So, Hikaru gets to meet up with people this chapter. Excited?

Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.

It was a week after Sai appeared that Hikaru very first realized that something Very Bad was happening.

Now, some might call Hikaru oblivious (and he certainly wasn't denying anything), but there were some things that Go players just knew about other Go players. Namely, the fact that they were all crazy, determined, and slightly obsessive. He knew this. Once a professional Go player got wind of an exciting new talent or prospective player, it was like blood in the water. They fuckin' swarmed.

So, when Hikaru heard some insei he vaguely recognized from his infrequent visits to the Japanese Go Association talking (loudly) about some anonymous player named sai who was taking the NetGo world by storm, he immediately knew that nothing good could come of it.

Hikaru was waiting by the Go Association's front desk for Touya. They'd met a few years ago, and Hikaru had immediately latched on to the other boy, claiming that it was his duty as Touya's friend to get him to loosen up. Touya had been suitably startled, and had tried very politely to avoid him-until he realized that Hikaru knew how to play Go. Their beautiful friendship began with Touya asking him to his father's Go salon, and was cemented with a celebratory ramen run afterwards. Touya had taken the pro exam last year, and he was pretty busy with his official matches, but Hikaru always showed up at least twice a week to drag Touya off to do something entirely unrelated to Go.

He was in his usual spot, leaning against the help desk, when he heard the insei talking.

"I'm telling you, Isumi, this guy was really strong," the shorter boy insisted. "He crushed me like it was nothing."

The taller boy (Isumi, apparentally) sighed a little. "I'm sure it was just one of the pros, Waya," he murmured, paying more attention to the book of what looked like kifu in his hand.

Waya clenched his jaw. "No, it wasn't anyone here, I've never seen any kifu that looked remotely like the way this guy played. His joseki was really old, for some reason. I don't know how to describe it." He waited a moment, apparently waiting for Isumi to chime in, but the taller boy just hummed. "He's undefeated on NetGo, and he never plays anyone more than once. I've challenged him to, like, fourteen rematches, but he keeps ignoring me!"

Hikaru narrowed his eyes. Sai had been getting a lot of challenges from one particular player lately...zelda, was it? So, did that mean Waya was zelda? And if he was zelda, did that mean other insei played NetGo, too? Other professionals, even? And how would they be able to tell the difference? Who's to say that Sai hadn't already played with professionals, professionals who had a reputation for being obsessively interested in new talent? If he had, they would probably be really interested in who sai really was. And if anyone found out, they'd probably try to drag him into the professional world, whether he wanted to go or not.

...Nikai was going to kill him when he found out.

It was Hikaru's day off.

Now, normally, this one day of the week was the day that Nikai really, really looked forward to. Don't get him wrong, he liked Hikaru well enough, but there was something to be said for not having the half-blonde chattering in his ear the entire time he worked. Lately, he hadn't even been working, just playing NetGo with Sai the Ghost (which Nikai could admit to being extremely grateful for; it kept them both quietly occupied and kept him from having to play for the spirit).

Which led him to his current dilemma.

With Hikaru gone, there was nothing to occupy Sai. The ghost had been hanging around Nikai's shoulders all morning, sighing with a melancholy that Nikai knew wasn't genuine. Because of their connection, it came across as more annoying than guilt-inducing. And yet, somehow, it remained just as effective.

Sai's NetGo account proudly proclaimed that the ghost was on a 35 match winning streak, and Nikai couldn't help but be reluctanly impressed. He supposed he should have seen it coming; after all, Sai was so (ridiculously) passionate about the game that he'd killed himself over it. It made sense for him to be good at it.

Of course, he thought grumpily as he placed the dots (stones, Sai reprimanded), that didn't make it any more interesting for Nikai himself. Go was a game far and away from his understanding, and the random formations made absolutely no sense to him. He couldn't even tell if Sai was winning, though he thought he might be, just from the fact that there were a lot more of Sai's dots than the other player's. Still, the game was pretty boring. During every board game he'd played with his family (back when he was sixteen, before everything went to shit), there'd been a lot of taunting between the players, but nobody spoke during Go. It was a respectful game, Sai told him; which basically translated to silent and uninteresting.

Sai's running commentary wasn't helping, either. The ghost kept pointing out his opponent's moves to Nikai, occasionally asking him where he thought Sai's dots should go. It was irritating, but Nikai humored him, studying the board for fifteen minutes (he deserved to wait for putting him through this), and then casually pointing out a spot where bunch of Sai's dots had the opportunity to surround one of the other guy's dots. It was something he'd seen Sai do when he played with Hikaru, and the spirit had beamed with delirious happiness and asked him to put the dot there.

It continued on in this vein for about an hour, when Hikaru suddenly showed up with a friend.

The half-blonde looked a little nervous, and was overcompensating by smiling a lot and laughing. He told Nikai that he'd brought his friend (he introduced him as Akira, but called him Touya) to see the store, because the other boy needed to loosen up. The other boy (who looked, admittedly, like a shy private school kid) took offense to that, but Hikaru just rolled his eyes dramatically and told him to stop lecturing, geez, Touya, you're already enough of an old man. It was about ready to devolve into a shouting match when Hikaru realized that Nikai was on the laptop with Sai, at which point he went pale and asked if he could talk to his boss about his schedule.

He had a feeling that the only reason he used that excuse was because the schedule was in an entirely different room.

He agreed, though, standing up and leaving the laptop behind, while Sai moaned about how rude it was to leave a match in the middle of the game without even warning your opponent, but Nikai ignored him. Chances were, the guy would get bored and resign; he certainly wasn't going to ruin the ghost's winning streak just to chat with his employee.

"We've got a huge problem," Hikaru exclaimed as soon as the door shut behind him. Akira was carefully inspecting the paintings on the walls, ears still a little red from Hikaru's teasing. "Okay, so I was at the Go Association today to pick up Akira, and I heard some of these insei talking about sai, like his games on NetGo and everything. Apparently, people are getting really interested in who sai is, and professional Go players are like pirhana, so I think it would be best if we layed off the Internet for a while."

He said it all in one big breath, and it took Nikai and Sai a minute to understand what he was talking about. When Sai's eyes filled with horror at the thought of having to give up NetGo, Nikai immediately pointed a finger at the ghost and said, in his sternest voice, "Do not panic."

All that really accomplished was to make Sai's eyes fill with tears, so he quickly switched tracks.

"I'm not gonna make you give up NetGo, Sai, that would be bad for your health and mine." The ghost blinked uncomprehendingly for a few moments, and Nikai huffed; he wasn't always a bastard. He turned to Hikaru. "Explain the pirhana comparison."

"They swarm new talent!" Hikaru exploded, as though that explained everything. "If they find out about NetGo's sai, they're gonna go crazy trying to find you! Go players are insane!"

Nikai couldn't help the dry, "I am fully aware of this," that slipped out of his mouth. "In any case," he plowed on, ignoring indignant protests from both his pests, "they really have no way of finding Sai, no matter how badly they may want to. And I'm not entirely sure that they would even be interested. Not to mention the fact that Sai's invisible."

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest and sighed angrily through his nose. "If they try and find Sai," he said slowly, as though explaining to a toddler, "and they find you instead, they'll assume that you're Sai, and they will drag you into the professional Go world kicking and screaming, where they will likely devour your carcass."

Nikai rolled his eyes. "Cute," he muttered, jerking the door open.

"I am serious!" Hikaru exclaimed behind him.

Sai covered his mouth with his sleeve to hide his smile from Hikaru.

The younger boy was quite hilarious when he was worried, especially when he was worried about Nikai. In the scarce week that Sai had known his host, he'd come to the realization that Nikai was quite adept at taking care of himself. He'd been told that people rarely had servants in the modern world, instead doing almost everything themselves, or with the help of their family. He didn't know where Nikai's family was, or even if he had any; but if he did, they certainly weren't helping him. Not that Sai could see, at least. He'd tried to bring up that line of questioning before, but Nikai always changed the subject when it came up. Sai could admit to being easily distracted, and he couldn't help but lose his train of thought when Nikai suddenly began to show him certain marvels. Like toasters. Or televisions. Or why some people in the modern world dressed so indecently (Sai had been scandalized the first time he saw a girl with a short skirt on).

He had a feeling that Nikai was avoiding the subject because he was uncomfortable with it, but he was certain he would find out eventually. They had the rest of Nikai's life together, after all.

Still, it was strange and a little comforting to see someone other than himself show concern for his host, even if he didn't really think that it was warranted. Nikai wasn't worried at all as being confused for Sai, so Sai wouldn't concern himself with it either. He wasn't going to jeopardize his only opportunity to play Go (though he was truly eager to teach his host).

He'd been so proud when Nikai had pointed out the move that would capture one of white's stones. He hadn't thought the boy had been paying attention at all when he and Hikaru played. It wasn't a very impressive move, but for Nikai to have made the effort at all filled Sai with happiness.

There may just be hope for Nikai after all.

Slightly longer chapter this time, and Nikai doesn't yet realize how truly insane most Go players are. Ah, well.

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