Club Orientation

At two in the afternoon, Amasawa Yuto arrived at the gymnasium right on time. Sakayanagi Arisu was already waiting there.

She seemed in much higher spirits than when they had parted that morning. Had something good happened to her over lunch?

The gymnasium was spacious, and its indoor basketball court was now covered with colorful recruitment booths and posters. First-year students wandered among them curiously while upperclassmen at the booths patiently answered their questions.

"It's quite lively. I didn't expect there to be so many clubs." Yuto looked around. There were about thirty clubs. Besides traditional sports clubs like the Soccer Club, Basketball Club, and Swimming Club, there were plenty of cultural clubs too: the Tea Ceremony Club, the Chess Club, the Esports Club...

The Esports Club booth seemed especially popular. A flashy gaming PC and monitor, decked out in every color of the rainbow, had been set up for the new students to try out, and the atmosphere was buzzing.

"Yamauchi, that aim of yours is so good even Bole would call you a fine horse. Let me take over!"

"Don't touch it! You know how good I am, Ike. I'll definitely crush them. Just wait. Let me plug in my USB drive, and I guarantee I'll take down that Sakurajima Mai in one second!"

Some clubs had even gone for eccentric names. At a booth called "Euphonium Club," several upperclassmen were playing trumpets and violins. Maybe they were starting a band.

Another club's name was even more baffling: "Far East Magical Napping Society of Summer." Did they all get together to join the religion of sleep? From their recruitment booth, it seemed they were putting on card tricks for the first-years. Maybe "magic" was the key part of the name.

"Is there a club you'd like to join, Yuto?" Sakayanagi Arisu asked, seeing him standing there like a security camera, scanning the room in every direction.

"Every club is interesting, but there isn't any I'm especially interested in right now," Amasawa Yuto replied.

"Perhaps, to you, they're all just like little kids playing around in kindergarten."

"You're giving me too much credit, Sakayanagi. There's still plenty I need to learn. I know absolutely nothing about things like the tea ceremony, for example."

"In that case, there are a few clubs I'm interested in. Would you accompany me?"

Yuto nodded, and Sakayanagi Arisu led him to the Chess Club booth. Compared with the other clubs, this one was nearly deserted, and there was only one upperclassman handling recruitment.

Chess already had a high barrier to entry, and there were probably very few students who liked it in the first place.

The upperclassman sitting at the booth had been picking his nails with one hand and scrolling on his phone with the other. When he saw them approach, he sat upright in a flash.

"Hello. I'm Kuzuryu Yaichi from Class 2-C." He spoke politely. "What would you like to know?"

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and pointed at the chessboard on the table. It was set up as an endgame, with the black side looking on the verge of defeat.

"This is here for anyone interested to think over. Everyone can give it a try, but it seems like no one's very interested in chess." Kuzuryu Yaichi scratched his head awkwardly. "I almost thought I'd set it up for nothing."

"If I can break the black side out of its losing position, would you give me a few points as a reward?"

Kuzuryu Yaichi froze for a moment, as though he hadn't expected Sakayanagi Arisu to say that—or to sound so confident.

His eyes lit up at the prospect of meeting a fellow chess enthusiast. Then he considered Sakayanagi's proposal, his expression pained. "How about this? If you can solve the endgame, I'll give you five thousand... no, ten thousand points!"

The pained look on his face, the unmistakable expression of someone who couldn't afford to give away a single point more, wasn't an act. His own points must have been tight too.

Even so, he was willing to give ten thousand points to a junior who liked chess. It wasn't the pride of a gambler; he simply wanted to support a fellow chess enthusiast.

He probably wouldn't agree to play a match with points on the line. That would go against the reason he played chess in the first place.

Being devoted to a suitable hobby wasn't a bad thing at all. Amasawa Yuto had a lot of respect for people who were so focused.

"Then I'll gladly accept." Sakayanagi turned to Amasawa Yuto. "I came up with at least five ways to solve it. How about you, Yuto?"

"Then you win, Sakayanagi. I only came up with four."

"Looks like I win, then~" Sakayanagi beamed like a child. "Though you're only saying that. It doesn't prove you really thought of just four..."

"Huh? Five? Four?" Kuzuryu Yaichi looked from one to the other, then stared at the board and began thinking.

Was the endgame he'd set up really that bad? They didn't even need time to think?

No, that couldn't be right. The upperclassman who'd run the booth last year had set it up the same way. It was a product of the wisdom of those who came before him, and he himself hadn't been able to solve it.

While he was pondering this, Sakayanagi moved the pieces and played against him. In just a few moves, she rescued the black side from its losing position.

"Whoa, there's a move like that?!" Kuzuryu Yaichi was so excited his jaw nearly dropped, and he could barely get the words out. "What's your name? Would you be interested in joining the Chess Club? Everyone in our club is talented, and we're great conversationalists—"

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled. "I'm Sakayanagi Arisu from Class 1-A. As for joining, please give me a form for now. After I've looked around, if I'm still interested, I'll come by myself to hand it in."

Kuzuryu Yaichi seemed lost in thought. "Sakayanagi... Arisu? Could you be—"

Sakayanagi put a finger to her lips. Kuzuryu Yaichi understood. He covered his mouth with both hands and nodded repeatedly, his eyes practically overflowing with admiration.

After learning that the girl before him was the reigning champion of the World Chess Championship, Kuzuryu Yaichi no longer looked pained when he transferred the points. He even generously sent an extra five thousand. He no longer asked Sakayanagi to join the club, only hoping she might drop by to offer some guidance when she had time.

Before long, the hour-long club fair was nearing its end. The students noticed a bespectacled boy with black hair standing on the gymnasium stage, though no one knew when he'd gotten there.

Anyone who'd paid attention during the morning's opening ceremony would recognize him: Horikita Manabu, the student representative who'd given the speech.

He stood there, his gaze sharp as a sword, surveying his territory like a king.

Some students recognized him and hurriedly fell silent, looking around nervously like elementary school kids caught daydreaming in class.

But others kept chattering, perhaps because they hadn't noticed the stage, or perhaps because they thought some ordinary student was standing up there.

Sakayanagi tugged on Yuto's sleeve, drawing his attention to Horikita Manabu onstage. "It seems he's trying to use his presence to quiet all the new students."

"Yeah, but he should be able to pull it off. He has a natural air of authority."

"I'm a little tempted to cause some trouble." Sakayanagi seemed to have thought of a mischievous idea. With a sly smile, she took out her phone and began emailing someone.

"Hey, did you forget your lines, upperclassman?" A student cupped his hands around his mouth and called up to the stage mockingly. "Why don't you go back down and practice them before coming back?"

Horikita Manabu just stood there.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Something strange happened. Silence rippled outward.

Fifteen seconds.

Twenty seconds.

The entire gymnasium fell into an almost suffocating hush. No one spoke. No one moved. Even the sound of pages turning in handbooks disappeared. Everyone seemed to have been muted.

Horikita Manabu finally moved. He raised his chin slightly and adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold glint.

"It seems I don't need to remind everyone to be quiet." At last, Horikita Manabu spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it rang out clearly in the silence. "I'm the Student Council President, Horikita—"

"Riding on the back of a silver~ dragon~..."

A phone began to ring urgently, its ringtone blaring at the same time Horikita Manabu spoke. In the silent gymnasium, it was especially grating.