Chapter 4 - Hesitation

Hesitation

It was his day off, a day he would usually welcome with open arms and a loud shout of joy followed by spending the day outdoors, but today was different. Today he had holed himself in his apartment, sitting in front of his laptop playing Go on NetGo. He'd ignored all calls from his phone that wasn't from the office, and continued with his games. It was like he was possessed by Sai. He would have been fine just sitting there in front of his laptop all day, had Akari not forcefully dragged him out to a reunion of their junior and senior high school Go Club. They were meeting at a Go convention being held near their old high school.

The public community hall near Haze Senior High School was buzzing with activity, it seemed that in the past few years, Go had received much more interest from the younger generation. Convention goers were bustling about going on with their business all throughout the decently sized community hall. However, many of the customers present were still middle aged to old men; there were quite a few younger children and teenagers scattered about in the crowd from Hikaru's vantage, he was superbly surprised at the turnout for such a small convention such as this one. He looked about, searching for some familiar faces in the crowd, hoping to recognize one of the former Go club members, as Akari had a harder time looking over the crowd. Finally, he noticed a familiar looking group standing by a line of vendors selling what seemed to be various books related to Go, if the sign beside the table was accurate.

"Hey Akari," Hikaru tapped his wife's arm as he pointed over to the group, "I think they're over there."

Akari looked in the direction Hikaru gestured to and nodded in agreement, pulling him along behind her as she pushed her way through the crowd. As they neared the group, someone whom Hikaru suspected to be an older looking Tsutsui Kimihiro glanced their way and waved enthusiastically to the couple while informing the group beside him of the approaching two. As they joined the group, Tsutsui greeted them warmly, "Hikaru! Akari! It's so good to see you two again!"

"Likewise Tsutsui-sempai," Akari replied cordially, a small smile on her face and twinkles in her eyes belied her delight at reuniting with one of their old friends. Hikaru merely grunted in response, a sheepish smile on his face betraying his discomfort at being present at the reunion. He hadn't contacted any of his friends from the Go club in years after all. Akari discreetly elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him from the corner of her eyes, promising a world of hurt if he didn't answer properly. Scratching at his head, Hikaru sighed and answered this time, laughing nervously and a bigger smile on his face, "He sempai. Been a while hasn't it? Hehe."

Tsutsui smiled brightly as his underclassman, happy that Hikaru didn't seem to have changed from when he was a teenager, and reached out ruffling Hikaru's hair. "It's good to have you back with us." He gestured to the rest of the group standing behind him, beckoning for them to join the rest of the group for introductions. "Hey everyone, our own club's Go 'prodigy' is here!"

Hikaru's eyes widened in panic as he noticed there being more people in the group than he remembered of the number of members the Go club to have had, especially since he knew each member of the club in the year he graduated in. He gestured to a group of teens still in their (familiar) school uniforms standing towards the outer side of the group of whom were glancing nervously at him. "Is that…?" Hikaru stared at the skittish group of teens standing beside him, looking to Tsutsui with a questioning gaze.

Tsutsui merely smiled benevolently at him, as he answered the unfinished question, "Yes! They're the current members of Haze's Junior and Senior Go club."

"You invited them to a reunion?" Hikaru asked, stupefied, as his eyes widened as he continued staring at the bright eyed teens. "No, I did," Akari cut in from behind him, pulling at his arm and dragged him towards the group of teenagers, "I thought this would be a good break from work for you, and to get you to start playing Go again."

"But I—," Hikaru tried to protest, but was silenced by Akari's knowing look. "NetGo doesn't really count," she cut him off in mid sentence. Hikaru hung his head in defeat as he silently and obediently followed behind his wife to greet the young and aspiring Go players of his old junior and senior high schools.

"Hello there everyone!" Akari chirped cheerfully at the nervous group. "How are you finding the convention so far?" There were scattered nods and mumbled answers to Akari's question. Pointing to the silently grumbling Hikaru beside her, she introduced him to the students, "This grumpy looking guy here is Shindo Hikaru. He used to be out star player in our days in Haze's Go club. Don't let his expression confuse you though; he's really a nice guy to get along with. He's just pouting because I separated him from his precious laptop."

The murmurs around the group of teenagers increased, many of the girls had started giggling at Hikaru's 'cool looks' and 'cute pout', while others wondered at his Go playing abilities. Hikaru gave the group a look before giving them a grimacing smile, he was feeling even more uneasy with all the loud whispers centered on his person. "Hikaru? Hikaru?" Hikaru blinked out of his thoughts at the sound of his name being called, he looked over at Akari's expectant face. Cocking his head to the side in question, Hikaru made a face when Akari answered him by repeating her request to have him play a game with the teens. He quickly declined, stating that there were many pros, ones more suited to teaching, at the convention for the teens to play against. Pros, he thought, who were definitely better than he was, and would most likely pester him once his secret came out – no, Sai's secret.

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