Fic: Next to NetGo 15/19
Title: Next to NetGo 15/19
Series: Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Hotta and Obata
Pairing: Akira/Hikaru
Type: AU. What if Hikaru had continued playing NetGo, and never became an insei (or a pro)?
Summary: Hikaru is dragged to the world of professional Go, but you can't make him drink.
-------------(15)-------------
Hikaru's exclamation made Akira sit up, but it was Waya's next words that stiffened his spine and pushed him to his feet.
"I knew it! I knew you were Sai all along!"
Akira was out of the kitchen and in the living room before he realized it.
"What?" Hikaru was trying his best to inject indignation into his voice, but he had already retreated a step into the house. "N-nonsense!" he said, then added, "What made you think so?"
Wrong move. Akira took another step forward, taking care to stay out of sight of Waya, debating whether to interrupt. The sight of Akira would only increase Waya's belligerence, but it might also distract the latter from pushing Hikaru into an inadvertent confession about Sai.
"I know." Waya's confident tone only increased in intensity. "You played as Sai last night. I've been spending all morning tracking your internet connection to here."
Hikaru took another step backwards. His gaze turned right and left, as though looking for an escape, and caught sight of Akira. Akira placed a finger to his lips. "I-" Hikaru said, and looked back towards Waya, terrified.
"Don't even try to deny it, " Waya said. "You're the person everyone has been trying to find for years, Shindou!"
"What?" Hikaru said, his jaw falling open.
"No wonder you've been leading in our game," Waya went on.
It took Akira a second to realize that Waya was referring to the verbal game of Go between him and Hikaru. So Waya had been losing the game. He had guessed that.
"T-that's different," Hikaru said, beginning to regain his composure as the topic changed from Sai.
"No, it isn't," Waya said. "I was puzzled at first to find an amateur like you playing so well, but now I know why. It's because you're Sai."
Hikaru froze. "What did you say?" he asked. He took an actual step forward, all trace of panic disappearing from his face.
"I said, 'I was puzzled to find an amateur like you playing so well, but now-' "
"What the hell!" Hikaru burst out, his face turning red with alarming rapidity. "Y-you patronizing jerk!" His sudden reaction made Waya jump visibly.
Akira frowned, watching the two of them.
"Out!" Hikaru shouted, taking yet another step forward so that he was nose to nose with Waya, glaring fiercely enough to make the other man retreat.
Waya was obviously confused. "What's wrong with you? I only said-"
"Out! Get out!" Hikaru pushed him out, and closed the door with a slam. "Asshole!" he shouted, and slumped against the door, panting. Then he slid down, his head braced between his knees.
Akira was by his side before he knew it. "Hikaru! Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Hikaru said after a long second, still catching his breath. He took a moment to take a deep breath, and accepted Akira's help in getting up, his hands squeezing Akira's almost painfully. Akira squeezed back. Then Hikaru released him and turned to the door, jiggling the doorknob as though to reassure himself that the door was truly closed. Then he locked it with quick, determined actions. "Do me a favour and check the window, okay?" he said. "See if he's still there."
"No, he isn't. He's walking away," Akira said, looking. He could see Waya's figure disappearing from his line of sight around the corner.
"Good," Hikaru said with vicious satisfaction.
A dozen questions were at the tip of Akira's lips. Why did he get so angry at what Waya said? Was it because it was unusual that he played a good game of Go? Or was it because he had called Hikaru was an amateur?
"Let's go and eat more lunch," Hikaru said, interrupting Akira's thoughts. "Getting angry always makes me hungry." Without waiting for Akira to reply, he stalked to the dining room.
Bemused, Akira followed him, to find him scooping more rice into his bowl, and sitting down without another word as he began to shovel rice grimly into his mouth. He grumbled under his breath from time to time.
Akira sat down and waited. Idly, he wondered what the other participants in the Go Exam would make of Hikaru. As someone who had played Go on the internet on an almost exclusive basis, Hikaru was used to reacting freely, instantaneously and loudly, to what he perceived were offensive gestures by his opponents. The pro world, however, valued self-discipline and decorum--Hikaru was going to shock them, and not just because of his Go skills.
It was going to be something to look forward to.
Hikaru finished the contents of his bowl and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "That jerk," he said thickly, before he swallowed. "As though the only reason I play well, is because I play as Sai. If I hadn't played as Sai, if I wasn't Sai, he'd continue to think that I'm just another lousy amateur. Even though I was winning our game. Damn it!" he said, putting down his chopsticks with a loud clatter. "I'm this close to forgetting about turning pro, Akira!" He held out a hand towards Akira, measuring a hairsbreadth between thumb and finger.
"Are you?" Akira asked.
Hikaru's look of anger deflated, and he placed both hands on the table, drumming his fingers restlessly. "Well, no..." he said. "But if I become a pro, it'd just prove him right: that only pros can play good Go, and amateurs can't."
Akira reflected on the tendency of some Go professionals to adopt such an outlook. His father had always told him never to underestimate an opponent simply because they were not professionals. He found that out for himself at the age of twelve, when Hikaru had walked into the Go salon for the first time, and played his first game. Even after learning that it was actually Sai who played with him, the lesson stayed. "There are seven hundred pros in this country, Hikaru," he said. "Not everyone thinks like him."
"Huh." Hikaru's expression became blank--a look of a proper Go pro, a part of Akira observed with repressed excitement--before he nodded. "I guess. Like your dad. Even Kurata-san."
Akira was reminded of Kurata's comment that it was lucky that Hikaru was not a pro--it seemed that even though he did not know of Hikaru's true skill, Kurata sensed his innate ability. But then Kurata's intuition was legendary.
"And those insei students of yours..." Hikaru muttered. Then his expression sharpened with eagerness. "Hey, if I become a pro-"
"When you become a pro," Akira emphasized.
Hikaru grinned abashedly, before he grew sober again. "Well, when do you think I'll be able to play with him? Waya, I mean."
Akira thought of Waya's 5-dan status, which placed him among the upper ranks of the pros; realistically speaking, it was unlikely that a new pro would be able to meet him in an official game within the short term. Then he looked at Hikaru's intent expression. 'Realistic' was not a word used to describe him.
"You want to play against him in an official game? You're already winning the game you had with him, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but he didn't play his best because he thought I was an amateur," Hikaru said. He scowled at that.
"That's why you got so angry at him," Akira said.
Hikaru stopped drumming his fingers and crossed his arms. "The stupidest thing you can do in Go, or anywhere, is to underestimate your opponents," he lectured.
Akira reflected that this was even more evident in the world of NetGo, where anyone could play. "If you win all your games, you should be meeting him very soon in an official game."
"Huh," Hikaru considered, then eyed Akira. "And how soon would it be, before I got to play with you?" he asked.
"Excuse me?"
"An official game with you, Akira. Touya 8-dan, right?" he asked, then frowned. "Or was it 9-dan? Or 7-dan? Or-"
"You were right the first time," Akira said, before Hikaru could downgrade his ranking any further.
Hikaru grinned, and made a thumbs-up gesture at him.
"It's the same," Akira said, answering his question. "If you keep winning all your games, we will meet in an official game sooner or later."
Hikaru made a face. "I think it might be 'later'. I know how tournaments are run. At least, amateur ones. These professional things probably take even longer, like, months! It won't happen that quickly." He groaned dramatically, placing the back of his hand over his forehead. "I can't wait that long," he declared. Then he leant back and regarded Akira.
After a few seconds, Akira raised his eyebrows. "Are you expecting me to say something?"
Hikaru grinned. "Go on, challenge me to a game. I promise to play my best, not as Sai, but as myself, but you have to challenge me first."
Akira took a second to imprint the way Hikaru looked, into his memory: his bony collarbone showing through the thin cotton fabric, the shock of blond hair standing out from the rest of his black hair, and the wide, mischievous grin on his face. "I think," he said carefully, "this time, you should challenge me."
The grin disappeared.
----------to be continued-----------
Chapter 14 | Chapter 16