The preliminary round of competition ended after each of the calligraphers presented their work. Once the judges finished deliberating, they would post a list of the contestants who would proceed to the next round the following day.
Kaito stood up and walked to Hajime. He was talking with an old man and nodding as he listened to the instructions. The elder looked vaguely familiar, but Kaito could not place his face.
As he stepped closer, the young man looked up, and their eyes met.
The cousins had not been introduced officially, but it seemed that the younger man recognised Kaito based on his childish look of rejection. Kaito smiled at the young man.
Though Hajime was about five years younger, Kaito felt like he was a child. When he was twenty-three, he had already travelled the world, built two successful businesses and faced death hundreds of times.
