Disclaimers: Hikaru no Go and its characters are created and/or owned by Hotta Yumi, Obata Takeshi, Shueisha, Studio Pierrot (all rights reserved). I just borrow them to provide - hopefully - a bit of free entertainment to the fans.
Warning: spoilers everywhere! (mild language?)
The Way of Go
by VKempf
7. Studies
Still, it began slowly.
For boys out of the school system, summer didn't imply vacation anymore. The official games and peripheral but mandatory activities - teaching sessions, game recording, study groups and whatnot - constantly cluttered their schedules up.
Akira had always been a busy person, so it made no difference. Nevertheless, he managed to set aside a few hours so he could attend his father's Go club and put everybody's mind at ease, beginning with Ichikawa Harumi, as he was such a source of concern to the young maid:
"Akira, you really don't need help at home? I doubt you have time enough to take care of yourself..."
"Don't worry, Ichikawa-san, I'm fine," Akira smiled. "You're already doing so much for me..."
And Ichikawa's protests to ensue for ten minutes, but she was relieved to see her protégé in relatively good condition, after all the rumors depicting him as a deaf ghost haunting dusty libraries.
Hikaru had now to devote every Wednesday evening to his new disciple. Not that he considered it a chore: Oka was himself deeply invested into his main goal, the upcoming pro exam, and their games were full of intensity. In addition, Oka's mother always supplemented his teacher fee with a bowl of home-made ramen that sent the soup connoisseur to heaven. The whole family got quickly fond of Hikaru, and they expressed it with so many kind gestures of the sort he felt compelled to give the best of himself. Needless to say, he was taking his master role very seriously.
Thus, the two rivals had no time left to meet more often in the week, but that did not mean they were meeting less, and next Thursday saw them together again, as usual. The choice of the day was no accident: in the morning, they had promotion tournament games against higher dan holders. Those were perfect subjects for replay and discussion, which they used to hold every week for a couple of hours - that is, until Hikaru lose his temper.
The first obvious change in their routine was the meeting place: instead of the salon, the 3-dan now headed straight to Touya's house, without the need of any map or Akira's lead anymore. There was no need for any prior agreement either. Hikaru liked to play Go in the traditional interior - despite not being a traditional guy himself. Akira liked Hikaru's Go in his austere home. Of course, it still had to begin with Go.
They would first review their morning games, with an equal amount of technical comments and cracks to each other. About the latter, it is interesting to notice that their nature had subtly changed: from blunt probes designed for the continuous evaluation of one's level of esteem in the other's mind, they had become obligatory lines in a comedy they rehearsed every week - with less and less conviction, since they abandoned their main audience, the patrons at Touya's Go salon.
Subconsciously, they knew they had soon to put an end to that Manzai play, and act more maturely. They were both to turn eighteen this year, after all. Though still childish on certain fields, Hikaru as an elder made the first moves, resolute in his quest for "the true guy inside Touya".
One day, the two boys were having their after-discussion ice-tea pause in Touya's living-room, when Hikaru introduced what he would call their "studies".
"What do you mean by that?" asked Akira, who had already a bad feeling about it.
"Yunno, when we played that god game-"
"Ah no, not again!" Akira shouted, furious.
"Okay, okay!" Hikaru replied, soothingly flapping his hand. "Don't worry, I won't take you into another one - that was funny though! Anyway... I've been thinking it over all week, and in the end, I must say it wasn't a bad idea you had..."
"Maybe for you, not for me!" Akira snapped.
"Will you let me finish? Thanks. So I was thinking, OK, we're pros and all that, yet..." (Hikaru raised a solemn finger) "do we really know the game?"
"I hope so, in our position, it'd be about time!"
"Yeah, play the smart one, but just think about how people learn Go. Once they know the rules, they study joseki, then kifu of master games, so they try to follow the path of skilled players."
"Sure, and sometimes they even play."
Hikaru ignored the sarcasm.
"Yes, they play. They play like they've been told to: don't play there, this shape is bad; when your opponent play this, answer with that, and so on..."
"So what? You need that to improve quickly. If every new player had to rediscover the common tricks of the game through mistakes, we wouldn't have many champions. Go is like a science, it builds up on layers of knowledge..."
Hikaru shook his head.
"Touya, please! I know that, I'm not stupid, and that's not my point."
"So please get to the point," Akira sighed.
"I agree we can trust our manual when it tells us to stretch from a kosumi-tsuke. When it says that akisankaku are always bad shapes that must not be played, I'd say it's not so obvious..."
"You refer to your game against Tsukimaki 4-dan? Indeed, you took a vital point with that shape so it couldn't be wrong. A bad shape may be suitable in a certain context, that's what good manuals explain too, just look at chapter 'guzumi'."
"Still not my point," Hikaru moaned. "OK, beginners begin by following the common practice, then, with experience increasing, they dare unusual hands. That's normal, I went through this, and you too, I suppose..."
"So the point is?"
"The point is, we're pros, competing in the greatest tournaments, and we still dare not enough!" Hikaru asserted, hitting the tatami with his fist. "Tell me, Touya, when was the last time you found a really good move in a game? I mean, some really unexpected hand?"
Akira closed his eyes.
"Shindo, have you played Yashiro lately?"
Hikaru shook his head, annoyed.
"Maybe Yashiro plays on internet, but I'm not. Why d'you talk about him anyway?"
"Somehow, the words 'dare' and 'unexpected' related to Go always remind me of him, so I wonder if you're speaking under influence..."
Hikaru folded his arms.
"I need no-one to think by myself, but speaking of Yashiro, he at least dare play bold hands!"
"Cheeky ones, you mean," Akira tempered. "If Go was just a matter of taking risks, he'd already be Meijin, but he's not. I wouldn't say his style isn't interesting, yet it doesn't stand against matured players. Judging from his last games, I think he has understood it. You understand it too, don't you?"
"Right, we can't afford to try everything in a real game... but outside? Here? Now?" Hikaru exclaimed all of a sudden. "This is not even a study group where people just shut up when they have nothing intelligent to add to the discussion. It's just you and me, free to try everything we can imagine without somebody snickering behind our backs."
Akira was not convinced.
"I don't really see the point of playing laughably..."
"It's not playing laughably on purpose! It's trying everything, even when it looks laughable, because sometimes, you may find a really interesting move that won't make your opponent laugh!"
"Hmm..."
"And when it's actually silly, we just get off with a good laugh - not exactly harmful, so I'd say it's a win-win plan," Hikaru grinned.
He knew he had already won Akira's agreement when the 5-dan sighed.
"What do you suggest?"
Hikaru leaned backward on his extended arms, musing.
"Well... last Monday, I met Akari on my way home. Remembered something..." He sat up again. "Have you ever played Othello?"
"Othello?" Akira repeated stupidly.
"Yes, Othello. Just like Go, it has dark and light pieces, and winning is a matter of territory. Interesting, isn't it?"
"Not really," Akira said. "If I'm not mistaken, the pieces are bicolor, and the grid is much smaller. I don't understand what we gain from playing a game far less complex than Go..."
"No need to turn your nose up, just give it a try with me!" Hikaru begged.
"We don't have that here."
"Look, we can use Go stones inside the squares, and instead of flipping them over, we just replace them by the opposite color..."
Hikaru was about to put two couples of black and white stones inside the central squares of the goban, when the kaya board quickly slid away from under his palm. Akira firmly set it out of Hikaru's reach, much to the bleached boy's confusion.
"Touya..." he groaned.
"Not on this," Akira said in a stern voice. "Wait here."
Startled, Hikaru watched him stand up and walk to his room. Akira came back soon with two small boxes of plastic stones and a 9x9 grid printed on cardboard:
"Use this instead."
Hikaru brightened. Touya had not wanted to see the Game of games profaned on its very altar by a lesser one. 'I won't let you call my respect for the game into question!' That was just like him, and it suited Hikaru fine.
"All right."
Learning the rules hardly took Akira a minute, yet applying them efficiently was another matter. The first two games they played ended up with large victories for Hikaru.
"Looks like I'm not too bad at this..." the bleached boy said disingenuously.
Akira rolled his eyes.
"If it's the only way you've found to beat me... I bet you've been playing a lot of this before meeting me today."
"What are you thinking?" Hikaru replied in a pretended offended tone. "I've just studied the rules a bit, but who could I have possibly trained with?"
"Anyone. Your parents, your pals, your girlfriend Akari..."
"My what?!" Hikaru bellowed. Suddenly, the offense was not pretended anymore.
"Oh, is she not?" Akira asked innocently.
"No, she isn't! How on earth d'you come up with that?"
"Well, of all the friends you talk about, she's the only girl whose name frequently crop up, so I supposed-"
"Don't suppose!" Hikaru snapped. "And stop inventing girlfriends every time I mention a female person I happen to know, you jerk! Akari's a friend, sure, but a sandbox one. Would you go out with your sister - I mean, if you had one?"
"Probably not," Akira admitted.
"It's just the same! Besides, even though she's a close neighbor, I don't meet her so often, mind you."
"All right, all right, forget what I said. Though I don't see what you blow a fuse for; I don't remember her precisely, but in my memory, she wasn't the kind of person you'd be ashamed to be paired with..."
"Interested, Touya?" Hikaru sniggered. "Want me to arrange a date? Lemme check first if she's not already hanging around with some fellow student..."
His attempt to put all the embarrassment back upon Akira misfired.
"Thank you, I'll just take note she's not your girlfriend," he just said. "Still, you won't make me believe you've not played Othello intensively these last days."
Hikaru was fuming, but in the end, he had to confess that he had spent hours playing with a Reversi program on Waya's computer - much to Waya's disdain. Akira agreed on a few more Othello games, which he played better as he had understood basic tricks by watching Hikaru's strategy. The 3-dan lost the last game by a thin margin.
"You sure learn quickly..." he muttered.
"It's not really hard," Akira said. "Once you understand corners are crucial, you know where to play."
"Yet you can't go straightly for them," Hikaru countered. "You must carefully keep your distances until the right moment."
"Aha. However, I don't really see what we can keep from this that we don't already know..."
"Me neither for now, but we've not explored all the subtleties of this game. I wouldn't give up so early."
"As you wish. I prefer to focus on a single board game, if you don't mind."
"You're not very open to novelty, Touya..."
"If you have other studies to suggest, I actually am. Don't expect me to take this as seriously as you'd like, though."
Hikaru gave Akira a disappointed look.
"You really haven't learned anything from this other game?"
Akira thought over for a while, then smiled.
"Actually..."
"Yes?" Hikaru asked with hope.
"There's one thing I see that applies to Go as well as Othello..."
"And that is?"
"An unbalanced opponent makes an easier victory."
Hikaru turned red at once.
"You little b...!" he shouted, flinging a handful of plastic stones at his rival. Akira's clear laughter answered his attack. Hikaru pulled a wry face, vexed and charmed at the same time by this extremely rare music of his.
"Okay, you'll pay for this!" he eventually threatened. "Don't think you alone can remain unperturbed; I'll find a way to prove you wrong."
"Don't force yourself," Akira murmured. If someone has ever perturbed me...
"First, since Othello's too petty for you, why don't you show me something interesting?"
"Right now?"
"I'll let you search a bit. You're good at school so you shouldn't have any problem. That's your assignment for next week."
"Will it be graded, sensei?"
"No, but you'd better do it, if you don't want me to tell Kitajima what his Go darling has just called me."
"He won't believe you, and you'll likely die strangled on the spot," Akira grinned. "Don't worry though, I'll find something."
Knowing Touya, Hikaru expected him to find nothing but bad excuses on their next meeting. So, the following Thursday, he was very surprised when Akira answered to his light goad:
"Didn't forget your homework, Touya?"
"Not at all," Akira said. "Let's have tea before, we need to recharge the batteries after this discussion, and before what I've prepared."
"Really? What is it?" Hikaru asked with intense curiosity. Touya acknowledging his own physical needs was also totally new.
Akira let a mysterious smile hover on his lips.
"You'll see..."
Hikaru polished off his snack even faster than usual, waiting impatiently for Akira to finish. The other boy seemed to take a wicked delight in swallowing his tea one small sip after another.
Finally, they went back to the game place. Akira brought a folded sheet of paper, obviously made from four smaller sheets taped together, along with the now official Study plastic stones.
"I hope this is worth the wait!" Hikaru grumbled.
Akira cleared his throat.
"First, at the risk of strongly disappointing you today, we're going to play Go with the usual rules."
Hikaru rolled his eyes.
"Great, that was my worst fear."
Akira didn't react and went on:
"However, I'm not insensitive to your opinion. You've never made too many comments about it, which I'm grateful for, but I bet you've always considered me as someone a little... square, haven't you?"
Hikaru stared at the boy in classic khaki shirt.
"Me? Never, Touya."
Akira nodded:
"How kind a lie. So in order to make up for this, I offer you to play... Round Go!"
He unfolded the paper on the floor, and Hikaru's jaw dropped. Instead of the usual square grid, a wide circle was spreading on the four pages. A tangle of lines started from nine equidistant points on this rim and crossed inside to reach an inner nonagon, leaving the center empty.
"How... how are we supposed to play on this?"
"As always," Akira replied. "I told you the same rules apply. You'll notice every intersection has four liberties, including those on the edges."
"Even so... Where to begin? Where are the hoshi?"
"You begin wherever you like. And what do you need a star for?" Akira snorted. "You don't want to secure acorner, by any chance?"
"Humph..."
"So, are you ready to play or are you too scared to?"
Easy trigger, but it worked perfectly on Shindo. The 3-dan lips curled up in a feral smile.
"Nigiri!" he just said.
Their game was short - there were only eighty-one playable intersections, but it provided them with plenty of fun and frustration in the same time. Their experience of the game was of no help to evaluate a territory; all they could rely on were the liberties surrounding the stones, and even that could be treacherous. Hikaru discovered it to his cost when Akira took eight stones of his in one move.
"Those people who wouldn't see an atari coming..." he said ironically while the bleached boy was looking daggers at him.
His mocking was short-lived though, as Hikaru paid him back in his own coin.
"I thought I had two eyes..." Akira muttered.
"In your dreams!" Hikaru laughed. "I saw at once that your shape was bad."
Akira shook his head, smiling.
"Bad shape... Whatever."
On this board, it was also hard to determine when the game ended. After a careful check of each stone, they decided it was finished.
"So, who wins? How are the territories?" Hikaru moaned, scratching his head.
"Maybe we should rearrange them?" Akira suggested.
They both stared at each other for seconds, then burst out laughing. In the end, Akira had accidentally won, thanks to the prisoner count. Hikaru didn't look too disappointed, rather excited.
"Incredible game! Where have you found this, Touya?"
"A young pro from a study group I used to attend told me once about it. I've downloaded the board from a website."
"There are so many funny things on the web," Hikaru sighed. "I really must buy a computer some day."
They kept on discussing about Round Go for a while, until Hikaru grabbed his backpack, ready to leave.
"That was great, Touya. When I challenged you to find unusual Go, I didn't expect you to go this far!"
"Yes, and remember next week is your turn!"
"Ah, that won't be easy after today..." Hikaru complained.
Akira cast a smile at his rival:
"Surprise me."
After that, Hikaru had no choice but take up the challenge. He would do it all the more willingly since he was so glad to see Touya losing a bit his shell of reserve and acting more naturally. Hikaru eventually understood that a good part of his rival's sanctimoniousness toward him was merely a hiding coat for all his not-Go-related insecurities. The 3-dan could have taken advantage of it: an unbalanced opponent is easier to beat, as Touya said himself. Yet as much as Hikaru dreamed of defeating Akira, by no means he wanted to weaken him. His rival had to remain strong so that they could both improve.
Of course Hikaru would not leave Akira's teasing unanswered, but he would be careful not to say anything hurtful or too devastating for the 5-dan's pride. He also kept his word and never told anyone about the god game. For his part, Akira was less prone to belittle and criticize Hikaru for one thing or another. In this way he was more honest with himself.
Week after week, study after study, Hikaru and Akira were slowly consolidating the bedrock of true friendship: trust.
For all that, Hikaru had not forgotten his other friends. He used to drop by Waya's place once in a while, especially when the brown-haired pro invited former insei. On one of such days, he knocked on his friend's door.
"It's open!" a muffled voice yelled from inside.
Hikaru pushed the door and popped his shoes off at the entrance of the tiny flat. Waya was busy rummaging through a laundry basket, selecting clothes to be thrown into the drum of his brand new washing machine.
"Ah, finally you wash your things yourself, Waya!" Hikaru laughed.
The young man glared at him.
"As far as I know, you're still living at your parents' place, and your mom does your laundry, wrong?"
"Yup!" Hikaru replied, unashamed. "They stopped annoying me with stupid questions about my job a long ago, so I don't feel like leaving for now. Maybe I should start doing my own laundry, though."
"Yes, you should. Then you'd realize what a boring pain it is."
"I trust you on this. Who's coming today?"
"Isumi, for sure, maybe Nase and Komiya too." Waya slammed shut the lid of the machine. "Ochi and Honda have a game today."
"Fine."
"By the way, I've removed Reversi from my hard drive. One fine day you'll thank me for saving your brain."
"Seems I'm done with that anyway..." Hikaru muttered.
Knocks on the door resonated again through the room.
"Good timing," Waya reckoned. "Come in!"
Nase entered, followed by Isumi.
"Hi Waya! Ah, Shindo's already there... Hello!" she greeted.
"Hello guys," Isumi said.
"Hi Nase, Isumi!" the other boys answered.
Nase glanced around.
"Oh, you've got a washing machine now, Waya!" she noticed. "Finally you're doing your own laundry!"
"Second," Waya snapped.
"What?"
"Shindo's first; you lose, Nase. And this is not today's subject!"
"That was just a praise for your maturity, from an already mature girl," Nase pouted. "What's today's subject then?"
"I've brought the photos of China," Isumi announced, wielding a thick pack of prints.
"Ah great!" Hikaru cheered. "Finally we're going to see what Waya and you have been doing for three months in Beijing!"
"...apart from Go training," Nase completed.
They all sat down in circle, waiting for Isumi to unseal the pack. Waya alone didn't share the common excitement.
"How come you haven't shown me first, Isumi?" he moaned.
"So I prevent any censorship of yours, Waya," the elder pro replied. "I know you too well..."
Waya looked away, quite upset:
"False friend..."
The pictures were circulated one by one—a tense Waya first checking each of them, while Isumi commented.
"This one was taken the first day; this is the apartment we rented there..."
"Woah, quite roomy!" Nase marveled.
"Isn't it? We've lived like kings for three months and a rather cheap rent, thanks to Yang Hai-san who found us this nice place," Waya boasted.
"There he is, by the way," Isumi added, showing another picture featuring the Chinese pro.
"That's him, with the lousy Hawaiian shirt?" Hikaru gawked, incredulous.
Isumi and Waya laughed.
"Why, that's his everyday wear in summer!"
"Gee, I've always known him in suit and tie..."
"Of course, you've only met him at the Hokuto Cups, three days in a year," Waya replied. "A bit short to criticize his fashion sense, Shindo..."
"But look at those flip-flops!"
"He's right to dress lightly when it's this hot!" Nase asserted. "Since you're so clear-cut on good taste, Shindo-kun, there's a couple of gaudy shirts of yours we can talk about too..."
Hikaru snorted. Isumi went on, passing the prints:
"This is the Weiqi Institute front."
"Huge! How many students again?" Hikaru asked.
"Plenty of them, and strong enough to put you off playing Go if you don't hang on with everything you have," Waya laughed.
"That means you two must have improved a lot! How depressing..." Nase sighed.
"I'll cheer you up, then," Isumi said. "Here's the picture you're all waiting for..."
In a flash, the photograph was deftly snatched from his hand.
"I'll take care of this, if you don't mind..." Waya declared. He glanced at his loot and blinked. The picture just displayed him, casually standing in the middle of Tian An Men Square.
"... this one," Isumi specified, entrusting the next print to Hikaru's hands, out of Waya's reach.
"No, Isumi!" the brown-haired boy yelled.
His outcry was instantly covered by Hikaru and Nase's mirth.
"Is this... Waya... and...?" Hikaru asked between chokes of laughter.
"Yes, it's Waya and Le Ping," Isumi grinned.
"In-cre-di-ble, they look exactly the same!" Hikaru guffawed. "You were not telling fibs, Isumi-san!"
"There's no way I look like that brat!" the most concerned in the room howled.
"Are you kidding, Waya? When I look at him, I just see you again in our insei days!" Nase rejoined.
"No way!" Waya repeated. "I couldn't be as loud and immature! Even Shindo wasn't!"
"Isumi alone can judge on that ground, but as for the likeness, it's obvious!" Nase replied. "Have you other pictures of them, Isumi?"
"No, it's the only one. It's been a hell to catch them together, I had to get them by surprise."
"Indeed, they don't look too happy to stand side by side!" Hikaru smirked.
"But they're sooo cuuute!" Nase almost swooned. She turned to Waya. "Do they make you in plushies? I'd love a couple of those on my bed."
"Why not ask for the real thing instead?" Waya retorted with an evil leer. "I bet you'd love it even more on your bed."
Nase returned his stare.
"Are you sure, Waya-kun? You'd let me strangle you when I'm angry, tear your hair when I'm nervous, toss you on the TV screen whenever a stupid idol sings, and hide you in the closet while I spend time with my boyfriend?"
Waya gave his provocative stance up at once.
"Haha, nice try, Waya!" Hikaru said seconds before a cushion crashed into his face. Its thrower stood up, seething.
"Oh Waya, stay with us, there's a good lot of other pics to see!" Nase begged.
"...'need a leak," the other grumbled, making for the bathroom.
Nase rolled her eyes.
"No need to get into such a state... This is still a nice shot," she said, giving back the print to Isumi.
"They really hate each other?" Hikaru whispered to Isumi.
"'Hate' may be a bit strong, but nobody likes to be the laughing stock of a whole federation, so I understand they resent it," the young man explained.
"And that Le Ping, is he good at Go?"
"Not as strong as Zhao Shi, whom you also met at the Hokutos, but as Waya said, you can't underestimate a single one of them. I learned it the hard way three years ago..."
"Is he better than Waya?" Hikaru winked.
Isumi scratched his head, embarrassed.
"I'd say... they're equal... kinda."
"I beat that shrimp seven times out of ten, Isumi!" an angry voice roared from the bathroom.
"As you like, Waya," Isumi sighed. "But he's nearly fifteen now, so calling him 'shrimp' isn't fair."
"He doesn't look his age... unless you consider the mental one!" Waya sneered, stepping out of the bathroom and closing his fly. To Nase's relief, he did not forget the stop at the kitchen sink.
"However, you can't deny your resemblance to Le Ping made you instantly popular among the students," Isumi replied. "Everybody wanted to play against you and discuss with you—those who spoke Japanese at least. Honestly, I wish I had your luck the first day I spent there!"
Back to his seat, Waya smiled at the fond memories.
"Yeah, I suppose I owe him that..."
"So now, Waya is going to rock in the leagues! Maybe he's strong enough to win against you, Shindo?" Nase said, nudging the bleached boy.
"I doubt traveling abroad a bit makes you that strong," Hikaru retorted rather cockily.
Waya didn't lose his temper.
"I quite agree," he said. "Reminds me of that guy who went all the way to Seoul last year, just to lose against Ko Yongha again."
He leaned sideways in time to avoid the cushion flying back to its owner.
"Please don't start, you two," Isumi warned. "I've not come here to watch another fight!"
"Me too," Nase said. "Especially since you both have little to complain about your Go level, unlike me."
"What's wrong, Nase?" Hikaru asked. "You too have finally passed pro, just like us."
Nase clenched her fists, obviously upset.
"Precisely, I did not pass just like you! I passed the Special Examination for Women, that is so special you're not considered a true pro until you reach 4 dan!"
"Yeah, I remember you say you'd never lower yourself to that point," Waya said.
Nase's eyelids drooped.
"I know, I'm so ashamed... but I can't imagine my life out of Go. I couldn't stay with the insei, so I took the easy way before it's too late... I'm hopeless."
Isumi shook his head.
"You were barred from entering through the front door, so you made it through the one and only open window left, what's wrong with that? Besides, what you call "the easy way" remains out of reach for the big majority. You just start a bit lower than the very bottom, but now you've got plenty of time to rise among us pros."
"Thank you, Isumi," she muttered.
"If you're unlucky in Go, you must be lucky in other domains," Waya winked, then dodged another of his cushions.
"When I find a boy mature enough to understand my passion and treat me like any normal girl, I'll sure be lucky!" she hissed.
Hikaru cast an appreciative look over the young woman's slender figure.
"Nase-chan, you're too exceptional to be treated like a normal girl," he said softly, "and I totally understand you."
Nase's eyes widened. She turned to him, gazing at his green eyes, and her lips parted as she leaned forward. His heart pounding, the bleached boy was holding his breath.
"Oh Hikaru-kun, you're so sweet..." she purred, slowly stroking his cheek, "... and so not my type!" she ended, suddenly prodding him on the nose.
"Ouch!" Hikaru screamed, rubbing his nose while the others laughed.
"Don't push too hard there, Nase, it's ready to bleed!" Waya snickered, secretly relieved that Shindo was not more successful than him.
"He's still a better smooth talker than you are," Nase replied.
Waya stuck his tongue out to her. Hikaru was sulking, his nose not as hurt as his male pride.
"You're not seriously running after me, Shindo-kun, were you?" Nase asked with a bit of concern.
"Of course not, I was joking," he huffed irritably. "But stop treating me like a child, I'm seventeen!"
"If you keep reacting like that, you don't help yourself," Waya laughed, ignoring Hikaru's glare.
"I know you're not a little boy anymore, Shindo," Nase said. "What a shame, you were once rather cute too."
"Now, the cute boy has become a master, and a monster too!" Isumi said as to lighten Hikaru's ordeal. "Fighting other monsters like Ko and Touya... We don't belong to his league."
"What's with the self-depreciation, Isumi?" Waya glowered. "You're strong enough to fight Shindo, and even beat him!"
Isumi turned to Hikaru.
"I don't know, we've barely met once in official games. I hope we get more opportunities in the future, Shindo," he smiled.
Hikaru brightened. Of all his friends, Isumi was the one he respected the most.
"I look forward to it, Isumi-san!" he said eagerly.
"By the way, how's my little Oka doing, Shindo?" Nase asked suddenly. "Is he ready for the pro exam?"
"He'd better be, September is coming fast! I'm confident though, and he is too. We play many games every Wednesday, and I don't make them easy!"
"Good! If his rival Shouji passes and he doesn't, he's gonna be devastated."
"Shouji? Yeah, he'll never admit it, but I can see how Oka's focused on that boy. I'll have a talk with him. A rival to emulate is a good thing, but it mustn't turn into an obsession."
"Well said," Nase commented, "although... can you honestly say you've never been obsessive about Touya, Shindo?"
Hikaru lowered his stare.
"When I was insei, I wasn't Touya's rival yet..." he began.
"Ah, that's not what you bragged about on your first insei day!" Waya interjected. "Am I wrong, Isumi?"
Hikaru smiled.
"I know, I was a bit early on reality. What I mean is, I had Touya in mind, but as a goal, not a direct rival. Unlike Shouji for Oka, he wasn't around to goad me or anything. So if I was obsessed, it was an obsession dragging me forward, not freezing me on the spot."
Isumi and Nase nodded in approval. Waya, as usual, remained the most skeptical:
"So now that you're his actual rival, d'you feel frozen? I wouldn't be surprised, the guy's worth two or three packs of dry ice."
Hikaru's eyes blazed, but he answered quietly:
"I wouldn't spend every Thursday playing him if it was the case."
By admitting this, he effectively took the wind out of Waya's sails.
"Really? You two still meet at Touya-sensei's salon?" Isumi asked.
"There or elsewhere..." Hikaru evasively answered, unwilling to expose every detail of his renewed relationship with Touya.
"Woah, big fun!" Waya sneered.
Hikaru's lips curled up.
"You'd be surprised, Waya..."
"Oh yeah? Please tell me why, I'm curious."
Hikaru stuck his tongue out:
"None of your business!" then he leaned against the wall, his arms folded behind his head, in a way that stifled any further questioning.
"You brat!" Waya huffed.
"Ah, but Shindo is free to meet whoever he wants, especially his Rival of Destiny!" Nase said with a tad of grandiloquence.
"Yeah..." Waya moaned. "I wonder what Morishita-sensei would say about it..."
Hikaru held his stare.
"Is it a threat, Waya? Then forget it. You can tell sensei whatever you want, I doubt it'll worsen things very much. I'm too compromised with the Touya clan already."
"Are you?" Nase asked.
"Let me see: Ogata-sensei recommended me for the insei test; he invited me to Touya's study group - even though I refused; Touya's dad asked to be my opponent at the Shin Shodan... and now, there's all the time I spend playing his son," Hikaru enumerated offhandedly. "A nice bunch of charges, Your Honor."
"Well, if you're ready to face sensei's wrath..." Waya replied on the same tone.
Hikaru shrugged.
"It won't be the first time, nor the last, so I don't really care. I've never been the chosen disciple promised to his daughter, to begin with," he added mischievously.
Waya stared at him for two seconds.
"OK, that's it." Then he pounced on him forthwith.
Isumi and Nase exchanged glances as the younger boys were noisily wrestling on the floor.
"Would it be better if I didn't come to our meetings for a while?" Nase asked.
Isumi scratched his head.
"Not sure... If it goes on like this, I'm afraid we may have to find them girlfriends soon."
(to be continued)
[NOTES:
Manzai: a style of stand-up comedy involving two performers, the buke and the tsukkomi, who hold roughly the same parts as the funny and the straight man in a western comedy duo.
Kosumi-tsuke: a diagonal move (kosumi) to attach (tsuke).
Akisankaku: "empty triangle", when 3 stones make a right angle with no opposing stone inside. A very bad shape most of the time.
Guzumi: a bad-looking shape that is good in context.
Round Go: I can't provide here a link to a picture of this interesting board (thanks FFnet policy...). If you search a bit, you can find the printable file Akira probably used in this chapter, and even a java application to play with it!
--
It's been four months already, so there's little progress in update time. I won't enumerate again all my good and bad excuses. As years go by, free time becomes a real luxury. All I can do is keep on writing as often as I can (not very often alas), and be grateful to my (im)patient reviewers: therhoda, Yue Ryong - Shadowborne, Rebbi, audny-the-albatross, hennahito-ckbc, GoldenRat and Kuzosama who rightly flamed my laziness. Thank you all, and please accept this extra-long chapter as a late summer gift.
If this is not enough, some of you may find interest in reading again the second part of chapter 5. Why's that? Hikaru no Go twenty-third and final volume (sob) is finally published in French (right in due course, unlike me). I go buy it, and my worst fear -as regards to this fic- is confirmed: Oka, who I first wrote in doubt as a girl character, actually is a freaking boy! (damn you, English scanlator!) In my answer to Rebbi's review, I dared write that no matter what, I had my choice made, blah, blah... as if I could fight my own nature: I just can't stand breaking canon, especially HnG canon. So I rewrote Hikaru and Akira's dialog in chapter 5, and surprisingly, Oka's sex change somehow made it funnier, in my sense at least - you may not agree... As for the future chapters, the impact is light. The relationship between Hikaru and his disciple won't be as sweet as I planned first, but it can remain interesting altogether.
While I was at rewrites, I revised the whole fic to correct punctuation and every mistake I could detect. If anybody with astounding grammar and spelling skills (and Buddhist patience!) fancies beta-ing, he or she's welcome!
Finally, believe me or not, chapter 8 is coming soon. Yes, much sooner than you'd expect from me!
Valérien
