Chapter 17

Sai tugged at the door. It was locked, of course.

He had been kidnapped; held captive by Ogata at some location outside of Tokyo. He felt frustrated, and he couldn't clear his head about how he felt for Ogata now. He concentrated on his anger at the other man, for what he did a thousand years ago, and for what he was doing now.

"You want to get out of here?"

Suddenly a voice popped out of nowhere. Sai turned around and he saw a pair of yellow eyes. Slowly, the body of the owner of that pair of scary yellow eyes materialized in front of him. It had the face of a handsome young man. The only thing unnatural about it was the pair of shinny yellow eyes.

"You are… Haraguroi?" Sai said uncertainly. It had been a thousand years since he last encountered this creature.

"Yes. I'm glad you have a pretty good memory, or did I really leave such a long lasting impression on you?" Haraguroi smiled pleasantly. "Now, we can save the chit-chat for later. Would you like me to give you back your freedom?"

"Of course!" Sai nodded eagerly. He didn't care if this creature helping him had unclear motives. He was after all, betrayed by his own lover before. Nothing could be worse, and he didn't want to stay at this upscale prison another day.

"Alright, here we go!"

Puff! The room was totally empty with no sign of Haraguroi or Sai.

Moments later, the door opened and Ogata walked in, greeted by the sight of the empty room with no sign of Sai. Akira's words echoed in his mind. "Don't mess up the second chance." Was he too late now? Ogata sank onto the floor slowly.

XXX

Sai looked around his surrounding. He was back in Tokyo, at the Shusaku's museum.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Haraguroi grinned. "Your time is running up, and you have a decision to make."

"My time is up…?"

"Yes, didn't you notice?" Haraguroi's grin widened, "Nobody can see you anymore. You're in spirit form."

Sai jumped in front of a man passing by. The man kept walking straight as if Sai did not exist and was not in front of him. He was indeed back to the spirit form, the same situation he was in when he first met Hikaru.

"So what happens now?" Sai sighed.

"I'm not the one to tell you." Haraguroi said, "but here he is."

A man with dark eyes appeared out of thin air in front of Sai. He was dressed in kimono similar to what Sai used to wear.

"Who are you?" Sai asked. He was a spirit himself and one would expect a spirit should not be afraid of anything supernatural, but Sai could only say he was in unknown territory and he was more than a little frightened.

"Don't worry." The man smiled. He looked young, but his eyes betrayed the wisdom and experience that only came with age. This creature, whatever it was, had been around for a long time.

Sai recognized the voice. It was the same voice he heard in his head one time, warning him about his time running short.

"Who are you?" Sai asked again.

"I am the god of Go. You can call me Gokamisama"

"What?" This certainly wasn't the answer Sai expected to hear. He had been trying to achieve the hand of god for as long as a thousand years, but never in his life did he imagine meeting the god of Go.

"Is it really that surprising?" Gokamisama smiled, "For a spirit that had wondered around for a thousand years and lived through 3 lifetimes, you are surprisingly narrow minded."

"Forgive me." Sai wasn't sure what's the right thing to say, so he apologized.

"That's fine. Actually, I'm here for one reason," Gokamisama said calmly, "I'm giving you a chance to take over my place."

"What?" Sai was shocked beyond words.

"I don't want to be the god of Go anymore. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of simply "retired" or "quit". I need to find a replacement or else the god of Universe won't let me off the hook."

"This is too weird…" Sai mumbled…

"Is it really?" Gokamisama said simply, "Your skill has reached the lever of the gods, and once you took over as god of Go, you will have all eternity to play Go. You can play as much Go as you want… day and night… and you will meet many great opponents that you don't even know existed. Those from the world of gods, and those existed in the world of the demons…"

Sai only gasped with his mouth wide open.

"That is your dream, isn't it? Well, it's your dream comes true." Gokamisama smiled to him.

"What would happen to me if I become god of Go?" Sai finally asked.

"You will no longer belong to the world of human. You can travel freely between the world of the gods, the demons and the spirits, but you have to leave the world of men behind. It was against the rule of universe for us to live among the world of men."

"So I will never see Hikaru … or … Ogata again?"

"That's right. And one last thing, as the god of Go, you may not have a human lover. "

Sai went silent.

"You don't have to make your choice now. You have 3 days to decide. At this time, you will be back in your spirit form so that you can travel freely to visit Hikaru, or anyone of your choice. Just think about them and you will be there. You can even make yourself seen to the human eyes for 3 times during this period of time. After 3 days, you have to decide. Either becomes the god of Go or live out your life time as human and died at the end of your life."

"The clock starts now, Sai. Think wisely, and make a choice that you won't regret."

TBC

Next chapter should be the ending!