243 Days of KiyoRisu Stories

Day 22/243, Story 15, Chapter 1 (W)

Day 22/243, Story 15, Chapter (W)

Words: fence, tumble, picture

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Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was in his back garden, playing with a ball. His mother was also outside, hanging the washing up.

Suddenly, Ayanokouji threw the ball too hard, causing it to fly over the fence, into the neighbours' back garden.

"Kiyotaka! Make sure you apologise properly when you ask for the ball back, okay?" His mother scolded him, walking back into the house with her empty laundry basket.

Ayanokouji nodded. He crept slowly towards the fence, before peeking his head over the top, looking for his ball.

He noticed a small, lilac-haired girl, around his age, sitting on the grass, barefoot, rubbing her head. Next to her was a cane. In front of her was a book and... a board game of some kind? Not too far behind her was the ball.

"Um... sorry for disturbing you. I apologise if I hit you with the ball. Would it be alright if you could pass the ball to me?" Ayanokouji called out.

The little girl looked up, before nodding. She grabbed her cane, walking over to the ball slowly, before coming to the fence, passing the ball to Ayanokouji.

"Um... thank you." Ayanokouji said, accepting the ball. He placed it on the ground before continuing to stare. The girl had gone back to her board game.

The little girl could feel his stares.

After two minutes, she decided to address him.

"Can I help you?"

Ayanokouji, as though in a daze, shook his head quickly, waking up.

"Ah... sorry. My name is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. It's nice to meet you."

The little girl bowed her head.

"Likewise. My name is Sakayanagi Arisu. How may I help you?"

"If you don't mind me asking, what is that in front of you?"

Sakayanagi smiled.

"This is a chess board."

"Chess?" Ayanokouji asked.

"Yes. It is not played as often here, but it is very popular in other parts of the world like Europe and North America. Would you like me to teach you how to play?"

"Yes, please." Ayanokouji nodded.

"Very well."

Sakayanagi began.

"To start off, chess is a game played between two players on an 8x8 board. Each row is assigned a number, and each column is assigned a letter. In this way, any square on the board can be allocated a unique coordinate."

Sakayanagi pointed to the letters and numbers written on the edge of the board.

"Each player takes a colour: black or white. White goes first, making a move, followed by black. There are 6 different pieces, and they all move differently. Each player has their pieces set up in a similar way."

Sakayanagi started pointing to some of the pieces.

"Players always set up their pieces with a white square on the right corner. On the second row closest to the player, there are 8 pawns. On the row closest to the player, you have the rooks in each corner, then the knights and bishops, working inward. In the middle, you have the king and queen - the queen sits on the square that has the same colour.

Now, I will go through the moves of the different pieces."

Sakayanagi continued to explain the rules of chess, from the way that the different pieces move, to special moves like castling and en passant. The entire time, Ayanokouji stayed focused on each little word that Sakayanagi was saying, in wonder and in awe.