Hikaru no Monogatari Chapter 6, a hikaru no go fanfic

Chapter 6: Path of Tsumego

Kaga had never ever known a boy two years younger than he was, skinny and girly like Shindou Hikaru was capable to throw him to the ground. It was not as painful as he thought but the impact was enough to make him reeling and knocking his breath out of his lungs. He thought the boy was just a less jerkass version of Touya, but apparently he was horribly wrong because there was no way Touya Akira could do this to him. Not to mention looming over him like some sort of last boss in video game.

"I refuse." The boy repeated bluntly with a tone of finality.

"Shindou-kun!" Tsutsui squeaked, "You don't have to do that."

Shindou Hikaru huffed, "My apologies, but I don't like to be dragged around as you please."

'Hikaru… even though Kaga-kun kinda deserves it and anyone but Touya-kun will get the same fate if they dare to drag you around…" Sai trailed off, I think at least you should have make the apology sounds like one.'

'I have to make my displeasure known, didn't I?'

'Otouto, you're an expert on that.'

'Thank you.'

"But Tsutsui!" Kaga protested as he stood up slowly, "You begged me to help you to join this tournament! Now, you can join it as long as this brat is willing to play, you should try to convince him!"

Hikaru paused when he heard Tsutsui-san begged Kaga-san, from what he could see they shared some sort of restrained friendship and Tsutsui in spite of his meek look didn't seem to be someone who would easily beg to Kaga for anything.

"You don't want to play in this tournament anymore?! You're so sad when your family's business is on bad situation so you can't enter Kaio!" Kaga went on, "You want to join this go tournament more than anything!"

"I still do!" Tsutsui shot back, "But I don't want to trouble anyone for it! He has nothing to do with this!"

Hikaru frowned at Kaga and Tsutsui, "My apologies, but why you're so fixated in this team battle?"

Tsutsui swallowed, "Uhm… since you're dragged all the way here I think you have right to know…" He rubbed the back of his had sheepishly. "Kaga and I are old friends… well for three years at least and we had another friend who really liked go." Tsutsui murmured, "Sato… his older brother was an insei and alumnus of Kaio, he watched his brother playing in this tournament and he really wanted to join it with us but…"

Kaga scowled, "The idiot just have to be stupid enough when he helped a granny to cross a crowded street, so cliché and then an accident happened… that idiot Sato had to save the old woman rather than himself!"

Tsutsui smiled at Kaga, after all this year Kaga couldn't still get over the idiot's death that almost dragged him back to play go. "So… I really want to join this tournament with Kaga at least once…" He admitted in wistful voice.

Hikaru sighed as he steeled his heart the moment flooding sadness from Sai erupted on his mind. 'Hikaru… it's so sad! A promise to a friend to play Go together! Hic! Sob! Sob!'

He was really touched by the story but now he had to run to nearest water source, which fortunately not far from their location. It was a row of faucet Hikaru recalled installed in school for use after sport activity back when he was still in school and it served perfectly for him to hurl. It was fortunately he barely ate anything for lunch so he didn't throw up much, and quickly rinse his mouth afterward.

"Shindou-kun!" Tsutsui shouted in shock, "You're feeling unwell? Look Kaga! We can't force him!"

'I am so sorry Hikaru! I can't help it!'

'I understand ani-ue! Just… control yourself alright? Please!' Hikaru was still a little dizzy but he knew by experience if he didn't stop the source of his brother's discomfort and sadness, he would bound to be feeling ill for the rest of the day. "Tsutsui-san… give me the uniform." He requested, "I will play for you."

"But Shindou-kun!" Tsutsui protested.

Kaga tossed him a gakuran that was two sizes too big for him, "Couldn't you find one in my size?"

"Can't find one in your size, shrimp." Kaga smirked. "Now our team is complete!"

"Not so fast." Hikaru intoned as he wiped his wet mouth, "I will play for you and Tsutsui-san on one condition." He raised a forefinger.

Kaga scowled, "You are really one hell of trouble, brat." He gave Hikaru a resigned look and threw his arms to the air. "Fine! Whatever you want! Just ask!"

Hikaru smirked.

Headmaster's office

Akira wondered if the headmaster was out to torture him with suggesting joining Go club of Kaio, because there was no way in hell that was going to work. He could imagine it was not respect and awe he would receive but plain jealousy and hostility. At best they would act civil around him. He had seen the look Inseis shot him, and he couldn't imagine Go club members who undoubtedly was in lower level than Insei would accept him.

Beside he'd rather sped his afterschool time with Shindou.

Maybe he was indeed growing clingy to his friend, but considering he had been depraved of companionship of a friend his age almost all his life it was inevitable. Maybe…

"I… will consider it, Kochou-sensei." He said to the plump old man who used to be his father's homeroom teacher.

Kochou-sensei smiled gently to him. "I am glad to hear that Touya-kun."

Tournament Room

The nerve of Kaga Tetsuo to shove him to this position! He agreed to play for them, but not playing the first board for them! There was nothing he could do though, since Kaga and Tsutsui had claimed the first two seats and he had no choice but played the first board. He didn't even remember the name of school Haze went against in the first round, but the game was announced to begin and all he could do was starting game preparation. He checked the goke, he had white so he grabbed a fistful of stones. His opponent won black so he got white.

Then again the decision to join the game was made in a spur of moment between his sympathy for Tsutsui and automatic response to make his ghost tutor happy. In short, Hikaru had no plan how he should play this game or what he should do if his body was acting up.

'Hikaru, should I take over for you?' Sai asked.

'In an official tournament like this?' Hikaru almost squeaked mentally, 'If the kifu is recorded and recognized as Sai like we're doomed if it got traced!' His brother's style was too distinctive, and he doubted very much after a thousand years playing in the same style his brother could switch without slipping in occasion.

Sai deflated, 'You're right… how about you Hikaru? If people find out that you're Kou…'

'I am still young and inexperienced… I can just avoid using old joseki and… perhaps if I didn't win too much I will be fine?'

'Hikaru… you're rambling... and what do you mean by not winning too much?'

'The game started already!'

"Your guidance please." Somehow Hikaru managed to say the greeting with the calmest stone he could muster.

Twenty hands later Hikaru couldn't help but frowning. 'Ani-ue… this is the first board right?'

Sai nodded, 'Yes, and I have to agree…' He trailed off.

'He is even weaker than Sasaki-san!' Who somehow stuck in 10 kyu level since forever and was the weakest in his study group. Hikaru wanted to cry, 'Why the level of competition is this low?! I feel like playing handicapped game!' Hikaru spared a brief glance at the two boards beside him. 'Uhm… the other two is not much better… Kaga-san and Tsutsui-san will win without sweat.'

'I ought to say the difference is skill is too big.' Sai admitted in forlorn tone. 'Hikaru… it can't be helped.'

Pachi

Hikaru tapped the clock with a sigh, 'I guess so.'

The game ended pretty quickly in all three boards, Tsutsui won with small margin and Kaga by resignation. However it was Hikaru's board that baffled them.

His opponent groaned when they finished counting territory. "Half a moku lost! Man! So unlucky!"

Hikaru gave his opponent a curt bow, "Thank you for the game." He patted his chest, he felt fine, no difficulty to breathe and his fingers didn't feel heavy. He could feel frustration radiating from his opponent but nothing worse as it seemed like he won by stroke of luck. So he would be fine if he won by half a moku. But if the next opponent was tougher he had to find another way.

"Oi! You…" Before Kaga could say another word he was silenced by a sharp jab to his side. "Ugh!" Then before he could regain his bearing, Hikaru dragged him to a secluded corner after he excused themselves to their opponents politely. The said opponents could only stare and wondered what the hell happened.

Tsutsui followed them in fear Hikaru was going to beat Kaga up, he had come to realize Kaga was the one who would be in the receiving end if the two got violent. "Shindou-kun."

"Kaga-san, please be quiet!" Hikaru hissed. "You almost protest my play in front of that crowd, are you nuts?"

Kaga bristled as he nursed his aching side, "The one who is nut here is you! Shindou! You could have slaughter that weakling but you play shidougo with him, and you dare to win by half a moku to boot!"

Tsutsui gaped at Hikaru, "That was a set up?!"

"Of course! Tsutsui… this guy." Kaga hissed, pointing at Hikaru who snorted at him in response. "He could give lower dan pro a run for their money! There was a chance of a snowball in hell that weak guy could make him fight for real!"

Hikaru sighed wearily, "I don't like attention… and I will definitely hate it if I wipe the board off of their stones. I won and that's enough… that guy didn't need me to win by large margin, I don't like playing viciously against those who can't take it."

"This coming from the guy who almost killed majority of my formation before he resigned." Kaga grumbled exasperatedly. "Then again… I don't get you geniuses, maybe you're all just the same."

"You're entitled to your opinion." Hikaru returned coolly. "But I…" He clenched his fist. "I don't like it either…" He murmured the last sentence under his breath.

Kaga frowned at him, "What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Headmaster's office

"So when do you plan to take pro exam, Touya-kun?" Kochou-sensei asked curiously.

Depended on when Shindou was ready actually. "Uhm… I am still looking for the right time; I am in no rush to start my career." He answered with a smile while inwardly Akira couldn't stop himself from wondering when this person had enough talking. It felt like hours already!

"I would love to invite your father once in a while… we used to play go quite often when I was his teacher." He said fondly, drowning in his nostalgia.

Akira felt like he wanted to cry because that was the third time Kochou-sensei talked about how his father used to play with the headmaster few decades ago. When this torture was going to end?

Back to the tournament

Hikaru's worries that his next opponent was going to be much stronger and he would be unable to play shidougo was for nothing. As apparently their next opponent was just slightly better and it saddened Hikaru that the level of competition was this low. It was no wonder that online Japan was a laughing stock before he and his brother made their debut. In term of new generation China had both quantity and quality, Korea had no quantity but they had quality in spades, Japan lost in both.

'Hic! To think when I played with Torajirou, China and Korea player came to study under him!' Sai wept.

'Yeah… no wonder I was hunted down by Go Institute.' Hikaru thought grimly. 'Thank god, Touya manage to get his father to keep Ogata-pro from spilling my secret.'

Pachi

The last stone was placed and Hikaru couldn't help but wondered why the Go instructor who stood beside his opponent didn't notice a thing.

"Half a moku lose…" His opponent moaned. "Thank you for the game."

"Ishida." The tutor hissed and Hikaru tensed. "You should have cut that shape on the right bottom! You could have gotten two more moku!"

Hikaru couldn't believe what he heard, "That's not possible." Hikaru said as he rearranged the game to follow the suggested scenario. "If he do that, I will respond like this… that move will open a path for me to attack this cluster and he will lose by five moku instead… his choice to defend is right." He explained. "And in five hands, he will be forced to resign to boot."

In instant six pairs of eyes were locked to him, and Hikaru regretted his slip up. "Uhm…" Then he quickly dragged his teammates away. "Guys! Let's start reviewing our game over there!" He said with faked cheeriness.

Kaga sighed as he reluctantly followed Shindou to run away to that secluded corner he seemed to love so much, "You know… you're not going to be in this problem, if you just wiped the floor with them."

Tsutsui swallowed, "But…"

"I can't." Hikaru choked out, damn now he felt a little ill because the last opponent was more than a little frustrated over that half a moku lost. A win was still a win and the one who lose would feel bad regardless of how bad it was.

"Shindou-kun!" Tsutsui called him, "You're a little pale, are you feeling ill?"

"He what?" Kaga almost shouted, "He was fine just now!"

Hikaru shook his head, "The final is going to start soon…" Just one more match, one more! "We have another game starting soon."

"But you are…"

Hikaru eyed Tsutsui with a look that made the older boy quickly the argument that was bubbling on his throat. Hikaru turned towards Kaga. "Remember, I also have something at stake here… I… I will play and win the next one even if it kills me."

Kaga was stunned and cowed by that statement, "Shindou… of all things to ask me that, and you seems like you're going to a life and death match for it! What's with you and Touya Akira?"

Hikaru just smiled at him and said, "Who knows? Maybe I will tell you after the next game."

"The final match between Haze Middle School and Kaio Middle School is about to begin! Both school's representatives please come forward!"

That was their cue and nothing Kaga and Tsutsui could do but followed their younger teammate, for whatever reason he played for them Kaga and Tsutsui were determined to not waste the chance he had given to them. This was also for their friend who couldn't make it, they had to play for his share too.

The first thing Kishimoto realized when he sat across Haze's first board was it was very likely, the green eyed boy was the youngest. His fingers were calloused and his nails were flat, even more so than Kishimoto's. This was the hand of an experienced go player, and it alarmed Kishimoto's instinct to prepare for a hard battle. He couldn't afford to underestimate this boy, young or not, beside wasn't Touya Akira around the same age as this boy? A year younger, he recalled.

The opponent in front of him seemed to realize Kishimoto was observing his hand, and Kishimoto was pleased to see understanding dawned on those unusual green colored eyes.

'Hikaru… this boy is looking at your hand.' Sai said in nervous voice.

'I can tell.' Hikaru sighed inwardly, 'It seems it wouldn't be as easy as my previous match.'

Hikaru looked up to the older boy and he could see a brief glimpse of challenge on his opponent's eyes. He checked his goke, he had black with him so he picked two stones and placed it on the goban. Soon a handful of white stones followed. His opponent separated two stones at a time from the pile and they had no leftover. Hikaru won black and his opponent would play white.

"Your guidance please." They chorused, and the game began.

Pachi (4.3 Komoku)

The moment the first stone was placed, Kishimoto quickly regretted not joining their second board to observe Haze's previous matches. That was a masterful way of handling the stone, elegant even and that alone made Kishimoto very curious of what kind of game this person played before.

Pachi

Kishimoto claimed the another unoccupied komoku

Pachi

Not even twenty hands later Hikaru quickly realized this was not an opponent he could play shidougo with. He could be subtle but that way he couldn't win. This person was not as good as he and Touya, but good enough to put a fight against them. If he didn't play seriously to win, he won't be able to win.

'Hikaru…' Sai murmured behind his fan, 'No, I can't replace him for this game… Hikaru want to win this no matter what. I am not that foolish to offer my assistance now…'

Hikaru swallowed, and smiled inwardly as he recalled his struggle all these years against himself. Come to think of it, he never tried to get pass his limit willingly. He should have tried that, regardless of how painful it was. After all, didn't Touya tried to so hard for him? Why couldn't he try to do the same at least? Touya seemed to believe as long as he worked hard for it, he could get anything he wanted.

Sometimes… Hikaru was so envious of Touya who could work as hard as he could and believe his hard work would bear fruit in the end.

'Ne, Touya… maybe I will start to do what you do… and perhaps I can be one step closer to you instead of standing still and make you wait like an idiot.' Hikaru looked up and took a deep breath, his hand gripped his fan tightly. 'Here I go…'

Sai now was close to apoplectic, never mind he was already dead. Why of why whenever it involved Touya-kun, his brother tended to do stupid things?!

Headmaster's office

After a long painful talk that was pretty much not so informative, and more like a long yawn inducing storytelling from the headmaster at last God took pity on him and he was allowed to excuse himself out of the office. Akira suppressed his urge to groan when the headmaster insisted to escort him out of the school. It didn't help on their way out the headmaster once again repeated the same talk over again.

"Your father used to play Go with me, and that time the building is still small and made of wood." Kochou-sensei said with a fond smile, "It's not as beautiful and clean like now… and there used to be a haunted building over there…"

Akira silently followed Kochou-sensei, his jacket tucked under his arm. They reached the shoe locker area, and when he was about to change his shoes Kochou-sensei called him. "Touya-kun, would you like to take a look at our inter-school tournament?"

"Actually I…"

The Meijin's son stealthily stole a look at his watch, it was almost four in the afternoon and Shindou would be at home by now. There would be a go convention tomorrow and he wanted to inform Shindou about it so they could go together. He also wanted to play a game too.

"Touya-kun? The room is over there…" Kochou-sensei beckoned him to come.

There was no way out from this, perhaps he had to settle on calling Shindou on phone about it instead of visiting.

"Yes, I would love to watch." He drawled, at least he owed this much to indulge the headmaster.

Tournament room

The game was almost reaching chuugen and for some reason he was already feeling sick in his stomach.

Pachi (Kosumi)

Pachi

Pachi (Hiraki)

Perhaps that was because he was playing this game with anticipation of doing it at full strength, and that was why he was already straining himself mentally just by the thought of it. However he couldn't back down now, especially against a serious opponent like this.

Pachi

Pachi (Hiraki)

Pachi

Pachi (Atari)

Hikaru reached out to pluck the surrounded white stones out of the goban and placed it on the goke's lid. He was leading by a few mokus so far, then again he was never one to lead by too much gap from the start. At this state he didn't think he could be picky at how he played, he had used a lot of old moves of Shusaku out of habit. The plan to look like an ordinary player had gone to drain at this point.

Kishimoto eyed his opponent briefly before his attention was back to goban, he knew he was left behind by few mokus. He still had a chance to close the gap. However this boy, all attacks he tried to launch was deflected perfectly. Haze's first board's defense was so solid; it was like trying to ram a wall with his body.

Pachi

Ten hands later they reached chuugen and Kishimoto could almost feel it in his bone that he was going to lose. If at first he thought he was just going against a strong opponent, now he was perfectly aware he was playing against superior opponent. This was the first time he felt like this since he became the first board of Kaio, feeling the impeding lose and not willing to admit it anytime soon.

Yun couldn't take his eyes off of the first board game, usually he believed in Kishimoto who was their strongest player and paid more attention to the other boards. However Kishimoto's opponent's play was a sight to behold, this kind of unique and enchanting play was not supposed to belong to a child, one who couldn't be older than thirteen to boot. However Yun could see from the way this child was holding his stone, steady and elegant like a master player. To think a child like this existed, he thought only Touya Akira was capable of this kind of play in this young age.

However…

At first he thought he was just his imagination but whenever he pried his eyes off of the goban , the child, a long haired boy at that; Haze's first board was sweating, even though he had made sure the heater was not too warm because the room supposed to be pretty crowded. The boy was also holding his fan tightly, a peculiar item for a child to have.

When the game reached chuugen, Yun could already see the difference in skill. However there was no way competitive Kishimoto would admit defeat unless he was cornered really badly to be forced to resign.

And now Yun could say it was not his imagination the boy had become paler and paler by each passing second, his breathing was uneven and he was swaying a little on his seat. Yun opened his mouth, he was going to interrupt the game, as amazing as it was he had to do it if the boy was unwell. However a look from those intense green orbs silenced him, 'I don't want to stop here! Don't stop this game!' Those eyes said to him.

So all Yun could do was forcing his mouth to stay still, while inwardly he was fighting against himself as a teacher and go player. The teacher in him wanted to stop the child from continuing the game, but the go player wanted to respect the boy's wish to keep playing.

Akira followed Kochou-sensei to a large classroom that reserved for Kaio's go club, and Kochou-sensei noted it was only the final game was left. He was surprised to see so many people was crowding around the players, there shouldn't be too many audience left at this point. It seemed the game was still going and pretty heated at that. He entered the room and suddenly he had a very bad feeling as he tried to push through the crowd. His eyes widened in shock when he got to the front, and spotted a familiar two toned haired go player.

'Shindou! Why is he doing here and… he is playing?!'

Akira was about to walk towards the first board but a hand stopped him. "Oi!" An unfamiliar red haired boy hissed at him. "What are you trying to do Touya?! You're going to interrupt his game!"

"This game has to be stopped." He hissed back. "Let me go!"

"And he will want you to do that?!" The stranger asked cynically.

Akira stopped at that and looked at the first board, he didn't know why but for a split second his eyes met Shindou's. His eyes widened in shock when he noticed how pale his friend was and how those intense green eyes looked unfocused, but Akira somehow managed to make out there was a warning look. 'Don't you dare to stop me, Touya.'

And just like that he stayed rooted on his feet.

He started to hallucinate, and he was seeing Touya of all people, wearing the same expression when he collapsed for the first time in front of his friend. Perhaps that was his mind telling him that he was reaching his limit, and how Touya would be angry if he knew this. His friend was such a worrywart, although Hikaru couldn't blame Touya to be worried of him.

Pachi

His opponent's turn ended, now it was his. Fingers dug to the goban and he picked a stone. It felt so heavy, he had done this for thousands and millions of times and he had never imagined a tiny stones could be this heavy and his fingers were shaking to lift it. His sight was also getting hazy, as he surveyed the double image of the goban.

Ten, twenty, thirty steps ahead… he could read how the formation would look like by then but his head was pounding as he calculated the endless possibilities and narrowed it down.

Pachi! (hiraki)

By twenty hands later, that move would be a start for invading the right side. By now it just looked like a pointless move.

After he placed his stone, his right hand slowly hovered back to the goke while his other hand gripped the side of the chair as hard as he could. "Kuh…" His breath was wheezing now and the pain was almost unbearable. He had to control his breathing, don't let the pain to take over his control. He didn't want to slaughter his opponent again! He wanted to play against them!

Slowly but steadily the stones filled the goban and Hikaru could almost see his strategy was falling into place.

Pachi

Kishimoto's eyes widened when he saw the whole board as one, his formation on the right side was falling apart and if he didn't do something it will die!

Pachi!

It was a good defensive move his opponent made but Hikaru had every intention to hold onto his lead and he placed the hand he knew would seal the game. The stone was even heavier now, but… he was going to muster all his strength to place it. He had to do this to move on, at least a little, a step closer to the hand of God, to Touya…

Pachi!

Kishimoto's finger was about to dig to his goke but stopped when he realized that last move had effectively cut his escape off. There was still some hands he could play but the lost was inevitable, there was no way to turn this game around no matter how he tried to look at it. So this was it, he had tried his best but in the end this was as far as he could go.

"Makemashita… I resign." He choked out as tears started to fall from his eyes. He shouldn't have cried because he perhaps had played the most amazing game he ever did since he started playing go. His opponent had played so beautifully and he had put an admirable fight in spite of knowing the existing gap in skill. Perhaps it was tears of happiness mixed with slight frustration that he couldn't go farther.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he didn't have to look up to know whose hand it belonged to. "Yun-sensei."

"That's the best game I have ever seen from you, Kishimoto-kun." Yun-sensei said to him with benign smile, "You have played beautifully…"

He nodded, "Yes, Yun-sensei…"

"Ari…gato… thank you for the game…" A weak voice said which drew their attention to Haze's first board.

That was when Kishimoto realized his opponent looked very ill, sweating, uneven breathing and pale complexion. That was a shocking sight and Kishimoto wondered how he could miss that even though his attention was totally focused on their game. However if that was not enough shock, before he or Yun-sensei could move to help the obviously sick boy, sound of clatter and pained yelp drew their attention.

"Shindou!"

Yun gaped when he saw a young boy he had seen a couple of times in Go weekly, the son of Touya Meijin and famous young prodigy, Touya Akira had shoved a red haired boy out of his way. Considering Haze's second board was much taller and had wider built it was shocking where Touya Akira had that much strength to shove the older boy to the crowd.

"Shindou! Hikaru!" Touya Akira shouted and it took Yun a moment to realize the prodigy was calling out for Haze's first board. He looked panic, so worried, and Yun could see tears started to pool on his eyes. "Give him some space! Move!" Voice of a young boy shouldn't be able to sound like thundering in this crowded room, but Touya's did and in instant the audience moved away from Haze's first board.

That was when the boy almost fell from his chair but Touya managed to catch him on time. "Hikaru, please breathe slowly!" He said as he mimicked how Yasuda-san positioned his friend before, sitting straight with his chin up to breathe easier.

"Haa ah…" Yun cursed himself for missing a lot of things, the boy was having a difficulty to breathe and very likely halfway of the game he was already sick.

Akira quickly unbuttoned the oversized gakuran, and quickly stripped Hikaru off of it. Hikaru couldn't breathe and so why he was wearing so many layers of clothes?! "Tou… Akira?" It seemed it was not only him who slipped off of formality, but he didn't care. "I… won? I… can… hh… ah… play…"

"Quiet Hikaru!" Akira didn't want to snap at his friend, but the idiot had this bad habit of keep talking when he should concentrate to inhale oxygen instead of wasting it. "Talk later, breathe now!"

Hikaru gave Akira a tentative nod, and he barely noticed Akira was rummaging his pocket for his medicine. Whether it was his hallucination or not, he could only hope he survived Akira's wrath for his idiocy later.

Kaga never imagined he could fear Touya Akira when goban was nowhere in sight, but now he learned the younger boy could be terrifying without a goban when Shindou Hikaru was concerned. It was because of Touya was hovering beside Shindou's bed in infirmary that neither he nor Tsutsui dared to step inside. In fact even Yun-sensei, the go instructor was very wary when approaching the go prodigy about contacting his parents and Shindou's.

Much to Kaga's surprise, Touya knew Shindou well enough to inform Yun-sensei that Shindou's grandfather had been informed and trusted Touya to take care of his grandson because Shindou's grandfather was in Shinkansen now to visit a relative in Kyoto. Touya also had contacted someone to pick him and Shindou, and he will stay in Shindou's house tonight to take care of the long haired boy.

From outside of the infirmary Kaga could only see Touya's profile, but that was enough for him to notice Touya's cheek had leftover of tear stain and his eyes were puffy. Touya Akira had cried and it was for his friend, apparently the prodigy was more human than he thought.

He was caught off guard when Touya turned to his direction and noticed he was staring. Kaga swallowed heavily when he saw the Go prodigy for a moment looked reluctant to leave Shindou's side but his eyes gained steely glint as he marched towards Kaga and Tsutsui. The boy was barely reaching their shoulder in height but under his intense gaze, Kaga and Tsutsui couldn't help but felt cowed.

"Haze's uniform…" Touya Akira eyed their uniform, "Can someone enlighten me why Shindou played as your teammates, when he clearly not going to Haze and in sixth grade to boot?"

Now Kaga started to miss the ignorant prodigy Touya used to be instead of this cold and scathing teen. "Well…" He trailed off.

Tsutsui bowed deeply, "We're so sorry! We shouldn't ask him to help us… " And Kaga almost stumbled when Tsutsui pulled him down to bow, to bow at Touya! However Kaga had no strength to put up a fight, and perhaps he deserved this. "We… really want to join this tournament but we don't have enough member! Shindou-kun is kind enough to help us and…"

Touya usually would have felt chagrined at the display from someone older, but he was too angry to feel embarrassed. "Ask? Shindou…" He gritted out, "He is not someone who will easily giving in just because someone ask or beg him to play for them!"

Enraged Touya was scary, and he looked ready to spit fire at them if Kaga didn't say something in their defense. "Well… because he got something out of this." Poor choice of words, but Kaga just wanted the guy to know so he didn't want to mince his words.

"And pray tell what is it he got out of this?!" His voice was rising in volume, and Kaga could see Touya's patience was rapidly thinning.

"He wants me to play a game with you and sort our problem..." Kaga explained in one breath.

He expected Touya to snap at him but apparently his statement caught Touya off guard because he definitely didn't expect anything Shindou got out of this was involving him.

"Or just talk and explain." Kaga added, "He didn't care how, he just want me to sort my problem with you."

"You!" Apparently it didn't take long for Touya to regain his fire. "Have problem with me?! Then why did you involve Shindou?!"

"Whoaa! Did you pay attention to what I said?" Kaga raised his hands in placating gesture, "He made me try to sort my problem with you! I myself didn't see the point but Shindou insisted he will only play for us if I come to you, play a game or whatever to sort my problem with you." Kaga corrected.

Touya gritted his teeth, "I don't care what your problem with me… and it hurts my friend!"

"I don't want to care either! That guy is the one who force me to care!" Kaga shot back. "And I ask him to play Go with us, not playing until he collapse! He could have resigned when he was feeling unwell! We're not that obsessed to win to the point we don't care of his wellbeing!"

"Right!" Tsutsui supported Kaga. "When he started feeling unwell we told him to resign anytime but he…"

"Of course he didn't!" Touya shouted indignantly. "If there is one thing Shindou forget to learn in Go, it's when he have to resign in serious game!"

"Touya… tone it down." A familiar voice said.

"Quiet Shindou!" Akira snapped then stopped on his track before he turned around to see his friend leaning against the door frame of infirmary. "What are you doing?! Get back to bed!"

Hikaru rubbed his temple, "Don't shout Touya! This is not your father's go salon, and not my house so keep your voice down!" He hissed, still a little cranky because of his headache.

Sai had explained what happened when he was asleep, his ghost tutor was forced to wake him up when he heard Touya started shouting. Sai was right because Touya's fuse was pretty short when he was involved and Kaga was prone to be rough. It seemed he caught them just in time before it got worse.

Kaga couldn't suppress his snort when he saw Touya was flushing a deep red when Hikaru chastised him.

"Geeze… and I keep telling you to pick location when you start shouting." Hikaru rubbed his head; his long hair was a little messy after taking a nap.

"And I think you really need to go back to sleep." Touya shot back, "The infirmary will close at six, so you have twenty minutes to rest and Ichikawa-san will pick us up by then. We will talk later."

Hikaru shook his head, "No, I think we should talk now so I can clear a few things up for you." Touya opened his mouth to argue but Shindou cut him off. "Now, I played for them on my own will and I get to make Kaga-san over there to do me two favors in exchange and one of it is..."

"I don't care what his problem with me is but if it makes you…"

Hikaru cut Touya off again. "I want you to care, and I ask you to care as your friend."

Touya swallowed heavily and Kaga could see his resolve waning. "Fine, but pry tell why you have to force yourself to win the last one… you can't set up a narrow half moku win against Kaio's first board like you did the last two…" All of them could hear his displeasure when he said it. "Why don't you just resign, you usually would when you start feeling unwell… it's not worth it to force yourself and you know that!"

Shindou averted his eyes from Touya's, "I don't want to talk about it here… later?"

"Fine." Touya relented. "I am going to stay over at your house tonight, we can talk later." Then he glanced at Kaga, "So, now… can someone explain the problem you have with me? Because… I have no idea."

Kaga looked appalled for a moment before he gave Touya a resigned look. "Well… I think I should be angry for you to forget about it, because it scar me for life but then again… you're five… that's seven years ago. There's no way you're going to remember…"

Shindou rolled his eyes, "Right… and you're the one who still angry at that five years old Touya."

"I still don't get it." Touya admitted. "I think that was around the time when my father started to forbid me from joining amateur tournament…"

Kaga sighed exasperatedly and took a deep breath, "Should I lose?" Akira tensed at that, "Did that line ring any bell Touya Akira?" Kaga smirked at him, "Or how about this? Strong players are strong; there is nothing we can do about it… I will just beat you and be number one so prepare yourself."

"That…" A hazy memory flashed in his mind, when he overheard a father scolding his son for being number two and how the father threatened the son with not allowing him to go home if he lost against Akira again. "I…" He remembered that he indeed said that to the older boy, someone he had forgotten, just one of many faces of people he played in the past.

Kaga scratched his cheek, "You're a hypocrite. You sounded unhappy about Shindou setting up his victory to fixed score. You and Shindou both set up a narrow half a moku difference, he took the victory but you the other way around…" He shook his head, "Man… that time I thought I was your rival, but apparently you didn't think so. I worked hard on my Go and you didn't take me seriously at all…" Then he glanced at Shindou, "But looking at this guy… he is the one you're looking for, another genius. You seem to think you're above everyone but him."

Now he could remember clearly, of the red haired boy who used to play with him in that go school He wanted to explain why he let the boy to win that game, he was not looking down at anyone! That was disrespectful! But… Akira for the life of him couldn't deny Shindou was special, and he only saw Shindou as his rival. What should he say to this person?

Seeing Akira's obvious discomfort Hikaru stepped forward and Akira instinctively inched closer to him. It was easy to see Akira had no idea how to explain himself. He better took responsibility, as he was the one who forced Kaga into this. Apparently the he overestimated the older boy's maturity and intelligence.

He took a deep breath, "Kaga-san, let me explain to you how Touya's mind works." He offered in serious tone. "When he overheard your conversation with your father and offer to lose against you, I don't think hurting your pride crossed his mind at all…" Hikaru tapped his temple, "I did ask you when that happened… it was on early February." He intoned. "In winter…" He added, "And your father threatened to leave you outside if you lose again." Hikaru listed on dryly of what Kaga told him on why the older boy hated Touya. "What do you think Touya… a five years old Touya would feel if he beat you fair and square in exchange of making you freeze to death in that cold winter season?"

Kaga looked taken back before he scowled, "That threat is not real… come on, my dad is a bastard but he is not stupid to leave his kid to freeze to death!"

Hikaru snapped, "Five years old!" He gritted his teeth, "You think, Touya knew that?! Is your head is just decoration? You're expecting a five years old boy to know your father was making an empty threat, and he was unknowingly hurting your pride with losing on purpose?!" He drawled in incredulous tone. "There was absolutely no way he knew! Think of what kind of adult he knew since he was a child! Do you think there's anyone like your father?"

"Fucking unlikely." Kaga admitted, wincing inwardly as he began to see the real problem between him and Touya.

"Then! Do you think it even cross Touya's mind your father was just making empty threat? Of course not!" Shindou growled in low tone, "I am not saying you were completely wrong and Touya was completely innocent, but you should be reasonable! You're so caught up on your own assumption and you didn't think from Touya's perspective!"

Then Kaga realized at some point Touya Akira, the all and mighty prodigy had scooted very close to Shindou and was almost hiding behind his friend. He also wore this guilty look that if it even possible made Kage felt more like a jerk than Shindou's words did. No, he didn't feel like a jerk because he was indeed a jerk for hating a boy who only wanted to save him from freezing to death.

"Beside…" Shindou started to talk again and Kaga feared what he was going to say next. "Touya… genius or not I really doubt at five you can fix score to be as precise as a half moku, or you really did it?" He queried as quirking an eyebrow at his friend.

Touya shook his head, "Uhm… I did lose on purpose, and the only example I have seen at that point was my father's forced tie game… I tried it because since Kaga-san played white he had 5.5 moku bonus so…" He flushed red. "I miscalculated…"

Kaga wanted a hole to open and swallow him, because he just realized it was pretty unrealistic to think a kid, genius or not could set the game up so perfectly. So he won by half a moku was not because little Touya was too prideful to give him more than that, it was merely because the kid tried to set a forced tie, miscalculated and ended up losing only by that miniscule gap.

Shindou let out an exasperated sigh, and Kaga could see Tsutsui was torn between apologizing again and scolding him. "Now that we cleared that out, can you sort your problem with Touya already?"

Kaga nodded and much to their shock he fell on his knees with his forehead touching the ground, "I am so sorry Touya! I am the biggest jerk on earth! I humbly request your forgiveness!"

Touya stammered, "Kaga-san! You don't have to go that far!"

"Kaga?!" Tsutsui squeaked in disbelief.

"Touya." Shindou called his friend, "Your answer, he seems like he will go on like that unless you say the right respond."

The go prodigy stuttered, "Oh! I… I forgive you! It's partly my fault too! Please! Stand up Kaga-san!" He pleaded.

Kaga raised his head to look up for a moment before his forehead was back to the ground. "I am also sorry for making Shindou played in this tournament."

"That's…"

Shindou cut him off, "That's my business, I am the one who will be doing some serious groveling to Touya once we are home."

"Shindou!" Touya looked appalled by the prospect.

"Later, Touya…" Shindou rubbed the back of his head, "So, can you get up now Kaga-san? I ask you to sort your problem with Touya and it sorted now. As for second favor you promised…" Shindou trailed off with a grin. "You and Tsutsui-san will agree to play go with us at least once a week, whether it's in Touya's go salon or my house…"

Tsutsui beamed at that, "Really?! Play with you and Touya-kun? That's… wonderful!" That was not a favor, it was like winning lottery! A grand prize!

"What?!" Kaga stood up abruptly, "I didn't expect that but… fine! I want to play with you and Touya again anyway…" He admitted sheepishly.

"I would like that too…" Touya murmured timidly.

Kaga looked at Touya and realized this boy was not anti-social or cold, judging from the way he latched on Shindou, it was easy to tell Shindou was his only friend. It was understandable though, unlike most people around the go prodigy, Shindou saw him as Touya Akira and he didn't expect the other boy to be anything but himself. Shindou saw the good and bad side of Touya Akira and didn't judge. Shindou didn't jump to conclusion about Touya like Kaga did, he learned to know Touya and vice versa.

It was not just skill in go Touya saw in Shindou, but also friendship.

Man, how he could compete with that?

It seemed this time he had been thoroughly defeated by them both, and strangely Kaga was fine with that.

It was ten minutes later after Kaga and Tsutsui went home, Ichikawa-san was delayed a little by traffic, the two go players chose to wait for Ichikawa on the bench near Kaio's entrance.

"By the way…" Hikaru trailed off, "Why you're here Touya? I thought I was seeing things when I saw you."

Akira blinked at him, "I want to ask that to you too? I saw you once on the entrance, I thought… I was hallucinating because of that 'stalking you' joke." Akira rubbed his temple.

"That's a joke." Hikaru stated in stern tone, "And to answer your question I was…"

"Shindou-kun!" Hikaru tensed at the newly familiar voice. "I heard you collapse! What happened?"

Akira titled his head to the side and saw a white haired teacher, dressing in white shirt and plain blue pants. "Ah?" The headmaster and Yun-sensei was with the younger teacher too.

"Fubuki-sensei." Shindou greeted him, "Good evening… I…"

Fubuki smiled at the long haired boy, "Well, it seems you're fine now… and I am looking forward to show you around in two weeks."

Shindou swallowed nervously at that, "Uhm… Fubuki-sensei, shouldn't you have heard about uhm… my involvement in winter tournament just now? I thought… my scholarship would be cancelled because of that."

"Nonsense!" Fubuki shook his head, then turned to headmaster. "Kochou-sensei, Shindou-kun still deserves his scholarship… right?"

The headmaster wiped his sweat, "Well… but perhaps since that's…"

Touya's eyes widened in shock, "You're going to enroll in Kaio too?"

"Too?" Shindou echoed before it dawned on him, "Oh… but it seems my scholarship is going to be cancelled because of this mess…" He trailed off in resigned tone.

"Well, it's a pity but if even before he enrolls this boy has start breaking rules, I don't think…" The headmaster trailed off.

"Kochou-sensei!" Akira stood up abruptly from his seat, "I will pull out from Kaio if Shindou is not accepted." He declared boldly.

"What?" The headmaster gaped. "Touya-kun, but that's…"

Hikaru gaped at his friend, "What are you saying Touya? You can't do that!"

"I can." He corrected nonchalantly, "Okaa-san told me that it's fine if I want to withdraw in Kaio and join whichever school you're going to enroll. Sure, you illegally joined that tournament, but you also present them a wonderful final game… Haze is disqualified anyway, so no harm done."

"Yes, he played beautifully." Yun-sensei chimed in, "It would be a shame if you're not accepted to Kaio, and beside I have heard from Haze team why you joined them…" He drawled with a soft smile on his lips. "I don't think it's a habit of Shindou-kun to break rules…"

Fubuki grinned at his colleague, "So… headmaster, Shindou-kun still deserves that scholarship we promised, right?" He pressed on; at the time like this his connection with board governor was very useful.

It was easy to see at that point of time the headmaster had resigned from the game.

Ichikawa-san's car

"You guys are going to enroll in Kaio together in spring?!" Ichikawa Harumi exclaimed in delight. "Congratulations! How wonderful!" She said as looking at them. "Kaio uniform will look good on you two! Please let me drop you off on the first day of school! I want to take picture!"

Touya stammered, "Ichikawa-san!"

"Eyes on the road!" Shindou finished. "It's red! Red!"

Ichikawa fortunately managed to hit the brake just in time before her car ran to another car. "My! That was close!"

The two boys slumped on their seats in relieve. "Touya."

"Hm?"

"Let's talk tomorrow, today is too much already." He murmured weakly, "That close call just now is the last straw." He whispered to his friend.

Touya frowned at him but relented, "Fine… tomorrow, I am tired too…"

"Tell me about it tomorrow." Shindou murmured softly.

Ichikawa-san started to talk again, "I can't wait for spring to arrive! My! Akira-kun and Shindou-kun in Kaio uniform!" She gushed at the image. "Spring! Come quickly!" She sang before she burst to girlish giggle.

The two Go prodigies looked at each other, "For some reason, I am not looking forward for spring to come anytime soon."

"Me too…"

School was ten times more complicated than a tsumego.

Man! That's the most difficult chapter I wrote for this story so far... so next we start on Junior high arc ^^

I know Sai is almost forgotten... SAI! I am so sorry! I will try to find a way to focus more on him but the main character are Hikaru and Touya ;_; If you have any suggestion I would love to hear it!

But well... for those who are familiar with Saki mahjong anime, you will realize I have Toki VS Teru game in mind when writing Hikaru's game against Kishimoto. Especially the part where Hikaru felt the stone is getting heavier. I want to pour so many emotion within that scene. Is it emotional enough?

I hope so!