A Cool Farewell, God on the Chessboard, Crashing the Shogi Club

After the homeroom teacher explained the school's special rules, Honami Ichinose organized the students for self-introductions, and the entrance ceremony concluded, Dokuho Kouya finally had some free time.

"Kouya-kun!"

A girl with short brown hair called his name and walked up to Dokuho Kouya.

Sayo Ando blinked her beautiful eyes and asked with a smile, "Some people in our class are organizing a trip to karaoke. Would you like to join us, Kouya-kun?"

Before the entrance ceremony, there had been some spare time left for students to socialize.

Perhaps it was during that time that some had agreed to go to karaoke together.

It didn't take much thought to realize that the only person with enough charisma to pull that off right after school started was Honami Ichinose.

"I have things to do later, so I can't join you." Dokuho Kouya shook his head.

"That's a real shame." Hearing the boy's words, Sayo Ando lowered her pretty brows in regret. "I was actually acting as a lobbyist to invite you, Kouya-kun. If you were willing to come, the girls going would definitely be very happy."

Dokuho Kouya possessed a face that appealed to both genders; the girls in the class had taken a great interest in him after seeing his face and wanted to get to know him through karaoke.

Unfortunately, Kouya-kun didn't have the time.

"I hope you all have a good time." Dokuho Kouya turned around and waved, his back to the girl.

Watching the boy's retreating figure, Sayo Ando stood frozen in place.

I have to say, the way Kouya-kun just imitated that movie character's farewell gesture was genuinely cool.

After parting ways with Sayo Ando and the other students from Class B, Dokuho Kouya arrived at the club building and found the location of the Shogi Club.

Standing outside the door of the Shogi Club, Dokuho Kouya didn't rush to go in.

He opened the system shop and looked at the skills he intended to purchase and the popularity points he currently held.

[Popularity Points: 28,260]

[Item: God on the Chessboard (Price: 20,000 popularity points)]

When he was on the bus, his popularity points were still around 13,000.

But after the entrance ceremony ended, his popularity points had already reached 28,000.

As he expected, not everyone had seen the animation right away.

Later on, there would certainly be more viewers watching the animation, and subsequently developing a favorable impression of him due to his actions on the bus.

"I can afford to redeem the skill now."

With a thought, Dokuho Kouya spent 20,000 popularity points to purchase the skill "God on the Chessboard."

The moment the purchase was complete, his mind was flooded with a vast amount of knowledge related to board games, and he simultaneously gained an invincible level of skill in chess-related sports.

Even if AlphaZero were thrown at him, he was confident he would win every single game.

"Now, I can go in."

Having finished his enhancement, Dokuho Kouya walked into the Shogi Club activity room, quickly drawing the attention of the members inside.

"Student, is there something you need?" a student from the Shogi Club asked curiously.

"I'm a freshman who just enrolled."

Dokuho Kouya took out his student terminal, displaying the 100,000 points he hadn't spent yet. "I want to use 100,000 points as a wager to compete against you seniors."

In his impression, apart from the students in Class D from the original story, students from other classes actually had the habit of saving money.

Especially the students in Class A; even with the requirement to give 20,000 personal points to Kakeru Ryuen every month, they each had saved nearly a million points by their second year.

Although students from other classes weren't quite as exaggerated, they should have saved at least 500,000 points, which was enough to put up 100,000 to compete against him.

"Student, are you sure you want to bet 100,000 points against us?"

Hearing that Dokuho Kouya was here to challenge them, the members of the Shogi Club looked displeased. "Your teacher should have told you that the school won't deposit points into your accounts again until the 1st of next month."

"If you lose the match against us, you'll have no money to spend for the rest of the month."

Dokuho Kouya curled his lips into a slight smile. "There's no need for you seniors to worry about that. If I really do lose, I'll just borrow from my classmates."

"I believe that since they have 100,000 points, they wouldn't mind lending me 5,000 each. If I borrow from ten people, I'll have 50,000 points to spend, which is enough to last until next month."

Dokuho Kouya continued, "Once the school deposits another 100,000 points next month, I'll just pay them back. There's no problem with that at all."

When Dokuho mentioned that the school would deposit another 100,000 points next month, he clearly noticed a subtle change in the expressions of the Shogi Club members.

Having been at this school for at least a year, they naturally knew that the school wouldn't give out 100,000 points every month; the school was deliberately hiding and deceiving the first-year students.

In their eyes, Dokuho, who was still a freshman, was just an idiot who knew nothing about the school, and they subconsciously began to look down on him.

And this was exactly what Dokuho Kouya wanted.

"Since you say so, junior, then we have no problem with it."

The Shogi Club member grinned, smiling smugly. "But to prevent you from welching on the debt, we need to bring the teacher over first and sign a contract guaranteed by the school. Is that okay?"

"No problem."

Soon, the Shogi Club brought over their faculty advisor, and with him acting as a guarantor, Dokuho Kouya signed a competition contract worth 100,000 points with the Shogi Club students.

If Dokuho Kouya could win, he would receive 100,000 points from his opponent.

Conversely, it meant Dokuho Kouya would have to hand over his 100,000 points to the other party.

"Junior, don't blame me for being heartless."

After signing the contract, the member of the Shogi Club revealed a confident smile, "Don't look down on our Shogi Club just because there are only three of us; we are all national-level players among high school students."

"The outcome of this match was decided from the very beginning."

The recruitment scope for Advanced Nurturing High School covers the entire nation.

Students who are able to enter this school based on their special talents have basically reached the top level for their age group in their respective fields.

This is precisely why the members of the Shogi Club agreed to Dokuho Kouya's challenge so easily.

They possessed equal confidence in their own abilities, convinced that they wouldn't be easily taken down by some newly enrolled kid.

If it were an ordinary shogi enthusiast, they would certainly have been crushed without leaving a single piece behind.

Unfortunately, Dokuho Kouya was a cheater.

"Checkmate!"

"Nani?"

The member of the Shogi Club widened his eyes, unable to believe that he had actually lost.

How did he lose so inexplicably?

"Senior, you can put your surprise aside for later; you need to transfer the points to me first," Dokuho Kouya said with a light chuckle as he took out his student terminal.

"Damn it." The member of the Shogi Club transferred the points unwillingly, then continued, "Junior, how about we play another round? Let's still use 100,000 points as the wager."

"That won't do." Dokuho Kouya held up two fingers, making a peace sign, "Next, I want to bet 200,000 points."