Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go is the copyright of Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi, Shueisha and TV Tokyo. This is a fanfiction and is not to be used for commercial purposes
Hikaru's StudentBy Ching Mak (ching_mak@hotmail.com)
Translated and edited by Kinny Riddle
Beta-read by Hieronymus (hieronymus@sbcglobal.net)
Translator's foreword: This fanfic is translated with permission from the Chinese fanfic by Ching Mak. If you can read Chinese, I strongly recommend you to read the original fanfic found at his website. His website contains various hilarious Hikaru no Go and Hunter X Hunter fanfics and fancomics. Special thanks to Hieronymus for volunteering to beta-read the fic.
Notes: Italics are used for thoughts and sound effects.
Chapter 2: The Impossible Condition
Since the pedophile incident, Hikaru no longer lingers around Kishimoto's house every day, but he still visits their house every Sunday night, in the hope of changing Kishimoto's mind. One Sunday, Kishimoto opened the door before Hikaru could even ring the doorbell, and instead of beating him up with a baseball bat, Kishimoto invited him into the living room. Once Hikaru sat down, Kishimoto gave him a cup of tea. (Hikaru didn't dare drink it, fearing it would be poisoned.) Hidaka could be seen helping Sae with her homework on the other side of the living room. Just when Hikaru started wondering whether this was a trap, Kishimoto said, "You once told me that Sae looks just like a friend and teacher of yours called Sai, and this Sai has passed away, and you have reason to believe that Sae is his reincarnation. Am I right?"
Hikaru: "Yes, that's right!"
Kishimoto: "But you also said this friend of yours has never taken a photograph before, only a portrait of him exists. I find this hard to believe, didn't his parents ever take a photograph of him? And you have no proof whatsoever of his existence. Are you even sure this Sai exists?"
Hikaru: I might as well just tell him that 'I see dead people'. "Believe it or not! The point is that Sae has a talent in Go and it would be a waste if she doesn't study Go. Do you know that hiring even a low dan professional player to tutor Go is very expensive? Some title-holders like Ogata and Touya have too big of an ego to even get them hired. Yet as a title-holder, I'm willing to tutor your daughter for free! You decide the time and place, and I'll be there!"
Kishimoto: "Who cares whether a pedophile like you is a title-holder or not? But concerning Sae being the Go genius of the century, is that really true?"
Hikaru: "Definitely! If you let me tutor her, I promise that in four years, no, in two years, she'll become a pro!"
Kishimoto: "Sigh…is this in our blood? Even though I tried to dissuade her from playing Go…"
Hikaru: Oh, puh-leeaaassseee! It's not as if my parents are talented in Go either. Even that bastard Iijima could beat an Insei Group 2 guy like you, I just hope your bastardized DNA doesn't affect Sae's intelligence!
Kishimoto: "Right now the Go scene is affected by the poor economy as well, pro players nowadays receive little in their games, and the Go manga published years ago is no longer popular anymore, I really wouldn't want my daughter going into this business. But seeing as you're so enthusiastic, I've decided to give you a chance, I don't care whether you want to be Sae's teacher or even propose to her, you'll have my blessings provided you meet the conditions I set out."
Hikaru: "I'll agree to anything if I get to teach Sae!"
Kishimoto: "Very well. Right now, the time is 8.00 pm, on December 20th. At this time next year, from the Kisei, Honinbo, Meijin, Judan and Oza tournaments, I want you to win four out of these five tournaments. Then you will have met my conditions. You already carry two titles, just take two more and you'll succeed!"
Hikaru: "But…but I just lost to Ogata on the right to challenge Touya for the Oza title. Their best of five game starts next week. There's no way I could win the Oza title by this time next year."
Kishimoto: "Well, that's too bad! But I believe you still have a chance, just take away Touya's most precious Meijin title, knock Ogata off the Judan title, which he has stubbornly held on to for so long, and defend your Kisei and Hononbo titles, and you'll still get four titles. If you have any problems with that, then you can go to hell."
After some serious thought, Hikaru said grimly, "Very well…"
Kishimoto then added, "One more thing, if you do not meet my conditions by this time next year, not only will you be forbidden from seeing Sae again, I want you to…(evil grin)…"
Hikaru suddenly had a very bad feeling about where this was going. "You want me to…what?"
Kishimoto: "You know the place where they hold concerts and some of the Go tournaments?"
Hikaru: "The Tokyo City Hall? They have a capacity of up to 10,000. There'll be an audience watching as you play, and the game will be shown live on TV as well."
Kishimoto: "Yes. If you fail to meet my conditions, the next time when you play there, I want you to wear nothing, on live TV, besides some tight leather underwear which I will provide!"
Hikaru became petrified after hearing this, and Hidaka and Sae were bemused by this idea thinking, "I didn't know he had such a sense of humor."
Kishimoto continued, "Well? If you cannot agree, then get out of our sight!"
Hikaru took a while before gritting his teeth and said, "OK! I agree!" and left the house without saying anything.
Kishimoto thought to himself: "Many years ago I said in front of his face that he would never become an Insei, but not only did he become an Insei, he became pro at his first attempt. Now would be the chance for me to one-up him! Even if he's currently the strongest in Japan, Touya is on par with him and will definitely take one or two titles from him. It'll be impossible to win four titles in one year. MWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
On his way home, Hikaru thought to himself, "This has got to be the most difficult and harsh condition ever set, so far only Touya's old man had the record of holding five titles at once. The titles are won and lost between me and Touya, and yet I only had up to three titles in my peak. Unless I can progress at a rapid rate, I will never get four titles. When I first started Go, I progressed at an alarming rate, even I was surprised how far I went, let alone Touya, but since then my progress had slowed down. I need a breakthrough! Ever since Sai gave me his fan in that dream, I've always wanted to create my own distinct style…"
A few days later, Touya Akira came to his father's Go Salon for a visit. Upon entering, he saw a girl arguing with Ichikawa. The girl was none other than Sae, who as Hikaru expected, felt like playing Go, and decided to come to the same Go Salon herself before Kishimoto came to pick her up.
Sae: "I didn't know I had to pay! But I haven't got any money with me!"
Ichikawa: "I'm really sorry, but I can let you watch other people play, though."
Akira walked over and said, "Ichikawa-san, since it's her first time here, why not let her play for free?"
Ichikawa: "Well, if Akira-kun says so, then I'll let her off the hook, but this isn't the first time she's been here, it was Shindo-kun who brought her here the first time."
Akira suddenly became jealous for no obvious reasons, Could she be the girl in that 'pedophile incident'? He turned to Sae and asked, "Why don't we play a game? Have you played Go before?"
Ichikawa: "Last time Shindo-kun spent ten minutes explaining the rules to her and then started playing already."
Sae: "That's right! I've played a game once!"
Akira: "In that case, I'll play Shidou-Go with you then. Why is it that I have a bad feeling about this game? Please don't tell me she's just as strong as Shindo when he first played me!"
As they played, Akira started to think, "There's no rhythm in her moves, yet, for some reasons, I felt like playing with someone familiar…like 'sai'…NO! Dammit! I'm having these hallucinations about 'sai' again!!"
As Akira played with Sae longer, he started to notice Sae's talent. Is this really her second Go game? Shindo sure has some amazing instinct. It took me one year learning from my father to get to this standard, and as for that bastard son of Ogata-san's, I taught him for one year and he still couldn't beat an average old man at the Go Salon."
The game ended with Akira winning by a few moku, but since this is Shidou-Go, Akira gets to control the result. Despite that, Akira seemed to have a strange sense of relief and satisfaction. That's strange. This is the first time I've played her, yet I feel like I've finally beaten an opponent that I've been trying to chase for so long…like finally being able to beat 'sai'…OH NO! Not again!
As Sae prepared to leave, Akira gave her his phone number, and said, "If you want to learn Go, you can always come to my study group, I'll teach you for free." Then Akira also started to leave, when Ichikawa said, with her face reddened, "Akira-kun, I'm not young anymore, and my parents are asking me to marry quickly, why don't you…"
Akira immediately changed the subject, "Er, I've got to go back to do some warm up with my Oza defense match with Ogata tomorrow, we'll talk about this next time! You really are getting old, father would kill me if I were to marry an older woman like you."
As time passed, Akira successfully defeated Ogata and defended his Oza title, and had managed to challenge Hikaru for the Kisei title. However, Hikaru was still struggling to find a breakthrough in his style, and couldn't concentrate in his games. In the end, Akira won the best of seven series match by 4-1 and took his third title. It now seemed impossible for Hikaru to win four out of five titles now, with two titles out of the bag. After the game, Hikaru sat there petrified, contemplating at the possibility of wearing a tight underwear in front of 10,000 people and live on national television. He shivered at the thought of it.
To be continued…