Title: Pressure
Author: Luce Red
Series: Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: Hotta and Obata produced these characters; I just manipulate them
for my evil needs.
Notes/Type: General fic
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This was it, Hikaru decided. The sinking sensation in his stomach was nothing compared the atmosphere of impending doom that hung around the room. He was a failure at Go. He was a failure at life. The gods hated him.
“What the hell was that, Shindou?” Touya yelled, loudly enough to make the teacups rattle.
He was going to die. Wait for me, Sai, Hikaru thought. There’s ramen in heaven, right?
“I said, ‘what the hell was that.’ Are you even listening to me?” Touya asked again, his voice louder than before.
Hikaru braced himself, glancing around surreptitiously for anything that could be used as a shield. Nothing. He was so dead. No, he was lower than that.
“Shindou!”
He jumped, and decided to answer. “Er… what was what, Akira?” he asked.
If anything, the use of his personal name seemed to enrage Touya all the more. “Your game here!” Touya said, pointing to the offending stones. “I can’t believe you actually left an opening here. That’s an amateur’s mistake!”
“Hey!” he said, stung at being compared to an amateur. “It was just a miscalculation. I can still turn the game around in endgame.”
Surely those weren’t flames he saw in Touya’s eyes, Hikaru thought. Human eyes didn’t burst in flames. Then again, some would say that Touya Akira was not exactly…
“JUST A MISCALCULATION?!”
Hikaru moved his chair back a couple of inches as the force of Touya’s anger nearly seemed to scorch his hair off his head. He rolled his eyes up, trying to check his bangs for telltale signs of burning.
Touya continued. “You know that it’s the most important game of your life, and yet you… Shindou, what are you doing?”
“My god, it’s smoking!” Hikaru stood up and tried to bat at his hair with his hands. “My hair is on fire! It’s all yellow and orangey…”
“Shindou!”
Hikaru froze.
Touya crossed his arms. “Your hair is not on fire,” he said. “It’s always been that colour, remember?”
Oh, right. “But I smell smoke…”
Touya gave a pointed look around the occupied tables at the Go salon: the regular customers, especially the older ones, were smoking.
“Er.” Hikaru sat down. This was hopeless. He was losing his mind. He was going to flunk. He was never, ever going to win a title. He was a big failure.
“Oh, never mind.”
Hikaru looked up at that. Touya was sitting down again, and was clearing the Go board. “Huh?” he said.
“You’ve been working too hard, Hikaru. This title is really important to you, isn’t it?”
The use of his name made Hikaru blink. “Uh… yeah,” he said.
Finished with the stones, Touya stood up. “You need to take a break. Come on, let’s go and eat dinner.”
Funny. It looked like Touya. It sounded like Touya… it even walked like Touya. But Touya would never say that. It was wrong, Hikaru decided. Without thinking, he asked, “Who are you and what have you done to Touya?”
And now Touya was rolling his eyes! Touya never rolled his eyes before. It’s happened, Hikaru thought. I’ve played so much Go that I’ve lost my mind. I’ll never be a successful pro now.
“After dinner, we’ll go to my place and this time, I’ll help you to prepare for tomorrow’s game, all right?”
“Er…”
“Shindou!”
He jumped again at the familiar tone. “Yes!” he said before he realized it, and looked at Touya in relief. It was Touya after all! No one yelled at him like Touya did. He was just acting weird, Hikaru decided. He was just… wait a minute, offering to help him prepare for the game?!
I am in hell, Hikaru thought.
“Let’s go, then.” Touya took his hand and led him towards the exit.
-----------the end-----------