Chapter 5 - Direction
Submitted October 14, 2010 Updated October 14, 2010 Status Incomplete | AU. Hikaru never entered the professional Go world, opting instead to placate Sai with NetGo and Go Salons. Years pass by and now Hikaru is a normal office employee going about his daily life until…
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Anime/Manga » Hikaru no Go |
Chapter 5 - Direction
Chapter 5 - Direction
Direction
It was just another day at work, and another day of filing away papers into their proper folders and stacks. Sighing, Hikaru stopped typing away at the report he was given to write on the company's current sales in regards to customer volume. It was quite boring to say, and very fitting for his skills in memorization as he had little need to reread over the charts he was given to work with. He looked out at the bustling city below, from behind his desk near the window, to the streets full of people going about their lives. He sighed again, getting up and heading to the coffee room to get a cup of hot tea; he didn't like coffee, it was too bitter, even with all the sugar and creamer he would put in. On the way, he stopped to check the time on the huge clock strapped to the wall above the photocopier, and was glad to see that his shift for the day was almost over. He was right to go with his feeling in taking the early morning shift for today, the reports could go home with him after all. He had been starting to feel restless sitting at his desk for hours, reading and typing up a report for his boss to present at a company board meeting, and for him, sitting for hours on end concentrating on doing one boring thing was quite an achievement for him. He was the athletic type, one who should be running about doing many things at once and moving his body, not confined to a desk reading and writing reports that needed intellectual skills to achieve. Smiling while humming to himself, he quickly poured a cup of tea for himself and returned to his desk, shuffling some papers around and placing them semi-carefully into his briefcase before sitting back to relax and enjoying his tea.
As the clock hit 3 p.m., Hikaru quickly stood up and finished the last of his tea, taking his briefcase in hand and left the office. He strode quickly, yet not too quickly to make it seem that he was too eager to leave, towards the elevator, his thoughts taking a turn towards Go related issues, especially on him playing Go online once he finished that damn report. He automatically brought up a recent game he played to mind and started to review the hands both he and his opponent placed, dissecting each move and making careful observations in the way of how each stone could be advantageous and the risks each stone had in regards to the final outcome of the game. He realized now, looking at the hands he played, that his Go was extremely similar to way that Sai played, how each move seemed to replicate what Sai would do in that very situation. But the more games he played, he thought, the more his moves were deviating from the solid and straightforward moves that Sai would play; his moves were filled to the brim with traps, illusions and misleads. Just like the impact Sai had left on the Go world, the impact on his Go moves were still there but had started to fade into the background, and his own Go came into the light.
The elevator doors opened and he entered; to his surprise, his direct superior was also in the elevator car. It was not unusual for him to see his superior a few times in a day; however, to see him in the elevator car at this time of the day happened to be unusual. Hikaru knew that it was not nearly the time for his superior's break or even for him to be heading for home. Grinning easily, Hikaru stepped into the elevator car and greeted his superior with a friendly hello. His superior looked up in surprise at Hikaru, pausing in his reading of a pile of papers in his hand, and nodded in greeting to Hikaru, hand waving to Hikaru in a polite gesture. Glancing at the papers, Hikaru was gob smacked to realize that they were a pile of kifu, all printed off from internet games from what he could tell. The one that his superior had been studying looked like one of an unfinished game.
Curious and surprised, Hikaru blurted out unthinkingly, "A kifu? You play?"
His superior looked to him, even more surprised at Hikaru's words rather than his sudden outburst and obligingly answered him, "Yes. You?"
Hikaru realized belatedly at his rude outburst and answered rather abashedly, a nervous and apologetic smile on his face, "Yeah, from time to time, on the net, and sometimes in a salon."
"Hmm, interesting," was his superior's reply, "I didn't realize that young people these days would take an interest in a game like Go. I, myself, mainly play on the net to pass time. There isn't enough time for me to go about the city to salons nowadays compared to when I was younger and had less of a workload."
"Yes, I get what you mean," Hikaru nodded in agreement. His superior looked towards him, holding the kifu out to show Hikaru. "It's not common for me to find another person interested in the game in this company. What do you say to a game sometime?" his superior asked.
Hikaru took to kifu, looked over it and nodded, a small smile on his face, "Yea that might be nice; a break from all those reports." He'd found another friend with a love of Go.
It was just another day at work, and another day of filing away papers into their proper folders and stacks. Sighing, Hikaru stopped typing away at the report he was given to write on the company's current sales in regards to customer volume. It was quite boring to say, and very fitting for his skills in memorization as he had little need to reread over the charts he was given to work with. He looked out at the bustling city below, from behind his desk near the window, to the streets full of people going about their lives. He sighed again, getting up and heading to the coffee room to get a cup of hot tea; he didn't like coffee, it was too bitter, even with all the sugar and creamer he would put in. On the way, he stopped to check the time on the huge clock strapped to the wall above the photocopier, and was glad to see that his shift for the day was almost over. He was right to go with his feeling in taking the early morning shift for today, the reports could go home with him after all. He had been starting to feel restless sitting at his desk for hours, reading and typing up a report for his boss to present at a company board meeting, and for him, sitting for hours on end concentrating on doing one boring thing was quite an achievement for him. He was the athletic type, one who should be running about doing many things at once and moving his body, not confined to a desk reading and writing reports that needed intellectual skills to achieve. Smiling while humming to himself, he quickly poured a cup of tea for himself and returned to his desk, shuffling some papers around and placing them semi-carefully into his briefcase before sitting back to relax and enjoying his tea.
As the clock hit 3 p.m., Hikaru quickly stood up and finished the last of his tea, taking his briefcase in hand and left the office. He strode quickly, yet not too quickly to make it seem that he was too eager to leave, towards the elevator, his thoughts taking a turn towards Go related issues, especially on him playing Go online once he finished that damn report. He automatically brought up a recent game he played to mind and started to review the hands both he and his opponent placed, dissecting each move and making careful observations in the way of how each stone could be advantageous and the risks each stone had in regards to the final outcome of the game. He realized now, looking at the hands he played, that his Go was extremely similar to way that Sai played, how each move seemed to replicate what Sai would do in that very situation. But the more games he played, he thought, the more his moves were deviating from the solid and straightforward moves that Sai would play; his moves were filled to the brim with traps, illusions and misleads. Just like the impact Sai had left on the Go world, the impact on his Go moves were still there but had started to fade into the background, and his own Go came into the light.
The elevator doors opened and he entered; to his surprise, his direct superior was also in the elevator car. It was not unusual for him to see his superior a few times in a day; however, to see him in the elevator car at this time of the day happened to be unusual. Hikaru knew that it was not nearly the time for his superior's break or even for him to be heading for home. Grinning easily, Hikaru stepped into the elevator car and greeted his superior with a friendly hello. His superior looked up in surprise at Hikaru, pausing in his reading of a pile of papers in his hand, and nodded in greeting to Hikaru, hand waving to Hikaru in a polite gesture. Glancing at the papers, Hikaru was gob smacked to realize that they were a pile of kifu, all printed off from internet games from what he could tell. The one that his superior had been studying looked like one of an unfinished game.
Curious and surprised, Hikaru blurted out unthinkingly, "A kifu? You play?"
His superior looked to him, even more surprised at Hikaru's words rather than his sudden outburst and obligingly answered him, "Yes. You?"
Hikaru realized belatedly at his rude outburst and answered rather abashedly, a nervous and apologetic smile on his face, "Yeah, from time to time, on the net, and sometimes in a salon."
"Hmm, interesting," was his superior's reply, "I didn't realize that young people these days would take an interest in a game like Go. I, myself, mainly play on the net to pass time. There isn't enough time for me to go about the city to salons nowadays compared to when I was younger and had less of a workload."
"Yes, I get what you mean," Hikaru nodded in agreement. His superior looked towards him, holding the kifu out to show Hikaru. "It's not common for me to find another person interested in the game in this company. What do you say to a game sometime?" his superior asked.
Hikaru took to kifu, looked over it and nodded, a small smile on his face, "Yea that might be nice; a break from all those reports." He'd found another friend with a love of Go.
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