Finally! The last part of this chapter. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Continues from the previous part. Forever. And ever.

'Thought' system:
\...\ = Hikaru's thoughts
\\...\\ = Sai's thoughts


It's Time to Play a Game

Chapter 2: Let's Play a Game (Part 5)

Everyone in the room stared at the goban, holding their breaths. But to the more skilled players, it was clear who won.

"…Fifty-one moku to fifty-six, with komi(1). Whoo!" Hikaru pumped a fist in victory and the tension left the entire room, although the crowd's murmuring had gone up in volume in favour of discussing the game that had just unfolded.

"Ha! I knew you had it in you, you brat!" Kawai-san grabbed Hikaru in another headlock and gave him his umpteenth noogie. "Thanks for earning me some money!"

Yugi smiled, a little disappointed that he lost but still glad at how much he'd improved at the game, even though he hadn't played it in a long time. He finished clearing his black stones off the board and inclined his head in a grateful bow.

"Thank you for the game, Shindou-san. It was fun!" And it was true – Yugi felt exhilarated throughout the entire game, an emotion he rarely experienced before he completed the puzzle. The feeling still left him amazed and extremely happy that anyone would want to play with him, and he never wanted to forget it.

Shindou waved him off with a sheepish grin.

"Aw, don't go all polite on me – we're practically the same age! Plus that was a good game, especially if you haven't had that much experience!" Hikaru suddenly frowned at this. "You know, if komi didn't exist, you'd have won by half a moku. Were you lying when you said you'd only played Go a few times? 'Cos you're way better than a beginner. In fact, you could easily pass the insei exam with your skills." He still couldn't get the idea of another ghost completely out of his mind, and after playing the boy…well. He wasn't sure what to think. He directed his thoughts to his Go mentor.

\Sai? What do you think?\

\\I think it's a great idea, Hikaru! He could be your rival number two!\\ Sai cheered, loving the idea of roping another unsuspecting person to play Go with them.

Hikaru sweatdropped.

\Umm, that's not what I meant.\

"Haha, no, I really haven't played the game much. I guess it was just a combination of luck and strategy."

Hikaru caught the humble reply, which really went along with Yugi's entire look and aura. He grinned – Yugi was a little like Isumi, but unlike his serious older friend, he seemed to be a fun guy to be around with. Perhaps a little timid, but it was clear he had a competitive streak and loved playing games, otherwise he would have refused Kawai-san's challenge, especially since it seemed like he thought Go wasn't his forte.

Hikaru dumped all his stones back into his Go ke, suddenly wondering if it was part of his duty as an insei to 'recruit' Yugi.

"You wanna discuss the game?"

Yugi blinked, looking confused.

"You know, go over each of our moves, discussing which ones were good and pointing out the bad ones, looking for alternatives…"

"Oh, right. It's okay; I don't want to waste your time. Besides, like I said before: I'm more into Duel Monsters. In fact, I noticed that I could apply many of the basic principles in Duel Monsters to Go, which really helped."

Now it was Hikaru's turn to blink.

"Err, I forgot to ask, but what is Duel Monsters anyway?"

Yugi face-faulted. Seriously? He didn't know? But then he grinned – he'd just have to enlighten Hikaru himself.

Pulling out his deck that he always kept on his belt, he proceeded to show Hikaru the colourful cards and outline the basic rules to the game. He also shared a little of his theories of the similarities between the two games, which fascinated Hikaru to no end. Usually Hikaru had a hard time learning new things, but like Yugi said, Duel Monsters was similar to Go, and Yugi was such a patient and enthusiastic teacher that he was doubly motivated to learn how to play.

-o-o-o-

The Go salon owner smiled at the rambunctious boys who were now duelling one another with the cards, even though they only had half a deck each. Ordinarily he would have asked them not to play on top of the goban, but he let it slide since the cards wouldn't damage the surface, and he was grateful to them. Their enthusiasm brought some life into this little salon of his – something them 'old geezers' really needed, even though a few of them were currently grumbling at the increased level of noise.

Kawai-san walked over to him, clearly having given up on trying to keep up with the boys' racing minds like everyone else had a few minutes ago. They were all forgotten in the wake of this new-fangled game, which apparently was supposed to include the use of life-sized holograms. The owner found that part very hard to believe, but the honesty and excitement in Yugi's eyes convinced him that technology was indeed moving ahead of all of them. It was crazy progress, considering that it was only a few years ago when Internet Go was invented.

"I guess brats will be brats, eh? The crazy-hair kid has totally forgotten about going home, and the other brat forgot about his own curfew."

Kawai-san chuckled, moving to put a cigarette between his lips. The owner didn't know whether Kawai-san noticed or not, but ever since Shindou began to visit the salon on a regular basis, he'd always leave his cigarette unlit until the boy had left.

"So what do you think? Another prodigy in our midst? Geez, they sure weren't bluffing when they were talking about the new 'Go Wave' in Weekly Go."

The owner laughed quietly at the comment, before looking over at Yugi with a thoughtful look.

"Hmm…I don't know about that."

"Eh? What do you mean you don't know? I know Shindou won by a healthy margin, but if the other kid has only played a few games, who knows how good he'll get if he played a few more?"

The owner paused at a particularly loud "AHHH! You got rid of all my traps!" before explaining himself, choosing his words carefully.

"I don't deny that Yugi is gifted, but despite the game with Shindou, I don't think Yugi's…alliances…are with Go."

"'Alliances'?"

The owner hooked a thumb in the boys' direction, smiling lopsidedly.

"See how his entire posture is different when he's holding those cards? That clearly didn't happen when he was holding the Go stones."

"Well, that can easily be remedied. I know I myself wasn't that interested in Go at first."

"No, no. I mean he's much more relaxed and comfortable with the cards than with the stones. It's like the cards are second nature to Yugi, and once that's been ingrained, it's difficult to let anything else into your life. It's like getting into a relationship – you can either be entirely invested in one, or you can spread your attention among several. That boy clearly has invested a lot into this 'Duel Monsters' game, and has no intention of changing allegiances anytime soon."

The taxi driver gave the owner an extremely odd look.

"Riiight. Now you're comparing games to women. You gettin' senile, old man?"

The owner scowled, swatting the other man's arm while he laughed.

"Okay, okay! I think I get it – that card game is like a pair of favourite, old but comfortable shoes for the kid, and it ain't like he's gonna exchange them for a brand new pair."

The owner nodded.

"Keh. What a shame. Would've been nice to try to kick two brats' butts instead of just one."

"Kawai-san, you've never even come close to beating Shindou," was the dry response.

"HEY!"

The owner laughed at the driver's expense, for once glad about his seniority. He knew the man would never dare to give him a noogie.

Looking over to the boys, he felt a little disappointed at not having 'found' Yugi earlier, but it couldn't be helped. Maybe when he got older, he'd abandon the childish game for something much more traditional and intricate. But he had the impression that the kid was fiercely loyal, if he wasn't misjudging the kid's lingering smile on a card that had a picture of a man in a purple robe.

-End of Chapter 2-


(1) Komi is basically the 5.5 points (a.k.a. moku) that's added on to the white player's final total. This is to get rid of the black player's advantage of having the first move.

So that concludes this chapter. I think it's pretty obvious who would win, especially since both Sai and Yami didn't interfere. And I think Hikaru and Yugi could have been good friends, if they lived in the same universe. Anyway, please leave a review and/or comment; they are much appreciated! The next chapter will come out as soon as I've finished writing it.