The room was dark. It was pretty normal room with a bed, equipment and a few chairs for visitors. It did not have any windows going outside, but a large portion of the wall next to the door had a see-through section so doctors and nurses could take a look at their patient while walking by. Currently it had been covered by curtains though.

Some light came through the cracks between the curtains and showed a lonely figure sitting next to the bed. Machines were doing their work and their busy sounds were all that could be heard.

Waya's mother was holding her son's hand and praying silently, because that was all she could do. She knew his friends were sitting outside and probably waiting to be asked in, but she wanted to be alone with her son for now.

Conflicting thoughts were running around in her head.

She wanted someone or something to blame. Her thoughts were always returning to the game called Go. If her son had not become a pro player then he would still go to school and live at home and most importantly: be safe and sound. It was an unreasonable thing to do, but she did not feel like being reasonable now; not with her son lying here, unmoving, with machines making him breathe because he could not do it on his own.

At the same time she remembered how happy Yoshitaka had been whenever he had returned from a game that he had won and how proud she had been. Even if she never said it out loud.
Lost in thought and memories of happier times, she did not notice the soft breeze that suddenly filled the room.

The shadows started to dance as the curtains moved.


*****

Waya felt pain one moment and the next it was gone.

"I am dead," he thought.

He looked around in the darkness for the light that was supposed to be there, but instead he heard Isumi calling his name.

Relief was his first reaction, "So Isumi is alright!" he thought, but soon a rush of sadness followed. He didn't want to go yet. He didn't want to leave Isumi alone now. He concentrated on the words but the only thing he could understand was his name, so he tried harder.

"Don't take him away!"

Then something clearer. This time it was Ochi's voice.

"Snap out of it, Isumi. Waya is still alive. "

So he was still alive? The realization caused the pain to return and with the pain came warm and welcoming nothingness. Until…

*****

He felt a soft tugging at the edges of his mind.

Stubbornly he told it to go away; he just wanted to lie here in peace. The tugging continued and the more he tried to ignore it the more it bothered him. Was there something he had forgotten? Something he had to do?

Curiosity started to overlay his frustration and instead of trying to ignore the tugging he tried to focus on it.

A sudden rush of memories flooded his mind that had been so calm and peaceful only moments before. Like a rock in a river he felt them pass by him in a great rush until one rose up and remained, like a piece of flotsam that had been washed ashore. It was a memory of Isumi saying:

"His hand. Blood."

Moments after that, the gun pointed at them and he was pushing his best friend out of the way. And then.

Pain.

With a gasp he woke up and opened his eyes. He could feel air being pumped into his body through a tube and began to panic. He tried to shout but he could only manage a rasping, coughing sound.

But then he felt arms enveloping him and he could hear his mother calling for a doctor. Behind the crying and shaking body of his mother he saw the door open and a dark figure standing there. Suddenly the room's lights came on and Waya was momentarily blinded. When he looked again the figure was gone. Seconds later the doctor rushed in with a nurse.

*****

Isumi was sitting next to Ochi on a small bench that was situated outside of Waya's room. The curtains were drawn shut and the two could only guess at what was going on inside. It had been three hours since Waya's mother had gone in and so far she had not asked them to join her, so they continued to sit there, waiting.

Suddenly Isumi noticed movement from the corner of his eye and looked up. The curtains of Waya's room were swaying like in a soft breeze, as if someone had opened a window to let some fresh air in.

But there was no window in that room.

A yell made Isumi jump to his feet. Waya's mother was calling for a doctor. Painfully slow Isumi crossed the corridor and reached for the doorknob. He could feel Ochi turning the other way, running away from the room and what might have happened in there…

Getting help.

Isumi opened the door and tried to see what was going on.

Waya's mother was holding her son in her arms and crying.

All colour left his face and his hand was trembling when he reached out blindly for the light switch. Suddenly the room was bright and he could see Waya looking towards him, looking at him!

Isumi stepped out of the room and made it to the bench before his knees gave way. Tears of relief streamed from his eyes and when he saw Ochi come across the corner with a doctor and a nurse in hot pursuit, he gave him a thumbs-up sign.

Waya was back.