When Touya called to cancel their plans rather last minute, Hikaru felt a bit put out, but accepted it rather easily when he heard the reason. Touya needed a regular student, and this Ito Yuka…

"I told Kurata-sensei that I wanted her to meet with you before I could agree to teach her," Touya said over the phone.

"Eh? Why me?"

"Just meet with her and tell me what your impression of her is. I'll make my decision from there."

Hikaru sighed. Touya was being unreasonable again, treating Hikaru's time as insignificant. While it was true that he didn't have nearly as many obligations as his rival, Shindo still felt mildly insulted.

"Please, Hikaru…"

"Geez…All right then. But you owe me one then, Touya," he replied. "Two, actually, because you promised me a game night."

"Well, one of them will be your Shuusaku pilgrimage. I already cleared my schedule for that weekend. What do you want for the other?" The gratitude in his voice was unmistakable. Hikaru felt warm.

Trading favors with your friends is contemptible, Hikaru. Give without reservation and the future will be more charitable, Setsuko teased airily. The warm feeling vanished.

"Waya and Isumi are going to be at my place this Saturday for some Go and fun. You should come, too. It'll be…" He was distracted by the knowing smile that Setsuko was getting.

"…fun?" Touya finished for him. Hikaru could hear the sarcastic smile growing through the phone line.

"Yeah, Touya. Fun. So you should be there." He shouldn't be so embarrassed. He shouldn't be holding his breath for Touya's answer. He could feel Setsuko's mirth. Red stained lips pressed together to contain it, but it spilled out in his mind. Hikaru's neck grew unbearably hot.

"I won't be free until late that night. About ten-thirty, I expect. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Hikaru grimaced as Setsuko crooned victoriously in his head. "I'll see you then, Touya."

"Yeah. Goodbye."

Hikaru snapped his phone shut and glared at Setsuko. "You know, I've been horribly nice to you these past few days. It took hours to find this, you know," he pulled out the bachi he had bought for the ghost. It had taken hours of hunting through antique shops and music stores to find one that the spirit deemed suitable. Not to mention it was worth more than his groceries for two months. "And I let you play yesterday."

Well, you wanted to make sure it was worth it, didn't you? Her voice was calm, content. The plectrum is a masterpiece, as exquisite as the biwa.

Hikaru could hardly disagree. The bachi he had finally found in a back-alley antique mall was handcrafted boxwood with a handle inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It almost matched the biwa, but even Hikaru could see the difference in design and in the form of the wood. Still, the biwa sounded so much more meaningful when played with a plectrum. He understood as soon as he heard just why Setsuko had needed to have one so badly.

Gathering his begrudged agreement, Setsuko asked, Can I play again tonight?

"Only if you promise to behave yourself tomorrow. None of your dirty jokes about Touya, no distracting me from my games, and absolutely no taking over my body. Okay?"

…Yes, I'll behave myself, she murmured obediently after only the slightest pause.

"I mean it, Setsuko. If you want to keep playing, you have to listen to me."

You have my word, then. She bowed her head and Hikaru accepted that as a promise though the mirth hadn't quite faded from her face.

"I suppose I'll have to expect a call from Kurata-sensei," he groaned. The man had become insufferable since winning his first title. He sighed and resigned himself to the idea. "Should I e-mail him?" His frustration grew as he wondered exactly what Touya was trying to do by making him meet with this girl.

'I swear, if this is some elaborate plot to set me up with her, I will never talk to him again.'

Really, Hikaru, Setsuko admonished lightly. I doubt Touya-san would go to the trouble of making you unavailable.

"That's it! You're not playing at all tonight!" Hikaru exclaimed. Setsuko gaped at him.

No! Hikaru, please? I didn't mean it! It was only a joke! Hikaruuuuuu!

Hikaru was forced to smile.

Ogata Seiji ground his cigarette filter between his teeth. Facing off against Zama Oza in the third round of the Meijin league was his own bad luck, but he could not forgive himself for the state of his game. At least, that was what Akira could gather from his expression.

Ogata was taking a break away from the board to think better about the last stretch of the game, and Touya knew better than to approach the man as he glared clouds down from the sky. With so much at stake, there was no one he could think of brave enough to risk disrupting Ogata 10-dan's concentration; a loss at this point wouldn't mean a great blow to either player, but Ogata's pride would not allow him to lose to the arrogant, condescending Zama Oza.

So Akira only watched as his friend chewed his cigarette, counting the number of breaths it took for him to straighten his glasses and return to the game. He only made it to sixteen before Ogata turned pointedly to look at him, as if he had been aware of the young man's presence from the start.

"I have something to discuss with you. Will you wait in the study room for me to finish this game?" he asked, stabbing out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray.

"Of course," Akira answered with only the briefest of pauses. He didn't feel any particular apprehension regarding his oldest friend, but he was wary of his current temper. "But I do have another obligation this evening," he added, hoping that Ogata wasn't just looking for someone to drink with.

'Never again,' Touya thought fervently, dismissing the memory before it could take root in his thoughts.

"I'll drop you off," Ogata offered without pursuing the tangent. Akira found himself wondering what Ogata thought he would be doing so late at night. The sun had already set completely. "It won't take very long."

"In that case, I would be much obliged, Ogata-san." He gave a slight bow. Never would it be said that the son of the former Meijin had lost his manners. Ogata ruffled his hair and set off to return to his match, leaving Akira staring after him.

Ogata 10-dan's victory was close, but decisive. Zama Oza was left gnawing furiously on the end of his fan throughout yose and into the final count, but he still managed to congratulate Ogata with as much grace as he could muster.

"Hopefully I'll be able to play that well when I challenge for the Oza title," Ogata half-joked to a reporter after he joined Touya in the study room.

"Touya-san, would you mind if we printed your remarks about this match?" the reporter asked, enthusiasm spilling through the words.

"By all means," Akira said humbly. He really didn't particularly like dealing with reporters. His father was much better at it than Touya ever was. It wasn't that he felt nervous about being a part of the industry, but he would rather his Go speak for itself. The game was much more direct than his words at any rate.

"Shall we?" Ogata asked, holding the door open. Touya gladly took his leave. They were inside Ogata's flashy red car before the man spoke again. "I've seen Kurata recently, and he mentioned something about a new student of yours?" His tone was neutral.

Akira couldn't suppress a sigh.

'Kurata-sensei…The man gossips like an old woman.'

"Nothing's official yet, but I am considering tutoring an insei for the pro exam."

"A girl, right? Pretty close to your age?" The question struck Akira, but his friend's face was fixed on the road, his eyes following the surrounding traffic.

"Yes, that's right."

The car reached a red light and Ogata turned to regard him sternly. "I'll say this now," he said calmly, glasses glinting from the lights on the street. "Women are a lot easier to offend than men. You watch yourself, all right? You have quite the reputation for your teaching methods. I'm warning you: take it easy on this girl."

"Don't you worry about her," Touya retorted, a hint of sarcasm coloring the smile growing on his face. "This girl is much tougher than my last student."

'What was his name again? …Shinohara-san? …Yamashita-san?' Akira couldn't remember. It somehow didn't seem to matter anymore. Touya actually found himself surprised when he remembered just how upset he had been over losing such a pupil. The light turned green and Ogata sped off down the street.

"Just be mindful, Akira-kun. Girls get their feelings hurt much more easily than boys do."

"…You went out of your way to tell me something like that?" Akira asked, more suspicious than insulted.

"Well, I wanted to congratulate you on getting a new student. Or maybe apologize for Kurata Gosei's behavior on behalf of my generation…" He chuckled to himself. "Really, to be so mindlessly selfish…"

"You know, Ogata-san, I'm a part of that generation, too." Touya felt himself becoming too serious for their current discussion but he didn't care. "If you keep treating me like a child, one day I'll completely overwhelm you."

Ogata allowed for a long silence before replying, "I haven't treated you like a child for a long time, now." His voice was almost cold.

"Isumi, you can't let him kick your ass like that!" Waya whined from his seat beside the goban.

"Shut up, Waya. I already destroyed you three times."

They had been playing speed Go for hours, switching whenever they felt like rather than by losses. They were each playing impressively, but Hikaru continued to be astounded by Isumi's strength. He finally had the dark-haired man pinned down and countering move-for-move in the beginning of yose. Isumi could only hope for Hikaru to make a mistake somewhere, but he never found an opening. Hikaru won by sixteen moku.

"Gotcha!" Hikaru crowed as he put down the last stone. They didn't need to move the stones to know the score. "Flawless victory!"

"Shut up and move, Hikaru! It's my turn to knock Isumi around!" Waya shouted, helping Isumi clear the board and shoving Hikaru out of the way. "Nigiri, bitch!" Isumi laughed and their game began.

There was a knock at the door after a short while, and Hikaru jumped up to answer it happily. When he opened the door and saw Touya standing there awkwardly, he heaved a fake sigh and said, "Just Touya? I thought our food was here." Waya laughed loudly.

"Very funny, Shindo," Touya sniffed as he shoved past his friend to get inside. "Good evening, Isumi. Waya." He nodded to each of them.

"Touya," Isumi greeted him with a small wave, concentration on the game he was playing. Waya didn't even look up.

"Speed Go. We've been rotating out. Isumi and Waya wanna play a different style that they learned about in China, but we needed a fourth person. And now you're here!" Hikaru knew he was talking too quickly, too enthusiastically, but he didn't care. Even if Setsuko made fun of him for it, he was glad to see his friend. She'd remained a languid observer for much of the evening, but even with her promise from the night before, Hikaru couldn't trust her to remain quiet with Touya present.

"Sorry to make you wait so long. Ogata-san had his Meijin League match against Zama Oza. I watched most of it. Ogata-san won by four moku."

"Zama Oza's in the Meijin League this year?" Hikaru asked. They sat beside the goban and watched Isumi and Waya play a particularly passionate game.

"Yeah. His next match will be against me." Touya frowned. "I've only faced him twice since my beginner-dan match against him. I almost won the first time but he floored me in the second match. He really knows how to hold a grudge."

"I wouldn't worry too much, then. He'll be as cocky as ever. I don't see him moving too far up in the league. Ogata, though..." Hikaru trailed off as Waya made a particularly insightful move. "The Meijin will really have to watch out for him."

"Don't worry too much about that. The Meijin may be rather old, but he's as vicious as ever." Touya smiled as Waya's clever trap was completely taken apart. "He never quite forgave himself for losing the Kisei title to Ogata-san."

"It's gotta be hard on him," Hikaru agreed, "but it's a part of the game. Winning a title is easy; defending it is the worst."

"Say that after you actually get past the prelims, Shindo," Waya snapped. "I resign, you son of a bitch."

Isumi held up his hands with a grin. "We can settle the score later. But first, I want to show Shindo and Touya the game we learned. Now, Shindo, bring over that other goban and come sit on the floor." He pointed and Hikaru complied, fetching a slightly older, dirtier board from where it sat in the corner of the room; it most likely belonged to Waya. He made to sit next to Isumi, but the older man waved him to the other side of the board. Waya sat across from him.

"This is another way to team-play. Touya, sit next to Shindo. You two are on a team against me and Waya. Play goes like this." He took the both bowls of black stones and placed them between him and Waya. "We all play every other move on both boards. So Waya and I both play a black stone on our own boards and then we switch boards, he plays on mine and I play on his. At the same time, you and Shindo alternate playing the same way. It's a game of flow and knowing your teammate's strategies."

"You two probably play against each other at least as much as I play with Isumi. It's fair enough without a handicap," Waya added. "It's hard finding people who can match us well with these rules."

Hikaru felt himself grow excited. This was his specialty. Feeling his rival's intentions and reading ahead…

'Touya himself doesn't even know his Go as well as I do,' he thought. He glanced at his rival eagerly, surprised to find him returning his gaze. His expression was a question.

"Sounds fun, right Touya?" Hikaru asked happily.

"Yes, it seems like a good exercise," Touya said slowly, still regarding Hikaru thoughtfully. "Shall we begin, then?"

"All right then. Onegaishimasu," Isumi said. The other three followed suit and two black stones touched their respective boards at the same time. White followed along a bit more hesitantly.

I see. You have to match Touya's skill level now, right? Setsuko asked. Her voice was almost a distraction, but Hikaru was quickly learning how to compartmentalize his mind into concentration and conversation, something he had never had to do with Sai. But then, Sai had always shown proper respect for the game.

'More like he's matching me, right now. At least that's how it is on his board,' he answered, looking the board over quickly. 'On mine…'

He looked at the disaster as Akira laid a white stone directly in front of him.

'What the hell is that, Touya?' he thought furiously for the third time in as many moves. He exhaled slowly and the others slowed their play to wait as he tried to concentrate.

'Touya's board is rather straightforward play at this point. Touya made it easier for me to play over there by matching what I would have done…well, for the most part.' He couldn't admit that Touya had improved on strategies that Hikaru would have employed in the same situation. 'Does Touya understand my Go better than me? Shit! No, focusing…dammit. This board…'

In front of him was a disaster. Black had several strong formations on both sides of the board. White's shapes were full of false or broken eyes that wouldn't count for territory unless salvaged somehow.

'But by playing there…Touya, you're never that reckless. What on Earth are you seeing there that I'm not?' Hikaru chewed his lip, wishing he had brought his fan. He hadn't thought he would need to concentrate so much just playing for fun with his friends.

"Shindo, you're clogging everything right now. Hurry it up!" Waya complained. Hikaru set his jaw and took a last, desperate look at the board.

'If that's really what you want to do there, Touya…God, just don't be mad at me for this.' He followed Touya's play with a large knight, opening towards the bottom left.

'It's a mistake. It has to be wrong. Touya, what are you thinking?' He found that the game in front of Touya was following his predictions exactly, as if responding to his whim alone. He leaned over his rival to play an easy, logical move before returning to his own board to find himself faced with his large knight turned into a butterfly move, stones spaced out and vulnerable, but there was potential. Of course, black was already flanking it at the bottom left, and a promise lurked of a horrible battle in the left.

It looked more and more like a game of shidougo, black stones tolerating and supporting all of their play up to that point, which it might have been. But it shouldn't have come to that. Even if it was a foreign set of rules, Hikaru couldn't accept that he and Akira could be toyed with so obviously.

Hikaru couldn't tell if he was ashamed of his inability to match his rival or angry that Touya seemed to be playing so uncharacteristically on purpose. He slapped down a white stone to challenge the flank, almost disgusted with himself. His only hope was that it didn't show on his face. A few more hands passed. On Touya's board, Hikaru had gotten tangled in playing in the top right while Touya ignored it entirely, challenging black in the center. But on Hikaru's board…

White was messy, splayed out in stupid, pointless groups all across the board. Touya's expression never changed, but he kept making strange and even pathetic moves that didn't seem to correlate to the battles that Hikaru was managing solo. It was almost infuriating. He felt the creases form on his face and hoped that the others were too busy looking at the boards to notice how utterly violent he was becoming. It did show as his attacks became more ferocious and desperate, sacrificing integrity for territory with each stone played.

'What the hell are you thinking?' The thought was a blade that Setsuko flinched at.

Hikaru, you shouldn't be so hard on Touya. Or on yourself. Another easy play on Touya's board. And back to his own… Really now, you've only just learned the rules of this game. You're taking it too seriously…Hikaru? But the boy wasn't listening.

'Was he just making fun of me?' Hikaru wondered, blinking at what could have been another senseless mistake by Touya. Hikaru had been pressing the bottom left and black had responded to Hikaru's challenge by flanking on the other side, but Touya…

Touya had connected the useless groups into a chain in two places seemingly at the same time. He blinked a few more times as he replayed what must have happened, still almost unable to believe it. Hikaru had somehow managed to connect at one end without even noticing it during his previous turn. Isumi hadn't seen it at the time, so he hadn't responded correctly, thinking that Hikaru's play was completely separate from Touya's—admittedly, it had been at the time. Touya was able to forge such a complex shape because of Hikaru's aggressive, distracting play. It was so simple, but in just one slice that Hikaru could easily set up, Touya would cut off a large section of black and form a respectable group on the right. There was still no hope of winning, but no one could look at that game and call it lousy Go. Chaotic, perhaps, but not inferior. Hikaru knew he should feel proud of the game, but instead he was angry. He felt deeply insulted.

Hikaru?

He ignored her and slapped down a stone.

A smug grin on Waya's face fell to as pieces he saw at the new formation.

"Shall we call it a draw, then?" Touya asked, looking rather smug himself as he indicated the obvious win on the board in front of him.

Isumi laughed quietly and nodded. "That's perhaps the most interesting game I've ever seen," he added as he began separating the stones.

"I'll say," Hikaru sniffed, swiping the white stones in front of him into their goke.

"It was fun though, right?" Touya teased. Hikaru tried to enjoy the clinking of the stones sliding over each other rather than indulge a pressing urge to strangle his friend. "Would you like a game, Shindo?"

He accepted gladly, ready to pay back Touya for his rude play. He was completely dominated to the point of trembling with anger and frustration. He felt Setsuko pressing her way into his thoughts but he blocked her with every last scrap of his willpower.

"Again?" Touya asked with a hesitance in his voice that made Hikaru look up. Mint eyes were soft with unspoken apology. Hikaru sighed deeply and began clearing the board, shedding all of his pent-up anger with the breath.

"Again," he agreed. They played game after game until it well past two AM.

"I really should be getting home," Touya announced, rising stiffly from the goban. "I'll phone a taxi, I suppose. The last train left ages ago."

He left the room to make the call.

"Isumi," Hikaru began as they cleared the floor where Hikaru would be sleeping, "did you see what Touya's plan was during the team game?"

"Hmm?" The older pro set his goban in the corner of the room atop Waya's. "I thought he was distracted by the structure of the game. I didn't think it was possible for him to work out such effective strategies on both boards at once."

"What? I was steering the other board!"

Isumi gave him a look of piteous doubt. "Shindo, Touya was the one who turned your plays into good moves. It was easy for you to play that game because Touya knows how you intuitively play…no, it was more like he could anticipate exactly where you would respond to his moves. He controlled every aspect of black's strategy in that game."

Numbness crept through Hikaru's fingers and froze his body.

I'm sorry for the wait. I moved into my dorm last week and haven't had the time to finish up the chapter properly, but it's already been two weeks and I wanted to get an update out to you. The last part of the chapter was supposed to be Yuka and Hikaru meeting up, but that'll be at the beginning of chapter 8 now. I'd apologize for another paragraph or so, but it'd be boring and I love you too much for that. More soon. (I want to promise "really soon" but I haven't been doing too well with that kind of thing.) Reviewers: you alight my soul with your loveliness. Let me address you better~

It always really bothered me when Hikaru would use his opponents to judge his relative distance to Touya, but it really is rather endearing in its own way. Setsuko definitely doesn't agree with that kind of thought pattern due mostly to her past experiences that she's now slowly beginning to remember (so look forward to that; I've no idea how to set it up, but her backstory is wonderfully depressing).

Yuka-chan! Yuka is a comparatively shallow character when you put her in a spectrum with the characters from the series, but this isn't a bad thing. It's actually kind of amusing how normal she really is. I would describe her as intelligent, bossy, lazy, blunt, and very honest (she despises hypocrisy and bullshit). She can be arrogant and annoying at times, but she's basically a good person...when she wants to be.

Spelling and shit! - Well, I spell Touya and Kouyo with the u's in them, but Shindo without it. Why? Dunno. I suppose I found it aesthetically pleasing at the time and now I can't really change it without feeling strange. That being said, I switched Ouza for Oza. Sometimes 'Ouza' looks better, but other times-especially recently-I can't stop staring at it like it's a glaring typo. And it makes me try to read it as 'Uuza' in my head. So I switched. I didn't edit previous chapters even though I know I used it at least once.

Til next time, I suppose; thanks for reading!