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Hikaru knows that death can supposedly wipes away the dishonour of failure. He knows that death can bring glory as it protects a nation. He knows that in death there is a beauty that is as fragile as the petal from a cherry tree.
He knows that when circumstances are grim and that there is no hope left, that the final blaze of glory can forgive all deficiencies of life.
Death however makes him uncomfortable, in a way that his grandfather writes off as being part of this sheltered generation. A way that fills his mother with a confidence that she clings too, that no matter what happens her son that she doesn’t understand, is going to be alright and not join the depressing statistics of a disenfranchised youth. And how Hikaru himself describes in a vague puzzled tone, ‘well it’s just such a waste, imagine what wonderful things could have happened, how sad their families must be now that their gone or what they could of accomplished if they had lived? For all we know that kid that died because of bullying could of been the greatest go player that the world has ever known.’
After a terrible movie, in which Hikaru complains bitterly about the wise mentor dying without leaving any words behind to the apprentice, Waya tries to explain the thought-process in ways that he thinks Hikaru can understand; 'That sometimes one needs to sacrifice territory for the good of the game' or 'people become stuck in a rut, a trap where they can only increase the amount that they have to lose.'
Hikaru retorts that if your in a trap, then you just need to play elsewhere and that in Go it's never over until the end.