Hikaru No Go Fan Fiction ❯ The Invitational ❯ A Friendly Conversation ( Chapter 3 )

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As you probably know, I don't own Hikaru no Go and appreciate the owners letting me play in their universe. I definitely don't make any money from this fic.
 
 
 
 
 
“Hey Shindou Sai, how's it going?” Fukui caught up with him by the Go store. It was also near the conversational area with the wing back chairs. He grinned at the 3-dan and put his pen up to his mouth. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are here with Shindou Sai, current title holder of the Sai Invitational Cup. He is getting ready to defend it against Kadowaki 2-dan in the finals of the second annual Sai Invitational. Shindou sensei, do you think you can defend this title?”
 
Shindou was in an equally silly mood. “Why yes, Fukui-san, I fully intend to successfully defend it and maintain the coveted title of `Sai.' I expect it to be a tough fight but am looking forward to the challenge.” They looked at each other and then dissolved into laughter.
 
“S H I N D O U, are you coming or what??” Waya yelled from halfway across the open area and received more than a few glares in response. He gulped and ducked his head as though that would make him invisible to the glares.
 
“Sorry, Fuku-kun, I've got to run. Later.” He took off. Shindou didn't notice Kosemura standing nearby and he certainly didn't notice Kuwabara Honinbou in one of the wing back chairs. Fukui laughed and put his pen away before glancing at some of the books in the store.
 
“Excuse me, could I ask for a moment of your time?” Fukui looked around when he heard this to see a young man about the age of Isumi standing nearby.
 
“Sure. How may I help you?”
 
“My name is Kosemura. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Shindou 3-dan. What is this about a title?”
 
Fukui laughed. He didn't recognize Kosemura but the guy didn't seem strange to him. It certainly didn't occur to him Kosemura was a reporter. Fukui was perfectly willing to tell the friendly young man all about it. He didn't pay any attention to the pen shaped object Kosemura was holding. “Yeah, that's our little joke. Well, it's a bit more than a joke.” He cleared his throat, stood up straight and looked deliberately officious.
 
“The Sai Invitational is a tournament open to insei and young professionals by invitation only. It is entering its second year and is named after Sai, the famous elusive internet player who encouraged everyone to rise to the heights which can be achieved with Go. The invitation is given by Waya 3-dan.” Then he laughed again and dropped the officious attitude. “There really is a serious round robin tournament we all play in, but it's totally unofficial. It's mostly from a study group. It's not off the radar. It's nowhere near the radar.” Fukui laughed again. Waya-kun started it last year so we could all get some tournament practice in and then they continued it this year. It's really a lot of fun and I learned a lot about tournament playing in the process. Hondo-kun and Kadowaki-san said they learned a lot too. We did a round robin of 8 and then the top two finishers did a best of three matches for the finals. Last year it was Isumi-san and Shindou-kun. Shindou-kun won; big surprise there.” Fukui rolled his eyes. This year there were 8 people in the round robin and Shindou-kun didn't play in that. As the “title holder” he only plays the top finisher who is the challenger. That's Kadowaki 2-dan this year.
 
“It sounds like fun as well as educational,” Kosemura said. Fukui nodded in agreement. “So the title of this invitational cup is `Sai'?” Kosemura continued.
 
“Yeah, but we've all told Shindou-kun if he tries to call himself Shindou Sai in public everyone will think he is a fruitcake. Really, it's all about the bragging rights amongst those of us who know about it. It's called the Sai Invitational Cup but we don't have a cup. No one could afford one.” Fukui laughed. “This is the second year we did it so that's why Shindou-kun is the defender. Waya tried to convince Shindou-kun last year he should buy a cup for it since he was the one in the group who was both making money and still living at home, but he didn't go for it. Waya went one better and put a `prize' in a sealed envelope. Want to guess what the prize was?”
 
“I have no clue,” Kosemura said with a smile

“It was great. Waya got someone to do this beautiful calligraphy on a handmade piece of paper. It said the winner of the Sai Cup had to treat all the participants to a sushi dinner at the winner's expense.” Fukui and Kosemura both roared with laughter.
 
“You're kidding.”
 
“Nope. Waya said he assumed Shindou-kun was most likely to win and he set it up so Shindou-kun had to pay for dinner. He figured he could afford it. It was really funny. Shindou-kun paid off on his prize, though. It was a great dinner.”
 
“What is Waya 3-dan going to do this year? He won't be able to trick Shindou 3-dan again.”
 
“That's o.k. Both Shindou-kun and Kadowaki-san agreed to buy the dinner if they won.”
 
“Are you going to have the finals here at the Go Institute?”
 
“Are you kidding? No way is that going to happen.”
 
“Why not? There are usually smaller rooms which aren't being used at some point in time. If Shindou 3-dan, Waya 3-dan and Isumi 2-dan are involved, surely someone would let them use a room.”
 
“I can't imagine anyone having the guts to request a real room in which to hold our finals. Well, Shindou might have the guts, but still; no, there are definitely no plans I know of for anything like that.”
 
“I think you should ask.”
 
Fukui just waved his arms dismissively. “No. Can you imagine that? Hello, can we use a real room for our unsanctioned tournament game to give someone a fake title? I don't think so.”
 
“Ho. Ho. Ho. These kids these days are very interesting.” Kuwabara stood up and smiled at Fukui, who went a little white and bowed.
 
“Kuwabara Honinbou, I didn't realize you were there, sir.”
 
“I know. I like it that way. Ho. Ho. Ho. So you need a room to hold your finals? I'm sure that can be arranged,” he said with an anticipatory grin.