After the homeroom teacher explained the school's special rules, Ichinose organized introductions for the students in her class, and they attended the opening ceremony. At last, Dokuho Kouya had some free time.
"Dokuho!"
A girl with short brown hair called his name and came over to him.
Sayo Ando blinked her lovely eyes and asked with a smile, "Some people in our class are organizing a karaoke outing. Would you like to come along, Dokuho?"
Before the opening ceremony, the students had been given some free time to mingle.
Maybe someone had arranged to go to karaoke during that time.
There was no need to guess: the only person who could have rallied people so soon after the start of the school year was Honami Ichinose.
"I have something to take care of later, so I can't join you." Dokuho shook his head.
"That's a shame." Hearing him, Sayo lowered her pretty brows in disappointment. "I'm actually here to persuade you on their behalf. The girls coming along would be really happy if you joined us."
Dokuho had the kind of face that appealed to both boys and girls. After seeing him, the girls in his class had taken a keen interest in him and wanted to get to know him at karaoke.
Unfortunately, Dokuho didn't have time.
"Have fun." Dokuho turned around and waved with his back to the girl.
Sayo stood there, stunned, as the boy's figure gradually receded into the distance.
She had to admit, Dokuho's farewell gesture, imitating a movie character, had been incredibly cool.
After saying goodbye to Sayo and the other Class B students, Dokuho went to the club building and found the Shogi Club's room.
Standing outside the Shogi Club's room, Dokuho didn't hurry to go in.
He opened the System Store and checked the skill he wanted to buy next, along with his current popularity points.
[Popularity Points: 28,260] [Product: God on the Chessboard (Price: 20,000 Popularity Points)]
On the bus, he'd had around 13,000 popularity points.
But by the time the opening ceremony was over, the total had already reached 28,000.
As he'd expected, not everyone had watched the anime right away.
There would surely be more viewers later, who would watch the anime and then grow fond of Dokuho because of what he'd done on the bus.
"I've got enough to redeem the skill now."
With a thought, Dokuho spent 20,000 popularity points to purchase the skill God on the Chessboard.
The instant the purchase was complete, a wealth of knowledge about board games flooded his mind. He also gained a level of skill in them that was practically unbeatable.
Even if they threw AlphaZero at him, he was confident he could win every game.
"Now, let's do this."
Dokuho, now strengthened, walked into the Shogi Club's room. The members soon noticed him.
"Can we help you?" one of the Shogi Club students asked curiously.
"I'm a new student."
Dokuho took out his Student Terminal and showed them the hundred thousand points he hadn't spent yet. "I'd like to put up a hundred thousand points and challenge you upperclassmen to a match."
As far as he remembered, all the students outside Class D in the original story had a habit of saving points.
Class A students in particular had to give Ryuen Kakeru twenty thousand personal points every month, yet by their second year, each of them had saved nearly a million points.
The students in other classes weren't quite that well-off, but they should have saved at least five hundred thousand points—enough to wager a hundred thousand against Dokuho.
"You're sure you want to wager a hundred thousand points against us?"
When the Shogi Club members realized Dokuho had come to challenge them, their expressions turned displeased. "Your teacher should have told you that the school won't deposit your points again until the first of next month."
"If you lose to us, you won't have a single point to spend for the rest of the month."
Dokuho gave a faint, confident smile. "There's no need for you upperclassmen to worry about that. If I really lose, I'll borrow points from my classmates."
"With a hundred thousand points each, they shouldn't mind lending me five thousand. If I borrow from ten people, I'll have fifty thousand points to spend, which will be enough to last until next month."
"Then, when the school deposits another hundred thousand points next month, I'll pay them back. There's no problem with that."
When Dokuho said that the school would deposit another hundred thousand points next month, he clearly noticed a subtle change in the Shogi Club members' expressions.
Having been at the school for at least a year, they knew the school didn't give out a hundred thousand points every month. The school was deliberately hiding the truth and deceiving the first-years.
To them, Dokuho was still a new student who knew nothing about the school—a fool. They couldn't help looking down on him.
And that was exactly what Dokuho wanted.
"If that's what you say, then we have no problem with it either."
The Shogi Club member grinned smugly. "But to make sure you don't welsh on the bet, we'll get our teacher to come over first. Then we'll sign a contract with the school as guarantor. Is that all right?"
"No problem."
The Shogi Club quickly fetched their supervising teacher. With the teacher acting as guarantor, Dokuho and the Shogi Club students signed a contract for a match worth a hundred thousand points.
If Dokuho won, he would receive the other side's hundred thousand points.
If he lost, he would have to hand over his own hundred thousand points.
"Don't blame me for being merciless, underclassman."
After signing the contract, a Shogi Club member smiled confidently. "There may only be three of us in the club, but we're all nationally ranked high school players."
"The outcome of this match was decided from the start."
Advanced Nurturing High School recruited students from all over the country.
Students who entered the school on the basis of their talents had already reached the top of their age group in their areas of expertise.
That was why the Shogi Club members had so readily accepted Dokuho's challenge.
They were confident in their own abilities and certain that some new kid couldn't just come in and beat them.
An ordinary shogi enthusiast would have been crushed by them.
Unfortunately for them, Dokuho was using a cheat.
"Checkmate!"
"What?"
The Shogi Club member stared wide-eyed, unable to believe he'd lost.
How had he lost just like that?
"Upperclassman, you can be surprised later. You need to transfer the points to me first." Dokuho smiled and took out his Student Terminal.
"Damn it." The Shogi Club member reluctantly transferred the points, then said, "How about another game, underclassman? We can still wager a hundred thousand points."
"That won't do." Dokuho held up two fingers in a V sign. "This time, I'm wagering two hundred thousand points."
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