Nice setup for the follow-up to the main story. There is an exciting new tournament taking place between China, Korea, and Japan under 18. This tournament will determine who will join the team. Akira is seeded in the team, but the rest of the spots remain in doubt.
In the meantime, Akira and Hikaru have formed a wonderful competitive friendship. They analyze games together, even though they haven't played against each other in a competition. Through this, they learn a great deal from each other and develop a healthy rivalry.
Isumi is scheduled to play his first game, and he will be facing a very old player (whose name I always forget). There is also a comeback of the crook 7dan player who was defeated by Hikaru. The main theme of this volume is how Hikaru is playing at shodan level, yet his actual level is much higher. It will be interesting to see how these storylines unfold and how the characters progress in their Go-playing journey.