Hikaru gets a phone call asking him to enter the preliminaries to try to earn one of the three seats for Japan in the Japan, China, and Korea Junior Tournament. While discussing this with Akira, he finds out that Akira has already been chosen for the tournament and will not be taking place in the preliminaries. Now Hikaru must compete for one of the two remaining seats. Hikaru decides not to visit Akira's Go Salon until he takes his place on the team with Akira. But can Hikaru overcome his friends and new challengers including a strong player from the Kansai Go Institute. Two seats remain, and only two players in Japan will join Akira...