Fifthmus Fic: So this is Sai (for penguin474, from issen4)
TITLE: So this is Sai
AUTHOR: issen4
RECIPIENT: penguin474, requests
PAIRING: none
WARNINGS: General
SUMMARY: Ogata finally meets Sai in the flesh
NOTES: none
------
To say that Ogata was flabbergasted would have been something of an understatement. A corner of his mind observed that standing there slack-jawed was not the best way of maintaining his dignity as befitting a Kisei title-holder, but it was already all that Ogata could do not to start gibbering. Fine motor control over his facial muscles would have to wait.
He had arrived at the Go Institute after receiving a message on his phone from Akira, of all people. They saw each other often enough at the Touya residence or at the Go Institute. Akira, too, was hardly the sort who dropped off messages simply to be sociable. But this time, all Akira needed to say was, "Shindou is back".
Shindou had been gone from the Go world for more than three months now, an absence which was only marginally less disturbing than the stunt he had pulled in his shodan days. He had phoned the Go Institute to inform them he had a private emergency and would not be able to turn up for his games, but that was all anyone had heard from him after that. The lack of information had made Ogata uneasy, especially after he overheard Akira making enquiries about hospitals.
There had always been a touch of mystery about Shindou, who for all his loudness in manner was frustratingly close-mouthed about his beginnings in Go, his admiration for Honinbou Shuusaku and his connection to that NetGo entity, SAI.
Well, it seemed like Shindou would never stop surprising - and shocking - those around him.
"I know you! You're Waya! Pleased to meet you!"
With a sense of disbelief Ogata watched as the man introduced as Fujiwara Sai tried first to bow to Waya 8-dan, and when Waya didn't react (Ogata could sympathise), stepped forward and stretched out a hand to shake his, and then Waya came to his senses and bowed, nearly headbutting the other man as he straightened. The flurry of apologies had Shindou laughing so hard that he had to hang on to a nearby chair.
He didn't look like the Sai that Ogata had built up in his mind. For one thing, he seemed to be far too young - about Shindou's age, Ogata estimated - with a clear, unlined face that looked almost effeminate (an effect not diminished by the long hair that fell nearly to his knees, neatly tied off at the nape of his neck). And if this was the SAI that had taken the NetGo community by storm nearly ten years ago, the one who remained undefeated in those short months he had been online, and had played that astonishing game with Touya Kouyo a year after that - if Ogata were the fanciful sort he would have said his worldview was not so much being turned upside-down as it was being sent through the funhouse mirror.
"And you are Isumi! Pleased to meet you!"
Isumi-Juudan shook hands bemusedly with Shindou's guest, who babbled about making time to play a games tomorrow, "Hikaru said you've become very powerful!", and visiting China, and "Can you introduce me to Chinese pros ___ and ___? I heard you know them!"
Waya was now trying to shake information from a now-wheezing Shindou, who had fallen into his chair and was clutching at his stomach, still laughing, though Ogata noticed that his gaze never looked away from Fujiwara. There was more than mere amusement in his face, and with his newfound insight Ogata thought that Shindou was again reminding himself that he was not dreaming and that the presence of Sai was real.
"You are Nase, aren't you? You look so different now!"
Surprised to be addressed so familiarly by a complete stranger, Nase 5-dan only nodded and her smile faded a little. "How do you do, Fujiwara-san?" she said with a polite bow.
Fujiwara looked taken aback, and Ogata could have sworn his lip trembled. Almost immediately Shindou was at his side, and to the complete embarrassment of everyone else (save Shindou) Fujiwara pulled Shindou into his arms. "Wah! Hikaru," he wailed. "I've made Nase-san unhappy and she dislikes me now! She won't play with me now."
Shindou patted him on the back. They were of a height, Ogata realised, yet it was Fujiwara who gave the impression of being... puppyish.
Nase began, "Shindou, I didn't mean to-"
Shindou started to glare at her, then seemed to think the better of it. Instead he addressed Fujiwara. "Sai, Nase isn't angry with you. She really wants to play a game with you too."
Fujiwara immediately turned around and his face was cheerful again. "Really? Thank you! Thank you!" Then he grasped Nase's hand and shook it vigorously.
He seemed to have gained the impression - no doubt from the encounter with Waya - that people shook hands rather than bowed in the Go Institute, and was almost dizzily enthusiastic about it all.
Then they were standing in front of him. "Sai, this is..." Shindou made a vague gesture.
Fujiwara's hands were warm, though not unpleasantly so, and his handshake (in both hands) was firm, almost precise, as though every square inch of pressure exerted had been measured with the help of a machine. Enthusiasm flowed over him. "You are Ogata!" Fujiwara said, still holding on to his hand. "You look... older," he added consideringly, then he smiled. "I'm most pleased to meet you."
Ogata swallowed, and then hoped that the sound of his gulp hadn't been audible. He was aware of the rest of the crowd in the reception area trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Sai?" Shindou asked after a few moments had passed.
"I want to play with you now. Oh!" Fujiwara let go of Ogata's hands with an excited squeal, and turned to Shindou, hands clasping together as though to make a request. "I want to play with him now. Can I?"
Shindou's eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled at Fujiwara. "I told you, you don't have to ask me. If Ogata-san has the time-"
"Yes," Ogata said, then realised he had sounded horribly desperate, and experienced a brief urge to hide. He didn't, however, and he was glad about that, for then he could see delight flooding Fujiwara's face, so much so that he felt almost gauche, and hoped it didn't show.
Judging by the way Shindou was smirking, Ogata wouldn't bet on it.
"I think the second classroom on the fifth floor is available," someone else said behind him, and Ogata jumped.
"Touya-kun!" Fujiwara said happily.
Ogata blinked to hear Touya Akira, holder of the Meijin title for three years running, being referred to in such a manner. But Akira didn't seem to mind, only bowing lightly and saying very respectfully, "Fujiwara-san, if you would like to play a game here in the Institute, we can go upstairs."
"Or you could play at my place-" Ogata found himself saying.
"No!"
Fujiwara turned to Shindou. "Why not, Hikaru?"
"Uh, I mean-" Shindou started, then rolled his eyes. "Do you want to play now or not? Because if not then we'll have to go all the way to Ogata's place and traffic is murder at this time and it'll take another hour or more at least-"
Before Ogata could ask why Shindou felt the need for "we" in that statment, Fujiwara had already started nodding vigorously. "Yes, yes! I want to play now. I don't want to wait."
"This way, then," Akira said, sounding almost amused, turning towards the lift lobby. Fujiwara immediatly dragged Shindou to follow him, and Ogata could hear Shindou muttering to Akira, "Who died and made you the butler, anyway?"
"You were the one who said Fujiwara-san might be interested in playing at the Go Institute, so I asked for a room to be made available," Akira retorted, a touch of his usual Shindou-induced combativeness coming to the fore.
In the lift, Fujiwara asked Akira about his father, and that was when Ogata learnt that Touya Kouyo had already met Fujiwara two days ago at the Touya residence.
"My father hopes you can visit again soon," Akira said.
"Definitely!" Fujiwara, if anything, looked even happier at the idea. "Touya-san's Go style has become so much more challenging! In fact, everyone's Go has become better! Touya-kun's too!"
"You flatter me, Fujiwara-san."
"And then, of course there's Hikaru-" This ended in a trailing note.
Shindou stiffened and his eyes flashed. "What was that, Sai? What do you mean by that?"
"Well-"
The lift door opened on the fifth floor and Fujiwara exited, deliberately pulling a mournful face, followed by a wink at Ogata. Ogata blinked.
"Sai!"
Shindou was really an idiot, Ogata thought, if he couldn't see that Fujiwara was just teasing him.
But then Fujiwara turned around and hugged Shindou, almost squeezing all the breadth out of him. "Hikaru has already improved so much!" he proclaimed loudly. "I'm so proud of you!"
Shindou fought free of the embrace, laughing despite himself. "All right, all right!" he said.
They made it to the classroom and found that a few of pros introduced to Sai had already made their way there, probably via the lifts in the other lobby. A Go board had been set up in the middle of the room.
"Oh, that's a beautiful Go board!" Fujiwara exclaimed, and it was, a rich pale gold colour with elaborately carved legs, with hand-turned wooden bowls of stones placed at either side, fit for a game with royalty. The Go Institute owned a number of high quality Go boards which were normally used only for tournament games, and Ogata wondered just how Akira had managed to get them to release one for this occasion.
"Let's play, let's play!" Fujiwara immediately ushered Ogata towards it, eagerness in his voice, before sitting down at one end.
Ogata seated himself and could hear Waya asking Shindou, "Are you sure that's Sai? He's like a three-year-old..."
"Shall I nigiri?" Fujiwara asked, and the change in his voice made Ogata look up in shock.
Not a three-year-old, after all. He still looked the same, far too young, and now that he was pushing a lock of hair from his face, Ogata noticed that he wore a brilliant red earring in each ear. He was wearing only a plain white shirt and brown slacks - Shindou's casual fashion style at work here, clearly - but he sat with his back very straight, his face falling into neutral lines and the expression in his eyes suddenly seemed a thousand years old.
"Y-yes. Even."
It was a faux pas to guess even before one's opponent had opened the go-ke, but Fujiwara didn't say anything. He only took the cover off the go-ke, grabbed a handful and let them fall on the Go board. "Odd," he said after counting, "that means I get to play black."
A small smile had escaped Fujiwara's lips at the pronouncement, so different from the happy grins of just a moment ago.
Ogata stared, and felt a chill go down his spine.
/end
AUTHOR: issen4
RECIPIENT: penguin474, requests
PAIRING: none
WARNINGS: General
SUMMARY: Ogata finally meets Sai in the flesh
NOTES: none
------
To say that Ogata was flabbergasted would have been something of an understatement. A corner of his mind observed that standing there slack-jawed was not the best way of maintaining his dignity as befitting a Kisei title-holder, but it was already all that Ogata could do not to start gibbering. Fine motor control over his facial muscles would have to wait.
He had arrived at the Go Institute after receiving a message on his phone from Akira, of all people. They saw each other often enough at the Touya residence or at the Go Institute. Akira, too, was hardly the sort who dropped off messages simply to be sociable. But this time, all Akira needed to say was, "Shindou is back".
Shindou had been gone from the Go world for more than three months now, an absence which was only marginally less disturbing than the stunt he had pulled in his shodan days. He had phoned the Go Institute to inform them he had a private emergency and would not be able to turn up for his games, but that was all anyone had heard from him after that. The lack of information had made Ogata uneasy, especially after he overheard Akira making enquiries about hospitals.
There had always been a touch of mystery about Shindou, who for all his loudness in manner was frustratingly close-mouthed about his beginnings in Go, his admiration for Honinbou Shuusaku and his connection to that NetGo entity, SAI.
Well, it seemed like Shindou would never stop surprising - and shocking - those around him.
"I know you! You're Waya! Pleased to meet you!"
With a sense of disbelief Ogata watched as the man introduced as Fujiwara Sai tried first to bow to Waya 8-dan, and when Waya didn't react (Ogata could sympathise), stepped forward and stretched out a hand to shake his, and then Waya came to his senses and bowed, nearly headbutting the other man as he straightened. The flurry of apologies had Shindou laughing so hard that he had to hang on to a nearby chair.
He didn't look like the Sai that Ogata had built up in his mind. For one thing, he seemed to be far too young - about Shindou's age, Ogata estimated - with a clear, unlined face that looked almost effeminate (an effect not diminished by the long hair that fell nearly to his knees, neatly tied off at the nape of his neck). And if this was the SAI that had taken the NetGo community by storm nearly ten years ago, the one who remained undefeated in those short months he had been online, and had played that astonishing game with Touya Kouyo a year after that - if Ogata were the fanciful sort he would have said his worldview was not so much being turned upside-down as it was being sent through the funhouse mirror.
"And you are Isumi! Pleased to meet you!"
Isumi-Juudan shook hands bemusedly with Shindou's guest, who babbled about making time to play a games tomorrow, "Hikaru said you've become very powerful!", and visiting China, and "Can you introduce me to Chinese pros ___ and ___? I heard you know them!"
Waya was now trying to shake information from a now-wheezing Shindou, who had fallen into his chair and was clutching at his stomach, still laughing, though Ogata noticed that his gaze never looked away from Fujiwara. There was more than mere amusement in his face, and with his newfound insight Ogata thought that Shindou was again reminding himself that he was not dreaming and that the presence of Sai was real.
"You are Nase, aren't you? You look so different now!"
Surprised to be addressed so familiarly by a complete stranger, Nase 5-dan only nodded and her smile faded a little. "How do you do, Fujiwara-san?" she said with a polite bow.
Fujiwara looked taken aback, and Ogata could have sworn his lip trembled. Almost immediately Shindou was at his side, and to the complete embarrassment of everyone else (save Shindou) Fujiwara pulled Shindou into his arms. "Wah! Hikaru," he wailed. "I've made Nase-san unhappy and she dislikes me now! She won't play with me now."
Shindou patted him on the back. They were of a height, Ogata realised, yet it was Fujiwara who gave the impression of being... puppyish.
Nase began, "Shindou, I didn't mean to-"
Shindou started to glare at her, then seemed to think the better of it. Instead he addressed Fujiwara. "Sai, Nase isn't angry with you. She really wants to play a game with you too."
Fujiwara immediately turned around and his face was cheerful again. "Really? Thank you! Thank you!" Then he grasped Nase's hand and shook it vigorously.
He seemed to have gained the impression - no doubt from the encounter with Waya - that people shook hands rather than bowed in the Go Institute, and was almost dizzily enthusiastic about it all.
Then they were standing in front of him. "Sai, this is..." Shindou made a vague gesture.
Fujiwara's hands were warm, though not unpleasantly so, and his handshake (in both hands) was firm, almost precise, as though every square inch of pressure exerted had been measured with the help of a machine. Enthusiasm flowed over him. "You are Ogata!" Fujiwara said, still holding on to his hand. "You look... older," he added consideringly, then he smiled. "I'm most pleased to meet you."
Ogata swallowed, and then hoped that the sound of his gulp hadn't been audible. He was aware of the rest of the crowd in the reception area trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Sai?" Shindou asked after a few moments had passed.
"I want to play with you now. Oh!" Fujiwara let go of Ogata's hands with an excited squeal, and turned to Shindou, hands clasping together as though to make a request. "I want to play with him now. Can I?"
Shindou's eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled at Fujiwara. "I told you, you don't have to ask me. If Ogata-san has the time-"
"Yes," Ogata said, then realised he had sounded horribly desperate, and experienced a brief urge to hide. He didn't, however, and he was glad about that, for then he could see delight flooding Fujiwara's face, so much so that he felt almost gauche, and hoped it didn't show.
Judging by the way Shindou was smirking, Ogata wouldn't bet on it.
"I think the second classroom on the fifth floor is available," someone else said behind him, and Ogata jumped.
"Touya-kun!" Fujiwara said happily.
Ogata blinked to hear Touya Akira, holder of the Meijin title for three years running, being referred to in such a manner. But Akira didn't seem to mind, only bowing lightly and saying very respectfully, "Fujiwara-san, if you would like to play a game here in the Institute, we can go upstairs."
"Or you could play at my place-" Ogata found himself saying.
"No!"
Fujiwara turned to Shindou. "Why not, Hikaru?"
"Uh, I mean-" Shindou started, then rolled his eyes. "Do you want to play now or not? Because if not then we'll have to go all the way to Ogata's place and traffic is murder at this time and it'll take another hour or more at least-"
Before Ogata could ask why Shindou felt the need for "we" in that statment, Fujiwara had already started nodding vigorously. "Yes, yes! I want to play now. I don't want to wait."
"This way, then," Akira said, sounding almost amused, turning towards the lift lobby. Fujiwara immediatly dragged Shindou to follow him, and Ogata could hear Shindou muttering to Akira, "Who died and made you the butler, anyway?"
"You were the one who said Fujiwara-san might be interested in playing at the Go Institute, so I asked for a room to be made available," Akira retorted, a touch of his usual Shindou-induced combativeness coming to the fore.
In the lift, Fujiwara asked Akira about his father, and that was when Ogata learnt that Touya Kouyo had already met Fujiwara two days ago at the Touya residence.
"My father hopes you can visit again soon," Akira said.
"Definitely!" Fujiwara, if anything, looked even happier at the idea. "Touya-san's Go style has become so much more challenging! In fact, everyone's Go has become better! Touya-kun's too!"
"You flatter me, Fujiwara-san."
"And then, of course there's Hikaru-" This ended in a trailing note.
Shindou stiffened and his eyes flashed. "What was that, Sai? What do you mean by that?"
"Well-"
The lift door opened on the fifth floor and Fujiwara exited, deliberately pulling a mournful face, followed by a wink at Ogata. Ogata blinked.
"Sai!"
Shindou was really an idiot, Ogata thought, if he couldn't see that Fujiwara was just teasing him.
But then Fujiwara turned around and hugged Shindou, almost squeezing all the breadth out of him. "Hikaru has already improved so much!" he proclaimed loudly. "I'm so proud of you!"
Shindou fought free of the embrace, laughing despite himself. "All right, all right!" he said.
They made it to the classroom and found that a few of pros introduced to Sai had already made their way there, probably via the lifts in the other lobby. A Go board had been set up in the middle of the room.
"Oh, that's a beautiful Go board!" Fujiwara exclaimed, and it was, a rich pale gold colour with elaborately carved legs, with hand-turned wooden bowls of stones placed at either side, fit for a game with royalty. The Go Institute owned a number of high quality Go boards which were normally used only for tournament games, and Ogata wondered just how Akira had managed to get them to release one for this occasion.
"Let's play, let's play!" Fujiwara immediately ushered Ogata towards it, eagerness in his voice, before sitting down at one end.
Ogata seated himself and could hear Waya asking Shindou, "Are you sure that's Sai? He's like a three-year-old..."
"Shall I nigiri?" Fujiwara asked, and the change in his voice made Ogata look up in shock.
Not a three-year-old, after all. He still looked the same, far too young, and now that he was pushing a lock of hair from his face, Ogata noticed that he wore a brilliant red earring in each ear. He was wearing only a plain white shirt and brown slacks - Shindou's casual fashion style at work here, clearly - but he sat with his back very straight, his face falling into neutral lines and the expression in his eyes suddenly seemed a thousand years old.
"Y-yes. Even."
It was a faux pas to guess even before one's opponent had opened the go-ke, but Fujiwara didn't say anything. He only took the cover off the go-ke, grabbed a handful and let them fall on the Go board. "Odd," he said after counting, "that means I get to play black."
A small smile had escaped Fujiwara's lips at the pronouncement, so different from the happy grins of just a moment ago.
Ogata stared, and felt a chill go down his spine.
/end