The next day.
The Chess Club.
Sakayanagi Arisu was playing against the Chess Club president.
Sakayanagi Arisu's follower, Masumi Kamuro, stood beside them, frowning as she stared intently at the board with a thoughtful look.
Hmm.
She couldn't understand any of it.
She didn't even know what the pieces were called, let alone who was winning or losing.
Perhaps the players had just made a brilliant move, but to Masumi Kamuro, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary piece being moved.
The game went on for a long time.
After an hour had passed,
the Chess Club president finally lowered his head and said dejectedly, "I lost."
Hmm.
Now Kamuro understood.
That meant Sakayanagi had won.
Masumi Kamuro lowered her head slightly and noticed that although the white-haired girl sitting across from her still wore a faint smile, the details of her expression were different from usual.
It looked as though she'd just fought a fierce battle.
"Your skills have improved so much since last time, senpai."
Sakayanagi Arisu picked up the cane beside her and slowly stood. "I'm glad I got to have such a wonderful match with you today, senpai. I have somewhere else to be, so I'll be going now."
At the white-haired girl's words, Masumi Kamuro's expression turned peculiar.
You have somewhere to be?
Since when did I know you had somewhere to be?
Masumi Kamuro remembered that before they'd come, Sakayanagi had wanted to use the Chess Club members as appetizers. The main course was supposed to be Dokuho Kouya.
How could Sakayanagi have such a small appetite? She'd only had an appetizer and was already full?
Just before leaving, Sakayanagi Arisu approached the boy from the neighboring class in her year. "Kouya, by the way, I haven't congratulated you on making it to Class A yet."
"Although Katsuragi and I took plenty of precautions, we ultimately couldn't stop you and your classmates from becoming Class A."
The former Class A now had two leaders.
One was Sakayanagi Arisu, and the other was Kohei Katsuragi.
The latter was very good at managing the class. He wasn't afraid to correct his classmates when they misbehaved during lessons, and he could also win them over through virtue. Thanks to him, the class still had 940 Class Points after the first month's academic evaluation.
According to their teacher, the former Class A's Class Points were already the highest in the school's history. Even Manabu Horikita, considered Advanced Nurturing's most outstanding student, hadn't left that many points in his Class A after the first month.
But what was astonishing was that the former Class B had done even better. Not only had they surpassed the results of previous Class B classes, they'd even outperformed the former Class A led by Sakayanagi and Katsuragi, earning an impressive 980 points.
It would probably be many years before another class achieved better results in an academic evaluation.
"I only told them about the school's rules. The credit for such a good result goes to everyone in the class," Dokuho Kouya said honestly.
He really had only told them about the academic evaluation on the second day of school.
As for whether his classmates followed the rules in class or misbehaved during lessons, he hadn't gotten involved.
"Hehe." The white-haired girl laughed pleasantly. "Kouya, you're not the type to just spout pretty words like 'friendship' and 'effort,' are you?"
"Even Weekly Shonen Jump adds the word 'victory' at the end," Dokuho Kouya replied with a smile.
Friendship, effort, victory.
That was the slogan of the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
Without victory at the end, friendship and effort alone made for an incomplete slogan.
Kouya wasn't just filling in the rest of the slogan. He was also expressing his own opinion.
At the boy's words, a faint smile appeared on Sakayanagi Arisu's lovely face. "Now that's more like it, Kouya."
"I look forward to our next match."
Sakayanagi Arisu left the clubroom with her cane. Her classmate, Masumi Kamuro, followed silently behind her, wearing a somewhat peculiar expression.
After the girls had left, the Chess Club members finally came over to Dokuho Kouya, looking dejected.
The president spoke first. "Kouya, I'm sorry. You worked so hard to teach us for a whole month, but I still ended up losing."
Dokuho Kouya shook his head. "Don't worry about it, senpai. Your skills really have improved a lot since last month."
At that, the Chess Club president's eyes lit up. "Then can we keep asking you to teach us this month?"
Kouya was genuinely an excellent teacher.
Their skills had continued to improve throughout the month.
Being able to hire a chess expert to teach them for 50,000 points a month was an absolute bargain.
But Dokuho Kouya raised a hand to decline. "Sorry, I don't need to do that anymore."
He hadn't chosen to teach the Shogi Club and Chess Club members to earn points. He'd done it to give the audience the impression that he was good at making money.
His original plan had been to earn around two million points by the end of the first month.
But as the third-years' point-collecting plan proceeded smoothly, Dokuho Kouya had already succeeded in creating the impression among the audience that he was very good at making money.
If he kept teaching the upperclassmen at the "low price" of 50,000 points a month, the audience might discover it and think less of him instead.
So from now on, the right move was to stop teaching students in the upper years.
"Kouya, do you think we're not paying you enough?"
The Chess Club president frowned. "We can negotiate the price. We could even give you 55,000 points a month."
Dokuho Kouya shook his head and said regretfully, "Senpai, this isn't about the points. I really don't want to spend so much time on this anymore."
Having to go to the Club Activity Building every afternoon to teach his senpai was a hassle for him, too.
Dokuho Kouya smiled and patted the other boy on the shoulder. "Maybe we can play chess together again sometime."
He turned and left the clubroom, leaving the members staring at one another in confusion.
Meanwhile, at the school café, Sakayanagi Arisu sat down and quietly enjoyed the atmosphere.
"Why didn't you keep playing chess against Dokuho Kouya?" Masumi Kamuro sat across from her and asked softly. "Weren't you looking forward to playing him?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved slightly upward. "Masumi, being too impatient isn't a good thing."
"My match against Kouya can't be decided over a chessboard. We'll have to face off on a higher stage."
Seriously?
Masumi Kamuro felt the girl was lying.
Why did it seem to her that the girl had already overtaxed her mind and had no energy left to compete against Kouya?
Before you continue