Hikaru No Go Fan Fiction ❯ Outplayed ❯ It's Depressing ( Chapter 5 )

As you probably know, I don't own Hikaru no Go and appreciate the owners letting me play in their universe. I definitely don't make any money from this fic.

 

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This was originally going to go into Hikaru's Shorts, but that fic is bombing in terms of hits. It occurred to me it definitely fits the theme of “Outplayed” so here we go.

 

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“I have nothing.” Fujiwaki 3 dan said. Hikaru bowed his head in acknowledgement. Fujiwaki felt the ritual phrase didn't convey enough. He had less than nothing. He had been crushed.

 

“Thank you for the game.” Hikaru gave Fujiwaki the ritual closure and Fujiwaki dutifully repeated it back to him. Hikaru looked over to the goban on his right to see how Akira was doing. It wasn't that he doubted Akira would beat Kawasaki 3-dan but he was interested in seeing how soon it would be before Kawasaki resigned. Judging from the goban and the look on Kawasaki's face, it wouldn't be long. Akira was facing Hikaru on the goban to his right. Hikaru checked his watch. It was only mid afternoon. Perhaps Akira would be interested in discussing the most recent game between Ogata Jyuudan and Morishita-sensei from the fight in the Kisei League.

 

Ogata had won that match and Hikaru had some ideas as to how Morishita could have turned the match around. He knew Morishita's study group might not be the wisest place to point out the errors their sensei had made in the game but Hikaru thought Akira might be interested in studying the kifu with him. He remembered reading that Akira would face Ogata in the Kisei League in the near future. Besides, Hikaru had lost his first match against Morishita and wanted to study up so he would have a chance of winning the next time he faced him.

 

It never occurred to Hikaru it was beyond extraordinary for two pros with 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years experience respectively to be seriously presuming to defeat 9-dan professionals with years of experience. It was just normal to him, especially since he had been able to start analyzing Sai's games with Akira. The discussions or `arguments' as some would say, really expanded his understanding of the game.

 

Hikaru finished cleaning up the stones and then rose to put the win/loss record on the paperwork. He put his fan into his back pocket and took another look at Akira's game before leaving the game room. Akira watched him go. The game against Kawasaki had not required his full concentration. He thought it a little odd Hikaru had left but his opponent just sat there in front of the now empty goban. Akira had already looked several times over at the game between Hikaru and… whoever it was he was playing. The face was familiar but Akira couldn't come up with the name of Hikaru's opponent of the week. He did remember he had played him about a month ago but the game itself had been unmemorable. It seemed Hikaru had made equally short work of the lower dan. Akira looked up at Kawasaki to see if he was ready to resign. He suppressed a sigh as it seemed Kawasaki intended to continue playing. Kawasaki picked up a stone, hesitated with it and then put it back in his goke.

 

“I have nothing,” Kawasaki stated with a bowed head.

 

“Thank you for the game,” Akira stated formally and bowed his head.

 

“Thank you for the game,” Kawasaki repeated. After they cleaned up the stones Akira immediately stood up and left the game area. Kawasaki watched him go, sighed and then looked over at Fujiwaki.

 

The two defeated players shared a grimace and then by unspoken agreement and training, they left the playing room so as not to disturb the other games still in progress.

 

Kawasaki opened the conversation. “It's terrible. Touya-kun is just impossible to beat. I could study for 100 years and I don't think I would beat him. I see Shindou-kun didn't have any more trouble with you than Touya-kun had winning against me. It's depressing. The sooner those two get out of the lower dan matches the better,”

 

“I agree,” Fujiwaki said, “except Shindou-kun wasn't playing me today.”

 

“Huh? What are you talking about? I was sitting right next to the two of you. Who was he playing then, your mother?” Kawasaki wasn't in the best of moods and the snarky comment came easily to him.

 

“No, he wasn't playing me at all, anymore than Touya-kun was playing you today.”

 

Now Kawasaki knew Fujiwaki had something else in mind and just looked at him. “What do you mean?”

 

“Shindou 2-dan was playing Touya 4-dan and Touya was playing Shindou. We just happened to have the bad luck of sitting between them and interfering with their game,” Fujiwaki said. Kawasaki just looked at him and Fujiwaki continued his thought.

 

“I saw them both several times during the game. Whenever I happened to look up from the goban I noticed Touya-kun looking at our goban or Shindou-kun looking at yours. We weren't even on their radar. Those two were battling each other today. We weren't involved. You and I are nothing more than the poor saps who were caught in the middle as cannon fodder.

 

Kawasaki sighed in resignation and then nodded in agreement. Cannon fodder. It's depressing to be cannon fodder.

 

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