Hikaru paced
the length of his room angrily, avoiding looking at the – the – the thing.
He
still kept seeing it in the corner of his eye every time he turned, though,
this white shape, sitting at the foot of his bed, lower half of his – it’s
damnit – face hidden under a wide sleeve. He – it – was watching him.
Watching
Hikaru not watch him.
Damnit.
“I’m
seeing things,” Hikaru muttered. “Why am I seeing things and if I
really have to see things why is it things like this? Like what the hell man?”
“Um,”
the thing said. “I am just one – uh – thing.”
“Okay
now I’m hearing things too, this is getting better,” Hikaru muttered and
did not look at the guy – the thing – sitting at the foot of his bed because it
wasn’t real, it was just a thing he was seeing and it wasn’t real. He’d seen
his mom walk right through the thing earlier. So it wasn’t real. So he was
seeing things.
“Thing,”
the thing said. “A single thing. But I am not a thing.”
“Hallucinations
are bad, right?” Hikaru asked, not from the thing because it wasn’t real
damnit and it’s opinion didn’t even matter. “They’re like – something’s
wrong with me. With my brain. I hit my head or – or I’m, I might be…” he
trailed off and stopped – his back at the thing to keep it out
of his line of sight.
He was
insane. Great.
“You are
really not, I promise,” the thing said behind him anxiously. “I
swear, there is nothing wrong with your brain. It is just, it is, rather than
there being something wrong with your mind, I am… occupying it?”
Hikaru’s
shoulders tensed at that – damnit the thing sounded just like real person, and
it said it was occupying his brain. So it knew it was a figment of his
imagination too! Were hallucinations supposed to know that stuff – wasn’t the
whole thing with them that they tried to pass for reality? Wasn’t that why
brains came up with stuff like that – to fool itself into thinking there was
something there when there was? What was the thing’s point in
admitting it was a thing.’
“I am
not a thing!” the thing said despairingly. “I am – I
was – I am a person! My name is Fujiwara no Sai, I had a life, I had dreams and
wishes – I was the Go Tutor of an Emperor, I –”
Okay bit more
on bar with the whole hallucination thing, Hikaru mused grimly and rubbed at
his forehead. His hallucination had illusions of grandeur. Go related grandeur.
What the actual heck, brain, seriously? Why did he have to hallucinate
something lame like this?
“I am
not – I swear –” the thing sputtered, half offended. “I am not a
hallucination, I swear to you. I can even prove it to you!”
Hikaru
clenched his hands as he saw a flash of white on the corner of his eye – the
thing, pressing up against a wall and then, as he did not watch he was
not watching at all his eyes were nailed on the opposite wall the
thing passed trough the wall.
“There
are four people walking down the street, two of them women – one of them has a
dog,” the thing said through the wall. “There are those noisy metal
carriages along the street, one of them is a most vivid orange in colour.”
Hikaru scowled
at that – no, at the wall opposite from the thing because he was not
acknowledging his hallucination. “What the heck is that supposed to
mean?” Damnit.
“It
means I can – just look!” the thing said and then it was right there, at
his side – tugging at his arm. “Look, look out side the window, tell me I
am wrong!”
His
hallucination could not only touch him but move him and as it did, Hikaru
despaired at the state of his poor, obviously holey brain, that it could let
itself to get such a state. Then he was at the window, and looking down and –
yeah, that was a very bright orange car. And there were four people out. One
had a dog.
“That
doesn’t prove anything,” Hikaru objected.
“I does
too!” the thing said. “See, you did not know those things were there
before I told you so – and if I were a mere figment of your imagination then
surely I could not possibly know anything that you do not!”
Hikaru’s eyes
narrowed and he made a mistake of looking at the thing and, damn. It really
looked so real – except, not. Because what kind of real thing looked
like that? What kind of person looked like that?
“They’re
hallucinations too,” Hikaru decided. “The people, the car – probably
the whole street.” His eyes widened and his heart sank heavily as
realisation struck him. “Oh my god what if my whole life is an
hallucination and I’m actually stuck in hospital somewhere, imagining this
whole room, the house, everything?!”
“It is
not a hallucination!” the obvious hallucination of a pretty Heian nobleman
shouted, waving his hallusionary arms everywhere. “I am real, this is all
real!”
“You’re
not real – mom walked through you and never saw you!” Hikaru shouted back,
pointing a finger at him. “You’re a fake thing!”
"I
am not!“
"Are
too!”
“Am
not!” the thing said and let out a frustrated huff. “What can I do to
prove you that I am not a hallucination!”
“Stop
being hallusionary!” Hikaru ordered accusingly.
“That is
not a word!” the thing answered in a desperate wail.
“Is
too!”
The thing let
out a little huff of agitation and made a face that was less angry and more
pouty really. “I am,” he said slowly, “a ghost. My name is
Fujiwara no Sai –”
“And I
am going to stop you right there because ghosts aren’t real!”
Hikaru said with a huff of his own. “You can’t use ghosts as a defence,
what is that even supposed to prove?! You’re just saying that you’re not fake
because you’re busy being another fake thing!”
“I’m not
fake!” the thing shouted and actually stamped it’s foot. “And ghosts
aren’t fake – just because you don’t know something or haven’t seen it before,
that doesn’t mean it’s fake! Or do you think that – that – are foreign nations
fake? Are distant land marks you’ve never visited fake?”
“Well
no, but those are real things,” Hikaru said.
“What
proof you have?” the thing asked slyly.
“There’s,
like, all the proof. There’s so much proof. Pictures and videos and stuff – all
of the proof!”
“Are you
sure that is real?” the thing asked, leaning in. “Are you sure?”
Hikaru
stopped, drawing a breath and stopping. “Oh my god nothing’s real,”
he whispered. “I’m living in a world of lies!”
“No,
that it not – I do not mean that – ” the thing stopped, staring at him in
helpless frustration. “It is –all of it is real. I promise you foreign
nations are real.”
“But
what if they aren’t?” Hikaru asked, his eyes wide. “What if nothing’s
real?”
The thing
just stared at him, opening his – it’s mouth – and then closing it again,
looking confused. “It is all real,” he said finally. It said.
Because it wasn’t real.
Maybe nothing
was real.
Hikaru stared
at him – it – for a long moment, his brain tripping over the sudden, vast
awakening of entirely too much philosophical thinking about the nature of
reality and humanity. Then he blinked and looked away and rubbed at his
forehead. His head was aching.
“I don’t
want everything to be fake,” he muttered.
“That is
alright then, because everything is not fake,” the thing that was a fake
thing said. “It is all real, I promise.”
“That’s
what a fake thing would say,” Hikaru said and collapsed to sit on his bed.
The fake
thing huffed, and sat slowly on the floor at his feet and just – what the hell.
It was one thing for him to imagine the thing, but to have it be like this,
that was just, it was, that was the weirdest part of it. Why was he imagining
it like that?
“Because
you are not,” the thing said with forced patience. “You are not
imagining me.”
“Am
too,” Hikaru muttered.
“Are
not,” the thing said and then seemed to get an idea. “Do you know
what I have in my sleeve?”
Hikaru
frowned and thought about it. “No,” he said.
“If you
were imagining me, shouldn’t you know?” the thing pressed.
“Fine.
You got a gun? A rifle. Golf ball – uh, no, why would you even – Go
stones!” That was what the whole damn hallucination was a bout, wasn’t it?
“You got a whole goban in there, don’t you?”
The thing
produced a delicate looking paper fan and opened it in front of it’s face. His
face. It’s face.
Hikaru stared
at him despairingly. He really should’ve seen it coming, what with the whole
Heian prince theme and all. Either he was so far gone that his own
hallucination could totally fake him out – hah, fake thing faking someone out,
such jokes – or, or –
“Or I’m
real,” the thing said gently.
“Mom
walked through you,” Hikaru said again accusingly.
“Alright,
I am a ghost – but a real ghost!” the thing said quickly. “A real,
true, honest ghost. Not in any way false.”
Hikaru stared
some more.
The – the –
what was it again?
“Fujiwara
no Sai, I was the Go tutor for the Emperor and –”
Hikaru lifted
a hand, stopping him. It. Him. It. “Am I seeing you?” Hikaru asked
sharply. “Or are you, just, a thing only I can see?”
“Um,”
was the eloquent answer. “I am – what?”
Hikaru took a
breath. “You said – occupying my brain. And a ghost. So, uh. You’re
possessing me? I mean, if you’re real… or a ghost, a real ghost, whatever.
You’re possessing me? My head?”
“Um,”
came the eloquent answer again. “I, yes, I think – yes, that is… how I
believe it is, yes.”
“So,”
Hikaru said and swallowed. “Am I seeing you because
you’re in my head, or am I seeing you, because you’re actually there?”
The thing,
Fujiwara no Sai, stared at him helplessly. “Uh. Yes,” the thing, Sai,
answered.
“Yes,”
Hikaru repeated.
Sai
hesitated, flicking his fan open and shut nervously. “Yes,” he
repeated finally and braced himself.
Hikaru nodded
and then flopped back on his bed with a groan. “So, actually
hallucinating. Maybe hallucinating a actual ghost that’s actually possessing my
brain, but hallucinations are a thing that’s happening.”
Sai cleared
his not-even-real throat. “I – I understand that this must be very – I
know that it must be an inconvenience,” he said awkwardly. “And, and
you’re afraid and – and distraught. But I am very grateful to
you! It has been so long since anyone could see me, and I know it must be
terrible for you, but…”
Hikaru let the
babble wash over him, glaring at the ceiling deep in thought as he internalised
the concept of hallucinations as part of his life now. “I am never
visiting Grandpa ever again,” he muttered. “Bad for mental health.
Gave me hallucinations.”
“– and I
wished to play Go, more than anything. I could not move on at all, I could not
let myself rest, so strong was my desire to play go, to see more, to learn
more, to grow strong and see those around me grow strong also! I wished to see
Go develop and change over the years and, so, I remained –”
Hikaru’s
scowl deepened. Why, of all things, did his hallucination have to be about a old
man game? Real or not, it was just so uncool, so utterly lame that he
kind of felt it sucking the natural coolness out of him just by existing, just
by being a concept that was somehow attached to his life now. Go. A
ancient Heian ghost that wanted to play Go – it was just… so, so lame.
Hikaru
scrunched up his face. “Why, o why, can’t I hallucinate something more modern?”
Sai came up
to a halt and hesitated. “Um,” he said. “I do not know? I am
sorry.”
Hikaru
grunted and sat up again, looking at him. Yup, still ancient Heian prince.
Great. “You like Go?” he asked,
“Yes!”
Sai said excitedly.
“You
want to play more Go?”
“Yes!”
Sai said and almost glowed with excitement.
“I
don’t,” Hikaru said flatly. “Nuh uh. Not ever. You know what I want
to play? I want to play that!” he said and pointed at the playstation
sitting by the small TV on the side of the room. “I want to play videogames!
That’s what I want to play, not you dumb old man game with it’s dump boring
board! I want stuff with stats and quests and interesting stuff, not
this… this. You! And Go! Who even plays Go?!”
Sai drew a
breath that hitched like a sob and his lower lip quivered. “I – I am
sorry! I – ” he trailed away, leaning away from Hikaru. “I am
sorry.”
Hikaru glared
at him, then at the playstation – why couldn’t it possess him?
Ghost of the playstation, he’d be game – hah – for that.
Then he
stopped to consider.
“I’m
seeing things,” he said and motioned at Sai and then himself and back.
“Some of this is coming from my brain. Right?”
Sai said
nothing, just eying him warily.
Hikaru nodded
determinately and then pressed his fingertips against his temples and squeezed
his eyes tightly shut. “Videogame, videogame, videogame,” he
murmured, trying to force his own brain into submission. His
hallucinating brain. “If I am going to be seeing things I’m going to be
seeing what I want to see, and what I want to see is my life
becoming a videogame!”
Silence
followed that. Hikaru squeezed his eyes shut tighter and thought about it hard
enough for his head to hurt. He could feel his eyes going cross
eyed under his lids. It kind of hurt too. But if he opened his eyes now and
found Sai there and nothing different then – then – he wasn’t sure what then.
But if he couldn’t even control what things he was seeing when he started seeing
things –
Sai let out a
gasp and Hikaru’s eyes popped open and –
[Go Tutor]
[Fujiwara no Sai]
[LVL 99+]
[HP 0 / MP 999+]
Hikaru
blinked. It was just there, hovering above Sai’s head, this bit of glowing
white text. It was just – there. But not. Invisible – like Sai himself. Real
but unreal.
Sai blinked
back at him – or rather, at something hovering above Hikaru’s head
too. Hikaru tilted his head back to look, but if there was something there, it
either moved when he did, or he just couldn’t see it. “What is it?”
Hikaru asked eagerly.
“There
is – it is –” Sai said, blinking and shifting uneasily. “I can see
writing above your head. It says; Number Five, Shindo Hikaru, Level two, and
uh, HP thirteen and MP five?”
Hikaru stared
at him. Then looked up at the text above Sai’s head, which really did move when
he did, as if it was nailed onto the top of his head. Then Hikaru looked around
with new eyes – almost literally. Because he could see things.
There were
faint out lines on everything he looked. The shelf, the books and manga in it,
the stuff on top of it, the tv, the playstation, everything he looked at got highlighted. As
if by looking at it, he was selecting it. And when he looked for longer… he saw
more text, hovering next to the thing.
[Basic
small CRT television]
[A basic television set for viewing moving images. Currently hooked onto a
PlayStation.]
[Weight: 6.4 kg]
[Value: 12300 yen]
[PlayStation]
[A video game console. Currently hooked onto Basic Small CRT Television]
[Weight: 1.5 kg]
[Value: 30500 yen]
[Medium Desk
Lamp]
[Source of ambient light.]
[Weight: 0.3 kg]
[Value: 2800 yen]
Hikaru
blinked at that and then looked at Sai a little longer, narrowing his eyes. A
see-through rectangle, like a speech bubble in manga, popped up next to the
ghost.
[Thousand
Years]
[Fujiwara no Sai is a thousand year old ghost who in life was the Go Tutor to
the Emperor. As one of two Tutor, he was tasked with teaching the emperor’s
family and close friends the intricacies of the board game Go.]
[Quest (1/?): Learn more about Fujiwara no Sai.]
[Reward: 300 exp, 5 FP with Fujiwara no Sai]
[Accept Quest: Yes / No]
Sai stared at
it, his eyes wide, “Um,” he said slowly. “What…?”
Hikaru said,
“I’m seeing things,” and grinned.
-
“Okay
this? This is bullshit,” Hikaru announced.
[History Homework]
[Learn about the Taiga reforms and their impact on local and national politics
and economy.]
[Quest (3/?): Fill in 20 questions about Taiga reforms.]
[Reward: history grade alteration.]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
“Seriously,
bullshit,” Hikaru said. “There’s not even exp or anything! What’s the
point in quests when you can’t even is them to progress?”
All the
quests were like that too. Running chores for his nom: no exp. Jogging his way
to school: no exp. Doing homework: no exp. Not even when he did an extra
assignments for school, or chores without being prompted to, nothing. And it
wasn’t just that either. His clothes had no stats, there was no convenient
bottomless inventory for him to stick everything into, food gave him no buffs
what so ever…
What was the
freaking point in the whole thing when he didn’t even get experience from
anything and couldn’t level up? His stats remained, stubbornly, the same.
[Number 5.]
[Shindo Hikaru]
[LVL 2]
[HP 13 / MP 5]
The only
comfort Hikaru had was the fact that his mom was level 1 too. His dad, however,
was level 7. His grandfather was level 24. he had hp of 10, and he was level
24??
“There’s
no logic to this goddamn thing! Just how am I supposed to even –” Hikaru
started ranting, waving his hand through the spot atop his head where he knew
the stubborn stats remained. Sai watched him from the side, uneasily twiddling
with his sleeves. Sai, the bastard, with his LVL 99+ and his 0 HP and 999+ MP.
How was it
fair that a ghost had better stats than anybody? How did
that even make sense?
“I think
perhaps you are seeing this… this game the wrong way?” Sai asked
awkwardly, shifting where he was sitting. “I do not think it works the way
you assume it does.”
“What do
you know? You don’t even know what a videogame is!”
“Well… I
did not before,” Sai admitted and glanced at the tv and the playstation
hooked into it. “But you have been, ah, talking about nothing else, so I
think I have good enough idea how it works. And your assumption that… that
this,” he motioned around them, “should work the same… might be
wrong.”
Hikaru glared
at him. “Alright, then – how is it supposed to work, then?”
“I don’t
know about supposed to but…” Sai hesitated. “Your
grandfather is level fifty four. Your father, fifteen,” he said.
“They… both play Go, yes? Your grandfather even boasted great skill.”
Hikaru stared
at him flatly – stared at him long enough for the [Thousand Years] quest window
to pop up. It floated between him and Sai, visible to only them, and Sai
cleared his throat and pointed.
There, the
quest reward – it included 300 exp.
“You’re
kidding me,” Hikaru said flatly. “They’re about Go.”
“I – yes,
I think so?” Sai said almost apologetically.
“The
whole thing I about Go,” Hikaru said. “My life became a videogame…
about Go. Mom’s never played so her level is 1. Dad learned from grandpa, so…
his level is 15. Grandpa is 54. I can’t freaking believe this!”
Sai coughed
awkwardly as Hikaru threw his hands up in disgust. “Well,” the ghost
said. “It should make it much easier to find strong opponents?” he
asked hopefully.
“Strong
opponents. In Go?” Hikaru asked with disgust.
Sai nodded,
eager and hesitant all at once. “And – and if you learned Go, your level
should go up?” he offered. “You’re already level 2. so you must know
something.”
“Tch!”
Hikaru grunted and turned away. “No way, no way am I going to learn any
old man game, no friggen way!”
Sai let out a
plaintive little sound and Hikaru folded his arms angrily. It just figured –
and for a moment there he’d even been excited about the whole thing too!
“This is such a goddamn waste,” he muttered. “All the things I
could do with this and… and it’s just about goddamn Go? Freaking
waste.”
In the window
his reflection taunted him, with the backwards [LVL 2] hovering above his head.
Hikaru glared at it, imagining all the things that could’ve been, if world
hadn’t decided to just flat out suck.
Hikaru turned
back to Sai, glancing up at the [LVL 99+] before staring at Sai hard enough for
the [Thousand Years] quest to pop up again. After a moment of glaring, Hikaru
reached out, and tapped a finger against yes.
Sai blinked
at him. “You want to learn about my history?” he asked delightedly
and then quickly straightened his back, hands held nearly in his lap. “I
was born in Heian Kyo…”
Hikaru sat
down and resentfully listened to every word of Sai’s tale of court life and
it’s many delights and twists and eventually tragedies, all the way until his
assignment as Go tutor and his eventually downfall at the hands of his fellow
teacher, who challenged him, cheated in a game and had Sai banished from
capital.
As Sai spoke
of the river where he’d drowned, a notice popped up in front of Hikaru.
[Thousand
Years]
[Fujiwara no Sai is a thousand year old ghost who in life was the Go Tutor to
the Emperor. As one of two Tutor, he was tasked with teaching the emperor’s
family and close friends the intricacies of the board game Go.]
[Quest complete!]
[Quest reward: 300 exp, 5 FP with Fujiwara no Sai]
Sai stuttered
to a halt in his story as Hikaru dinged.
“You are, ah,” he said and motioned above Hikaru’s head. “You
are level three, now.”
Hikaru
harrumphed angrily. “Great, just great,” he said, even as new quest
notice popped up.
[Thousand
Years]
[Fujiwara no Sai is a thousand year old ghost, who found no rest in death and
remained on earth to chase after his dream, the Hand of God.]
[Quest (2/?): Learn more about Fujiwara no Sai.]
[Quest reward: 300 exp, 2 FP with Fujiwara no Sai.]
[Accept Quest: Yes / No]
Irritated,
Hikaru hit yes.
-
By the end of
the day, Hikaru was level 4, and knew more about intricacies of Heian court
life and about the life hundred and fifty years back than he really cared to.
Sai, he found, could go on and on about all of it – so as long as it was about
Go anyway. And if it was about Go… there was a chance it might given Hikaru exp
just to hear it, quest or not.
While Hikaru
still resented the fact that his awesome videogame life turned out to be about Go after all, he couldn’t deny that there
was a sort of thrill, watching the EXP rack up. Only… after level 4, it had
kind of stalled.
“I think
it might help… if you learned how to play Go?” Sai offered hesitantly and
eagerly at the same time. “I could teach you, and we could play – and your
level will surely rise even faster than with stories!”
Hikaru
narrowed his eyes at him because he was so onto him, but… Sai probably had a
point. Except Hikaru wasn’t sure if he even wanted to bother with it. What was
the point in learning Go, just to get levels in something no one but him – and
Sai – would ever even know about? It was like playing solitaire, but with more
hallucinations.
Hikaru
glanced up at the [LVL 99+] sitting atop Sai’s head and narrowed his eyes
further. That, he could admit freely, kind of ticked him off. Everything about
the whole thing ticked him off. His own [LVL 4] ticked him off.
… he wanted
more levels.
“Damnit,”
Hikaru muttered. “Fine, goddamn it. I’m going to learn Go, then. And screw
my life anyway!”
-
Sai, it
turned out, sucked as a teacher – he talked terms and used words Hikaru didn’t
understand and kept leaping ahead on all the explanations and when Hikaru
snapped at him about it, he got all flustered and then could get nothing at all
across. So, in the end, Hikaru ditched him as teacher, and found himself some actually
Go classes.
“It’s a
bit unusual to see someone so young interested in go,” Shirakawa asked
curiously. “You’re a beginner?”
“Yeah, I
guess,” Hikaru said, morosely staring above the man’s head.
[Go
Professional]
[Shirakawa Michio]
[LVL 33.]
[HP 32 / MP 634]
“Do you
mind if I ask you why you’re interested in Go?” Shirakawa asked, smiling
encouragingly.
“It’s a
game,” Hikaru shrugged and sighed at himself. The whole thing was so lame.
“It’s
not lame – look at all of these people, wanting to learn Go!” Sai
enthused, leaning in to look in on near by games. “Everyone is so excited
and dedicated! This is wonderful!”
Hikaru sighed
again and Shirakawa smiled. “Well, how about we start with the
basics?” the man said, and then motioned to the goban at Hikaru’s left.
“I’ll put some problems for you here, see if you can figure out how to
solve them, alright?”
Hikaru
watched dully ads the man set out some black and white stones on board and, of
course… there was a quest.
[Tsumego]
[Tsumego are life and death problems in Go, usually local problems that can be
solved with one or more moves. Tsumego are among the best ways to improve in
Go!]
[Quest (1/?): Solve 10 simple Tsumego problems.]
[Quest reward: 500 exp]
[Accept Quest: Yes / No]
Hikaru
blinked and leaned in. That was the most exp any one quest had given him so
far. “Are Tsumego really the best way to improve in go?” Hikaru asked
from Shirakawa.
“They
are a very good way to improve, yes,” Shirakawa agreed and finished
setting the board. “Though, one should never knock of good old fashioned game either. Now, let me see if you can
solve these ones?”
Sai leaned in
while Hikaru scanned the board. “You need to surround white with black to
capture white stones and territory,” the ghost whispered and Hikaru almost
elbowed him in the face because goddamnit, he wasn’t an idiot, he so got this.
It took him
about a minute to figure out all ten problems.
[Tsumego]
[Tsumego are life and death problems in Go, usually local problems that can be
solved with one or more moves. Tsumego are among the best ways to improve in
Go!]
[Quest complete!]
[Quest reward: 500 exp]
Hikaru dinged and Sai did a happy little dance in
congratulations beside him. It took some effort for Hikaru not to preen. Level 5, hell
yeah!
Shirakawa
nodded proudly. “Well done,” he said and for a moment Hikaru thought
he too had seen the level up flash. But the pro was staring at the board, not
him. “You got the basics well in hand, I see. I have to look in on others,
but if you’d like, I can think of few more Tsumego problems for you in the mean
while.”
“Yes,
please!” Hikaru said eagerly. “Um, hey, actually – is there a way for
me to do Tsumego on my own, though? Like, at home? They, uh,” he shrugged
awkwardly because it wasn’t as if he could say they seem like good way to
get some exp. “They seem fun.”
Shirakawa
grinned, obviously delighted by his enthusiasm. “There are countless of
Tsumego books on sale – I might even have one with me I could show you. The
problems might be bit too high level for a beginner, but it should give you
idea what to look for,” he said. “Just hold that thought for a
moment.”
Hikaru
grinned after him. He was going to get so
much exp…
“Well,”
Sai said beside him with sort of exasperated fondness. “That’s one reason
to learn Go, I suppose.”
Hikaru
grinned and leaned back to wait when he heard in another table, couple of old
guys playing. And one of them.
“Aw,
man, it’s like you’re terrible on purpose!” one of them said. “Look,
I’m taking all of these stones here – it’s like you’re just giving them to me
now. Are you sure you actually know how to play this?”
[The Great
‘Do]
[Akota Kazuki]
[LVL 8]
[HP 24 / MP 3]
Hikaru
blinked as Sai drew an affronted breath and then, of course, there was a quest.
[Side Quests
of Go]
[There are many stories about go, there are many players. Some of them aren’t
so good, and some take pleasure in winding up others. Akota Kazuki is a low
level player who enjoys picking on those with lesser skill. Someone should
really teach that guy a lesson!]
[Quest (1/?): Teach Akota a lesson]
[Quest Reward: 200 exp]
[Accept Quest: Yes / No]
“Let’s
go Hikaru!” Sai said vehemently. “That man is making a mockery of Go,
bullying on weaker players like that! Let me play him – I will teach him a
lesson he will not soon forget!”
Hikaru
grinned. There were side quests! Sweet.
-
“What
are you doing?” Akari asked, leaning in to look on Hikaru’s book.
“Um. Is that… Sudoku?”
“No it’s
not Sudoku!” Hikaru said and glanced at her – and then, of course, up at
her stats.
It was
becoming automatic, to check out everyone stats.
[Student]
[Fujisaki Akari]
[LVL 1]
[HP 12 / MP 6]
No change
there.
“It’s a,
well. It’s Tsumego. I guess it’s a game. Kinda,” Hikaru said awkwardly and
held out the book for her to look at. “They’re Go problems. I’m doing them
because, uh. It’s. Uh. Fun?” And also, because he was currently level 7
and absolutely killing it on the exp gaining.
Sai sighed at
him, shaking his head.
“Fun?”
Akari said, blinking and then sat beside him. “It looks confusing. How do
you play it?”
[Road of
Go]
[Go is a noble, ancient game of territory capture for two players, with
abstract strategies and thousands of ways to play. Originating in ancient China more than 5500 years
ago, it has been played across the ages and it’s popularity shows no signs of
waving!]
[Quest (1/?): Teach basics of Go to Fujisaki Akari]
[Quest reward: 600 exp, 3 FP with Fujisaki Akari]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
Hikaru
blinked. 600 exp just for teaching Akari the basics of Go? That was basically
exp for free. Hell
yeah!
He hit
accept, pretending to be stretching, and then patted the seat beside him.
“Alright, I’ll show you. It’s pretty simple, actually,” he said and
leafed through the Tsumego book to the very first pages, which explained the
basics of Atari. “So, you play with two sets of stone, black and white,
and whoever gets more territory wins. This is how you play…”
Akari stared
at him strangely and then looked down at the book, and then back at him again.
Behind her, Sai was peering in as well, grinning slightly behind his open fan.
Hikaru pretty much ignored both of them. He had a quest to do, and exp to gain.
“So,
this is how you do Tsumego. You gotta capture the other stones, right?” Hikaru
said. “So here’s the problem, and you need to figure out how to get the
stones. Look here, where do you need to put the black stone, to get the
whites?”
“Um,”
Akari said, sounding baffled, and then pointed on the page. “Here?”
“Yeah!”
Hikaru said, nodding excitedly. “Okay, how about on this one?”
“Uh, let
me see,” Akari muttered and scowled at the page, trying to look for a
place to place her hypothetical black stone. “Umm… here? No, wait, that’s
not right, it’s still open on the bottom – it’s here, right?”
Hikaru nodded
and went to turn the page when beside him Akari shifted where she sat – and
then dinged to LVL 2. Hikaru looked up with
surprise, which she answered with a confused blink. Behind her, Sai’s eyebrows
shifted up.
So, other
people could level up too.
That, Hikaru
decided, was kind of awesome.
-
“It’s
amazing, it truly is, that you’re enjoying Go in your… in your own way,”
Sai said and sighed. “But I wish I could play for myself, too. It has been
so long…”
“You’re
already level 99 plus,”
Hikaru muttered, leafing through the Tsumego book. “What’s the point when
you’re already too high level for the thing to comprehend how high your level
even is?”
Sai sighed
again. “I hardly care about the level – it is the actual game I
enjoy,” he mused sadly. “I love Go for the sake of Go, not because of
some… raking system. I enjoy the game, the struggle, the intricacy of strategy
and delicacy of planning. Oh, I wish I could play again…”
Hikaru eyed
him for a moment and then closed the Tsumego book. Well, ranking or not, Sai
was a player. And yeah, Hikaru enjoyed Go… differently, but that didn’t mean
that Sai didn’t enjoy it in his way too. And, Hikaru had to admit, he’d
probably miss it a bit if he had to stop now.
He’d gotten
kind of used to it now, the game. Go and his life both. It was probably a bit
like that to Sai too.
“Hmm,”
he hummed and folded his arms. “I wonder… do you think I’ll get exp from
actual playing Go?”
The look of
delighted excitement on Sai’s face told him clear enough that it was worth
enough to try.
-
Hikaru used
his allowance to buy a plastic, magnetic goban and it was actually worth every
yen. Even as Sai made all sorts of faces at the flimsy little thing, he was
instantly up for a game – at which point Hikaru figured out the actual sheer difference between their levels.
Sai was way,
way, way above level 99, probably. It took him absolutely no effort at all to kick Hikaru’s ass right off
the magnetic goban. It was just few moves, and Hikaru was just demolished.
However…
[You’ve
gained 100 exp!] floated in front of Hikaru for a moment, even as Sai giggled
to himself sheepishly over his frankly brutal victory. Hikaru blinked at the
exp notification and then looked at the tiny goban between him and Sai and then
looked at Sai.
“Again,”
Hikaru said, and they played again, Sai gleefully pointing out devastating
moves for Hikaru to be destroyed by. That game was even shorter than the first
one because apparently, mercy just wasn’t in Sai’s vocabulary.
[You’ve gained
100 exp!] a floating notification informed Hikaru afterwards, which rather
soothed the sting of his quick defeat.
Sai utterly
destroyed him on the magnetic goban for couple more times, before he finally
calmed down enough to notice the look of unholy glee in Hikaru’s face – and the
fact that it had been Hikaru, not Sai, demanding another game.
“This,”
Hikaru decided, grinning widely. “Is awesome.”
“Oh?”
Sai said, eying him and then the goban and then at the stats above Hikaru’s
face. Then he narrowed his eyes and sat on his knees beside Hikaru. “Hm.
Let us try something different,” he said then thoughtfully and motioned at
the Goban. “Put as many black stones on the Goban as you please, Hikaru.
I’m going to show you… Shidougo.”
“Shidougo?”
Hikaru asked.
Sai smiled,
sweet and smug. “A teaching game.”
[Road of
Go]
[There are many ways to learn and teach Go, and as many styles of tutelage as
there are Go players. There is no right or wrong way to play Go – there is only
Go.]
[Quest (4/?): Learn the basic of a Teaching Game.]
[Quest reward: 600 exp, 1 FP with Fujiwara no Sai]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
Shidougo,
Hikaru figured out about twenty minutes – and 1200 exp later because Shidougo
games gave triple the exp compared to normal games – was freaking best thing ever!
-
“What
are you doing?” Sai asked.
Hikaru had
his eyes shut tightly and his fingers pressed into his forehead, and his whole
face was scrunched up in concentration. “I’m trying,” he said,
“To add a leader board.”
“What is
that?” Sai asked curiously, tilting his head to the side.
“It’s a
ranking list about the top players,” Hikaru answered, fingernails digging
into his skin as he concentrated. “I wanna know who are the strongest
players. So. Leaderboard. Leaderboard leaderboard leaderboard…”
“Oh,
that sounds interesting,” Sai said, shifting closer. “I want to know
who is the strongest player out there too!”
So they
concentrated together, Hikaru trying to twist his whole brain around until
finally Sai let out a small gasp. Grinning, Hikaru opened his eyes and there it
was, a new window right in front of him.
[General
Go Rankings, Japan]
[Sorted by: level]
[Fujiwara no Sai, LVL 99+]
[Toya Koyo, LVL 95]
[Kuwabara Kichirou, LVL 94]
[Zama Gorou, LVL 91]
[Ogata Seiji, LVL 89]
…
None of the
names meant anything, except for the first one and Sai’s name was greyed out on
the leaderboard, naturally, seeing that he was dead and all. But there was a
leaderboard! And with some concentration Hikaru even managed to tweak it a bit,
so that he got pro rankings into it and then, after some more concentration,
ages.
“Hm…
Toya Koyo,” Sai hummed, tapping the name below his on the leaderboard.
“I would very much like to play him, if he really is the strongest.”
Hikaru didn’t
listen – he was too busy with another leader board window, sorting the rankings
by age, eager to see where he, as newly dinged level 11, ranked up against his age
mates.
[Go
Rankings, Japan]
[Sorted by: Age: 12]
[Toya Akira, LVL 23]
[Nakajina Akane LVL 21]
[Yashiro Kiyoharu, LVL 15]
[Fukui Yuuta, LVL 14]
[Shindo Hikaru, LVL 11]
…
Hikaru stared
at the list. Honestly, he hadn’t really expected to see himself anywhere near
the top – but he was the fifth! He was ranked the fifth! Fifth strongest 12
year old in Japan!
“Well,”
he said, coughing. “I guess not that many twelve year olds play Go. I mean.
It’s an old man’s game.”
“Hmm,”
Sai answered, casting a thoughtful sideways glance at him, eyes narrowed
slightly. He looked like he was about to say something, and then thought better
of it. “Perhaps,” he said instead noncommittally and then tapped his
folded fan against his lips. “Toya Akira and Toya Koyo. I wonder if
they’re related.”
“Same
family maybe? Who knows,” Hikaru hummed and narrowed his eyes at the rank
list. Fifth strongest twelve year old in Japan…
Wonder what
he would have to do, to become the first?
-
Couple days
after Hikaru had added leader boards into his life – and Sai had became
obsessed with the name of Toya Koyo – Akari dragged Hikaru to Haze School
Festival.
“We’re
both going to go to Haze, right, so we should go have a look,” Akari said
excitedly. “They might have Go club, you know! That’d be pretty cool,
wouldn’t it, if we could join same club?”
“Go
club?” Hikaru asked, idly letting her drag him along. “Huh. Didn’t
think people did Go as like… club activity.” Wonder how much exp he could
get from joining a club?
And of course
the moment he thought of it…
[Road of
Go]
[There are hundreds and thousands of small and big communities build around the
enjoyment of game Go. From study groups to high school extra curricular clubs,
from Go salons to professional Go associations, there are many Go-enthusiastic
societies out there!]
[Quest: Join Haze School Go Club]
[Quest reward: 400 exp, 5 FP with Tsutsui Kimihiro]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
Hikaru hit yes with a stretch and then followed Akari
into the general bustle of the festival, curious to see what kind of club a Go
club was. The festival was in full swing around them, with snacks being cooked
all around, and there were a whole bunch of people, peeking into stalls and
asking questions about clubs.
Where was the
go club though? Hikaru could see volley ball and baseball and basketball and
every other kind of ball too – he could even see the Shogi club banner being
waved about. But no sight of Go club.
“I need
a navigation system,” Hikaru muttered and wondered if he could force it
into existence. He’d managed to add the leader boards…
“Hikaru,
Hikaru!” Sai said excitedly, nudging at his side. “Over there – there
is a boy with a goban!”
“Akari,”
Hikaru said, nudging her shoulder in turn, and together they head to check the
go club out. The boy at the goban was showing a old man some Tsumego – and just
like that, Hikaru decided that he was going to be great friend with the guy.
[Haze Middle
High Go Club Captain]
[Tsutsui Kimihiro]
[LVL 12]
[HP 16 / MP 34]
So, the guy
he needed to talk to about getting the next [Road of Go] quest done, and which
would get him 5 friendship points with the guy. Sweet. After checking the guy’s
stats curiously, Hikaru leaned in to see the Tsumego on the board. It wasn’t a
familiar one and he couldn’t tell the solution right away.
“Haha,
it’s way too hard for me,” the old guy said. “Ah, man, they make some
tricky problems. You got me beat, kid.”
“It
would take me a bit time to figure it out too,” Tsutsui said, smiling. He
had a book in hand, a Tsumego book – pretty thick one too. Hikaru stared at it
covetously as Tsutsui leafed through the pages. “Do you want me to make
you another one? There are still some lower level ones I could try.
"Nah,
that’s alright – I’ve got to see if I can find my granddaughter somewhere in
this hullabaloo,” the old guy said with a shake of his head and stood up.
“Hope you find some members for your club, kid.”
“Yeah,”
Tsutsui said and then looked up at Hikaru and Akari with surprise.
“Hello,” he said and brightened up. “Hey are you going to be
Haze students? Are you interested in Go?”
“Yeah, I
guess,” Akari said and laughed. “I’m not like Hikaru though – he’s a
total nut about this stuff.”
“Hey,”
Hikaru said and pointed at the board. “Can I try solving this one?”
Higher level problems gave better exp.
“Yeah,
yeah, sure, go ahead!” Tsutsui said, almost bouncing in his seat. “My
name is Tsutsui – I run the Haze Middle School Go Club. I can’t even tell you
how happy I am that someone’s interested! Have you been playing Go for
long?”
“Couple
of weeks?” Akari admitted, leaning onto the table. “Hikaru kind of
dragged me into it.”
“Yeah,
kicking and screaming because you were so
obviously against the
idea,” Hikaru muttered, rolling his eyes before looking intensely at the
board. He’d gotten in total almost 2000 points of exp just from teaching Akari
and showing her Tsumego and stuff – even if she hadn’t been into it, it was
well worth the effort.
“Yeah,
well. It’s kind of fun, I guess,” Akari shrugged. “Beats breaking and
entering.”
“Um,”
Tsutsui said, looking between them. “If you’ve only been playing for
couple of weeks… maybe I could make you some simpler problems? I got plenty,
and I got some rewards for the simple Tsumego too - you don’t have to try the
too hard ones –”
“Here,”
Hikaru said and pointed at the board. “First hand goes here.”
[You’ve
gained 150 exp!]
“Well
done, Hikaru,” Sai commented proudly and Hikaru grinned. Got it right in
one. Hell yeah.
Tsutsui
blinked and looked down. “… that’s right,” he said and pushed his
glasses higher up on his nose too. “Huh. So um. How long have you been
playing?” he asked.
Hikaru
shrugged and grinned wider. “Can you show me some more Tsumego?” he
asked, because there was some good exp two be had here, and he didn’t even have
to buy a Tsumego book for it! “Gimme all of the hard problems – gimme the
hardest ones!”
“The
hardest ones?” Tsutsui asked and leafed through the book. “Are you
sure? There’s some pretty hard ones here… hmm here’s one. If you can do this
one, then you’re probably the same level as Toya Akira.”
“Nah,
there’s still, like, twelve levels in between,” Hikaru said automatically
and then blinked with surprise, looking at Tsutsui with surprise. “Toya
Akira?” he asked. “You know Toya Akira?”
“Well,
not personally or anything, but everyone who’s really into Go knows about him at least,” Tsutsui said and
started setting down the stones. “I think he’s going to try and become pro
this year – I mean, everyone thought he’d do it last year too, but…”
“Pro,”
Hikaru repeated. LVL 23 was good enough to become pro? “Huh,” he
hummed and glanced at Sai who was looking back with interest. Probably everyone
on the top ranks were pro’s too, huh? Shirakawa was level 33… so everyone above
that was probably pro. Except for Sai.
“So that
Toya Akira guy, he’s pretty strong, huh?” Hikaru asked.
“I guess
it’s the effect of being the Meijin’s son,” Tsutsui said somewhat
wistfully. “His whole childhood must’ve been full of Go. You can’t help
but get strong in that kind of environment.”
“Meijin?”
Hikaru asked, blinking.
“Toya
Meijin – I mean, Toya Koyo, his father,” Tsutsui shrugged.
“Um.
What?” Hikaru asked, even as Sai perked up beside him.
“It’s a…
pro title?” Tsutsui asked, giving him a strange, curious look. Then, at Hikaru’s
blank stare, he explained.
Apparently,
there were tournaments and leagues for pro players to actually compete in! and there
were ranking games and stuff, and of course the people did it as their job so
they were playing Go pretty much all the time – but with the tournaments and
stuff, they could earn titles. And money.
Hikaru’s
heart leapt a bit at the thought. Just how much exp could you get by playing
the pros?
“If you
need to be around level twenty three to become professional, then you are still
some ways off,” Sai commented thoughtfully. “And levels take more exp
now, don’t they?”
Yeah, it had
taken three days of nothing but straight Shidougo with Sai to make it to LVL
11. They obviously needed more ways to get exp. He needed
more levels, asap.
Sai sighed.
“Obviously,” he said mournfully. “I want to play Go too,”
he murmured forlornly.
“Hey,
Tsutsui?” Hikaru said, as the LVL 12 finished setting up the stones.
“I want to learn more Go – what are like really good ways to learn Go? And
play it too, but not like,” he looked for a word. “Not like for
real?”
“Um,
what?” Tsutsui asked confusedly. “I mean, uh, Tsumego is a pretty
good way I think, but, I don't… uh, you want to play but not for real? What do
you mean?”
Hikaru
sighed, leaning back a bit. “Actual Go games take too long,” he said.
“And also I don’t want to go out looking for opponents and Akari sucks
–”
“Hey! I
just started!” Akari complained with a pout.
“Yeah,
yeah. So is there like… I don’t know. A playstation game or something I could
play at home?” Hikaru asked with a shrug. “That would make my life so
much simpler. I mean, they got machines than can play chess, right?”
“Yes,
but Go is lot more complicated than chess,” Tsutsui said and pushed his
glasses higher up his nose, looking thoughtful. “Hmm. I don’t know about
playstation games, I’ve never played myself, but I heard you can play Go over
the internet? I haven’t tried, but I’ve seen the Netgo presentations at
conventions and stuff.”
“Conventions?”
Hikaru asked excitedly. “Netgo? What’s that? Where are the conventions –
are there any near by, or soon?”
“Ugh,
geez,” someone muttered and they all looked up to see a red haired boy in
a haori walking past them. “Go is for nerds,”
he muttered derisively at them and then walked away without another word, a
cigarette in hand.
Hikaru
blinked after him and then glanced up at the boy’s head.
[Haze Middle School Shogi Club Captain]
[Kaga Tetsuo]
[LVL 14]
[HP 34 / MP 12]
“Like
you’re the one to speak, Kaga!” Tsutsui called after him and shook his
head. “Don’t mind him, that’s the Shogi Club captain – used to play Go
himself, but something happened, I guess, so he’s a bit of a – he’s kind of
cross about it.”
“Huh,”
Hikaru answered. “He’s a better player than you and he plays Shogi? Man
what a waste.”
“How do
you know he’s better than me?” Tsutsui asked, blinking, looking only a bit
insulted.
Hikaru
shrugged. Truth was in the levels. “So, about the conventions and Netgo
and all…”
-
Hikaru went
to one Go convention – a small event at some hotel where a couple of pros were
playing and there were whole bunch of teaching games. There were also
exhibitions about Ho and stuff, with gobans and stuff on sale and so on. It
mostly looked like excuse for lot of old, rich looking guys to get drunk and
appear classy about it.
“Oh,
this is exciting,” Sai said. “Look, look, they’re playing Go over
there!”
They were
playing Go everywhere,
Hikaru thought, shoving his hands into his pockets. His eyes lingered for a
moment on a table that had bunch of Go tutorial and Tsumego books on display,
he’d definitely stop buy and see if they were any cheaper than in bookstores,
but that could wait.
Time to see
if he could get some exp here.
So he
wandered around the convention, listening on couple of teaching games - [You’ve
gained 50 exp!] – walking by some random go discussions – [You’ve gained 50
exp!] – and watching part of the actual main presentation, where the pro’s were
playing and some commentators were explaining everything – [You’ve gained 50
exp!]. Overall, it didn’t seem there was much exp to be gained in the place.
“But
it’s still so exciting,” Sai said enthusiastically. “All these people
playing go! It’s wonderful. Hikaru, Hikaru, I want to play too, Hikaru could I
just – there’s a board open over there, Hikaru, come on, let’s go play!”
Hikaru looked
and, lo and behold, there was indeed a board open. It was by one of the
teaching games, where a pro was playing amateur and explaining everything he
was doing. Hikaru considered it and then grinned. Teaching game with Sai, plus
a pro right next to him…
[Go
Professional]
[Ogata Seiji]
[LVL 89]
[HP 36 / MP 143]
Oh man, [LVL
89], that was ridiculous. Ogata Seiji though… that seemed familiar somehow.
“Isn’t
he one from the leader board?” Sai asked, his eyes lighting up. “He
is one of the strongest players in Japan!”
Hikaru
sauntered over to the table and after a questioning glance at the pro and
his opponent, took seat beside him. The pro glanced at him curiously but kept
on explaining something about influence and stuff to his student. Listening in
on it, Hikaru took both of the stone bowls and while Sai took seat across him,
he played the first hand.
“…as
opposed to here,” Ogata was saying, pointing at the board, and Hikaru
glanced at the board to see what he meant. “The connection is much firmer
there – play hand here, and white has much more options in the corner, but
here, white is forced to defend.”
“Oh, I
see, I see,” the old amateur guy answered and took a black stone, placing
it where the pro was pointing. “So, I go over there, then. And you go over
– there? Right, Ogata-sensei?”
“That
would be the obvious move, yes,” the pro said and placed white stone
accordingly. “Now, I’m defending my territory here, stopping your advance
– that is how your opponent might play in normal game. However, say I go here
instead,” he moved the white stone. “What would that mean for your
territory here?”
Hikaru leaned
in and got it almost immediately. Ten moves in, and one of black’s clusters
would die, and not much after that the territory would go to white.
[You’ve
gained 50 exp!]
Alright,
maybe it was worth it after all, coming to the convention.
“Hikaru,”
Sai said and pointed at the board between them – as if he too wasn’t paying
more attention to the teaching going beside them. Hikaru glanced at him and
then the board and played Sai’s hand and then his own.
So he and Sai
played, while Hikaru watched the teaching game going on slowly beside them. If
Ogata or his student minded, they neither said anything abut Hikaru’s nosiness
– if anything, the student seemed pleased by the interest.
Hikaru, in
meantime, racked exp in the hundreds, both from Sai teaching him and watching
the pro teach the old guy. By the time the teaching game finished beside them
with the pro explaining some stuff about yose, giddy Hikaru was damn sure he
was close to level 12.
“Thanks
for the lesson, Ogata-sensei, I really appreciate it,” the old guy said as
he stood up.
“It was
my pleasure, Tsukuda-san,” the pro said, and then, as the old man hurried
away, probably to brag to his old man friends about how he played a pro, the
pro himself turned on Hikaru.
“Well,
did you learn something?” the man asked thoughtfully and then looked down
at Hikaru’s and Sai’s game and just – froze.
“Yup,”
Hikaru grinned. “Yeah, I learned a bunch, thanks.”
“Is this
– is this a game you played with someone?” the man asked, motioning at the
board.
“Um.
Yeah?” Hikaru said and then stopped. Right. Sai. Invisible ghost
hallucination who wasn’t actually there. “I mean – yeah. Obviously,”
he coughed and quickly reached out to clear the board, avoiding looking at Sai.
“No, no,
wait – let me have a look,” the pro said and leaned in. “Your teacher
is… very good. Is he a professional?”
“Ah, no,
not at all,” Hikaru said awkwardly, leaning away a bit. “Just some
guy I uh –” he looked desperately around for excuse and – there, computer!
“It’s just over the internet. Netgo, you know.”
“Hm,”
the pro said, thoughtful. “I didn’t know there were that strong players in
Netgo.”
“There’s
all sorts of people,” Hikaru said, as if he had any idea, and quickly
scooted away. “Listen, thanks for letting me watch your game and all, but
I really gotta go now. Thanks, man, bye!”
“Man?”
the pro asked, scowling, but Hikaru was already on his feet and running.
“Hey, wait -!”
Sai hummed,
flowing beside Hikaru as he fled. “I would have liked to play that
man,” he said wistfully. “He must have great skill.”
Well yeah,
obviously – the guy was a pro, Hikaru thought. Well, who knew. Maybe the guy
would now start playing Netgo and once they got a computer and stuff, Sai could
play the guy there.
“Oh,
really, Hikaru?” Sai asked, excitedly. “Can we get one right
now?”
-
[Road of
Go]
[With the dawn of information technology, even the ancient games are swept
along with the rising tide! There are now ways to play people in distant lands,
all at the bush of a button.]
[Quest (14/?): Play 5 games of Netgo]
[Quest reward: 500 exp]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
[Thousand
Years]
[Having joined the modern era with Shindo Hikaru, Fujiwara no Sai has entered a
whole new world of technology and possibility. Where before the only
possibility play lay in playing for others, there are now new means to play –
and to establish reputation.]
[Quest (11/?): Teach Fujiwara no Sai to play Netgo]
[Quest Reward: 300 exp, 3 FP with Fujiwara no Sai]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
-
“Mom can
I get a computer?” Hikaru asked, bright eyed and imploring.
“A…
computer?” Shindo Mitsuko asked with surprise. “What would you use a
computer for?”
“For… learning
stuff?” Hikaru asked hopefully. “And playing Go? You can play Go
online you know, so I just need a computer and internet and then I can play as
much as I want!”
“Just a
computer and internet connection, huh?” she said, not sounding very
impressed. “Just that?”
“Yup,
just that,” Hikaru said, grinning.
“Hm,”
she answered and turned back to the food. “No.”
“But
mo-om!”
Well
thankfully computer classrooms, library computers and in pinch internet cafés
were a thing.
-
“Hm,”
Hikaru looked at the screen. It had taken bit of time, but he’d sort of figured
it out – with the help of an over bearing librarian. He now had a nick on Netgo
called no.5 and he’d even played the five games
for his next [Road of Go] quest, though it was still a bit too slow for his tastes.
It turned out that Netgo games weren’t actually that much faster than normal
games.
They did give
exp though, so that was fun.
“Now,
for the next one,” Hikaru muttered and logged out of no.5 account, and then started making
another one.
Sai leaned
in, staring in wordless amazement as Hikaru wrote down, letter by letter, s, a,
i. “Hikaru?” he asked, shifting in anxious excitement. “Really,
Hikaru? Really, really?”
“Really, really,” Hikaru said with a grin,
as the quest reward announcement popped into existence. “Now let’s see
what I can do with this…” because quest or not, just watching Sai play
wasn’t going to get him his sweet, sweet exp. Some optimisation had to be done
here.
“There,
you play that one,” Hikaru said, selecting a opponent for sai at random. “I’m going to try
something.”
“Yes!”
Sai gasped excitedly and pointed at the screen. “17-4!”
[Thousand
Years]
[Having joined the modern era with Shindo Hikaru, Fujiwara no Sai has entered a
whole new world of technology and possibility. Where before the only
possibility play lay in playing for others, there are now new means to play –
and to establish reputation.]
[Quest complete!]
[Quest Reward: 300 exp, 3 FP with Fujiwara no Sai]
[Thousand
Years]
[In Netgo there are thousands of opponents from all over the world. At the
start of his road of playing Go anonymously online, Fujiwara no Sai is now able
to play all of them.]
[Quest (12/?): Help Fujiwara no Sai start his reputation in Netgo]
[Quest Reward: 300 exp]
[Accept quest: Yes / No]
Hikaru hit
yes and placed the stones for Sai and then attempted to shift the internet
window a bit. It took some zooming in and out and he lost the window for a
moment much to Sai’s annoyance, but eventually he managed to resize the window
so that it only took part of the screen.
Then it
turned out he could play in multiple internet windows.
“Um,”
Sai said, watching him as Hikaru grinned like a lunatic, opening multiple
windows of Netgo and sizing them just so that he had 3 windows to Sai’s one.
“What are you doing, Hikaru?”
“Grinding,”
Hikaru said with glow of unholy glee in his eyes, logging in as no.5 and starting 3 simultaneous games.
It didn’t
even matter that he did terribly on all three. The exp gain was truly, truly sweet. And, if he paid
just enough attention to Sai’s game, he even got exp from that too.
It wasn’t
much after that he dinged.
[Number 5.]
[Shindo Hikaru]
[LVL 12]
[HP 15 / MP 76]
Hell yeah.
Internet was freaking best.
- - - -
Random Hikago Eveeent! :D
I’m still hoping to write at least something Hikago related every day of the following week, I have some of a story for tomorrow, we’ll see if I can finish it tomorrow. If not, then there will be artsy crafty stuff at any rate :3
(also yeah this is kinda unfinished but it kinda works as first piece of series in terrible need of sequel, maybe? I will probably continue this one day, but I kinda wanted to do different stories for different day, so… yeah)