The True Elites

Chapter 1-2: Versus「 」

If Ayanokōji noticed this, then he could be anywhere from a good player to a grandmaster - perhaps, even beyond that. However if his reasoning for why my move was bad is because it gives up a piece for free, then he's just an idiot.

I looked at Shiro expectedly, waiting for her response which would inevitably be 'f7 takes on g6', sealing the game. I couldn't help but feel a smug joy as she opened her mouth from across the desk.

With this, my victory is all but assured and I'm 20,000 points richer.

However, no response came from Shiro. Just as she was about to state her move, Sora stopped her. Then, he spoke for the first time since the game began.

"Don't take it, it's a trap. Play Knight to a5 instead."

My internal joy immediately vanished and I felt my blood run cold as a sudden realization hit me. I'd been so focused on deciphering Shiro and planning how to beat her that I'd completely forgotten: I wasn't playing against Shiro, I was playing against Blank.

Shiro's one weakness in chess - her lack of intuition and pattern recognition - was entirely covered by Sora, the man I had neglected to consider until now.

This is their dynamic, how they work together. They have no weakness.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. There was still technically eighteen minutes until the opening ceremony, but this school's campus is practically a mini-city and so it takes a surprising amount of time to walk from here to where the ceremony is located.

In short, I have only around five minutes to turn this around. I'm already six points of material down and due to the tempo I just lost by going for that trap, I'm going to have a worse position too. In short, it's not possible to recover now. Perhaps I could've forced a stalemate if I had kept playing as normal, but I got overconfident in thinking I had deconstructed Blank. This trap which I had intended to set for Shiro ended up being my undoing. Blank is a truly formidable opponent.

"It's my loss. I resign." I said.

Somehow, I felt a strange sense of calm even though I had been thoroughly beaten. Perhaps it was because I had been so used to looking at the world from the sidelines. Everything, from school to chess and everything in between, came easy to me and so I developed apathy towards my daily life. Maybe this school, no, this class can reignite me and give me a goal to strive for.

Hmph. I'll beat you one day, Blank. I swear it.

"You look unusually happy for someone who just lost 10,000 points," Sora said in a teasing manner.

"Ah, I was so caught up in finally meeting worthy competition that I totally forgot about that."

Saying that, I pulled out my phone and transferred 5,000 of my points to both Sora and Shiro, as promised. I realised I had a smile on my face. I understood now a bit of what Ishihara-sensei meant when she said all of class E is once-in-a-generation talent. If everyone else here is comparable in overall strength to Blank, then this class can certainly be considered a miracle.

"You guys together seriously don't have any weaknesses, then? You completely cover each other's bases." I said, a slight trace of irritation in my tone.

"Well, that's not entirely true. Blank does have one weakness."

Well that's a surprise. I thought hard about it, but I couldn't think of anything. Light must've noticed my puzzled expression because he spoke up.

"Can't you figure it out? If not, then you're too caught up in the game you just played. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture." he said

Too caught up in the game I just played? What does that mean? Honestly, if everyone here is going to speak in riddles for the next three years then it's not going to be a fun time. I glanced over at the one guy I knew would also be bewildered along with me - the boy I'd know since I was a child - Suzaku Kururugi. As predicted, he wore an expression of confusion even more so than I did.