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Blind Luck2: No Way Back Chapter 12
Blind Luck2: No Way Back
Chapter 12
They let him cry for a while and then the owner offered him tea and a few tissues and with those some semblance of normality returned. The owner and some of the other patrons tried to console him with some platitudes, for which Sai thanked them sincerely.
Then someone suggested the blind man play 2 games simultaneously to take his mind of it, and another suggested he not bothering with 2 or 3 but go straight for 4 simultaneous games. It all sounded great to the blind man, who gave them a watery smile.
They set up the 4 Gobans and soon Sai was sitting with a sandwich in his hand and 4 glowing Gobans in his mind, each with a 5 stone head start for his 4 opponents. All thoughts of where he belonged were forgotten in favor of the black and white stones and the near infinite permutations in which they could be placed on the four as yet unplayed boards.
xXXx
The four simultaneous games were a lot of fun. Sai had decided not to worry too much about winning or losing or playing seriously or not. As it happened he won all four games, but he knew that if he had played anywhere near seriously he would have done it in less than half the time. But he really didn't want to win faster; he wanted to enjoy the games and make them last. And maybe create a great looking board.
He didn't do so good on the great looking part, having had to give up that notion in favor of actually winning the games. No, he wasn't quite able to give up on winning, he'd found.
This time his opponents wanted to discuss the games, and they quickly made him admit he had not been playing full out. For a moment Sai thought they'd be angry at him, but the owner (who had played the second board) assured him it was fine, and that they had all enjoyed it.
The discussion had quickly centered around the third board, that had been played by a man Sai had played the week before at 6 stones. It had been the one game Sai had taken more seriously. Not because the opponent was particularly strong, he wasn't, but he had made some interesting moves and Sai had decided to test him in his agility throughout the game. So this was the game that generated the most questions, which both players were happy to answer, each to their own level of skill.
It wasn't until the players started to clear away the stones that a young voice spoke up from behind him.
'Hello Sai,' Hikaru said.
Sai whirled in his chair, his face breaking in a big grin. Hikaru was here! His friend was here!
'Hikaru! What are you doing here? How long have you been here? How'd know I was here?' he asked in rapid succession.
'A while. Ogata phoned me,' the boy said.
No! That busybody!
'You didn't tell him you knew where I was did you?!' the former ghost demanded. Ogata had actually phoned the young pro? Sai didn't quite know what to make of that in light of the fact that the boy and the man did not seem to get along.
'Of course not,' Hikaru soothed him. 'But he was very upset, he said something about you running off and that he had meant to give you your money, but you were gone too fast. What's this about money?' the boy wanted to know.
'Uh, well Kawai-san made a bet on my winning against Ogata-sensei, on Thursday. Uh,...' Sai stopped talking as a he had heard a collective gasp at the mention of winning against Ogata.
'And you won, of course,' Hikaru completed Sai's story. There was another gasp.
'Uh, yes, uh...'
'So how big was the bet?' questioned the owner.
'Uhm..., it was ¥50,000,' the blind man confessed.
This time the gasp was followed by people whispering to each other.
'And Ogata had not given you the money yet,' Hikaru concluded. He gave an aspirated sigh and added, 'That's just typical, turns out he's a skinflint too! I never trusted that creep anyway.'
No, that was not right; Ogata had been very generous and kind to the blind man, and did not deserve to be called such names!
'That's not true, Hikaru,' Sai admonished. 'Ogata-san was very kind to me in letting me stay at his place. He really doesn't deserve such words.'
And Sai realized that was the truth; Ogata had let a total stranger stay at his house, even offering to let him stay inside all on his own on Saturday morning. Why Sai could have been a thief and could have cleaned out the titleholders flat anytime!
'So why did you run away from him then?' Hikaru asked very astutely.
Why had he? Because he'd felt boxed in. And because he had been so very upset. He was now calmed down enough to realize that had been a major factor. And, he could admit now, because he felt he might not be able to pay the man back, ever. But all of that was none of the boy's business and he had no intention of talking to him about it.
Sai kept silent. It was that or lie.
After an uncomfortable silence Hikaru said, 'Fine. I don't want to know anyway.' He plunked down on a chair and added, 'Now that we're both here, what do you want to do?'
The answer to that one was a no-brainer.
'Play Go,' Sai enthused.
'I meant where are you going to sleep?' Hikaru sounded inpatient.
Well, that took the former ghost's mood down a peg or two. Where was he going to sleep tonight? Sai didn't want to talk to Ogata right now, much less see him, both of which were likely to happen if he was sleeping over at his place, so that was out. And he really didn't want to go back to the shelter, ever again. That left asking Hikaru for a place to stay, also not an option for more than one night.
Apparently the blind man was silent so long that Hikaru answered his own question. 'You're coming home with me.'
'But Hikaru,' Sai tried to formulate an argument to dissuade him, but the boy was faster.
'I'll call my mother, check if it's okay for tonight, and we'll see where it goes from there. Okay?'
One night at a time, that was good. 'Okay,' the former ghost confirmed.
Hikaru made the call on his cell phone and after his mother had agreed he flipped the phone closed and declared, 'Now we play.'
xXXx
As before every person present at the Heart of Stone Go club watched the blind man play. But this time the game was at quite a different level; this was at a professional level. Even if one of the two had not officially been a professional in this lifetime.
It was the second time that Sai played his protégé, and it was no less satisfying than the first.
The blind man found that after playing many weaker opponents with a deluge of handicap-stones placed, changing his strategies to butt heads with true strength at an equal level was quite a shift. It nearly cost him his victory, but he managed to make the change fast enough that the few /moku/ he'd fallen behind were quickly earned back.
There was an odd move made by Hikaru early in the game. Since Sai knew the boy was really good at thinking deeply into the game, the first thing he did when he spied the move, was to try and figure out why the stone was placed where it was. He took his time over this but he couldn't quite grasp his opponents reasoning, so he had to let it be for a while. Periodically during the game he'd take time out to try and make the odd stone fit some sort of strategy. It wasn't until the third try that he found what seemed like a plausible solution to his conundrum. It pleased the blind man that the solution he found was rather neat; it tallied with Hikaru's previous strategies of similar style.
But now that Sai had found the solution early he could actively work against the gambit, instead of having to react to the situation and try to salvage it once it was upon him, as he had done yesterday.
Within 3 moves Sai detected a change in the boy's breathing, faster and shallower, indicating he was getting nervous. Gotcha. The former ghost started to press home his advantage and basically bulldozered over the part of Hikaru's formation he had delicately dismantled in those decisive 3 moves.
Hikaru resigned some 10 moves later.
'Thank you for the game,' Hikaru said formally. 'You didn't go easy on me this time, thanks,' he added, sounding pleased.
'You're welcome,' was Sai's response, but before he could continue on to the post game discussion, a load voice interrupted him and a meaty hand clapped him on the back.
'Well done, well done!' Kawai's voice boomed from behind him. 'See I told you guys! Now that's pro-style Go!' The hand left his shoulder and presently Sai heard Hikaru yelp.
'And Shindou-pro's pretty good too, but nothing like our Mayō-sensei, no sir!' Kawai had to bellow louder to be heard over Hikaru's protests at being squelched.
Sai covered the smile on his face with his hand. Kawai was impossible at the best of times, but if you could accept that character flaw, he'd make a good loyal friend, Sai was sure.
Sounds of groans and complaints were still coming from Hikaru, along with comments about Hikaru's supposed lack of Go skills from Kawai. A few moments later Sai started to detect a real note of distress in Hikaru's tone, so he said,
'Kawai-san, could you unhand my friend, please?'
The sounds of struggles stopped along with Hikaru's yelping.
'Kawai, you /baka/, you messed my tie!'
There were sounds of clothing being rearranged. Hikaru wore a tie? While Sai had not actually seen Hikaru with anything but his mind's eye, he just could not picture the boy wearing a tie! Then a horrible thought came to him; when he had been at pro players' Go club, he had first worn his rags and yesterday a jogging suit that had been slightly too big for him. If even a young Go pro like Hikaru wore a tie, how big a fashion faux pas had the blind man made? Why he must have looked like a slob! No wonder the bookseller had commented on his attire, knowing he was a friend of a Go pro.
Sai realized suddenly that no matter where he belonged he'd need to dress the part better!
'Ahw, it looks better on you crooked,' Kawai joked.
'Hey, stop that! Lay off of my hair!' Hikaru yelped. But before the two could go for a second round, Sai decided to speak up, before he lost the courage to, there was a matter he could and should resolve right now.
'Kawai-san, can I speak to you for a moment? In private?' he added.
With a puzzled note in his voice the cabby accepted and the owner led them to a small room, apologizing that there was no furniture inside, as it was a store room, nothing more. It worked for the purpose of privacy, and that was all that mattered.
oOOo
As soon as the owner had left both spoke at once.
'Look, about the money...'
'Geez, I'm sorry I...'
Both fell silent.
Sai started again, after taking a long breath.
'About the money, I'll pay you back as soon as I can,' he said.
Kawai was silent for a moment.
'Whatcha mean, pay me back? If you're talking about the bet money, you won that fair and square, ain't got nothin' to do with me! So, don't you be telling me about paying it back, d'yah wanna insult me, or sumthin'?'
'Uh, no of course not,' Sai stammered. He hadn't for a moment expected the cabby might be insulted, if he had he would have... Well, he wasn't sure what, but something.
'But you put up your cab for it. You might have lost!' Sai argued.
'Like I said before, no chance; you always win.' Kawai said nonchalantly.
'But,' the blind man tried one last time. But the other interrupted him. 'No buts. Case closed. Refusing to hear anything more about it,' he added when Sai opened his mouth to speak.
'And any ways..., I owe you an apology, old man Soga was right; I should not have just dumped you there. Ogata-sensei promised to take care of ya, and ya still ended up back here. I'm so sorry, I really thought I could trust that guy...'
Sai had to take a moment to digest all that.
So Kawai hadn't just dumped him at the fancy Go-club, he had talked Ogata into taking care of him. A fact that the pro-player had not told the blind man. Why? Well, that was a question only one man could answer, and Sai was not quite ready to talk to him yet.
'I stayed in the cab, in front of the club for another half hour, just in case you'd come running out or somethin', but when you didn't I figured it worked out okay. And I did give the sensei my number,' Kawai rattled on, 'and he used it today, to ask me if I knew where you'd gone... So, I guess it didn't quite work out after all, and for that I'm so sorry.'
So, Ogata had called everybody. Sai wondered if he'd called the shelter too; that would piss off Mr. Uwayaku, as he didn't like personal calls during the day time. (A fact the blind man had found those 3 winter days he'd spent inside the office because he'd been having a fever and it was below freezing outside. Mr. Uwayaku had been very put out.).
He realized somberly that he'd have to call Ogata to check if he had called the shelter, and then he'd have to call the shelter and apologize. Of course asking Ogata meant he'd have to talk to Ogata, which started to seem to be inevitable. Sai gave a deep sigh.
First things first, though.
'It's not your fault, it's mine,' the former ghost said.
'And I'm the only one who can make it right. I need to call Ogata-san...,' he pondered. He'd have to ask the owner for the use of a phone, but then Ogata would know where he was. He'd need a...
'Use my phone,' the cabby offered, seemingly having read the blind man's mind.
The phone was thrust into his hand, but he had to give it back and ask the other man to dial, as he didn't quite know how cell-phones worked.
Ogata picked up on the first ring.
'/Moshi moshi/?' Ogata sounded tired and upset.
'Ogata-san,' was all Sai said.
'Fujiwara-san! Finally! Are you okay? Where are you? I can come get you!'
The blind man stopped the torrent of questions with a firm, 'Ogata-san.'
'Sorry,' the titleholder sounded positively meek.
'I'm fine, I'm safe, and no, I don't need to be picked up,' Sai answered the questions.
'I hear you've been calling all and sundry looking for me? Please stop.' The blind man knew he sounded angry but he couldn't keep that tone out of his voice, even though he tried.
'Okay,' Ogata said, sounding contrite.
'I need to know. Did you call the shelter too?' Sai asked.
'No, not yet.'
The former ghost breathed a small sigh of relief; he wouldn't have to call Mr. Uwayaku to clear up the mess after all.
'Good.' Sai searched for the right words for what he wanted to say, deciding on the direct approach.
'Ogata-san, we need to talk.' There, he'd said it. There was a soft groan on the other side of the line. And one from Kawai who was still standing beside him.
'Okay. Where?' came over the line after a brief pause.
Sai didn't want the titleholder to find out about the Heart of Stone; this was his place, even if it was not to be his haven. And Ogata may or may not know Hikaru's address, both being pros and everything, but what with the animosity between the two, keeping them as far apart as possible, seemed like an excellent idea. So that left out meeting at Hikaru's home. That left the shelter or a public place...
'Uh, the Go-club?' Sai suggested. 'If I can get there somehow...'
'I'll pick you up where ever you like,' the pro player piped up immediately.
'I can take you,' Kawai said at the same time. Yes, that was a much better idea, that way Ogata wouldn't know where Sai was coming from.
'Kawai will bring me,' he said into the phone.
'Tonight?' Ogata asked.
No, that was too soon, the thought of meeting tonight made Sai feel cold and clammy; he wasn't ready. And anyway, he was going home with Hikaru tonight and he wanted to make the most of that.
'Tomorrow,' he said.
'But where are you sleeping tonight?' Ogata asked.
Sai was tempted to just say 'none of your business,' but it struck him as rude. Instead he said, 'I have something arranged.'
'Not the shelter, I hope?' Ogata pushed.
'No, not the shelter,' Sai confirmed crisply, deciding that that was the last he would say on the subject. Ogata apparently had read the short answer for what it was, and changed the subject.
'What time?' he asked.
'... Not sure, I'll need to call back for that.' Sai wanted to end the call now. The whole thing was starting to make him feel nauseous with stress. He really needed time to figure out what he owed this man, and what he could afford to give him in payment, if anything. And what he wanted to do after that.
'Look, for what it's worth I'm...' the titleholder started but the blind man interrupted by saying, 'Not now, tomorrow,' and hung up. It hadn't felt right to hear out the man's apology, for Sai felt that more than half the fault had been his own. The sick feeling stayed with him, making his shiver a bit. He was not looking forward to the confrontation tomorrow.
'Okay, awkward much...' the cabby commented.
Oops, Sai had forgotten the man was there.
'Thank you for offering to take me tomorrow, Kawai-san,' he said and bowed.
'Nah, no problem. But say, if you're not at his place tonight or the shelter, where...?' the cabby asked.
'Hikaru invited me over,' the blind man replied.
'You know Shindou-kun?' the man asked. Realizing the man was somewhat out of the loop, Sai gave him the short version of what he had revealed to Ogata and Touya about his true name and Hikaru's part in knowing it.
'Well congrats!' Kawai wildly pumped his hand. 'Knowing your true name, that's awesome! Ah, and don't worry about the rest, it'll all come back to yah, give it time!' He slapped his hand against Sai's back in enthusiasm, nearly knocking the slender man over.
xXXx
Once they come out of the small room and back in the noisy club proper, Hikaru pounced on Sai with questions. Hikaru was not happy to learn Sai was going to talk to the titleholder, but was pacified some when he learned they meant to meet on neutral turf.
'Yeah, the Touya Go Salon is a good place to talk, Touya and I have had many a good fight there.' Hikaru mussed.
'Hikaru, I didn't know that club belonged to Touya!' Sai exclaimed. Oddly he was shocked; the Touyas must be very rich to own their own Go club.
'Technically it's his dad's, of course, but I do believe Touya owns stocks in it too. He said his dad gave him some when he became a pro. Lucky him!' Hikaru informed him.
'So being a pro player is a good living?' Sai asked. His reason for asking was twofold; firstly he wanted to know if his protégé could make a living out of it and secondly, Sai dreamed of someday becoming a pro player himself, and he really wanted to know if it would be enough to pay the rent on a home of his own. Now there was a thing worth striving for...
'I'll tell you all about it on the way home; I promised mom I'd be there for dinner, and it's at least an hour on the subway, so we'd better get going.' Hikaru said cheerfully.
The subway. The blind man regarded the idea with some trepidation; his one and only experience had been that time his social worker had taken him from the shelter to the hospital for his last check-up after the accident. It had been just after he had learned to walk to Trade Square and back, and he hadn't been anywhere else yet.
The man had been too impatient to let Sai find his way under his guidance the way Miss Kaori had done. No, he had dragged the blind man by the arm all the way to the hospital, losing him once in the crowd. And there he had bullied an 'idle' ambulance driver into taking Sai back after the doctor was done. All in all it had been a big disaster, and while Sai would blindly follow Hikaru anywhere he wanted to go, Sai'd really rather not go on the subway ever again.
He was about to protest when Kawai butted in.
'I'll take ya where ever you wanna go,' he offered. 'It ain't no good takin' a blind guy on the subway, you know,' he added. Sai knew Kawai meant well, and what he said was true enough, but saying it made the blind man feel his handicap more, and that hurt.
'Oh yeah, right,' Hikaru stammered, sounding as embarrassed as Sai felt, if for different reasons. 'Geez, thanks, Kawai-san, I guess we could use the lift.'
They said their goodbyes to the owner and patrons of the Heart of Stone Go club. The owner assured Sai again he was welcome anytime, but Sai was starting to come to terms with the fact that he truly didn't belong here, though he hoped he would be able to come visit again, from time to time.
oOOo
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Chapter 12
They let him cry for a while and then the owner offered him tea and a few tissues and with those some semblance of normality returned. The owner and some of the other patrons tried to console him with some platitudes, for which Sai thanked them sincerely.
Then someone suggested the blind man play 2 games simultaneously to take his mind of it, and another suggested he not bothering with 2 or 3 but go straight for 4 simultaneous games. It all sounded great to the blind man, who gave them a watery smile.
They set up the 4 Gobans and soon Sai was sitting with a sandwich in his hand and 4 glowing Gobans in his mind, each with a 5 stone head start for his 4 opponents. All thoughts of where he belonged were forgotten in favor of the black and white stones and the near infinite permutations in which they could be placed on the four as yet unplayed boards.
xXXx
The four simultaneous games were a lot of fun. Sai had decided not to worry too much about winning or losing or playing seriously or not. As it happened he won all four games, but he knew that if he had played anywhere near seriously he would have done it in less than half the time. But he really didn't want to win faster; he wanted to enjoy the games and make them last. And maybe create a great looking board.
He didn't do so good on the great looking part, having had to give up that notion in favor of actually winning the games. No, he wasn't quite able to give up on winning, he'd found.
This time his opponents wanted to discuss the games, and they quickly made him admit he had not been playing full out. For a moment Sai thought they'd be angry at him, but the owner (who had played the second board) assured him it was fine, and that they had all enjoyed it.
The discussion had quickly centered around the third board, that had been played by a man Sai had played the week before at 6 stones. It had been the one game Sai had taken more seriously. Not because the opponent was particularly strong, he wasn't, but he had made some interesting moves and Sai had decided to test him in his agility throughout the game. So this was the game that generated the most questions, which both players were happy to answer, each to their own level of skill.
It wasn't until the players started to clear away the stones that a young voice spoke up from behind him.
'Hello Sai,' Hikaru said.
Sai whirled in his chair, his face breaking in a big grin. Hikaru was here! His friend was here!
'Hikaru! What are you doing here? How long have you been here? How'd know I was here?' he asked in rapid succession.
'A while. Ogata phoned me,' the boy said.
No! That busybody!
'You didn't tell him you knew where I was did you?!' the former ghost demanded. Ogata had actually phoned the young pro? Sai didn't quite know what to make of that in light of the fact that the boy and the man did not seem to get along.
'Of course not,' Hikaru soothed him. 'But he was very upset, he said something about you running off and that he had meant to give you your money, but you were gone too fast. What's this about money?' the boy wanted to know.
'Uh, well Kawai-san made a bet on my winning against Ogata-sensei, on Thursday. Uh,...' Sai stopped talking as a he had heard a collective gasp at the mention of winning against Ogata.
'And you won, of course,' Hikaru completed Sai's story. There was another gasp.
'Uh, yes, uh...'
'So how big was the bet?' questioned the owner.
'Uhm..., it was ¥50,000,' the blind man confessed.
This time the gasp was followed by people whispering to each other.
'And Ogata had not given you the money yet,' Hikaru concluded. He gave an aspirated sigh and added, 'That's just typical, turns out he's a skinflint too! I never trusted that creep anyway.'
No, that was not right; Ogata had been very generous and kind to the blind man, and did not deserve to be called such names!
'That's not true, Hikaru,' Sai admonished. 'Ogata-san was very kind to me in letting me stay at his place. He really doesn't deserve such words.'
And Sai realized that was the truth; Ogata had let a total stranger stay at his house, even offering to let him stay inside all on his own on Saturday morning. Why Sai could have been a thief and could have cleaned out the titleholders flat anytime!
'So why did you run away from him then?' Hikaru asked very astutely.
Why had he? Because he'd felt boxed in. And because he had been so very upset. He was now calmed down enough to realize that had been a major factor. And, he could admit now, because he felt he might not be able to pay the man back, ever. But all of that was none of the boy's business and he had no intention of talking to him about it.
Sai kept silent. It was that or lie.
After an uncomfortable silence Hikaru said, 'Fine. I don't want to know anyway.' He plunked down on a chair and added, 'Now that we're both here, what do you want to do?'
The answer to that one was a no-brainer.
'Play Go,' Sai enthused.
'I meant where are you going to sleep?' Hikaru sounded inpatient.
Well, that took the former ghost's mood down a peg or two. Where was he going to sleep tonight? Sai didn't want to talk to Ogata right now, much less see him, both of which were likely to happen if he was sleeping over at his place, so that was out. And he really didn't want to go back to the shelter, ever again. That left asking Hikaru for a place to stay, also not an option for more than one night.
Apparently the blind man was silent so long that Hikaru answered his own question. 'You're coming home with me.'
'But Hikaru,' Sai tried to formulate an argument to dissuade him, but the boy was faster.
'I'll call my mother, check if it's okay for tonight, and we'll see where it goes from there. Okay?'
One night at a time, that was good. 'Okay,' the former ghost confirmed.
Hikaru made the call on his cell phone and after his mother had agreed he flipped the phone closed and declared, 'Now we play.'
xXXx
As before every person present at the Heart of Stone Go club watched the blind man play. But this time the game was at quite a different level; this was at a professional level. Even if one of the two had not officially been a professional in this lifetime.
It was the second time that Sai played his protégé, and it was no less satisfying than the first.
The blind man found that after playing many weaker opponents with a deluge of handicap-stones placed, changing his strategies to butt heads with true strength at an equal level was quite a shift. It nearly cost him his victory, but he managed to make the change fast enough that the few /moku/ he'd fallen behind were quickly earned back.
There was an odd move made by Hikaru early in the game. Since Sai knew the boy was really good at thinking deeply into the game, the first thing he did when he spied the move, was to try and figure out why the stone was placed where it was. He took his time over this but he couldn't quite grasp his opponents reasoning, so he had to let it be for a while. Periodically during the game he'd take time out to try and make the odd stone fit some sort of strategy. It wasn't until the third try that he found what seemed like a plausible solution to his conundrum. It pleased the blind man that the solution he found was rather neat; it tallied with Hikaru's previous strategies of similar style.
But now that Sai had found the solution early he could actively work against the gambit, instead of having to react to the situation and try to salvage it once it was upon him, as he had done yesterday.
Within 3 moves Sai detected a change in the boy's breathing, faster and shallower, indicating he was getting nervous. Gotcha. The former ghost started to press home his advantage and basically bulldozered over the part of Hikaru's formation he had delicately dismantled in those decisive 3 moves.
Hikaru resigned some 10 moves later.
'Thank you for the game,' Hikaru said formally. 'You didn't go easy on me this time, thanks,' he added, sounding pleased.
'You're welcome,' was Sai's response, but before he could continue on to the post game discussion, a load voice interrupted him and a meaty hand clapped him on the back.
'Well done, well done!' Kawai's voice boomed from behind him. 'See I told you guys! Now that's pro-style Go!' The hand left his shoulder and presently Sai heard Hikaru yelp.
'And Shindou-pro's pretty good too, but nothing like our Mayō-sensei, no sir!' Kawai had to bellow louder to be heard over Hikaru's protests at being squelched.
Sai covered the smile on his face with his hand. Kawai was impossible at the best of times, but if you could accept that character flaw, he'd make a good loyal friend, Sai was sure.
Sounds of groans and complaints were still coming from Hikaru, along with comments about Hikaru's supposed lack of Go skills from Kawai. A few moments later Sai started to detect a real note of distress in Hikaru's tone, so he said,
'Kawai-san, could you unhand my friend, please?'
The sounds of struggles stopped along with Hikaru's yelping.
'Kawai, you /baka/, you messed my tie!'
There were sounds of clothing being rearranged. Hikaru wore a tie? While Sai had not actually seen Hikaru with anything but his mind's eye, he just could not picture the boy wearing a tie! Then a horrible thought came to him; when he had been at pro players' Go club, he had first worn his rags and yesterday a jogging suit that had been slightly too big for him. If even a young Go pro like Hikaru wore a tie, how big a fashion faux pas had the blind man made? Why he must have looked like a slob! No wonder the bookseller had commented on his attire, knowing he was a friend of a Go pro.
Sai realized suddenly that no matter where he belonged he'd need to dress the part better!
'Ahw, it looks better on you crooked,' Kawai joked.
'Hey, stop that! Lay off of my hair!' Hikaru yelped. But before the two could go for a second round, Sai decided to speak up, before he lost the courage to, there was a matter he could and should resolve right now.
'Kawai-san, can I speak to you for a moment? In private?' he added.
With a puzzled note in his voice the cabby accepted and the owner led them to a small room, apologizing that there was no furniture inside, as it was a store room, nothing more. It worked for the purpose of privacy, and that was all that mattered.
oOOo
As soon as the owner had left both spoke at once.
'Look, about the money...'
'Geez, I'm sorry I...'
Both fell silent.
Sai started again, after taking a long breath.
'About the money, I'll pay you back as soon as I can,' he said.
Kawai was silent for a moment.
'Whatcha mean, pay me back? If you're talking about the bet money, you won that fair and square, ain't got nothin' to do with me! So, don't you be telling me about paying it back, d'yah wanna insult me, or sumthin'?'
'Uh, no of course not,' Sai stammered. He hadn't for a moment expected the cabby might be insulted, if he had he would have... Well, he wasn't sure what, but something.
'But you put up your cab for it. You might have lost!' Sai argued.
'Like I said before, no chance; you always win.' Kawai said nonchalantly.
'But,' the blind man tried one last time. But the other interrupted him. 'No buts. Case closed. Refusing to hear anything more about it,' he added when Sai opened his mouth to speak.
'And any ways..., I owe you an apology, old man Soga was right; I should not have just dumped you there. Ogata-sensei promised to take care of ya, and ya still ended up back here. I'm so sorry, I really thought I could trust that guy...'
Sai had to take a moment to digest all that.
So Kawai hadn't just dumped him at the fancy Go-club, he had talked Ogata into taking care of him. A fact that the pro-player had not told the blind man. Why? Well, that was a question only one man could answer, and Sai was not quite ready to talk to him yet.
'I stayed in the cab, in front of the club for another half hour, just in case you'd come running out or somethin', but when you didn't I figured it worked out okay. And I did give the sensei my number,' Kawai rattled on, 'and he used it today, to ask me if I knew where you'd gone... So, I guess it didn't quite work out after all, and for that I'm so sorry.'
So, Ogata had called everybody. Sai wondered if he'd called the shelter too; that would piss off Mr. Uwayaku, as he didn't like personal calls during the day time. (A fact the blind man had found those 3 winter days he'd spent inside the office because he'd been having a fever and it was below freezing outside. Mr. Uwayaku had been very put out.).
He realized somberly that he'd have to call Ogata to check if he had called the shelter, and then he'd have to call the shelter and apologize. Of course asking Ogata meant he'd have to talk to Ogata, which started to seem to be inevitable. Sai gave a deep sigh.
First things first, though.
'It's not your fault, it's mine,' the former ghost said.
'And I'm the only one who can make it right. I need to call Ogata-san...,' he pondered. He'd have to ask the owner for the use of a phone, but then Ogata would know where he was. He'd need a...
'Use my phone,' the cabby offered, seemingly having read the blind man's mind.
The phone was thrust into his hand, but he had to give it back and ask the other man to dial, as he didn't quite know how cell-phones worked.
Ogata picked up on the first ring.
'/Moshi moshi/?' Ogata sounded tired and upset.
'Ogata-san,' was all Sai said.
'Fujiwara-san! Finally! Are you okay? Where are you? I can come get you!'
The blind man stopped the torrent of questions with a firm, 'Ogata-san.'
'Sorry,' the titleholder sounded positively meek.
'I'm fine, I'm safe, and no, I don't need to be picked up,' Sai answered the questions.
'I hear you've been calling all and sundry looking for me? Please stop.' The blind man knew he sounded angry but he couldn't keep that tone out of his voice, even though he tried.
'Okay,' Ogata said, sounding contrite.
'I need to know. Did you call the shelter too?' Sai asked.
'No, not yet.'
The former ghost breathed a small sigh of relief; he wouldn't have to call Mr. Uwayaku to clear up the mess after all.
'Good.' Sai searched for the right words for what he wanted to say, deciding on the direct approach.
'Ogata-san, we need to talk.' There, he'd said it. There was a soft groan on the other side of the line. And one from Kawai who was still standing beside him.
'Okay. Where?' came over the line after a brief pause.
Sai didn't want the titleholder to find out about the Heart of Stone; this was his place, even if it was not to be his haven. And Ogata may or may not know Hikaru's address, both being pros and everything, but what with the animosity between the two, keeping them as far apart as possible, seemed like an excellent idea. So that left out meeting at Hikaru's home. That left the shelter or a public place...
'Uh, the Go-club?' Sai suggested. 'If I can get there somehow...'
'I'll pick you up where ever you like,' the pro player piped up immediately.
'I can take you,' Kawai said at the same time. Yes, that was a much better idea, that way Ogata wouldn't know where Sai was coming from.
'Kawai will bring me,' he said into the phone.
'Tonight?' Ogata asked.
No, that was too soon, the thought of meeting tonight made Sai feel cold and clammy; he wasn't ready. And anyway, he was going home with Hikaru tonight and he wanted to make the most of that.
'Tomorrow,' he said.
'But where are you sleeping tonight?' Ogata asked.
Sai was tempted to just say 'none of your business,' but it struck him as rude. Instead he said, 'I have something arranged.'
'Not the shelter, I hope?' Ogata pushed.
'No, not the shelter,' Sai confirmed crisply, deciding that that was the last he would say on the subject. Ogata apparently had read the short answer for what it was, and changed the subject.
'What time?' he asked.
'... Not sure, I'll need to call back for that.' Sai wanted to end the call now. The whole thing was starting to make him feel nauseous with stress. He really needed time to figure out what he owed this man, and what he could afford to give him in payment, if anything. And what he wanted to do after that.
'Look, for what it's worth I'm...' the titleholder started but the blind man interrupted by saying, 'Not now, tomorrow,' and hung up. It hadn't felt right to hear out the man's apology, for Sai felt that more than half the fault had been his own. The sick feeling stayed with him, making his shiver a bit. He was not looking forward to the confrontation tomorrow.
'Okay, awkward much...' the cabby commented.
Oops, Sai had forgotten the man was there.
'Thank you for offering to take me tomorrow, Kawai-san,' he said and bowed.
'Nah, no problem. But say, if you're not at his place tonight or the shelter, where...?' the cabby asked.
'Hikaru invited me over,' the blind man replied.
'You know Shindou-kun?' the man asked. Realizing the man was somewhat out of the loop, Sai gave him the short version of what he had revealed to Ogata and Touya about his true name and Hikaru's part in knowing it.
'Well congrats!' Kawai wildly pumped his hand. 'Knowing your true name, that's awesome! Ah, and don't worry about the rest, it'll all come back to yah, give it time!' He slapped his hand against Sai's back in enthusiasm, nearly knocking the slender man over.
xXXx
Once they come out of the small room and back in the noisy club proper, Hikaru pounced on Sai with questions. Hikaru was not happy to learn Sai was going to talk to the titleholder, but was pacified some when he learned they meant to meet on neutral turf.
'Yeah, the Touya Go Salon is a good place to talk, Touya and I have had many a good fight there.' Hikaru mussed.
'Hikaru, I didn't know that club belonged to Touya!' Sai exclaimed. Oddly he was shocked; the Touyas must be very rich to own their own Go club.
'Technically it's his dad's, of course, but I do believe Touya owns stocks in it too. He said his dad gave him some when he became a pro. Lucky him!' Hikaru informed him.
'So being a pro player is a good living?' Sai asked. His reason for asking was twofold; firstly he wanted to know if his protégé could make a living out of it and secondly, Sai dreamed of someday becoming a pro player himself, and he really wanted to know if it would be enough to pay the rent on a home of his own. Now there was a thing worth striving for...
'I'll tell you all about it on the way home; I promised mom I'd be there for dinner, and it's at least an hour on the subway, so we'd better get going.' Hikaru said cheerfully.
The subway. The blind man regarded the idea with some trepidation; his one and only experience had been that time his social worker had taken him from the shelter to the hospital for his last check-up after the accident. It had been just after he had learned to walk to Trade Square and back, and he hadn't been anywhere else yet.
The man had been too impatient to let Sai find his way under his guidance the way Miss Kaori had done. No, he had dragged the blind man by the arm all the way to the hospital, losing him once in the crowd. And there he had bullied an 'idle' ambulance driver into taking Sai back after the doctor was done. All in all it had been a big disaster, and while Sai would blindly follow Hikaru anywhere he wanted to go, Sai'd really rather not go on the subway ever again.
He was about to protest when Kawai butted in.
'I'll take ya where ever you wanna go,' he offered. 'It ain't no good takin' a blind guy on the subway, you know,' he added. Sai knew Kawai meant well, and what he said was true enough, but saying it made the blind man feel his handicap more, and that hurt.
'Oh yeah, right,' Hikaru stammered, sounding as embarrassed as Sai felt, if for different reasons. 'Geez, thanks, Kawai-san, I guess we could use the lift.'
They said their goodbyes to the owner and patrons of the Heart of Stone Go club. The owner assured Sai again he was welcome anytime, but Sai was starting to come to terms with the fact that he truly didn't belong here, though he hoped he would be able to come visit again, from time to time.
oOOo
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