Summary : After the Hokuto Cup, Hikaru found himself missing Sai more than ever. One day, he saw a portrait of Sai! How could anyone other than him know how Sai looks like? This is his chance, his only chance to find back Sai!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go, although I would love to own it.

Searching for the Light

Chapter 3 --- The Nongshim Cup

"Morishita-sensei, it's your turn." Hikaru said firmly and surely.

It has been almost a month since his meeting with that mysterious painter. Although he frequently went to the art gallery in hope of meeting with that girl again, he continuously played Go. He passed his Oza preliminary round and Kisei first preliminary round. He had been doing fairly well right now. He had not lost a real match since that unexpected meeting.

Hikaru looked over the Go board and a smile appeared on his face. He played quite well for this game. He did not go too deep and had not let his feelings affecting the outcome of the game. It was only a matter of time when his sensei will announce his defeat. Still, it was not the place to be happy about. Unless he can win against his teacher in a real match, he will not be able to surpass this invisible wall.

"Ah, Shindou. You have improved. Now let's go over the game."

"Morishita-sensei, when you lose, you have to say 'I resign'."

"I was letting you go easy. Don't rub it in."

The rest of the people were laughing. This was the second win in non-real match that Hikaru played against Morishita. Their teacher was getting more and more frustrated. How could a 9th-dan lose to a 1st-dan? Hikaru was improving at an incredible speed. Like he did after his quitting Go, he was more determined and stronger. All of them was wondering what happened to him. Waya, on the other hand, was doing poorer than Hikaru. He was always compared to Hikaru by his teacher. Still, that did not affect their friendship.

"Ah!" Waya shouted, "It's already 5:00 pm! Shindou, we need to go now!"

"Huh? Why?" Hiakru answered.

"Don't tell me that you've forgotten! We are all going out together today! Isumi is waiting for us!"

"Oh yeah… I forgot. I don't think that I'll be going today. I think that I'll go practice when I get home."

"No way! You agreed to it. Even if I've to drag you all the way there, I will!"

Concerned about his friend, Waya made up an excuse to take Hikaru away from Go. He seemed to be only playing Go only. He didn't go out with them for quite a while now. Using the excuse of seeing a movie premiere, Waya and Isumi forced Hiakru to agree to a night out. Waya was scared that Hikaru would quit Go again because he seemed to be forcing himself to play Go. He used to love playing it. Now, he seemed like he was obliged to play. Isumi wouldn't tell him why Hikaru first quitted. All he told Waya was that they played a match. Isumi refused to give any further details.

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"Waya! Stop pulling me! I told you that I'll walk on my own!" Hikaru yelled.

"You said ten times, and you ran away for all ten times. Like hell I'll trust you."

"Have more faith in me!"

"No way. Oh, Here is Isumi!"

After some explanation of why Waya was holding Hikaru, all three of them headed to the movie. The movie was good apparently, but Hikaru didn't even watch it. He was only replaying Honinbu Shusaku's games in his head over and over again for the whole movie.

"We should have just given that ticket to another person." Waya complained.

"Don't be like that. Maybe Shindou was just too tired." Isumi said.

"I told you that I don't want to go." Hikaru said. "Waya, you are the one who forced me to go."

"That's because we are concerned about you! You have been playing Go non stop lately!"

"I just want to get better. Since when does wanting to become better a crime?" Hikaru retorted.

"Never, but you are more like obsessed with Go. You even refused to go eat ramen with us just because you wanted to practice! What happened Shindou? You have been like this for a month!"

"Nothing happened. I just didn't feel like it."

How would they understand? They didn't know what Sai was to him. This was his chance to meet with Sai again. This also may be the chance to play against Sai… He was not obsessed with Go; he was obsessed with Sai.

"Waya, don't yell at Shindou. Maybe he is hoping of defeating Ko Younha in the Nongshim Cup."

"Nongshim Cup?" Hikaru's eyes opened at the sound of that.

"Didn't you hear? Another team tournament will be held three months from now. It'll be a team match between Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan."

"Like the Hokuto Cup?"

"Not really. This time, there are five players for each country. We alternate the players every round. The whole team will fight against the other countries. The winners continue to fight other countries until there are not more players from the other teams."

"Kinda like a knock-out tournament?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes. The last country standing will be the winner. The preliminary for this will take place next week. Didn't you get the message?"

"I forgot to check."

"But it will be such a good experience. People under 5-dan and 30 years old can participate. This means that I will be there too, and Kadowaki. Plus, we get to go to Korea."

"Korea? The thing will take place in Korea?"

"Yeah."

"…I am not going."

"I thought that you will like it… WHAT?"

Isumi and Waya both shouted. Did… Did they just hear that Hikaru refused to go to a tournament where he got a chance to beat Ko Yongha?

"If it is out of Japan, I'm not going."

"Why? Is it because of your parents?"

"No. I just don't feel like getting out of the country."

Sai is in Japan, in this city. If I go out of this place, I may lose my chance of meeting him. Compare to beating Ko Yongha, I rather find Sai. Besides, when I find back Sai, he can beat him. Then that arrogant brat will know how powerful Honinbu Shusaku—Fujiwarano Sai truly is.

"I thought that you wanted to beat Ko Yongha!" After a moment of silent, Waya said.

"Yes I want to. But I've more important thing to do."

"But think about it! You can beat him and you will be very well known!"

"Well known?"

"Hum… Yeah…"

'That was such a lame excuse,' Waya thought, 'using fame as an excuse for Shindou to play Go. There is no way that he will play now.'

"I'll play." Hikaru surprisingly answered.

"Huh?"

Waya and Isumi were both surprised by what Hikaru said. Since when he played for fame? Understanding Hikaru was an impossible job. Maybe they should just forget about it…

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At Touya's Go parlor, Hikaru was discussing his latest match with Akira. Akira knew something had happened to Hikaru but didn't know what it was. All he knew what that it was related to the 'secret' that Hikaru once promised to tell him 'someday'. Only that can affect Hikaru this greatly. Every time that his rival touched the subject of Honinbu Shusaku, he became very emotional. However, until he was willingly to tell him, he will not ask. That was something he promised to himself.

"Shindou, are you ready for tomorrow's preliminary match for the Nongshim Cup?"

"Yeah I am."

"It seemed like there will be 32 people trying for it. The five players chosen will be the ones who win the most matches."

"I know. After Waya and Isumi told me last week, I listened to all the messages left for me."

"I will be playing also."

"As a seed player, right? Like at the Hokuto Cup."

"No. This time, I will participate at the preliminary round."

"What? Why?"

"It's just to be fair, I guess."

"That means that I can beat you in a real match?"

"Will you beat me?"

"Of course I will!"

If I can't even win against Touya, then I am still no where near Sai's level. I can't disappoint him! I will show Sai how much stronger I am. Then he will want to stay with me, to paly Go with me, like we used to do before.

When Hikaru went back home, he went straight to his room. He stared at the painting once more and went to bed quietly and peacefully.

Next Chapter: The Preliminary: an Unexpected Match

Author's Notes:

This chapter is a little bit longer than the others. There are so much more that I want to write in here but don't have the time for it. Oh well, next chapter!

The Nongshim Cup is actually a real tournament. It is a tournament between Japan, Korea, and China. The concept of the tournament is the same, except that I've modified it so that it's only young pro who can participate and that Taiwan is participating too. About the location of the tournament, it's invented too. I just wanted it to be in Korea instead of Japan. Korea has been the winner from 2000 to 2005. Japan finally won the 2006 one. I've been reading on the real tournaments and I hope to incorporate them in my story.

Italic: Thoughts of Hikaru. If it's just italic, it means Hikaru is thinking.

'Italic': Thoughts of other characters than hikaru. I'll mention the names.

If you like it, please review! Reviews empower me to write faster! I'm open to suggestions too. Reviews and hardcore comments are more than welcome!

This Week's Go Extra: Go Titles' Information Part I

I put this section "This Week's Go Extra" to explain some background of Go. It's quite interesting to know the background information when we are writing/reading a story. I hope that you will like it!

For the title tournaments, there is quite some information on it. I'll start with the three BIG titles out of the seven Japanese big titles. Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo are the most important titles. Although Kisei is the title that wins the most money, Honinbo is the most prestigious one.

There are actually five parts for the title matches. It takes around two years to get to challenge the current Title Holder.

Kisei, has a preliminary round, a final preliminary, the league (which is separated into two group: A and B), the challenger decider round (group A vs group B winder), and finally, the final.

Meijin, and Honinbo have the same structure. There are three preliminary rounds, one league, and a final match. All three titles' final match is best 4 out of 7.

Next week: Judan, Tengen, Oza, and Gosei.