Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.
Chapter 10 : Young Lion Tournament
May 2000,
" I'm so excited!" the nervous blonde paced uncomfortably. At long last, the tournament that every insei had been waiting for had finally come. The Young Lion Tournament would begin in 10 minutes. Like her friends, Hikaru joined this tournament too, as the 8th rank insei.
" Hikaru, calm down," Sai fanned her with his precious fan, " Breathe in...and out…Good girl….in…out,"
" Hikaru-chan, Lighten up," Tapping her shoulders, Nase smiled kindly, " Think of it as a training match," she advised since everybody shared the same idea.
" Okay, Okay," Hikaru told herself, " Just a training game, a training game, "
" Yes! It's no different than the game that you play with Shirakawa-Sensei," the serene mentor said.
" Yes, just a game, another normal game,"
Seeing his student acting like a nervous wreck, the ghost came out with the magic words," If you lose the control and lose the game, you won't be able to play with Touya-kun in the 3rd round," he song playfully. And it worked like a charm.
! " Touya-kun! Right!" she took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, " Right! Relax! Focus!" Sai definitely knew his little sister very well.
" Hi, Long time no seen," A white-haired man approached Hikaru and her friends.
" We've met him before, he was there to watch Touya-kun's game too," Standing next to the blonde, the purple-haired ghost informed her.
" Yes, his name is…err,"
" Mashiba-san," Waya greeted distantly.
" Right, it's Mashiba!" The duet exclaimed in their thought.
" Isumi-san, Please go easy on me," Mashiba sniggered. Although it was just a normal statement, Hikaru somehow didn't like his tone of voice, " You should stop playing with these kids and becoming a pro. Being a pro is nice, you know, you don't have to worry like the insei once you become a pro," he snorted offensively, " Bye,"
" What a jerk!" Nase grumbled huffily.
" He's so... uncivil," Ochi criticized. If this unfriendly arrogant boy said like this, it meant that the pro was certainly absolutely uncultured.
" He acts as if he's so high and mighty," Honda muttered irritably.
" Arrz!" Waya hissed.
" Isumi-kun, you must crush him down to earth," Turning to Isumi, Nase ordered him with her serious voice.
Seeing his friends staring at him fiercely, Isumi nearly jumped back , " I..I'll try my best," he said weakly, with his head hung down.
" Better mind your own business," Ochi marked uninterestedly while Waya and Honda kept glaring at the top insei as if they wanted to say, " Hey! Be a man!".
" Well, he's right, you know," Folding her arms, Nase nodded in agreement," I wonder how many of us can enter the 2nd round,"
Maybe 3. Honda thought wordlessly. Isumi-san, Ochi and….Shindou
" Okay, guys…and girls too, Fight!" Cheering, Waya said with a rising fighting spirits.
/Pachi/
/Pachi/
/Pachi/
This man may be a pro but he's not different than the insei. Sai commented after he had watched the game for a while.
Murakami 2-Dans was Hikaru's first opponent. He got some skill but he was rather overconfident, ambitious, the worst thing was, he was careless. He thought that he didn't have to take this game seriously, this girl was just an insei after all. His real game was the game with Touya Akira in the 3rd round. That was correct, the one who triumphed over the great Touya Akira must be him. Once he crushed the prodigy into pieces, he would become legendary player like David who killed Goliath.
Well, his daydream might come true some day far into the future, however, in order to do that, he had to beat Hikaru first.
Smiling coolly, the possessive brother smirked coldly with satisfaction Then he's no match for my Hikaru.
/ Pachi/ Hikaru played her next hand and the game went on.
1 hour later,
" Th…Thank you for the game," Murakami whispered barely inaudible.
" Thank you for the game," Hikaru replied coolly. " Sai, I won! I beat the 2-Dans!"
" Great job! Hikaru!" Bouncing, Sai danced happily around her. Though he had fully known that she would easily win,he pretended to act as if it was a great surprise," I'm so proud of you! Gotta win the next one too! Ne?"
" Sure!" Getting up, the green-eyed girl walked to join her friends.
Poor Murakami hadn't gotten over the loss yet, he didn't even have enough strength to stand up. With a haunted look in his eyes and the body which was still shaking with fear and confusion, he just sat there staring at the game he had just lost. What had just happened? How could I…how could she…Someone please tell me! What did happen?
" Hikaru-chan," Fuku called, " How is your game?" Seeing the smile on the girl's face and a V sign, he knew what the answer was,"You won?" he uttered in awe, " Cool, ne,ne, let's check out Isumi-san,"
But Hikaru didn't want to, there was something more important than Isumi's game… Well, actually, there was someone more important than it, there was someone she wanted to meet badly," Err…," " Sai, do you see Touya-kun? Where is he?"
" Well, I think, I just saw him leaving the room," Sai informed her, " There, he exited that way," he pointed at the nearest door with his fan.
" Are you sure it's Touya-kun?"
" Actually, I'm not, I only saw his back," he confessed, " Maybe it's just an unknown girl,"
" However, there is only way to find out, isn't it," Hikaru came to the decision, " Fuku-kun, you go and watch the game for me, okay? I'll be back in a minute," she lightly pushed the boy towards Isumi's table and quickly got out the room.
" Nase, how is it?" Waya asked Nase who had been monitoring the game quite some time now. He had just finished his own game with Nakawama 3-Dans, he lost.
" Oh, Waya, Here, take a look," Whispering noiselessly, Nase urged, " Isumi-san has the advantage here. Mashiba attacked him but he could defense it," she winked and smirked with great enjoyment, " Get lost, Mashiba,"
"……I…I resign," Tightening his fist angrily, Mashiba said through his clenched teeth.
" Thank you for the game," Lowering his head, Isumi replied politely.
" It was Isumi-san's game from the beginning," Nase spoke up cheerfully, her friend had played very well.
" That's right," Fuku agreed.
" I thought Mashiba-san would do better," Honda commented. He had been watching the game even before Nase came to join him. Since he had played with Touya Akira, the game had ended in no time. He had lost, of course.
" You can't tell which one is a pro," Cleaning his glasses with his handkerchief, Ochi boldly critiqued, unlike Honda, he won.
Mashiba, who had just lost to his greatest rival, heard every single word the insei had said. Frankly speaking, it wasn't that the insei tried to keep their voice down or anything, he knew that they wanted him to hear it.
" Beating me here is meaningless, if you can't even be a pro," he snorted disrespectfully.
" What? You Bastard!" Grasping Mashiba's collar hastily, Waya knocked the pro down to the floor.
" Waya!" Isumi and other insei cried.
" Whaa!" Mashiba screamed in horror, he was such a coward.
" What's going on?" Shinoda exclaimed once he heard a loud shout, " Waya-kun!"
After the Sensei and Honda had finally broken them apart,Shinoda ordered the insei to collect the fallen stones, that explained what in the world they were doing, to be on their knees as if they were scrubbing the floor like that.
" Waya,"Collecting the stones on the floor, Isumi sighed tiredly.
" But…" Knowing that the older man was about to lecture him, Waya tried to find an excuse.
" It's okay to punch Mashiba," Nase took his side.
" Nase," Setting the fallenchair to its place, Honda said in negative tones, " Don't support him,"
" How's your game anyway?" Deciding to change the topic, the big brother asked.
" I lost," With a bored sigh, she answered.
After exchanging a look,Honda, Fuku and Waya stated, " Me too,"
" I won," Ochi uttered indifferently.
" ?...What's about Shindou-san?" Looking around, Waya scanned the room to search for his crush, " Where is she?"
" She won," Filling the stones into the jar , Fuku reported, " I don't know where she is but she said she would be back in a minute,"
Another corner of the room,
" What is it all about?" a man with glasses questioned Shinoda, " What happens?"
" Ah! Nothing serious, Ogata-Sensei," Shinoda laughed awkwardly. That was right, the scary man he was talking with was Ogata 9-Dans, the Meijin's right hand man. He didn't expect to see this creepy pro here, who would ever imagine that someone important like him would come to this small tournament?
" Where is Akira anyway?" Why did he come here? Now, the answer was clear. He came to observe Akira, his Sensei's son, his underclass man, his future threat.
Yes, he came to watch Akira play but he didn't know that there he was about to find something more interesting and much much more enjoyable than Akira's game.
A/N: Next chapter, Akira meets Hikaru! What will happen next?
Lady Adako : Ah, About Hikaru's outfits, actually, she's very trendy girl like GALS but she can't dress up too much 'coz it's the insei class we're talking about, ifshe dresses too trendy there, Shinoda gonna give hera long long lecture. Don't forget about Sai too, That Possessive Overprotective ghost wouldn't let her dress like that. Ah, andher outfits has to match the Season too, don't you notice? For an unknown reason,both in this fic and in the Anime,most of the major event happened inwinter,if I let her wear atank tops, she'll be freezing to death! Alert! Alert! To Ogata's fan read Lady Adoko's review,please!
Kinlin Child of Youma: "Are Hikaru-chan and Akira-san be meeting?" Of course! Ah! You just put the new chapter of your fic! I gotta read it!
Thuyhy-thuyhy : Thanks :D
ady : Me too! I like bully Waya! Sorry for Waya's fan :)
xiar : " ...just loved the 1-chappie-a-day-drug... " I love answer your review too :) About Akira and Hikaru? Gotta wait till next chapter ( grining)
kireshai-chan837 : "...-san suffix is used for girls only when you're the same age..." Oh, really, Thank you. I'll be more careful next time, by the way, if I'm not mistaken, didn't Tsutsui call Akari as " Fujisaki-san?"
Kathy : "...hohoho is the way Santa Claus laughts..." Haha, maybe this is what we call " Culture difference", right? In Thai, when we burst out in tears, it goes like" Ho..o Ho...o Ho...o,"