Chapter Three:

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race

—

Waya Yoshitaka was having a good day.

The new insei were coming in, so this was his opportunity to gain their respect, all and all, become a role model to the newbies.

"Aaah! Shit, I'm late!"

A boy, about a year younger than him, pushed past Waya to squeeze into the elevator, ultimately making the cammo-clad boy late himself. "Damn new kids," he fumed to himself while turning to run up the stairs.

Coming to the correct floor, he waved vaguely to Isumi, who was just entering the room, and slid off his shoes.

"Damn it." Waya cursed, bumping into the corner, Isumi sent him an amused glance.

"What's got you riled up, Waya-kun?"

The younger boy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, it was a good day until this stupid kid made me miss the elevator…..Running about like a big shot…Just like Touya Akira!"

Isumi chuckled. "Well, are you sure it wasn't Touya-kun?"

"Why would Touya be here? Anyway, no, it wasn't Touya. It was some new kid; I've never seen him before." Waya corrected.

"Ah," Isumi said, then, "I heard only one of the new kids here is pretty good. I was doing something here on the day that they did the Exams—I over heard Shigeru-sensei talking about a really talented kid, how he was stronger than Touya."

Waya huffed dramatically. "Why would a kid who was as good as Touya come here?"

Isumi waved his hands, "I don't know. Don't look at me."

Waya looked away from his friend, glancing at the game card to see who he was playing today. "Anyway, I bet it's just some egotistic kid spreading a rumor about himself, and Shigeru-sensei just got pulled into it."

Isumi shook his head at the younger boy, then went to sit as his goban, and Waya did likewise.

—

It was a month later until Waya finally met Shindou.

"Yeah, it was something like—Hey, watch it!" Waya exclaimed to the shorter boy, as he had bumped into him rather harshly.

Nase, who Waya had been speaking to, tried to relieve the tension that was quickly escalating between the two boys. "Calm down, Waya-kun, I'm sure he didn't mean to—"

Shindou snorted and glared at the other, "Well, I wouldn't have bumped into him if he didn't take up the whole damn hallway!"

Waya glared back. "I can take up as much space as I want to, brat!" He shoved the other boy, to which Hikaru shoved right back.

"Give up, old man; I can take you any day, anyway."

Waya decided to take his challenge. "Then what do you say to a game of go? You win, and I won't bother you anymore. But if I win, you have to apologize, and say, 'I'm sorry, Waya-sama, I won't ever bother your greatness ever again.'"

Nase sweatdropped at the stakes, but they only served to rile Hikaru up more, his green eyes lighting up in anger.

"Like you'd ever win, asshole. You better be prepared for your complete embarrassment."

The two boys, though glaring at each other the whole time, made their way to the salon that the Institute housed with a meek Nase following behind.

Waya threw himself into a chair, while Shindou did likewise.

"Before I beat you, kid, what's your name? I like to know the names of my victims." Waya said, opening his go ke to draw out some stones.

"Shindou Hikaru. Yours?"

"Waya Yoshitaka." He gestured behind him, to where Nase was standing. "She's Nase Asumi. We're insei."

Hikaru seemed a little surprised, "I'm an insei as well."

Waya considered him for a moment, taking in his bleached hair and odd clothes. He looked like he belonged in a skate park rather than in front of a goban, but, then again; Waya didn't exactly seem go-literate, either.

"If you're an insei, why haven't I seen you before?" Nase asked, also taking in the other teen's appearance.

"I'm still in B-class, though I'll be in A-class next week. I haven't lost a game yet." Hikaru gloated a little, setting out a stone.

Waya counted his stones, the count coming out odd. He and Shindou switched colors, Waya white, and Shindou black.

Though grudgingly, the two bowed a little, and said, "Please."

Hikaru moved in and took the upper right star point, to which Waya took the lower left.

Through their game, Nase watched intently. Waya was angry, and that showed in his go a little; his style was off. He was attacking more, pushing in too much; but Shindou…Shindou was good.

The two-toned boy was angry before, she could tell, but now his face was completely wiped clean, only showing the focus and determination on the game in front of him. His eyes seemed to glow as his set down stones with a satisfying clack. She examined his playing style to see that, though his shape was a little out-of-date, modern go was thrown in to make it very effective. He seemed sure of what he was doing when he made odd moves, and, as she found out, helped him in the long run as they made their use only a few hands later.

There! Hikaru seemed to smirk as he threw down the next stone, and Waya, in the middle of pulling out another one, stopped dead.

No! My group is dying! H-How? Shocked, he looked up at his opponent, who was still surveying the board. This guy is way out of my league! Making weird moves, then coming back to bite me in the ass! Who is he?!

His pride thoroughly wounded, Waya scrutinized the board for any chance of escape or revival. It seemed Shindou had covered his bases, as the brown-haired boy found no clear path out. Placing the single white stone back into the bowl, he reluctantly bowed his head and said, "I give up."

Shindou bowed back, "Thank you for the game."

As they cleaned the board, Waya asked the boy, "How come you're an insei? Clearly, with your skill, you could easily go on to be a pro."

Shindou blinked, then, "I took the insei exams 'cause their cheaper. Plus, my mother wasn't real happy with me dropping out of soccer and diving into go for no reason, so I didn't want to give her a heart attack by saying, 'Hey, mom! I'm going to be a Go pro and make an income now, okay?' when I barely played in the first place. It was an abrupt decision, after all, but I probably wouldn't have been able to take the Insei Exams if Touya-Meijin didn't sponsor me."

At his last statement, the other two insei sputtered.

"Touya-Meijin?!" Nase cried, looking shocked.

"How did you get Touya-Meijin to sponsor you?" Waya exclaimed jealously.

Shindou said in a perfectly controlled voice, "He owns a Salon downtown. I was in there scraping for cash, and I played his son, Aki-something, and he was watching the whole time. He offered to sponsor me."

"You played Touya Akira?" Waya asked incredulously.

Shindou nodded, "Yeah, I beat him by half a moku. It was a good game."

As Waya picked his jaw up off the floor, he remembered the stakes of the game, "Well, you won, so I guess you don't have to apologize…even though it was your fault."

Shindou huffed indignantly, and half-yelled, "Do you have a brain condition or something? Cause it certainly…" His voice trailed off as they both tromped back to the entrance, leaving an exasperated Nase behind.

"Boys…"

—

Hey. It's been a while, eh?

I managed to get a hold of my mother's laptop for this, (though I don't think she's very happy with me hogging it for so long) and typed out a chapter. It's probably not as good as the others, seeing as there was such a big time gap and I was unable to really gather my thoughts on this. But anyway, I do hope you'll enjoy the chapter, it did take me a while to actually sit down and churn this out.

Oh, by the way, This Ain't a Scene, It's An Arms Race belongs to Fall Out Boy.