***
It was pretty early in the morning when I, Kanako Hanae, was awoken by the sound of someone poking me in the face. My eyes gradually adjusted to the light as I looked up at whoever was prodding me. Taking a second to stretch my arms, I saw that it was my roommate.
This was the big day.
"Hanae, I'm going to my match now."
"...Ah, it's morning already?"
"You should probably check your phone! Do you even know what time your match is?"
I grabbed my phone off of the bedside table and quickly looked at it.
There was a mail from the school.
-
National High School
All students, today will mark the day of the first stage of the Chess Tournament Special Exam. Tables and chess sets have been set out in various classrooms. Teachers will be supervising and ensuring that there is no cheating. Please make your way to your designated table before the allocated time. Otherwise, your clock will begin to run down, and you will be fined points.
Chess Tournament Special Exam - Part 2 [Group Stage]
—You have been placed in Group D
Group D:
1. Kanako Hanae and Hasegawa Mio
2. Lawano Botan and Satou Ryota
3. Kaoru Hiroto and Kobayashi Lucy
4. Hamasaki Ester and Miura Kenji
5. Tanaka Shion and Iwasaki Kota
You can check your current group ladder and your match times on the special exam tab of the Preseqta app.
-
This felt different from all the other chess tournaments I've been in. In a way, it was both formal and informal at the same time. Opening the Preseqta app, I had a look at my schedule for today. Hopefully, I still had some time to spare.
-
Chess Tournament Special Exam
Student: Kanako Hanae
---
Upcoming Match: Vs Lawano Botan and Satou Ryota
Room: 2C
Time: 10:00 am - start
-
Thankfully it was a little later in the morning.
I waved goodbye to my roommate as she left for her match.
I decided to search up some openings just to revise, but I doubted that I'd really need to prepare seriously for these matches. Depending on how Hasegawa plays, it should be smooth sailing for the first little bit. After looking through some lines, I decided to lie down and calm my mind. The only risk was if I were to blunder and make a silly mistake due to stress.
I hugged my soft, squishy pillow for a little—it was one of the only things I spent a decent number of points on at this school.
It was worth it.
***
As I opened my door, I was greeted by the listless yet pleasant face of Hasegawa Mio.
"Kanako, you all ready to go?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
We walked silently down the hall.
"So, have you been practising?" I asked.
"Me? Oh, not at all."
"Eh... are you sure you'll be alright?"
"Who knows."
"Aah..."
For however supposedly-intelligent Hasegawa was meant to be, she really didn't give me a great deal of confidence. As we made our way down the quiet, modern hall of the dormitory building, I managed to get a proper look at her for the first time.
This entire time, she had kind of just been a fleeting existence. But now that I take a closer look at her, she has a really nice body—one that made me quite jealous. With curvey hips and some annoyingly big breasts, she was the perfect example of what every girl wanted to look like. Not only that, her skin was pale and smooth, with hardly any blemishes, and she had exotic, beautiful white hair.
Ugh, she must have it easy.
With such a nonchalant attitude, I didn't understand how she was so smart and pretty. Her entire person wasn't something that'd come about naturally.
"Hey Kanako, you've been looking at me for quite a while."
"O-oh, sorry, I just thought that you looked really pretty."
"Aw, thanks. You're pretty as well."
Eventually, we arrived at room 2C. There were already a few games going on when we entered, and as such, we stayed silent. Sitting down, I looked at the familiar pieces on the chessboard.
How many times have I done this... a lot.
The time was 10:00 am, and the clocks began counting down.
I was with the white pieces, so I decided to play the opening I was most familiar with.
Starting off with E4, I played the standard King's Pawn Opening.
In response, they played E5.
I played Knight F3.
Then came Knight C6.
I then played Bishop B5, the Ruy Lopez.
At this point, my opponent left the main line and played a completely losing move. I opened up my pawns and brought out a few more pieces before going on the attack. Beside me, Hasegawa had already taken quite a few of her opponent's pieces, giving them to me (Bughouse Rules).
Upon going on the attack, my opponent's defences were quickly broken apart.
"Checkmate."
Beating me to the chase, Hasegawa managed to checkmate her opponent first.
With that, we made our way out of the room. I waited for Hasegawa and walked with her toward the library.
"That's our first game done," I said.
"Yes, that went pretty smoothly."
"What are you planning on doing now?"
"I'm going to the music room."
"Ah, to play the piano again?"
"Yep."
I followed her as she made her way over. There was quite a number of students gathered around the place, frantically chatting about the special exam. Hasegawa didn't seem to have any interest in that, ignoring the other students.
Considering the fact that there was still a bit of time before our next match, I decided to just stay and listen to Hasegawa.
"You don't mind me, right?" I asked.
"It's fine. You can listen if you want."
Taking her phone out of her pocket, she seemed to be searching for some sheet music. The screen was so small I was surprised that she could even see it. However, before long, she began elegantly playing the piano, filling the room with music.
She really has everything...
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