Chapter 5: Seeing Sai

For Shindou Hikaru, Touya Akira was a shocking reminder that there were people other than Sai who were nice to him. Akari was nice, but she never wanted to meet Sai, and she didn't really want to learn go, either. But Touya had wanted to meet Sai. Touya had wanted to play go. And now that Touya had figured out that there was more to the world than go, he was even more fun to be around.

Which was why, on the day that Touya Akira had to go home early to help his grandmother with something, Shindou Hikaru sat across from Sai, absently placing his own stones, talking constantly about Touya Akira.

"You know, I think that we're his first friends. He honestly knows nothing about having a social life. I mean, no self-respecting friend would let him get away with never reading manga! He wasn't that into it, but he had to at least try. And you should have seen the monopoly game! That thing got seriously out of hand. Though he has to calm down, you know? He's way overprotective when it comes to my epilepsy. He totally freaks out any time I do anything remotely dangerous."

Sai smiled silently, pointing with his fan to a place on the board that completely destroyed Shindou's formation.

Shindou scowled at him. "You did that on purpose!"

"You either pay attention or you don't." Sai explained briefly. "If you're not going to play a decent game, then don't play."

It was a theme that Sai had been pushing in the recent days. He had noticed that Hikaru's game was changing. Before, he had played wildly, not only because he was a beginning player, but also because he only played for Sai. Now, he seemed to be gaining an actual interest in go. Sai attributed this change to the appearance of Akira, since his own obsession with the game did not seem to rub off on Hikaru.

Shindou pouted, then gave Sai an almost devilish smile. "Fine, I won't play you ever again!"

Sai's calm façade disappeared. "NOOOOO HIKARUUUUU PLAY GO WITH ME!" The ghost wailed, tears pouring down his cheeks.

Shindou rolled his eyes. "Oh calm down, you old drama queen. Of course I'll play go with you."

Sai sniffled, wiping his cheeks with his long white sleeve. "Promise?" He whimpered.

"Promise." Shindou said, nodding his head. "But anyway, what do you think of Touya? You've never said anything other than the fact that he's good."

Sai switched over from complaining three year old to wise old man in a few seconds. "Touya Akira…" he murmured, thoughtful. He looked at Shindou doubtfully. "Hikaru…" Sai considered for a moment whether to tell Shindou the truth about Touya. It would upset him, to be sure. Perhaps he should simply let the boy live in ignorance.

"What is it?" Shindou asked.

Sai took a deep breath. Or seemed to, at least. He supposed that the truth was the best option in this situation. It may hurt Hikaru, but that would mean that it would hurt him less than it would if he waited till Hikaru discovered the truth himself. "Hikaru, you know that Touya doesn't believe I exist, right? He thinks you made me up. It's a logical conclusion to come to. After all, why would I exist? The only proof you have of me is my go, and all that does is probably confuse him."

The only thing that could possibly be said to describe Shindou's reaction is that he wilted. After so much excitement, he was getting hit in the face with the reality of the situation. Touya thought he was crazy. Touya was just like everyone else.

If it were not for Sai, that would have been the end of Shindou and Touya's friendship. Shindou would have begun completely ignoring Touya, leaving him to deal with frustrated confusion, wondering what he had done wrong. But luckily for Touya and his growing understanding of a social life, Sai was not a figment of Shindou's imagination. And Sai, who had helped Torajiro through many friendships- successful or otherwise- knew how to help Shindou's newfound disappointment.

As he comforted the younger child, Sai thought he felt a slight breeze. It must have been his imagination, though. As a ghost, the wind did not touch him. Even in the worst storms, he was untouched. Though often, Sai longed to feel the wind so much that he pretended that he could. He put it down to his imagination.

Touya knew that there was something different when he went to play go with Shindou/Sai that day. Shindou was in a quieter mood, and didn't participate in the post-game discussion as himself in addition to Sai, as he usually did.

Touya was about to ask Shindou about this new development when he was distracted by the discussion.

"You should not have placed this stone," Sai said, tapping the offending stone with his fan. "Instead you should have protected this formation."

"Really?" Touya objected. "I was using that to prepare for this move here." He pointed to another one of his stones.

All three of them froze. Shindou turned to face Touya.

"I didn't tell you he said that." He said.

Touya was very intently looking down at the goban. Very slowly, he raised his eyes to look across at his normally non-existent opponent. His eyes were met with the piercing violet gaze of the ghost of Fujiwara no Sai.

He looked almost exactly like Shindou's drawing. The long robes fell in perfect folds across the ground, and the fan covered part of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.

Touya was noticeably trembling. This could not be happening. Sai wasn't real. Sai was part of Shindou's overactive imagination. Ghosts weren't real. Even if they were, they didn't sit by the river and play go. Ghosts didn't teach Honinbo Shuusaku how to play go.

Touya scrambled to his feet, backing away from the obvious hallucination.

"That… you're not… you can't…" he stuttered. Then turned his back and ran. He ran all the way home. He did not stop when Shindou called after him, he didn't stop when he almost got run over by a bicycle, nor did he stop when he reached the front gate of his grandparents' house. He ran all the way to his room, where he collapsed on his bed, cradling his head between his hands.

Chapter 6: Emergency Phone

Touya Meijin was in the middle of the discussion of a very important go game when the emergency cell phone rang. It was the only cell phone he carried with him everywhere. It did not matter if he was in a no cell phone zone, such as a theater. It did not matter if he was travelling and could not stop. It didn't even matter if he was in the tie-breaking final match of competing for a title. The emergency cell phone was charged and active, the volume turned up as high as it could go.

Luckily, the emergency cell phone had yet to be used. There had been no family emergencies so far that he had not been already present for. It was because of this that when the emergency cell phone rang in the middle of the very important post-game discussion, the Meijin did not immediately answer it, as he assumed the phone belonged to someone else. It was only when everyone checked his or her pockets in a half-embarrassed way, then turned to look at him, that he realized what must have happened.

Saying some things that he would not care to have repeated, the Meijin rushed out of the room and answered the phone.

"Father!" The frantic voice on the other end said. The Meijin caught his breath- Akira never talked like that.

"Akira?" He asked hesitantly, dreading the worst. This was the first time he had talked to his son in at least two weeks, and if he was this upset after that amount of time, who knew if he would make it through all four? At least he knew that Akira was not dead, since he was calling him. Ogata walked into the hall, looking concerned.

"Father, I think I'm going crazy! I didn't know insanity was contagious! If I had known that, I never would have spent any time with him! It would have been cruel for both of us, but at least I wouldn't have gone mad! It's a wonder she hasn't gone mad yet! I've thought about it and it's the only explanation. There's absolutely no way that he was actually there. There's no logical explanation. There's no logical explanation for his go, either! Maybe it's a demon or something! What if he sold his soul to the devil or something! That might make sense! But it doesn't make sense! Nothing makes sense! I've gone crazy and it's all his fault somehow and I should have known after the monopoly game that I was going crazy but I didn't realize and so now this happened and I don't know what to do I could check myself into a mental facility but that wouldn't help because everyone else would go crazy as well and I don't know what to do what do I do!" Akira seemed to be close to hyperventilating.

The Meijin took a minute to respond. Nothing that he had just heard had made sense to him, mostly because Akira was playing a nasty game of pronouns. "Akira." He finally got out. "I need you to calm down. Stop talking so quickly. Take some deep breaths, go back to the beginning, tell me what happened." He glanced up at Ogata, who was now looking very concerned.

'Is he OK?' Ogata mouthed.

'I don't know.' The Meijin mouthed back.

On the other line, Akira seemed to have calmed down a bit. "There's this kid named Shindou. Shindou Hikaru. And he's crazy."

"Why is he crazy?" The Meijin asked.

"He's got epilepsy or something, and that messed him up, I think. He has an imaginary friend."

"Many children have imaginary friends. How old is he?"

"He's my age. And it's not just an imaginary friend. It's an imaginary friend with a really complicated personality, background, skill set and knowledge. He knows stuff that isn't possible. And his go is incredible."

"And what happened?"

Akira ignored the question. "Well, Shindou's imaginary friend's name is Sai, and apparently, he's a ghost from the Heian period, who taught go. He's connected to this stone goban by the river. Shindou said that as a ghost Sai taught Torajiro, though we know him as Honinbo Shuusaku."

"That is very strange, but what happened?"

Akira took a deep breath. "Today, I saw Sai."

There was a pause. "You what?"

"I saw Sai!" Akira gasped out, holding back frantic tears. "I interacted with him. He said something, something about a move I had made in my game with him, and I heard him, and I looked up, and I saw him. I saw somebody else's imaginary friend!" Akira was actually crying now. "He was never there before! He was just empty space, and Shindou would tell me what he would say. And Shindou would place the stones because apparently Sai couldn't touch them!"

"You think you're crazy because you can see someone else's imaginary friend." The Meijin said blankly, seeing his confused look mirrored in Ogata's face.

"Yes! Is insanity contagious?"

"No." The Meijin said simply, then covered the phone with his hand so he could confirm his answer with Ogata. He didn't think insanity was contagious, but you never knew.

"Then what happened?"

"I don't know. Have you entertained the possibility that perhaps this Sai person is, in fact, who he claims to be?"

"Why would I ever think that?" Akira practically screamed into the phone.

Even Ogata had heard that. "He really sounds upset, doesn't he?" He said, slipping back into his calm and semi-sarcastic tone of voice.

The Meijin was at a loss. What did a father do in these situations? What could he say to reassure his son? None of the other parents he knew had ever complained about being in this situation.

It was then that he remembered something his own father had told him once. It was technically supposed to be about leadership, but being a father basically was being a leader. His father had said, "Kouyo, when you are at a loss of what to say, make something up. But when you say it to someone, say it confidently enough so that they believe that you know what you're talking about."

The Meijin knew that his father had not been known as the wisest man in the world. He also knew that his father did not, in fact, make up those words. He had decided to never take much of his father's advice, but at this point, it was all he had.

He cleared his throat.

"Akira." He said in the commanding tone he used when his son made an obvious mistake in their latest go game. "This is what I want you to do. I want you to forget that you think Shindou is crazy. I want you to accept this Sai for who he says he is. Sometimes, when we are unable to completely understand something, we must simply accept it for what it seems to be. As far as I can tell, knowing and speaking to Sai is not putting you in immediate danger. Because of this, I see no negative consequences of you continuing to be his and Shindou's friend. Accept the impossible, and move on."

With that, he hung up the phone. Perhaps it was a little wordier than his normal pieces of advice, but Akira was eleven, and although he was mature for eleven, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Ogata, who understood the Meijin far better than Kouyo felt comfortable with, was smirking.

"That," He said, "was the worst piece of advice I have ever heard. You totally made it up, as well. What did you just tell him to accept?"

Kouyo looked at the phone, horrified. "I just told him to believe that he just saw the ghost of a Heian era go teacher who then died and taught go to Honinbo Shuusaku."

Ogata stared at him. "You told him what?"

Chapter 7: The Last Few Weeks

It took Touya a surprisingly short amount of time to accept Sai. Ever-trusting, he had taken his father's word as truth, and that very day had returned to the river. Shindou was sitting across from Sai, who was still visible.

Touya sank into seiza in Shindou's normal, in-between position.

"I'm done freaking out now." He said hesitantly. Neither player paid him any attention, and so he turned his own attention to the board before him. It would be the first time he would see Shindou play.

Though Shindou was not an amazing player, he was extremely advanced for someone who had only been playing for six months. Even Touya himself had taken at least eighteen months to get to this level of play, and age difference aside, they had had, in effect, the same type of training. When Touya thought about it, he realized that his own go must have strengthened tremendously in just the last two weeks. And with two more whole weeks stretching about before him, he was confident that he would rise quite noticeably in his skill level.

Now believing in Sai, Touya felt that it was necessary to re-introduce himself to the man he now knew existed. Unfortunately, this earned him a whack on the head from Sai's fan- which he could now feel.

"There's no need for that. Just play go with me!" The ghost had complained.

In time, Touya became accustomed to Sai's presence. Touya now demanded that Shindou play at least one game per day with Sai, and they became an unnatural trio of friends. Despite this, it often seemed that Touya was third-wheeling on Shindou and Sai's friendship, which seemed to be unnaturally deep. Sometimes, Touya thought that Shindou responded to Sai's words a little too quickly. As if he knew what he was going to say before he actually said it.

Although Touya was now well accustomed to Shindou's epilepsy, his familiarity with it did not dampen the constant stress that he felt whenever Shindou did something unnecessarily dangerous. He was still convinced that his hair would turn gray prematurely from this constant anxiety. Carrying Shindou after one of his frequent fits had become completely normal, as well. The movement of catching him mid-fall had become quite fluid by this time, and he did it with obvious ease. Judging by how increasingly easy it was becoming to carry him, Touya was physically becoming much stronger as well.

It took another full week for Touya to convince Shindou to play a game of go with him. The only reason he managed to convince him was because Shindou had come over to Touya's grandparents' house for dinner- only on the condition that they have ramen.

With no Sai for Shindou to redirect Touya's go obsession onto, it was relatively simple for Touya to convince him to play a game against him. The most eventful part of the game was probably when Shindou discovered that the stones were supposed to be different colors.

"You mean you don't usually have to keep track of them?" He had asked, awestruck.

"Nope," Touya had replied, "all you have to do is concentrate on the game itself. It's a bit simpler that way."

Once the game had finished, Touya spent a long time reviewing it. It had become habit to review that games played that day, and that game was particularly interesting. Shindou's style had come from only playing Sai. Shindou expected there to be deeper traps than even Touya could plan, and so his style wouldn't be very effective against lower-level players. It was too defensive.

For the first time, the thought crossed Touya's mind that if Shindou were to come to Tokyo with him, his go would become exponentially better. Even now, Shindou was close to pro level. With time, he would become strong enough to become Touya's rival.

It was a subject that Touya tried to ignore. Many people had wondered why he had yet to take the pro exam, and perhaps this was why. With such a lack of skilled young players, Touya would be completely alone. He would have no rival his age. He would never admit this reason, though. He couldn't tell people that he didn't want to go pro because he would be lonely.

But with Shindou, that might change. If he could somehow introduce Shindou to the world of the pros, he might have a chance at a rival. But Shindou would never leave Sai. Touya knew that. And with his epilepsy, such a big city would be dangerous. There were so many complications. But the more he thought about it, the more Touya knew that he had to introduce Shindou to the pro world. The only question was- how?

Chapter 8: A Rival's Challenge

As his four weeks dwindled to only a few days, Touya was no closer to an answer than he had been that night. He had not yet brought the matter up with Shindou, and it finally came to the point where he absolutely had to address it, for fear of never being able to address it at all.

Luckily, he didn't have to be the one to begin the conversation, as the day before he left for home, Shindou asked him what he would be doing when he returned to Tokyo. He seemed quite sad when he said it, and it suddenly occurred to Touya that Shindou would miss him quite a bit when he left. It also occurred to him that he would miss Shindou, as well.

He seized the opportunity. "Well, I actually wanted to ask you if you had any interest in coming to visit me some time." Perhaps a little bit non-sequitor, but close enough to the original subject to not seem that strange.

Shindou looked shocked. "Me? Come to Tokyo? That's ridiculous! I'd get lost! I've never been out of town, much less anywhere near a big city. You worry too much about my safety, but I'd probably die in the first few days." His expression changed to look almost wistful. "It would be fun, though. I could meet your friends, and play go, and then we could play go, and then I could tell Sai all about it." He seemed to realize something, and looked a little sad. "Oh, but I couldn't go! I can't leave Sai by himself!"

Touya was pleased. He had been well aware that Shindou had caught on to his and Sai's obsession with go in the last few weeks. This would also help with his plan to bring Shindou to Tokyo, since with a growing obsession, it wouldn't be long before Shindou sought after other opponents. Touya had known from the beginning that Sai was barely able to conceal his own frantic desire for opponents, and part of him wondered how Sai was able to stand only playing the two of them over the course of so many years. But Shindou's argument was a good one. He wouldn't do very well in the city, and leaving Sai to sit alone and without go was almost unthinkable.

Surprisingly enough, it was Sai himself who fought against Shindou.

"Idiot!" He yelled, hitting Shindou with his fan. "You expect to sit here and waste your talent? Keep moving forward! You can still learn from me, but I will not have you tie yourself here just because you think you exist for my sake. You are very skilled in go. What Akira is offering you is a chance to use that skill. Chase after him! Chase after the hand of god!"

It was not the first time Touya had heard Sai mention the hand of god. He knew that Sai wanted to achieve the hand of god- a trait he shared with both Touya and Touya's father. Touya knew he was still far away from reaching that goal, but he hadn't known that Sai also wanted Hikaru to chase it.

His thoughts were interrupted by Shindou, who was yelling.

"You just want me to leave you here? That's stupid! Who will play go with you? I'm not going to abandon you, no matter what. I'm not going to let you be ignored and alone."

Shindou seemed about to cry, and promptly turned away and ran down the road. He didn't make it very far, though, before he collapsed. Touya ran over to make sure he was all right. He was surprised, though, when he turned back and saw that Sai was crying. Not the normal, wailing complaint that appeared when he couldn't play go, but genuine, heartbroken tears.

"Wha-?" Touya began, confused. He had known that Shindou wasn't explicitly talking about Sai when he had talked about being ignored and alone. It had never occurred to Touya that the treatment Shindou received from his classmates was probably very hurtful. He was suddenly angry.

"I'm holding him back." Sai said suddenly, looking sadly at Hikaru, who was still unconscious. "He shouldn't have to stay."

The next day, when Touya had to leave, there was no mention of what had happened. There were many farewells, much advice from Sai, thanks from Fujisaki, and, though they all would have denied it, quite a few tears. Touya said goodbye to his grandparents separately, and they accompanied him to the train station. When they arrived, Touya was almost surprised to see Shindou there, but not quite.

"You should have called so I could walk you to the station." Touya said jokingly.

Shindou rolled his eyes. "Yes, because I have no idea how I managed to survive without you all these years."

There was a moment of silence, in which Touya wondered whether he should ask Shindou once again to come to Tokyo.

Finally, when the train came, Shindou lightly punched Touya on the shoulder. "Come back to visit me again sometime. I'm sure Sai would appreciate the break from my terrible skills."

"Yeah." Touya said, at a loss of what else he could say.

As the train pulled away, though, and Touya was waving from the window, he suddenly had to speak. "Shindou!" he yelled back, as the blond-banged boy was about to turn away. Shindou turned back towards him. "Come after me!"

And with that, Shindou's shocked expression slipped out from his view.

Once Touya returned home, he sank into a sort of silence. His parents worried a little bit, but they were ever so slightly happy about it, since it meant that Touya actually had a friend his own age that he would miss.

Touya refused to show his father any of Sai's games. It would be too much for his father to believe. It had been on his father's advice for Touya to accept Sai, but he still wanted to keep the games to himself. He replayed them, alone in his room. Even without seeing the games, though, it was clear to everyone that Touya had improved dramatically over those four weeks.

He wondered quite often whether Shindou would ever consider his final challenge, or even if he would ever see Shindou again. He decided that if he ever did, it would probably be far in the future.

However, unbeknownst to anyone, Shindou arrived in Tokyo alone three weeks later.