Wooo... I finally blew the dust off of this story for a while. I was hesitant about updating, because I don't know if anyone still would like to read it, but I saw that it still had many alerts, for which I was proud of. I might re-write the entire 'fic. Heck, I might re-write all of my Hikaru no Go fics (even the ones not uploaded on FF . net)...
Chapter 3
The rain had eased up a little when Ogata was driving Akira home. Ogata, although he didn't want to, had dropped the sai business. But he had noticed the paper in Akira's hand. He had gotten glimpses of the numbers and he had memorized most of the sequence. All he needed was just needed the last four digits.
He looked at Touya, hoping he would try to shuffle around. And he had tried various things in making Touya shift around. Those 'various things' included the "hey-look-at-that!" trick, which obviously didn't work and made Ogata seem (and feel) like an idiot.
As they were driving, Akira was fully aware that Ogata was trying to see the number, and tried his best to hide it. He had worn slightly dressy pants, so there were no pockets he could shove the paper into. He hoped Ogata hadn't seen it.
Just then, Ogata stopped at Akira's house.
"Thank you for the ride," Akira said politely, quickly, bowing his head and hiding the number behind his back as he got out. Unfortunately, Ogata's eyes were quick, and he had seen the last four digits that he needed. Also unfortunately, Akira didn't know that.
He smiled at Ogata, then turned around and zipped into the house, trying not to be too conspicuous.
Ogata was smiling to himself and practically sped down the street in a frantic attempt to get home as soon as possible. Scratch that, to get to his phone as soon as possible. But he didn't know what the number was for and who it lead to. He'd just have to try it out.
Akira, on the other hand, didn't have the same luck Ogata did at that time. He was called for dinner by his mother, so he'd have to call Shindou later.
When Ogata opened the door to his apartment, he was immensely excited, although he didn't look it. Seiji Ogata was not one to jump up and down and squeal about a mere phone number. He had his same calm and serious look on. He decided to make some tea and get a cigarette. That was supposed to take only about 15 minutes, but Ogata, for some reason, had some trouble lighting his cigarette. Was he too excited?
He had knocked over the tea kettle and had to attempt to light the cigarette four times. His hands were shaky... Was he worried about forgetting the number? Never! Go-players had some of the sharpest memories there was, whether they were old or young. They had to memorize entire games, right?
When he was finally settled, he picked up his phone and dialed the number he (thankfully) remembered. He typed them carefully, trying not to make any mistakes. If he was to make a mistake, he'd probably throw the phone out the window.
If it wasn't an important number, he would just say "wrong number" and hang up. As the phone was ringing, Ogata tapped his foot and waited. Beats of sweat fell down his face.
Click! The phone was picked up. Ogata waited to hear whose voice it was... Whose voice was on the other end?
Akira stood up from the table and ran into the room in his house with the phone. He snatched up the phone and dialed in the number. He needed to hear the rest of Hikaru's story...
"Come on come on..." He tapping his foot impatiently.
"Hello, Shindou Residence," the voice answered.
Ogata was shocked. What an incredible stroke of luck! He had gotten the number of the house of the person behind all the mysteries of sai.
"May I speak to Shindou Hikaru?" he asked.
"Of course," the womanly voice answered (probably the boy's mom... Ogata thought knowingly). In about forty-five seconds, someone else answered.
"Hello?" the voice said uncertainly.
"Shindou..."
Hikaru recognized the voice immediately. He began shifting from one foot to the other.
"Shindou, tell me... who is sai?!"