nice talk and battle here. i also like how hikaru defend akira in front of ogata. he is soo sweet... and the battle as always is soo cool... and detail almost like you understand the game very much... and oh yeah again and again i am asking you please return and update... everyone still waiting for you here...

as always you could make the battle very... very detail... not all author could do such a thing so i give you a thump up... especially with this great chapter... you put slight rumour in serious chapter. so that is great... and i really... really love it... so again and again i asking you to return to update this wonderfull story.. because i telling you the true... i like it. and i believe i am not the only one who like this story.. so please update...

waw... this is so calm chapter. but i understand it because this chapter is bassically from akira p.o.v of course it will be calm. oh yeah this time i need 3 days to reread 25 chapter before finally read chapter 26. and again i will also beg of you please...please update... i am sure i am not the only one here who eager to read your story because i love it...

Hello... it's me again. it's had been 11 months since my last review at chapter 25 but i also know you didn't update since 3 years ago so please don't be mad... for the story this is indeed refreshing chapter with a few teasing and humour ( i laughed myself when i read this chapter ) i love it... well... i know perhaps you have a real life trouble but please update... i hope you don't abandon this...

Nice to use Ko Young Ha to bring Hikaru back!

About your answers to questions after the chapter: Yay! More Hikaru-Akira time! I love their relationship really. It's really cute. It's like they are more than best friends, and when in the manga Yashiro was also included and all three were in Akira's house was just so awesome. Too cute really. The three young super talented representatives of Japan under one roof. One of the things I love most is how Hikaru can bring out that childish side from Akira, since he's always so serious. Hikaru can make him act more his age and I think Yashiro added to the mix makes it even more so, since all three of them are the same age.

Oh... I totally forgot to mention when reviewing last chapter! Another cultural note for last chapter:

When Japanese people go to a hotel to have sex, they tend to take turns taking a shower before doing the deed, so Nase going to take a shower might as well been an invitation to have sex. Although of course Hikaru is totally oblivious about everything that isn't go or manga, so he might have totally missed it, but someone like Nase should've known.

When it's not right before sex, Japanese people take baths everyday. They don't usually only take a shower because they believe that a shower doesn't heat your body enough and you could catch a cold from it.

I have mentioned before that I'm not a fan of this kind moments in this story, so I refrain from reviewing the chapter per se. Instead, I would like to give a few cultural notes:

When people receive a gift in Japan, they usually ask if it's ok to open it before doing so. Sometimes the giver asks the receiver to open it instead. The reason behind it is that rather than the content, they believe it's the intention that matters. So if someone just opens a gift after receiving it, the person is perceived as greedy for being interested in the content rather than being thankful for receiving a gift.

I felt that you should know since Nase opened her gift without asking Hikaru if it was ok. Also because Hikaru did the same when he received the book from Nase. About that I should add another cultural note:

People in Japan don't rip open presents, but rather open them carefully without ripping the wrapping. The reason behind it is that they think they should treat the present with respect and just ripping it open is harsh and looks like you don't care. I could be mistaken about this, but this is what I've encountered among Japanese people.

Lastly, I think Hikaru should own Shusaku's game records. In the manga vol. 19 chapter 153 after Gokuso loses to Hikaru, he says that Hikaru seemed very familiar with Shusaku and asks if he recreates his old games often, to which Hikaru responds "yeah, everyday". It is possible that Hikaru might have said that because he used to play with Sai everyday, but at that point in the manga Sai had already disappeared so I think he might have replaced the daily games with Sai with recreating Shusaku's games since that's what is the closest thing to playing with Sai that he can do now. Also because Gokuso specifically said "recreating his old games", Hikaru didn't say "you could say so" nor anything like that. I guess this scene in the manga could be interpreted in different ways, but to me that's what made most sense, also because in Japanese there are so many ways to escape from giving a direct and straight forward answer, but Hikaru did not, and said "yes".

Sorry for not mentioning everything in the corresponding chapters, but I was planning to give an overall review at the end so I didn't mention this before.

Nase's fantasy was brilliant! I must tell you that I don't care about the girls and their romantic feelings in this story whatsoever because I just don't think that is what HnG is about. Something like Dragon Ball where Goku just found himself tricked into getting engaged and eventually married. Of course Goku cares about his wife, but all the romantic stuff is left out, same with Gohan where you know he actually liked Videl but there's nothing romantic about it. I guess, to me Hikaru is kind of like Luffy who despite having girls of incredible beauty drooling all over him, all he can think about is in his adventures. I think it's because all of them: Hikaru, Goku and Luffy have similar personalities, which is simple minded despite being geniuses in their element. Regardless, that scene with Nase fantasizing was still brilliant. It made me laugh out loud and for that, you deserve praising.

About the end of this chapter though, it just seems that what happened to Akira in the manga happened to Hikaru this time on the day they were supposed to have a really important match against each other. I understand that you wrote this as a continuation of the manga and using scenes from the manga is understandable, but it might seem repetitive sometimes if you aren't careful. Well, that's just my thought. I'm also quite sad that the manga didn't continue on further, so I appreciate your efforts in trying to fill in the emptiness the end of the mange left in us.

I'm not entirely sure of the date in this chapter but Akira's birthday is on December 14th, so I think he isn't 16 just yet.

The title spoiled me the result.

About the Hikaru and Akira calling each other by their first names, I've never seen that in the original series. Yes, you might think that them becoming friends would change that, but Japanese men rarely call each other by their first names unless they are childhood friends. Hikaru and Akira met when they were both in six grade, yes, but they started calling each other by their last name, so it would mostly stay that way.

About last chapter or the one before that, I can't remember; Japanese people simply don't hug when congratulating someone their opposite sex. So, Hikaru hugging Nase when seeing her at Waya's place is not likely to happen and even if they were dating, they simply wouldn't hug in front of everyone.

I was going to write a review about the series in general after finishing reading the whole thing since I find it quite enjoyable, but I decided to write this little review now since really the title is a problem, or at least it was for me. Also, since you mentioned the issue about how Japanese people address each other, I decided to comment on that as well, and that reminded me of other cultural aspects so I went for it.

Hey Leitbur I've read the neverending road multiple times and am really looking forward to an update even though it's been a few years. Hope all is well

I don't know how I've missed your story before since I've been a diehard Hikaru no Go fan for a long time, but I just came across it a couple days ago and read it religiously (including at work) because I got so into it I couldn't stop. Let's just say I read all 79 chapters (including all of your author's notes!) in just a couple of days. No I'm not obsessed.

I absolutely LOVE what you've written so far; it flows really well from the end of the manga series and is so close to what I envision Hikaru's life after the Hokuto Cup to be that I can see why some reviewers are considering this as canon.

I appreciate all the research you do for this story...it really comes out in your notes at the end of every chapter, and I appreciate how much detail you go into in your explanations of how the various go title tournaments work, how much pro players make, going so far as to creating your brackets so that you're consistent in your scheduling of matches. For someone as detail oriented as me...I love it!

It sounds like you've had a lot of personal struggles in your life (well, as of 2011), but I hope everything has gotten a lot more smooth for you. I'll keep checking back in the hopes that there will be another update to this story _

best hng fanfic :)

a really miss this story.
i read it over n over,
where are you anyway?.hope you ok

When is the next chapter coming out? It's been like 2-3 years since the last one came out...are you not going to write anymore chapters and just leave it hanging?

When is the next chapter coming out?