A new chapter that dictates the true premise of this story. I've given a lot of hints here and there, so kudos to those that get them… hehe.

Path of Light by Shinreizen

Chapter 6

o…oOOo…o

"Kuso!"

The involuntary shout was answered with a chorus of 'shh' from a few users nearest to him in the cyber café. The place was quite crowded on Sunday. Mitani's sister stopped by his table and spoke quietly, "Hey, tough game, huh? Don't be too loud, alright?"

"Got it, sorry for my outburst just now. I had misplaced a stone. Won't happen again," Hikaru assured the girl, feeling quite embarrassed at his own action. The girl took a curious look at the screen, decided that it didn't make any sense to her and replied, "Well, you must be tired with so many people to play. Take it easy, Hikaru-kun." Then she left him to help out another customer.

Hikaru was in trouble.

It was his third game for the day, and not only he lost an initiative to expand his territory, he had also failed to save four important stones that were in danger from double atari. All because he had clicked at one wrong intersection that didn't really serve any purpose to his plan, and soon that poor stone would also be removed from the board. He could only watch helplessly as black put a swift end to his strategy at the lower right corner.

He raised his hand away from the mouse, looked at his palm and glared accusingly at the guilty index finger for its first real misclick offense. Then he sighed. Well, something like that was uncommon, but it happened, though Sai would always be able to find ways out of such predicament. The ghost was especially good at reminding him of those mistakes once the game had ended.

Heck, even a ranked amateur would have a field day with Hikaru's blunder, and he was almost certain that the other player was no amateur. The solid opening moves, combined with the assertive play in the early stage of chuban spoke volumes of honed experience and capabilities. But then again so was Hikaru. He was having some difficulties, true, though he didn't really feel like losing yet.

It was still too early to give up. Sai's honor was at stake here, and he would never forgive himself if he backed off from a challenging situation right now.

Adjusting his position, Hikaru did a simple range of motion exercise to relieve the pain in his right hand as instructed by his physiotherapist. The digital clock on the right side of the screen showed that he had spent only seven minutes ahead of his opponent, still plenty of time left so there was nothing to worry about. He took a deep breath, mind calmly mapping the board to recreate another virtual path that would rebuild white's compromised framework. There was nothing he could do in that corner at the moment. However, he should be able to find other key points that would allow white to trigger a proper attacking combination in several turns.

"Shall I connect the ko here? Nope… black will be able to counter the move eventually, now that I'm losing control of the area," Hikaru muttered to himself, reconstructing his perspective of the board. "But one of his groups there is in danger of eye trouble, now let's see…"

Then he saw it; a chance to regain his initiative, as well as a promising invasion on the left side. He just needed to connect to a friendly group and strengthen his moyo first. It would take a lot of careful attachments before the strategy could work, but risk-taking was Hikaru's specialty. He should be able to make it.

Satisfied with his choice, Hikaru settled a white stone at 4-13. Their fight would progress to the middle of the board soon.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Akira knew nothing about Shindou Hikaru's history, though he had learned from Fujisaki Akari that the boy had been discharged from the hospital only a few months ago and needed to go through a long rehabilitation program to be able to function normally again. Apparently, they were also of the same age.

Someone like Shindou, who was neither a pro nor an Insei shouldn't be able to make a comeback from a terrible game that even many pros would find hard to accomplish. One of his father's students had joked that it was simply a beginner's luck, but Ashiwara-san had disputed such notion almost passionately. It was quite disconcerting in a funny way to see his friend defending a kid he barely knew.

Then Ogata-sensei mentioned that before he reversed white's blunders to a win, the boy had helped recreating the game he was watching purely from memory. Everyone had stopped talking and demanded the full story.

When the discussion about Shindou gradually calmed down, Ogata-sensei had requested permission from Touya Meijin to demonstrate another game, on one unique condition that nobody asked where he got the source due to some personal reason. Intrigued by the mystery, they had no qualm agreeing to the term.

From the game, they decided that black was a good enough player that could give the new pros a run for their money. However, it was an erratic game with a strange, inconsistent fuseki from white that had caught their attention. In the endgame, white had turned into a monster. The match had become truly one-sided and imbalance, yet beautiful and cruel at the same time that some of the participants in the Touya study group had goosebumps reviewing it.

It wasn't that hard pointing the subtle similarities of white gameplay from the two games displayed on both goban, though nobody was confident enough to conclude that they were played by the same person. Ogata-sensei, however, looked quite absorbed in his own thoughts after the discussion.

Conjectures, while correct were usually useless until truly proven.

During the session, all Akira wanted to do was to hide from the glaring intensity of his father's stare. The Meijin didn't say anything, but he knew something. After all, he had autographed a book for Shindou.

At the present time, eyes bright with anticipation, the freshly minted 3-dan waited patiently for the browser to refresh the inbox page. Then he opened the newly received email and downloaded the attachment to his hard drive. Thanks to Takagi-san's generosity, now he would be able to analyze Shindou's match against a Korean player that took place on NetGo two weeks ago.

Once the printer had finished its job, Akira took the kifu to his father's study room and started to replay the game on the goban.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Clicking precisely at the desired point, the boy waited calmly, eyes never strayed from the screen. Black was quite vicious in defending his territory. However, after recovering from his prior trouble, Hikaru had managed to counter the assaults by exploiting the other player's weaknesses and tricking him into making a few careless judgments.

The time ticked away as black made another mistake. His opponent must be agitated now, since most of his choices had been sealed away by Hikaru. The boy scrutinized the screen in front of him one more time and decided to stop delaying the inevitable. He delivered the final blow and leaned back in his seat, waiting for the black player's next move.

For a long minute, nothing happened, then the game system alerted him that black had resigned. Hikaru exhaled in relief. It was almost three o'clock after all. In two hours or so his mother would come to pick him up. As the mouse pointer hovered over to close the game window, a message appeared on the screen.

Toshiyuki : Who are you? I still can't believe I lost to you after you made that blunder.

Hikaru smiled slightly as he was overcome with nostalgia. 'Sai… look. The same thing is happening again.'

His hand moved of its own accord as he closed the chat box. As much as he wanted to share Sai's ingenuity with the world, the timing wasn't right. Not yet. Staring at the keyboard, he realized that he still had a long way to go.

"If only I could use the mouse with both hands and learn how to type faster..." he said mournfully. An idea suddenly struck him. "Hey, why not? I need to increase the strength of my body anyway."

Mitani's sister was serving some drink at a table near him, so he tried to ask for her help. "Mitani no oneesan!" He called, waving his hand to get her response. As soon as the girl reached him, he asked, "Is it possible to switch the mouse to my left side and use it with my left hand?" She contemplated the question for a moment, noticing Hikaru rubbing his right arm absently and said, "Yeah, of course. You need to go to the device properties to change the button configuration. Here, let me show you how it's done."

She had assisted to set up the mouse and its pad to the left of the monitor, then showed the step-by-step process to him before leaving. Hikaru was never a computer savvy, but he got the instruction memorized for future usage. Now that the primary and secondary buttons were reversed, he had to experiment the mouse with his left hand.

Just a few simple clicks to view sai's account information caused the whole arm to protest its utilization, and his joints felt funny. He tried to ignore that sensation, focusing instead on the task at hand.

So far, he had played with six people and was on a winning streak. "Oh, I see. A player had the option to set his game records private or open to all NetGo users. But he couldn't hide his tally score." Apparently the latter option was already in the default settings so Hikaru didn't bother change anything. The more people knew of Sai's Go, the better for him.

He was browsing for some familiar handles when a request popped up from Germany. Hikaru accepted the challenge, playing black. Despite the cumulative exhaustion bugging him, the game went wonderfully for about ten minutes. Then he clicked on the wrong intersection. And cursed his left index finger this time around. "Damn it!"

"Be quiet!"

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

A pleasant surprise awaited Hikaru when he got back in the evening. Next to his study table, there was a desktop computer, the bulky central processing unit connected to some cables and unfamiliar hardware. He was still gawking at the new addition in the hall when his father got out from the bathroom. It was a nice change lately, since the workaholic man wasn't always home even on Sundays.

"Hey, you're back. Good. Look what I got you."

Shindou Masao grinned at the boy's dumbfounded look, and reached towards his son. "Remember when I said that the office would install new computers at work?" At his nod, the man explained, "A friend of mine, who is in the IT department helped to procure one of the best and latest desktop models from the old batch. However, the mouse and the motherboard were no good, so we just bought new ones for you." His father beamed proudly. "The processor is Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, more than enough to meet your needs."

He tapped Hikaru's shoulder gently. "And SoftBank had just finished setting up everything today."

The boy nodded for the second time, too overwhelmed to be able to express anything. While he couldn't make sense of the computer specification, he understood the unspoken financial sacrifice required to install those things, all to fulfill his selfish desire. Concerned with his reaction, his father carefully positioned him in front of the computer, helping to lock the brakes. Hikaru's hand naturally went for the mouse as the unit was fired up.

"Try surfing for anything, Hikaru," Masao instructed, a hint of excitement was evident in his tone. The boy acquiesced, double clicking the web browser. To his amazement, the computer responded faster than he expected, and now he would be able to access the Internet just from home!

He turned to look at his father, voice stuck in his throat as he whispered haltingly. "Thank you, otousan. Thank you so much."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Waya Yoshitaka eyed his wristwatch impatiently. It was 2.45 p.m., and he couldn't wait to get to the Morishita study group. Previously, they would start around 3.30 to 4.00 p.m. every Tuesday to allow him to finish his middle school classes first, but now that he had graduated since March, everyone had agreed to change the schedule to half past two.

But he was late for a very good reason. The teenager was reaching the entrance when a hurried footstep settled right beside him. He turned his head to find Saeki Kouji, a colleague and another student of Morishita-sensei smiling ruefully at him.

"Ah, Saeki-san. You just got here too?" He asked the 4-dan pro, a little surprised to meet him outside Nihon Ki-in at this hour.

"Yeah. For some reason, I got held up at home. Hopefully, Morishita-sensei wouldn't get too mad at us," the young man said as both of them reached the entrance to the building.

"Heh, he won't be mad for long once I show him this," the teenager patted his backpack fondly. The other pro raised his eyebrows in query but Waya just grinned like an idiot so he let it go. Everyone would know about it soon enough.

Together, they stepped inside the study room, a little breathless from their rushed pace, then started to exchange greetings loudly as well as apologizing for their late arrival. True to their prediction, Morishita-sensei was short of fuming at the mouth at their tardiness.

"Look at the time now. Where have you been, you two unpunctual brats!" The old man bellowed from his seat. Both young players bowed deeply, muttering excuses all at the same time. The rest of the participants watched the two chastised professionals with barely hidden amusement. Finally, the man's annoyance subsided, ordering them to take their seats. Both of them did as they were told as Morishita-sensei chaired their session.

Waya took something out from his backpack and passed it to his teacher. "Sensei, please take a look at this game. I thought it was interesting enough to be discussed in our study group."

It was a printed copy of a game record. The 9-dan pro did a brief sight-reading of the kifu Waya handed to him, frowning a little at some moves that seemed out of place. He turned to look at the 1-dan pro, "Where did you get this?"

'Hook, line, sinker. Yatta!'

"This is a speed Go between Mastermind, an irregular NetGo player from South Korea and AnonymousJ from Japan," Waya started, glad that everyone was listening attentively to his explanation. "It was played more than two weeks ago. I had to chat with the Korean a few times for this record but finally he shared it with me – just this afternoon. Somehow my printer was out of ink so I had to go to the Internet cafe first before I came here."

The room buzzed with excited murmurs at the information. Morishita-sensei cleared his throat and said, "All right, it sounds quite interesting. Let's go through this game first."

"What's so interesting about this match?" Tsuzuki 7-dan asked, craning forward to look at the kifu. Realizing that, Waya quickly reached for his backpack again. "Oh, I almost forgot. Here, I have copies for everyone." The teenager passed a printed kifu each to the other three pros and got one for him. They thanked him silently and began to recreate the game using the two goban in front of them.

It didn't take very long for those pros to reach their general consensus together.

"In the beginning, black used the traditional Shusaku fuseki," Shirakawa 7-dan said. "But when white decided to counter it, black gradually, neatly altered his moves. The player was able to blend both the old and modern play at will. You can say that his game was heavy with Shusaku's influence; he even used Shusaku's kosumi efficiently."

While both players had shown remarkable skills, black managed to prevent white from exhibiting its full potential through its unusual shape. Waya rearranged the stones to replicate an early stage of yose. "Please look at this corner play. Doesn't it look like an outdated joseki to you?"

"Correct. Usually, we will play the hane here, as this is accepted as a good move." Morishita-sensei changed a black position next to a white stone, restricting it to two liberties. The pros around him nodded in agreement, watching with interest as white was forced to defend the stone or risk dying. After demonstrating a few possible moves, their teacher reverted to the original placement of the stones.

"Yeah, black should be in sente with that move, and maintain his advantage there. What I don't get is why black felt the need to use the old joseki for an even exchange at this corner?" Waya asked. The unique approach baffled him so much that he decided to discuss it at their study group. Deliberately choosing to let the game speak for itself, Morishita-sensei steadily played another fifteen turns for each side, and paused.

Saeki nodded thoughtfully in understanding. "I see. No wonder he did that. Its sudden play threw white for a loop." Tsuzuki 7-dan took pity on Waya's befuddled look and kindly explained, "He used the old joseki at certain corners because he needed those spots to support his expansion to the middle of the board, many moves later."

At the first hint, Shirakawa-sensei immediately pointed to another black stone. "And since a few crucial spots like this were already taken and fortified, it would be really hard for white to connect here. You won't notice it right away, but he had actually placed some careful traps along the way to complement those moves."

Waya studied the board closely for a long minute, and finally he got it. "Aah. So by the time white realized he had wasted more turns trying to suppress the old joseki rather than focusing on what happened fundamentally, black had already sprung those traps and controlled the board." His expression was a synthesis of respect and incredulity. "What a brilliant game. At a speed Go nonetheless." The other pros appeared to share his sentiment, though they hid their individual response better than him.

"Yes, it was almost difficult to belief, yet black possessed an incredible insight to make sure those uncanny strategies work," Morishita-sensei commented. A resounding slap on Waya's back made him lurch forward, as his teacher grinned widely at him. "Good job picking up this game, kid."

"Thank you, sensei, I truly appreciate the discussion but you don't have to hit me so hard!"

This time, Morishita-sensei's vibrant laughter was joined by others except Waya, who was still rubbing his tender back.

"So, any idea who this AnonymousJ might be?"

"Nope. Not a clue. Just like the Korean, his game records were locked, though I found something odd with his tally. He lost almost all games by resign to casual users, but he won against someone who was as strong as a higher dan!"

The pros looked at each other, a little bewildered by the information.

"And this Mastermind, is he a professional player? Do you know him, Waya?" Shirakawa-sensei asked.

"I think he is a pro, but he refused to tell me his real identity. Actually, Mastermind agreed to give me this record on one condition," Waya said nervously, meeting their eyes as they waited for him to finish his words.

"He wanted me to find out the name of the pro that beat him."

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

Waya, if the presumption of his identity was correct, didn't really pose any challenge anymore. He was strong, that was to be expected from a professional player. However, Hikaru had the best cheat code named Sai. At first, he thought the zelda he was playing was just some random player, but the movements on the board, plus a few little tricks he had 'experienced' previously proved that whoever on the other side of the net had similar style like Waya in his dreams. The player finally resigned after he realized that it was impossible to win against him.

He had barely returned to the main page when a new invite appeared on the screen. While he was initially overjoyed that so many people wanted to play him, the novelty wore off very quickly, especially when the freedom to choose his own opponent diminished with every request he accepted. Therefore, he had become quite a good acquaintance with the reject button, which he clicked with a silent apology to the poor soul.

It was perplexing that no matter how many times he refused, they simply kept coming. A little bit annoyed now, he declined for the last time and hurriedly logged out of NetGo. He had used up the allowed quota for the day anyway. And when did he become so popular among the NetGo players?

Waya, on the other hand, was staring at the game window with a pensive look on his face. Reality was always hard to believe, but the coincidence was too much to ignore. Conclusion made one hour later, he opened his NetGo account page and composed a short message to Mastermind.

Good afternoon. Thanks for the kifu you shared earlier. It was a really good game. Still couldn't find the real identity, but I've played with sai, and I think he is AnonymousJ. You might want to confirm it yourself. – zelda.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

It all started when Shindou Mitsuko's friend, who was also living next door, collapsed from severe anemia while watering her container garden. His mother had called the rehabilitation center to inform him that she would be late to pick him up. The lady was alone, so she had to take care of her at the hospital until her husband, who was on some business trip, returned from Kyoto. She had tried to call Akari for help, but the girl was out visiting her grandparents with her family. Hikaru then had unwittingly offered to go back on his own, triggering her already worried voice into an almost hysterical soprano.

He had a tough time explaining that there was another friend who might be able to help him. It was only after some gentle coaxing from his physiotherapist that she finally yielded to his suggestion, provided that he gave her this so called friend's number and let her talk to him.

As a result, Hikaru had to give his mother Touya Akira's mobile number, currently waiting restlessly for the pro to arrive. Akira was right. Their path would cross again, and Hikaru should be ready to play him by then.

Hikaru was improving at an impressive pace. Sooner or later he would be allowed to venture out on his own under a controlled environment. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he still had a long way to go. Traveling on a wheelchair was a demanding task; even a single stone or a bump on the pavement could cause a fall. In fact, he had been drilled a thousand times by doctors, parents and therapists alike to never have a repeat of his accident. They didn't have to tell him why because he already knew…

"Shindou-kun, please wake up." A couple of gentle taps on his arm caused him to open his eyes sluggishly. Didn't they understand that when he needed to sleep, they should never wake him up? Physiotherapy sessions often drained him mentally and physically, the reason why he never played NetGo on those days.

He wanted to close his eyes again, but the voice was persistent, and quite familiar. Then awareness hit him like a sledgehammer, all the sleepy sensation suddenly gone as Touya Akira loomed only a few inches over his face.

"Touya-pro, thanks a million for coming," he said, forcing some alertness into his voice as he shuffled a little due to the unexpected closeness. "Sorry for inconveniencing you like this. Okaasan didn't threaten you with anything, I hope?"

"Certainly not. She thanked me profusely, and even offered to pay for my traveling fee." The pro took his backpack containing his personal things, moved behind him and got them out of the building. The nearest train station was about ten minutes of walking distance from the rehab center.

"So, did you accept the offer?" He asked, whirling his head to look at Akira.

"For the money? No." A triumphant, but courteous grin adorned Akira's face. "For a game with you, yes. And the next best thing is she agreed to the deal, too easily I might add," the 3-dan pro said self-assuredly.

Hikaru raised his hands to his face in mock despair. "Oh no, I've just been sold by my mum."

"Tragic. Don't fret, coz you're the one who gave her my number in the first place."

"I'm already lamenting my bad decision."

"Oh yeah? I can always call her back and tell her that you simply change your mind."

"And cause a permanent ban of me going outside to have some fun? You are not that cruel, are you?"

"I'm not, but a deal is a deal." He asked the boy challengingly, "Are you backing off right now, Shindou-kun?"

"What? Never!" The boy huffed tiredly. "Alright, you win. When do we play, assuming I don't interrupt your busy tourney schedule or whatever it is you Go pro do?"

"Hm. How about this Friday, then? I'll be quite free for the whole day."

"Fine. I'll be at your father's salon around two."

"Great."

They reached the train station. Since it wasn't a rush hour, the place was not that crowded so Akira deftly maneuvered him from one wheelchair ramp to another and waited for the train to arrive. He got them on one spacious corner, where they settled comfortably. Hikaru dozed off again, genuinely exhausted from the ordeal of his physical training.

Akira watched the sleeping boy, feeling a little guilty that he had to take advantage of the situation in order to set a match between them. However, he never regretted his action. If that was the only way to satisfy his personal curiosity of the enigma that was Shindou Hikaru, so be it. At one point, he had berated himself for the unnecessary fixation with the kid and his Go. Compared to the famous matches in history, he had studied only two of Hikaru's games, but the impact was great enough to turn his life upside down. So, who was Shindou Hikaru? A trickster, or a genius of the century?

He should get his answer in six days. Right now, he had the responsibility to ensure that the kid reached home safely.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

In the moderately furnished office, early morning sunlight streamed through the window. A man opened the lid of his laptop, a mug of coffee was held in his other hand. Sipping the precious black liquid, he woke the computer from its standby mode, randomly checking for some interesting Yahoo! News for the day. Five minutes later, he browsed the NetGo forum, and was quite startled to find the hottest topic of discussion highlighted in bold at the top of the list.

Who is sai?

All trace of absent-mindedness was gone in a second as he eagerly clicked on the most discussed subject started by a regular NetGo player called Jediritter. It was only ten hours since the thread was created last night, but it was viewed by almost a thousand people, with two hundred and twenty-three comments posted within the short timeframe. It seemed that sai's existence had taken NetGo by storm.

The man scrolled up to the original post and started reading silently.

So I've checked this guy's page out of interest and here is what I found. He joined us on July 20th, and by August 15th, he had played a total of 96 games without losing even once. He plays around three to five games per day except on Saturdays. I've also learned from the other players that he never replied to any chats, mine included. Questions about him arose after he defeated some of the known professional players. Since more experienced players have started to challenge him, he has turned down a lot of requests, though he never discriminates his opponents by their online rankings. So who is sai? Is he a bot or a real human being?

sai, if you're reading this, please do not feel offended or threatened in any way. I never meant to invade your privacy. Your games have inspired a lot of us to be a better player and each of them is a wonderful contribution to the Go community.

There were tons of supportive responses, new tidbits of information as well as some conspiracy theories. One outrageous idea suggested that sai was actually a 9-dan Japanese pro player hired by NetGo in order to encourage people to play more online Go and boost their reputation. The person who posted the comment had apologized openly once warned by the administrators not to spread unwarranted lies or suffered a permanent IP address ban from the NetGo's server. The thread was in danger of being locked or removed if certain rules were breached anyway. As he scrolled downward, a player mentioned that it was summer break for the first school semester in Japan, and all the free time sai had implied that he or she might be a high school student. Some people believed the theory, while he, like many others thought it was ridiculous because some of sai's games were too complicated to be played by a kid.

He knew, because he had played sai too.

A couple of cheerful greetings interrupted him from checking out another thread on a game's discussion. Lately, his casual browsing of forum posts had turned into a habit he surprisingly acquired without noticing. Closing the webpage, the amateur player returned his colleagues' energetic greetings with similar fervor, discussing mundane things just to enliven the morning atmosphere in the office.

He finished his caffeine intake for the morning and revised the content of his PowerPoint presentation for the afternoon meeting. When he went to Japan this weekend for the World Amateur Go Championship, he should have some chance to find out more about sai.

ooo…ooOOoo…ooo

"So, Isumi-san, did you read the latest post just now? The topic had caused so much commotion they had to lock the comment section."

"If you're referring to our mysterious player, yeah, I did. I never thought he was that popular, though."

"People want to know him because he never loses a game. Many amateurs suspect that he is one of our top tiers. Who do you think he might be?" Waya grinned mischievously. "Touya Meijin? Ogata Juudan?"

His stupid attempt at joking received a long look from Isumi Shin'ichirou and Ochi Kousuke, though the former decided to humor him. "Heh. I doubt any of them has so much time to play NetGo. Besides, a traditional man like the Meijin wouldn't care to learn online Go when he has so many titles to defend."

The trio walked together to the lift area of the Nihon Ki-in. Ochi raised an eyebrow. "Hm… I'm not sure if Ogata-sensei ever plays NetGo, but his style of playing is totally different from sai. Unless he can change his style at will, he is not him." The youngest pro said patronizingly after a moment. "What about Morishita-sensei?"

"No way, that old man thought NetGo was an abomination!" Then he kept quiet, because that was only half an answer. To him, the scary thing was that sai might even be stronger than his own teacher.

To be continued…

Sorry for my long absence. Work has been crazy as usual, and I have to deal with some ongoing health issues. Remember when I said that I've never been admitted to the hospital before? Well, I've been a couple of times at the emergency department, plus some blood transfusion at a day care ward, though I never spent overnight there. I hope that everyone reading my fic will always be happy and healthy.

I've corrected some facts here and there just to keep up with the manga, and will always correct any errors I find. Since it was done sporadically, I didn't really keep track of the changes, so please forgive me.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for reading, ja ne.