Prologue:
Everyone in the game room
held their breath in anticipation as they watched the three men walk to the
front of it. Shinoda sensei, owner of the Go Institute beamed proudly and
coughed in preparation for his speech.
“Good evening to all of you. I
am sure that you are all as excited as I am to hear the chosen members that
will represent
He stopped to smile at the
two men that flanked his sides and turning to face the eager faces before him,
he continued.
“We do believe that we have a
really strong contingent this year and we have really high hopes for the four
of you. And now…in no particular order, the four chosen representatives
are…Touya Akira…please step to the front of the class if you are called.”
All eyes turned to face the
stoic boy who rose elegantly to his feet. If he was excited at the news, he was
doing a very good at hiding it from the others for his features gave nothing
away. He bowed slightly in front of Shinoda and accepted the handshakes from
the other men, before turning to face the class with his hands clasped behind him.
“Next up…Ochi Kousuke.”
The small bespectacled boy
rose to his feet and walked just as calmly to the front of the class. There
was, also, no real expression of joy on his face and like Akira before him, he
bowed and accepted the handshakes dutifully.
“Third member…Waya
Yoshitaka.”
“Alright!” The spiky redhead
jumped to his feet, stopping to give a high-five to the boy that had been
sitting next to him. With a grin as wide as ever, he ran to the front of the
class and bowed before the officials before standing next to Akira.
“And last but not
least…Hikaru Shindo!”
“YEAH! I made it!” The
vivacious teen jumped to his feet and ran to the front of the class, narrowly
avoiding falling over the other Pros sitting on the floor. He resisted the urge
to hug Shinoda sensei or the other men, but that didn’t stop him from slapping
Waya’s back in exuberance. “We did it, Waya!” he whispered in excitement as the
teacher continued to talk in the background.
Waya winked and gave him a
victory sign. “We sure did, Shindo.
Hikaru grinned and glanced at
Ochi who looked like he was suffering from a bad stomachache to Touya…whose
expression remained as blank as ever.
Well, at least Waya seems normal, Hikaru thought to himself. This is going to be great!
Shinoda gazed at the young
men with pride. He had a gut feeling that for the first time in so many years,
their country had a good shot at claiming the long elusive title.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I
present to you…Team
This announcement sent the
four boys bowing at the round of applause that quickly followed. And although
each tried, in their various ways to contain their anticipation and excitement,
there was no doubt in their minds that they had a very long road ahead of them.
The road to discovery was
just beginning…