Chapter 2
Ogata drove down the road silent at first. His brain was still going over and over about Shindou and then about Sai. The name on the Internet. The one who played Touya-Meijin and WON. Who was sai?
He thought back to when he had heard Hikaru talking about sai to the Meijin when he was in the hospital. And it had even crossed Ogata's mind, that sai was the reason for the Meijin's retirement.
Ogata glanced at Akira. Akira was a little squirmy in his seat, and it seemed he had daggers in his eyes.
Ogata could see his reflection in the closed window. Just then, it began to rain.
"Akira." Ogata finally broke the ice. "I'm going to swing by the Go Institute for a second. Is that okay with you?" Ogata said turning a corner. "Yes." Akira answered politely. "I would like to drop off a kifu for someone," the blonde man replied.
When the two reached the Institute, both Ogata and Akira got out of the car and ran to the door trying not to get wet, for neither had umbrellas. Once they were in the safety of an elevator, Ogata immediately began to speak. "Shindou.... you and Shindou were... talking." Ogata began and waited for Akira's answer. "Y-yes." Akira replied shifting from one foot to the other.
"You were talking about sai." Ogata said and Akira's head jerked towards him. "N-no we weren't." Akira hated lying, but Hikaru had told him to keep it a secret.
"Don't lie to me Touya." Ogata snapped. He usually didn't like raising his voice, but if he dug deep enough, he would have revealed all of the secrets of sai. "What did Shindou say?!" Just then, the elevator doors opened. Akira had no time to answer. Amano (the journalist) just so happened to be there.
"Hello Mr. Ogata, Akira." He nodded at each one. "What are you doing here?" He asked. "Just... dropping something off." Ogata said and stepped out of the elevator. "A kifu? Follow me." Amano said and began leading Ogata off.
Just then, Akira heard people talking. A group of teenagers were walking by. Akira saw one of them looked familiar. One of Shindou's friends. One of the pros that had passed with Shindou. What was his name...? Akira ran over to the group.
"Excuse me." Akira said stepping next to them. They all stopped to look at Akira. "Touya Akira? A girl spoke up. Nase.... that was her name wasn't it? Akira wandered.
He then looked at the familiar face of the pro he had seen. "Um.... are you one of Shindou Hikaru's friends?" He asked sheepishly. "Yes." The brown-haired pro replied. "May I talk to you for a second?" Akira asked, and the brown-haired pro followed him down the hallway.
"I'm sorry, what was your name again?" Akira asked. "Waya." The boy answered. "I was wondering if you knew Shindou's number." Akira asked. Waya raised one eyebrow in curiosity. "I don't know the number off of the top of my head..." Waya's voice trailed off. "But... you can check in the Institute's phone book." Waya said leading Akira to a room.
As soon as Akira walked in, he noticed Ogata wasn't that far away. Swallowing hard, Akira leaned over the table and began flipping the pages for the 'S' page. Once he found it, he ran his finger down the page. There it was: SHINDOU. Akira copied down the number and then thanked Waya just as Ogata was walking over. "We're leaving now." Ogata said and Akira went after him.