Event Year: 2001

Yuuki Mitani decides to go back to the Go Club.

With help from Sai, Hikaru overcomes his weakness and finally makes it into the A league. Back at school, Kaga and Kimihiro have already graduated to HIgh School. Now that Hikaru's in the A league, he's slowly reaching his goal of 16th. He's even able to defeat Fuku, someone who not even Waya can defeat. Waya is Hikaru's next opponent, and Waya's confident that Hikaru will lose. That is, until HIkaru accidentally blurts out what the online user Sai said to him. Can Hikaru defeat Waya and prove to Waya that he isn't Sai at the same time?

HIkaru can't seem to get any better at Go, despite the fact that he plays with Sai every day. If he wants any chance to get into a tournament and face Akira, he needs to get stronger. Sai reveals the ultimate weakness of Hikaru, he's afraid of Sai, and every other opponent he faces.

Although Ouza initally contemplated letting Akira win the match as a form of encouragement, he is angered by Akira's nonchalent attitude and decided to crush him completely. Akira forgot the safer strategy which could have won him the match, in order to show Hikaru his play. While the first snowflakes that mark the arrival of winter fell, Sai muses on the symbolic link between Hikaru and Akira and likened the presence of Akira as being placed there by God to help Hikaru on his path.