Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.
Chapter 33 : An overnight job at Kyoto
Nagoya Go Center,
A young man in his mid-twenties gave out a sigh of hopelessness, he had just had a game with a very famous pro from Tokyo, he had lost, how sad. Telling the truth, it was the worst nightmare he had ever had.
He felt someone tapping him lightly at the shoulder," Ichihara-san, are you alright?" Ah, it was Kawasaki, his friend.
" No, I'm not," he answered dejectedly.
There he came, the genius boy who had just beaten him, " Thank you for the game," Tilting his head down, he said courteously.
" No, thank you," Ichihara bowed in return.
" I must excuse myself, Have a nice day," said the winner.
" Have a safe trip to Tokyo then," Kawasaki smiled nicely.
The Tokyo pro lowered his head in thank before leaving the building, heading back to his home in Tokyo.
" So, that is the celebrated Touya Akira, huh?"
" Aa," Ichihara nodded.
" Is he good?" the freckly pro asked with interest.
" I can't win him," With an agonizing look, the dejected man muttered under his breath, " Not in this life, now matter how hard I try, I can't reach his level,"
" ….Ichihara-san," Breaking out in a sweat, Kawasaki whispered faintly.
On the way to the train station,
While Akira was walking to the station to take a train back to Tokyo, he kept thinking about his rivals, yes, he was thinking of Shindou Hikaru. Shindou…If I hadn't had to be here, I would have watched you playing your Oteai game. If Father hadn't collapsed back then, I would have faced you in a real battle… a battle that I have been looking forward for almost 2 years.
Stopping walking, he looked up upon the beautiful clear blue sky. Shindou…Why did you appear before me? Why am I chasing you? And who are you chasing? Is it me? …Or is it someone else? " Shindou,"
Hikaru's bedroom,
Sitting in a kneeling pose in front of the Goban, Hikaru was recreating the game she has just won again Ariyoshi 2-Dans, " He should have played here instead, don't you think?" Pointing at the center of the board, she asked her teacher for second opinion, " Umm, maybe that wouldn't help much, I totally crushed him, didn't I?" she sniggered, " That man is too careless, I bet he thought that I was a just silly girl, "
Sai didn't say anything back, he kept on gazing at his little sister. What a great player she had become? Compare to the twelve year old girl whom he had met 3 years ago. Even though, she had won by forfeit in the game she was supposed to play against her rival, Touya Akira, she had proved to everyone that she wasn't just a lucky-good-looking girl with no brain by winning another 2 games in the Oteai match in a row. Now, they all acknowledged that Shindou Hikaru wasn't just a pretty-face who only used the renowned Touya Akira as her stepping-stone to a famous celebrity.
This is Hikaru? This is the same Hikaru who didn't have the courage to attack me?
Lowering his eyes to the classy board, Sai studied the game. Am I being jealous? I can not contain my jealousy of her future? He wondered.
He closed his eyes as the memory of his little Hikaru came back into life in his thought; how tomboy she had been when they had first met, how beautiful she was when she grew up. In his mind, he could see the picture of her laughing, complaining, whining, smiling, calling out his name. No, it's not just that. Sai opened his sad blue eyes as he eventually understood himself, he finally knew his true feeling at last, and it wasn't jealousy. I don't want to leave her…I didn't want to leave Torajiro either.
Looking out the window to the bright sunny sky, he looked back on the day Torajiro passed away. How funny it was? After 140 years, he still remembered well what had happened on that tragic day as if it had just happened yesterday…His Torajiro, lying on a futon, breathing weakly, looking so pale, as white as sheet. What did he say back then?
" Sorry, Sai…I…I really don't want to leave you," Shuusaku had gathered his last strength to tell him that before he…before he left this world. Sai, being a ghost who couldn't touch a thing, hadn't been able to do anything, all he could do was to sit there by the bed, watching the boy whom he had raised by his own hands since he was 10 years old died right in front of him.
I guess this is how you felt, right? Tojariro. I wonder who will be more miserable here. The one who leaves? Or the one who remains and left behind…! Hikaru!
...Flashback started...
" We'll always be together, Ne?" The girl had asked him once on a winter night," You'll be with me forever, right? Right?"
" Of course, I will," he had promised her with a solemn tone, " We'll stay together forever,"
...Flashback ended...
Recalling the oath, Sai instantly turned to Hikaru who was still studying the game, knowing nothing about his fateful destiny. Hikaru! What about Hikaru? What will happen to her if I leave? Can she live on her life? Can she leave without me? Hikaru! My little Hikaru!
" What's the matter? Is everything alright?" the blonde finally asked. Why does he look at me like that?
" Huh? Err,"
" What? You look like you've seen a ghost," She paused and looked over her shoulder, " Don't tell me that we have company," Is there another one behind my back?
" Oh, no, no another ghost but me," the worried brother awkwardly answered.
" Good, Just you is enough," Hikaru spoke with slight annoyance, " So, what's wrong?"
" Not..nothing," Stammering, Sai replied.
As her teacher was never be a good actor and Hikaru wasn't that stupid, she knew that something was bothering the ghost again! If not, why did he act so strange this way? What was it then? Mid-life crisis?
" Sai," she called.
" Yes?"
" We will always be together, right?" she questioned him with the same serious tone she had asked him on that night.
Hikaru…How could you… Looking at her in amazement, Sai was awed by her intuition. Women's instinct was surely something to be impressed. He faked a weak smile in a forlorn attempt to reassure her, " Yes, we will always be together,"
Satisfied with the answer, Hikaru beamed contentedly. The happier she looked, the sadder Sai was. He knew perfectly well, with all his heart, he was aware that he was going to disappear soon, definitely.
/ Knock knock/
" Come in," the girl got up and opened the door to find out that it was her mother who knocked the door, " Yes? Mom,"
" Don't forget to pack the luggage," Misuko told her.
" Oh!" Hikaru just remembered, she completely forgot that tomorrow she had an overnight job, she was assigned to offer a teaching-game in a Go Seminar in Kyoto, " Thank you for reminding me, Mom" she thanked her as her mother went downstairs to watch a TV with her father. Their conversation was dropped there, the duet didn't talk to each other again through the night because the teenage pro was too busy packing her belongings.
The following day, Kyoto, Motoko Hotel
" Good morning, sir," Hikaru greeted an organizer at the reception desk.
" Oh, Hikaru-chan," the young man in a dark suit smiled cheerfully in return. It was so obvious that he was so pleased by her arrival, "Here is your schedule, you will be in room 300 with Haruki-san,"
" Eh? Just the two of us?" The amiable blonde uttered with slight surprise as Waya always complained about how cramped it was when they usually squeezed three Lower-Dan pros into one room. She didn't think that she would have only one roommate like the Higher-Dan pros.
" Well, there're few female pros here," the staff chatted casually, " Plus, we can't put a cute little girl like you in the same room with those brats, can we?
Sometimes, it was better to be a girl, " I see, Thank you," Hikaru winked teasingly at him, making him blush before walking away.
" So cute," Lost in daydream, the naïve man smiled to himself.
" Oh, Ogata-Sensei is here too," Checking the schedule, she uttered. Umm, I'd better avoid him, I don't want him asking about Sai stuff again.
In the hall,
The Seminar took place in a big plenary hall. Many long tables covered with white table-cloth were neatly placed in rows, on each one of them, there were several Go sets. Many were playing the games, some were playing with amateurs, some were playing against pros, some were just standing observing the games.
On the stage, Ogata was playing an exhibition match with Haruki Ryoko, a young female Go pro who was also Hikaru's roommate, Ashiwara and another female Go pro were standing next to a large board, explaining each move both pros had played, giving a comment.
" Ogata-Sensei is a complete-type player who can play any style while Haruki-Sensei is more of a power type," Ashiwara marked.
" Yes, when Ryoko-chan wins, she always crushes her opponent with power," another commentator added.
" So far, it looks like Haruki-san is playing her type of game. She isn't intimidated even playing against Ogata-Sensei," Looking at the giant board, the cheery pro noted, " So…Ogata-Sensei responded to Haruki-san's hand this way, huh? Hmm," he paused shortly before continuing, " If you ask me, that is a questionable hand but if I criticize him too much, I don't know what he will say to me later," he said with a laugh.
" Ashiwara," Ogata spoke with a warning tone.
" See?" Ashiwara turned to the audience, his smiling face brought a lighthearted laughter among them.
It was a very hard day for Hikaru, it was busy enough to make her forget about Sai's odd behavior. She almost had a heart attack when she saw how long the queue of people wishing to play with her was. She had never realized that she was this popular among the amateurs before. Maybe they only wanted to play a game against Touya Kouyo's future-daughter-in-law, maybe they were just old poor grandfathers who didn't have a grandchild to play Go with, or maybe they had never seen a Go pro in a yellow lace-front-neckline sleeveless shirt and black ruffled short skirt before. She felt awkward a little because she didn't like being in the center of attention, yet, she was flattered to know that she had many admirers, even if they were just a bunch of strange Go geeks who were old enough to be her grandpa.
Hours passed by, Ogata had finished his exhibition game and switched to be the reviewer commenting Ashiwara's game instead. Haruki walked down the stage to play with some audiences. Hikaru was still giving her teaching games until night fell.
Though she was drained to death playing Go continuously without resting here, she was happy. Besides, it was a good strategy to avoid Ogata, unknown to the crowd, they became a living wall hiding her from the notorious horrifying pro. However, this Hide and Seek game couldn't last forever, in the end, he would find her, one way or another, right?
" It's okay to play it here," Surrounded by 5 Go addicts, Hikaru spoke as she placed a stone on the board. It was nearly midnight now, but she was still playing a teaching game with the audiences, " It has another purpose, you can escape here without it, but it just isn't enough,"
" Ah, I got it," said a chubby man in a printed Yukata, his name was Michima.
" You're just a junior-high school student but you are a pro now? Not bad," a man with thick glasses spoke with admiration.
" You are not only good but you're also pretty! Hahaha" Sawada, a man with black hair howled with laughter, his compliment brought a pink flush to the blonde's face, " Shindou Hikaru, right? We'll be rooting for you,"
" Yes, both in the Japan Tournament and also in the future oversea matches," a man in a black Polo shirt smiled kindly.
" The oversea matches?" Hikaru echoed.
" Yeah, Japan is so pathetic lately, I can't even watch," Gritting his teeth discontentedly, Norihiro, a man with glasses, grumbled.
Oversea match? Didn't Ochi and Waya say that the Chinese players were tough? " I heard that Chinese pros are really good," the 1-Dan spoke up.
" The Chinese? Yeah, they're pretty strong," Morishima, the man who had just lost to her, replied, " But the Korean are the strongest right now," he cast a light on the inexperienced pro.
Korean, ne? Hmm, interesting.
" Don't worry you can beat them for sure!" Michima grinned with good cheer, " When they look up from the board and see how cute you are, they will be too distracted to play the game, then you can easily knock them down !Hahaha" he guffawed happily, making the others laugh too.
Although Hikaru was a modern liberal girl, who hated any kind of discrimination, she was aware that the old man didn't mean to insult or to offend her with his joke or anything, he only wanted to flatter her so she spoke humorously, " Then I'll be doomed for sure if they don't look up,"
" Haha, In that case, you still can win by crushing them with your excellent skill! Hahaha," the loud man shouted, then they all roared with laughter again.
" Well, well, it seems that you're having a good time here," Out of no where, Ogata staggered to their table, completely drunk.
" O..Ogata-Sensei!" the blonde cried out in panic.
" Hey, hey, don't freak out like that," Taking a seat opposite her, the man in a white suit snapped, with his head spinning around.
" You went out drinking with Ogata-Sensei?" Sawada asked the unfamiliar fat man who came with the drunken Jyudan.
" Yeah, it was on me, A big 10-Dans Celebration!" he answered.
" Ogata-Sensei, how is Touya-Sensei?" the man with black shirt wondered.
" He's busy. Many come to his house asking for a game," With blurry eyes, Ogata managed to answer the question, " Students, amateurs and pros too! He might be playing more now than before the retirement! Hahaha," he laughed.
Ogata Seiji was actually laughing, Hikaru was positive that it was the weirdest creepiest picture she had ever seen in this life . He reeks of booze! She mentally complained as she smelt the reek of beer and tobacco from him.
" Shindou, put out your fist," Showing her his fist, the 10-Dans instructed.
" Fist?" Frowning with doubt, the puzzled young pro put on her fist by instinct.
Ogata quickly unfolded his fist, letting her see his bare hand, " Ha! I win! Now you gotta grant me a wish!"
" What?" A wish?
" Ogata-Sensei is pretty drunk," Norihiro chuckled.
" Ogata-Sensei!" Hikaru cried out in alarm as the older pro suddenly leaned forward bringing his face close to her.
" Let me play with Sai," the intimidating man with bronze hair demanded.
Eh? " O..Ogata-Sensei, I told you before, I don't know Sai,"
" Ano…it's closing time," one of the organizers announced, " If you'd like to continue playing the game, you can take the board and the stone to play in your room and return it in the morning,"
Good timing! " Well, gentlemen, it's bed time," the hip pro spoke with a merry tone.
" Shindou, What about Sai?" Ogata moaned, " I want to play with him!"
" Show me your hand, Sensei," Hikaru told him as a brilliant plan had just crossed her mind.
" Huh?" the said Sensei uttered with bewilderment, yet, he did show her his hand.
Smiling, the admired blonde held up her hand making a V-sigh, " Here, I win!"
Realizing that the girl tricked him, Ogata protested with frustration, " Hey!"
" I win, so now, you have to do as I say," Ignoring his objection, Hikaru cut in, " You, Go to bed,"
" Huh?" Go to bed?
" It's quite late now, maybe we all should go back to our room and have some sleep," Morishima suggested sensibly.
" Actually, it's very late now," the girl corrected him. She turned to the drunken guy and told him with her sweet tone as if she was talking to a 5-year-old kid, " Now, be a good boy and go to bed,"
Did she just tell me to be a good boy? A Good Boy? Me? Ogata-Jyudan? Ogata raised his questioning eyebrows in disbelief as no one ever dared to tell him to be a good boy before. Taking a quick look at her, he saw her smiling innocently at him. Even he himself was surprised why he wasn't mad at her. He should have scolded her and scared her to death! But why didn't he do that? Maybe it was because she was Akira's friend, or maybe she too cute to be angry at," Okay then," Rising up, he said with an icy smirk, " I'll go to bed, I don't wanna be a bad boy anyway,"
" Haha, See? Even Ogata-Sensei can't refuse you!" the man with Polo shirt giggled, then the others just burst out into laughter. After that, they separated into their way to their own bedroom.
" Phew, that was close," Hikaru sighed lightly while she and Sai were on their way back to their room, " At first I thought that he was gonna ask for a game, Imagine, playing Go with that man at midnight in his bedroom!...Well, it's not that I was afraid that he would …err.., Let's just say that he's scary enough, and now he's drunk!" she babbled casually, " Come to think of it, I thought that he was going to kill me when I told him to be a good boy. I didn't think that he would actually go to bed as I asked," she giggled in a silly way, " Maybe he's not that scary,"
Hikaru, my dear Hikaru. Look at you, laughing gleefully, knowing nothing. How can I…How can I tell you that I'm going to disappear…that I will have to leave soon. Eyes welled up with tears of sorrow, Sai gazed at his sole sister. I'm sorry, Hikaru, I can't keep my promise. I have to leave you soon.
Next morning, Kyoto
" Good morning, Ogata-Sensei," an organizer greeted.
" Where's Shindou?" That was the 1st word coming from the Jyudan.
" Shindou? Oh, she doesn't have any assignment today so she went back to Tokyo this morning," the young man informed him.
" Is that so? Huh," Ogata mumbled, a cool smile slowly appeared on his insensitive face. He was a competitive man, he liked a challenging game…and he liked a challenging woman.
Tokyo, The Shindous' house, Hikaru's room
" I'm home," Hikaru sang as she entered the house. After greeting her mother, she went upstairs to her room. She really needed to get some sleep, just a short nap in the train on the way back wasn't quite enough.
" Haaah, so tired," Stretching her arms slothfully, she wearily laid down on her bed.
" Hikaru, Let's play a game," Sai told her serenely.
" Eh? But I'm so sleepy," Hikaru protested but when she saw the persistent look on his face, she gave in. She let out a sigh before saying tiredly, " Just a game, okay?" She got up, brought out the expensive Kaya Goban and sat down," Sit," she spoke with boredom, "Here," she played first.
The cheerless ghost took his regular seat opposite her and pointed at the board with his fan.
/Pachi/
/Pachi/
He secretly looked at his drowsy sister who was yawning idly and thought silently. 140 years ago, Torajiro lent me his body…If Torajiro existed for my sake, then I existed for Hikaru's sake….Then Hikaru too will exist for someone else, that person too will also exist for someone else. A thousand years, two thousands years…accumulates like this. The long path that continues to the Hand of God…My job is done…Hikaru, I have to tell her before I leave, " Hikaru," he called her softly.
" Huh?" Looking up, the blonde rubbed her sleepy eyes with her fingers.
" I had a great time," Sai said with a tear rolled down his face, " Be strong, My beloved sister,"
Everything happened so fast. All Hikaru knew was Sai said something very weird to her, something about being strong, giving her a really strange smile, the smile that she couldn't read if it was a happy smile or sad smile. Yes, it was such a weird unreadable smile like Mona Lisa's. As soon as her dead brother finished the line, he began to fade away rapidly. Hikaru instinctively immediately leaned across the board, reaching out her hand to catch the ghost. However,she grabbed nothing but empty air as she witnessed her beautiful Sai transformed into hundreds of untouchable glistening fireflies and quickly vanished into the air without any trace. Before she realized what was happening, it was over, all the time they had spent together was gone in a blink…just easily like that. No more Hikaru and Sai, Sai had gone…and this time he wouldn't come back.
A/N : Oh God! I end this chapter here! I feel so evil! And I'm proud of it! ( Grinning wickedly) I think at least Sai should say a word before he left, don't you think? Especially, Hikaru is a girl here, he shouldn't just…leave.
thuyhy-thuyhy: " you're just a tool of god " ...Is that a huge compliement or a heavy sarcism?
Mira-hime : I really enjoy writing about Akiko here.
TaiFengDragon and KazeKiryoku : chance to say goodbye in this fic..." Well, at least he says something, even if it's just a line.
Rebbi, Xiar andGiftfrombelow: Oh god, I make Sai disappear, I should take a cover right now before you start shooting me.
Kireshai-chan837: Thank you for the cookie and please don't kill me for making Sai disappear!
Kinlin: I really like Akiko too, my favorite line is " Does it kill to let me talk with my son's girlfriend?"
Kathy: I bet you really want to kill me now - -"
TKQ: " what's the point of fanfic if you write the story exactly like the anime" Well, actually I said this line for the 4th time, but I'll say it again. I only want to show how different people treat the girls and the boys, that's all, really, that's why the storyline is still the same. If you wanna read more about Sai, err..why don't you read " Fly me to Polaris", another fic by me :)
Karin : Kouyo? Umm, 55-60, I guess
Hikaru Kotobashi : I'm still waiting for your e-mail, don't forget to mail me :) Please, mail me, I wanna read Harukanaru!