Chapter 2. Invited
Somehow, Shuichi looked more cheerful than before after making the phone call. He immediately took a shower and prepared the guest room in the apartment. Whoever Shuichi was calling earlier was invited to stay in the apartment.
After about an hour, the apartment door bell rang. Shuichi practically skipped toward the door and open it.
And there was a young boy, slightly younger than Shuichi, standing in front of the door. The boy got a distinct blond bangs, contrasted with his black hair.
"Wai !! Hikaru !!" Shuichi pounced the boy.
"NE !! Shu... I... Chi... .." The boy choked for air as Shuichi was hugging him tightly.
"Tee he.. Gomenasai, Hikaru.. come on in..." Shuichi let the boy go.
"Ehheh.. Arigatou..." The boy, Hikaru, skipped into the apartment.
Hikaru Shindo.
He is one of the new young pro Go player in Japan and also a cousin to Shuichi. Hikaru got a special place in his heart for his cousin as Shuichi is the only person that knows who is Sai Fujiwara.
"It has been awhile, Hika" Shuichi smiled at his cousin before turning at random direction. "And how's Sai doing ?".
"Er.. We're both fine really-" Hikaru suddenly flinched.
"Looks like Sai is protesting...".
"Well.. I promised him to play Go this evening..." Hikaru pouted.
"Yuki promised to take me on a date..." Shuichi sighed.
"Absent without notice ?" Hikaru concluded.
"H.. hai... Well.. at least he told me when he's going home...".
Hikaru only shake his head at that. 'How complicated relationship can be...' He thought silently to himself.
'Indeed it is, Hikaru...' Another mental voice echoed in Hikaru's brain. That voice is none other than Sai Fujiwara's. the Go-obsessed spirit.
Eventhough no one can see Sai, Hikaru has told the existance of the spirit to Shuichi. Of course Shuichi found it was just impossible. However, after seeing Hikaru plays Go, which was abnormally good for Hikaru's age, Shuichi finally acknowledged Sai's existance within Hikaru.
"Anyway... how about yourself, Hika ?... Did you manage to found a girlfriend ?" Shuichi suddenly asked.
"Eh ?!". In instant, Hikaru turned beat red and started to fidget around on the spot. "Ehheh... er..."
"Boyfriend ?" Shuichi winked.
Hikaru turned into deeper shade of red. "Ne... Shui.... stop that...."
"Tell me... it's alright... " Shuichi moved closer to his cousin and gave the young boy a gentle pat on the back.
".... Well... I've a crush on a friend.... "
"Touya Akira ? Your rival ?".
"No....".
"Er... That Nase ?".
"No.......".
"Er...um... Isumi-san ?" Shuichi tried to recall all of Hikaru's friends he has met before.
"Too old...".
"That leaves one person..." Shuichi shuddered. "Oochi ?".
"NO WAY !" Hikaru scowled furiously. "It's Waya !"
"Waya... Waya... AH !! Yoshitaka !!" Shuichi beamed.
"H... hai..."
"Well, you made a perfect couple though. He's seme and you're uke" The pink haired singer chuckled.
"H.. How'd you know ?!?" Hikaru gasped with bulging eyes.
"Instinct, Hika... instinct..."
"... Right...".
"Besides... you got rope burn on your wrists... only the uke have them...." Shuichi pointed at Hikaru's wrists.
".... Ne... Shui... stop it..." Hikaru turned red again.
"Aw.. Hikaru's blushing..." Shuichi giggled and nuzzled into his cousin.
Hikaru let out a nervous laugh. "Heh...You're not inviting me to temporarily replace your Yuki, right ?".
"Hikaru... I won't do my own cousin...."
"... Riiight... That's what you say last year before I ended up having sore butt..."
"Er... I need relief that time...".
"At least I know how sex feels like..."
After a while the talks quietted down as the two ran out of topic to talk about. Again, there was a long silence before Hikaru speak up.
"I'm going to play Go with Sai for awhile... Wanna see ?" Hikaru pulled out a rather large wooden board from his bag.
"Hmm... Is it hard to play Go ?" Shuichi asked with curiosity.
"Not really.. once you get the basic" Hikaru smiled and pulled out two plastic containers from his bag. Inside the containers are the black and white go stones.
"Um... teach me ?"
"Are you sure ?... you could get obsessed and die over it-" Hikaru flinched again. Clearly, Sai was throwing tantrum at him.
"Ha ha.. Nah... I'll just play for fun" Shuichi laughed.
"If you say so...." Hikaru set up for the game. He purposely give Shuichi the black piece. "Now... Here's how you play Go...."
So, Hikaru spend the evening explaining Go to his hyper cousin.
The end of chapter 2.