I hate my life sooooooo much.
I just finished a study session with Aiya, and got the urge to end it all.
We had one every day—we first just did it in my room but then we also started to do it at school during lunch break in the library.
My entire week—Monday to Thursday—had been way too hectic for me.
Studying once was more than enough for me, especially since having Aiya teach me with her 'special' attire made me more energized—the other study session at school was too much of an added hassle since I didn't get that energy boost.
Unfortunately, that wasn't all the hassles I had. The boys who I escaped from on the first day as well as the ones who knew I went on a date with Aiya looked for me every day.
I had to immediately leave school when I heard the bell ring signaling the end of the day—just to avoid them.
Luckily during break, they couldn't come to meet me because I stayed in the library with Aiya.
However, this made my school really annoying to deal with. From the studying to the hiding—I desperately needed a break.
"Heugh," I sighed.
Unfortunately, that break wouldn't be coming anytime soon. However, I could take little breaks like sleeping.
So, with no work left for today, I turned in for the night—falling deep into a slumber.
It was relaxing and peaceful, rather it was what I was searching for.
It felt like time stood still—I didn't even need to dream because I was already at bliss.
It was like all my worries were washed away—or so I desperately wished for.
Ring, Ring, Ring.
The sound of that annoying ringtone woke me up—It was the polar opposite of a lullaby. Instead of putting me to sleep, it woke me up from my peaceful slumber.
I yawned and looked at the time, seeing it was 11 PM—it was time for my daily call with my beloved, Aiya.
Despite my annoyance, I picked up my phone and answered the call.
"Yo," I said plainly.
"Heyyy Eiya," Aiya replied enthusiastically.
We were talking about nothing in particular and I gave my usual responses—as energetic as possible despite my desire to just fall asleep.
Throughout the call I wondered something in my heart, "How the hell is this girl not tired."
I came to one singular conclusion, and that conclusion led me to ask a question.
"Are you a superhuman?" I asked.
"Huh? No, obviously," she giggled. "Why'd you ask?"
"Well, you don't seem tired."
"To be honest, I'm a bit tired but I wanna talk with you y'know."
Can't you talk to me in school?
"I see."
"What about you then? Are you tired?"
While I wanted to lie out of my teeth and say no, I just couldn't.
"Yeah, a little."
"R-Really?" she was surprised. "I guess I wasn't considerate, huh?"
"No, it's not that it's—"
"It's fine, we could both use a break, couldn't we?"
"A break?"
"No, no, no, no—not that kind of break. I mean a break from studying."
"Ohhhhh."
I almost thought I lost my girlfriend.
"Yeah, so let's just enjoy the remainder of this week."
"You sure?".
"Yup."
Our call continued until 3 AM but now I was more energized.
The walk to school felt better, in fact the glares I got from the girls that approached Ito were welcome.
"You seem extra happy today Nakamura-kun," Ito noted.
"Mhm," I nodded before leaving the girls with Ito.
I was all smiles even as I walked to the school gate and joined Aiya–walking directly beside Aiya, I even held her hand as we walked to class.
Today was really amazing.
That wasn't all of course because classes in general also felt better.
It was like my world had color again.
Well, at least until break.
"Where's Nakamura?"
Those boys were looking for me and were entering the front of the class.
Damn, I forgot about those guys.
Luckily, the back door existed—so I sneakily went over to the library.
I went to a secluded area and hid there.
Ironic how it's still this accursed place that saved me, might as well read some books.
I went over to get a popular book—Moby Dick. I had read it before but there was hardly any book in this library that I hadn't read before even stepping foot in this school.
I reread the book silently, until I noticed a familiar silhouette walk past—it was Fujimoto.
"Hey," I waved.
She didn't answer me and just walked to the bookshelf beside me. After picking up a book she sat on a chair opposite me.
"Are you really gonna ignore me?" I asked.
"..." She didn't even act like she noticed my existence; her gaze solely focused on her book.
I thought far and wide about why she was ignoring me then I remembered that despite promising to meet her, I never did.
Oh, that's right. I always studied with Aiya, so I was too busy.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't meet up with you since last time. I was studying with my girlfriend," I said, moving to the seat beside her.
"...Why'd you lie?" she looked up from her book; her voice bitter.
Lie? I suppose I did make a promise, but I wouldn't go as far and say I was lying.
"It's because the midterm test is close, isn't it?" she continued. "I understand that desperation but…"
"…No one knows when the test will start so I don't blame you, but even though…" she just kept shut and looked back at her book.
"I'm sorry for lying."
Those were the only words I could say, I didn't want to lie but I unintentionally did.
I hurt her and I felt bad, but I didn't know what to do so I started to think about my actions and focused on the concept that was known as 'Lying'.
Lying was ethically bad despite being the thing every human had done.
At the age of 3, most people could choose to be insincere whether it be for self-preservation or any other reason.
A human could lie without even being taught how. At age 10, most have told more than a million lies.
For a fact, humans are born liars.
She still didn't talk to me; it seemed she was just focused on the book she was reading.
It was The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Mikhail Tal. He was quite an amazing guy.
He was the 8th World Chess Champion in history. He was known as the 'Magician from Riga'.
He became the youngest World Chess Champion at the time at just 23 years old.
I had read that book over there about 17 times. He liked Mikhail's philosophy on chess, as Mikhail believed chess was about creativity and he agreed to such a thing.
In fact he often compared chess to real life, saying this:
"Just as how creativity is needed in chess, it is also needed in life. That being said, one could even go a step further and say chess is a direct reflection of life."–not that I agreed with that.
Not even a single word.
Anyway, Mikhail believed unorthodox strategies were better than pragmatic laws, he often took risks to create exciting, sharp games that captivated audiences.
Mikhail understood the psychological aspect of chess and sought to put his opponents in uncomfortable and unfamiliar situations.
Mikhail believed in exploiting their fears and making them second-guess their decisions.
In his words, "You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide for 1."
It was at that moment I knew how to cheer her up, or at least I came up with a plan that a Mikhail Tal lover would enjoy.
"Fujimoto, do you like chess?"
"..."
"Let's play a match," I grinned.
Her face lit up at those words. I really hated playing chess, but I don't want to just stay here in this awkward environment.
"Here are the rules. Winner makes the loser do what he or she wants," I said.
"…Are you sure? I've only lost a game of chess once and that was when I was 6 years old."
Fujimoto was around 15-16 years old so her statement was quite outrageous.
She claimed she had never lost a match since she was 6–well, it could be more believable under context.
Perhaps her peers or family went easy on her or maybe she hadn't played since then?
Her words didn't suggest the latter and the former was frankly too comical to be true–that being said, it didn't mean she was a chess genius but she was most definitely top 100 in Japan.
A master of chess, huh? Well, more or less but still let's see if I'll be able to cope with my rusty-ass moves.
"I might be a beginner, but I might just be the one who breaks your winning streak."
"Overconfidence is a big flaw," she grinned.
She had a chessboard in her bag; it's almost like she expected me to challenge her. She probably did though that didn't matter.
After setting it up, she put a white and black piece behind her back.
After shuffling it between her hands, she brought her hands in front of me.
"Which hand?"
"Left."
I had chosen black, which meant I was to start second, despite the disadvantage I was more than happy to play with her, however, I still hated chess.
Now, let's see what she'll do.
Fujimoto opened with 1. e4, a classic attacking move, advancing a pawn to control the center.
I responded with 1...e5, mirroring the move.
Fujimoto brought out her knight with 2. Nf3, attacking the pawn on e5.
I defended with 2...Nc6, developing a knight and reinforcing the pawn.
Fujimoto played the King's Gambit: 3. f4, sacrificing the f-pawn to open lines for her attack.
I accepted the pawn with 3...exf4.
Fujimoto seems good at chess, not at a genius level but still at a spectacular one.
I silently considered whether to continue with my plan because if she noticed, I would have to pull off something revolutionary, or I'd lose.
It hadn't come to that, so I calmed down.
Fujimoto pushed 4. d4, challenging the center and activating her pieces.
I played 4...d6, reinforcing my pawn.
Fujimoto developed her bishop with 5. Bc4. I could see her eyeing the vulnerable f7 square near my king.
I played 5...h6, a seemingly cautious move.
Fujimoto sensed an opportunity and sacrificed her knight for 6. Nxe5, cracking open the center and threatening my position.
I took the knight with 6...dxe5, I remained calm despite the chaos brewing.
Fujimoto's grin grew wider with each move, her confidence almost mocking. I shifted in my seat, glancing at her.
"Wow, you're really good at this game," I said.
"Flattery will get you nowhere—it doesn't work on me," Fujimoto grinned.
Yeah sure, then why are you grinning so widely?
"It's not flattery," I said plainly.
"I see, then I assume you won't be surprised when you lose."
"…I would like to see you try," I replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Fujimoto brought her queen to 7. Qhs, threatening an immediate mate on f7.
I defended with 7...g6, blocking the threat but leaving my king dangerously exposed.
Fujimoto sacrificed her bishop with 8. Bxf7+, forcing my king out of safety.
I captured the bishop with 8...Kxf7, my king was now completely exposed.
Fujimoto, now visibly grinning, played 9. Qxe5+, attacking my king and threatening my rook.
"What are you going to do Nakamura-kun?"
"Who knows? Guess you'll have to see."
I blocked with 9...Be7, I still maintained my calm expression.
I guess it is time that I started winning.
Fujimoto moved her queen aggressively with 10. Qf4+, trying to push my king further.
I stepped aside with 10...Kg7.
Fujimoto played 11. Nc3, trying to bring her knight into the attack.
I played 11...Bf6, offering my bishop as a sacrifice to deflect her queen from a key attacking position.
Fujimoto took my bait with 12. Qxf6, believing she had gained momentum for her attack.
Fujimoto leaned back; arms crossed. "You're better than I thought, Nakamura. But you're still not good enough."
"…"
Despite my silence, she still kept a solid grin, expecting herself to win.
I struck back with 12...Rc8, bringing my rook into play on the open file and targeting Fujimoto's unprotected back rank.
Fujimoto played 14. bxc3, captured my pawn to stabilize position.
I recaptured it with 14...Rxc3, gaining control of the board and creating dangerous threats along the c-file.
Fujimoto scrambled with 15. Qxe5, trying to counterattack by threatening my rook and pawns.
I sidestepped with 15...Kg8, keeping my king safe and ready to support my pawns.
In the final moves, my rook and pawns overwhelmed Fujimoto. By move 30, I promoted a pawn to a queen and delivered a checkmate.
In short, I won.
"So will you hear my request?" I asked.
"...Before that could I ask you a question?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Are you by chance a chess genius?"
What I did doesn't even begin to reach the level of chess geniuses, I just played some clever moves that's all.
A chess genius would have been operating way better than me, like by a long shot. I wasn't bad but the level I played at was just impressive, not special.
"Nope, I just won by luck."
To be frank I even hate this game.
"Oh, I see," Fujimoto said sarcastically, raising her left brow, not believing me.
"Well anyway, back to my request."
"I hope you won't ask anything depraved."
"I-I won't," I blushed. "I just wanted to request you to never ignore me."
I grinned at her, trying to convey my words well.
"Why are you smiling like that, weirdo—"
The bell rang to signify the end of the break, cutting Fujimoto from finishing her sentence though I had already heard her.
"It seems like break has ended; I'll have to leave," I said.
"Will you visit me this time? We could play chess again, if you want," she said looking down.
"I'll visit but no chess."
"...Nakamura-kun,tell me the truth. Am I just annoying you?" she said, her voice cracking.
"No, you're not and don't worry, this time I will come. Well, see you later," I grinned.
How little confidence does this girl have? You're telling me up until now no one has approached her, even those perverts—well, if the latter didn't appear then it's for the best.
"Yeah, see you later, Nakamura. I hope you keep your promise this time," Fujimoto smiled but still did not fully raise her head.
I smiled back and left for class. Classes went by normally, though I received a text from Aiya saying we were going on a date after school.
How nice of her to tell me before the date.
At any rate, nothing special happened today and I was about to go to the school gate when—
"Nakamura-sensei!!!"
Those boys were chasing me all over the school, I had to run around the school grounds 10 times.
After the tenth time they were tired, so I finally went to the school gate and saw Aiya waiting for me.
It seemed I broke the golden rule that states you should never keep a girl waiting, again.
"Hey Eiya," Aiya grinned. "Ready for our date?"
"Born ready," I smirked.
We talked about nothing in particular, walking in a different direction than we normally did.
However, I couldn't really get lost considering I happened to remember a bit of the map of the school.
"…I see. Anyway, Aiya?"
"Yeah?"
"Where are we going to?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" she said.
You're really fond of forgetting important stuff, aren't you?
"We're going to an arcade," she replied.
"Are you good at games?"
"Well kind of. Don't get me wrong I'm not unbeatable but I'm not bad at it," Aiya said looking directly at me, gauging my answer.
She appears to be gauging my response. In actuality, I have never gone to an arcade much less played an arcade game, but I'll have to act confident since she wants to go there.
"Well brace yourself because I will win you at every game," I said confidently.
"Oh, is that right? I'm definitely going to win you."
"We're gonna have to see right."
We continued talking and eventually arrived at our destination.
"Eiya, we're here."
"So, ready to lose," I grinned.
"You wish," she grinned back.
As we entered, I felt the cold breeze coming from the A.C. land on my cheek—It was refreshing.
The place looked state of the art and housed a lot of gaming equipment—ranging from Desktops, Gaming Consoles, et cetera.
As we looked around for what game to play, I saw Kisaragi alongside a girl with long blue hair, maybe they were classmates.
The thing about Kisaragi was that he never answered texts or calls.
It was kind of infuriating though after giving 3 texts, and even calling twice, I got tired of trying to communicate with him.
Although I met him during my first date with Aiya that was because he met me, in fact if I saw him from afar I would have ignored him just like now.
I was going to just ignore him like I planned but he and the girl he was with came over to meet me.
"Nakamura, what's up?" Kisaragi grinned.
"Oh, the usual."
How dare you? Especially after not answering me.
"Eiya, who is he?" Aiya asked. "Wait, isn't that...Yui?!"
"You know her?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm Tsubasa Yui. I'm Aiya's childhood friend and Renjiro's girlfriend."
For an instance Kisaragi glanced abruptly at Tsubasa but changed to being aloof.
So, it seems the statement about them being in a relationship, also came as a shock to him too.
We all sat down at a table so we could all talk.
"Yui how have you been?"
"I've been fine, especially with Renjiro around," Tsubasa said, hugging Kisaragi's arm. Kisaragi's body reflexively jerked and he began to blush.
Hmm?
First Kisaragi was visibly surprised when Tsubasa mentioned they were dating.
Now when Tsubasa hugged his hand he blushed and jerked like it was an unwelcome activity.
I had two theories that formed in my head as I noticed this series of events.
Perhaps they started dating newly and he was surprised she was telling people and he still found it a bit uncomfortable how Tsubasa held his hand.
Or maybe…they weren't dating.
Let's say for now that yes they aren't dating. The next question is why fake it?
Why would you fake dating someone?
Tsubasa's arm clung to Kisaragi's, but her eyes flicked toward Aiya. Something unspoken passed between them—a tension I can't decipher.
After 5 minutes or so of catching up (Me and Kisaragi were both on our phones), our girlfriends decided that they were done talking.
Tsubasa and Kisaragi then left saying they had to read for the upcoming midterms.
After that, I don't know if Aiya lost the mood or not, because the look on her face said, "I'm tired."
"Eiya."
"Yeah?"
"Can we just go do this tomorrow?"
"Uh, sure."
As I walked away, her tired expression stuck with me. It felt like I was leaving something unresolved, but I couldn't place what.
I left but I had a feeling I shouldn't have; I don't understand why she's suddenly tired.
Well, I left and went back to the dorms and went to watch TV—the school gave us a preinstalled TV, but it only shows campus news.
"Today, there's news about new shipments of koalas to the local zoo. I don't know about you but I'm gonna check that out; like who doesn't wanna watch animals laze around especially when you're on a super heavy deadline. I know that's what I need," the news anchor joked. "Anyway, let's take a quick break folks, my name is Amami Shion, and see you after the break."
"Bland," I turned off the TV.
It reminded me of the first words Aiya said to me. I wondered what she meant at that time though I pushed it to the back of my mind and continued watching TV because I remembered I had nothing better to do.
***
Author's Note:
News is peak, don't be bum Eiya. Anyway, that chess match was epic, I tried my best for it and even after everything it wasn't genius-level.
Yeah, I have a low elo score so yeah, it isn't really a shock but I have to say this: this chapter is somewhat symbolic, basically, the chess match has meaning.
Please try to understand it though next chapter I'll try to explain it for those confused.
Anyway, remember to comment, share, and leave a review. Thanks for reading the chapter and see you in the next one.