The salon went quiet, nearly silent, from Touya's sudden outburst. The old men in the salon were staring with a mixture of shock, disbelief and confusion. Even Sai had frozen to stare at him, though with an expression that she didn't quite recognize. She looked around with her eyes, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the new attention. She fidgeted in her place, trying not to look at any of the shocked faces head on while keeping herself calm. Just what was this guy's deal?

"Um...Shindo Hikaru?" Hikaru said.

Hikaru pushed her chair in and straightened out, trying to act as normal as possible while trying to inch her way to the door while clutching her stuff tightly. She looked over at him and gulped when she saw him. Suddenly, those shining green eyes of his weren't beautiful anymore, but downright terrifying. If he looked at her any more intently, he would have pierced her soul with his intensity.

"Why have I never heard of you?" He asked, tearing his eyes away from her and down to the game they played.

'Sai, what's he talking about?' Hikaru asked.

'I believe he's talking about your skill, Hikaru.' Sai started. 'His skill is that beyond that of a normal child. Your win in the game must not have been something that he was expecting..'

'Great. So he's one of "those" prodigies that can't handle someone being better than them at something. I guess even Go has them.' Hikaru thought, suddenly feeling even more annoyed than before.

"Because we just met?" She said, rolling her eyes inwardly. "Look man, you're kind of freaking me out here. I don't know what I did to make you angry. If you didn't like the game, I'm sorry, but-"

"Didn't like the game?!" Touya whispered, though with his tone, if felt as if he yelled at her.

He stayed silent for a while. Hikaru stood there awkwardly, debating whether or not to bolt and draw more attention to herself.

Whispers started to be heard throughout the salon, most men asking each other what happened and who Hikaru was. A few were trying to look at their game from the nearby tables or overhead in the higher sections, only to be shocked by the closeness of the results. The whispers only grew louder the more she stayed there. The next question caught her off guard again.

"Are you an insei? Or studying under a pro?" His tone was almost accusing and he was back to glaring at her.

"A what?" She asked, trying to understand what he just said. "I'm not studying under anyone, unless you count my grandfather, but he only taught me the basics."

The words sounded familiar. Her grandfather had mentioned them on multiple occasions when she played him, but when he saw that she wasn't interested, he had dropped it after a week. Hikaru for the life of her couldn't recall what those were, though. Pro though...as in a professional? Sort of like her a professional artist like her mother? They had that for Go still?

Touya looked at her life she had grown a second head or if she was lying. Somehow, that stung more than his anger from before.

'This bitch.'

Another surge of annoyance grew in her chest. Hikaru at that point decided that she was done with that conversation. Before he could say anything else, she turned around and headed towards the door. She gave a small nod to the cashier woman, then turned around to wave to Touya. If she was going to leave this place, then she was going to leave like a boss.

"Thank you for the game, Touya-san. However, I can see that I'm not welcomed here. Goodbye."

And that was the most badass exit of her life. Or at least, it would have been a badass exit, if only she hadn't tripped on her boots and spilled the contents of her purse. Her face starting to turn red, she quickly picked up her stuff and bolted out the door before anyone had the chance to help her up. In her haste, she didn't notice the cards that she left behind on the floor of the salon.

2 hours later

"We're never going back there again, Sai." She said for the fifth time that hour, angrily sketching a random tree as she sat in the seats of the swings at the park near her house. "We're finding a new salon. One that's cheaper and doesn't have people like him in it."

Sai only sat beside her, looking lost in thought as he watched her make marks on the paper with accuracy and ease. Her anger was clearly showing in the sharpness of the curves.

"Stupid Touya Whatever His First Name Is! Probably thought that he could beat me easily because I'm a girl! Who does he think he is?!" She ranted.

'But Hikaru, you said that it didn't bother you if he underestimated you because you were woman.'

"WELL IT DOES NOW!" She shouted, earning the attention of a little boy walking with his mother, who quickly pretended not to see her. "I DON'T CARE THAT HE PLAYS AN AMAZING GAME OF GO OR IF HIS SCARY EYES ARE PRETTY ENOUGH TO DRAW! I REFUSE TO BE UNDERESTIMATED BY THAT...THAT...THAT BOY!"

She didn't even bother coming up with an insult this time. Sai sighed as he listened to her start to rant again and began to draw rapidly in her sketchbook, but smiled fondly as the fresh page's marks began to form the shape of the Touya boy and his "scary" eyes. He knew Hikaru well enough at this point to see the new fire being lit underneath the anger.

Meanwhile...

Akira stared at the game that he recreated a dozen times already. After studying it gor a while, he could see all the mistakes that his opponent had made that had thrown her off every time and the areas of improvement that he would have done. The play was old, almost as if from another era entirely and from what it seemed like, none of her moves had taken the Komi rule into consideration. However, as imperfect as the play was, one particular move had caught his attention.

8-5.

A move that had seemed to come out of nowhere, one that would have been considered a bad move by anyone he could ask. He had attacked it, of course, thinking nothing of a stone that served no purpose. That was, until nearly ten hands later, when that move had placed her stones in such a perfect position that had allowed her to not only make it an even game, but had ripped territory from him in the process.

How far did she read into the game that let her pull a move like that? Was it a big risk or was she controlling the game the entire time? Was this how strong she was and what potential did she have to unlock? And more importantly...

"Who are you, Shindo Hikaru?"