Chapter 53
"Shindou, what's wrong with you? You seem so distracted lately…are you daydreaming or what? SHINDOU!" Waya shouted.
Akira's lips were soft. And his hair…and the warmth of his body..."Oh…sorry Waya….what did you say again?"
"I'll just learn hard from now on, and then come the Hokuto Cup, you and I can breeze through the preliminaries and beat China and Korea in this year's tournament."
His eyes shifting away from his friend at that statement, Hikaru muttered, "I won't be breezing through the preliminaries."
His brow contorting as he struggled to make out what Hikaru had said, Waya asked, "What?"
"I said that I won't be breezing through the preliminaries with you. See… I won't be in the preliminaries."
His eyes widening in shock, Waya countered, "Won't be in it! Shindo, what's wrong with you? Don't you want to compete against China and Korea?"
His eyes shifting to meet his friend's eyes now, a hesitant look on his face, Hikaru replied, "You don't get it Waya, I won't be in the preliminaries. I got a letter from the Go Association over the weekend, both Akira and I have been pre-selected to participate in the Hokuto Cup this year. The preliminary will be played for the third spot only. Sorry."
As comprehension dawned on Waya, his mind became aflutter with countless thoughts. On the one hand he was quite happy for his friend, being seeded into any tournament, especially an international one with the reputation of the country on his shoulders was an honor, but on the other he was apprehensive. It made sense of course, Hikaru was in the Kisei League, had won twenty-three straight matches at one point, seeding Akira and not Hikaru would be ludicrous. "Well… I guess congrats then Shindo, no need to worry about us having to knock each other out in this tournament then huh? Besides, I think this makes it interesting."
Nodding, Hikaru smiled. Good, Waya was taking it better than he'd hoped.
Oh, speaking of the Hokuto Cup, that reminds me…" Waya said as he reached for his coat that he'd set on the back of Hikaru's desk chair. Removing a Go magazine from an inside pocket, Waya flipped it to Hikaru and said, "Page 22, it's about Ko Yeong Ha."
His eyebrow cocking at the mention of that name, Hikaru began to flip through the pages while saying, "What about him?"
"I didn't know if you'd heard yet or not," Waya answered, "but last week Ko Yeong Ha did it, he won the Ch'eonweon Title. There's an article about his victory in there too along with the game record. The article doesn't have much that you couldn't pull from the game record, but it does have a few quotes from Ko Yeong Ha, particularly a rather long one on how he sees the current Go world. Kind of arrogant really. Anyway, thought you might be interested so…"
Hikaru nodded as he finally came to the page, his eyes glancing briefly over the game record before moving onto the article itself. He then inhaled deeply as his eyes found the part Waya had mentioned, and the young pro began to read.
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"Damn, if only I hadn't been scheduled to play my own match that day, I could have been there to see you win the Ch'eonweon Title!"
Shaking his head with a childish smirk, Ko Yong Ha leaned back on his hands and watched with amusement as Hon Suyon continued his pout.
"Come now Suyon, I'm showing you the game now, so don't be so uptight. Besides, this way you get to hear all of my thoughts on the match."
Frowning as he returned his eyes to the board, Suyon gritted his teeth and said nothing, trying to bring his focus back to the board. All it did though was make his body tremble more.
Noticing this, Yong Ha's smile vanished as he said, "What is it?"
Hesitating a moment, Suyon then said, "It's your comments that piss me off."
Frowning himself now, Yong Ha shot back, "Suyon, don't tell me your mad about that again. I answered the questions the reporters asked me, if you want to be mad at someone, be mad at the reporters for asking me those questions in the first place."
"It's not…" Suyon stopped mid-sentence, considered his words a moment then finished, "nothing, never mind."
"Come on Suyon, just say it if you had a problem with one of my statements."
Lifting his eyes up, Suyon answered, "It's not one of your statements, it's all of them lately. Ever since that whole mess with the misunderstanding by that reporter about Shuusaku, you've been poking fun at the reporters, other players, and even the current perception of the game that one time. This isn't the Ko Yeong Ha I admire; you're better than this. It's like you're looking for a fight or something."
Chuckling at that, Yeong Ha lifted his right hand up to scratch and itch on his cheek, then answered with a smile, "Pick a fight huh? Maybe. I don't' know, it's just fun to play with people like that a little. Those out there who truly understand this game, who truly understand me and my strength, know the truth behind all of it. The rest, heh, let them think whatever they want."
"But Yong Ha…" Pausing again to consider his words, Suyon then replied, "you're getting a reputation from this, and plenty of strong players won't understand, both here and abroad."
His smile dissolving once again, Yeong Ha said bluntly, "Suyon, say what you really want to say, not all this talk about vague, hypothetical players." He was already quite certain what all of this had been about, and while it had been fun to beat around it and play with his words until now, he was beginning to become bored of such games.
Inhaling, Suyon responded, "You could have been nicer when that reporter asked for your thoughts on Touya and Shindo's exploits in the Kisei League."
A long pause ensued as Yeong Ha's eyes turned away from his peer and moved about the room, glancing over the bookshelves, passed the computer in the other room and finally to the board before him. "I am who I am, and why should I force myself to be nice to someone who I don't want to be nice to. Got it?"
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"The time when we, the future of the Go world, have need to study those who have come before us is at an end. We are now segueing into a new era, one where we study not those of the past but rather one another." Pausing a moment as he scanned passed the reporter's intermingled comments, Hikaru then resumed reading the quote. "Go is a living game with new and improved strategies being born every day. Because of this a time can and must arrive when the players of one generation completely surpass the generations from before. That time is now. We have gleamed into the past and learned all there is to learn, applying it to the extreme of what it can be. The time of old players, like…Shuusaku is over. Now we must look to each other, so that in studying and learning from the present we might shape a grander future in the world of Go.
"Here in Korea we have the highest level of Go, one that everyone else throughout the world looks to as a means to measure their ability. As such it is our responsibility, our obligation as ambassadors to the world of this great game is to continue to excel for the good of the game. This is the standard to which I hold myself, so that when those who truly wish to understand Go study the game records of Ko Yeong Ha the awe and inspiration they draw from my insights into the game shall push them to strive for the bar that I have set. It is with such a mindset that I have gained the Ch'eonweon Title, and the mindset I will take into the future games as I play the best in the world."
His eyes continuing to gleam down the paper, Hikaru then closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. Watching on, Waya bit his lip apprehensively. He had shown Hikaru this article for two reasons, the first being that he was certain that at some point someone would ask him what his thoughts were on the matter, and it'd thus be better if he were already aware of it, and not blindsided by it. The other reason however was the hope that it might help him rediscover that drive to play and succeed that had been missing within him since his grandfather's death. As his friend Waya knew that Hikaru hated to be underestimated or mocked, and Ko Yeong Ha had been mocking all of Japan with that statement.
However, looking at the somber, non-reactive expression on his friend's face now, Waya was beginning to worry if perhaps his plan had actually backfired. Such statements would likely only elicit two responses, either angered defiance and a desire to rise up and prove the statement wrong, or acquiescence and surrender to the truth of the statement. Normally Waya would have bet every last Yen of his money on Hikaru taking the challenge for what it was and striving to show his strength, but this current Hikaru, who was now questioning his place in the Go world, searching for himself, would he bow his head to such talk? Even as he thought it Waya watched as Hikaru's head lowered, eyes closed with a sort of melancholy coming over his face. This was not good, had he just driven his friend into even deeper depression? Damn, he never should have shown him the article. "Shindo I-"
Waya's words broke off as he saw Hikaru's body begin to tremble. Normally that would have been an even worse sign, if not for the other thing; the hair on the back of Waya's neck was standing on end, tingling with fear and awe. Then Hikaru's eyes opened and lifted up to stare into Waya's eyes, causing the seventeen year old to jump slightly as he saw that look in his friend's eyes, the look of a hungry predator.
Pulling his eyes away from Waya calmly, Hikaru returned his attention once more to the article in his shaking hands and gritted his teeth, the slightest beginning of a growl forming in the pit of his throat. Nothing left to teach, surpassing the players of the past, Hikaru had heard these words before, but new significance was added to the weight of them on his heart. His eyes moving to the old Go boards in his room, Hikaru felt the fire within his soul blaze even brighter. A future, that both Sai and his grandfather had now entrusted to him. Sai had given it to him first, and with his death his grandfather had followed suit, a mission to connect the distant past with the far future, that was his goal, that was his true inheritance. Those Go boards had been right there telling him all this time and he'd been blind and deaf to it until now; the hopes and dreams of those who came before him, the will to continue on had been passed to him, materialized but not embodied within those two boards.
Turning his gaze back to Waya, Hikaru closed the magazine and set it to the floor, and then with the slightest trace of rage within his voice said, "Waya… I'm going to destroy him, grind his bones to dust and leave him a huddled mass of goo in front of the board. We cannot forget the past… we will not forget the past, Shusaku, Grandpa, none of them, as long as they survive in our memories and hearts… I'm going to make him regret those words, Ko Yeong Ha will pay."
A shiver ran down Waya's spine at that last sentence. Man, when he was worked up like this, Hikaru could be really scary. Ko Yeong Ha had done it, he'd done what the rest of Hikaru's friends had been unable to do, he had awoken the sleeping lion within Hikaru's soul, and not just awakened, but whet it's appetite too. Ko Yeong Ha, you poor, arrogant fool, you might have just made the biggest mistake of your life!
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Note: Credits to Leitbur (The Never-ending Road)
