Shindou Mitsuko hurried down the street towards her home. She had only meant to be gone a few minutes, but old Mrs. Yagi did love to talk. She hoped that Hikaru was all right. She didn't like to leave him alone for long. Not that the boy was likely to get into any sort of trouble. All he ever seemed to do was sit in front of the goban. But if anything did happen — he was still almost totally helpless, after all this time. She wasn't confident he could even operate a doorknob without difficulty.

"Hikaru, you're downstairs!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Hikaru, really, you mustn't be rude to..." she trailed off. Rude? "Hikaru...that soccer jersey — I'm surprised to see you wearing it.''

"But I wear this all the time! You even yelled at me when I wanted to wear it to Grandma's memorial service. You haven't forgotten that, have you?''

His mother looked at him with the strangest expression on her face. Was she mad? Then she suddenly threw her arms around him, weeping. He squirmed out of her embrace.

"Hey! What's this all about? Are you nuts? It doesn't matter that much what I wear!''

"Oh, Hikaru, I thought I'd lost you forever!''

"Whattaya mean, lost? I was just up in my room! And what's Grandpa's old Go board doing up there anyway? It was right in the middle of the floor, I almost tripped on it!''

But rather than explaining, his mother, after only the slightest pause, threw her arms around him again.

"Hey! Quit it!"

His mother, rather than being angry for having been pushed away, kept smiling and hugged him again.

As they waited for the bus to the hospital, his mother tried to explain what was going on.

"I don't remember being in any accident!''

"Of course you don't remember, Hikaru. You had a brain injury and forgot, well, everything. I can't believe you finally remembered! Come to think of it, the doctors will want to see you today, I'm sure!''

"I thought we were going to the doctor now.''

"No, just physical therapy. For your leg.''

Come to think of it, the leg did hurt.

"My leg...I hurt it in the accident?''

"Yes, your shoulder too, but not quite so badly. And your head.''

"My head doesn't hurt.''

"Perhaps it doesn't, but you lost your memory. When you came out of the coma you couldn't remember anything. Not even your own name, until we told it to you.''

Coma?

It was all so overwhelming to think about. But then the bus came.

Unexpectedly, the bus driver beamed at him. "Ah, Shindou-kun! Good to see you again!''

Confused, Hikaru looked to his mother.

"We've taken this bus three times a week for several months now. The driver remembers us.''

That's weird, Hikaru thought as he took a seat. Why would a bus driver remember me?

His Mom didn't say much during the ride to the hospital, but the way she kept looking at him freaked him out. It was as if she was on the verge of popping out of her seat, hugging him and calling him her "precious little angel'' or something. He kept quiet, in the hope of avoiding any such embarrassing outburst.

At the hospital, his mother introduced him to the physical therapist. Like the bus driver, she seemed happy to see him, and was confused when he didn't recognize her. Mitsuko went off to find the neurologist, leaving Hikaru to a rather awkward session of physical therapy. The sadistic woman kept twisting his leg. It hurt!

"Ow! Quit it!''

"Really, Shindou-kun you should be used to — you really don't remember, do you?''

Hikaru just stared back at her, as if to say,"well, duh!''

"You know, I once had a patient who had a traumatic brain injury like you do. Well, not the same kind of injury. His was worse, really. Every time we had a session it was like the first time for him. I had to explain what I was doing all over again every time. That really got old. I hope you're not going to be like him. Now don't give me that look. Either you're not, in which case why get mad at me for saying that? Or else you are, in which case you will have forgotten five minutes from now what I just said, so what's the big deal?''

"You know, Shindou-kun, you're really like a different person.''

"Yeah?''

"Really. You've always been really polite, all the time. Not that you're being totally rude today, I don't mean that, but it was months before you stopped using all those formal words with me. You know, like I was the shogun and you were my vassal or something. You were really polite and, well — nice. All the therapists liked you. You and you mother didn't get along, though, which was sort of strange, because you got along with everyone else.''

"I can guess why. He — I mean I — didn't remember who she was. And I guess I didn't act like myself either. I probably seemed like a stranger to her. I'll bet it freaked her out.''

After the physical therapy session they went to a waiting area.

"Your mother will pick you up here, like always. It's my break time, and we usually have a drink from the vending machines. Always, actually. My treat!''

"I usually get C C Lemon.''

"Before, you got something different every time. You were trying to sample every single drink at least once. There is a big selection, isn't there?''

"Yeah. I guess."

"I remember the first time I got you a drink. It was like you'd never seen a vending machine before. Your eyes got as big as dinner plates. You never got tired of seeing the drinks pop out of the machine. You were like a little kid.''

"Well, I guess if I'd lost my memory it must have seemed new to me. Everything must have. That would have been weird for me, huh.''

"Um... about my leg...before — before the accident, all I really cared about was soccer. If I keep working with you, could I be as good at it as I used to be?''

"Well ... I don't know. I guess everybody said you were dead for sure, but then you came back to life, and got your memory back. So I'm not going to say it's impossible. But to be honest, even if we keep doing physical therapy forever, I don't think there's much chance.''

"I don't care if there's no chance at all! I'm never going to give up!''

''You know something? You're not so different from the Shindou-kun I remember, after all.''

His mother hadn't been wrong; the doctors had wanted to see him, and see him, and see him again. They made him take test after test. It was a total pain. But eventually they'd given him every test they could think of, and he had nothing to do. He found himself almost missing the testing. Even looking forward to the spring, when he was probably going to start school again. In the meantime he sulked around the house. His mother's elation at his recovery ebbed to the point that she almost seemed to breathe a sign of relief when he said he was going to see Akari.

She was way too happy to see him. But then, he was used to that by now. Even grandpa had practically flipped.

"You got your memory back!''

"Uh huh. Just don't start hugging me like my mom did!''

"Don't be mean to her, Hikaru! She was really worried about you!''

"I guess. It's just too weird. Everybody says that during the time I can't remember any more I acted like I was like some other person.'' Akari started smiling, with a certain look in her eye. "What? What is it that nobody's telling me? Did I do something weird?''

"Well you liked somebody.'' Akari looked at him meaningfully. ''You didn't say you did, but it was so obvious.''

Shindou's face was a mask of disbelief. Eventually (Akari savoring every microsecond, he was sure) he was able to ask: "so who was she?''

''He was Touya. Your best friend ever since you came out of the coma.''

He? It didn't seem possible but, hard as he tried to imagine that Akari was making it all up just to tease him, he doubted it. Akari just wasn't a good enough liar.

Shindou Heihachi took his time getting the tea ready. His daughter in law had tried to insist that it was her job, but it was his house and he wasn't going to let someone else horn in. Doing it himself — slowly — gave him time to think about what he might say to her. He definitely thought better when making tea than when watching someone else do it for him as if he didn't know how.

"Well, if the doctors can't explain what happened then I certainly can't either. But I think he was in more pain than he let on. I've heard or read, I can't remember where, that when we're suffering more than we can bear, we sometimes invent a fake person. A temporary identity. That person suffers all the pain. Then, when it's all better, we come back. And the temporary person who did all the suffering goes away."

"Suffering changes a person. If Hikaru somehow could go through all that he did and somehow be the same boy he was before all this started, then that's a miracle of a sort. Maybe as big a miracle as the fact that he stayed alive at all. Maybe it's for the best that he can't remember. If he could, he maybe he couldn't be Hikaru any more."

Touya wasn't sure why he'd run away. When he looked back on it, it reminded him of what Fujisaki-san had said. About looking into Shindou's eyes and seeing something alien, like a total stranger looking back at him.

He tried, but he couldn't remember what he'd seen when he looked at Shindou. He just remembered being afraid.

Afterward, he felt guilty. The Shindou he knew would have wanted him to visit — but did that Shindou even exist any more? He wasn't sure. So he didn't go back, but he felt bad about it, as Fujisaki had. He understood her now, as he hadn't before.

Then one day, out of the blue, Shindou walked into the salon. He had gotten his hair cut, and the bangs were dyed blond, of all things. He looked truly bizarre.

"Hey, umm—are you Touya?''

It was as he'd feared — Shindou didn't know him. He couldn't run away now, though, not from his own salon. He just nodded.

"Do you mind?'' Shindou gestured at a chair.

Touya nodded his permission and Shindou sat.

"Uh, thanks. My leg hurts sometimes. People keep telling me like I should be used to it, but to me it just happened. Everything is so weird. Having a blank spot in your memory. Months long, even. Were we friends? Akari said we were. I was talking to her, and she told me. I said there was this kid who came to the door. I described you to her and she said 'that's Touya' and that we were real good friends. But she didn't know where I could find you. But she did know that I played Go with you, and with grandpa. So I asked him, and he remembered that we'd played Go. Here. So I came. I'm like a detective, huh?''

''It's so weird that I can't remember anything from since I came out of the coma. Akari says that you played Go with me for hours and hours — was I any good at it?'' Shindou looked skeptical, to say the least.

"You know what sucks? I used to be good at soccer. Not just sort of good, but good good. And now with this stupid leg...could you teach me how to play Go? I mean, not that I expect to be great at it or anything, but...''

Touya looked into Shindou's face. It was too much, really. He wished Shindou would go away, just go away, go try to play soccer or something, and just not come back. Anything other than come here. He had to close his eyes. But when he did he remembered the Shindou he knew. He opened his eyes and looked at this strange new Shindou.

"We'll start with a simple game of capturing stones," he said.

A/N: The end at last. The story as complete has essentially the same shape it did when I first thought of writing it, though some minor details changed along the way. It does leave the way open to further events, but I haven't thought at all about what those might be and won't write a follow-on story unless I think of something that "wants to be written."