Stand By Me Chapter 2, Hikaru/Akira
Previously
The first time it happened, Akira refused to admit the truth. He refused to admit what he knew deep down had been going on all along. So he just ignored the incident, put it behind him and went merrily on his way. The young go pro continued on working overtime, stressing himself beyond his capabilities, and ignoring the searing headaches and dizzy spells that he was constantly receiving.
The second time it happened, Akira was just as dumb as he had been before. An accident he had called it, just an accident. Luckily for him, unlike the first time, he had been completely alone. He had been standing in his room reaching for a book off his shelf, when suddenly, his body couldn’t take the strain anymore and Akira had collapsed. As soon as his body touched the ground, his eyes disobeyed him and finally closed. The boy finally fell asleep in an instant and awoke the next day.
But being the idiot he was, Akira pretended not to notice that anything wrong had happened. I was just tired, Akira tried to convince himself, there’s nothing wrong with taking a nap. Of course there’s nothing wrong with taking a nap, but naps usually don’t last for fourteen hours.
Then, it happened yet a third time.
But this time, when Akira awoke, he found his headache pounding more than usual. This time, the go prodigy had knocked himself out against the bathroom sink as he had been falling down. When he came to, the sounds of pounding on the door finally reached his ears.
He knew this wasn’t good.
Maybe something was wrong after all.
It only took Akira, a highly intelligent teenager if not a genius, three accidents, until he finally began to admit to himself that he just might be pushing too hard.
Just might be.
----
Hikaru was a boy- no man, of determination. Yes ladies and gentlemen, when he had a goal, he made damned sure that he was going to achieve it.
One way or another.
"God Touya," Hikaru muttered under his breath as he heard the sound of Akira’s answering machine once again. When are you going to let me talk to you, he thought. He had spent the better part of the week trying to chase Akira down, attempting to pinpoint the other’s whereabouts, but his rival was always on the move.
The one time that Hikaru had finally gotten a hold of Akira, they had only talked on the phone for all about five seconds. Their conversation went something like this:
"Touya!" The voice sounded so eager and relieved.
"S-Shindou?…" A scratchy tired voice answered back.
"Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to-"
"Sorry Shindou, I have to go. My client is h-" The phone clicked.
Hikaru sighed at the memory. The last he had seen of Akira had been at Touya Kouyou’s funeral, and in Hikaru’s opinion, that had been way too long. Hikaru missed the old Akira, the Akira he knew. The one who actually returned his calls. The one who he met with almost every day, whether it be to play go or even to just hang out. He missed the Akira who was his rival, his go partner, his friend.
And it had only been slightly over a week.
Hikaru didn’t even want to think about what would happen if something were ever to happen to Akira. He just couldn’t. He would go insane.
That was why he needed to watch over Akira.
And make sure that his friend was all right.
But how-no matter how hard you try-could someone be helped if they couldn’t even be found?
----
If asked about her life, Ichikawa Harumi would admit that she was really quite a simple woman. She lived each day as full as she could and tried to find excitement in even the simplest of things. And if there was any-excitement that is-it was lived through the successes of others, those of which mainly being her husband and Touya Akira.
Her husband, Ichikawa Taketo, was a company executive who had often played go with other business associates. That was how Harumi got interested in go in the first place. It over ten years ago when her husband had first began taking lessons from none other than Touya Kouyou.
It was after watching Kouyou in one of his matches that Harumi began to take a slight interest in go. Never in her life had she seen such sheer intensity and concentration, and it was so electrifying-she had to try it herself.
She tried to learn by herself by watching her husband’s weekly lessons avidly from the corner of the room. When Kouyou had caught the young woman watching from behind the wall, he invited the then young couple to his own home. From then on, both Harumi and Taketo were taught by the great meijin.
Harumi could remember those days so clearly; for it had been the first time in a while since she had felt so alive. Being the wife of a high executive that she was, life was not all that exciting. All she ever did was clean and cook and wait at home obediently while her husband worked all day long. That wasn’t the life Harumi had originally wanted but what could she do, she was deeply in love with Taketo.
During the next few weeks of lessons at the Mejin’s house, Harumi soon became quite acquainted with Kouyou’s kind and gracious wife, Akiko. Harumi not only found Touya Akiko pleasant company, but also a woman who she could relate so well with. They both knew what it was like to stay home day after day, waiting on their husbands. The only difference between the two women was that Akiko had a young son, Akira, and Harumi would never be able to have any children.
They spent a lot of time together, Akiko, Harumi and little Akira, especially when the manager of one of Kouyou’s go salonsbecame ill. Harumi had offered to help Kouyou and Akiko with the go salon, knowing that with the couple’s already busy schedules-Kouyou with his go, Akiko with her little boy-that finding time to manage the salon was impossible. In the end, Harumi found not a chore but something of a passion. It wasn’t the best job in the world, but to her, it was just perfect.
She enjoyed talking to the old geezers who came to play and the regulars all seemed to love her. The bookkeeping wasn’t so bad either; Harumi had always been exceptionally good at math. All in all, Harumi got it all down pat. So when it came time for the previous manager to return, he didn’t, because he had been replaced.
By then, Harumi had become like a part of the family. Akiko loved and adored her as if she was a younger sister and Kouyou respected the woman for all her hard work she had done with his go salon. Little Akira had also officially dubbed her his ‘aunt’ and spent numerous days at the salon and her love for him grew.
He became the son she could never have.
Harumi watched him grow-from a young boy, to a teenager, to where he was now, on the brink of adulthood-and she had never ceased to baby him. But now, with Touya Kouyou gone, Harumi desperately wondered what to do and how to console him. Akira had always been a difficult boy when it came to comfort, he never was one to show or share any emotion at all. That is, except with that other boy, the loudmouthed, hot headed one.
Shindou Hikaru.
Harumi knew that many people often wondered why Akira would even put up with someone like Hikaru, someone who was so completely opposite from him. They wondered about Akira’s strange obsession with the other boy and of course about the never-ending rivalry between the two.
But it wasn’t soon before the go community saw it as well; the two boys were leading the new generation of exceptionally talented players.
They were the future.
Harumi let out a sigh as she rested back in swivel chair overlooking the go salon, staring pointedly at a certain individual. At that moment, in the very building, one half of Japan’s future of go sat in a chair, his eyes deeply set with dark circles noticeable underneath. Akira’s normally pristine hair sat dull and lifeless against his cheeks, which had become impossibly pale.
There was their future, yet he looked like the living dead. Harumi knew his father’s death had taken a large toll on his life. Akira had always been an overly sensitive boy and she had been meaning to approach him every since his father’s death, but the pained look in his eyes kept her at bay.
But it was when he didn’t come back from the washroom for almost half an hour that she finally stepped forward---something wasn’t right. Harumi knocked at the door at first, maybe he had that kind of a problem, but the groan she heard through the door told her otherwise.
"Akira-kun?" she tried to hold back the panic arising in her voice.
"I-Ichikawa-san?" his voice sounded weak and strained.
Harumi quickly reached for the doorknob, but the door was locked. "Akira-kun! Are you alright?" The woman stared at the door, willing it to open but all she got was the sound of shuffling feet, and then running water. She waited five minutes before the tap was finally turned off and the doorknob turned. "Akira-kun…" The words fell past her lips the moment she set eyes on him. The young man looked as though he had been escaping sleep for many nights, as the dark circles were even bolder closer up. There was no hesitation when her arms quickly enveloped the boy she had practically raised.
"Ichikawa…san…"
And then Akira went limp.
----
Ashiwara groaned as tried to open the door to Ogata’s apartment but the weight of the older man’s body was pulling him down.
"Ogata-san! Please try to stand! I’ll fall over if you keep on leaning on me!" Ashiwara gave Ogata a careful shove to make his point. Ogata tried to take a step back and regain his balance but failed to do so. Instead he fell once again onto Ashiwara.
"Ogata-san!" Ashiwara cried, his frustration evidently growing as he barely held the other man up. There was a sudden sound of cracking glass beneath Ogata’s feet. "You broke your glasses! See what happens when you’re drunk!"
The blonde only ignored the younger man and allowed himself to be dragged into his own apartment.
"Sit on the couch," ordered Ashiwara and then made his way into the kitchen to make coffee. When he came back with the freshly brewed coffee, he found the 10-dan strewn on the couch; his eyes were squinted as he stared at the ceiling.
"I’m blind," said Ogata quietly; his face was contorted in confusion.
Ashiwara gave an unamused laugh. "You broke your glasses."
"I did?"
"You did."
"I did," Ogata replied in a soft tone, his eyes now tightly closed.
Ashiwara sighed and sat down on another couch that faced the one Ogata lay on. "I can’t keep on bringing you home like this every night. Ogata-san, You can’t keep on doing this," Ashiwara said quietly as he gently placed the coffee mug in front of Ogata.
"Why not." Ogata ignored the cup.
"We all miss him. Trust me, I know. But have you forgotten all that Touya-sensei did for you? Don’t fall back into the routine he worked so hard to get you out of." Ashiwara’s voice was gentle yet reprimanding at the same time; Ogata needed a firm hand before the alcohol won him over again.
Ogata didn’t reply but Ashiwara knew he was listening-it was the clenching of his hand at the mention of his late mentor that gave it away.
"Don’t Ogata…san." His voice slipping as he watched the older man across from him turn his head away, undoubtedly in shame.
Ashiwara almost wanted to reach out, comfort Ogata, in a way that his mother had taught to be. But Ogata wasn’t the kind of man to submit to his feelings, much less be the touchy feely type. Ogata was someone who was respected, for his fierce and powerful go, which strived to find the hand of go, day after day.
That was why when Ogata spoke again, with his words coming out so strained and filled with pain, that Ashiwara looked up in surprise. Ogata’s eyes were open again, staring helplessly at the ceiling. To disappear, were the words that were so clearly forming in those clouded dark eyes.
"I killed him, Ashiwara.
I killed him."