Blind Luck 2: No Way Back, chapter 2
Blind Luck2: No Way Back
Chapter 2.
The game was well on the way, when he heard footsteps behind him, Touya's, and a little later another set from the opposite direction, Ogata's. The presence of the last was confirmed by a thickening of the air with cigarette smoke, a moment later. As if by mutual agreement the game was played in silence, as seemed to be the norm for most Go players, except for the calling of the coordinates. Even their small audience was absolutely silent throughout the match.
A cup of tea appeared in his hand, and he thanked the giver, being pretty sure it had been Touya who had brought it, as he sorted out the options for the next stage of the game in his mind.
From the game so far Sai gleaned he really should have given Hikaru a handicap. He idly wondered at what handicap they used to play. Now, he would say 3 or 4 stones. More likely 4.
The boy had bold and interesting moves and two moves were downright brilliant, but Sai caught on fast enough and nullified each neatly, without stomping out his opponent's efforts.
All in all Sai was absolutely delighted with the boy's play and he saw some of his own moves in it, reflecting back at him. His heart swelled with the idea that this young man was in essence his protégé. And even if he had no memory of teaching him, he could see the lessons learned in every stroke.
/'Beautiful...'/ Touya breathed behind him, standing a little closer than Sai had realized. Sai agreed with him; the game was indeed beautiful.
/Yose/ started with Hikaru taking the stone that Sai had set up for him earlier. It sprung a trap that collapsed Hikaru's plans for the upper right corner. A dozen more hands were played before Hikaru must have seen that he was out of options and resigned.
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, then Sai and Hikaru both talked at once.
'I should have given you a handicap...'
'Why did you go easy on me?!...'
Both fell silent.
'Why did you go easy on me?' Hikaru repeated, sounding upset now.
Sai wasn't sure what to say. He didn't think he had gone easy. He said so.
'Yes, you did,' Hikaru accused, 'here you saw right through me and you gave me a pat on the head instead of destroying me here...'
Sai was sure the boy must have pointed at a formation and he had two possible spots he could be pointing to.
'Hikaru, you'll have to give me the coordinates.' Sai admonished, 'Are you talking about 2-13 or 7-15?'
'Uh,' Hikaru started to speak.
'Shindou-kun, aren't you used to Sai using the co-ordinate system?' Ogata's question sounded sharp, accusing really.
'Uh, well...,' Hikaru stammered.
Sai's heart beat faster, fear speeding it up, making it hammer in his chest. Ogata was smart at most times, but at Go he was brilliant, what could either of them say to assuage the man's suspicions?
'We, uh, were used to playing on the computer,' Hikaru explained. Ah, well, Sai knew nothing about computers, he even knew that his knowledge about computers was so small he couldn't even rate the believability of Hikaru's lie. Or was it a lie? The boy had said they had played Go on /Internet/. Sai thought he had heard somewhere that /Internet/ had something to do with computers. All Sai really knew about the subject was that whenever he had had to wait in Mr. Uwayaku office, he had been particularly forbidden to touch the computer.
Sai fervently hoped Ogata would not put Hikaru's untruth to the test, because he'd knew he'd fail it.
'Grumpf.' Ogata didn't sound convinced.
'So was 2-13 or 7-15?' was Sai's attempt to steer the conversation back to the game.
Hikaru hesitated but finally said, '2-13, I hadn't even noticed you had caught unto 7-15...'
Munching on sandwiches, Sai and Hikaru proceeded to dissect the game, with occasional comments from Touya. Ogata kept silent throughout, but Sai hadn't heard him leave and periodically tufts of smoke drifted over the Goban, so Sai was sure he hadn't left. The man's continuous silence worried Sai; what was he thinking? And how much trouble was he in? Was Ogata still going to take him home at the end of this day? Sai wasn't even quite sure how he felt himself about continuing to accept the titleholder's hospitality. Would the Go he could play with this man be enough of a compensation for disrupting his life and home?
Yes, Sai could play at the other man's level, and yes, considering Ogata was ranked as a 10-dan, whatever that was, something high probably, but since Sai knew nothing of the Go world, he couldn't guess if his own Go playing skills were all that remarkable.
But Ogata had called him a 'genius'. Sai hoped that that meant he was of some unique value to the pro player. Maybe he could use some of that 'genius' to pay back Ogata, with interest, and maybe, may be, make a life for himself, with a job and a home. Maybe.
xXXx
The post game session ended with Touya and Hikaru, both writing down the /kifu/, again assisted by Sai's calling out the coordinates.
As soon as the /kifu/ were written and lunch was over Touya asked for a game from Sai and Ogata let him have it, with only a 'sure, go ahead'. Sai started to worry that the other man might be having second thoughts about keeping his friendship with him. He was so silent; was he brooding, or maybe seething? He was unsure how to broach the subject, or even if he should bring it up at all.
But as soon as the first 3 hands were played he forgot all that and, for him, the only thing that existed was the Goban with its black and white occupants.
Touya was good, Sai already knew that of course, a solid player for one so young. One of the only shortcomings he had was his depth of thinking. Hikaru was better at that but only sporadically. Sai felt sure that both would improve with training and maturing. But for now, Sai read further and further into the game to make his moves and in the end out thought Touya, who resigned just after /yose/ started, having realized that the game was truly played and over at that point.
/'Sai,'/ came from near his left ear.
/'I have to go soon, I'm meeting Waya and Isumi. You wanna blow this place and come too?'/ Hikaru was resting his arms on the back of Sai's seat.
Sai turned his head to the left, and thought for a moment. He didn't know who Waya and Isumi were of course, but he got the impression he had known them before. If they were friends of the boy, they'd probably be young too. And anyway, he really wanted to talk to Hikaru alone.
/'I'm not sure what your friends would want with a blind man,'/ he hedged.
/'Why they'd love to see you; they're pros too!'/
Hikaru lowered his voice to an almost silent whisper, /'Waya actually played you on NetGo.'/
/'NetGo...?'/ Sai repeated uncertainly.
/'Yes, remember I told you, you played as yourself on the Internet?'/
Sai nodded.
/'NetGo is where you played him, on the Internet. So are you coming?'/
Sai nodded his understanding, but didn't answer straight away.
Should he go with Hikaru? Sai checked his watch. It was nearly 7 already, how would Ogata react if he went off with the boy? Sai's guess was: not too well.
And Sai felt he should talk to the generous man before too long, as Sai was well aware that Ogata had been too quiet all afternoon. And he still owed the man a few games.
/'I'm sorry,'/ he said, /'I still owe Ogata a game, and I'd like to play him now...'/
Hikaru snorted behind him.
/'You don't have to play him if you don't want to.'/
/'But I do want to.'/ Sai insisted, which was true enough; Ogata was a challenge to play.
Hikaru was silent for a moment. And then he stood up, pushing himself off the back of the chair.
'Okay, if that's what you want.' he sounded annoyed again. Sai wondered what life with a child as mercurial as this boy seemed to be had been like.
With that thought Sai turned around in his chair and said, 'Hikaru, I do want to talk to you more,' desperate to catch the boy before he ran off.
He wanted to talk to him a lot more; he had so many new questions about his past life. Like what his first life had been like, or what the other player he had haunted as a ghost had been like. And about their life together as ghost and boy. There was so much he wanted to ask.
'Here's my card.' A card appeared in his hand. Hikaru had moved more to the front of Sai.
'Aren't they cool?' now the boy sounded smug.
Sai rubbed his fingers over it gently, it was glossy, he could faintly feel embossing on it.
'If you need me, call,' the boy said sincerely.
'Is your number on here?' Sai asked.
'Yeah, my new mobile.'
'Could you read it out for me?'
'Oh!' Hikaru exclaimed, 'I forgot, sorry, yeah I can.' He did so, adding the address too, when Sai asked him for it.
Sai put the card safely away with the others, after he had pressed his fingernail in the edge of the short end and folded over a small corner on the opposite end. That way he could identify it as being Hikaru's.
'I need to go,' Hikaru said again. 'Uh, when do we meet? If you still wanna, that is...' he trailed off.
Sai noted the uncertainty in his voice, making Sai feel oddly wanted. Yes, there was so much more he wanted to talk to the young man about, but it would have to wait until next time; Sai really needed to find out where he stood with Ogata.
'Maybe we can try meeting tomorrow?' Sai suggested.
'Okay! I have a Go client in the morning, but I should be free after 1pm. We could meet here, if you like.' Hikaru sounded happy again.
'I'll see what I can do,' Sai said. He would have to get a ride and his best option for that was Ogata, again. The thought made Sai feel even more worried than before; what if the man, after having had so much thinking time, had changed his mind about him staying over?
'Okay!' Hikaru chimed, but then continued in a whisper, /'If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, call me, day or night.'/
'Thank you, Hikaru.' Sai said with heartfelt sincerity, and gave a slight bow. That was indeed a comforting thought; he had two friends now, and Hikaru had assured him he could call on him if he needed him. Of course the boy was too young to be anything but supportive to the blind man. Sai didn't for a moment think the boy's parents would let the likes of him stay in Hiraru's room, so if things went wrong with Ogata, Sai still would have to go back to the shelter. But it gave Sai a warm feeling that he now had another person that cared enough about him to offer help in need. He only felt slightly miserable that he had nothing but an ability to play a game well, as payment for both his friends' generosity. And he felt a lot more miserable that he could only pay Ogata back in subterfuge and evasions. He had the sick feeling it was not going to work this way between them, a feeling made worse by Ogata's continued silence. For Sai knew he was still there, still smoking, but the man hadn't even sat down in all that time, and the blind man wondered what that might mean.
'Bye all!' Hikaru proclaimed as he moved toward the door.
After the happy-noisy-bouncy boy, his only friend from before, had left, a silence fell. Sai tried to find something to say that would not be awkward. He settled for a very safe subject.
'Do you want to play now, Ogata-san?' Sai didn't have to fake being enthusiastic about the suggestion; he really wanted to play the silent man.
Ogata took his time answering and Sai was just starting to worry that he would be turned down flat, when an answer came.
'Yes, I do, but not here.' The man's voice was neutral so Sai could not gauge his mood from it.
'I want dinner first. Let's go home.' Ogata said, his tone again reveling nothing. It was the not knowing that started to twist Sai's insides into knots, and he was starting to doubt he would be able to eat much.
'Oh, okay.' Sai said, got up and unfolded his cane.
In Touya's direction he said, 'I hope to play you again, Touya-kun.'
'As do I,' was the polite response. Then a card was touched to the fingers of his left hand.
'My card, Sai-san.'
Sai dropped his fully extended cane, letting it balance oddly from the strap on his wrist, its point being held in place by the friction of the carpet, and took the card from his left hand. It was a thick card with a matte finish with no tangible embossing, so he marked it the same as he had Hikaru's. The difference in finish would tell him which was which when he needed to know. He slipped into the left outer pocket of his bag with the others. He'd have to get someone to read it to him later.
'Thank you,' he gave a small bow in gratitude. He amended his earlier thought from 'two' to 'three' friends.
'Are you coming?' came the gruff remark from near where Sai knew the main door should be.
'Yes!' Sai said and quickly made his way forward, tapping his cane in an arch before him, making as much haste as his condition allowed.
oOOo
When they got to Ogata's place after a near silent ride, the older man bade Sai sit while he ordered dinner ('sandwiches okay?'). For himself Ogata ordered a curry hamburger. Sai was grateful for the choice of cold food, as he was unsure he'd be able to swallow anything at this point.
While they waited for dinner to arrive, Sai sat on the couch, wondering again if everything was okay between them, while Ogata moved about, making all kinds of noises, like moving things and slamming stuff about, interjected with occasional muttering, most of which Sai could not hear clearly enough to understand. 'Stupid fish, always hungry,' was the only thing he did catch, when the man stood still near the enormous cold glass box Sai had felt when he had walked around the apartment yesterday.
Sai sat with his hands in his lap, his right palm almost compulsively gliding over the cast on his left wrist, over and back, over and back, while he contemplated his situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The very first thing Sai remembered after having been in the accident was a total absence of structure of time and space. He just floated in a dark place, that alternately worried and frightened him with its emptiness. Later he had been told that he had been sedated for a while following his accident and during the treatment of his broken clavicle. Soon after, his sedation was increased and prolonged because he had apparently tried to smash the plaster cast off his shoulder and run out of the hospital. Sai remembered nothing of this.
As time wore on and his injuries healed up nicely, sedation was decreased and the hospital staff was rather surprised that the young man, who they had thought was a mental case, turned out to be perfectly normal, if a little confused. The doctors quickly found the dual cause of Sai's confusion; his apparent amnesia and his very real blindness. They quickly concluded there was nothing they could do about the blindness. They tried treating the amnesia, but none of the therapies available did any good. This left them and Sai with a big problem; he could remember neither his name nor his family and when after trying the missing persons listings and finding nothing, the hospital staff had to conclude that Sai was all alone.
At that point Sai was soon to be released from the plaster cast, leaving the problem of who was to care for him, long term. Now if Sai had been a true mental case, he could have stayed at the hospital's mental ward indefinitely, but being sane but merely blind, he would have to be sent home. The only problem was he had no home to go to.
Sai had despaired at his situation; he was all alone in the dark, with no prospects. It wasn't until much later that he realized that what frightened him the worst in those early days was the constant, stifling darkness that never left him. It gave him horrid nightmares, of which by day he only remembered the soul crushing dread he must have experienced during the night. The dreams had lessened over time but they never went quite away.
They did their best at the hospital for him; someone came and taught him the basics about getting about with the folding cane they gave him. They gave him a name and a special issue ID. They got him a medical bracelet and a special watch he could read with his fingers. Then they had to teach him how to read time, because it became apparent Sai wasn't too familiar with the concept of clocks.
Their best took Sai as far as the Men's Homeless Shelter on Harbor Street, but it left him there to fend for himself, in his hand-me-down T-shirt, trousers and sandals.
xXXx
He was dumped there one Sunday morning and promptly was the subject of an argument between the Shelter's manager Mr. Uwayaku and the medic from the ambulance.
Sai just stood by as each man tried to dump this bothersome blind man on the other. He tried to keep as still and as small as possible, hoping against hope that he would wake up from this nightmare soon. But such salvation was not to be.
Mr. Uwayaku explained to the medic that no-one, except staff (most of whom would be sleeping), was allowed to stay inside the shelter in the day time; Sai could not stay there, right then. The man had to explain it 5 times but still to no avail; the medic left, leaving a bewildered Sai behind.
Mr. Uwayaku let Sai stay in the office, locking him in for the 4 hours the man slept himself. He was not to touch anything on pain of death. The entire time Sai sat in the visitor's chair with his arms wrapped around himself trying not to move or even breathe. He couldn't stop himself from crying, as hard as he tried.
Sai's situation had looked bleak in the extreme; if he was not allowed to stay in this strange new place, where was he to go? The nice people at the hospital had done their best to find his family, and when that failed, they had done their utmost to find him a place that would take him. It was Sai's misfortune that he was 'only' blind, on the one hand making him unable to take part in society without help, but on the other not anywhere near needy enough that he could go to a care home at the state's expense.
And if they wouldn't take him here, he'd be out there all alone, lost in the dark, a fate he dreaded over anything else.
~~~~~~~~~~~
As he sat on Ogata's nice soft couch, listening to Ogata putter around the place, he hoped he that the fact that the titleholder had actually brought him here was some indication that not all was ruined between them. And that maybe he would not lose a friend today.
oOOo
Author’s comment:
I'm very glad to get some reviews! I always read and answer anyone who reviews. Please remember it's the only way I can see if people like the story and if it's worth sticking with it. So please please review!!!
Chapter 2.
The game was well on the way, when he heard footsteps behind him, Touya's, and a little later another set from the opposite direction, Ogata's. The presence of the last was confirmed by a thickening of the air with cigarette smoke, a moment later. As if by mutual agreement the game was played in silence, as seemed to be the norm for most Go players, except for the calling of the coordinates. Even their small audience was absolutely silent throughout the match.
A cup of tea appeared in his hand, and he thanked the giver, being pretty sure it had been Touya who had brought it, as he sorted out the options for the next stage of the game in his mind.
From the game so far Sai gleaned he really should have given Hikaru a handicap. He idly wondered at what handicap they used to play. Now, he would say 3 or 4 stones. More likely 4.
The boy had bold and interesting moves and two moves were downright brilliant, but Sai caught on fast enough and nullified each neatly, without stomping out his opponent's efforts.
All in all Sai was absolutely delighted with the boy's play and he saw some of his own moves in it, reflecting back at him. His heart swelled with the idea that this young man was in essence his protégé. And even if he had no memory of teaching him, he could see the lessons learned in every stroke.
/'Beautiful...'/ Touya breathed behind him, standing a little closer than Sai had realized. Sai agreed with him; the game was indeed beautiful.
/Yose/ started with Hikaru taking the stone that Sai had set up for him earlier. It sprung a trap that collapsed Hikaru's plans for the upper right corner. A dozen more hands were played before Hikaru must have seen that he was out of options and resigned.
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, then Sai and Hikaru both talked at once.
'I should have given you a handicap...'
'Why did you go easy on me?!...'
Both fell silent.
'Why did you go easy on me?' Hikaru repeated, sounding upset now.
Sai wasn't sure what to say. He didn't think he had gone easy. He said so.
'Yes, you did,' Hikaru accused, 'here you saw right through me and you gave me a pat on the head instead of destroying me here...'
Sai was sure the boy must have pointed at a formation and he had two possible spots he could be pointing to.
'Hikaru, you'll have to give me the coordinates.' Sai admonished, 'Are you talking about 2-13 or 7-15?'
'Uh,' Hikaru started to speak.
'Shindou-kun, aren't you used to Sai using the co-ordinate system?' Ogata's question sounded sharp, accusing really.
'Uh, well...,' Hikaru stammered.
Sai's heart beat faster, fear speeding it up, making it hammer in his chest. Ogata was smart at most times, but at Go he was brilliant, what could either of them say to assuage the man's suspicions?
'We, uh, were used to playing on the computer,' Hikaru explained. Ah, well, Sai knew nothing about computers, he even knew that his knowledge about computers was so small he couldn't even rate the believability of Hikaru's lie. Or was it a lie? The boy had said they had played Go on /Internet/. Sai thought he had heard somewhere that /Internet/ had something to do with computers. All Sai really knew about the subject was that whenever he had had to wait in Mr. Uwayaku office, he had been particularly forbidden to touch the computer.
Sai fervently hoped Ogata would not put Hikaru's untruth to the test, because he'd knew he'd fail it.
'Grumpf.' Ogata didn't sound convinced.
'So was 2-13 or 7-15?' was Sai's attempt to steer the conversation back to the game.
Hikaru hesitated but finally said, '2-13, I hadn't even noticed you had caught unto 7-15...'
Munching on sandwiches, Sai and Hikaru proceeded to dissect the game, with occasional comments from Touya. Ogata kept silent throughout, but Sai hadn't heard him leave and periodically tufts of smoke drifted over the Goban, so Sai was sure he hadn't left. The man's continuous silence worried Sai; what was he thinking? And how much trouble was he in? Was Ogata still going to take him home at the end of this day? Sai wasn't even quite sure how he felt himself about continuing to accept the titleholder's hospitality. Would the Go he could play with this man be enough of a compensation for disrupting his life and home?
Yes, Sai could play at the other man's level, and yes, considering Ogata was ranked as a 10-dan, whatever that was, something high probably, but since Sai knew nothing of the Go world, he couldn't guess if his own Go playing skills were all that remarkable.
But Ogata had called him a 'genius'. Sai hoped that that meant he was of some unique value to the pro player. Maybe he could use some of that 'genius' to pay back Ogata, with interest, and maybe, may be, make a life for himself, with a job and a home. Maybe.
xXXx
The post game session ended with Touya and Hikaru, both writing down the /kifu/, again assisted by Sai's calling out the coordinates.
As soon as the /kifu/ were written and lunch was over Touya asked for a game from Sai and Ogata let him have it, with only a 'sure, go ahead'. Sai started to worry that the other man might be having second thoughts about keeping his friendship with him. He was so silent; was he brooding, or maybe seething? He was unsure how to broach the subject, or even if he should bring it up at all.
But as soon as the first 3 hands were played he forgot all that and, for him, the only thing that existed was the Goban with its black and white occupants.
Touya was good, Sai already knew that of course, a solid player for one so young. One of the only shortcomings he had was his depth of thinking. Hikaru was better at that but only sporadically. Sai felt sure that both would improve with training and maturing. But for now, Sai read further and further into the game to make his moves and in the end out thought Touya, who resigned just after /yose/ started, having realized that the game was truly played and over at that point.
/'Sai,'/ came from near his left ear.
/'I have to go soon, I'm meeting Waya and Isumi. You wanna blow this place and come too?'/ Hikaru was resting his arms on the back of Sai's seat.
Sai turned his head to the left, and thought for a moment. He didn't know who Waya and Isumi were of course, but he got the impression he had known them before. If they were friends of the boy, they'd probably be young too. And anyway, he really wanted to talk to Hikaru alone.
/'I'm not sure what your friends would want with a blind man,'/ he hedged.
/'Why they'd love to see you; they're pros too!'/
Hikaru lowered his voice to an almost silent whisper, /'Waya actually played you on NetGo.'/
/'NetGo...?'/ Sai repeated uncertainly.
/'Yes, remember I told you, you played as yourself on the Internet?'/
Sai nodded.
/'NetGo is where you played him, on the Internet. So are you coming?'/
Sai nodded his understanding, but didn't answer straight away.
Should he go with Hikaru? Sai checked his watch. It was nearly 7 already, how would Ogata react if he went off with the boy? Sai's guess was: not too well.
And Sai felt he should talk to the generous man before too long, as Sai was well aware that Ogata had been too quiet all afternoon. And he still owed the man a few games.
/'I'm sorry,'/ he said, /'I still owe Ogata a game, and I'd like to play him now...'/
Hikaru snorted behind him.
/'You don't have to play him if you don't want to.'/
/'But I do want to.'/ Sai insisted, which was true enough; Ogata was a challenge to play.
Hikaru was silent for a moment. And then he stood up, pushing himself off the back of the chair.
'Okay, if that's what you want.' he sounded annoyed again. Sai wondered what life with a child as mercurial as this boy seemed to be had been like.
With that thought Sai turned around in his chair and said, 'Hikaru, I do want to talk to you more,' desperate to catch the boy before he ran off.
He wanted to talk to him a lot more; he had so many new questions about his past life. Like what his first life had been like, or what the other player he had haunted as a ghost had been like. And about their life together as ghost and boy. There was so much he wanted to ask.
'Here's my card.' A card appeared in his hand. Hikaru had moved more to the front of Sai.
'Aren't they cool?' now the boy sounded smug.
Sai rubbed his fingers over it gently, it was glossy, he could faintly feel embossing on it.
'If you need me, call,' the boy said sincerely.
'Is your number on here?' Sai asked.
'Yeah, my new mobile.'
'Could you read it out for me?'
'Oh!' Hikaru exclaimed, 'I forgot, sorry, yeah I can.' He did so, adding the address too, when Sai asked him for it.
Sai put the card safely away with the others, after he had pressed his fingernail in the edge of the short end and folded over a small corner on the opposite end. That way he could identify it as being Hikaru's.
'I need to go,' Hikaru said again. 'Uh, when do we meet? If you still wanna, that is...' he trailed off.
Sai noted the uncertainty in his voice, making Sai feel oddly wanted. Yes, there was so much more he wanted to talk to the young man about, but it would have to wait until next time; Sai really needed to find out where he stood with Ogata.
'Maybe we can try meeting tomorrow?' Sai suggested.
'Okay! I have a Go client in the morning, but I should be free after 1pm. We could meet here, if you like.' Hikaru sounded happy again.
'I'll see what I can do,' Sai said. He would have to get a ride and his best option for that was Ogata, again. The thought made Sai feel even more worried than before; what if the man, after having had so much thinking time, had changed his mind about him staying over?
'Okay!' Hikaru chimed, but then continued in a whisper, /'If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, call me, day or night.'/
'Thank you, Hikaru.' Sai said with heartfelt sincerity, and gave a slight bow. That was indeed a comforting thought; he had two friends now, and Hikaru had assured him he could call on him if he needed him. Of course the boy was too young to be anything but supportive to the blind man. Sai didn't for a moment think the boy's parents would let the likes of him stay in Hiraru's room, so if things went wrong with Ogata, Sai still would have to go back to the shelter. But it gave Sai a warm feeling that he now had another person that cared enough about him to offer help in need. He only felt slightly miserable that he had nothing but an ability to play a game well, as payment for both his friends' generosity. And he felt a lot more miserable that he could only pay Ogata back in subterfuge and evasions. He had the sick feeling it was not going to work this way between them, a feeling made worse by Ogata's continued silence. For Sai knew he was still there, still smoking, but the man hadn't even sat down in all that time, and the blind man wondered what that might mean.
'Bye all!' Hikaru proclaimed as he moved toward the door.
After the happy-noisy-bouncy boy, his only friend from before, had left, a silence fell. Sai tried to find something to say that would not be awkward. He settled for a very safe subject.
'Do you want to play now, Ogata-san?' Sai didn't have to fake being enthusiastic about the suggestion; he really wanted to play the silent man.
Ogata took his time answering and Sai was just starting to worry that he would be turned down flat, when an answer came.
'Yes, I do, but not here.' The man's voice was neutral so Sai could not gauge his mood from it.
'I want dinner first. Let's go home.' Ogata said, his tone again reveling nothing. It was the not knowing that started to twist Sai's insides into knots, and he was starting to doubt he would be able to eat much.
'Oh, okay.' Sai said, got up and unfolded his cane.
In Touya's direction he said, 'I hope to play you again, Touya-kun.'
'As do I,' was the polite response. Then a card was touched to the fingers of his left hand.
'My card, Sai-san.'
Sai dropped his fully extended cane, letting it balance oddly from the strap on his wrist, its point being held in place by the friction of the carpet, and took the card from his left hand. It was a thick card with a matte finish with no tangible embossing, so he marked it the same as he had Hikaru's. The difference in finish would tell him which was which when he needed to know. He slipped into the left outer pocket of his bag with the others. He'd have to get someone to read it to him later.
'Thank you,' he gave a small bow in gratitude. He amended his earlier thought from 'two' to 'three' friends.
'Are you coming?' came the gruff remark from near where Sai knew the main door should be.
'Yes!' Sai said and quickly made his way forward, tapping his cane in an arch before him, making as much haste as his condition allowed.
oOOo
When they got to Ogata's place after a near silent ride, the older man bade Sai sit while he ordered dinner ('sandwiches okay?'). For himself Ogata ordered a curry hamburger. Sai was grateful for the choice of cold food, as he was unsure he'd be able to swallow anything at this point.
While they waited for dinner to arrive, Sai sat on the couch, wondering again if everything was okay between them, while Ogata moved about, making all kinds of noises, like moving things and slamming stuff about, interjected with occasional muttering, most of which Sai could not hear clearly enough to understand. 'Stupid fish, always hungry,' was the only thing he did catch, when the man stood still near the enormous cold glass box Sai had felt when he had walked around the apartment yesterday.
Sai sat with his hands in his lap, his right palm almost compulsively gliding over the cast on his left wrist, over and back, over and back, while he contemplated his situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The very first thing Sai remembered after having been in the accident was a total absence of structure of time and space. He just floated in a dark place, that alternately worried and frightened him with its emptiness. Later he had been told that he had been sedated for a while following his accident and during the treatment of his broken clavicle. Soon after, his sedation was increased and prolonged because he had apparently tried to smash the plaster cast off his shoulder and run out of the hospital. Sai remembered nothing of this.
As time wore on and his injuries healed up nicely, sedation was decreased and the hospital staff was rather surprised that the young man, who they had thought was a mental case, turned out to be perfectly normal, if a little confused. The doctors quickly found the dual cause of Sai's confusion; his apparent amnesia and his very real blindness. They quickly concluded there was nothing they could do about the blindness. They tried treating the amnesia, but none of the therapies available did any good. This left them and Sai with a big problem; he could remember neither his name nor his family and when after trying the missing persons listings and finding nothing, the hospital staff had to conclude that Sai was all alone.
At that point Sai was soon to be released from the plaster cast, leaving the problem of who was to care for him, long term. Now if Sai had been a true mental case, he could have stayed at the hospital's mental ward indefinitely, but being sane but merely blind, he would have to be sent home. The only problem was he had no home to go to.
Sai had despaired at his situation; he was all alone in the dark, with no prospects. It wasn't until much later that he realized that what frightened him the worst in those early days was the constant, stifling darkness that never left him. It gave him horrid nightmares, of which by day he only remembered the soul crushing dread he must have experienced during the night. The dreams had lessened over time but they never went quite away.
They did their best at the hospital for him; someone came and taught him the basics about getting about with the folding cane they gave him. They gave him a name and a special issue ID. They got him a medical bracelet and a special watch he could read with his fingers. Then they had to teach him how to read time, because it became apparent Sai wasn't too familiar with the concept of clocks.
Their best took Sai as far as the Men's Homeless Shelter on Harbor Street, but it left him there to fend for himself, in his hand-me-down T-shirt, trousers and sandals.
xXXx
He was dumped there one Sunday morning and promptly was the subject of an argument between the Shelter's manager Mr. Uwayaku and the medic from the ambulance.
Sai just stood by as each man tried to dump this bothersome blind man on the other. He tried to keep as still and as small as possible, hoping against hope that he would wake up from this nightmare soon. But such salvation was not to be.
Mr. Uwayaku explained to the medic that no-one, except staff (most of whom would be sleeping), was allowed to stay inside the shelter in the day time; Sai could not stay there, right then. The man had to explain it 5 times but still to no avail; the medic left, leaving a bewildered Sai behind.
Mr. Uwayaku let Sai stay in the office, locking him in for the 4 hours the man slept himself. He was not to touch anything on pain of death. The entire time Sai sat in the visitor's chair with his arms wrapped around himself trying not to move or even breathe. He couldn't stop himself from crying, as hard as he tried.
Sai's situation had looked bleak in the extreme; if he was not allowed to stay in this strange new place, where was he to go? The nice people at the hospital had done their best to find his family, and when that failed, they had done their utmost to find him a place that would take him. It was Sai's misfortune that he was 'only' blind, on the one hand making him unable to take part in society without help, but on the other not anywhere near needy enough that he could go to a care home at the state's expense.
And if they wouldn't take him here, he'd be out there all alone, lost in the dark, a fate he dreaded over anything else.
~~~~~~~~~~~
As he sat on Ogata's nice soft couch, listening to Ogata putter around the place, he hoped he that the fact that the titleholder had actually brought him here was some indication that not all was ruined between them. And that maybe he would not lose a friend today.
oOOo
Author’s comment:
I'm very glad to get some reviews! I always read and answer anyone who reviews. Please remember it's the only way I can see if people like the story and if it's worth sticking with it. So please please review!!!