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The door opened into a field of stars.

At least, that was what it looked like, a blackness dotted by hundreds upon thousands of pinpricks of light twinkling and flickering in and out of view. There was a sudden coldness, a whoosh of air that smelt metallic and plastic at the same time. Touya froze, feeling as though his heart had stopped beating as his lungs came into contact with the unbearable iciness.

Beside him, Shindou gave an involuntary, hoarse-sounding exclamation.

There was a sound of a door being opened, then closed, from somewhere far away, and suddenly they were falling, out into that star-lit darkness.

Touya landed on a hard surface with a jolt that made his knees protest. He reached out like a man blinded, and bit back a sound of relief when his hands found Shindou. "Are you all right?" he asked, placing both hands on Shindou's shoulders.

"Yeah." Shindou's voice came out shaky. "Something... someone pushed us out," he said. "How about you? Are you hurt?"

Touya shook his head, then realizing that Shindou might not be able to see him. "No, I'm fine. Where are we?" he asked, linking arms with Shindou as he tried to look around. It was so dark...

"I'm not sure. I could have sworn that the door led to the street outside, but now I can't make anything out at all," Shindou said. "It's so bright..."

Touya tightened his grip on Shindou's arm, the warmth on his right side a comforting weight. Try as he might, he still couldn't see anything clearly--he could see the faint outline of Shindou's jacket and shoes, but he couldn't see anything else. He blinked again and again, but twinkling lights were just too distracting.

"Maybe we should try walking ahead," Shindou suggested after a while. "We might see something familiar."

"Hm." There was nothing to be gained by standing like this, Touya reasoned. "All right," he agreed.

They took a small, careful step forward, then another. Touya's heart was in his mouth, and he imagined that even Shindou could hear his pulse racing. Any step now, they were going to lose their footing, and fall into a pit, perhaps, or into something more dangerous.

"There are so many lights," Shindou said after a moment. "If it weren't so cold, I would say it looks totally like..." he stopped talking, and his body went rigid.

Touya asked immediately, "What is it, Shindou?"

There was no answer, but he could sense that Shindou was looking at the right, almost on the verge of pulling away.

"Sai?" Shindou's voice was thin with disbelief, reedy with concealed eagerness. "Sai!"

Touya tried to get his vocal cords to work again. "Shindou," he asked urgently. "What are you saying?"

He sensed, rather than saw, Shindou glancing back at him for a second. "It's Sai," he said. "I can see him."

"Shindou, what are you saying!" he jostled Shindou's arm, trying to shake him. He looked in the direction Shindou had been facing, but saw nothing except lights and blackness.

"He's there, see!"

Touya could feel by the cast of Shindou's shoulders that he was pointing into the emptiness. He wanted to protest again but did not, his mind jumbled by confusion. What was going on?

"Sai, look, this is Touya," Shindou was saying in a young, eager voice. "You still recognize him, right?" he tugged at Touya, as though to push him forward in whatever direction he saw Sai.

Touya hung back, his mouth dry.

"We're still playing Go together," Shindou continued. "We're searching for the hand of God together... Sai, wait, don't turn away!" He reached out, taking a half-step forward.

Touya found himself dragged along.

"Sai, don't go... don't disappear again!"

Shindou tried to pull away, but Touya tightened his grip on Shindou's arm so much that he could feel the shape of Shindou's bones beneath his jacket. "Shindou," he whispered.

"Sai!" Suddenly Shindou walked towards his right, unheeding of the unseen paths before him, the sheer force of his movements nearly pulling Touya off his feet.

"Shindou!" Touya protested, but he did not let go. Instead, he found himself stumbling with Shindou, taking one uncertain step after another.

"Do you see him?" Shindou asked, pointing as they walked. "He was there..."

The hope in his voice made Touya stare, too. And then he swallowed, for within the darkness, he thought he saw a faint figure, all in white. Some far-off figure with a black hat, in a traditional Japanese costume, almost as Shindou had described him. Then the image faded, and he made a sound of protest.

Shindou's voice was excited. "You see him, too, right?" he said, pulling Touya further along.

Then there came a sound so unexpected that both of them stopped at once. A plaintive growl, like from a puppy. Or perhaps it was a squeak, from a mouse. Or a purr, from a cat. It sounded like all of them. Touya stopped trying to identify the sound when something small and soft brushed past both their legs, making them jump.

"W-what was that?" Shindou said. "Wait, what's happening?"

Touya felt like asking the same question, for it seemed as though the pin-pricks of light were getting brighter and brighter. Closer and closer, he thought.

"I can't see anything at all," Shindou said, raising a hand to rub his eyes. "Touya, what about you?"

As it got brighter, Touya thought he could see a path ahead, though it was like being surrounded by thousands of bonfires. Swallowing, he said, "Let's try this," he said, this time pulling Shindou along.

He was reminded of something Shindou had said before, about Go stones being like stars, as they walked, because it was as though he was looking for paths out on the Go board. The arrangement of lights at his left could have been an avalanche formation, and the one above, a ladder. Guided by him, they took one step together, then another.

A bright rectangle of yellow light appeared right in front of them, accompanied by the faint sound of door hinges creaking.

"There you are," Count D said. "It's time to finish the game."

---------to be continued--------------