I got upto the Ogata part and had to bow out coz I agreed with them. That reporter was trying for a scoop where there was none, and picking scabs which were clearly private.

Good.

This is probably the best OS I read so far in the HikaGo fandom in ffnet. (well, in fact I first read it in ao3 but I have no account there). That was... wonderful. I was kinda Sai/Kouyou but it kinda wasn't. And even if it is tooootally unrealistic that Touya-sensei managed to paint (or sort of) Sai, it was tooootally the right thing to write in this story.

Ugh, why are you so talented when I am so bad ? Life is totally unfair.

Loved it ! (gonna check now if you've written some other fics...)

Lilu.

I love your fic. It's a refreshing outlook and very different from other HnG fic that I've read. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us.

Amazing story. I love how Touya Meijin turned to painting after the game with Sai.

my, my...not what I expected but Touya Kouyo really knew his rival, huh. So much to the point Hikaru could recognize the image of Sai he conjured by himself. I really enjoy this story! :D

impressive.

What my mind conjured after reading your story (a spin-off):

Seeing how Koyo long to see Sai, and for his own curiosity Hikaru started to look at portraits of long ago court officials, specially from Fujiwara family. Some of the people looked familiar, some had Sai' nose, his eyes ect. He would give up if not one of his friends, who become a police officer that makes phantom faces. With his help and special computer program he was finally able to produce the desired image.

As Akira's friend Hikaru was invited to Toya Koyo's birthday. He stayed to help with cleaning, so was one of the last to leave the house. Before he went out he give Koyo a package in a plain brown paper.

A bit surprised, but understanding the need of privacy Koyo opened it in his own study. It was a printed portrait, but looked as if painted with brush strokes. It shows a man from Heian period, sitting by a goban. It was singed Fujiwara no Sai (927-961, 1837-1861, 1999-2003).

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Thanks for sharing this great story. And for Hikaru in it.

I really liked the story, both for the character depictions and for the atmosphere. My favourite part was Hikaru's reaction at discovering the drawings: "Shindou-san picked up some of the pages to examine them more closely. At first he looked puzzled, then a flash of startled recognition passed across his face before he abruptly returned the papers to Yamamoto.".

Also, does Akira's reaction to Hikaru mean that Hikaru never told him about Sai?

Absolutely brilliant. The pacing, the execution, and the narration were all spot-on. The mystery was sweet and sucked me in. The language is very clear and readily understood, which I like in any piece. Unique, imaginative, inventive. Haunting. A great read!

Absolutely beautiful, arresting. The imprint that Sai leaves on the Go world, and then the Art world in his brief, shining existence in the modern era. He's destined to remain a mystery unsolved to all but perhaps Hikaru. To think Touya Kouyo's attempts to find something of Sai churned out such a masterpiece; the journal entries at the end were so evocative that I almost cried. Loved reading this - I enjoyed every single word.

That was lovely and unique. Thank you.

Waaaah, this was _beautiful_! Touya Koyo discovering Sai through his Go... And becoming quite a famous painter. I think it was a very neat touch having Yamamoto be interested in Touya Sr. solely for his artistic skills rather than his Go fame. I was just as 'Huh?' as Akira, when Yamamoto said that the explanation would be completely lost on him.

But I thought the ending was most heartbreaking. Well, heartbreaking might be the wrong expression, but it touched something deep inside me. How Touya kept replaying one and the same game, and somehow got closer and closer to the truth of Sai. Question: Is 267 some kind of special number, or did you choose it on random? (Yeah, that's my inner Mathematician coming out: no numbers without meaning :)

Anyway, an awesome story and narrated absolutely masterfully.

Sakiku

very cool, I enjoyed reading it

You so sucked me in! I'd love to read more. Off to read your other stories keep up the good work.