Notes: Sorry for the wait! I started work on chapter 7 while chapter 6 was yet unfinished. I am not happy with the pacing of this chapter or the pacing of the beginning of this story in general, but that's something that can be fixed after the fact when this whole thing is laid out. Chapter 7 is more than halfway finished.

Writing a more informal side of Akira is pretty fun! I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 6: 布石 Fuseki Part 3

Akira woke to the sound of muffled chatter through the walls. He looked out the window—it was evening. His father must have started the study session without him.

Akira headed out his room with intent to join the study session, but snatches of words made him change his mind.

"He was crying while replaying a game against Shindou earlier today," said his father in the room over.

"The poor child," came the emotional voice of Ashiwara-san, "Shindou-kun was very important to Akira-kun. It must be harder on him more than anyone else."

"We played our first morning game in days," said his father, "His strength in go has already returned. But I don't want the pressure of professional go to have an adverse affect on him, so the matches will remain cancelled for the next week."

"Sensei, I do not mean to argue," said Ogata-san, "But I question if such a measure is truly necessary? You indicate yourself that he is starting to move forward, and he went out of his way to attend one of the cancelled matches."

"I cancelled the matches out of concern for Akira's health because he fainted the day before yesterday. My decision will not change."

"But, as you said yourself, the boy says he is not sick. Why don't you believe him?"

"Akira has a will forged of such tempered steel that when his mind is set, he will not allow himself to rest no matter how much he needs it. Now, Ogata-kun, you should be worried less about Akira and more about yourself, for if you're not careful, even Ashiwara-kun will overtake you. He has been making great leaps in progress lately!"

"H-hey, 'even Ashiwara-kun'?" said the flustered younger pro, "Just what do you mean by that, sensei?"

"He means that out of a stroke of dumb luck, even a mediocre 4-dan such as yourself is encroaching on the skill of a titleholder." drawled the Juudan.

"Ogata-kuuuun!" Ashiwara-san whined, "You didn't have to be mean!"

"One more affectionately drawn out 'Ogata-kun' coming from you and I will single-handedly end your career in professional go."

Akira decided to ignore the go pro domestics and slip into the kitchen for some snacks.

"I just realized, that Ashiwara acts like our age, while you act like his age!" said Shindou, smirking.

"Don't rub it in. Also, he's still a -sensei to you, get in the habit of using honorifics."

"Does it really matter at this point? No one is going to hear how I talk but you and Sai."

"So? It's still rude." Akira tossed an omelet and bowl of miso soup from that morning into the microwave, and found a can of soda he'd stashed way in the back of the fridge a while ago away from the prying eyes of his mother.

"Why is your microwave behind the fridge?" asked Shindou.

"Otou-san thinks it's ugly. 'unbecoming of a traditional household', he says." He rolled his eyes and cocked both index and middle fingers when repeating this phrase. "He gives us weird looks whenever okaa-san or I use it."

"Really, why? Microwaves are so convenient."

"In case you haven't noticed, he wears only kimono every day of his life."

"Good point."

Akira retrieved his soda, and his heated snacks from the microwave and turned to leave the kitchen.

"So a microwave is not 'traditional' enough, but a fridge is ok?"

"Don't try to make sense of my father's home decoration logic," said Akira, "He's probably just biased because he grew up with a fridge but not a microwave."

"I call today's session to an end. Thank you all for coming, and I hope to see you all next time." came the sound of his father's voice as Akira returned in the direction of his room, followed by the shuffles and clatters of several people getting up and getting their things together to leave. Akira slipped behind his door to avoid being seen, mostly because he just didn't want to get caught in a conversation.

"Except you, Ogata-kun."

When the last of his father's students had departed, Ogata-san remained.

"I will be straightforward, Ogata-kun: I don't believe you when you act concerned about my son."

The Juudan did not reply.

"Your utter lack of responsibility is the reason why my son is mourning, so when you act concerned, it's hypocritical. Your actions don't match your words."

"I accept responsibility for the incident. I paid the hospital bills, funeral expenses and fines in full. I donated 300 thousand additional yen to the family after those expenses as an apology."

"None of that changes the fact that what you did was completely preventable. You drove drunk, Ogata-kun. You drove drunk and killed a child." Otou-san's voice wavered with those last words. Akira had never heard anything like it before.

Akira looked at Shindou, who simply stared into space, mouth agape. "Shindou, are you alright?"

"So he was the one who…"

"You didn't know?"

"I couldn't get a good look at him."

"And furthermore," continued his father, "You call it an 'incident'. As if it were just something that happened. When you could have prevented it so easily. Seriously? Driving drunk, Ogata-kun? You are a smart man, you clearly know better than that."

"I don't know what you expect me to do about it now, sensei. He's already dead and can't be brought back. I've already done what I can for his family, unless you want me to give a hundred thousand yen to Akira-kun as well."

"Akira doesn't need your money. In fact, that's another thing I wanted to address. I cannot believe the phenomenal amount of money you paid people just to keep the go institute and press quiet about your negligence and keep yourself out of jail. You claim to accept responsibility for killing Shindou-kun, but you aren't honest about it. Your heart isn't in it. It is clear to me from your actions that you care more about your reputation than about the boy you killed."

"So, what would you have done in my place?"

"I would have not gone out driving after drinking in the first place, but even if we left that aside, I still would not have bribed everyone to stay quiet. And if I could never continue with my career, then so be it.

There was a pause as Ogata-san said nothing.

"I have a hard time believing that you are my student, with the way that you regard this poor boy's death as a mere inconvenience, and analyze Akira's mourning as a set of isolated symptoms with no context. It's as if the part of a person that makes one care for others is missing in you, so that the only person you care about is you, and that's why I don't believe you when you act concerned about my son. For all of this, if I quit as your teacher, I would be completely justified."

There was another brief pause.

"That's all I have to say," his father said, "Go home now. I don't know why I'm even keeping you as a student."

Ogata-san approached the front door, and just as he had donned his shoes and began to cross the threshold, otou-san called out one last thing after him:

"Maybe the reason why I have not quit as your teacher is because I still cling to the hope that there is a shred of humanity in you."

After a final pause, the Juudan shut the door behind him and left.

Akira slid his door shut and collapsed into the chair at his desk, in a light sweat, his fingers to his temple, overwhelmed by what he had heard. If everything his father said was true, then Akira would never be able to look at Ogata-san the same way again.

He looked over at Shindou to see how he was holding out. Shindou was leaning against the wall, eyes wide, still staring off into space. Sai watched him solemnly.

"He… that guy was the one who sponsored me for the insei program…" stuttered Shindou, his voice wavering. Sai embraced and comforted him.

"Shindou…" said Akira, tears welling in his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

"Alright, Shindou, it's time for you to face your fears," said Touya as he folded and put away the futon the following morning.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Touya?"

"I hate sleeping in my clothes, and I need to take a shower eventually. That time is now. Come on, let's go."

"Right! Okay! This isn't a big deal at all!" said Hikaru, trembling with anticipation, banishing the mental images from his head. Just what was this Touya that he could flaunt around the idea of him being naked so nonchalantly?

"You are really casual about this," said Hikaru trailing behind Touya to the bathroom, "What are you, some kind of exhibitionist?"

Touya aggressively slapped both of his palms to his face and groaned into them. "Shindou, have you never been to a public bath before? Or a hot springs?"

"Yes. Once. With my parents and grandpa, when I was very little."

Touya sighed as they entered the bathroom. "This is going to be very difficult," he said as he started to unbutton his shirt.

"TOUYA! WARN FIRST!" shouted Hikaru, throwing out his hands and turning himself away to shield himself from the inevitable. At this rate the guy was going to murder him!

To distract himself once again from intrusive thoughts of an exposed Touya, Hikaru glared furiously at the wood-paneled walls of Touya's spacious, ridiculously traditional bathroom. It was one of those larger ones with an entrance area for undressing in, with the actual shower and bath area just ahead. And of course Touya's household did not have a shower cabinet, like he had at home—the actual shower was one of those ones where you sat down on a stool next to the bath, without a curtain, completely exposed to whatever unfortunate ghost boy had to watch.

The sound of Touya's footsteps toward the shower. Yep, he was probably unclothed at this point. And now the sound of the shower running. Yep, he was definitely, absolutely unclothed at this point! Touya was nonchalantly taking a shower only a couple of meters away from him! And a shower, as everyone knows, is only the beginning of other things! Ahahahaha! His mind depicted everything! Why did it have to do that? Hahahahaha! He was going completely insane!

"What are you laughing about?"

What? Hikaru looked up in confusion. Had he been laughing out lou—

And that was how he got a whole eyeful of stark naked Touya.

For a moment Hikaru just stared, transfixed, frozen. Touya stared back, flushed in the cheeks.

Then Touya regained his serious expression, though still a bit pink in the face. "So, this is what me naked looks like," he said, annoyed, finishing his shower and getting up. "Are you happy now, Shindou?"

Hikaru stared after him as Touya went to get a towel to dry up and wrap around his waist.

Sai, completely unaffected whatsoever by the sight and more amused by Hikaru's antics than anything else, tapped him on the shoulder. "Hikaru? You alright? Are you broken?"

From the confused mess of emotions that rendered him inert, Hikaru came out with one thing. "What's the big deal!?" he said, throwing up his hands, "There's not much to even see!"

At this, Touya frowned, huffed and turned to leave, picking up his clothes for the laundry.

"What's he upset about now?" Hikaru muttered to Sai as they followed him out, "I stopped making a big deal about it."

Sai shook his head with his fingers to his temple. "Oh, Hikaru," he simply said.