sliding across Hikaru's face at his opponent's concession, he then added, "Thank you for the game." Before he could say anything else however Ochi had risen from his seat and begun to make his way out of the room, leaving Hikaru to clean up. As he finished putting away the stones, Hikaru glanced to his right to take a look at Waya's match. From the look of it Waya was leading by a fair margin, and as long as his friend played his usual game, Hikaru was quite confident that Waya would prevail. Sadly he couldn't stay to watch the rest of the match, as he had promised Amano a chance to continue the interview, even if he'd prefer to watch the match instead.

Rising from his seat, Hikaru turned and spotted Akira doing the same as the crushed expression across the face of his opponent told the entire story of the match. Making his way toward the door, he was met by Akira who paused a moment to wait for Hikaru, then without even a second glance back into the room, Akira followed the other prince out of the room.