Hikaru no Go: I taught you Go, and you made the Kisei cry?

Sai said "Oh," and then added, "A middle school team competition? There must be a lot of top players, right?"

and many more!

At this point, Sai suddenly realized something and said with a surprised look, "Huh? Hikaru, if I remember correctly, you're a year younger than Su Ran and Akira Touya, right?"

"Logically speaking, you won't be entering Yase Junior High School until next year, so how come... you can participate in junior high school Go competitions now?"

Shhh!

Hikaru Shindo gestured for Sai to be quiet and said cautiously, "Sai, have you forgotten? This time, it was the president of the Yase Middle School Go Club who asked me to impersonate him in this competition."

"We absolutely cannot let anyone find out about this, or we'll be in big trouble!"

Reminded by Hikaru Shindo, Sai then remembered that just a few days ago, he had indeed given Hikaru Shindo some pointers at the Yase Junior High School Go Club, which resulted in Hikaru accidentally defeating the club president.

Afterwards, the president of the Go club pulled Hikaru Shindo aside and whispered something to him, but since the game was over, he didn't pay attention to their conversation.

Unexpectedly, the whispered conversation between the two that day turned out to be about impersonating someone else to participate in the middle school Go league!

This... seems like a lie, doesn't it?

Sai looked conflicted; his sense of honor as a Go player prevented him from doing anything to deceive the tournament organizers.

but.

If we didn't lie, we wouldn't be able to come here to play chess...

Oh well, never mind!

Sai waved his hand dismissively: "Although lying is wrong, Hikaru, you were trying to bring honor to your school, so it's somewhat understandable..."

"But please don't do that again next time!"

Seeing that Sai had forgiven him, Hikaru Shindo quickly nodded obediently, "Okay, okay, I promise I won't do it again!"

"By the way, Xiaoguang, take a look at the competition rules. What exactly do we need to do to win the championship?"

Sai, not wanting to continue arguing with Hikaru Shindo about forgery, changed the subject.

"The process card says that three people form a group, and you can advance as long as you win two rounds."

Hikaru Shindo continued studying the process card while explaining it to Sai.

"I'm so excited! I can't wait to start playing chess!"

With my eyes closed, I could already picture the joy of holding hands with my child, and I felt somewhat intoxicated by it.

"Ah, to play chess with a real boy, ah, I'm so excited, ah..."

Hikaru Shindo stretched and laughed, "Sai, you don't need to lift a finger today."

"Huh?"

Sai opened his eyes instantly and turned to look at Hikaru Shindo.

"I will take action myself!"

Hikaru Shindo held his head in his hands, looking brimming with confidence:

“This summer, I’ve learned a little bit from watching you play so many games of chess online, so today I want to try it myself.”

Upon hearing this, Sai leaned close to Hikaru Shindo's face, looking anxious: "But yesterday you said you had a match today and asked me to help you with your history homework!"

Hikaru Shindo closed his eyes and turned around.

"I never said I wanted you to play chess for me today. You volunteered to do my homework!"

"Ah... Waaah..."

Sai covered his eyes with his sleeve and pretended to cry: "How could this happen? Hikaru cheated! Waaah, how could this happen... Hikaru, you're so despicable!"

"Someone like Xiaoguang would be taken down in no time!"

Hikaru Shindo snorted: "Who are you underestimating? Besides, it doesn't matter if I lose, I'm just a beginner anyway."

As they were speaking, the participants from Sawara Junior High School and Yanming Junior High School, who had been late earlier, arrived at the competition venue under the guidance of their teachers.

Hikaru Shindo's eyes widened in surprise: "So many people have come again... What's going on? Doesn't it mean the more people there are, the harder it is to win?"

The conference room was packed with people, and the sounds of chess pieces being placed and discussions could be heard from time to time.

"Xiao Guang, please, please let me down."

Sai looked pitiful, his eyes filled with tears as he tried to move Hikaru.

Hikaru Shindo, with a heart of stone, flatly refused.

"No."

"Waaaaah."

Hikaru Shindo looked around, searching for his teammates, who were also elites selected by the Yase Junior High School Go Club.

One was named Tetsuo Kaga, and the other was named Kimihiro Tsutsui.

That Tsutsui Kimihiro was none other than the president of the Yase Junior High School Go Club, who had asked Shindo Hikaru to participate in the competition a few days ago.

"They're not here yet. Am I too early...?"

"I heard from the chess club teacher that because our Yase Junior High School has always been at the bottom in terms of academic performance, the school doesn't really care about these kinds of competitions."

"Just like Yanming Junior High School and Sawara Junior High School, our Yase Junior High School has often been late in previous years."

Sai's voice suddenly rang out again, his tone unusually serious: "Hikaru, look over at the window."

Hikaru Shindo turned his head and saw Su Ran smiling and greeting him warmly.

"This... Su Ran! What's he doing here too?!"

Shindo lowered his head, covered his face with his hand, and turned around with lightning speed.

"He didn't see me...he didn't see me..."

Sai retorted, "That boy saw you a long time ago; he even waved to you just now!"

"What do I do! What do I do! Sai! I've already been exposed before the match even started!"

"Isn't he from China? How can he represent our Yingzhou school in a Go competition!?"

"Sai, what should we do? Help me think of something!"

Hikaru Shindo lowered his head in embarrassment, afraid that Su Ran would see him again.

Just then, a group of people entered through the door, and a young man said with a smile, "I told you, it's very lively here..."

Hikaru Shindo shuddered as he recognized one of them.

"That's... Takada's older brother, oh no..."

"Sai, I won't be starting junior high until next year. Today's competition was something Tsutsui-senpai begged me to do under his name!"

"If the older brother from the Takada family sees me here, the event organizers will definitely kick me off the field!"

Hikaru Shindo covered his face and lowered his head, carefully hiding in front of a chess table, pretending to watch a game.

The two people at the chess table practiced their game while discussing it.

"But Neptune High School is really impressive. This auditorium looks like their meeting room."

"The scale of their Go club is really different. Just the officially registered members alone seem to be more than fifty people, right?"

Hikaru Shindo caught a glimpse of Takada's brother leaving out of the corner of his eye and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He then glanced at Su Ran, but Su Ran didn't seem to be looking at him either.

Hikaru Shindo let out a long sigh of relief.

Have you seen the draw results?

"I've seen it. Luckily, we won't run into Neptune Middle School before the finals. If all goes well, we might even get second place."

The two people at the chess table talked and played chess at the same time. They played very quickly and seemed to be very familiar with each other's moves. Their pieces flew as they placed them.

The game on the chessboard had unknowingly progressed to the middle stage, and Hikaru Shindo became completely absorbed in watching it.

At this moment, the black boy accidentally bumped the piece with his elbow when he placed it.

The pieces in the bottom right corner were immediately scattered and fell to the ground.

Tap tap, a shower of petals fell.

The boy in black scratched his head: "Sorry, sorry."

"What are you doing?" Bai Fang asked, somewhat annoyed.

The boy in black picked up the chess piece apologetically, looking at a spot on the board: "Is... it here?"

"No, not there!" White pointed to the small eye position on the board: "It's here."

"What are you talking about? It's right here."

"No, it's in Xiaomu, Xiaomu."

The two sides immediately started arguing.

"Can I do it?"

Hikaru Shindo walked up and arranged the pieces in order: "This... and then, this... and here."

Both sides stared blankly at Hikaru Shindo, without stopping him.

"Uh... what happens next..."

Hikaru Shindo thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he continued to place his piece: "That's it, here."

"Next...here..."

Soon, Hikaru Shindo had arranged all the Go pieces.

"I just landed right here."

The boy in black stared at the chessboard on the table, which was exactly the same as before. He was briefly lost in thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and pushed Hikaru Shindo away.

"So what!"

He yelled at Hikaru Shindo, "We understand that little thing too! Starting from the first move and arranging the stones in order, anyone who knows a little about Go can do that!"

Get out of my way!

Hikaru Shindo was a little startled by the shout, lowered his head, and took two steps back.