Sai accepted the invitation. For minutes, Hikaru just stared at the monitor blankly, and forgot to click on the 'Start' button. This was all due to the tremendous number questions that he wanted to ask Sai. If this were just another normal game, watchers or even the player would log off if the game did not begin after several minutes. However, the number of audience had only increased, for they all recognized the name of Sai. Finally, Hikaru's trembling fingers pressed the keys on the keyboards one by one.
Hikaru Torichirou?
Torichirou looked at Sai immediately when he saw the private message sent to him from Hikaru, seeking for advice. Several moments passed by, and Sai just stared back at the young boy curiously. Eventually, he got annoyed, "Sai! What do you want me to say?!?!"
"Huh?" the clueless ghost blinked. "What? What did he say?"
Remembering that Sai could not read English, he groaned, "Hikaru asked me if I were Torichirou."
"Eh?" Sai acted a little surprised. "He knows that I'm with you??"
"I guess so," the boy turned his attention back to the monitor. "I guess I can't deny, huh?"
The ghost did not say anything. Fearing Hikaru's grief, he frowned as he gripped his fan tightly.
Sai Yes.
The reply came after several minutes. But to Hikaru, it felt like an eternity. At the sight of the message, he painfully let out depressed sigh. He had to ask one last thing before proceeding the game, regardless of the fact that he already knew the answer. He just needed a solid confirmation.
Hikaru Sai with you?
With his best English, Hikaru sent Torichirou another private message. The same heartbreaking "Yes" came back. Now that he was certain that Sai was really with another child, he did not know what to think. Was it really because he was not a worthy opponent?
The number of audience of the soon-to-be-started game had been increasing continuously. They are all here to see Sai's game, not mine. Because he is a much much better player than I am. Most people did not even notice whom Sai was playing against. All they knew was that the legendary Sai was playing, and that was good enough for them. While some of them were relieved that the game hadn't started when they logged on, some of them were cursing at the virtual goban, for they had been waiting for over ten minutes.
Collecting his thoughts as he prepared for the game, Hikaru clicked on the "Start" button at last with a *Beep*, beginning the game that everyone was anticipating for.
Hikaru placed each stone on the goban determinedly, as he struggled away from thoughts not related to the game. Responding perfectly to his moves, Sai placed the white stones on the board gracefully and accurately. Hikaru raised his head and tried to study Sai's face when it was his turn. The familiar white face stared back, the tip of his paper fan resting on his lips, which were curved up slightly in a smile.
Is he mocking me with that smirk? Hikaru wondered. Is he laughing silently at the distance between our strength? He placed another stone bitterly. Sai paused for a second and instructed Torichirou, "4-10."
*BEEP* Suddenly, the game played in super speed in front of the boy's eyes. "We ...won...by 4.5 moku?" Torichirou breathed, not exactly sure what had just happened. Sai stared at him intensely, stunned at what his 'host' had just said. The boy blinked and realized that the game did not progress at all. It remained at the exact state before he started to hallucinate. The ghost's eyes did not leave the boy. Knowing the result of the game, he studied Torichirou's face carefully, for it would take an extremely experienced pro to be able to see that.
"Torichirou, how...?" Sai began his question.
"I could...see...Aww!!" The boy's head hurt. In an instance, he collapsed from the computer chair that he was sitting on and fainted, as his orange cap dropped onto the floor in his room.
"TORICHIROU!" Sai's voice seemed really far away, Torichirou thought.
Hikaru stared at the hopeless goban on the screen. Sai had done it again. With that last move, Hikaru would not be able to turn the game over. What had he done wrong? Hikaru studied the board. He had responded to Sai's moves well. Too well. Sai could read Hikaru's intentions like an open book. He thought he knew Sai well enough too. He thought he knew most of the tricks Sai could do. Perhaps not. Of course not. How could he possible learn all of the one-thousand-year worth of tricks when he had not even let Sai play many games back then? He had given him attitudes, thinking that he would be the only one Sai could play Go through. How naive he was to think that. Reality had now successfully proven that Sai could always leave him and haunt someone else.
Two streams of tears flowed down from his eyes. Hikaru, shaken with grief, triggered a dialog, which read, Hikaru has resigned.
*BEEP* Sai turned his attention to the sound. He had seen this dialog way too many times that he understood the resignation of Hikaru. "Hikaru," Sai quietly said the name of his previous 'host'. Then quickly, he turned back to the unconscious boy on the ground and panicked. "Torichirou, wake up!"
Another dialog came up on the screen. Hikaru had sent them another private message,
Hikaru Sai, I play bad, ne?
Regardless of how easy the English words were, Sai had no clue what Hikaru had just typed. The only word he recognized was his own name, Sai. He had learned his romanized name when Hikaru had let him play on the Internet. That was the first time ever since he died that he could play a game in his very own name. Not Torajiro's. Not Hikaru's. But Sai's. He had been so happy that time.
Hikaru waited for Sai's reply patiently. He was hoping that Sai would disagree with him and say something such as, "You played well, Hikaru!" or "You have improved a lot, Hikaru!", even though he probably wouldn't understand the word "improve" in English. He looked forward to the *Beep* that would indicate a reply. He waited. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. The reply never came.
'Did I get disconnected from the Internet? Perhaps something is wrong with the network?' Hikaru tried to find excuses for Sai's ignorance. 'Why isn't Sai replying? Did he log off already? No, he's still here.' Then finally, it hit him. 'Or...is it because he agrees with me?'
"I see," Hikaru said to himself quietly, and disconnected himself from the Internet.
A/N: Only 1 review for the last chapter??? Where did everyone go?? Was that last chapter that bad? ~_~
Next: Hikaru meets Torichirou!!
