Chapter 9: The Appearance of Shindou Hikaru
In all of his years as a driver, Ogata had never come close to an accident. It was a record he was very proud of, especially as he was a city driver. Because he wanted to keep this record, he drove very carefully. It was only because of this over-cautious driving that Ogata did not kill Shindou Hikaru as he jaywalked across the street, just around a blind corner.
It was a miracle that Ogata saw him at all. Ogata jammed on the breaks, frantically stopping the car. He saw a terrified face, ringed by blond bangs, which promptly dropped out of view. Ogata was sure he had hit him. He saw frozen in the car for a short moment, then flung open the door and ran to the front of the car.
"Are you alright? Did I hit you?" He asked frantically, hoping for an answer. When he reached the front of his car, he had a moment of panic when he saw the kid lying motionless on the ground. Sure that he had killed the boy, he looked around for the kids parents, or perhaps a policeman. Someone who could help.
However, with a faint moan, the kid pulled himself to a sitting position, rubbing his head. Then, terrified, he ran his hands over a large package that he was carrying. Reassured that it was still safe, he looked up at Ogata.
"Hello," he said absently, standing up. He glanced at the car and then at Ogata's frightened face. "Oh don't worry, you didn't hit me, I just passed out. I do that."
The boy had a sad expression on his face, and Ogata noticed that he looked as if he had been crying quite recently. What really shocked Ogata was the boy's next question.
"Do you know where Touya Akira lives? I'm trying to find him."
Too surprised to really think about what he was saying, Ogata stammered out "Yes, I'm going to his house now."
"Great!" The kid replied, looking a little more cheerful. "Can I go with you?"
Ogata suddenly came to the conclusion that the boy in front of him had hit his head rather hard on the pavement. At a loss of what else to do, he let the kid into the car and continued on to Touya Meijin's study group.
Touya was reviewing another one of Sai's games when Shindou Hikaru arrived at his house. He came downstairs when his father called him, thinking that he ought to attend the study group after staying away from it for so long.
His father met him at the bottom of the stairs.
"Akira, Ogata almost killed somebody in his car today. Some kid, he's about your age." He began, and then quickly cut Touya off, as he was about to interrupt, "We don't think he's hurt, but he keeps asking to see you. He's in the kitchen."
There was one person fitting the description of 'your age' that Touya had ever really known. Which is why he wasn't too surprised to see Shindou Hikaru sitting at his kitchen table, looking around him nervously at all the people gathered in the room.
"Shindou!" Touya shouted. "What in the world are you doing here, and how did you almost die and why didn't you call and where are you staying?" He took a breath. "And please tell me you didn't come here by yourself."
Shindou looked extremely guilty as he replied, "I walked in front of someone's car and then passed out and I didn't call because coming here was very sudden and I'm not staying anywhere and yes, I came all by myself."
Ogata made the situation worse by adding that Shindou had jaywalked in front of his car around a blind corner.
Touya was silent for a long moment while he stared in horror at Shindou. He then erupted into a – rather long – rant about how Shindou didn't have any consideration for his own safety. He yelled about travelling on the train alone and he yelled about not calling ahead and he yelled about lodging plans ("What if we had been away? What would you have done then? What if you couldn't find us?) and he yelled most of all about crossing the street in quite possibly the most dangerous way possible. Halfway through his little fit Shindou put his head down on the table, using his arms as a sort of cushion, and sighed deeply. Touya then realized that he was acting and speaking exactly like his mother did when he had done something wrong, but he was too mad to care. Following this maternal inspiration, he ended his rant by crossing his arms, looking down at Shindou expectantly and saying "and so, you are inconsiderate and irresponsible and I would like to hear what you have to say for yourself."
By this time Touya had been talking for several minutes, and several of the adults- Ogata included- had had to leave the room because they were laughing.
Shindou sighed again, then glanced at Touya over his elbow and muttered something.
"What was that?" Touya demanded.
Shindou raised his head higher. "I said at least I've got a fashion sense." He glanced disapprovingly at Touya's pink and blue argyle cardigan.
Several more of the adults had to leave. Ogata, who had re-entered the room, snorted loudly, said something about needing a glass of water, then left the room again.
"That doesn't have anything to do with it!" Touya shouted, slightly offended. He knew he didn't have the greatest fashion sense in the world, but he didn't have to be reminded of it. Looking for a reason to change the subject, his eyes landed on a rather bulky package sitting on the table in front of Shindou that he hadn't seen before. It looked as if someone had wrapped a sheet around something rather large. "And what's that?" He asked, pointing to it.
At that question, Shindou switched from the slightly amused expression he had had after his fashion jab to an incredibly sad, almost pained look. "It's better that you see it." He said, and pulled the sheet away.
Sitting on Touya's kitchen table, two legs cracked halfway through, chipped and scratched all over, was Sai's stone goban.
Chapter 10: The Mourning of Sai
Touya made some sort of sound, somewhere between a cry and a yelp of pain. He and Shindou spent several long seconds simply staring at the sight in front of them.
"How…?" Touya managed to get out after a while.
"There was a storm, a big storm." Shindou began. Touya remembered hearing that there had been a storm near his grandparents, but he hadn't thought much of it. Shindou continued. "Some trees got knocked over, and one of them hit it and…" He gestured towards the goban, "that happened." Shindou's voice cracked and a tear traced down his cheek. "He's gone, Touya. I watched it happen. I ran from school to make sure he was OK when the trees started to fall over, and when I got there there were branches everywhere and he was yelling at this tree that was rolling towards the goban and then it hit it and there was this bright light and he was just gone."
Shindou was openly crying now, and even Touya could feel tears welling up in his own eyes. "I was so stupid, I ran to try and keep it from falling in the river and then I got knocked into the river with it and kept thinking about how I would definitely die if I passed out while I was there and for some reason I decided that it wouldn't be too bad to die because then I'd see him again, and I probably would have drown if Akari hadn't seen me run out of school and gotten the teachers to go find me. They managed to get me out of the water, but I didn't know what to do without Sai so I just kept wondering what to do until I remembered what you said and so last night I snuck out and got on a train to Tokyo. And that's how I ended up here."
At this point, Touya Meijin stepped into the conversation. "You snuck out? So your parents don't know where you are."
Shindou hung his head. "They probably wouldn't have let me come."
The Meijin's expression darkened. "Tell me your phone number, we need to let them know that you are safe." He led Shindou out of the room.
That left Touya standing in the now-silent kitchen, surrounded by the members of his father's study session. Nobody knew exactly what had just happened between the two boys, or why the broken goban had such a dramatic effect on them. As far as they could tell, it was just a goban made of stone. There was no significance to it, though any goban breaking was a sad thing.
Ogata stepped back into the room, looking questioningly between the goban on the table and Touya, who looked like he was about to cry. He had a sudden moment of understanding, and went to stand beside Touya.
"Is that…Sai's goban?" Ogata asked hesitantly. The Meijin had told him a little bit about what Touya had told him, and he seemed to remember that a stone goban fit somewhere into the equation.
Touya nodded slowly, then stepped forward. He ran his fingers over the side of the goban, nearly cutting the tip of his finger.
Suddenly, he remembered the last thing that Sai had said in his presence. "I'm holding him back. He shouldn't have to stay." Was this what Sai meant? Did the storm happen so that Shindou could come to Tokyo, no longer held down by Sai's presence? Was this, by extent, what Touya himself had wanted?
Unable to hold the tears back any longer, he fled back upstairs, slamming the door to his room.
Touya and Shindou spent three days in complete mourning for the loss of Sai. They sat staring blankly at the wall, sometimes attempting to begin a game of go, but always abandoning it a little while later.
It was thanks to Touya Meijin that Shindou hadn't been immediately sent back home. Touya would never know exactly how or why his father convinced Shindou's parents to let Shindou stay. All he knew is that when his father came back from calling Shindou's parents, he came with the news that Shindou had permission to stay with them for several weeks.
On the fourth day, Touya Meijin decided that the two boys needed something to cheer them up. He understood that they were mourning, and although he did not personally believe in the existence of the person they were mourning, he allowed them to carry on interrupted. But enough was enough, and he was tired of seeing his son look so sad.
His solution to their sadness was to insist that they go to the Go Institute. It would be Shindou's first visit, and if the Meijin was correct, the young boy would take great joy in meeting some of the Insei.
The only problem with his plan was that, due to the two boys spending most of their time upstairs, or simply sitting somewhere random in the house, the Meijin had yet to witness one of Shindou's epilepsy attacks. In fact, he had forgotten completely about the boy's condition.
As luck would have it, Shindou managed to pass out at the one time that Touya was not standing next to him. They had taken the train, and in the confusion of the over-crowded cars, Touya had somehow managed to get separated from Shindou and his father. He exited the train out of a different door, and so was not there when Shindou walked onto the platform and proceeded to fall flat on his face in the middle of the Tokyo rush-hour foot traffic.
Somehow, the Meijin managed to clear some space around the unconscious boy. A few passer-by stopped to help and, as can happen in large crowds, some of them had medical experience. By the time Touya found them, the Meijin had a dermatologist, a freshman medical student, an over-enthusiastic teenager who had just learned CPR, and an ER nurse all crowding around Shindou Hikaru.
Touya rolled his eyes.
Tapping his father on the shoulder, he pushed past him to his unresponsive friend. He waved off the ER nurse, who was taking Shindou's pulse.
"It's alright," he said calmly. "He does that." Touya took a moment to tell all the people gathered around that this was completely natural to Shindou's epileptic condition. The ER nurse had just mentioned that it didn't look too much like epilepsy to him when Shindou sat up, rubbing his head.
"That hurts a lot more than it does on grass." He noted, scowling. He seemed to notice all the people around him, and blushed. "It's Ok, I'm not going to die."
The ER nurse still looked suspicious. "What type of epilepsy do you have?"
Shindou's blush deepened. "Oh, we don't actually know. In reality, we never got it checked by a doctor or anything, but Akari said it was similar to what this kid had in this book she read and what he had was called epilepsy so we just kind of called it that."
Touya really did not have the energy to get upset over that, so he stored the comment away in the mental file that he called "Things to yell at Shindou about sometime in the future."
They continued.
The little group managed to reach the Go Institute without any further issues. However, Touya did not let Shindou out of his sight anymore. This proved to be rather difficult when, overcome with excitement, Shindou insisted on running all around every inch of the Go institute. By the time they reached the third floor, two hours had gone by. The Meijin had stayed to discuss the upcoming Honinbou qualifying matches.
Eventually, they reached the Insei room.
"It's not just Insei who play in here." Touya whispered to Shindou as they peered in. "Pros play in this room too. That's during the week, though."
Shindou looked awed. The Insei were about his and Touya's age, some even younger, and they were all playing go with expressions of rapt concentration. Shindou stepped into the room, sinking down to watch the game. Sai had taught him seiza years before, but he had never really used it until today. It was uncomfortable, but it seemed a crime to sit any other way in this room- this amazing room- where go was played.
The game was between an older boy- maybe fifteen- with longish dark hair. His opponent was a boy about Shindou's age, with brown hair that seemed to go everywhere. Their game was just about finished, and as the younger boy bowed in resignation, they began to discuss.
"I shouldn't have gone here." The younger kid said immediately, pointing to a stone in the upper left corner.
However, the older boy had noticed Shindou. "Waya, stop being rude." He turned to Shindou. "Are you a new Insei?"
Shindou blushed. "Oh, no, I'm just watching." He turned to Touya, who was sitting down next to him. "That's OK, right?"
"Of course it is." Touya replied. All the same, he turned to the Insei, who were staring at him, shocked. The one called Waya seemed quite irritated. "Do you two mind?"
"Of course not." The older kid said before Waya could interject. "I'm Isumi. That's Waya."
They exchanged greetings.
Shindou had been staring at the game before him. He pointed to a formation in the center of the board. "How did that happen? That's a rather strange shape."
Waya smirked. "That was my doing. I managed to confuse him enough to take control of the center."
"But you still lost." Shindou noted, bringing on another scowl from Waya.
They discussed the game together. Touya said a few things, but, sensing that Waya didn't exactly welcome him, stayed mostly out of the conversation. He needn't have worried, though, because by the end of the discussion the two boys were so fascinated by Shindou's extensive knowledge that Waya almost complete forgot about Touya's presence. As an older pro came into the room to announce lunch, Isumi animatedly invited them to join him and Waya for lunch. Shindou agreed, practically pulling Touya out the door. They met Touya Meijin right outside. Shindou brushed past him with Touya, Waya and Isumi in tow, telling the Meijin they'd be back after lunch.
It was with great fear that Touya realized that Shindou intended to take the stairs down to the first floor.
"Not the stairs, not the stairs!" He yelled frantically, grabbing Shindou by the shirtsleeve.
"Come on, Touya, I have to go on the stairs sometime." His friend complained, grinning.
Sometimes Touya wondered if Shindou did things solely for the purpose of freaking him out.
They made it down three flights of stairs before Shindou passed out. He had been telling Waya and Isumi about his hometown, and how he was new to Tokyo, and that he had learned go from a friend (which was the story they had decided to tell people for the sake of being considered sane) when he jerked forward and fell.
He would have fallen all the way down the stairs and been seriously injured if Touya hadn't caught him. Swinging Shindou into his arms, Touya feigned calmness as he continued down the stairs. He looked back at Waya and Isumi, who both seemed shocked.
"It's Ok, he does that." Touya said, for the second time that day.
Chapter 11: A Reasonable Excuse
The next few days were reasonably pleasant. In the excitement of making new friends of Waya and Isumi, as well as being able to watch and play so much go, Shindou seemed to have almost forgotten the pain of losing Sai. Waya and Isumi had pressed Shindou quite hard as to Sai's identity after they played their first game together, but Isumi eventually noticed that the subject was rather touchy, and they successfully avoided the topic. Touya was only glad that Waya and Isumi didn't know that Shindou had barely been playing for eight months. That would have truly led to some questions.
Touya was a part of the friendship, in a way. It was more as if he was being forced into the group by Shindou- rather effectively, it might be said, as Shindou was rather good at forcing people to deal with other people. Touya might have been a natural part of the group if it wasn't for the fact that for some reason Waya detested Touya, despite the fact that they had never met. Touya had some suspicions- most of them go-related, but he didn't want Shindou to worry and, as his friend seemed to have not yet noticed the animosity, he decided to keep it to himself.
On the contrary, however, Shindou had noticed. In fact, Shindou noticed quite a few things that no one else noticed. He knew that Waya hated Touya, and he knew it was because of Touya's skill in go. He knew that Isumi could barely keep Waya from grilling Shindou repeatedly about Sai. He knew that, though Touya seemed uncomfortable around Waya and Isumi, he still appreciated being included. Shindou had thought from the first time meeting Touya that this "city kid" probably had a huge social life with lots of friends, but now that he was actually in Tokyo, he realized that Touya was actually quite a lonely person. Shindou also knew that though he himself seemed to be recovering from Sai's death/disappearance, he was still mourning the loss of his friend.
It was this last thing that worried Shindou the most. He had met Sai at a very young age, and the ghost had come to be one of two friends that he had. The other was Fujisaki Akari. Now, not only had Shindou lost one out of his small social circle, but he had also been given a taste of what it was to not be despised by almost everybody else his age. It was all right having friends who were his parents' friends, but they mostly cared about him as some cute child, with no real depth to the relationship. Anyway, there was something special about being with people his own age. It seemed right. With Sai, he could pretend they were the same age- mostly because of Sai's childish nature.
Without Sai, Shindou knew that he would not be able to stand being in his own town. He would not be able to handle being alone all the time. He would not be able to handle being constantly teased at school. But most of all, he would not be able to handle the loss of the game he now loved. He knew he could never teach Akari.
The question was, what to do about it? He couldn't ask to stay with the Touya's forever. That was not only rude, but he was already beginning to miss his own parents. But there was no good reason for his family to move to Tokyo. He couldn't insist that they leave their family home just so he could play go. And though he knew his parents had some idea of the state of his social life, he didn't think they quite understood just how bad the situation was.
Luckily for Shindou, Touya Meijin had already come up with a solution. He did this by using the one thing that Shindou constantly overlooked- his medical condition. Unbeknownst to both Shindou and Touya, the ER nurse who had stopped to help when Shindou fainted on the street had given the Meijin a recommendation for a doctor who could properly diagnose Shindou's condition. Shindou himself had completely dismissed the doctor' appointment he had been made to go to. He was aware that the Touya's worried about him, but didn't see any real value in understanding what was wrong with him, when he couldn't see any clear thing that could be done about it.
He couldn't have been more wrong. He did not know it yet, but Shindou Hikaru would not have to leave Tokyo. The day that Shindou was supposed to return home was actually the day that Shindou's parents would arrive in Tokyo and take him to a temporary apartment that the family would be staying in while they searched for a more permanent place to live. After the Meijin had explained to Shindou's parents about the doctor's diagnosis, they had been more than happy to go anywhere where their son could receive proper treatment.
And so, it was with great sadness that Shindou greeted his three friends for what he thought would be the last time. He, along with Touya, Waya and Isumi, thought that Shindou would be leaving the next day. Shindou, Waya and Isumi all hoped that perhaps the Meijin would allow them to all stay up the whole night to play go, if only for one last hurrah.
Touya Akira had other plans.
Touya plopped down into seiza in the midst of the small group, placing a plastic bag on the floor in front of them. "Today" he announced decisively, "we will not be playing go."
"We what?" Waya asked, horrified. He, Shindou and Isumi stared at Touya in shock. It had never crossed Waya's mind that Touya would be capable of doing anything other than go.
"That's right, we're not playing go. Instead, we're going to do something more exciting."
Dead silence. That something could possibly be more exciting than go was not a concept they were used to.
Touya took three boxes out of the bag. The first was a rather large box of matches. "We're going to need a lot of these," he explained briefly, placing them to the side. The next box was the game Risk. "This way, we won't have to wonder so much at who has troops where." He continued, putting it next to the matches. He noticed that Shindou was starting to smile. He knew where this was going. Touya pulled the last box out of the bag, placing it reverently in front of them. "This is what we're going to play."
Waya and Isumi looked confused. "Monopoly?" Waya asked, completely lost in Touya's logic. "What's so special about Monopoly?"
"It's the way we play it." Shindou said, unwrapping the box. He turned to Touya. "Do you have any extra dice? It would help determine who wins."
In Waya and Isumi's opinion, the two boys were being way too calm about the last few minutes, which didn't seem to make any sense.
Shindou grinned, spreading out the board. "Welcome to Monopoly, Sai style."
It was even better than their first game. They didn't know exactly what made it so wonderful, whether it be the rules more set in stone, or the addition of two more players, or even the sentimental christening of the game being played "Sai-style", but this particular game of Monopoly was even better than their very first game of go. Waya and Isumi caught on pretty quickly, though Isumi almost ran in search of the fire extinguisher the first time Touya set one of Shindou's hotels on fire, and Waya was thoroughly confused when he was told that he had unfortunately broken the law and so was banished for forty years to the desolate lands known as the logo in the center of the board.
After figuring out how the game worked, Isumi, after becoming a powerful politician, managed to set an entire corner of the board on fire, scorching the floor underneath, while Waya snuck out of banishment, became an outlaw, robbed the bank, then held ransom Shindou's playing piece until Shindou agreed to turn over half of his armed forces to fight on Waya's behalf. Shindou managed to win his troops back after an inspiring speech about loyalty, which would have been quite eloquent, if he hadn't passed out halfway through.
It was one of the most childish things they had done in several years, but not one of them minded.
The game finally ended when the Meijin burst into the room, having received a call from a neighbor who had come to the conclusion that the house was on fire after seeing smoke coming out of one of the windows.
Apparently, it would be the last time they would play Monopoly at Touya's house.
"But why would you do that in the first place?" The Meijin asked, rubbing at the scorch mark they had left on his floor.
"Well," said Touya sheepishly, digging nervously into the floor with his foot, "I wanted to give Shindou a proper send-off, and this seemed like a good way."
"Send-off? Why would you need to send him off, he's not leaving." The Meijin said, confused.
His words were met with silence.
"I'm not leaving?" Shindou finally burst out with, staring at the Meijin in shock.
"Is he staying here?" Touya asked.
"What about his parents?" Isumi wondered.
"Can he become an Insei?" Waya demanded.
The Meijin pressed his fingers to his forehead. "I told you two at dinner yesterday. Shindou's family is moving to Tokyo so his condition can be properly treated."
There was a collective "ohhh" among the four boys as they put the pieces together. Then they stood in silence until the full meaning of the Meijin's words sunk in.
Shindou was torn between being thrilled about staying in Tokyo and being sad that he would most likely never see his hometown again.
Touya was torn about whether he should be more excited that he would have less to worry about in terms of Shindou's health or that he would not lose his chosen rival.
Waya was torn between happiness that he wouldn't lose his newest friend and apprehension that not only would Shindou inevitably surpass him but also that spending time with Shindou would mean that he also had to spend time with Touya.
Isumi was simply thrilled without any emotional indecision because Isumi had more of life figured out than the three other boys and so he had his priorities set in the right place.
Somewhere high above, looking down from where he had found himself after being disconnected from his goban, Sai smiled. He turned to the board in front of him, studying the game.
"I told you he'd be all right." Torajiro said from his place across the board from his old master. "Things like this always work out. They'll pursue the hand of god together. And then after them, someone else will. And someone after that."
"I know," Sai said, looking down again. "Sometimes I wish I could be there to see it, though."
Torajiro laughed. "Don't we all." He hit his master over the head with his fan, pointing to the stone he had placed while Sai was lost in his revels. "It's your move, Sai."
Chapter 12: Epilogue
Shindou tapped his fan against the board, making his opponent jump. One board over, Touya turned away from his discussion long enough to roll his eyes. Count on Shindou to use intimidation, though it could be argued that Touya's almost trademark stare could also count as intimidation.
Finally at a loss of what to do, Shindou's opponent bowed her head in defeat. "I have lost." She said sadly.
"Thank you for the game." Shindou replied. He pointed his fan at a portion of the board. "This is why you lost." He began.
It had been five years since Shindou had permanently moved to Tokyo. At sixteen, he had been in the pro world for a little over four years. He and Touya had become known as the beginning of the new wave of strong go players, followed closely by several of Shindou's old friends from his Insei days.
Shindou had risen quite quickly through the ranks of the pros and, had it not been for a long absence due to his actually fulfilling Touya's worst nightmare and falling the wrong way off a small bridge after passing out, he would have been challenging more of the upper Dans.
As for his illness, which after proper medical examination turned out to be narcolepsy, not epilepsy, it had become so slight due to his treatment that no one really knew it existed anymore. Sometimes weeks went by without an incident. Shindou's condition was so little known that it had caused great excitement when, after their first official match, Touya carried his defeated opponent all the way down to the first floor, his only explanation being a very well-rehearsed "It's Ok, he does that."
Though Waya had never really gotten to like Touya, he did eventually stop downright despising him, even after Touya passed undefeated through the pro exams, leaving Waya behind for one last year of training while watching Touya, Shindou and Isumi pass before him into the pro world. Waya had since gained a rival of his own- another Insei named Ochi, who seemed to mercilessly take out his anger on his normally inferior opponents, as if it was their fault that he had not passed the pro exam on his first try.
Waya and Isumi had never managed to learn the identity of Shindou's go tutor. They knew his name was Sai, since Shindou had been just as secretive when asked about the name of his Monopoly game as he was when questioned about his teaching. Other than a name, they had nothing. They learned to live with it, occasionally testing the border of the knowledge that Touya and Shindou claimed they would take beyond the grave. For some reason the two boys had always laughed when they said that, confusing their friends even further.
Shindou sat next to Touya's board, helping him clear the stones.
"Recreate it for me?" he asked briefly.
Touya took the stones and began working through his game. Shindou stared at it in silence, following the intricate train of thought. It was obvious that Touya was much more advanced than his opponent, effortlessly weaving out of every trap. When Touya was most of the way through the game, Shindou put up his hand, telling Touya to stop.
They looked for a few moments at the last few moves that Touya had placed. Shindou put his finger on one of Touya's stone, tapping it.
"Look Touya, it's Sai."
Touya smiled sadly. "Yes. I still see him sometimes. In my go, that is. I saw him in yours, too. During the last game we played."
They sat in silent memory of their lost friend. Then Shindou lifted his fan - so similar to Sai's - and whacked Touya on the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Touya objected, rubbing his head.
"That was for this idiotic move right here." Shindou replied, pointing to an earlier stone. "What were you thinking?"
"There was a very complicated plan that I was going to develop with that stone!" Touya said, his blush giving away his lie. "Really, it was going to be a really, totally amazing plan."
"Sure it was." Shindou replied. "Maybe you were planning for this sorry excuse for a move here."
"That is a perfectly acceptable place to play a stone! Anyway, I saw part of your game; you made a terrible mistake towards the end! You wouldn't have won if you didn't lower yourself to petty intimidation!"
Several people shushed them. The two teenagers had been pros long enough for everyone to understand when a shouting match was about to begin.
Shindou, still glaring, dragged Touya out of the room, determined to finish their argument.
Waya sighed, turning back to his own game. His opponent - a new pro named Shouji – watched the two older pros leave the room with a questioning look on his face. Waya grinned.
"It's OK," he said, "they do that."
A/N: It has recently come to my attention that I did not credit PT-chan ssu for pointing out to me that Shindou's condition was narcolepsy. I edited it last year to say that, but as I went through my reviews again, I realized that I had meant to put in the credit but never did. I don't want to trouble everyone with a possible notification that this has been updated, but I felt that credit was due. Thank you all for the wonderful things you've said about this story! It means a lot to me that you like it.