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Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

"For a thousand years, I thought that the reason my soul is allowed to survive in this world is because Kami-sama took pity on me and gave me a second chance to search for the divine move. Then I realized that Kami-sama gave me such a long time just to find you, Hikaru."

Fujiwara no Sai, a Go ghost from Heian period smiled at the tired teenager dozing off in front of him. He felt a little bit guilty demanding a game from the boy who just returned home from a Go seminar, but he wanted to spend his last moment with Hikaru and a Go game. The disappearing spirit said remorsefully, "Disregarding the fact that it was I who put an end to my own life, I stubbornly, selfishly want eternal time for myself to play Go. However, if Torajiro existed for my sake, then I simply existed for you…"

Unaware of Sai disintegrating in front of him, Hikaru blinked sleepily, jerking his head up at the fading voice. "It's your turn, Sai."

"…for you are me in the distant future."

The feel of gentle breeze against his cheek made him yawn. "Huh? What did you say just now?" Having no reply, he became alert and looked in front of him. There was no Sai, only a barely started game on his goban. Fighting the terrible feeling suddenly spreading in his chest, Hikaru frantically searched his room, hoping that Sai was just playing around with him.

'The divine move, I leave it to you…'

"Sai? Where are you?"

He was taking a step toward his door when a brilliant golden light exploded around him, swallowing him into a vortex of nothingness.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Hikaru stirred slowly, resisting the lethargy he was feeling at the moment. He couldn't even move his hands. It felt like his whole body was cemented to his bed from neck to toes. A gasp was heard in the room, followed by rushed footsteps toward his bed. There was this curious sound beeping consistently despite the flurry of activities around him.

He was struggling to open his eyes when a male voice, suspiciously sounded like his father's spoke to someone near his bed. "He's waking up. Our prayers have been answered."

The teenager could feel a gentle hand caressing his forehead, while another grasped his fingers reassuringly. Staring blearily at the white ceiling, the comfortable feeling in such care lulled him into slumber again. However, his intention was prevented by soft palm tapping firmly against his cheek. "Hikaru, can you hear me? Please, open your eyes, son. Look at me."

His stubborn nature wanted to ignore the pleading tone, yet he could sense the urgency that told him that there was something wrong about the situation. Tiredly, he opened his eyes again to notice his mother in tears, and his father trying to console her. A smile formed on his father's weary face, as if a great burden had been relieved from him. Strange indeed. What was his father doing in his room? Why was his mother crying? On top of it all, where's Sai?

"Hikaru, you're awake. Kami-sama, he's really awake. Thank you. Oh, thank you!" Now his mother was bawling like a baby, she was leaning too close near him and the grip on his hand was getting stronger. Feeling confused, and a little bit upset that his rest was interrupted by the commotion, he tried to voice out his opinion. However, to his horror, there was something that felt like tube in his mouth helping him to breathe. Then he tried to raise his hand to his throat only to realize that there were tubes all over his body, hooked to various monitors and devices.

'Tubes? What the heck happened to me? And where I am right now?'

"Be careful, Mitsuko. He's still too weak to handle anything right now. Let the doctor take a look at him." His father finally managed to calm his mother down, gently coaxing her to leave their stools and gave way for people in whites to examine him.

Although his body was currently in a vegetative state, his mind was as sharp as a Go-pro during his match. 'Doctor? So I'm in a hospital then. Weak? True, I could barely turn my head. But why did my body feel so sore?'

His thoughts were distracted by a man in white coat. "Hello there," the man said, giving him a gentle smile. "Hikaru-kun? I'm Takeda-sensei, your doctor here. Please blink your eyes twice if you understand me."

Hikaru stared at the doctor, who looked like he was in his early forties, before doing exactly as he was told. The smile widened encouragingly. "That's good, Hikaru-kun, really good. Now Hikaru-kun, can you please, slowly squeeze my hand?" Takeda-sensei carefully held Hikaru's right hand with his, waiting patiently for him to follow the instruction. It required a bit of effort, but he managed to give the doctor a weak, yet firm squeeze of his hand.

"That's another great discovery. Wonderful, you're doing much better than I thought, Hikaru-kun." The male doctor then asked him to do a series of simple gestures, all of which he performed quite successfully. His parents watched his progress with wonder and amazement. Their gaze met, and he tried to smile uncertainly at them. He received a prideful smile in return. "Do your best, Hikaru..!" His mother mouthed the words. His father nodded imperceptibly at him.

'It's totally weird. They were looking at me like I just scored straight A's in my final exam.'

There was movement on his left, causing his eyes to change focus toward a young woman in a nurse uniform. "Hikaru-kun, I'm your nurse, you can call me Miyuki-san," the woman said cheerfully. "This might feel a little bit uncomfortable, but we're turning your body in bed to prevent pressure sores." Considering he couldn't even ask what the nurse meant by pressure sores, he just let them do their work quietly. At least he didn't have to suffer the pain of being in one position for too long, like playing Go while sitting in seiza did to him previously.

He eyed them wearily as Takeda-sensei wrote something on his clipboard and the nurse, Miyuki-san adjusted the position of his feeding tube. There was some discussion between the medical personnel and his parents, but Hikaru was too sleepy to focus on the contents of their conversation. He just ignored them and wondered where Sai had been hiding, hoping that the Go master would just appear and promise him a good game as soon as he woke up. They still needed to resume their unfinished game anyway.

"It's a miracle indeed, Shindou-san. His brain activity is so active even though he has been conscious for only thirty minutes. It is such a rare case for a comatose patient, a puzzling discovery. With such amazing progress, I'm sure he'd leave the ICU sooner than we thought." The doctor looked at bed-ridden boy and said, "Of course, he still needs to go through the rehabilitation program before he could lead a normal life again."

The shocking statement should jolt him out of his bed. However, the last thing Hikaru heard before sleep claimed him again was the worried cry from his mother.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It had been two weeks since he found himself waking up in the hospital. It took him a few days after such miraculous event, according to the doctor, to realize that Sai had disappeared. He had been waiting everyday afterward for Sai to materialize in front of him again, but there was no trace of him whatsoever. The knowledge hit him hard enough to send him into a panic attack, one the doctor almost mistook as an epileptic seizure. Thankfully, they managed to calm his nerves down without causing unnecessary damage to his recuperating body.

It was a beautiful sunny day, though he couldn't really walk on his own to feel the comfortable weather outside. Hikaru had been transferred to a rehabilitation ward a few days ago. Before he left the Intensive Care Unit, Takeda-sensei had congratulated his remarkable development, mentioning about how rare it was to see a patient moving directly from coma to a state of full consciousness. Currently, he had passed all possible tests and assessments except for something called cognitive evaluation, so he was told.

One of the first sentences that came out of Hikaru's mouth after he was strong enough to speak at will had baffled everyone that heard him.

"Did anyone inform Japanese Go Association about my situation?"

"Japanese Go Association? Where did you hear of it?" His grandfather asked him, clearly surprised by his question. His father was nowhere to be seen, obviously busy with his work. Considering that he was the one working hard to pay for all of his medical fees, Hikaru wasn't so disheartened by his absence.

"Huh? I was talking about the game. I hope I didn't have to forfeit too many rounds of my Oteai match." He could see the desperate glances shared between his mother and his grandfather. Even the medical professionals in the room looked a little bit alarmed by his innocent remark. Ten minutes later, another doctor had come in, introducing himself as Satomi Kenichi, a psychiatrist that would assist in Hikaru's therapy.

He was asked a series of questions, all of which he answered perfectly. However, the more he explained to the doctor, the more he felt like they withheld crucial information from him. When he expressed his confusion and asked about whether his forfeits would affect his status as a pro, the doctor told him that he shouldn't worry about it and instead focus on his recovery.

Before Satomi-sensei left the ward, he was informed of another session on the next day. His guardians would have to wait outside, but they would be briefed on his conditions later.

True to his word, the very same doctor from yesterday had visited him again right now, no doubt to torment him with more questions and less answers. Satomi-sensei put his briefcase near the leg of the small table. He checked the condition of the IV drips on Hikaru's left arm then took his seat on the chair, maintaining a practiced distance between them. "Alright, Hikaru-kun. Let's do this again. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready, Satomi-sensei." Hikaru nodded his head at the doctor, adjusting his position on the wheelchair. He didn't really understand why he had to answer a lot of repetitive questions from the psychiatrist, but since he was promised a game of Go if he cooperated with their assessment, he simply stopped complaining.

"Good. Hikaru-kun, what day is today?"

"It's Tuesday, May 22, 2001." He answered briskly. 'It's been eighteen days since Sai's disappearance.'

"That's a quick answer, Hikaru-kun. Now, please tell me anything you remember about yourself and your family." It was not an easy question to ask to a coma survivor, but Hikaru was an enigma. At first, they found nothing wrong with him, except for the need of physical therapy to improve his motor skills and self-care activities. That was until they carried out neuropsychological assessment to test his cognitive function and probed deeper into further mysteries.

"I am Shindou Hikaru, son to Shindou Masao and Mitsuko, grandson to Shindou Heihachi. I'll turn fifteen years old by September 20. Currently, I'm a third year at Haze Middle School." He stared right into the doctor's eyes, reminding him that they still owed him some clarification regarding his career status. "I'm also a shodan Go professional, though I must have missed a few games by now. I hope my mum has contacted the Japanese Go Association to inform them of my medical leaves."

If Satomi-sensei was hiding something from him, he didn't show it. "Please don't let it bother you, Hikaru-kun. As I've mentioned previously, the matter has been settled." The psychiatrist smiled reassuringly and asked another question. "What about your hobby, don't you have any other interest besides Go?"

Hikaru looked thoughtful for a while, wondering of the last time he enjoyed anything other than Go. "Hmm, nope, I think. I was a little bit crazy about soccer when I was in elementary school, but a few circumstances allowed me to learn about Go and made me fall in love with the game. I never stop playing it ever since."

"Circumstances? Can you explain the situation a bit?" The man jolted down a quick note on his clipboard, seeming interested to know how the kid learned to play Go.

There was no way he would ever tell them about Sai, so he picked his words carefully. "Err, there's not much to tell. It started when I stumbled upon a goban in my grandfather's attic. At first I didn't really care about the old man's game, but finally it managed to pick my interest. I did enroll in a Go class shortly, met a few players here and there, played online Go, joined the school club and tournaments. Then I became an Insei and the rest is history."

Then Hikaru realized that he just blurted something he wasn't supposed to mention and blinked his eyes nervously at his blunder. 'Oops! Sai was the one playing in the Net. Hope he wouldn't ask about my username...'

The therapist noticed that Hikaru was a little bit elusive in his story, like there was something he didn't want to share with other people. He didn't want to press the issue, so he changed their topic. "If it is possible, do you still remember the incident that caused you to collapse?"

"I told you I was playing Go in my room. When I stood up, about to leave it, there was this bright light surrounding me and I didn't know what happened after that," Hikaru answered truthfully, he just skipped the part about looking for his missing opponent, Sai.

"Hikaru-kun, can you tell me the date of the incident?" The psychiatrist asked the question carefully. A lot of coma patients couldn't recall what had happened to them after they were conscious, since memory was the slowest part to recover from a brain injury. In fact, certain questions could trigger their trauma, causing them to relapse. Hikaru, on the other hand, was totally alert and seemed to remember a lot of things related to him.

Including things that never happened in the first place.

"May 5th. I just got back from a Go seminar."

Satomi-sensei looked thoughtful for a second at his short answer, making some notes on his record. "You said you were playing Go before the incident happened. How long have you been playing the game, and who was your opponent at that time?"

Hikaru was feeling a little bit annoyed at the incessant questions. He remembered clearly telling almost similar things yesterday, though he was assured that it was a normal assessment for patients who had survived head injury. "I've played the game for about two years, since I was twelve. I was playing alone at that time. Haven't my family members told you all about it previously?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you agitated or emotionally disturbed. It's just routines to ensure that proper diagnosis can be done on every patient's case." The psychiatrist bent down, taking something out of his briefcase and put in on the table. Despite his physically weak condition, the boy almost greedily grabbed the magnetic Go set, his accumulated stress gone in a second at such dazzling view. A game, he was going to play a game!

"You sure you can play, Satomi-sensei? You're forgiven!"

The man chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm, though he was observing the young teenager calculatingly. Hikaru's grandfather had told him that while he himself had played Go, Hikaru was never given any exposure. His grandson was a bratty-half-pint who loved soccer more than anything else. To learn that Hikaru had claimed to know the game and even got an official shodan rank was something beyond belief.

He helped Hikaru to spread the 19x19 grid metal board, and carefully opened the plastic bowls for the white and black stones. "Hey, please don't look down on me. I might not look like much, but I used to win one or two amateur tournaments previously." He threw a good-natured challenging look at Hikaru. "We'll play an even game with komi."

"Oh really? You don't want to put a stone or two, sensei?" Hikaru grinned cheekily, waiting for the doctor to nigiri. He watched calmly as Satomi-sensei grabbed a handful of white stones from the bowl. Guessing the number of stones as even, Hikaru put two black stones on the goban.

Not the least bit offended by Hikaru's teasing, the doctor responded in a friendly manner. "Hmm, let's see who really needs handicap after we play." He placed the white stones in his hand on the board, arranging them in pairs so it was easy for both of them to count the exact figure.

It was even. "Ten. You're going first, Hikaru-kun."

"Alright, sensei. Onegaishimasu." The boy bowed slightly towards the doctor, who returned the formal greeting. He proceeded to take a black stone from the bowl between his index and middle finger, aiming to place it on one of the line intersections in the upper right corner. The sudden foreign feeling of holding an object between nail and fingertip had forced the magnetic stone out of his hand, causing it to clatter clumsily on the goban. It fell on one of the squares with a firm clicking sound.

Hikaru looked at his right hand disbelievingly, thinking that it was impossible to lose the muscle memory of his well-trained fingers in just a few days of coma. It was as if he had never held a Go stone in all of his life. Then he noticed that the nail on his index finger, which should be worn from placing thousands of Go stones, was as smooth as before he had learned the game.

Satomi-sensei studied his patient's reaction with clinical precision, before gently breaking Hikaru out of his shock. "Hikaru-kun, are you alright? Please look at me."

The teenager refused to acknowledge his instruction, instead he kept staring at his hand like it was a curse. The doctor easily picked the misplaced stone from the goban and cautiously offered it to Hikaru. "It's fine, Hikaru-kun. Holding a Go stone requires fine motor skills. It's not unusual for someone who had suffered head injury to forget how to do daily things. You're doing fine with your rehabilitation. I'm sure you'll regain your physical strength in no time."

Ignoring the offered stone, Hikaru thrust his right hand at the doctor. His words were shaky and full with confused, repressed anger. "Here. There should be callus on my fingers, and my nail should be worn. I've played hundreds of games previously. There's no way they are missing just like that!"

His shout might have upset his mother and grandfather for they suddenly burst into the room. They looked worriedly at Hikaru and Satomi-sensei for a few seconds, before shifting their attention to the goban on the table. Mitsuko immediately blanched at the sight, but Heihachi grasped her daughter-in-law's arm and whispered in her ear, "He deserves to know, Mitsuko. Let the situation decide itself."

The psychiatrist calmly stood up and returned the black stone into the bowl. He shared a look with Hikaru's grandfather, who nodded at him. Hikaru's mother tried to approach his son, only to stop at his sudden outburst.

"I hate that look! I've had enough of you people hiding things from me! Just please, please tell me everything..." He begged in a resigned voice, wishing that Sai was there to help him cope with his misery. There were so many things he wanted to know, like where Sai had gone to, why he fell into coma in the first place when he wasn't actually involved in any accident. And most importantly, what did they mean by saying that he had suffered brain injury that might lead to memory impairment when he clearly remembered everything that happened to him since he was four years old?

Shindou Heihachi sighed, looking at his grandson with mixed feelings. Then there were movements everywhere. Satomi-sensei gave the elderly man a polite gesture towards Hikaru's bed, while his daughter-in-law started to push Hikaru's wheelchair and the drip stand away from the table. After the doctor adjusted the head of the bed into 60 degrees Fowler's position, they helped to put the disoriented Hikaru on the hospital bed. "Easy, child. Let's hope you can handle the truth," the old man grunted softly at the boy.

Somehow, his mum's tender stroke on his temples didn't really alleviate the growing uneasiness he was feeling at the moment.

"Hikaru-kun," Satomi-sensei said his name firmly, causing him to switch his attention toward the left side of his bed, meeting the man's eyes. "Did you know how long you've been in coma?"

The boy made a weird face, as if puzzled by the question. "Uh, I'm not really sure myself. Perhaps for a few days?" He didn't realize that his mother was holding her breath while his grandfather became rigid, waiting for the doctor to deliver the final blow that might shatter his belief and sanity.

"Hikaru-kun, you had been in coma for two years and half, since you were eleven years old. On May 5th, you woke up for the first time as a fourteen-year-old boy."

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

The room fell into absolute silence. Nobody moved, nobody said anything. They just stared at the boy with strange expression, dreading how such revelation could shake the foundation of his existence.

It took a while for Hikaru to process the mind-blowing statement. There was a startled gasp, followed by a nervous laughter. His body, frail for his age shook uncontrollably in slight tremors. "Heh heh heh. You must be kidding, right?" He had a wild and unfocused look to him that put them on alert, warning them of his recent panic attack. "You mean I did nothing but slept for the whole two and a half years? That was the most absurd thing I've ever heard in my life!"

The people around him wisely kept their silent, allowing him to absorb the truth he so wanted to hear.

Hikaru grabbed his mouth with his hand, the hand that 'betrayed' him, suddenly feeling sick as if he had inhabited a wrong body. He was a short-tempered kid who met a ghost from Heian period that taught him how to play Go, not some invalid who practically lived his life on the hospital bed. Together they met many friends, rivals and opponents in their search for the divine move. Then Sai disappeared, and he woke up only to find out that all of his precious memories were just dreams.

Sai was real, not just a figment of his imagination. But if Sai was real, why shouldn't he be out there, playing Sai's game to his heart's content, continuing his legacy? Why was he hospitalized instead, going through all the therapies just to make sure he can walk and lead a normal life again?

"It couldn't be!" He whispered brokenly, giving the doctor and his family an accusing look, blaming them for his despair and self-doubt. "No, this is impossible!" When his mother tried to touch his shoulder, he flinched and jerked away, not noticing how his rejection had upset her. His abrupt movement had caused him to take an accidental glimpse at his hand, realizing that it was actually a little bit smaller than he was getting used to. And so was his physical built.

Even his own body went against him. It's like the entire world was laughing at him, mocking him at his twisted reality.

He felt the need to lash out at somebody, to find an outlet for his confusion and sorrow. His troubled eyes found a target for his frustration. "Don't you have anything else to ask or tell me, Satomi-sensei?" He said jeeringly. "Did you have fun listening to my story? Do you think I'm crazy right now?"

"Hikaru…," Mitsuko said softly. She had never seen her son being this lost and vulnerable. Even when Hikaru was unconscious, surrounded by tubes and medical equipment, he simply looked like he had been sleeping the whole time. However, growing up in bed had staunched his growth spurt. Kids his age should have already hit puberty, but Hikaru looked like he was twelve. Still, since Hikaru was recovering nicely, his physician had assured her that he would catch up at his own pace.

However, it was his mental state they were worrying right now, though Hikaru's reactions turned out better than they thought. In a somewhat risky plan, Satomi-sensei had staged a psychological game to make Hikaru realized on his own that his reality was different from what he mentally assumed. While she barely knew anything about Go, his father-in-law had explained to her that it was natural for Go players to assess their opponents from the way they handled the stones. If Hikaru truly knew how to play Go as he claimed, he should have detected his own weakness.

It led to another amazing discovery. Hikaru had proven that he had some knowledge of Go.

The doctor regarded his patient steadily. As a psychiatrist, he specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health. He knew that pity was the last thing Hikaru needed at the moment. The boy required persistent emotional support to deal with his condition, together with love and trust. Hikaru might have issues, but he wasn't mentally ill. "Yes, Hikaru-kun. In fact, there's another thing I would like to ask from you, but not right now. I would need your cooperation and permission for that to work."

He could see the boy's antagonistic behavior toned down at his calm reply as it was replaced by curiosity, before self-denial kicked back in. Satomi-sensei hid his smile, understanding his inner struggle. "For your second question, your story was truly fascinating. I believe that is where the source of your strength to survive comes from…" There was a pause before he continued, "It's a precious part of your life, so please treasure it, Hikaru-kun."

Hikaru blinked numbly, a little taken aback at the sincerity in the doctor's words. He turned to his right to see his mother smiling sweetly at him, nodding briskly at the comment. His grandfather raised his brow and said, "Well, you had more than two years to spend in your sleep." The old man scratched his cheek, looking thoughtful. "Your soul must have wandered somewhere, meeting kindred souls, making promises... doing stuff like that."

Just like an arrow, his grandfather's innocent words struck deep inside his heart.

Eyes widened in shock, the boy instantly grabbed the side rail of his bed for support as slowly, the truth started to sink in. He remembered drifting in and out of sleep after waking up, realizing that besides his immediate family, nobody came to see him, except Akari and her mother. Unfortunately, he was sleeping at that time and was only told of their visit later. If his colleagues knew of his situation, they would at least ask about him, right? But no, nobody cared, for to them, he didn't exist. Even to Touya Akira, his supposed rival.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

His grip tightened, and droplets of angry tears fell on his cheeks. "Leave me alone," he whispered miserably. He needed to sort his thoughts, but he didn't want to do it in the company of others. His grandfather stared at him for a moment, before moving toward the door. His mother gave a gentle pat on his shoulder. "We'll come again tomorrow, Hikaru." Without waiting for his reply, she too left him.

"Let me help to lower your bed. You need to rest up properly too, Hikaru-kun. Don't forget to use the buzzer if you require assistance." Satomi-sensei said in his ever calming voice. "And as for your third question, no, I don't think so."

A few minutes later, he was all alone in the small single unit, reflecting the tragedy in his solitude.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

He didn't know why, but Hikaru opened his eyes to notice that he was trapped in a shrouding mist. Small stars were blinking unnaturally around him, their glow penetrating the bluish surrounding. Wondering how he could have ended up in such a strange place, he looked down to see that he was standing somewhat firmly on the groundless space.

"Huh, shoes? Since when I can stand on my own?" He took stock around him again, amazed at the dreamlike ambiances of the place. He ended up looking at his hands, appreciating the familiar Go hand. "Oh, this is a dream. I can sometimes tell when I'm dreaming." Giggling at his observation, he then said in a melancholic expression, "Haha, if it's a dream, it would be nice if something good happens… in this dream…"

There was a slight movement to his right, causing Hikaru to turn toward the presence. He gasped inadvertently at the sight that greeted him.

Sai was standing in front of him in his majestic glory, his white robe and strayed black-purple hair swayed gently in motion of the pleasant wind suddenly breezing past them. He was wearing his usual pristine clothes from the Heian period, looking all regal and magnificent despite the lack of any footwear. A slight smile formed on his handsome face.

"Sai," he exclaimed happily. "You came to me in my dream!" His teacher didn't give any reply, but Hikaru was so excited at meeting Sai again that he started to rant relentlessly. "I woke up in a hospital after you left. They said I was actually in coma the entire time we were together, and they did a few assessments on me to see if I were of sound mind or not. It made me angry. How dare of them to insinuate things they could never explain! You're real! Our Go is real!"

The boy balled his hands into fists, remembering his session with Satomi-sensei that led to the discovery of his alternate reality. "I didn't want to believe them in the beginning, but I couldn't even hold a Go stone properly earlier today." Sai's expression barely changed at the distress his disciple was showing. He simply watched Hikaru's various reactions, listening assiduously to his complains.

"So much had happened since you disappeared… there's so much I want to tell you." Hikaru searched his mentor's purple eyes imploringly, waiting for the long delayed explanation of his disappearance. Getting none, Hikaru became agitated and started shouting, "Sai, why did you disappear? You said you wanted to play forever! Why did you disappear? I don't understand!"

Nevertheless, the Go master just continued his staring contest with the boy.

"Sai, is this my punishment for ignoring your warning, pushing you to the back for my own selfish desire to play the game?" Hikaru asked wretchedly. "Come back, Sai. Just come back to me. I promise I'll let you play all the games! As much as you want! Sai…" The boy's humble begging did nothing to the young man's elegant composure. But there must be something in Hikaru's words that touched him for Sai unexpectedly gave him an earnest smile.

Feeling encouraged by the response, Hikaru became more animated. "You can play hundreds and thousands of games with lots of Go players all around the world. We can even arrange another match with Touya Kouyou! He would be delighted to play you again." Hope and happiness was evident in Hikaru's exuberant manner. "Even Ogata Judan and Touya Akira would love to play you. You'll come back, right, Sai?"

Hikaru was used to not receiving any reply from his mentor, attributing it to being in a dream, so he decided to proceed with his monologue. "How did you feel when you disappeared? Were you sad, or were you smiling, like you are now? I hope you were smiling…" Then he remembered something and said cheerily, "Oh, Sai, they said I would walk again, they said I'll be able to go to school again. For that, I have to go through a rehabilitation program. Soon, I'll go home…huh?" He stopped abruptly when he realized that Sai wasn't paying attention to his story.

Sai turned his head and looked at something faraway, as if someone was reminding him that his time was running out and he had to cut their meeting short.

"Sai," Hikaru said, suddenly having a bad premonition when the Go master didn't acknowledge his call. "Sai!" He called his name louder, but still he was ignored. Rays of light shone through the starry blue sky, illuminating Sai's face. "Don't go! Say something! Don't disappear! Sai!" He started to shout frantically.

The man unfolded his hands and gracefully passed his yellow fan with the black handle to Hikaru, his expression was worth a thousand words. Their eyes met solemnly for a while, and Hikaru finally understood what Sai wanted him to do. He didn't want Sai to leave, but Sai was entrusting him a responsibility only he could shoulder. "Sai…" Slowly, his hand reached out on his own to receive the precious gift from his mentor.

As soon as he took the fan, everything turned black.

"Sai…" He opened his eyes again this time to stare at the white ceiling of his hospital room. Stunned at the significant meaning of his dream, he knew that starting from now, the present was his reality. He covered his eyes with his wrist, allowing the silent goodbye tears for Sai.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Somewhere in December 1998, we went to the attic together looking for something, and we found this old haunted goban. You said it got bloodstain on it, but I was pretty sure I didn't see anything," Fujisaki Akari frowned, trying hard to recall the details in an incident that happened a few years ago. "I was a little bit freaked out by the place, but you insisted to go there…"

Hikaru was currently sitting on his bed, surrounded by visitors, Satomi-sensei and a nurse. He had expressed his intention to know the whole story that caused his hospitalization to the doctor, who had informed his family members of his request. His mother and grandfather took it upon themselves to contact Akari's parents, who gave permission to pick up Akari from school and brought her with them to the hospital.

They exchanged an uncomfortable greeting, mostly from Akari's side. He had no problem talking to her for he was accustomed to their friendship in the last two and a half years of 'dreams', but she was clearly startled by the familiar way he responded to her. He solved the situation by riling her up, quickly diffusing the awkwardness and got her to tell the story.

"Yeah, I remember saying something like that," he said, amused at the terrified face Akari made at that time. He would never forget the stain on the goban since it was where he met Sai. What he really needed to know was how the reality diverged from his own experience. "What happened next?"

Akari bit her lip nervously, afraid she might worsen Hikaru's condition with another disclosure. His family had updated her with Hikaru's progress on their way there. Satomi-sensei decided to help. "No worries there, Fujisaki-san. Hikaru-kun is my special patient, he is strong enough to take whatever it is you're telling him."

The spontaneous remark made Hikaru flushed a bit, but he nodded at the girl to continue. "It's fine, Akari. I heard a voice, right? Did you hear it too?" He asked only for the sake of asking, already guessing Akari's answer. His mother and grandfather listened thoughtfully to their conversation.

"Huh, voice? What were you talking about? No, I didn't hear anything at that time, but I was too scared with your claim of the bloodstain to care. I left you with the goban and sat on the wooden staircase, waiting for you," she said. "Then I heard a loud crash, and when I looked up, you were lying down in a pool of blood." The girl shivered at the memory. "It seemed that you might have slipped your footing and bumped your skull on the sharp edge of the goban. Your blood was on it."

He looked at her in surprise, remembering that he had fainted after watching Sai emerged from the antique goban. His grandfather had called an ambulance and he was sent to the hospital afterward. If he had injured himself from the fall, it should have been from the shock of seeing the Go ghost. But Akari said he didn't mention anything about voice. So that was where the story deviated. The Go master should have clarified something in his dream last night.

Hikaru wanted to ask more about the lack of voice, only he didn't want to answer a lot of questions from Satomi-sensei again. "I might be mistaken about the voice then. Hm, so that's what happened huh?" He said, ignoring the look on everyone's face at his casual treatment of the news.

"It's not as simple as it sounds, kid," Shindou Hehaichi admonished, not satisfied at Hikaru's careless respond. He was glad that his grandson had gotten his old character back, though it was quite unnerving to see his transformation in one night. He wondered at what had caused such change. "There were quite a lot of things scattered on the floorboards. You tripped on one of them, bumped into a few things and finally hit the goban. You were unconscious and unresponsive, and didn't wake up even after the surgical treatment."

'Wow, it was certainly quite scary.' Absently, his fingers touched the right side of his head. No wonder the front of his hair lost its blond dye. They must have shaved all hair on his head previously to help with the medical operation. He turned toward Satomi-sensei for further explanation.

The psychiatrist didn't disappoint. "I'm not a neurosurgeon, but I will try to summarize your case in a more layman term. It's called traumatic brain injury. The strong blows from the fall had caused a closed head injury on your head. It didn't penetrate your skull, but could still lead to complications such as brain swelling and intracranial pressure." He understood the stare everyone was giving, and pointed his index finger at his own head. "Brain swelling is usually caused by fluid collecting in the brain, causing brain tissue to swell from trauma to the head, while intracranial pressure refers to pressure that occurs within the cranium that might cause irreversible damage to the brain cells."

"Urgh, it's enough, sensei. My head already hurts from all the jargon," the boy said, grinning at the doctor. Even his visitors smiled at his befuddled look, for they also felt the same. The nurse wasn't really involved in their discussion, busying herself with her job, but she still turned around and beamed at Hikaru's funny comment.

"Do you know what made you special, Hikaru-kun?" The doctor asked. "You were protected from secondary infections such as pneumonia during your comatose state. After you regained consciousness, your physical body is totally weak but very cooperative to stimuli, and your brain activity is excellent. Besides a little extra memory, you're perfectly normal. Like Takeda-sensei had mentioned, it was a miracle."

Everyone in the room showed a relieved expression at the statement. Mitsuko rubbed his head affectionately while Hikaru pretended to hate the touch. Akari and his grandfather chuckled at his reaction. "Yes, a miracle indeed. You don't know how many days we waited near your bed, hoping that you would open your eyes and look at us. Even after you were conscious, you often went back into sleep. It gave us a fright every single time, afraid that you won't wake up again…"

"Mum…" Now he was feeling a little bit guilty, but his mother just smiled at him. Returning the smile, he relished the thought of being able to walk again, doing a lot of stuff he had been missing. Suddenly, he remembered what the doctor had told him yesterday. "You said you need to ask me about something. What is it?"

"Based on your progress, you'll be leaving the hospital soon. However, I'd like to have my final assessment on you. A game. I request a game from you, if you would have me as your opponent," Satomi-sensei said. "It would help greatly in my diagnosis."

Hikaru closed his eyes, recalling Sai's mission of a thousand years. A determined whisper broke the silence. "I'd love to, sensei."

Straining his ears, Shindou Heihachi focused on the doctor's next words. It was quite interesting to know that there would be a game between his grandson, who he believed had never played Go before and a doctor, who was currently treating him. "That would be great, Hikaru-kun. I'd set it in two days from now - that should be on Friday at the usual appointed time." Motioning toward the table, Satomi-sensei said pleasantly. "You might want to use the Go set to train your fingers."

"Yeah, thanks, sensei."

His mother took his hand in hers, alerting him that the visiting hour would end shortly. "Son, we are going home soon. You take care. Don't forget to eat your food and take your medication, alright?" The boy made a face at the motherly concern. "I know. Like I was given a choice in the matter," he grumbled, and the room was filled with peals of warm laughter that soothed his troubled heart.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

They played an even game with 5.5 komi, with Satomi-sensei playing black and Hikaru playing white.

Satomi Kenichi had started the game in his usual fuseki, while at the same time observing Hikaru with interest. He had told the boy to hold the stone like a beginner when he noticed Hikaru was still having difficulty to hold it properly. His patient had felt offended at his suggestion, however after a few failed attempts had conceded to his advice. He had high hopes at first, eager to see how the game would turn up.

In the early transition from opening to middle game, he was disappointed. Hikaru seemed to be lost in his thoughts, and often he would place the stone with an uncomfortable grimace on his face, as if it wasn't really the exact point he had in mind. Later he recognized the solid moves in the boy's sequences of play as an influence from Shusaku, and the desire to play his best overruled his initial plan to test Hikaru's skills in the game.

Meanwhile, Hikaru was having an inner battle of indecisiveness. It was not because he forgot his own style of playing, it's simply because he had gained more perspectives on various moves that they had distorted his judgments. His intuitions had also broadened and he could read the board better than before. That sudden ability had thrown him overboard before he regained his bearing. Somehow, he could feel Sai in this game, guiding his every move.

'It's really strange. I don't seem to have any difficulty reading this game at all. Perhaps because my Go is also at a pro level in this world. Ha, now I'm thinking like I've actually ended up in a parallel universe or something.'

Ignoring five dead stones at the upper left corner he set up as bait previously, he slowly laid his traps on hidden critical points on the board. Satomi-sensei might have killed a group of his stones, but that didn't hinder his main formation. And unless his opponent could read further than him, he was safe at the moment.

He had to give credit to the doctor when black didn't immediately take the bait, instead he separated Hikaru's stones at the right side of the board by occupying a point adjacent to them. White defended the connection by making a new chain. Black wouldn't give in either as each side proceeded to strengthen their territorial framework with strategic connection of their stones.

The game had entered yose. In order to provide better tactical liberties for black, Satomi-sensei finally took the bait by capturing the white stones at the upper left corner.

Carefully, Hikaru picked a white stone from the bowl between his thumb and index finger and placed it on the board. Another move from white would make a solid connection that would join his previously cut stones so that there wouldn't be any gap between them. Black had wasted a movement by taking the bait, and it allowed white to establish his dominance on the board. His opponent could still try to cut the formation, but he wouldn't be able to enforce it for long. White had already won the game.

Satomi-sensei studied the board in front of him, he couldn't believe what he was seeing just now. He had been fooled by Hikaru's weird placement of stones, only to realize that the useless movements had become the key points in connecting white stones and destroyed a large portion of black stones diagonally, from the upper-right corner stretching into the middle left of the board. He was shaken at the number of moku he would lose if he continued the game.

There was nothing he could do but resign. "Arimasen." His head was still shaking in disbelief at the brilliant play he just witnessed. It was a slaughter.

"That was a good game, sensei," Hikaru said happily, unaware that his doctor was staring at him in amazement. "Here. Black would have more advantages should you focus on this side. It seemed you didn't notice the moyo I've been setting up slowly. The territorial framework for white wouldn't have been so strong if you weren't so fixed on the ko threats at the other corner. Consequently, it became white territory."

The psychiatrist traced the path where black should have created a better connection. He nodded at the commentary, realizing his mistakes. "Yes, it certainly looked that way. You're really a strong player, Hikaru-kun. Are you sure you just play the game for a little over two years?"

"Huh?" The boy gave a mischievous grin to the doctor. "Yeah, and I learned it while sleeping too. Awesome, right?"

"Ah, don't be cocky. Do you mind if I show this game to an acquaintance of mine? I'm sure he would be interested to discuss it."

"No, I don't mind. Go ahead, sensei."

"It's settled then. Thank you for the game." Satomi-sensei paused at the door. "Have you considered turning pro, Hikaru-kun?"

Hikaru calmly pondered his answer. "Later, maybe. I don't think I'm ready to show myself to the world right now."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Hikaru is leaving the inpatient ward tomorrow, right, sensei? I would like to know your diagnosis regarding my son."

"Your son is in excellent condition, Shindou-san. He doesn't show any symptoms of post traumatic amnesia. People emerging from coma might suffer from disorientation and short-term memory loss, behave unusually or reject social conventions as part of the healing process," Satomi-sensei started, opening Hikaru's medical file his nurse had placed on his table earlier. "Hikaru, however, is normal. He has no trouble speaking his mind at all. He has passed all assessments except for the additional memory of his two and a half years."

"You mean, like a made-up memory?" Heihachi asked, still concerned for Hikaru's mental health.

The psychiatrist flipped at a marked page and read the testimonial silently. "Hm, he's neither having delusions like schizophrenia, nor hallucination. In Hikaru's case, he not only wakes up knowing how to play Go, he even masters the game at a professional level. Besides suddenly acquiring the skill, he also has full chronology of how he learns the game."

Mitsuko and Heihachi exchanged contemplative looks between them. "Is there any medical explanation for his situation, sensei? My son had never touched a Go board before. It's quite disconcerting to know that he suddenly possesses such great skill after waking up from coma…"

"There were reported cases of brain injury survivors gaining prodigious level of mastery over skills they never had any interest before, like suddenly able to solve complex calculus problem while the patient previously failed elementary level arithmetic. We call it acquired savant syndrome or accidental genius," the doctor said, his mind went back to the game they had yesterday, still in awe at the boy's beautiful, yet merciless Go.

"Hikaru could be one of them."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. After being confined for a week for his inpatient rehabilitation, he was ecstatic to return home and see the outside world. Since he would have to rely on a wheelchair until he was strong enough to walk on his own, his family had been advised to let him recuperate in a more accommodating environment. For the time being, he would be staying at his grandfather's home.

The old man had already booked him for a few games.

From his passenger seat, Shindou Hikaru took delight in watching the passing scenery, recalling the kind doctor's words before he left the hospital. Satomi-sensei had given him the magnetic Go set as a present, with the promise that given the chance, they would play each other again. When asked if it was possible for him to suddenly forget his Go, the doctor replied in a mysterious way.

'The brain is the most complex organ of the human body. It's a great wonder. The crazy journeys the human minds take… how do we know all of them?'

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

Shindou Heihachi eyed his grandson grudgingly as they put the Go stones back into the respective bowls. They had been playing Go like two obsessive maniacs since Hikaru was released from the hospital a few days ago, and he had never won against the boy. Hikaru looked up from the now empty surface of the goban and gave him a somewhat guilty smile. "Heh, you always give me that look every time you lose to me."

The old man didn't deny it. "I was once a regional Go champion, so forgive me if I find it difficult to believe that my grandson could thrash me like I was some beginner."

"But you're still at amateur level while I am already at a professional level. Big difference, gramp!" the boy said jokingly. He loved teasing his grandfather simply because he enjoyed the old man's reaction. Not even a week ago, the veteran had enthusiastically displayed all of his Go winning prizes to Hikaru as a proof that he wasn't all talk when Hikaru expressed his doubt at his grandfather's skill level.

In the early days of his dreams, his grandfather had stopped their game midway and told Hikaru in a disappointed manner to play him again after six months because the kid took such a long time just to place a stone on the board. Struggling to follow Sai's instruction, he didn't know the basics of the game yet at that point but dared enough to challenge the old man for some money. Ironically, in the present time, that same old man couldn't even wait a day to play Hikaru after they reached home, where the thrashing began.

"Professional level? Possibly, but an untested one," Heihachi retorted, though he couldn't really hide the prideful thought of Hikaru becoming a professional. Given that the boy really showed great talent in the game, starting a career at such a young age didn't sound that bad. "You sure didn't pull any punches, huh?" The old man complained to his grandson, referring to the merciless way Hikaru had trounced him.

He shuddered at the thoughts of the boy playing kids his age, afraid that Hikaru might crush someone's hope and aspiration with his unpredictable yet deadly moves. In fact, he was quite impressed with the boy that after several losses, he had played their game expecting to lose while harboring secret desire to see how Hikaru would defeat him again. It was a big mistake to keep demanding an even game from the boy. At his request, Hikaru had recreated the first game he played against the psychiatrist and he should have known that the boy was way beyond their level.

Hikaru smiled slightly at the remark, carefully shifting his wheelchair to admire the outside scenery from the veranda. "That's because you're so stubborn, gramp. I told you that you need to put at least five stones to let us play an even match. Yet you insisted that I play with all my might..."

He knew that Hikaru wasn't trying to insult him, that boy was merely stating a fact. "Well, maybe you should start playing teaching games with me from now on," the old man replied sheepishly. He got up from his chair, covering the goke with the lids and placed them on top of the goban. As per routine, he would help Hikaru with some of his exercises. He was barely walking inside to get the yoga mat and light resistance band for the boy when Hikaru said something that froze his step.

"Grandpa, please let me see the goban."

It was the same request again. The first time Hikaru asked him for the haunted goban, he had refused adamantly, saying that he didn't want the tragedy to repeat. Hikaru had argued that his coma was due to his fall, not because of the harmless goban. Ignoring his pleas, the old man said that his late brother had acquired the kaya goban from an antique shop. According to the rumors, a ghost with tall hat was trapped in it. Ridiculous as it might sound, there was risk of Hikaru's weak body being possessed by the supernatural entity, something they totally didn't need right now.

While Hikaru was quietly listening to his explanation, little did he know that the boy was fervently hoping for another chance encounter with the ghost.

A few days later, he had simply assumed that his grandson had dropped the subject, but he was wrong. Slowly turning toward Hikaru, the old man asked grimly, "That thing brings nothing but trouble to us. Why did you want to see it so badly?"

There was a brief silent, followed by a soft answer. "It's hard to explain, but I don't think I can move on if I didn't see it for myself." Hikaru stared at him, asking for his understanding yet hiding a lot of things behind his indecipherable expression. "Please."

'It's calling for me. I knew it.'

Shindou Heihachi returned the stare, surprised at the determination and desperation he found in those eyes. He could only hope that whatever conflict the boy was having would be sorted out by fulfilling his wish.

"Fine. Wait here while I get it for you."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Sitting still patiently was certainly not one of Hikaru's virtues. Two minutes after his grandfather left him at the veranda, he was already feeling restless. Even a flock of birds chirping happily in the trees near him couldn't really calm the anxiety that was building up in his stomach.

Distraction, he needed some distraction.

Hikaru took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. Grabbing both sides of the armrests, he tried to straighten his right knee as much as possible assisted by his left leg. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the strain coming from such simple movement. His physiotherapist had told him that he was still growing and his muscles didn't really atrophy that much. As long as he had the resolve to recover, nothing should hinder his efforts.

Bending his knees, he rested both of his feet on the footplates of the wheelchair. Then he repeated the process and only switched to straighten his left leg after he successfully reached ten counts. The exercise should help strengthening the muscles at the front and back of his thighs, as well as maintaining range in his knees. Beads of sweat started to form on his body, but Hikaru waited until he was finished before wiping them off with the small towel hanging over his neck. Pleasant wind was blowing lightly around the area, cooling his heated skin.

Somehow, the uneasiness he was feeling had gone with the passing breeze.

Looking up into the blue sky, Hikaru was amused at a mass of cloud that suspiciously looked like some artfully arranged salmon sashimi. That thought made him feel a little bit hungry. Idly staring at the picturesque view in front of him, he wondered how long he would have to wait before he would be allowed to eat his favorite meals, junk food included. The day was turning evening and his grandmother should be back from the store soon to prepare their dinner.

The boy abruptly turned at the sound of footsteps and saw the old man carrying a plywood storage box in his arms. Such unexplainable, strange need to see the goban made his heart beat faster. "What took you so long?" he asked curiously, watching as his grandfather cautiously put the box on the wooden floor.

Heihachi didn't immediately answer the question, instead he gently rubbed his back and grunted in relief when the crick disappeared. The old man gave Hikaru a rather annoyed look and said, "Well, nobody had touched this box and its content for more than two years. It was covered in dust." Moving the existing goban from the table to the floor with surprisingly clean hands, he motioned his head toward the box. "Of course, I need to do some cleaning before I bring it here."

The boy blinked stupidly at the reply. "Oh, sure." Gingerly, he propelled the wheelchair to face the table as his grandfather took the kaya goban from the box and placed it in front of him.

"Here you go."

His heart almost stopped as a crushing wave of disappointment struck him. The rusty-colored, visible stain on the board didn't belong to Shusaku.

"Impossible," he whispered to himself, eyes widened in disbelief. Prior to Sai's disappearance, he remembered about the stain getting lighter. However, if what he had experienced in coma was simply a dream, shouldn't the board still retain whoever's blood on it? Akari was his witness, for she admitted that she didn't see anything when Hikaru told her about the bloodstain. Since he was totally confident that his eyes didn't deceive him at that time, where did the stain go now?

He shook his head, refusing to accept the ludicrousness of the situation. Even if they managed to cleanse most of his blood after he got into the accident, it should be an impossible task to completely remove an old, embedded bloodstain that nobody but only Hikaru could see. Oblivious to the fact that his grandfather was watching him apprehensively, Hikaru kept staring at the goban, hand reaching out yet hesitant to touch its polished surface. "The bloodstain, it's gone."

Blissfully misinterpreting Hikaru's remark, his grandfather spoke quietly. "Hm… we had to use mineral spirit to get rid of your blood from it, though some still managed to be absorbed by the board." Hikaru raised his face, clearly startled at the unexpected response. That didn't stop his inquisitive nature from taking over. "Mineral spirit?"

"Oh, it's just the petroleum-derived solvent I usually use to remove paint residue from the paint brushes," the old man said offhandedly. "It works like a charm on stained wood too." Nodding his head at the explanation, Hikaru returned his attention to the board and watched in fascination as he felt the silent call again, urging him to touch the goban.

As soon as his palm met with the smooth surface of the board, glimpses of memories suddenly assaulted him.

He saw Sai, dressed in his usual attire playing Go with a noble in an imperial court. A pair of silky curtains was pulled apart to reveal a hallowed figure sitting on his throne, studying the game intently. A few other aristocrats in almost similar outfits watched their game with avid interest.

Sai would play a lot of games, and his happiness was clearly projected through every single game he played.

The scene shifted to a mean-looking aristocrat approaching the throne placed on the dais with a less than honorable intention, suggesting that their Emperor didn't need two Go instructors at the same time. Therefore, a game would decide who should keep the position. The loser would be evicted from the court. Sai, determined to prove his worth, was left with no choice but to accept the challenge.

Both Go masters played a balance, intricately beautiful game. Then by chance, Sai saw a single white stone mixed with black in his opponent's goke. Instead of returning the misplaced stone to Sai, the unethical instructor put the white stone together with his prisoners in the lid. Afraid that his misconduct would be exposed, the instructor quickly accused Sai of cheating. The Emperor refused to believe that any of his instructors would commit such grave offence in his presence and ordered them to proceed with the game. Sai, distraught by the turn of event was unable to focus and consequently lost to his opponent. As a punishment, he was stripped of his title and banished from the capital, his honor gone, and his reputation tarnished by the alleged treachery.

Hikaru saw the devastated Go master standing near the bank of a river. He had shouted with all his might, trying to stop the tragedy from happening, but his voice wouldn't come out. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as Sai drowned himself.

There was a blur, and the scene shifted again. A child was seen approaching a goban. Sai's yearnings for Go was so strong that his spirit was trapped in the Go board. That child, Kuwabara Torajiro was the only one who could see the tears staining the goban and the Heian ghost that emerged from it. An aspiring Go prodigy himself, he had selflessly allowed Sai to play Go once again. Together, they became unstoppable. Torajiro, who later took the name Shusaku Honinbo was hailed as one of the best Go player in his time.

But fate had other plan. In a cholera epidemic that swept through Japan, Shusaku had contracted the fatal disease and died at a young age of thirty three. His blood had stained a kaya goban, and Sai's consciousness, not yet accomplishing his goal, remained in it. The goban changed hands, and despite many games played using it, nobody was blessed enough to notice Shusaku's bloodstain or hear Sai's pleas. Eventually, the ghost found himself stuck in an antique shop until a collector bought the Go board.

Just like a three-dimensional slide show, the scene rapidly switched to a familiar loft. Hikaru almost yelped in surprise to see his former eleven-year-old self, together with Akari entered the place. Then he realized that what he was viewing was actually an assortment of past memories trapped in the board. He saw his younger self making a mess of the place, searching for valuables until he finally found the haunted goban. Akari had left the kid to wait somewhere after he kept insisting that there was bloodstain on it.

Sai was ecstatic to learn that the young Hikaru could see the stain. However, before he had the chance to say anything, a bright light exploded around him and his spirit was involuntarily pulled out of the goban in a sudden movement.

Hikaru was astounded when both Go ghost and his younger self collided into each other and merged into one. Sai was nowhere to be seen, but the kid jumped in shock at the strange occurrence. In his clumsy attempt to run away, he had tripped on the various junks scattered about the wooden flooring. His head bumped painfully into a drawer, and dizzily he touched his head as he tried to regain his balance. Unfortunately, he missed his footsteps and fell headfirst onto the large steel box near him. The forceful blow was strong enough to injure his head and threw him across the room.

The small body hit the floor, but the impact from the crash had landed him on the goban. He lay still, like a broken doll, blood started to ooze steadily from the severe wound. Akari screamed at the sight before her, shaking uncontrollably at the horrifying incident. And still, there was nothing the present Hikaru could do but watched them in abject terror.

On the board, particles of Shusaku's bloodstain rose into the air and disintegrated gradually as darkness shrouded everything.

A firm tap on his shoulder slowly dragged Hikaru from his trance. Barely recovering from the sensation, he opened his eyes dazedly, having no recollection of closing them in the first place. His body started to tremble at the staggering memories, yet he was quick to hide them from his grandfather. "Are you alright, Hikaru?" His grandfather was standing near him, studying him worriedly.

Taking his hand off the board, Hikaru stared at it in awe. Tentatively, he pressed his hand back on the surface. Nothing reached him this time, only an odd sense of nostalgic feelings. He looked to his right and said reassuringly to the old man, "I'm fine, grandpa."

Heihachi frowned, still unconvinced at the short reply. Earlier, he was quite alarmed when the boy didn't respond after he had called Hikaru's name for a few times. "What happened? For a while I thought you weren't here with me." There was a sad, faraway look to him before Hikaru merely shrugged his shoulder, smiling enigmatically. "Ah… nothing, really. I just felt something from the goban, like a lingering memory from the distant past, I guess."

The old man stared at Hikaru then let out a relieved sigh, his concern put at ease now that his grandson didn't seem to be possessed by the haunted goban. Despite his curiosity on Hikaru's secretive behavior, he preferred to let the matter go as long as the boy's recuperation went on smoothly.

From the veranda, he saw his wife slowly approaching them, carrying a basket of groceries in her hand. A brief glance toward the sky told him that they would have to skip Hikaru's routine exercises. Since their house didn't really have the correct facilities to support Hikaru's needs like in the hospital, he had to assist him in showering and soaking in the bath before helping his wife to serve dinner.

"Gramp, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Please don't ever sell this antique goban. Its value could never be measured with money."

Running his hand on the noticeable little cracks caused by Hikaru's accident at one of the legs of the goban, Heihachi said reflectively, "Hmph. You know, I keep this goban because your late granduncle used to tell me the same thing before he passed away." If Hikaru's mastery of Go was of any indication, the goban certainly played a part in his sudden ability. "It must be fate to hear it from you again, of all people."

Hikaru was glad that his grandfather was a little bit superstitious.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

The neighborhood didn't change that much in the last two and a half years. Perhaps because in his unconscious state, he grew and lived his life as a normal teenager that he didn't really feel the difference. In fact, things in the town looked basically the same like in his dreams. His grandfather might be correct about his soul wandering to a lot of places, though he doubted about the friend or promise-making part in his paranormal excursions.

"Hikaru, stop spacing out and watch where you are going. It's dangerous, especially to you," Akari said, gripping the push handles of his wheelchair when she noticed the boy almost bumped against the book rack. They were in a book store, getting some books for Hikaru's revision. Last night, her family was invited for dinner at Shindou's household to celebrate his release from hospital. Unsurprisingly, their main topic of the gathering revolved around Hikaru's education and much to his chagrin, Akari was unanimously appointed as his informal tutor.

She had cheerfully knocked his door in the morning and literally pushed him to this place, with his parents' permission. They had reached the shop exactly at the time it was opened for business and currently only a few early birds were seen walking about their favorite store.

"Oops, sorry. I'm still getting used to this thing." Fumbling with the brakes, he managed to lock the wheels in place. The girl released her hold on the handles after ensuring that Hikaru wouldn't run into trouble and started browsing through the various school books in front of them. Hikaru took an arithmetic exercise book into his hand and checked the contents halfheartedly.

Apparently, his parents had visited his former elementary school to see the principal and after some discussion and arrangement, he would be allowed to skip to the first year of junior high provided he took and passed a special examination consisting of sixth grade academic subjects. Naturally, nobody believed him when he said that he shouldn't have any trouble answering elementary-level questions, since he only scored 8% on the social study test that he took prior to the accident.

And he still needed to retrain his hand to write. Thankfully, the exam questions would be provided in multiple-choice format. He just needed to circle his answer correctly.

Randomly observing the layouts of the store, his eyes unexpectedly caught the signage for the games and sports section. Turning to his left, he said to the girl, "Akari, can I leave the books to you? There's something I would like to check over there." Without waiting for her reply, Hikaru started to unlock the wheels and propelled the wheelchair toward the section. "Fine, just be careful!" Akari said, putting the books she had selected into the basket. From the direction Hikaru took, she could already guess where the boy was heading.

Skimming through the spines of various books in front of him, he hoped to catch an interesting title or two. There were a couple of shelves displaying books on Go in that section, but he couldn't find the title he was looking for. He was about to turn around in disappointment when his keen eyes detected a familiar cover stuck between archery books above him. However, the shelf was totally out of his reach from his sitting position on the wheelchair.

He had to squint just to read the spine title. "Problems… of life and death… by Touya Meijin. That's it!" A small commotion near the entrance caused him to realize that there was no available shop assistant to help him. He didn't really see any patrons around the area either, certainly not at this hour. "What, a celebrity visiting the shop? No wonder nobody is coming to help me," he huffed.

Quickly ignoring whatever happening on the other side of the store, Hikaru returned his attention on how to get the book from the higher shelf. An idea suddenly hit him. He took out a thin, long hardcover book from the rack. Pressing his left hand on the armrest, he strained his upper body upward and tried to poke his intended target out of place using the hardcover book. Still, he couldn't reach it, unless he could stand on his foot rests. So focused on his task, he didn't notice the silent footsteps approaching behind him.

In his efforts to get the Go book written by Touya Meijin, the boy had forgotten to lock the wheels again. His movements had pushed the wheels backward and almost tossed him out of the wheelchair if it weren't for a pair of hands suddenly grabbing him and stopping his device at the same time. The book in his hand fell on the floor with a loud thud.

"Whoa!" Hikaru yelped in surprise, silently cursing himself for not heeding Akari's earlier warning.

He felt arms steadying his position on the seat cushion. "Are you alright, kid?" The person bent down to pick the dropped book and swiftly returned it to the rack.

Hikaru froze, eyes widened in disbelief at the familiar voice.

The voice spoke again, breaking him from his dizzy spell with his admonishing remark, "That's really dangerous. What do you think you're doing, trying to get something without help in your condition?" Slowly, the boy turned his wheelchair around to face the person who had just saved him from an unwanted accident. He stammered when the owner of the familiar voice was confirmed. "Touya… Akira!"

Touya Akira, a second-dan Go professional at the young age of fourteen looked a little taken aback at the mention of his name. Observing the young boy in front of him, he asked curiously, "So you know my name. Do you play Go?" Placing his hands on the push rims, Hikaru averted his eyes and said nervously, "Yeah, I do." As long as he kept playing the game, he knew that they were bound to meet sooner or later. However, he had never expected their first encounter to happen in a book store, of all places.

"Oh, you do?" The Go prodigy smiled approvingly, clearly happy to know that Go was still relevant in his generation. From his physical appearance, the young boy looked like he was still in an elementary school, probably a few years younger than him. "Go is a great game, right?" Eyeing the books neatly arranged on the shelves above the boy's head, he wondered which one he risked himself to get just now. "I believe one of these books has caught your interest. Would you like me to take it for you?"

The boy was a little bit annoyed that Akira was treating him like a kid, but given that the teenager didn't know his history, Hikaru couldn't blame him. To him, Hikaru was simply a stranger he met and saved by chance. "Yeah, Go is fun." He propelled his wheelchair halfway and motioned his hand toward the rack. "I would like to have the Go book written by Touya Meijin. It's stuck on the archery shelf, the third book from left. Could you please get it for me?"

Looking at the direction the kid showed him, Akira easily spotted the misplaced book and took it out from the rack. "I see. This is the latest edition written by my father, which sold very well. You've just picked it at the best time ever." Passing the hardcover to Hikaru, he said gracefully, "He's here with me right now, in this very store. Would you like to speak to him?"

Smiling at Hikaru's dumbfounded look, Akira winked harmlessly. "I think I might be able to arrange an autograph for you."

In his long dreams with Sai, Hikaru didn't really care for any autographs, if he recalled the hilarious experiences with Kurata-san. But he knew how Sai really wanted the book, offered as a grand prize at Tsutsui's booth in the Haze Middle School festival before Kaga ripped it to shred in his anger directed to Akira and Go in general. Nevertheless, Touya Meijin was Sai's rival, and they had acknowledged each other's mastery of the game. "Please." Hikaru returned Akira's smile. "I'd love to."

"If that's the case, let me take you to see him." Akira was about to push Hikaru's wheelchair to look for his father when the title holder appeared on their lane, followed by the shop manager and his assistant. Since the man was quite a big fan of Touya Meijin, their arrival had caused some excitement among the small crowd in the store.

To Hikaru, Touya Kouyou was a serious man with no sense of humor dressed in his traditional Japanese clothing all the time. However, he would never deny the hidden affection the man had for his only child. "There you are, Akira." Exuding a great aura as one of the top Go players in the world, the Meijin glanced at the tense boy on the wheelchair and the book in his hand before directing his gaze toward his son. "What are you doing here?"

Akira smiled politely, moving to stand next to Hikaru. "I was looking around and met him by accident just now. He recognized me and was a little bit surprised when I told him that you are here. If possible, he would like to have your autograph."

"I see." His stern eyes carefully studying the young boy who nodded nervously at him, waiting for him to sign the book. The man didn't know why, but somehow there was something indiscernible about the boy that he couldn't sense in any Go players he had met before. "What's your name, child?" Elegantly, he extended his palm, and Hikaru hastily passed the book to him, a little unnerved by his grave demeanor.

"It's Shindou. Shindou Hikaru," the boy said somewhat sheepishly, he didn't bring any pen with him. Calmly, the Meijin opened the book, and then turned to the shop manager behind him. "Excuse me, may I borrow your pen?" In a fast movement, the young manager quickly whipped out a fountain pen from his chest pocket and handed it to his idol. "Here, Touya Meijin."

"Thank you, Yamada-kun." In a beautiful kanji, the title-holder signed his signature on the empty endpaper page of the inside cover and passed the book to Hikaru, who graciously accepted the signed copy. He then returned the borrowed pen to his owner.

Hikaru bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you very much, Touya Meijin. It's an honor to meet you." He received a slight acknowledgement in return, and the Meijin started to move away as the staff escorted him to the entrance. His son began to follow suit, but not before giving him a piece of paper.

"Shindou-kun, we have a Go event not far from here. Please visit if you have the time."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

He was still reading the flier the Touya junior gave him when Akari came carrying a small basket of books. The look on her face made his stomach churn in distress. "Hikaru, why didn't you get back to the school curricula section?"

Slipping the flier inside the Go book, he gave her a guilty grin and apologized sincerely, "I'm sorry, something happened and I was a little bit preoccupied just now." Pointing to the basket, he commented at the number of books Akari planned to have him study, and the girl simply mentioned that half of the books were for his junior high school preparation. When he expressed his concern that the books would be quite heavy for Akari to carry, she replied by saying that unlike textbooks, exercises books were thin and wouldn't trouble her. She could still keep all of them in her backpack.

Satisfied with her answer, he took out the wallet from his jacket. "Let's pay and visit some place then."

Akari read the hardcover title on his lap, raising her brow at the piece of paper sticking out from the book. She asked in a lighthearted tone, "Is it Go related?"

"Yeah, obviously."

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

They arrived at the Go event half an hour later. Akari pushed him slowly through the south entrance, admiring the expansive view in front of them. Kids and teenagers were seen in small groups, some even visited with their parents. It was not surprising at all since the flyer in his hand had clearly mentioned that the event was organized to promote Go among the young players.

Along the left side of the hall, stands and cubicles were erected, selling things like books, kifu paper, arts, goban and other Go related things. On the other hand, tables for teaching games were arranged at the center of the hall near the stage area, far from him. Déjà vu struck Hikaru, tormenting him with the sense of loneliness and indescribable urge to have his name etched on the table name plate as one of the professionals involved in the event.

As they moved forward, his heart skipped a beat when two familiar figures, Waya and Isumi suddenly appeared from the backstage, passing by the large screen set up for commentaries and exhibition games in the middle of the stage. Both pros walked unhurriedly to their respective table, which was conveniently adjacent to each other. He almost asked Akari to take him to them but chastised himself silently. 'Be patient, Hikaru. You'll meet them sooner or later.'

One of the corners in the teaching game area was a little bit crowded by a few participants, but when he squinted hard he could see Touya Akira explaining something to his young fans. Hikaru smiled at the enthusiastic look on the second-dan's face. This guy demeanor seemed to look more cheerful than Touya Akira in his dreams. He decided not to approach the Go pro because he didn't feel like bothering him, and he was afraid that his tendency to blurt something stupid like claiming to be a Go professional whose rival was Touya Akira might put him in trouble later.

Tables were neatly arranged in rows and columns in the hall, each provided with goban set to encourage the participants to play the game. He saw a few open tables near the east entrance and asked Akari to go there before they were taken by other visitors. It was still quite early and they managed to get one spot without any trouble. "Would you let me sit on the other side, Akari?" Hearing that, Akari took one of the chairs out and helped to push Hikaru's wheelchair into the vacated place. He could view the whole hall from his seat. Then she put her backpack on the chair and took her own seat in front of him.

On Hikaru's left, a couple of high school kids glanced up from their board as the strange pair made themselves comfortable, then resumed their mental battle. Hikaru had stolen a glimpse when he passed by their table just now and realized that the spiky-haired guy next to him was having a good advantage over his opponent. Looking at Akari, he thought maybe he should teach her if she was interested to learn the game. However, he couldn't contain his surprise when the girl casually opened the lids of the goke and winked at Hikaru, "Let's nigiri."

"Wow, I never thought that you play Go, Akari," he said, grabbing a few white stones from the goke in front of him with his small hand, waiting for Akari to do her part.

"It was your grandfather who taught me how to play." Akari put one black stone on the goban, and Hikaru opened his fist to see that there were five stones in his palm. "Really? What had caught your interest?" Carefully putting the stones back inside the goke, he waited for the girl to play her first move.

Akari placed the black stone confidently at the star point on the upper right corner of the board. A standard opening move. Hikaru couldn't help but watched in envy at the correct way she held the stone. In spite of that, it was refreshing to play someone other than his grandfather, in a Go event no less.

"Well, your grandparents would often ask me to visit them in my free time, for they were lonely without you, Hikaru," she started, silently encouraging Hikaru's awkward effort to place his stone at the upper left corner. While Hikaru could push the rims of his wheelchair using the strength of his palms for a short distance, he was still having trouble to hold small things properly. "Ojii-chan loves the game, but he couldn't stand to look at the goban coz all he could see was you lying there, bloody and unresponsive. He looked so down and miserable until I couldn't take it anymore, and at one point I approached him."

Hikaru maintained his attention on the board, but Akari knew that he was listening attentively. She placed her stone next to his and said, "I asked him to conquer his fear by teaching me Go, and I also told him that I believe his good deed will make you wake up faster." She smiled sheepishly when Hikaru raised his face to stare at her. "I just entered Haze middle school at that time."

The boy let out a small chuckle at her amusing story. He had to give credit to Akari, the girl certainly got guts to speak to his grandfather like that. "Really? That old man just couldn't refuse a challenge, you know." He played his turn, noticing a good pattern on the board and was delighted that Akari wasn't lying about learning the ropes from his grandfather.

"Yeah, he told me to be mentally prepared for his lessons. His tutorial fees included me accompanying him to visit you at the hospital and play a lot of games with him." Akari made a serious face, mimicking Shindou Heihachi's expression and her tone dropped a few notches as she spoke gravely, "I'll drill you until you become a decent player. Be prepared, Akari-chan." She smiled fondly at the memories. "Most of the lessons occurred during the summer break. I also took Go lessons at the community center and joined the school club afterward."

"Really? I'm sure you had a lot of fun learning Go from other people besides my grandfather."

"Yeah, you can say that. I still visit the center from time to time to practice with other participants. Shirakawa-sensei is our gentle and easy-going teacher. One of my practice partners, Akota-san has changed from a bully to a nice guy," she said. "Tsutsui-senpai in the club taught me a lot of useful tips too, though now he is already in a second year in high school." Her eyes lit amusingly. "And he was the founder and the only member of the school Go club before the rest of us joined in. A lot had happened since then, but we remained strong for the love of Go."

'So Akari got to meet Tsuitsui Kimihiro.' Hikaru managed to stop himself from asking about the existence of Mitani Yuuki and Kaga Tetsuo. "It's great to know that you'd go through thick and thin for the game…" He smiled at her. "Good for you, Akari."

They took turns alternately until both black and white territories began to take shape on the board. He couldn't help but was impressed at the girl's attempts to cut his liberties at the lower right corner. Still, she was his grandfather's pupil and her style of playing mirrored him greatly. Akari would only learn the horror of defeats had he played their game seriously.

"Did you play for the school team too?" He asked curiously, wondering if the members of the club remained the same even without him.

The girl burst into small giggles at the question. "Heh heh, I did. Though the only reason I was able to take part in the school tournament in my first year was because we lacked members in the first place." She swiftly played a point to rescue her endangered unit which had been in atari. "But I think I've improved greatly in the last two years."

Hikaru countered by capturing two black stones in the other corner and removed them from the board. "Well, you certainly have a pretty good basic here. I'm sure you could only become better in the future."

Fifty moves later, Akari realized that Hikaru was playing shidougo with her. She didn't know whether to be amazed at Hikaru's skills or be insulted that he thought of her as inferior that he resorted to teaching game instead of beating her fairly.

"Come on, Hikaru, play earnestly with me!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Why?"

"Coz I won against your teacher, who is my beloved jii-chan, for a total of twenty games since I got out of hospital." He beamed cheekily at her, waving his hand to emphasize his next words dramatically, "He stood no chance with me, so forgive me when I don't have the heart to kill the hope and aspiration of his only student."

"WHAT!"

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It was their second game, a requested shidougo and Akari had put nine stones on the board. After the revelation that Hikaru was at a different level compared to her, she had taken more time to analyze every move the boy played. Hikaru didn't mind at all, but he was getting a little bit restless at waiting that his eyes started to wonder around the big hall.

A lot of people were crowding the event now, and he saw Ogata Seiji in his white suit walking around the convention center, checking the amateurs' goban. Most of the times, the man would stop at a random table, took a few glances here and there and walked away as if none of their games were interesting enough to warrant his attention.

'Hm, still the same arrogant jerk, that Ogata-sensei.'

He looked at their goban and realized that Akari had read his trap and focused more on saving her own units instead of capturing a unit of five white stones he deliberately set up as bait. He smiled approvingly at her ingenuity, but doubted she could read deeper than she did just now. Nevertheless, she was on the right track and he placed his stone to guide her into making correct move on her next turn.

"Remember, pay close attention to the flow of my stones, Akari."

"Hai hai, Shindou-sensei." Hikaru started at her playful reply, but instantly controlled his expression. 'Sensei huh? What a tragedy. Now is not the time to dwell in dreams.'

A sudden triumphant cry could be heard on their neighbor's table, inadvertently distracting him from his thought. "I wanna take a look at them," he said. She nodded absently, eyes trained on the significant effect Hikaru's latest stone had caused on the board. Hikaru reached his intended table and studied their game. He immediately knew why the other boy was so excited. It seemed that the spiky-haired teenager, who was clearly a better player than his straight-haired counterpart had just broken his opponent's formation and in a few moves would take control of the game by a decent margin.

Their game had not entered yose yet, and it looked interesting enough that his mind started to work subconsciously on how to reverse such predictable outcome.

Both of them noticed his presence but ignored him completely. It wasn't unusual for people to watch a game closely in a public event like that. In fact, a crowded table might attract the attention of a professional player, who in the end of the game might offer free, generous tips to improve their knowledge of Go in a less formal setting.

The straight-haired boy threw his friend a dirty look and started to read the board as much as he could understand it. He frowned, index finger pointing at the black stone the other boy placed just now. "Damn, that last move really got me in a bind," he said, shifting his hand to point at a white stone not far from it. "I wouldn't play here at all had I known you'd counter with that move!"

His friend chuckled at the complaint and decided to tease him further. "You just made a couple of mistakes earlier in the middle game and I just took advantage of it. All fair and square." He intertwined his fingers behind his head and leaned on them. "It's hard to make a comeback from it, though."

Hikaru watched silently as the losing teenager pondered his next move. In an almost exasperated motion, that boy reached for a white stone in his goke. However, his hand accidentally knocked the bowl over the board and stones started flying everywhere. Some even landed under Hikaru and Akari's table. "What the…!"

"Oh no!" The other boy tried to stop the goke from pouring stones on the goban but he was a second too late. Their game was already ruined. He threw an irritated scowl at his friend. "Look at what you've done now, and when I was leading too!"

"You know it wasn't even intentional, sorry about that!"

Both of them started to gather the fallen pieces frantically while apologizing to other people distracted by the noises they made. Even Akari had left her chair and was already picking the other strayed stones and soon, the table was set up again. Some of the bystanders who were amused by the scene gradually left them for a more interesting game. The high school teenagers apologized profusely to one of the organizing staff members who came over to check the situation and promised to be careful with how they handled the Go set.

The straight-haired boy rubbed the back of his head guiltily. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I was losing for a second time today and the pressure might affect my concentration just now."

His friend gave him a long-suffering look and said, "Geez, I don't think we can recreate the game after such excitement anyway. Let's just start again."

They were about to nigiri when Hikaru called out to them. "Hello there, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but if you want, I can help you put everything back," he offered, half expecting their reaction. He wasn't disappointed when two pairs of eyes immediately turned toward him in disbelief, but Hikaru quickly finished his speech before one of them managed to open his mouth. "I didn't really watch the game from the start, but I do remember the position of the stones and the last two moves. Though in my condition it would be faster if I just mention the coordinates and you arrange the stones on my behalf."

Both teenagers regarded Hikaru hesitantly for a few seconds, clearly doubting that the little midget on a wheelchair could really do as he claimed. However, the moment their shock had gone away, the straight-haired boy swiftly lashed out at him. "Huh? What did you say just now? There's no way a kid like you could put the whole game together when we, the real players couldn't!"

Akari stepped next to Hikaru in concern at the raised voice, observing the situation warily. "What's wrong, Hikaru?" The boy shook his head and said softly. "Nothing. You don't have to worry about it." He looked at the flustered teenager. "Hey, I didn't mean to bother you at all. Just thought I could lend a hand," he said unconcernedly and started to turn the wheelchair around. "Sorry."

"Wait, please." The boy on his left, who was also the wiser of the two raised his hand to calm his friend down and gave Hikaru and Akari a curious look. When he spoke, there was a little bit of challenge in his tone. "Is that so? I'd love to see how the game would end and show this idiot his mistakes," he ignored the glare directed at him, "since we'd be participating in the summer tournament soon." He broke into a small smile. "Let's see what you can do about it."

HIkaru returned the smile with a friendly grin. "Well, it should begin like this…"

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"…play white at 16-2, and finally, if you put black at 17-4, you got the whole game back together," Hikaru said, tracing the patterns on the board with his eyes as the two boys placed their respective stone at the mentioned coordinates. He didn't realize it, but their small group of four had already caught the attention of a few viewers.

The spiky-haired boy whistled in admiration as their practice game was perfectly restored to its original state. "Wow, that was truly some neat skill, kid. It's not every day we got to see someone able to memorize the position of the stones without watching the game from start to finish." Even his dejected friend was impressed at Hikaru's ability. "Yeah, and you got them all in a short time too. Do you have a photographic memory or something?"

"Huh? I'm not sure about that." Hikaru rubbed his head awkwardly. "But I don't think so." He pushed the rims around, head half-turned toward Akari who was watching him in awe. "Let's finish our own game, Akari."

The girl quickly broke free from her daydream, stepping beside him. "Sure, it's your turn. Just now, you were really amazing, Hikaru!"

"Nah, it was pure coincidence. I just happened to have a good look at the board. That's all."

"Don't be so modest. You're really talented when it comes to Go, Hikaru." She didn't dare asking if such powerful ability existed long ago or just had awakened recently within him. But she knew one thing – this Hikaru was certainly wiser and mature than the selfish, aimless and bratty pre-comatose Hikaru, though his old behaviors might slip to the surface from time to time.

They returned to their own table and proceeded with the teaching game.

Twenty minutes later, Hikaru went to see the two high school students again and they were still discussing, or rather arguing about their recently finished game. He smiled slightly, amused at the scene in front of him. The situation uncannily reminded him of his own arguments with Touya when they got too involved in their discussion.

However, unlike Touya and him, at least those two didn't forget their manners and argue like a couple of four years old during their frenzied moments.

He saw a kifu paper on the table. It seemed that they had somehow created a game record for their reference. The boy on his left made a few pencil marks on the paper, distinguishing them from the other black and red circles. "Unless you fix the critical mistakes in the bottom area, you'd still be forced into making desperate moves in the bottom left. Like I told you earlier, the probability to turn the game over is almost zero."

"And just like I told you, while I know my own blunders, we couldn't really replay from that point since we've already forgotten the order of the stones. Even the numbered moves we have were only made after the kid recreated the board for us!" The straight-haired teenager retorted heatedly. However, his next rant immediately stopped when he saw Hikaru peeking at their goban. White had resigned eighteen moves after they resumed the game.

"Hm, it's truly complicated, but I think white could still make a comeback if we manage to manipulate the mistakes into advantages." Hikaru frowned, his mind automatically mapping the territories to find the critical key points that would allow white to win the game. Looking up, he met their eyes and asked both players determinedly, "Would you let me play as white to continue the last restored game?"

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Ogata-san, Ogata-san!"

The 9-dan professional, who had recently won the Juudan title from Touya Kouyou in the title challenge match held in April turned at the sound of his name. "Oh, it's you, Ashiwara. What do you want? If you're looking for Akira, he's taking a short break right now."

"Never mind him. Come with me right now. Hurry!"

"Calm down. Why do I need to go with you?" He gave the young man a once-over, indifferent to his energetic manner. After all, Ashiwara Hiroyuki was always cheerful and bouncy. The 4-dan simply ignored Ogata's grumpy look and continued to speak enthusiastically, "You really got to see this match. It's truly interesting. I doubt you'll find any game as good as this in this event!"

He perked up a little at the news. Earlier, after finishing a session with a duo of father and son, he had wandered around the hall, looking for new talents among the young players, but found their games to be lacking. Japan was so pathetic lately compared to Korea and China, and even the emergence of new batches of professionals like Kurata Atsushi, Touya Akira and Ochi Kousuke were not enough to compensate for the drop in performance.

Ashiwara, believing his silence as a lack of interest, tried to convince the man again in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, "He's not even an insei, but from his play, I'm quite confident to say that this kid might be the next Touya Akira in the making."

Eyes widened, the Juudan swiftly got up from his chair. "Fine. Let's go take a look then."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

A crowd of people had gathered near the table, all of them were struck speechless at the incredible game in front of them. They waited in bated breath until Hikaru's opponent, who now looked as white as a sheet whispered shakily, "Arimasen."

Eyes unwavering from the board, Hikaru acknowledged the resignation with a respectful gesture. "And that's the end of it," he declared to himself quietly. In his determination to turn the game around, he had been very aware of the territorial score and by the time his opponent had resigned, he had won by 1 point without komi, or 6.5 points after taking komi into consideration. Hikaru was about to ask whether the high school boys would like to discuss the game when he noticed the crowd staring at him like he was some extraterrestrial being from another planet. Smiling nervously, he slowly swiveled round to see that they were more people standing behind him too.

Many of them were actually parents of the children visiting the event, some could be individual visitors. Since almost all of the Go boards were monopolized by kids and teenagers, and exhibition game would only start at 3.00 pm, those people had little things to do besides registering for shidougo, checking the booths and observing a few random games.

'Crap. Somehow I've garnered more attention than I would have liked in this event.'

Then he saw two figures walking at a steady pace from the teaching game area toward him, one of them looked unnervingly familiar. Obscured by the crowd, they wouldn't be able to see Hikaru from the distance yet, but there was no mistaking it. Ogata-sensei and Ashiwara-san were coming. It was time to close up shop and go home.

"Akari, I truly need your help. Let's get out of here. Hurry." Propelling the wheelchair around, he ignored the murmuring crowd as he spoke to the two teenagers, who were still looking at the board in self-imposed trance. "I'd really love to discuss the game with you, but we must leave now. However, I'm sure many professional players here would be more than willing to help you with it. Thank you for the game."

His urgent voice instantly got their undivided attention. "Wait. You're not a pro, right? Are you an insei?"

Hikaru smiled ironically at the question. "I'm neither a pro nor an insei. I'm just a normal kid who loves Go." Akari, not understanding why they had to leave but knew Hikaru had his own reasons, rushed behind him and started pushing the wheelchair toward the east entrance. He threw them a final glance. "Good luck with your tournament."

Outside the hall, a booth was promoting online Go via their computer screens. A few customers were testing the application, guided by a couple of sales assistants. If he didn't need to leave in such a hurry, he would certainly check them out. Still, there would be other place and time for that, later.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"What's going on here?" Ogata asked, and the crowd's lively chatters suddenly turned into quiet murmurs at their unannounced arrival. "Ogata-sensei, Ashiwara-sensei!"

The high school kids, each holding a kifu in their hand, quickly looked up in surprise at the mention of the two professionals. Ashiwara gave everyone around him a friendly smile, scanning the crowd for the other player. "Where's the kid on wheelchair that played with you?"

"He's just left."

Ogata and Ashiwara regarded each other at the short answer, their eyes automatically went to the goban. The end result of the recent match remained untouched. The Juudan studied the shape of the stones and adjusted his glasses out of habit. 'It's a difficult shape, confusing even. It's like half of the game was played by amateurs and won by a pro.'

He looked at the two kids, noticing their perplexing stares at the kifu. "It's quite a crowd you got here. Please tell me what just happened."

"We're from Kawahagi High School," the straight-haired teenager started. "The summer tournament is just around the corner, so we decided to practice here. During our second match, I accidentally ruined the game. The kid, who played at the next table helped to rearrange the stones into their original positions." His friend added firmly, "True. He said the random coordinates, we placed the stones. It was awesome, coz he only came to watch us just before the game got disrupted."

There was a strange glint in his eyes as the 9-dan pro listened to their explanation. "Did I hear you correctly? He repositioned the stones from memory when he didn't even watch you play from the start?"

"Yes. After that we resumed our game. Black won, since white made a few careless mistakes in chuban." The boy showed the pencil marks on their first kifu to Ogata, who instantly realized that except for the latest moves until the end of the game, each of the black and red circles wasn't numbered accordingly. A brief look at the kifu had confirmed his thought. Their skills were amateurish at best, and it seemed that white blunders had made it almost impossible for a comeback.

'Hm. This certainly looks tricky. Even a pro might be pushed to the limit just to win this match.'

He was given another kifu, this time with a totally different variation. "However, the kid managed to turn the game around by continuing from the 84th move against me." The teenager rubbed his head in embarrassment. "I'm still having a hard time believing it."

Ogata's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he did the sight-reading of the record, a little baffled at the unconventional moves white had played. "What is this…!" Somehow the unique strategy and tesujis felt eerily similar to another game he had discussed with his acquaintance last Sunday. Slowly, his lips formed into a smirk as the puzzles clearly clicked into place. Satomi was unusually overprotective of the identity of his opponent, but now Ogata knew why. A psychiatrist and a patient in a wheelchair undoubtedly made a perfect match together.

He still needed to confirm whether the two games were played by the same person, but he was willing to bet his new title that his hunch was always right. After all, there were not that many wheelchair bound players who could play better than some professionals existed in Japan.

Ashiwara, who managed to steal a decent glance at the newly made kifu, commented thoughtfully, "Oh, look at all those traps. That was really impressive, don't you think, Ogata-san? Honestly, I was astounded when I saw him triggered them into critical points that totally reversed the flow of the game to white."

"Yeah, definitely. I really want to meet this kid." He turned toward the boys. "Hey, did you get his name?"

Both shook their head at the question. "No, we didn't. He said he's just a normal kid who loves Go, that's all."

"Hm, I was so focused on his game that I didn't really pay attention to his physical appearances. All I know is that he's on wheelchair, got black hair and has small built," Ashiwara said, trying hard to recall the boy's face. "He could still be at the elementary school age."

"There's another thing, sensei. He held the stones like a beginner too."

The 4-dan pro snapped his fingers at the remark. "Ah, yes! How could I forget such an obvious thing?"

Meanwhile, Ogata Juudan stared silently at the goban, an indecipherable expression etched on his face.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

They practically arrived at the Shindou residence in the midafternoon, and Hikaru was totally spent. His mother thanked Akari for taking care of his wayward son, escorted her to the door with a genuine smile and waited until she left their house before giving him a lecture on how a recovering patient should not return home after lunch hour had passed, eat outside food indiscriminately without supervision, and make unplanned, long detour to other places without express permission from his caretakers.

She also added that the patient should not exert himself too much that he could barely open his eyes when she was babbling in concern for her only son's well-being.

The guilt was enough to pull him into full alertness. His mother was never this fretful of his activity before the tragedy. As long as he didn't break the public rules and returned home before curfew, his parents didn't really mind him doing anything he pleased. Somehow, people closest to him had changed, no matter how trivial. His grandparents looked happier and healthier, Akari was a better Go player than Akari in his dreams, his mother was noticeably more caring and loving, and even his father was speaking more than a few words to him in just one night.

And he happened to experience the biggest changes of all. In his Go, his behavior, his physical conditions. He looked up, meeting his mother's eyes sincerely. "I'm sorry, Okaa-san. I was too excited to be able to go out that I've made you worried. I'll make sure it won't happen again." He wasn't really that excited to go to the bookshop in the first place, but she didn't need to know that.

His mother stared at him for a long moment, then asked cordially, "Well, at least you got back safely. How's your day been?"

"It was terrific."

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

Touya Akira had just returned from his home tutoring and realized that he had to hurry for the study group session. He quickly showered in his room, dressed in clean outfit and ate the dinner prepared by his mother before going to the study room. In the hallway, he could already hear the light conversation among his father's students. The shoji door was opened, and he stepped inside the room. Three heads turned in accordance at his arrival as Akira greeted them politely. "Sorry I'm a little bit late. Where's Ogata-sensei and Shimano-san?"

Sasaki, a professional player and also one of his father's older students answered his question. "Ogata-san is having a private chat with your father in the garden, and Shimano-san couldn't attend tonight due to some personal matters."

"Oh, I see. Thanks for the info, Sasaki-san," Akira replied, walking towards the group. Three seats around one of the goban were already taken. The other untouched goban was usually reserved for the Meijin.

"Oi, Touya, you've got to see this!" Glancing at the half-filled board and then at the game records in the speaker's hand, he immediately made the connection. He took his seat on the right side of the goban, just the opposite of Sasaki-san. Murakami Shin'ichi, sitting at white player's position facing Ashiwara passed him the kifu. Thanking the 2-dan, he started to make a brief mental analysis of the game.

Intrigued by the curious match, he raised his face to look at everyone around him. "Was it played by the same people?"

"As expected from Akira, easily noticing the differences," Ashiwara said approvingly. "Two high school kids played this game during the Go for Youth program last Sunday, and black didn't have any trouble winning. A kid on wheelchair, probably around eleven or twelve years old played white from this move," he pointed to the mark on the second kifu in Akira's hand, then continued with his explanation, "and won. I saw their game. However, he had already left when I came back with Ogata-san. I copied these records from the high school students."

The first half of the match looked normal, considering that it was supposedly played by a couple of school teenagers, and black should already win the game with ease after such blunders from white. Somehow, the situation was subtly reversed, allowing white to claim the victory in the end. What made it so interesting was that it was played by a kid.

No wonder they had two different kifu for this game. "A kid on wheelchair?" His mind immediately recalled meeting someone who fit the age in the book store, futilely struggling to reach for Touya Meijin's latest hardcover edition, which he had helped to get. Before leaving, he had also given the boy a flier to the Go event. As far as he was concerned, there were only a few visitors on wheelchair during the whole day program, and the ones he noticed were young adults. Since there was no way he could monitor every single visitor in such crowded hall, it was highly possible that the boy was there.

His superior mind easily remembered the name, introduced when his father signed the autograph for the boy.

"It's Shindou. Shindou Hikaru."

He turned to the left and asked, "Ashiwara-san, since you happened to watch the game, can you describe him to me?"

The 4-dan, eager to please, started to give his description on the boy's appearance. That young man also couldn't resist mentioning Ogata-sensei's interest in the identity of the mysterious boy, as well as their initial analysis of white's strategies. The more Akira probed, the more he felt that it was indeed Shindou Hikaru who had played the second portion of the game. A new feeling, one he never felt in his lifetime began to surge inside him. It was filled with hope, challenge, anticipation of next meeting and rivalry.

Two figures appeared on the doorway, one looked regal and graceful, the other strong and determined, breaking Akira from his reverie. People in the study instantly ceased their talk and waited respectfully until Touya Meijin and Ogata-sensei took their seats. His father met the eyes of everyone in the room and spoke firmly, "Ogata-kun and I had some important matters to attend to just now. Forgive us for delaying our session, though I believe you have already started your own study in the meantime. It is best to resume what you've been doing instead of restarting a new discussion."

Motioning towards the half-filled goban, the Meijin began to lead the Touya study group.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Hikaru was grounded for five days after the Go event. Besides going for his weekly physiotherapy sessions every Saturday morning, the only thing he was allowed to do was preparing for his exams, including training his hand to write again. In his first attempts, it was really hard to make even a simple circle. Many times, he would grit his teeth, silently psyching himself up that unless he wanted to live like that for the rest of his life, he had better ceased his whining and rehabbed like crazy. After days of training, he could write his name in an almost illegible handwriting. To him, it was a big achievement.

His mother had stated firmly that there would be no Go until he passed the exams, and he had been warned that the consequences wouldn't be pretty for his future were he to deliberately fail those subjects. Unknown to his parents, he had overheard their conversation that the result of the tests would determine whether he should be home-schooled, sent to a special institution for physically or mentally challenged kids, or enrolled at a normal junior high school.

Of course, his parents would have a hard time affording the first and second options financially, and only suggested to him of the most sensible choice. Hikaru was never an ungrateful person, despite his somewhat eccentric nature. Therefore, for the whole week and subsequently, he had displayed the attitude and aptitude of an honor student, learning at a tremendous speed that impressed everyone including Akari. The girl had told his mother that Hikaru was by no means stupid; he simply hated to read but could remember a lot of things he listened or saw attentively.

Then he received news from Akari that she would be participating in the 6th Kita-ku Middle School Summer Term Go Tournament, along with five other students from the Go club. She had asked whether it was possible for Hikaru to spend some time coaching their teams for the competition. The school players were divided into male and female category. He didn't have the heart to tell Akari that his mother had forbid him anything Go-related until he passed his exams, and went to convince her. Somehow, his mother had easily relented when he mentioned that helping the Go club was a small thing he could do to repay Akari's kindness.

They managed to meet on the second and third Sundays of the month, enjoying the time he had with known and unknown members of the Go club, Mitani Yuuki included. However, the last week of June till the first week of July were his exam weeks, and justifiably, he wasn't able to go to watch the tournament. Mitani had won all of his games except against Kaio's first board in the final round. The girl's team had improved spectacularly compared to previous year, but still, Kaio was the undefeated champion for many consecutive years.

He received his result on Friday, July 6th, and to the joy of his mother and grandfather, passed the papers with flying colors. He scored highest on the social study test, mostly attributing to his strong memorization, but lowest on mathematics since it was quite hard to do the calculation with his limited writing skills, despite the objective questions. However, his home tuition wouldn't stop as he still needed to prepare for junior high school before the summer break ended in August. The fact that he had learned the school curriculum in his long sleep would serve as a booster in his study, something he wasn't willing to share with anyone, not now and not ever.

For telling about his experiences in the realm of dreams, discounting Sai's existence was a painful thing to bear.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

His father had returned on Saturday evening to eat dinner with them. Pleasant aroma of hot food cooked by his mother wafted around the small kitchen, improving their appetite. Even a humble serving of food would taste great when a family ate together in a peaceful atmosphere.

"Awesome. They are simply delicious, okaasan," Hikaru said, spooning the miso soup into his mouth. He still had trouble using the chopsticks without making a mess during mealtime, and had resorted to spoon instead. Though to his embarrassment, his mother would often help to remove bones from fish or chicken and cut the tender flesh into small pieces before serving him such food. When asked why she babied him so much, she would simply gave him her gentle smile and tell him that it was a part of doctor's instructions in caring for him. Still, Hikaru was wise enough to differentiate between the care of a nurse and the care of a devoted mother.

Shindou Mitsuko looked at Hikaru, beaming at the praise, "All mothers' cooking is delicious, even if they don't really taste that good. Do you know why?" Barely giving any proper thought on the question, Hikaru blurted spontaneously, "Coz they are made by mothers?"

Shindou Masao laughed good-naturedly at the generic answer of his son, adding more food into his plate. "Haha. It's the love and care involved in making them, you see. Without mothers, earth would fade and die, Hikaru. Remember that."

"Anata…" Hikaru could swear he saw blush dusting the cheeks of his mother as she helped to refill their drinks. "You look happy today. Is there something you would like to share with us?" The man nodded at his wife. "Yes, the company gave the employees two months' worth of salary for the summer. And since they are in the process of upgrading the IT systems, we'll receive new computers in the office too."

Hikaru instantly stopped his movement at the mention of computers, tilting his head as a certain idea struck him. "Otousan, what would they do to the old desktops?"

Shindou Masao considered his answer, looking thoughtful for a second. "Hm… I'm not sure about that. Maybe they would sell those computers for scraps or make it available to the employees. Or make donation to any non-profit organizations that need them. Of course, the company will securely wipe the hard drives first before taking any of those actions." He studied his son curiously. "Why did you want to know?"

"If it is available to the employees, could you take one to keep at home?"

Both of his parents shared a knowing glance between them. "And what are you planning to do with the desktop, son?"

"Um, nothing. I want to play online Go," he said honestly, and at his mother's stare, quickly added, "I can use it for online browsing too, especially in school-related things."

"I'm sure you realize that we need the Internet connection to get online, Hikaru," the man said calmly. He knew that Hikaru was a talented boy, and in the soul-crushing working environment, someone like him had a better chance to survive in the professional world of Go rather than struggling for employment after finishing high school.

Hikaru started to feel like a jerk for bringing up the topic and ruining the warm atmosphere shared by them just now. Shifting uncomfortably in his wheelchair, he dropped his gaze on his food and said in a quiet voice, "I know. I'm sorry for being selfish."

He didn't notice the brief, contemplative look aimed at him. "Don't look so deflated, son. We'll discuss this matter later, alright?" His parents gave him an understanding smile, and slowly, things got back to normal. They chatted casually on random things, and his mother even joked about buying some jewelry using the bonus. Hikaru couldn't help but snickered a little when his father blanched at the suggestion.

Dinner passed without any trouble and after doing some hand-strengthening exercises using tennis ball, his mother helped him to get into bed, which actually had been relocated in the hall. Frequently used items from his room upstairs were also brought down, since it was more convenient for all of them to help with his daily life. She adjusted his position and put blanket over him, wishing him goodnight.

"Oh, and Akari called me just now, asking for permission to take you to some place tomorrow," Mitsuko said cheerily. "Something involving her Go sensei." Hikaru immediately opened his eyes at the word 'Go', and his mother chuckled at his expression. "Go with her then. It will help you to unwind after all those hectic weeks."

The main lights went off, and the boy slowly drifted to sleep.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Hikaru frowned, reading the bunting contemplatively. When Akari was asking him to accompany her somewhere, he never thought that they would be watching the NCC Cup professional tournament. Still, while this game might be aired on television, he'd rather be at this place than stuck like some invalid at home.

Well, he was still an invalid in some way, but he was not going to let such thing interfering with his spirit and enthusiasm.

He smiled, recalling that he used to watch the tournament previously with Tsutsui, and by default, Sai. As if he could ever forget such childlike expressions on Sai's face every single time the ghost encountered new technological wonders existing in the new era.

"Hikaru!" Akari jogged towards him, moving through a crowd of people entering the building. She was a little alarmed when she couldn't find him outside the lobby after getting out of the restroom. "What were you doing leaving your waiting spot?"

"Ah, sorry about that," he answered self-consciously, ignoring certain looks directed to him like he'd better be at other places instead of a Go tournament. "It seemed that adults were a little bit curious about me. One helped to get me this tournament schedule, and that kind old man over there even offered to push me inside. He gave me candy too."

"Candy?"

The boy opened his palm, showing her a small strawberry-flavored candy neatly draped in shiny pink wrapper with red dots on it. "He said it was pretty unusual for kids to come watching a professional Go match." And then he pulled the wrapper open, albeit clumsily, and popped the candy into his mouth before Akari decided to go mother-hen and forbid him from eating it. "Don't snitch on me, ok?"

Akari didn't plan to, she simply stared at his face, resisting the urge to pinch at the baby fat on the round cheeks. Compared to two months ago, Hikaru looked much healthier. He still needed to put on more weight, but at least he was better than skin and bones. "Hahaha, that's because you always give this impression of a cute lost kitten, Hikaru."

"Wut didja say?!" He yelled defensively, trying hard not to accidentally swallow the candy while voicing his protest out loud, aware of the heat slowly crawling up his face.

Standing beside him, she placed her hand on the top left corner of Hikaru's back rest, giggling lightly at his flustered reaction. "Hm… a lost, wayward kitten with an attitude, and easy to provoke too?"

He glared at her, preparing to retort but realized that it would only subject him to her endless teasing. Pouting in indignation, he grumbled and pointed towards the large auditorium. "Whatever. Let's find some place to sit, though simply watching is going to be boring. It's more fun to actually play the game."

'Hey, I'm pretty sure I felt the same way too, two years ago…'

Pushing Hikaru through the entrance, she immediately claimed the rightmost seat of the balcony area where wheelchair user and their companion could sit next to each other. It would be easy for them to exit the auditorium later. "Geez, Hikaru, you've already passed the exams and would only register at Haze in September," Akari reminded him. "It would be a couple of weeks before the summer break starts. I'm sure you'll get plenty of time to indulge in Go until you're sick of it."

"Wrong," Hikaru corrected softly but firmly, locking the device and adjusted his position on his personal chair. He grinned cheekily at the girl. "Rest assured, I'll never get sick of Go. Not even after a thousand years have passed."

Hikaru was good at hiding his true feelings, though sometimes Akari could sense strange vibes coming from him that barely felt like Hikaru at all. Thankfully, for her mental health, she didn't like to dwell in depressing matters. "Well, on a second thought, I've come to the conclusion that you're simply an obsessive Go freak."

"Heh, no offense taken, and thanks for the compliment."

Their back and forth were interrupted by the hearty voice of the host as the rest of the audience gradually filed in and found their seats. "Hello to everyone here and at home watching on TV. Welcome to the game five in the first round of the 16th NCC Cup Go Tournament!" A thunderous clap filled the auditorium, and the host proceeded to introduce the people involved in the Sunday program. "As many of you might have expected, the detail analysis of the game on the big board will be provided by our guest commentator for today, Zama-sensei," he paused as more spectacular applause was heard, "and Ochi Kousuke 1-dan will be the game recorder. The time keeper will be…"

Holding the flyer on his lap, Hikaru looked at the names and pictures of the players. Nakamura Shigezou 7-dan will play Shirakawa Michio 7-dan. He easily noticed Shirakawa-sensei's gentle appearance on the stage and hence the reason Akari was so bent on getting him to watch the game. However, he didn't expect the antiques dealer who sold counterfeit heirlooms to take part in the professional competition too. Hikaru couldn't help but remember the man's supercilious attitude towards Sai and him in his antiques shop. It was amusing, considering how terrified Sai was at his frog-like smiling face, yet still managed to humiliate him in Go.

If the frogman's ability was roughly the same in this current reality, there shouldn't be any trouble at all for Shirakawa-sensei to win the match. Nakamura wasn't even that strong of a player. Still, the former 5-dan got to qualify to this round, and nobody should ever underestimate an opponent.

"… and now that our players are ready, the game is about to begin."

Fifty minutes later, Hikaru started to feel restless. There were a few points he agreed with the other two live commentators and Zama-sensei's analysis, yet there were other ways to make the game more thought-provoking. From Shirakawa-sensei's solid framework and relentless attack on the board, Hikaru was pretty sure that guy would win, as long as he controlled the pace of the game and played consistently.

He turned to his left to see his friend looking so engrossed in the match. "Akari, I'm going to hang out in the lobby for a bit."

The girl raised her head and sighed. Would it kill him if he has to sit still for a little bit longer? "But Hikaru, the game is getting interesting right now..."

"I know. And your favorite sensei is doing just fine," Hikaru reassured her, releasing the brakes of his device.

Her eyes widened when the boy started pushing the rim towards the exit entrance. "Hey, do you need my help to go there?"

"It'd take some time, but I think I'll manage." Smiling mischievously, he spoke in a low tone as not to disturb the audience near them, "Who knows, the game might even be over by the time I reach the lobby."

"Very funny," the girl retorted, and with a concern look on her face said, "Just be careful."

He raised his hand to acknowledge her advice, and started to move the wheelchair forward. However, he didn't go towards the entrance door, instead he turned left to the men's room, which was actually quite near to his seating area. Heavens forbid, he would never ask Akari to take him to the restroom, but he couldn't ignore the call of nature either. And he had to get there as fast as possible before he embarrassed himself in front of everyone.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

There was nobody in the restroom. Hikaru went directly to the accessible stall for people with disabilities. Thanks to his rehabilitation program, he was taught proper wheelchair transfer techniques, as he would be a wheelchair user for a while. It was during time like this that he wished he could already stand on his two legs. Although his small built and light weight actually gave fewer burdens to his arms and legs, it would take rigorous physiotherapy exercises to develop and strengthen the muscles in order to improve the function of his body.

Closing the door, he nodded approvingly at the liquid hand soap dispenser near the sink. Then he positioned the wheelchair parallel to the right side of the toilet fixture, rotated the left armrest out of the way and set the brakes. Grabbing the bars in a careful movement, he tried to lift and pull himself onto the toilet seat. It took him fifteen minutes of fumbling around just to relieve himself, but at least he managed to do it without assistance.

Hikaru wasn't lying when he said that he was going to the lobby, especially when he saw a few visitors testing the computers for online Go earlier. Someone had opened the auditorium door for him, whom he thanked politely. When asked whether he required help to go to other places in the building, the boy was a little bit uncomfortable at first, but accepted the person's kindness in the end.

He moved towards the long table with computers, and the staff, as if sensing his intention, asked him nicely, "Hello there. Did you come here with your father?"

"No, I'm here with a friend. I'm quite interested in the online game though."

"Oh, do you have a computer at home?"

"Nope. But I'm hoping to have one with the Internet connection someday."

"I see. Would you like to play a game here?"

"I'd like to, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, there's nobody around and I'm pretty bored on my own." The man removed the chair out of the way and helped Hikaru to settle in front of the laptop. He used the mouse to scroll at the list of players from all over the world. "Anyone catches your interest?"

"Um, that guy will do," Hikaru said, pointing to a player from South Korea with username Mastermind. He let the staff doing the request and to his delight, it was immediately accepted. The screen immediately switched to a Go board with the game information provided on the right side.

"Well, you start first."

Holding the mouse gently, he tried to familiarize his hand with the strange feeling. Sliding it slowly to the upper right corner of the mouse pad, he made sure the pointer was placed at the correct intersection before clicking the left button lightly.

It was really awkward when his unused muscles started protesting at the motion, but it didn't deter his spirit in the slightest when his effort was rewarded. Barely a few seconds had passed when his opponent quickly responded at 16-17.

'Whoa, this guy is quite fast, reminding me of Fuku.'

His eyes glinted in determination and the world around him began to fade as he got absorbed in his first online game.

While Hikaru was struggling to put his lazy hand to work, he found out that clicking the mouse was unexpectedly easier than learning to write again, though he was pretty sure that typing using the keyboard was another matter. He clicked the cursor at 13-17 for his seventeenth move, planning to establish his territory at the lower right corner and paused a little when his opponent responded with 9-16.

"Hasty. Hehe, maybe I can do something in this area," he said to no one in particular. The IT guy, who overheard his spoken thought walked quietly behind him and eyed the screen with interest when he noticed that the game had progressed steadily.

The war raged on, neither party giving an inch as they clashed for dominance on the virtual board. Hikaru started sweating despite the cold air blasting from the air conditioning unit above him. He could already feel the constant pressure on his right hand and arm as he had to match his opponent's fast play. However, he was not willing to give up the fight yet. Gripping the right wrist with his left hand for extra support, he checked the game information and was not surprised when it showed that they had already played for ninety-two moves. Black player's clock was ticking in his turn.

'Let's see what would happen if I play here...'

White countered his move by placing his stone right beside the one he placed just now, preventing Hikaru from cutting the formation of his unit. The boy, glad that his distraction worked perfectly, proceeded to reinforce his own stones at the upper left corner.

More stones filled the intersections on the board, leaving the most inactive part in the lower left corner vacant. Their fight for territories took the diagonal shape, from the lower right to the upper left corners, with some taking place in the upper right.

Black had exploited a few of white's earlier moves and it had led to a well-played splitting attack, giving a great advantage over his opponent.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Waya Yoshitaka had just logged into NetGo when he noticed a familiar name in the list of online users. Mastermind had defeated him a few days ago, and he had an inclination that the other player was a professional. Too bad, stomachache had caught with him in the middle of the game and he didn't have the opportunity to chat with his opponent as he was rushing to the bathroom as soon as the game was over. At least he had played as best as he could before resigning, though he knew he might still lose to Mastermind even if he had played in good condition. That guy was tough, and fast. Out of curiosity, he clicked to check on the player's status.

Currently, Mastermind, who played white was having a game with someone from Japan who logged in as AnonymousJ.

"Hm, quite interesting. Let's see how my countryman fares against him," the shodan said, analyzing the hectic battle on the screen. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized that the game was nearing to the end and black was actually leading against white. He quickly checked AnonymousJ's information, and was confused to see that the player had won only one out of the twenty-five games he played so far.

"What the heck?! Some of those guys he lost to were only beginners!" Bothered by the bizarre situation, he voiced his dissatisfaction, "And he was kicking the ass of someone I lost to! Who is this guy?"

Returning to the main board, he studied the patterns of the stones and got another surprise when he realized that black's moves actually resembled Shusaku, especially in the game opening. Despite their speed Go, the Mastermind guy must have realized that too for he had tried to counter the old joseki with the modern play, a variation of a few that had been created by professionals from years of studying Shusaku's existing game records. To his amazement, black didn't really show any difficulties developing his territories using the modern play too, and had prevailed magnificently against someone as good as white. In fact, white had made a few desperate moves just to survive throughout the game. True to his prediction, the game ended a few minutes later with white's resignation.

And after he got over wondering on AnonymousJ's identity, he tried to request for a game only to find out that his challenge was rejected and AnonymousJ had logged out. Darn!

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

The Go prodigy rubbed his right hand in relief. By the time the white player had resigned, he was almost at his limit. One of his last moves had stamped out the possibility of a ko fight, something he didn't want to experience in their time-constrained game. He was lucky that his opponent was a strong player that possessed accurate judgment of the game and had the grace to resign at the right moment.

Fortunately, he didn't make any clicking blunders for the duration of the game despite his tired hands, though he wondered if he still had the strength to push his wheelchair to get back to Akari. Once the match in the auditorium had ended, it would be followed by the post-game analysis involving the two players and the two live commentators on the stage.

"That's good, you win," the IT guy congratulated him. He had enjoyed Go occasionally for fun, but even he could sense the tense atmosphere and appreciate the brilliant game of the two superior players. "I want to save the game record, shouldn't let something nice like this go to waste." Pressing a few keyboard shortcuts, a file of the game was immediately transferred into the hard drive of the laptop.

The chat window suddenly popped up and a message in English appeared on the screen.

Mastermind : You're really strong. Are you a pro?

"Hey, look at that! He's asking if you're a professional player!" the man said excitedly, then started to look at Hikaru with new respect. "Wow, if he thought that you're good enough to be a pro, then you must be really good in Go. Are you an Insei then?"

He smiled slightly at the guy's curiosity, and answered quietly, "No. I'm merely someone who loves Go." Staring at the chat box, he considered his options before simply moving the pointer to close the session and exit to the players' list.

"Ah, poor guy," the adult of the two commented, "Though it's cool to remain anonymous, like the nickname I set for you to use just now." They exchanged an almost guilty grin together.

The screen blinked again, and this time he had received a request for a game. Hikaru nearly fell from his wheelchair when he saw the handle of the player.

"zelda?!" His heart started to beat furiously in anticipation. Was it Waya, or someone else who coincidentally using the same nickname? And who knows whatever handles people existing in his dreams actually use in the real world?

There was only one way to find out if it was really Waya in there, but his hand was throbbing numbly and he shouldn't overstep the IT guy's generosity for allowing him to play a full game. And the real tournament he was supposed to watch might have already ended and Akari might appear at any moment and scold him for being self-centered. Again. In his mental dilemma, he unintentionally refused the request from zelda and logged out, and only then realized what he had done.

"Eh?!" He quickly turned to look at the staff, telling him his mistake, "I'm sorry. I've just logged out unwittingly."

"Never mind," the guy said, watching Hikaru curiously. "I can always log in again. Besides, it'd be rude to stay idle online while there's nobody using it."

Hikaru breathed in relief at the thoughtful remark. "Thank you so much for letting me play a game here," he said, receiving a friendly nod in return. The IT guy smiled at him. "No problem. I got to watch an interesting match. Hey kid, if you're that talented, don't you want to become a pro?"

That was the second time someone had asked him about becoming a professional Go player but before Hikaru got the chance to answer, an unexpected, yet very familiar voice spoke from behind him.

"Shindou-kun, is that you?"

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

Hikaru slowly turned his head, and there was Touya Akira in his unique attire, holding an A4-size envelope in his hand.

"Touya-pro!" He exclaimed, trying to put as much surprise and enthusiasm as he could in his voice, since calling him Touya and showed his annoyance at their unexpected encounter would only look offensive to the observant player, not to mention out of place. And to call the pro Touya-sensei or Touya-san didn't sound right to him either. Hikaru swiveled his chair around to fully face him. "We meet again. Were you here for the game too?"

Akira took another step forward, glancing at the NetGo login page on the laptop behind the younger boy. "It's good to see you again, Shindou-kun," the professional player greeted him with a pleasant smile on his face, unknowingly making Hikaru feeling guilty at the thought of avoiding him. "Actually I'm running some errands for my father today, so I didn't have time to watch the live game," he explained, "But I might be able to catch whatever left of it after this."

He nodded politely at the IT guy, who was watching their exchanges with calm interest. It was not unusual for a distinguished prodigy like Touya Akira to have acquaintances in any Go-related environment, though younger individuals were more often than not revealed to be either his students or fans. He wasn't really sure which category this Shindou-kun fit in but both of them might share one thing in common – an exceptional talent in Go. "Good afternoon. You must be Takagi-san."

"Good afternoon, Touya-kun. Yes, I am Takagi Haruto, the IT technician and salesperson for Shinwa Computers. Your father had informed me in advance of your arrival. I believe you have something from Touya-sensei for me?"

Hikaru, who loved nothing more than to leave them to their business, began to put his hands on the push rims, but the weight of Akira's hand on his shoulder stopped his movement. The young pro leaned his head towards him and said quietly, "Please wait for a few minutes. This won't take long at all." With a gentle pat, as if reassured enough that Hikaru would simply obey his request, he turned away to face the other man.

Akira handed the envelope and stated his reply, unaware that the boy was fuming inside for being treated like a kid, again. "Ah, yes. My father asked me to pass this to you, along with a message. He would like to be notified when the company would send the computers and accessories, and had requested personally that you, Takagi-san to take charge of the whole installation and configuration process in our salon."

Takagi, now that Hikaru knew his job title, though personally the 'IT guy' was still his favorite description, took the unsealed envelope from the teenager and pulled out a few pages of documents from it. Hikaru couldn't see much from his position but he could easily guess what they were talking about. None of his business, of course, but a good development for the conservative Touya's nonetheless. The technician said warmly, "Oh, well. Please tell the Meijin that some of the items in this list are just recently acquired, and that I would do the setup for everything as soon as we obtain the rest, especially the new software packages from our supplier."

"I will. The catalogs really helped in the selection process, and I'm glad that my father agreed with some of your recommendations."

"Thank you for choosing us in the first place. We're really privileged to be in service of such a well-known family business."

Hikaru almost snorted at Takagi's choice of words, but Akira beat him with his good-natured reply. "You're welcome, Takagi-san. Now I know why the company made a technician like you as their salesperson."

The IT guy simply waived the hinted compliment away with a modest, self-conscious grin. "Please believe me when I say that it's just coincidence. I really mean it, you know. Touya Go Salon is a nice place with a good reputation, and I've even seen it in the list of recommended Go salons in an online forum previously."

"Very well, Takagi-san. I should leave right now. As for this kid, allow me to take care of him." Akira smiled cordially, giving the man a courteous nod, who returned the gesture. "Let's hope the older generation won't be offended too much by our soon-to-be-added modern features." He moved behind Hikaru and much to the boy's mortification and annoyance, started to propel the wheelchair forward.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Touya-pro, please stop what you're doing. I can do it myself just fine."

That was the second time he politely voiced out that he didn't need the Touya junior's assistance, though his protest went ignored all the same. It didn't help at all that people were staring curiously, and from their hushed whispers and stolen gazes directed at his unwanted helper, Hikaru was pretty sure a few of the familiar faces belonged to the new batch of Insei that revered Touya Akira.

He was having the premonition that the young pro seemed to take his time getting Hikaru back to the live game, perhaps enjoying his uncomfortable reactions, and that there were no such things as coincidence whenever Akira was involved. It was fate messing with his life, just because it could and it would.

"Come on. It's just a short distance, and my friend is in there," Hikaru insisted as they treaded the path to the auditorium area. Before they left Takagi-san, he had checked the computer for time and knew that in less than fifteen minutes, the audience would leave through that entrance. Inwardly he groaned. Akari would surely be pissed at him after this, since she was really hoping they could watch Shirakawa-sensei's game together.

"Oh, really? You know what would happen if I let go of the handles now, right?"

Akira had a point. The pathway was slanting upward gradually. His overused hands and arms were telling him that he might not be able to reach his destination, not without help. And just like Hikaru, the teenage pro also possessed an annoyingly good memory. "Haven't you learned your lesson previously?"

"That was unexpected. I forgot to lock the wheels," Hikaru said defensively. It was a feeble excuse and they both knew it. Akira was quick to point it out. "Still, it was dangerous and you'll never reach it anyway. Therefore, please accept the help when it was given freely." The boy flushed at the admonishing tone but refrained from saying anything. They got inside and Hikaru easily guided them to Akari. As predicted, she was quite mad that he had only returned when the event was nearing to the end, but instantly controlled her manners once she realized that the other person accompanying Hikaru was none other than Touya Akira.

Ironic, for just a few days ago, Akari was enthusiastically talking about a Go magazine article highlighting the promising career of the young prodigy as well as him being a role-model for the younger generation to love and appreciate the game.

Not even bothering to hide his amusement at the light blush gracing Akari's cheeks, the boy watched as the pro greeted her politely and took an empty seat beside her. "Sorry, not a good time for explanation nor introduction right now," he said, leaning a little bit close to her side to avoid raising his voice but eyes never strayed from the post-game analysis. "Told you that your precious sensei would have no problem winning."

There was a moment of silence before she responded to him. "Yeah. I'm glad he could make it. But that's beside the point. You shouldn't disappear for a long time like that, Hikaru."

To a Go player who had the experience of spending hours on a game, a speed Go hardly counted as 'long' in his book. However, taking the time needed to use the restroom and his second encounter with Akira into account, she was right. Hikaru squirmed a little on his seat, and decided that he owed Akari for this. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist testing the online Go." At the expectant stare directed toward him, he added lamely, "It was a good game."

The girl rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat at his reckless attitude, but otherwise said nothing.

If Touya Akira had overheard the last statement, he simply kept his thoughts to himself.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Closing the Kanji practice workbook on his table, Hikaru yawned tiredly. His hands were sore enough from his earlier activities in the afternoon, and he had totally forgotten about the handwriting exercise that must be done later that night. Not to mention that he needed to strengthen his elbows too, to help with his mobility on the wheelchair. He looked up at the wall. The clock was ticking at 10.15 pm. Soon his mother would come to check on him.

Despite his somewhat clumsy, hasty attempt to get into bed, he managed to complete the transfer process successfully. Hikaru closed his eyes, breathing deeply at the soothing firmness of the mattress beneath him when he felt something very thin but hard sticking under his shoulder. He reached for it blindly and had to squint to adjust to the amount of light entering his eyes as soon as he reopened them.

A small card in his hand instantly refreshed his memory of the circumstances that took place after the NCC Cup tournament.

At Akira's request, he remembered calling both Shindou and Fujisaki's households to get the permission to extend their outing trip a little bit. Much to Akari's delight and his embarrassment, they went to a small, but fine dining establishment to eat, under Touya Akira's treat, of course, since the girl and he could never afford such place.

They had had fun talking about the game played by Shirakawa-sensei, with almost all explanation naturally initiated by Akira. From the virtual record displayed during the post-game analysis, the pro had jolted some notes on the gokeishi in his pocket, which served as the topic of their discussion. Hikaru, realizing that he had only watched the tournament halfway and therefore wasn't supposed to understand the deeper analysis, much less remembering the gameplay, had kept his cool. There were quite a few instances where he almost surrendered to his own prideful disposition as a Go player and started the shouting match between them every single time Akira's opinion clashed with him, but somehow managed to keep a tight rein on his control.

It would be too suspicious for someone who had never taken part in any tournament and had just recently got out of hospital suddenly able to come out with an analysis on par with a professional. And thanks to Akari's big mouth telling those interesting tidbits to Akira, he had been receiving many curious glances from the genius player afterward. In order to stop Akari from revealing further unnecessary information about him, Hikaru was forced to tell her of how they met in the bookstore. The Touya junior would elaborate when he hesitated at some awkward moments, causing Akari to tease him mercilessly for being so tight-lipped about it.

"So, what happened after that? Did you go to the event?"

Hikaru had to smile at the question. When fate decided to intervene, one didn't fight it. "Yeah, but not for long. It was great though." He raised his head and grinned at the pro, "I saw you at the teaching game area, but you were occupied at that time."

"Hm, you should just come to me. I would certainly find some time for you."

He had talked about the joy of watching a lot of kids finding their love for Go on that day and expressed his desire for Nihon Ki-in to organize similar event in the future. Hikaru had joked that if it happened again, he expected to get a one-on-one session with Akira, who replied that Hikaru was welcome to play him anytime it was convenient for the both of them.

The boy had turned noticeably quiet at that allusive remark.

Then Akira mentioned about his colleague watching someone like Hikaru reversing a difficult game with a couple of high school kids, and he was pretty sure his heart had stopped for a second. Reluctantly, he narrated his accounts, downplaying his own accomplishment and focused more on the funny side of the story until Akira caught what he was doing and told him that the game had been thoroughly discussed in the Touya Study Group. Even the Meijin himself had praised the ingenuity of the player and stated the fact that sooner or later he would make his presence known to the pros.

The look Akari gave him almost resembled his small audience in the hall of the 'Go for Youth' program. Strange, for the girl had been there all the time, faithfully watching as he played his Go.

Sai's Go.

Hikaru said truthfully that he was just trying to help and didn't know their game had gotten the attention of a professional. He had also asked Akira to keep his identity a secret for the time being as he was still recuperating and said that people shouldn't interfere with the choices he made for himself.

Once they left the restaurant, just before Akari and Hikaru got inside the train to depart for home, something was slipped into his hand.

"I'm sure our paths will cross again. You can't hide forever, Shindou-kun. It's natural for everyone seeking someone who could push them to a higher level. Go is never stagnant. Sometimes it flows gently like a tranquil body of water, yet it can also transform into a fierce storm that consumes everything in its path."

The humble, sincere meaning behind his words had put Hikaru to shame. This Akira was a friendly and a respectable person, it was really hard to dislike him. Hikaru wondered if the lack of his own existence in the Go world was the cause of it. He had always assumed that the other Akira in his dreams was a naturally rigid person, genetically inherited from his father. Never had he thought that Akira's behavior might be the result of Sai and him driving the boy into the edge, turning his life upside down in the futile quest of unraveling Hikaru's secret.

The boy could only hope that history would not repeat itself this time around. Sinking his head further into the soft pillow, his last thought before succumbing to his exhaustion was of Akira's challenging words.

"Come to me whenever you're ready, Shindou-kun, for I'm always in my battle gear."

When Hikaru's mother arrived fifteen minutes later, his son was already in a deep slumber. Firmly grasped in his hand was a card bearing the name and address of one Touya Go Salon, as well as their contact number. Gently, she pulled it from Hikaru's fingers, placing it on his study table. Adjusting the blanket, she kissed his forehead, heart melting a little at the innocent, youthful countenance. Then she turned off the lights.

She never noticed a personal mobile number written in a neat handwriting on the unprinted side of the business card.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Hikaru was crawling.

His physical therapist had asked him if he had ever wondered about why babies crawled before they started learning to walk. Being Hikaru, he didn't really think so much unless it was Go-related and simply answered that it was nature. It was gently explained to him that babies in their developmental process had to learn to move around to satisfy their natural curiosity and the need to explore their surroundings. Since it was done at their own pace, they would discover the sense of independence, sensory perception as well as the decision making skills that greatly influence their brain development.

And during such wonderful process, their muscles strengthened and their shoulders and hips would be trained to move together in coordinated, balanced movement.

Therefore, to rebuild a foundation of his reflexive strength, Hikaru was crawling to his heart's content. The exercise might look and sound ridiculous to a lot of people, but to him, it was his ticket to freedom, the only way to regain his original strength and mobility. According to the therapist, it would restore his central nervous system and stimulate his internal healing process.

Almost a week had passed since the NCC Cup tournament, and Hikaru didn't think he would be able to respond to Akira's invitation to play Go at his father's salon. The pro would have to wait for quite some time for their fated confrontation then, for he was simply not ready. Who would have thought that taking the flier from the Touya junior could prompt such uncontrolled events? He had enjoyed the game with the high school students greatly, but never expected it to become a study material in the Meijin study group.

There was nothing he could do but have faith in Akira to keep his secret. Who knew, maybe they would get bored and simply attributed his skills to a fluke. Once upon a time in his dreams, Akira had dismissed Hikaru's growth in his aspiration to pursue Sai. Ironically, he had just played a game and the Go world was expecting his arrival.

Taking a deep breath, Hikaru stopped to rest on his arms and legs for a few seconds, then put himself to a comfortable crawling position again. The matted surface provided a light grip to push off from as he began to move each limb individually across the floor, starting from his right hand and followed by his left knee. It was quite hard at first, but strangely, the crawling exercise had strengthened his mental focus and improved his mood. In a way, it calmed him down and triggered his fond memories to come out to the surface. He had even managed to mentally replay and analyze one of Sai's best games on the Internet while moving subconsciously.

Around him, there were patients suffering from various types of health conditions, including losing limbs, permanent disabilities and other injuries. The rehabilitation center was their source of hope. Among them, he was the luckiest of all, one of those who had the potential to fully heal and return to normal.

Nowadays, he was able to roll and shuffle successfully, though he couldn't really sit without back support for more than a few minutes. He wouldn't lose to a baby, would he? Gritting his teeth in determination, Hikaru crawled again until his therapist had to ask him not to overtax the newly rebuilt muscles in the process.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Alright then, let's meet again after school tomorrow!" Natsume Yousuke, the second president of the Go Club announced calmly. At his declaration, the kids started gathering their things and left, bidding farewell in a familiar ruckus. A couple of second year students playfully ribbed each other on their way out of the Science lab that served as the room for their club activity.

After completing the application procedures and evaluation process at the local board of education, as well as receiving specialized counseling provided by the school support committee last Monday, Hikaru was required to go for an interview at Haze Middle School. Therefore, his mother had taken him to meet with the school principal in the afternoon. Generally, he was asked about his background, medical history and the current progress in his road to recovery.

Then he had to endure a long, boring explanation about the school organization and curriculum, but at the end of the day the enrollment date was determined to be the first day of school after the summer break. When he had communicated his desire to join the Go club as part of the school requirement, the principal appreciated his interest and admitted that it was a good choice for someone like him. He also hoped that Hikaru would enjoy his school life at Haze.

Their meeting ended just before the afterschool club started and at his request, his mother had dropped him at the Science lab, where he met Akari and the rest of the Go club members. He had fun playing shidougo simultaneously with a few of them and kicked Mitani's ass after an impulsive challenge from the third year student. Despite mocking remarks from Kaneko at his loss, the other boy was unruffled and seemed to enjoy his discussion of the game with Hikaru.

Perhaps he had wised up and maintained good relationship with others over the years of Hikaru's nonexistence.

Akari had told him that Mitani was discovered solving an advanced tsumego Tsutsui had posted in the effort to recruit new club members. He had refused to join them in the first place, saying that he couldn't make money playing in a school club until an incident occurred. At a Go salon, a hustler was hired to teach Mitani a lesson for his habitual cheating and had won ¥10,000 from their bet. Kaga Tetsuo, the president of the shogi club who had somewhat a strange friendship with Tsutsui was helping the latter raising fund for the poor Go club, by dragging him to play games for money in the same salon Mitani was caught cheating territory. They saw what happened, and Kaga had challenged the other man to win back the money. It was a tough fight, but Tsutsui, who was very good in the endgame and always alert to territorial points, witnessed that the man had cheated too and called him out for it.

Ultimately, Kaga won and they managed to get Mitani into the club. In June 1999, he had played as the second board in the Fourth Kita Middle School Summer Term Go Tournament. Kaga, out of the kindness of his heart, or so he said, 'helped' to play the first, with Tsutsui as the third board respectively. After they had recruited more members and Kaga didn't have to meddle with the Go club anymore, Mitani had secured his place as the first board in every tournament they had entered ever since. He had become an honest player, though that didn't stop him from antagonizing their newbies by jokingly offering to teach them how to cheat in Go from time to time.

And that very person who had occupied a large portion of his thoughts did a good job interrupting it by speaking loudly next to him. "By the way, thanks for coming, Shindou!"

Hikaru simply grinned at the boy's enthusiasm. "Don't mention it. Hey Mitani, Akari told me that you used to play in a lot of places before. Do you happen to know a cheap place to play NetGo?"

As expected, he wasn't disappointed at Mitani's reply. "You bet I do. My sis works in the only cyber café near the train station. If you go there, tell her that I send you. I'm sure she could arrange some discount on the fee."

His mind automatically reminisced all the glorious times spent in the café, where both Sai and him obsessively played Go with countless opponents from all over the world. Sai's playing style had evolved tremendously in every game he participated while Hikaru had learned a lot of things about Go during that period. In a few days, summer break would start and soon many third year students in the club would have to take some study classes to prepare for their high school entrance exams, Akari included.

He didn't know whether to feel sad or happy at the situation. Age wise, he was supposed to finish junior high school and graduate with them in March next year. On the other hand, he would have more free time to himself without the girl tutoring him at scheduled nights in his home.

Swiveling towards the exit, he nodded at his friend. "Alright. Thanks, Mitani."

Mitani easily fell behind him, getting both of them out of the lab. "No problem. Just get in here after summer so that we can stop Kaio's reign in the winter tournament."

Hikaru turned his head around to look at him. "Then we must train a lot. They are strong, after all."

"Everyone else but you," Mitani Yuuki said, smirking good-naturedly. "Coz underneath that deceiving appearance is one freaky force of nature."

"What? I might be a little bit better than some people," Hikaru protested. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be prepared."

"Don't be so modest. I've been playing their first-boards for two years and none of them could annihilate me as fast as you."

There was no point arguing with Mitani once he made up his mind. "Well, let's hope you're right, then." They got outside and waved each other goodbye. Akari was already waiting for him, pointing at her wristwatch. "Come on. Let's go home, Hikaru."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"Promise me you won't get into any trouble," Shindou Mitsuko said as they reached their destination. "I'll pick you up at five o'clock sharp. I don't care if you're playing against the world champion himself, you drop everything and be prepared to leave at that time, you got it?"

Unknown to Hikaru, Akari had reported their outdoor activities to Mitsuko, including Hikaru's prodigious talent that had somehow reached the higher echelons of professional Go world. Baffled as she was at the curious development, she wanted Hikaru to be fully rehabilitated and settled into normal routine first before deciding what to do with his future.

Though Hikaru's past had left them with little choice to pick from. Either that or it was perfectly going according to Kami-sama's plan.

"Yes, ma'am," the boy answered solemnly, respecting his mother's wish. It was Friday, the first day of summer break, and his mother was not only allowing him to spend a day on his own, he was also given some money for lunch and Internet fee. The least he could do was to follow her rules to a tee.

Studying her son for a moment, she said concernedly, "But Hikaru, if there's one moment you feel uncomfortable, I mean even like a slight headache or pain anywhere in your body, you would get help and call home, alright?"

"I'm getting stronger every day. You don't have to worry so much. I'll be fine, okaasan." Everyone was acting overprotective around him, and more or less he was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by such attention.

"Just make sure nothing bad happening," Mitsuko warned, "or this will be the last time I ever let you out on your own."

"Alright." There was a slight touch on his arm, and he was left all alone at the entrance of the premise.

Hikaru wheeled inside the café, feeling a little nervous at the melancholic feelings striking him suddenly.

A girl in a ponytail instantly greeted him. "Welcome. You must be Hikaru-kun." He raised his head in query, a little surprised that Mitani's sister could recognize him. "How did you know my name?"

"Well, Yuuki told me about this small, wizard kid on wheelchair that can kick the Go shit out of his ass – his words, not mine," she said, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner. "And he said you might wear something with number five on your clothes." Hikaru grinned, taking no offense at the crude description. The girl returned with her own grin. "He also told me to give you a big discount if you ever happen to visit this cafe."

He had to turn his head around as the girl walked behind him and helped to push his wheelchair around the tables fixed with computers. "Oh, really? So do I get one, Mitani no oneesan?"

The girl stared at him for a moment and laughed kindly, "Hm, as much as I'm in danger of falling prey to those big innocent eyes, you already have discount for people with disability." She took him to one of the two larger compartments not far from the counter, and Hikaru realized instantly that it was specifically designed for a wheelchair user like him. "You see, unlike a few years back, our new system will monitor every computer in use and calculate the total payment accordingly to avoid cheating. However, let's see how long you'll be here and I can make some adjustment on your fee, alright?"

"Thanks, I'm really grateful for that," Hikaru said sincerely. He allowed Mitani's sister to set up the computer for him and after reassuring her that he knew how to handle the online registration for NetGo, he was left to his own device. Eagerly, he moved the cursor into the first empty box on the page and began the task of filling in the required details. Using the fingers of both hands, albeit one key at a time, he slowly entered sai for his nickname, fervently hoping that the handle wasn't yet taken by any NetGo user.

To his relief, it wasn't. Entering the last letter, Hikaru wondered why he needed to confirm his password on the online form, but shrugged it off as unimportant. Barely a second later he immediately got his answer when the password masking character in both password fields suddenly vanished and a message appeared, informing him that they were not identical. He didn't need to score an 'A' in English to realize that he had just made some typo error somewhere and had to redo both fields again.

With a slight grimace, he proceeded to complete the registration methodically, ignoring the optional choice of filling in his email address. He never had one, but kept it in mind to be prepared when the need arose. Perhaps he shouldn't be so hasty to refuse her offer to help him just now. His heart started to beat wildly as the server processed the entries and words couldn't describe his feelings when the registration was successful and the virtual realm of online Go appeared on the screen before him.

"Sai, please forgive me for using your name. I'm not sure if I could ever reach your level, but this is the only way I can do to immortalize you in the Go world."

A minute later, he had started his first game as sai against a player from the United States of America.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

o…oOOo…o

“Kuso!!”

The involuntary shout was answered with a chorus of ‘shh’ from a few users nearest to him in the cyber café. The place was quite crowded on Sunday. Mitani’s sister stopped by his table and spoke quietly, “Hey, tough game, huh? Don’t be too loud, alright?”

“Got it, sorry for my outburst just now. I had misplaced a stone. Won’t happen again,” Hikaru assured the girl, feeling quite embarrassed at his own action. The girl took a curious look at the screen, decided that it didn’t make any sense to her and replied, “Well, you must be tired with so many people to play. Take it easy, Hikaru-kun.” Then she left him to help out another customer.

Hikaru was in trouble.

It was his third game for the day, and not only he lost an initiative to expand his territory, he had also failed to save four important stones that were in danger from double atari. All because he had clicked at one wrong intersection that didn’t really serve any purpose to his plan, and soon that poor stone would also be removed from the board. He could only watch helplessly as black put a swift end to his strategy at the lower right corner.

He raised his hand away from the mouse, looked at his palm and glared accusingly at the guilty index finger for its first real misclick offense. Then he sighed. Well, something like that was uncommon, but it happened, though Sai would always be able to find ways out of such predicament. The ghost was especially good at reminding him of those mistakes once the game had ended.

Heck, even a ranked amateur would have a field day with Hikaru’s blunder, and he was almost certain that the other player was no amateur. The solid opening moves, combined with the assertive play in the early stage of chuban spoke volumes of honed experience and capabilities. But then again so was Hikaru. He was having some difficulties, true, though he didn’t really feel like losing yet.

It was still too early to give up. Sai’s honor was at stake here, and he would never forgive himself if he backed off from a challenging situation right now.

Adjusting his position, Hikaru did a simple range of motion exercise to relieve the pain in his right hand as instructed by his physiotherapist. The digital clock on the right side of the screen showed that he had spent only seven minutes ahead of his opponent, still plenty of time left so there was nothing to worry about. He took a deep breath, mind calmly mapping the board to recreate another virtual path that would rebuild white’s compromised framework. There was nothing he could do in that corner at the moment. However, he should be able to find other key points that would allow white to trigger a proper attacking combination in several turns.

“Shall I connect the ko here? Nope… black will be able to counter the move eventually, now that I’m losing control of the area,” Hikaru muttered to himself, reconstructing his perspective of the board. “But one of his groups there is in danger of eye trouble, now let’s see…”   

Then he saw it; a chance to regain his initiative, as well as a promising invasion on the left side. He just needed to connect to a friendly group and strengthen his moyo first. It would take a lot of careful attachments before the strategy could work, but risk-taking was Hikaru’s specialty. He should be able to make it.

Satisfied with his choice, Hikaru settled a white stone at 4-13. Their fight would progress to the middle of the board soon.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Akira knew nothing about Shindou Hikaru’s history, though he had learned from Fujisaki Akari that the boy had been discharged from the hospital only a few months ago and needed to go through a long rehabilitation program to be able to function normally again. Apparently, they were also of the same age.

Someone like Shindou, who was neither a pro nor an Insei shouldn’t be able to make a comeback from a terrible game that even many pros would find hard to accomplish. One of his father’s students had joked that it was simply a beginner’s luck, but Ashiwara-san had disputed such notion almost passionately. It was quite disconcerting in a funny way to see his friend defending a kid he barely knew.

Then Ogata-sensei mentioned that before he reversed white’s blunders to a win, the boy had helped recreating the game he was watching purely from memory. Everyone had stopped talking and demanded the full story.

When the discussion about Shindou gradually calmed down, Ogata-sensei had requested permission from Touya Meijin to demonstrate another game, on one unique condition that nobody asked where he got the source due to some personal reason. Intrigued by the mystery, they had no qualm agreeing to the term.

From the game, they decided that black was a good enough player that could give the new pros a run for their money. However, it was an erratic game with a strange, inconsistent fuseki from white that had caught their attention. In the endgame, white had turned into a monster. The match had become truly one-sided and imbalance, yet beautiful and cruel at the same time that some of the participants in the Touya study group had goosebumps reviewing it.

It wasn’t that hard pointing the subtle similarities of white gameplay from the two games displayed on both goban, though nobody was confident enough to conclude that they were played by the same person. Ogata-sensei, however, looked quite absorbed in his own thoughts after the discussion.

Conjectures, while correct were usually useless until truly proven.

During the session, all Akira wanted to do was to hide from the glaring intensity of his father’s stare. The Meijin didn’t say anything, but he knew something. After all, he had autographed a book for Shindou.

At the present time, eyes bright with anticipation, the freshly minted 3-dan waited patiently for the browser to refresh the inbox page. Then he opened the newly received email and downloaded the attachment to his hard drive. Thanks to Takagi-san’s generosity, now he would be able to analyze Shindou’s match against a Korean player that took place on NetGo two weeks ago.

Once the printer had finished its job, Akira took the kifu to his father’s study room and started to replay the game on the goban.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Clicking precisely at the desired point, the boy waited calmly, eyes never strayed from the screen. Black was quite vicious in defending his territory. However, after recovering from his prior trouble, Hikaru had managed to counter the assaults by exploiting the other player’s weaknesses and tricking him into making a few careless judgments.

The time ticked away as black made another mistake. His opponent must be agitated now, since most of his choices had been sealed away by Hikaru. The boy scrutinized the screen in front of him one more time and decided to stop delaying the inevitable. He delivered the final blow and leaned back in his seat, waiting for the black player’s next move.

For a long minute, nothing happened, then the game system alerted him that black had resigned. Hikaru exhaled in relief. It was almost three o’clock after all. In two hours or so his mother would come to pick him up. As the mouse pointer hovered over to close the game window, a message appeared on the screen.

Toshiyuki : Who are you? I still can’t believe I lost to you after you made that blunder.

Hikaru smiled slightly as he was overcome with nostalgia. ‘Sai… look. The same thing is happening again.’

His hand moved of its own accord as he closed the chat box. As much as he wanted to share Sai’s ingenuity with the world, the timing wasn’t right. Not yet. Staring at the keyboard, he realized that he still had a long way to go.

“If only I could use the mouse with both hands and learn how to type faster...” he said mournfully. An idea suddenly struck him. “Hey, why not? I need to increase the strength of my body anyway.”

Mitani’s sister was serving some drink at a table near him, so he tried to ask for her help. “Mitani no oneesan!” He called, waving his hand to get her response. As soon as the girl reached him, he asked, “Is it possible to switch the mouse to my left side and use it with my left hand?” She contemplated the question for a moment, noticing Hikaru rubbing his right arm absently and said, “Yeah, of course. You need to go to the device properties to change the button configuration. Here, let me show you how it’s done.”

She had assisted to set up the mouse and its pad to the left of the monitor, then showed the step-by-step process to him before leaving. Hikaru was never a computer savvy, but he got the instruction memorized for future usage. Now that the primary and secondary buttons were reversed, he had to experiment the mouse with his left hand.

Just a few simple clicks to view sai’s account information caused the whole arm to protest its utilization, and his joints felt funny. He tried to ignore that sensation, focusing instead on the task at hand.

So far, he had played with six people and was on a winning streak. “Oh, I see. A player had the option to set his game records private or open to all NetGo users. But he couldn’t hide his tally score.” Apparently the latter option was already in the default settings so Hikaru didn’t bother change anything. The more people knew of Sai’s Go, the better for him.

He was browsing for some familiar handles when a request popped up from Germany. Hikaru accepted the challenge, playing black. Despite the cumulative exhaustion bugging him, the game went wonderfully for about ten minutes. Then he clicked on the wrong intersection. And cursed his left index finger this time around. “Damn it!!”

“Be quiet!!”

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

A pleasant surprise awaited Hikaru when he got back in the evening. Next to his study table, there was a desktop computer, the bulky central processing unit connected to some cables and unfamiliar hardware. He was still gawking at the new addition in the hall when his father got out from the bathroom. It was a nice change lately, since the workaholic man wasn’t always home even on Sundays.

“Hey, you’re back. Good. Look what I got you.”

Shindou Masao grinned at the boy’s dumbfounded look, and reached towards his son. “Remember when I said that the office would install new computers at work?” At his nod, the man explained, “A friend of mine, who is in the IT department helped to procure one of the best and latest desktop models from the old batch. However, the mouse and the motherboard were no good, so we just bought new ones for you.” His father beamed proudly. “The processor is Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, more than enough to meet your needs.”

He tapped Hikaru’s shoulder gently. “And SoftBank had just finished setting up everything today.”

The boy nodded for the second time, too overwhelmed to be able to express anything. While he couldn’t make sense of the computer specification, he understood the unspoken financial sacrifice required to install those things, all to fulfill his selfish desire. Concerned with his reaction, his father carefully positioned him in front of the computer, helping to lock the brakes. Hikaru’s hand naturally went for the mouse as the unit was fired up.

“Try surfing for anything, Hikaru,” Masao instructed, a hint of excitement was evident in his tone. The boy acquiesced, double clicking the web browser. To his amazement, the computer responded faster than he expected, and now he would be able to access the Internet just from home!

He turned to look at his father, voice stuck in his throat as he whispered haltingly. “Thank you, otousan. Thank you so much.”

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Waya Yoshitaka eyed his wristwatch impatiently. It was 2.45 p.m., and he couldn’t wait to get to the Morishita study group. Previously, they would start around 3.30 to 4.00 p.m. every Tuesday to allow him to finish his middle school classes first, but now that he had graduated since March, everyone had agreed to change the schedule to half past two.

But he was late for a very good reason. The teenager was reaching the entrance when a hurried footstep settled right beside him. He turned his head to find Saeki Kouji, a colleague and another student of Morishita-sensei smiling ruefully at him.

“Ah, Saeki-san. You just got here too?” He asked the 4-dan pro, a little surprised to meet him outside Nihon Ki-in at this hour.

“Yeah. For some reason, I got held up at home. Hopefully, Morishita-sensei wouldn’t get too mad at us,” the young man said as both of them reached the entrance to the building.

“Heh, he won’t be mad for long once I show him this,” the teenager patted his backpack fondly. The other pro raised his eyebrows in query but Waya just grinned like an idiot so he let it go. Everyone would know about it soon enough.

Together, they stepped inside the study room, a little breathless from their rushed pace, then started to exchange greetings loudly as well as apologizing for their late arrival. True to their prediction, Morishita-sensei was short of fuming at the mouth at their tardiness.

“Look at the time now. Where have you been, you two unpunctual brats!!” The old man bellowed from his seat. Both young players bowed deeply, muttering excuses all at the same time. The rest of the participants watched the two chastised professionals with barely hidden amusement. Finally, the man’s annoyance subsided, ordering them to take their seats. Both of them did as they were told as Morishita-sensei chaired their session.

Waya took something out from his backpack and passed it to his teacher. “Sensei, please take a look at this game. I thought it was interesting enough to be discussed in our study group.”

It was a printed copy of a game record. The 9-dan pro did a brief sight-reading of the kifu Waya handed to him, frowning a little at some moves that seemed out of place. He turned to look at the 1-dan pro, “Where did you get this?”

'Hook, line, sinker. Yatta!!'

“This is a speed Go between Mastermind, an irregular NetGo player from South Korea and AnonymousJ from Japan,” Waya started, glad that everyone was listening attentively to his explanation. “It was played more than two weeks ago. I had to chat with the Korean a few times for this record but finally he shared it with me – just this afternoon. Somehow my printer was out of ink so I had to go to the Internet cafe first before I came here.”

The room buzzed with excited murmurs at the information. Morishita-sensei cleared his throat and said, “All right, it sounds quite interesting. Let’s go through this game first.”

“What’s so interesting about this match?” Tsuzuki 7-dan asked, craning forward to look at the kifu. Realizing that, Waya quickly reached for his backpack again. “Oh, I almost forgot. Here, I have copies for everyone.” The teenager passed a printed kifu each to the other three pros and got one for him. They thanked him silently and began to recreate the game using the two goban in front of them.

It didn’t take very long for those pros to reach their general consensus together.

“In the beginning, black used the traditional Shusaku fuseki,” Shirakawa 7-dan said. “But when white decided to counter it, black gradually, neatly altered his moves. The player was able to blend both the old and modern play at will. You can say that his game was heavy with Shusaku’s influence; he even used Shusaku’s kosumi efficiently.”

While both players had shown remarkable skills, black managed to prevent white from exhibiting its full potential through its unusual shape. Waya rearranged the stones to replicate an early stage of yose. “Please look at this corner play. Doesn’t it look like an outdated joseki to you?”

“Correct. Usually, we will play the hane here, as this is accepted as a good move.” Morishita-sensei changed a black position next to a white stone, restricting it to two liberties. The pros around him nodded in agreement, watching with interest as white was forced to defend the stone or risk dying. After demonstrating a few possible moves, their teacher reverted to the original placement of the stones.

“Yeah, black should be in sente with that move, and maintain his advantage there. What I don’t get is why black felt the need to use the old joseki for an even exchange at this corner?” Waya asked. The unique approach baffled him so much that he decided to discuss it at their study group. Deliberately choosing to let the game speak for itself, Morishita-sensei steadily played another fifteen turns for each side, and paused.

Saeki nodded thoughtfully in understanding. “I see. No wonder he did that. Its sudden play threw white for a loop.” Tsuzuki 7-dan took pity on Waya’s befuddled look and kindly explained, “He used the old joseki at certain corners because he needed those spots to support his expansion to the middle of the board, many moves later.”

At the first hint, Shirakawa-sensei immediately pointed to another black stone. “And since a few crucial spots like this were already taken and fortified, it would be really hard for white to connect here. You won’t notice it right away, but he had actually placed some careful traps along the way to complement those moves.”

Waya studied the board closely for a long minute, and finally he got it. “Aah. So by the time white realized he had wasted more turns trying to suppress the old joseki rather than focusing on what happened fundamentally, black had already sprung those traps and controlled the board.” His expression was a synthesis of respect and incredulity. “What a brilliant game. At a speed Go nonetheless.” The other pros appeared to share his sentiment, though they hid their individual response better than him.

“Yes, it was almost difficult to belief, yet black possessed an incredible insight to make sure those uncanny strategies work,” Morishita-sensei commented. A resounding slap on Waya’s back made him lurch forward, as his teacher grinned widely at him. “Good job picking up this game, kid."

“Thank you, sensei, I truly appreciate the discussion but you don’t have to hit me so hard!”

This time, Morishita-sensei’s vibrant laughter was joined by others except Waya, who was still rubbing his tender back.

“So, any idea who this AnonymousJ might be?”

“Nope. Not a clue. Just like the Korean, his game records were locked, though I found something odd with his tally. He lost almost all games by resign to casual users, but he won against someone who was as strong as a higher dan!”

The pros looked at each other, a little bewildered by the information.

“And this Mastermind, is he a professional player? Do you know him, Waya?” Shirakawa-sensei asked.

“I think he is a pro, but he refused to tell me his real identity. Actually, Mastermind agreed to give me this record on one condition,” Waya said nervously, meeting their eyes as they waited for him to finish his words.

“He wanted me to find out the name of the pro that beat him.”

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Waya, if the presumption of his identity was correct, didn’t really pose any challenge anymore. He was strong, that was to be expected from a professional player. However, Hikaru had the best cheat code named Sai. At first, he thought the zelda he was playing was just some random player, but the movements on the board, plus a few little tricks he had ‘experienced’ previously proved that whoever on the other side of the net had similar style like Waya in his dreams. The player finally resigned after he realized that it was impossible to win against him.

He had barely returned to the main page when a new invite appeared on the screen. While he was initially overjoyed that so many people wanted to play him, the novelty wore off very quickly, especially when the freedom to choose his own opponent diminished with every request he accepted. Therefore, he had become quite a good acquaintance with the reject button, which he clicked with a silent apology to the poor soul.

It was perplexing that no matter how many times he refused, they simply kept coming. A little bit annoyed now, he declined for the last time and hurriedly logged out of NetGo. He had used up the allowed quota for the day anyway. And when did he become so popular among the NetGo players?

Waya, on the other hand, was staring at the game window with a pensive look on his face. Reality was always hard to believe, but the coincidence was too much to ignore. Conclusion made one hour later, he opened his NetGo account page and composed a short message to Mastermind.

Good afternoon. Thanks for the kifu you shared earlier. It was a really good game. Still couldn’t find the real identity, but I’ve played with sai, and I think he is AnonymousJ. You might want to confirm it yourself. – zelda.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It all started when Shindou Mitsuko’s friend, who was also living next door, collapsed from severe anemia while watering her container garden. His mother had called the rehabilitation center to inform him that she would be late to pick him up. The lady was alone, so she had to take care of her at the hospital until her husband, who was on some business trip, returned from Kyoto. She had tried to call Akari for help, but the girl was out visiting her grandparents with her family. Hikaru then had unwittingly offered to go back on his own, triggering her already worried voice into an almost hysterical soprano.

He had a tough time explaining that there was another friend who might be able to help him. It was only after some gentle coaxing from his physiotherapist that she finally yielded to his suggestion, provided that he gave her this so called friend’s number and let her talk to him.

As a result, Hikaru had to give his mother Touya Akira’s mobile number, currently waiting restlessly for the pro to arrive. Akira was right. Their path would cross again, and Hikaru should be ready to play him by then.

Hikaru was improving at an impressive pace. Sooner or later he would be allowed to venture out on his own under a controlled environment. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he still had a long way to go. Traveling on a wheelchair was a demanding task; even a single stone or a bump on the pavement could cause a fall. In fact, he had been drilled a thousand times by doctors, parents and therapists alike to never have a repeat of his accident. They didn’t have to tell him why because he already knew…

“Shindou-kun, please wake up.” A couple of gentle taps on his arm caused him to open his eyes sluggishly. Didn’t they understand that when he needed to sleep, they should never wake him up? Physiotherapy sessions often drained him mentally and physically, the reason why he never played NetGo on those days.

He wanted to close his eyes again, but the voice was persistent, and quite familiar. Then awareness hit him like a sledgehammer, all the sleepy sensation suddenly gone as Touya Akira loomed only a few inches over his face.

“Touya-pro, thanks a million for coming,” he said, forcing some alertness into his voice as he shuffled a little due to the unexpected closeness. “Sorry for inconveniencing you like this. Okaasan didn’t threaten you with anything, I hope?”

“Certainly not. She thanked me profusely, and even offered to pay for my traveling fee.” The pro took his backpack containing his personal things, moved behind him and got them out of the building. The nearest train station was about ten minutes of walking distance from the rehab center.

“So, did you accept the offer?” He asked, whirling his head to look at Akira.

“For the money? No.” A triumphant, but courteous grin adorned Akira’s face. “For a game with you, yes. And the next best thing is she agreed to the deal, too easily I might add,” the 3-dan pro said self-assuredly.

Hikaru raised his hands to his face in mock despair. “Oh no, I’ve just been sold by my mum.”

“Tragic. Don’t fret, coz you’re the one who gave her my number in the first place.”

“I’m already lamenting my bad decision.”

“Oh yeah? I can always call her back and tell her that you simply change your mind.”

“And cause a permanent ban of me going outside to have some fun? You are not that cruel, are you?”

“I’m not, but a deal is a deal.” He asked the boy challengingly, “Are you backing off right now, Shindou-kun?”

“What? Never!” The boy huffed tiredly. “Alright, you win. When do we play, assuming I don’t interrupt your busy tourney schedule or whatever it is you Go pro do?”

“Hm. How about this Friday, then? I’ll be quite free for the whole day.”

“Fine. I’ll be at your father’s salon around two.”

“Great.”

They reached the train station. Since it wasn’t a rush hour, the place was not that crowded so Akira deftly maneuvered him from one wheelchair ramp to another and waited for the train to arrive. He got them on one spacious corner, where they settled comfortably. Hikaru dozed off again, genuinely exhausted from the ordeal of his physical training.

Akira watched the sleeping boy, feeling a little guilty that he had to take advantage of the situation in order to set a match between them. However, he never regretted his action. If that was the only way to satisfy his personal curiosity of the enigma that was Shindou Hikaru, so be it. At one point, he had berated himself for the unnecessary fixation with the kid and his Go. Compared to the famous matches in history, he had studied only two of Hikaru’s games, but the impact was great enough to turn his life upside down. So, who was Shindou Hikaru? A trickster, or a genius of the century?

He should get his answer in six days. Right now, he had the responsibility to ensure that the kid reached home safely.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

In the moderately furnished office, early morning sunlight streamed through the window. A man opened the lid of his laptop, a mug of coffee was held in his other hand. Sipping the precious black liquid, he woke the computer from its standby mode, randomly checking for some interesting Yahoo! News for the day. Five minutes later, he browsed the NetGo forum, and was quite startled to find the hottest topic of discussion highlighted in bold at the top of the list.

Who is sai?

All trace of absent-mindedness was gone in a second as he eagerly clicked on the most discussed subject started by a regular NetGo player called Jediritter. It was only ten hours since the thread was created last night, but it was viewed by almost a thousand people, with two hundred and twenty-three comments posted within the short timeframe. It seemed that sai’s existence had taken NetGo by storm.

The man scrolled up to the original post and started reading silently.

So I’ve checked this guy’s page out of interest and here is what I found. He joined us on July 20th, and by August 15th, he had played a total of 96 games without losing even once. He plays around three to five games per day except on Saturdays. I’ve also learned from the other players that he never replied to any chats, mine included. Questions about him arose after he defeated some of the known professional players. Since more experienced players have started to challenge him, he has turned down a lot of requests, though he never discriminates his opponents by their online rankings. So who is sai? Is he a bot or a real human being?

sai, if you’re reading this, please do not feel offended or threatened in any way. I never meant to invade your privacy. Your games have inspired a lot of us to be a better player and each of them is a wonderful contribution to the Go community.

There were tons of supportive responses, new tidbits of information as well as some conspiracy theories. One outrageous idea suggested that sai was actually a 9-dan Japanese pro player hired by NetGo in order to encourage people to play more online Go and boost their reputation. The person who posted the comment had apologized openly once warned by the administrators not to spread unwarranted lies or suffered a permanent IP address ban from the NetGo’s server. The thread was in danger of being locked or removed if certain rules were breached anyway. As he scrolled downward, a player mentioned that it was summer break for the first school semester in Japan, and all the free time sai had implied that he or she might be a high school student. Some people believed the theory, while he, like many others thought it was ridiculous because some of sai’s games were too complicated to be played by a kid.

He knew, because he had played sai too.  

A couple of cheerful greetings interrupted him from checking out another thread on a game’s discussion. Lately, his casual browsing of forum posts had turned into a habit he surprisingly acquired without noticing. Closing the webpage, the amateur player returned his colleagues’ energetic greetings with similar fervor, discussing mundane things just to enliven the morning atmosphere in the office.

He finished his caffeine intake for the morning and revised the content of the PowerPoint presentation for the afternoon meeting. On the morning of the following day, he would leave for Japan to participate in the 22nd World Amateur Go Championship. When he met with the other contestants and Japanese professionals during the tournament, he should have some chance to find out more about sai.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

“So, Isumi-san, did you read the latest post just now? The topic had caused so much commotion they had to lock the comment section.”

“If you’re referring to our mysterious player, yeah, I did. I never thought he was that popular, though.”

“People want to know him because he never loses a game. Many amateurs suspect that he is one of our top tiers. Who do you think he might be?” Waya grinned mischievously. “Touya Meijin? Ogata Juudan?”

His stupid attempt at joking received a long suffering look from Isumi Shin'ichirou and Ochi Kousuke, though the former decided to humor him. “Heh. I doubt any of them has so much time to play NetGo. Besides, a traditional man like the Meijin wouldn’t care to learn online Go when he has so many titles to defend.”

The trio walked together to the lift area of the Nihon Ki-in. Ochi raised an eyebrow. “Hm… I’m not sure if Ogata-sensei ever plays NetGo, but his style of playing is totally different from sai. Unless he can change his style at will, he is not him.” The youngest pro said patronizingly after a moment. “What about Morishita-sensei?”

“No way, that old man thought NetGo was an abomination!” Then he kept quiet, because that was only half an answer. To him, the scary thing was that sai might even be stronger than his own teacher.

To be continued…