Cherish the time

"Heh..." Ogata laughed when he heard the words, and there was something unclear in the laughter.

"It's late today," Shinto stretched and stood up, "I'm going back too."

Ta Yaliang looked up at him, "Be careful on the road."

"Yeah." Shinto nodded, and left with his pockets in his pocket.

After he left for a while, Ogata shook his head and said, "It's really..."

"What is it?" Tatsuya asked casually.

"Oh...it's nothing." Ogata leaned back in the chair, took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, looked at the direction where Shinto was leaving, and slightly narrowed his long and narrow eyes.

When they were playing chess, it just rained lightly, and the air was a bit cooler than usual.

Hikari Shinto walked on the road in a good mood, and even hummed a little tune that was rare in a century.

Zuo Wei was not in such a good mood as he was, and walked behind him silently, with his eyes downcast, looking preoccupied.

"Be happy." Shinto suddenly turned around and made a face, "Smile."

"..."

The woman who was walking behind Xiaoguang was taken aback by his sudden turning around. Seeing Shinto who suddenly muttered to himself and made grimaces, she walked away silently covering the road.

"...haha." Shinto scratched his hair and smiled awkwardly, realizing that he was a little too excited, "Be happy." ’ he said in his heart.

"Aren't you worried..." Zuo Wei realized that he couldn't understand this guy at all, his brows were still tightly frowned, "In case he doesn't give up and continue to pursue—"

"So what. 』Shinto took a deep breath of the air containing moisture, with a refreshing look on his brows and eyes, "What's so scary about it. 』

"But--"

『—Didn’t I tell you. 』Shinto Hikaru interrupted his unspoken worries, with a firm expression and firm words, and it was obvious from hearing that there was no room for change. "Why should I become a professional chess player? 』

"ah? 』 Zuowei couldn't turn his head around all of a sudden.

"Firstly, you can play chess with many people; secondly, I can also play chess with many people; thirdly... I am already, I don't want to leave any regrets anymore. 』

"What those people want to say and how to guess is their business. 』

"What I am after is to play chess with you and with as many people as possible. 』

He looked at the still cloudy sky in the distance, and it was the first time that he stripped away the obsessions in his heart so nakedly, and gave this heartless and beautiful ghost one by one.

"Once upon a time, I didn't have the ability to protect you, and I didn't really understand my own heart, so I just separated from you like that. 』

"I admit it. 』

Shinto Hikari's tone was indifferent, but Zuowei could inexplicably hear the bloody pain in it - it was the process of the collapse and reshaping of a carefree young man's faith, which made him grow from a boy , to the process of a man.

He thought of the stories that Xiaoguang told him, which contained the precious memories they experienced together, and the washing and experience of leaving Xiaoguang alone.

But after the him in that world left, what was Xiaoguang doing, overcoming the self-blame and remorse that could overwhelm a person, and overcoming the pain and hesitation that could destroy one's faith... He didn't know at all.

Zuo Wei suddenly felt a suffocating pain.

The pain was like the tide over his head when he committed suicide, squeezing all his senses and making him speechless for a while.

Shindo didn't notice his situation, and continued to speak indifferently, "—but now...it's different. 』

"If I clearly have the strength, but I refuse to use it, I dare not use it, just because... I am afraid of some rumors, rumors, doubts, slander that I will eventually face..."

『Then it must be because my strength is not enough to support me to overcome all difficulties. 』

"It's not because...you, who obviously belong to this world, were pushed to the front of the stage." 』

He clenched his fist with his right hand and placed it in front of his eyes. Every word and every sentence had the power to stir the soul, "You...understand?Zuowei. 』

Seeing Xiao Guang like this, Zuo Wei felt that he couldn't say a word.

He suddenly felt that he was a failure, weak, and foolish.

He had a lofty heart, but he didn't have the arrogance to support it. Amid misunderstandings, suspicions, and slanders, he chose to die to show his ambition—he thought it was right, right, and to show the world. His own innocence and innocence, but in the end...his name was not even recorded in the history books.

He wanted to play Go, so he boarded on the chessboard and met... good people like Toranojiro and Xiaoguang.

He thought that what he was looking for...was just a narrow corner between black and white, but he didn't know that his appearance and disappearance reversed the fate of countless people.

In vain, Torora Jiro's outstanding Go aptitude when he was young...

Since I met him... I haven't played a few games of chess with others in a year!

Zuo Wei felt that his chest was full of pain, and there was an unstable gleam in his white spirit body.

——and... and Xiaoguang...

"He" let Xiaoguang keep a secret that cannot be spoken to others, and a unwillingness that cannot be expressed.

Xiaoguang has been a human being for two lifetimes, and he still carries his shadow on his back!

Zuowei's emotions were so strong that even Shinto, who had been turning his back and not looking at him, could feel something was wrong.

The boy turned around worriedly, and took two steps towards the dazed spirit body, "Zuowei...? 』

"Shin-to-light-!" A shout came from the side, and Shinto subconsciously turned his head to look, only to see four boys in the same class standing at the corner calling him.

One of the shorter boys - his deskmate Yamazaki Makoto separated from the others and ran over alone, "What are you doing here?"

Shinto quietly observed Sakai who was standing aside, seeing that his expression was getting slower and his heart relaxed a little, he distractedly answered Yamazaki's words, "Come and play chess."

"Playing chess?" The boy grinned, "Is that what the old man plays?"

"...That's right." Hikaru Shinto laughed, and admitted generously—after all, his first impression of Go was the same.

"I heard that you are now a professional chess player?" Yamazaki bumped his arm and asked mysteriously, "Can you already earn pocket money?"

"I won't be able to officially get the Duan certificate until March this year... Only then can I participate in the official competition."

"Oh...that is to say, Sanyue can make money by himself, right?" Yamazaki asked along the way.

"kindness."

"But you're still so young...won't there be any problem?"

"Haha, I don't think so." Shinto scratched his head with a smile, "It's not like there are no professional chess players my age."

"Eh—? What else?" Yamazaki's eyes widened, "Is it so easy to play chess?"

"Easy...not easy," Shinto said casually, with a demeanor that made people want to listen, "difficult...not too difficult."

"It depends on how far you want to play Go."