Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.


Chapter 20 : Puzzle

" Ogata-Sensei!" Waya, Isumi and Saeki bowed in alarm, they didn't know how long the scary 10 Dans heard them gossiping. Touya and Ashiwara were surprised by his sudden presence too but they didn't jump the way the trio did. At least, the man was their upperclassman, he would never kill them, right?

" Good to see you here, Akira," Ogata said as he handed the blue-eyed boy a DVD box, " You'll meet him at the salon, right? Give this back to him for me, Tell him that I thank him," he instructed directly.

Spirited away? Touya read the title.

" Spirited away? I don't know that you like watching animation? " It was a brave Ashiwara who said it out loud.

" Hikaru made him watch it," The Jyudan answered dryly.


Flashback began

" Seiji-san, you have to watch this," Hikaru put the DVD box in Seiji's hand.

" I'm too old for cartoon, Hikaru," the 27-year-old man informed unexcitingly.

" No one is too old for cartoon. Besides, this is not just a cartoon, it's an animation," the blond corrected his friend.

" Whatever, I'm not going to watch it,"

" You gonna love it, Touya is starring in this amine," he smiled mischievously.

" What?"

" You'll see, bye" then he left the condo.

Flashback ended


Well, he's right. Akira did play in this animation.I wonder if he's a prototype for that Haku boy?

" Just give it too him," Ogata was about to leave then…

" Ogata-san!" Touya shouted. It was rare for him to shout.

" What is it? Akira," Knowing what his Sensei's son wanted to ask him, yet, Ogata pretended to know nothing.

" Well…er..well…I just…Shindou.." the prodigy stammered awkwardly.

"…Don't worry, Akira, I'm not going to steal Shindou from you," the cold man uttered coolly, " I don't even know him,"

" Eh?"

" No one knows Shindou better than you, Akira. On the other way, it's you who Shindou knows the best. That's why you're and will forever be his only rival," he paused and smirked, " But Hikaru, he's mine," he declared possessively before he walked away. Five young pros were left behind with a puzzle to unfold.

" What does it mean? Isumi-san?" Waya asked his best friend but it was his upperclassman who noticed the most important clue that leaded to the right answer.

" Shindou used to say something like that," Saeki pointed out thoughtfully, " The first time we asked him about Ogata-Sensei, he said he wasn't close to Ogata-Sensei but he was close to Seijin-san," he narrated, " Then when we asked him again, he said he hardly knew Ogata-Sensei but he knew Seiji-san very well,"

"…Actually, Shindou said something to me too," the quiet genius confessed, " He said it was too bad that I wanted to be his..Shindou's rival only but not ..Hikaru's friend," he told the story from his side as he saw the way 4 curious pros were looking at him, " I thought about it all night but I stillcan't figure outwhy he called himself ' Shindou' and ' Hikaru'," Absorbing in thought, he noted.

………..

………..

"..Umm, So this is what it's all about, huh?" the last person that anyone expected finally figured it out.

" Eh?" the rest exclaimed in confusion.

" Ashiwara-san, Do you understand what it means?" asked the long-haired boy.

" Well, as Ogata-san said, you get Shindou, he gets Hikaru," the lighthearted man said cheerfully.

" I still don't get it, Ashiwara-san," the 3 Dans was confused, the answer that his hyper upperclassman gave him didn't help much.

" What! You still don't get it?" Ashiwara said in disbelief, " Sometimes you're slow, Akira-kun," he teased.

"…We don't get it either," Waya confessed as he exchanged a look with his friends.

" What! You guys too?" Ashiwara came out with surprise, " None of you guys gets it?" he asked the quartet.

…………….

" Oh boy, I can't believe this," he shook his head in disappointment.

" Ashiwara-san, please," Touya begged.

" Okay, well…err…how do I gonna explain this," the only man who got the answer scratched his head as he tried his best to explain the whole Hikaru-Seiji thing, " Okay, Akira-kun, you know Shindou-kun very well, right?"

" …Err…I.." Touya wasn't sure about that.

" Okay, try this, You know his Go, right?" the merry 5 Dans changed the question.

" Yes," Touya was sure about this, He knew the blond's Go more than anyone.

" And he knows yours too, right?"

" I guess so," In fact, he knew that his rival knew his Go the best but he just hated to accept it.

" In this case, we can say that you know Shindou-pro very well," Ashiwara concluded, " What's about Ogata-san? Has he ever played with Shindou-pro?"

"….As far as I know…No, never" Touya didn't know about the game they had played while Ogata had been drunken. Ogata didn't tell anyone about it. How could he tell the world that he had lost to a 14-year-old boy?

"…I don't know, Waya?" Isumi asked the red-haired boy, Waya shrugged indicating that he didn't know either.

" So, Ogata-san has never played with Shindou-pro, right? He doesn't know his Go the way you do. So, we can say that you're the one who knows Shindou-kun the best while Ogata-san doesn't know him at all,"

" Huh?" the quartet exclaimed confusingly. What the hell is he talking about?

" Don't you guys get it? Man!...Okay, When we talk about Shindou-kun, it means that we talk about Shindou-pro, the 1 Dan, we talk about his Go," Finally, an easy explanation came.

" So…Shindou isn't the same as Hikaru?" If there was someone who knew how Ashiwara's brainworked, it was his 'rival'.

" Yes! Good job! Saeki-kun! Shindou is Shindou-pro! The 1 Dan! Hikaru is just a normal 15-year-old boy!" The cheery pro stated loudly.

" And what about that stealing-Shindou thing?" Waya still baffled.

" What else it can be?" the only sunny pro in Meijin's study group exclaimed, " It means that Ogata-san doesn't want to take Akira's place as Shindou's rival!"

" That's why he said he wouldn't steal Shindou from me," Touya was getting to understand it all.

" Yes! He's only interested in Hikaru, a normal cheerful boy!" Ashiwara announced vividly.

"…This is what Shindou tried to tell us. He doesn't know Ogata-Sensei but he knows Seiji-san," Isumi marked.

" Yes! He isn't interested in Ogata-san either! He'sjust Seiji's friend!"

"So they leave the Go world behind while they hang out?" Saeki concluded.

" You got it! Saeki-kun," In the end, the puzzle was solved.

" Waya, what're we going to do about this?" Isumi asked. Strangely enough, it was what Touya was asking himself quietly.


A/N : Yeah! Akira, Do something!

xiar : I'll think about it, ok?

nina-b: "I just hope it's a long fic." Nina, it's already been a long fic.

siobhn01 : To be honest, I can't imagine Ogata singing too but I do see the picture of him throwing pasta at Kuwabara's picture!

kathy : "spaggetti could adhere to a photograph?" Of course, if it's not too cooked. I saw it in the movie.

Kamiyama : " Continue ne?"Well, the next chapter will be the last.

kari : "it never fails to make me laugh" Thank you! ( LittleNK's blushing) "i wish it never ends." Then, there won't be the new fic :)