"Finals are finally over! I heard the school is taking us on a trip to an island. Is that true?" After the exams, Hamaguchi excitedly asked Ying.
"Uh... I suppose it's true." Ying wasn't sure what might happen if he revealed the Special Exam, so he decided to keep it under wraps for now.
"Ah, I can't wait! The ocean, the beach... I knew I'd made the right choice when I enrolled here!" Hamaguchi jumped up in excitement.
"You're looking forward to seeing the girls in swimsuits, aren't you?" Beppu teased from the side.
"What!? You must be talking about Ying. How could a gentleman like me care about something like that?" Hamaguchi pointed at Ying.
"Usually, when people accuse others of something, it's because they're thinking about it themselves. So the answer is that you both want to see the girls in swimsuits." Ying delivered his final verdict without hesitation.
Which meant all three of them wanted to see the girls in swimsuits...
"It's already been decided. It's happening next week," Shibata told the group.
"What!? How do you know?" Hamaguchi asked.
"One of my clubmates told me. He said he knew an upperclassman on the Student Council, and he confirmed it with him," Shibata replied matter-of-factly.
"Ying, aren't you on the Student Council too?" Hamaguchi asked, giving Ying a reproachful look.
"Uh... Now that you mention it, I think I remember. They did bring it up at the Student Council meeting last week. Ahaha..." Ying scratched the back of his head.
Everyone: ...Just like you...
At a park on Kouiku's campus, Ying was taking part in an activity meant to cultivate his mind and spirit.
"Master, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it." Ying sat beneath a tree with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, slowly breathing in and out.
"Good work, Baiye Ying." Morishita Ran was meditating nearby too. "If you keep coming here to practice every day, in time, you'll be able to hear the forest whisper."
"Mm. Namu Amaterasu..." Ying thought hearing the forest whisper was secondary. Sitting here to recharge after a tiring day was genuinely relaxing.
Especially over the past few days: helping the people on the shopping street restock their shops in the morning, preparing for finals during the day, handling Student Council duties after school, and teaching math to the Idiot Trio at night.
Meditating here was truly one of the few precious moments of peace in his day.
"Baiye Ying, your master has a question for you..." Morishita Ran drawled.
"Go ahead, Master..."
"Have you gotten on Class A's bad side recently...?"
"No. Why...?"
"People from Class A have been looking for you lately..."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but it seems pretty serious."
"Is that so? How serious...?" Ying yawned.
"They might be trying to get you expelled..." Morishita Ran said calmly.
"So that's what it is..." Ying replied indifferently.
The two continued meditating for a few more minutes.
"Aren't you scared?" Morishita Ran continued in the same calm tone.
"Master, please stop joking around... Let me get some rest..." Ying yawned again. He'd almost fallen asleep just then.
"I'm serious, Baiye Ying."
"How could that be?" Ying said, sounding amused.
"I'm serious..."
"Uh..."
"I really am..."
"Wait! Master, this is important! Why are you only telling me now!?" Ying suddenly jumped to his feet.
"Only by staying humble and calm can you hear the forest whisper."
"Whew... All right, Master. Could you please explain the matter in detail?" Ying sat back down and asked in a steady voice.
"Well, no one has explicitly said they want you expelled. But Class A has been fighting over who gets to lead the class lately. Do you know about that?" Morishita Ran asked.
"I've heard a little."
"Then I'll get straight to it. People from the Sakayanagi Faction are looking for you, and they've threatened that they might get you expelled."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"...Please go on..." Hashimoto.
"So, if you really did something to upset them, go talk to Sakayanagi Arisu in the library. That's what the forest whispers."
"Thank you for the advice, Master. I'll take my leave."
"Hello. You're Baiye Ying from Class B, right? We were just about to look for you. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hashimoto Masayoshi from Class A."
Ying had just reached the library when Hashimoto Masayoshi, who introduced himself as a student from Class A, came over to greet him.
"Hello, Hashimoto. I'm Baiye Ying from Class B. Ahaha..."
"Come with me, then. The princess is waiting."
Ying: Th-this soon?
Hashimoto led the way. After they turned a corner, he quieted his steps, as if afraid of disturbing the dust floating in the air. He turned sideways, leaving half a shoulder's width of space, and said softly, "I've brought him."
Then he slipped away like a shadow, stopping at the end of the bookshelves and leaving Sakayanagi Arisu and Ying alone.
Sakayanagi's slender figure was gently embraced by the shadows cast by the bookshelves. Her silvery-white hair fell over her shoulders. She delicately lifted the white queen from the chessboard, while her ebony cane leaned against the chair.
Hearing her visitor arrive, Sakayanagi didn't look up. She continued playing, speaking just loud enough for Ying to hear.
"Checkmate."
Sakayanagi's voice was clear and lovely, yet it made the temperature in the room plummet. Even Hashimoto, peeking from behind the bookshelves, couldn't help shivering.
"What a move! What a move! Using the white queen to force the black king to flee, then launching a series of attacks and trapping Black in a dead end. All I can say is brilliant!" Ying applauded, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere.
At last, Sakayanagi looked up and gazed at Ying with a smile. "I didn't expect your chess skills to be so impressive, either, Baiye. It seems the points you earned at the Chess Club on your second day at school weren't just because you were borrowing my wisdom."
Ying: I just won a little Kouiku lottery when school started. So the young lady Sakayanagi held a grudge against me over that?
"I'm but a humble man with little talent. That day, I saw the auspicious signs around you and your overwhelming luck at chess, so I made a small wager. Just a small wager."
"I dislike being used by others, especially short-sighted fools." As Sakayanagi said this, her gaze turned icy as she stared straight at Ying.
Ying: Come on, how did making a bet turn into using you? Why's this little girl like a hedgehog, bristling at the slightest touch?
"Ahem. Actually, I know a thing or two about chess." It was time to show his real skills! If he didn't act like he was unfathomably brilliant, he might get eliminated one day without even realizing it.
Besides, after months of practice, Ying considered himself quite the actor. And he still had Katsura to help him.
"You saw the white queen's attack coming, but you forgot that Black can sacrifice its queen and counterattack."
Ying pointed to the black knight on b7 and the white king on e4. "At this point, Black can sacrifice its queen and use the knight to hunt down the white king. White will end up surrounded and destroyed."
Then Ying returned the white queen Sakayanagi had moved to d1 and said, "When you play against yourself, it's ultimately a battle between your left and right brain. You think the outcome is clear, but in truth, the victory belongs to an unknown third party."
Sakayanagi's pupils contracted. This person's chess skills are no inferior to mine.
"Haha, interesting. Though we've never faced each other directly, you still got the better of me when you first enrolled. Baiye, you have my recognition."
Ying: Wait, what are you going on about? I don't understand.
"If I weren't in poor health, I'd surely have gotten revenge for that defeat on the island trip next week."
Ying: Uh... Does she mean she wants to go play on the island too?
"If you want to go, I can see if I can ask the school to set aside a place just for sightseeing, so you won't have to do the wilderness survival test." Ying replied without thinking.
Sakayanagi was even more surprised. She had just meant to give Ying a hint that the island trip was actually a school exam. Had he immediately understood and figured out that the exam would involve wilderness survival, or had he already gotten hold of some information?
Either way, Sakayanagi felt that this person was no simple character...
Ying: Why does this little girl look like she wants to kill me? Did she misunderstand what I meant and think I was discriminating against her? Yikes, what should I do?
"Um... I'll make sure you get to go! Trust me!"
Sakayanagi: ?
Before you continue