CHAPTER 5 - Dating and Chess is a Battlefield
“10 am at the train station, ‘kay?”
”Yeah.”
Beep, beep... Hiraki ended the call with Rie. Placing his phone gingerly on the table, he went out to the balcony for some morning stretches.
He glanced at the clock. 9 am.
With great delight, he bolted to his bed, removed the blanket and before he could even jump onto his bed for extra sleep--
“GOOD MORNING!!” His eccentric neighbour yelled out with a gleeful smile, waving excitedly to Hiraki. And, she was lying down on his bed!
“RINKA!! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!!” Hiraki shrieked, but it was too late -- he was already in the air, about to crash into his bed!
Instantly, Rinka rolled over and landed on the ground safely just one millisecond after Hiraki landed face-first. But... Something bad still happened anyway.
As soon as he fell onto the bed with a thud, he felt something big and hard sting his body. “Ouch!! What’s that thing?!” With his good right hand, he shoved it out and placed it right in front of him.
“100 ways to make a date last longer,” Hiraki read out, his eyes following every word of the title. “Is this even...”
“Yeah! I picked it up from the library,” Rinka stood up and confirmed, winking. “It should work!”
“Let’s see. The first one... Take her to a hotel room and-- wait, what?! The first one’s already so dirty! What is the author thinking?!”
“Well, we are 17! So let’s enjoy our youths--”
“You’re thinking of the wrong thing!! Anyway, how did you even get to my bedroom?”
Rinka turned her gaze to the windows. Hiraki got the hint and turned his gaze, too. And there, at the glass windows...
The glass was replaced by plastic sheets!
“MY GLASS WINDOW!! NOO!!”
“We can only say ‘Rest in Pieces’!” She giggled, trying to comfort him, but it was futile anyway.
~Later at the train station, 10 am~
Hiraki was absolutely annoyed -- and fatigue -- at the earlier events. Slugging his shoes, he tried not to look so deprived of energy, but Rie found out anyway.
“Ekiguchi-kun, did anything happen?” Rie tilted her head and asked out of concern.
“No, nothing at all,” Hiraki pushed the topic away, then stared intently at her clothes. Whitish-pink blouse with ribbon, black checkered skirt... “You look cute today.”
“Well, thank you. Let’s review how the game is going now.”
“Y-Yeah, sure!”
~At the same time~
“Kishi-chan! Naruko-chan!” Rinka exclaimed, waving at Kuuhaku and sprinting towards them. “This is the place, right?” She looked all around. There were passers-by, retail outlets, trees...
“They want a bug-free game,” Naruko explained, gesturing to Rinka. “The passers-by are witnesses.”
Rinka nodded intently. Just then, something light and ticklish landed softly on her right shoulder. Hmm? She grabbed it, only to find that it was a--
“Thanks for waiting,” A familiar voice called out to the three girls. They turned to the direction of the voice -- Murasakii Kiyomi!
Yes, Rinka found a white feather just before Kiyomi called out to them. And it belonged to one of her wings. She was accompanied by two more members from Flugel. Then, using magic, she made a long table enough for three chess boards(and chairs, too, of course).
Members from Imanity sat on one side while members from Flugel sat on the other side, and some passers-by seemed to take notice of it.
Kishi began, “Kiyomi. We, the Imanity, hereby challenges you to a game of 3v3 chess. It will be individual games; as long as at least any two from a single team wins, that team will win. And the games will proceed at the same time. Of course, it be sky-high difficulty, right?” She grinned.
“Yes, I’ve picked two of our best chess players from Flugel,” Kiyomi agreed. “If we win, we get to take one-third of your population, and if we lose..”
“We get the library,” Naruko finished the sentence.
“W-Wait! Is it even possible to bet on our population? I thought from the very start you join a faction, you won’t be able to leave until you graduate?” Rinka was clearly confused by the bets they made.
“No idea,” Kishi whispered to her. “We’re going to take a gamble that we can bet anything.”
Eh.... Rinka felt kind of irritated by her answer. Still, that was no excuse for Rinka to do the game sloppily.
~At Rie and Hiraki’s side~
“Oh god, Ekiguchi-kun,” Rie said worriedly while strolling with Hiraki. “If they lose the game, Imanity will lose one-third of its population.”
“What?!” Hiraki almost choked on the news. “Are they insane? How can they bet this!” Facepalming, he tried to calm himself down. I’m sure Kuuhaku can win this, and Rinka too.
~Back to the game~
--GAME START!!--
Naruko vs Kiyomi
Kishi vs Member from Flugel #1
Rinka vs Member from Flugel #2
Naruko moves the pawn two squares forward. Kiyomi did the same, too. And everyone was starting out smoothly. Rinka was doing her best to keep up with the flow, too. Kishi was doing as well was Naruko.
~After some time~
Kiyomi froze. This wasn’t what she expected! I’m sure this is the hardest puzzle on Earth... How does Kurojiro-san know how to...
“Right, I forgot to tell you,” Kishi interrupted with a smirk. “Naruko is really scary when she gets fixated onto chess.”
Only then was Kiyomi fully alerted that Naruko was a formidable opponent. Taking all precaution measures, she continued the game tactfully.
~Meanwhile at the date~
“Kurojiro-chan is doing superbly well,” Rie reported with a relief as they sat down on a bench to rest. “Aozora-chan, too, but I don’t know about Kiriko-chan.”
“Let’s hope at least Kuuhaku will win,” Hiraki said, but then remembered what Naruko had said to him--
“Kuuhaku never loses.”
He smiled. Right, there’s absolutely no way Imanity will lose!
“Oh, so you’re saying you can’t trust Kiriko-chan on winning?”
“W-Wha--?! Of course not! It’s just that.. I’m worried about her...” Hiraki blushed slightly, trying to fix the misunderstanding.
“I see...”
Glancing around at the shops they could look into, Hiraki spotted a video game and anime shop -- his favourite! But only video games. As delightful as a dog with two tails, he tugged Rie along into the shop.
“Long time no see... Video games...” Hiraki sighed contentedly at the “heaven”. He ran his fingers along the surfaces of the cases, trying to find a game that would interest him. And of course, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Kuuhaku.
“I never knew you liked these,” Rie commented, looking at all the epic-looking posters.
“Well, now you do,” He said as he tiptoed to reach the game he wanted at the very top shelf. Then, clutching the case, he suggested, “Wanna play?”
Rie’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes!”
~At the game~
Rinka couldn’t believe her luck. There were many times she was almost checkmate, but managed to evade them all.
Just then, she heard Naruko say calmly, “Checkmate.” Naruko had defeated Kiyomi!
“Checkmate, too,” Kishi said with a note of victory in her voice, then highfived Naruko loudly with infinite delight! “Imanity has won, hasn’t it?”
Rinka got up from her seat without finishing the game as the winner has already been decided. And, the three of them highfived together.
“So... Am I part of Kuuhaku now?” Rinka asked jokingly.
“Nope! It’s only me and Naruko!” Kishi gave a mean reply.
Kiyomi shrugged nonchalantly. “You guys are really strong. Please don’t tell me you didn’t use any magic--”
“We didnt,” Naruko said. “It’s purely on wits.”
“... Who are you, then?”
“Kuuhaku. Never forget that.”
“So, as promised, hand over the library to us,” Rinka gestured to Kiyomi. “And we get to keep one-third of our population, right?”
Kiyomi smiled contentedly. “Yes, we Flugel have millions of book in our secret compartment, so I don’t think losing a library will cost us any much. The most important thing is, we must enjoy the games.”
Enjoy? Rinka stood frozen to the ground. Well.. I guess she’s correct.
“Right, here’s a gift,” Kishi fished out an iPad, then handed it to Kiyomi. “It contains thousands of books!”
In a split second, Kiyomi’s jaws were wide open and she drooled until the saliva almost reached the ground! “T-T-Thank you!!! I love these!!”
Rinka, Kishi and Naruko broke into a contented smile. At long last, they could move on to their next mission!
~Meanwhile at Rie’s side~
“Woah, you’re good at using the special attacks,” Hiraki complimented, his fingers punching the buttons on the game controller tactfully.
“More importantly,” Rie reminded. “Imanity won. Shouldn’t there be a new text message?”
At the precise moment, Hiraki’s phone vibrated incessantly. Speak of the devil!
---
From: God of Kaisou High
Message:
You have completed Mission #2. Well done! Imanity has risen to being the 14th. It seems that anger is coming from another faction, and another game shall stand in your way.
Mission #3 will be known as soon as you’re challenged.
Till then, I bid goodbye.
---
“Seems like... There is another faction who is angry with us and will challenge us,” Hiraki rounded up the contents of the mail.
~Meanwhile~
Kishi asked earnestly, “Kiyomi, please help us in our next game. We need your flight ability!”
Rinka was shocked by the question. She was doubtful that a Flugel would help them--
“Sure,” Kiyomi agreed. “I’ll be glad to help you.”
“Seriously?!!” Rinka couldn’t believe her ears. Did she hear wrongly?
The 10 Pledges -- 30% out of 100% restored.
Pledge 4 -- As long as it doesn't violate pledge three, anything may be bet, and any game may be played.
Pledge 5 -- The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game.
Pledge 8 -- Being caught cheating in a game is grounds for an instant loss.
~END OF CHAPTER 5~
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