Ok, here we are, Chapter 2. I had wanted to update this sooner but things got in the way, namely life itself. At least that sounds like a better excuse then the fact that I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this, at least now I roughly know what I want to do with it.
To all those who reviewed, cheers, epically since you all said something nice although SGL, you are the first person to ever say they couldn't understand my writing. As you say my spelling aint the best but I spell check everything. I think it might be that your American (I'm just assuming this but then I'm sure the majority of people who write HNG fan-fic on the internet are) and I'm not (I'm Scottish) so it could be that I'm using colloquial construction your not totally used too, or something like that. Either way I'm glad you understood enough to enjoy it.
And what fin intro would be complete without my saying that I don't own any of what I'm writing about, ah well. And if that's everything, let's get on with it.
Hikaru pressed the button for the ground floor and lent against one of the inside walls of the empty lift.
"I really don't approve of this you know." Akira reminded Hikaru that he was here strictly under protest.
"Of course I know that, I know you remember, and you always wave your disapproval like a burning flag."
"Well I'm only coming to make sure you don't get yourself into too much of a state tonight."
"Thanks for the concern dad, but this is just a social drink, don't get the wrong idea, were not going on a bender."
Akira, who'd never been on a 'bender' in life still couldn't help but fire off one parting shot. "Even so, I don't want you to make this too easy for me, where would be the honor in beating a hung-over opponent."
Hikaru rolled his eyes and considered saying something scathing, and probably would have but at that moment the lift juddered to a halt a good few floors above ground level. The lift accepted its new passengers, also headed for the ground floor, and Hikaru decided to lay off now they weren't alone. They completed the journey downward in that weird brand of lift silence that seems to cover everything, everyone looking at everyone else, but never in the eye.
Upon entering the foyer Akira started to stride in the direction indicated by a sign reading 'hotel bar'.
"No" Hikaru nudged Akira in the direction of the front doors instead
"Why, what's wrong with the hotel bar?"
"Disinterested staff who've probably been briefed on who we are and as a result will try and be overly nice but just come of as overbearing. Lonely businessmen trying to kill time. No dark corners, no atmosphere. That enough wrong for you"
It was now Akira's turn to roll his eyes, why did everything have to be unique? What was wrong with the occasional homogenized experience? At least they wouldn't have had to go very far. However Hikaru was having none of it and was already pushing open the door to the outside world. Akira walked through the door his friend held open for him and together they started walking down the street the hotel sat at the top of.
"Hmm, big city like this, should find somewhere in no time." He muttered almost to himself.
"Can't we just find somewhere and get on with it?"
"I'm trying to find somewhere."
"We've passed three places already."
"Have we, well they must not have stood out very well then."
"Stood out, I thought you were looking for darkened atmosphere not blazing lights, now you say you want some blazing lights."
"Only on the outside."
"Hummph."
They continued on in silence, Hikaru wondering this way and that, down side-streets and up ally ways. Finally he came to a stop outside a rather non descript door set in a wall in which nestled a window showing the interior of the type of pub which are ten a penny in any city in the world if you know where to look.
It wasn't an old mans pub, the kind of place where everybody's known, the kind of place where, if you weren't a local, people would go out of there way to let you know you weren't actually welcome there without being outright confrontational, the kind of place which only serves one drink, 'the usual'. But it had shades of it. Old regulars huddled around the bar, people who looked like they had been going there for an age, people who, in short ordered by asking for 'the regular'.
And neither was it a student bar, but again one could see shades of that. Tables in the corners were filled with the students who had chosen to attend university in the city in which they grew up. The kind of place they would have discovered when taking there first forays into the world of night-life. And through this strange combination of clientele the place survived.
Hikaru and Akira shuffled up to an unoccupied end of the bar and sat down. Hikaru looked up too catch the barmaid's eye.
"What's it to be guys?"
Hikaru looked up. "Whisky, Scottish. Ardbeg if you've got it, The Macallan if you don't, failing those anything you got so long as it's a single malt. Bring two with a glass of ice on the side, please."
"Ordering for me now?
"Just trying to expand your horizons."
"I never thought you'd be an appreciator of whisky, especially the expensive kind."
"You saying I'm low brow, I doubt you could tell and Islay for a Spayside."
"I can't say I've ever had the desire, how do you know so much about it anyway?"
"I'd just lost a match, important one as well, in fact," Hikaru suppressed a slight smile "it was the first one of the losses that saw me leave the later stages of the Mejin tournament. I staggered form the venue and found the first bar I could, I needed a drink badly. Anyway it was a specialist whisky bar. Had a weird name, as yes 'Uisge beatha'.
"What?"
"It's Gaelic, it means 'water of life' it's where the word whisky is derived form. Anyway they brought me a glass of something expensive, you ask a bar to bring you something, chances are they'll try and give you something pricey and a Scotch single malt can be an expensive thing, glass of Glenfiddich as it happens, let's just say I saw something in it.
The barmaid returned with two short fat glasses, each with a pool of amber liquid that began about a couple of centimeters form the bottom, with them was a third glass, filled with ice. "It's The Macallan, we didn't have the other one."
Hikaru laughed under his breath. The so called Mejin curse hadn't exactly started with a glass of whisky but it had given Hikaru the chance to review the game he'd just lost, he remembered staying in that bar for a long time, going over things. He'd surprised himself, the acquired taste of a strong flavor didn't usually come so fast. He'd wondered for the first time weather something was trying to tell him something, get his attention with the loss of the game then provide him with an intense sense memory, a marker carved in taste imbedded in his mind. Now it seemed things were coming to a head, it was years later and Hikaru was sitting with his friend, the one person above all else who Hikaru really felt deserved an explanation. A second sign Hikaru felt was the fact that they were approaching a tournament to decide the holder of the Mejin title, disastrous runs of bad luck resolving themselves into a series of matches they would have to fight between themselves.
"So, what do I do with this?" Akira's words bringing Hikaru into the here and now.
"Well if you want you can pour a few drops of water form the melted ice into it, or put a couple of pieces of ice in, or just go for it like that, personally I add a couple drops of water." As he said this he poured a trickle of water form the ice glass into his drink.
"Ok, reckon I'll add a bit of both." Akira bent to his take precise as always.
Hikaru started thinking again, he sipped his drink, he recognized it as the 12 year old, the youngest The Macallan you could get. A part of him was glad they didn't try and bring him an older, more expensive bottle. Then it dawned on him, the third sign, they weren't drinking Glenfiddich, it was true, however The Macallan was from the same region of Scotland, they were both form Spayside, different but form the same place with shared characteristics and distinct differences. Just like himself and Akira, they had both grown up in the city of Tokyo, they both shared many characteristics, such as there ability at Go, and had lots they didn't share as well, you only needed to hear them speaking to each other to work that out. Hikaru felt certain that he was being told by some force to tell Akira the story of Sai. Hikaru was snapped back to the present by the apparent sound of retching, ah, one of our differences he thought to himself.
"This is awful."
"More of an acquired taste I'd say but not for everyone I'll admit." He quietly tipped the remainder of Akira's drink into his own glass.
"Hey" He called to the barmaid, she turned to face him "My friends not used to proper alcohol, can you get him a light beer or a spritser or something."
Akira turned red and mumbled a request for a glass of the house white. Hikaru cursed under his breath, getting this burden off his chest was going to be a lot harder then he thought, but he knew now he had to do it, he knew his old mentor was sending a message from beyond, had been for years and now, somehow, he had to tell his friend. Why now was so important he didn't know, all he knew was that by the time they started playing tomorrow, not only must Akira know the story of Sai, he must believe it too.
Big Bad John
And that's chapter 2, as usual, reviews are welcome.