Classroom of the Elite, I Can Add Points Infinitely Chapter 6

Aragaki Shun pushed his brain to its absolute limit for the first time, his mental faculties pushed to the edge of human capacity as they converted into raw calculation power.

At this moment, relying on his formidable control over his body, he could faintly feel the heat burning within him. As his focus intensified, all external movements faded away, and the countless potential futures on the chessboard became increasingly clear.

Seven moves... eight moves... nine moves... ten moves...

One minute... two minutes... three minutes... four minutes...

Time drifted by slowly until, at a certain moment, Aragaki Shun's eyes seemed to brighten as he finally grasped the greatest glimmer of hope from the future.

He pinched the piece that would bring about his turning point and played his 21st move.

"Hoo~"

It felt as if the entire club activity room let out a sigh of relief, yet Sakayanagi Arisu alone frowned as she looked at the boy's move.

She couldn't understand it; what was the point of this move?

She looked with some confusion at Aragaki Shun, whose expression remained calm and ripple-free. After simulating the next few moves and finding that the advantage was still hers, the girl simply dismissed his posture as mere posturing.

Then let me see if you can keep that look on your face once you've completely lost!

Sakayanagi sneered inwardly. How could a mere mortal comprehend the heights of a genius?

Trying to drag out the time to exhaust her stamina—as if you were worthy!

Playing chess was indeed an activity that consumed a significant amount of body heat, but that was only if the gap in strength between the two sides hadn't reached a crushing level.

However, based on the previous 20 moves, Sakayanagi did not believe for a second that her opponent had the strength to entangle with her. She only needed to turn her thoughts slightly to checkmate him, so where would this physical exhaustion come from?

Convinced that her victory was foolproof, the girl moved her piece along a pre-determined path. Compared to the long time Aragaki Shun spent thinking, she had spent less than half a minute deciding on this move.

Aragaki Shun didn't care in the slightest. At this moment, he had poured his heart and soul into the game. Unless an accident occurred that triggered his Danger Sense, he wouldn't care about anyone else's reactions.

The onlookers didn't know if this move by Sakayanagi Arisu was within Aragaki Shun's calculations, but they could tell from the Chess Club president's timer that the boy's 22nd move was much faster than before, with a pause of only about three minutes.

Then the 23rd move took a little over two minutes to think about, the 24th move took less than two minutes, the 25th move took about ninety seconds, and the 26th move took only 80 seconds...

Aragaki Shun played faster and faster, and Sakayanagi, sitting opposite him, gradually realized something was wrong. Her once-composed state of mind slowly began to grow heavy.

She didn't know where things had gone wrong, but the situation where she had held the upper hand had suddenly slipped out of her control. Now, the chessboard was a scene of treacherous clouds and shifting winds, and she could no longer play with the playful attitude she had held before.

"Very good! Extremely good! It seems you are indeed not among those mediocre talents. It was my mistake to have underestimated you, having previously mistaken you for a despicable fellow with only a bit of cleverness."

Sakayanagi Arisu set aside her inner annoyance and forced herself to regain her composure, facing Aragaki Shun's increasingly sharp offensive with her best state of mind.

Her previous annoyance stemmed from the fact that his chess skills were clearly inferior to several members of the Chess Club, yet he had the audacity to try and exploit her physical shortcomings. He was simply a jerk who was useless at everything except his looks.

But now it seemed that Aragaki Shun had indeed been rusty due to a long period of not playing. As long as he was given enough time to focus on his calculations, he would absolutely have the chance to reverse the situation and snatch victory from her hands.

This meant the girl could no longer view this opponent with the mindset of someone playing with a toy.

Regardless, the time limit rules he chose were standard international tournament rules, and she had even gone out of her way to cut the time limit in half. Under these circumstances, he couldn't be said to have taken advantage; he had achieved this through genuine strength.

A peer with this level of strength was, without a doubt, a true opponent, and she had to go all out in pursuit of victory.

Seeing that Aragaki Shun did not respond verbally, Sakayanagi was not surprised. She, too, began to immerse herself completely in the chessboard, comparing the countless chess manuals and endgame scenarios stored in her mind to deduce the glimmer of victory.

Consequently, the onlookers in the activity room were stunned to find that as Aragaki Shun's moves returned to a normal speed, it was Sakayanagi Arisu who had slowed down.

With this shift in pace, the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly heavy. Several of the onlookers who weren't very good at chess felt as if they were suffocating; they wanted to do something but were terrified that disturbing the match would lead to them being beaten to death by the others.

Time drifted by again, only now the person who hadn't made the next move was Sakayanagi Arisu with her white pieces.

After about four minutes, the girl finally made a tentative new move—her 31st.

Aragaki Shun's gaze was calm. After spending three minutes simulating the new changes in the game, he followed suit and moved his piece.

Sakayanagi Arisu froze, frowning as she calculated her opponent's intentions, taking even longer to choose what she considered the most appropriate path.

The two sides traded blows, each predicting the other's thoughts. A single move determined the landscape ten moves ahead, so even though only a few pieces had been moved, the board was filled with the glint of blades and shadows of swords. A single miscalculation could mean the end of the entire game.

Their respective time pools were being consumed until the girl moved her white piece for the 37th move. Aragaki Shun paused for a moment, but instead of moving a black piece, he broke out of his intense focus and looked up at the girl opposite him, whose face was inexplicably flushed.

"Forget it, let's stop here. Let's call this game a draw; I was being a bit too impulsive earlier."

The boy's words restarted the time that had seemed to stagnate. The many students and teachers watching around the board seemed to wake from a dream, one by one beginning to stretch their limbs and whisper about why Aragaki Shun had suddenly chosen a draw.

Wait! Why are there suddenly so many people?

Aragaki Shun came to his senses and felt that the area was packed with people. Looking around, he realized that members of the neighboring Shogi Club, whom he had challenged before, had also been attracted here, along with several middle-aged men he didn't recognize, though he didn't know when they had arrived.

It seemed this game had gone on for quite a while, drawing a crowd to watch the spectacle.

Aragaki Shun took out his phone; it had been nearly eighty minutes since the start of the extended time rules.

With such a long match behind him, plus the time spent challenging the Billiards Club, Judo Club, and Shogi Club, it was, by all accounts, the perfect time to go grab dinner.

Thinking of this, a wave of hunger washed over Aragaki Shun. His previous focus had consumed too much energy; he needed to go replenish it quickly.

But while he wanted to end it there, someone else was not willing.

"Stop right there!"

Sakayanagi Arisu clenched her fists, her face turning even redder as she stared fixedly at Aragaki Shun, who was about to turn and leave. "It's your turn now!"

Aragaki Shun glanced at her embarrassed expression, knowing that his opponent had realized the truth: the move she had just made was a low-level error that only an amateur would commit.

Of course, this kind of match was always about who made the first mistake, and Aragaki Shun wouldn't feel bad about dealing her a heavy blow because of it.

However, looking at her complexion, he realized that Sakayanagi Arisu was clearly just forcing herself. If this continued, what would happen if she collapsed right there on the chessboard?

Honestly, given how frail her body was, where did she even find the courage to challenge someone to a game of chess?

One must realize that while board games might look like a simple matter of sitting still and moving pieces, in professional competitions, they are high-intensity mental sports. The physical exertion over the course of a single match is completely comparable to that of athletes in other disciplines.

In large-scale international tournaments, it is normal for every professional player to lose an average of one kilogram per match. There have even been cases where a champion lost ten kilograms over five months, nearly dying on the competition floor.

"Do you think there's any point in continuing now?"

Sensing the girl's stubborn gaze, Aragaki Shun asked helplessly.

He had actually wanted to defeat her through pure skill, and he was confident that if this game went to the end, he would be the winner. But he hadn't expected that halfway through, his opponent would already be unable to keep up.

Clearly, Sakayanagi Arisu had made that erroneous move because her physical exhaustion had caused her mind to become clouded.

How should he put this? Could it be said that Sakayanagi Arisu had actually been defeated by a Falcon Taming Tactic?

So, forget it. Losing this game would be too embarrassing, and winning it held no meaning. A draw would be best for everyone.

"The game isn't over yet!"

The girl insisted with such stubbornness.

Heaven had gifted her with a flawless appearance and a genius mind, but because there is no such thing as perfection in this world, it had taken away her health.

In the past, she had always comforted herself with this thought.

If she were to lose to a peer here in such an unsightly manner, her long-held persistence would collapse like a joke, forcing her to face that cruel and cold reality—

She was never a genius at all!

9. So Sakayanagi Arisu is a connection hire

What should a true genius look like?

Even when her shortcomings overshadowed her strengths, Sakayanagi Arisu still didn't believe she had lost to Aragaki Shun in terms of intellect. But tragically, her body couldn't even support her in finishing this match.

Being stubborn was meaningless. Even though she was confident that her intellect was second to none, if she couldn't use her wisdom to compete on a chessboard she had played on for over a decade, where else could this "genius intellect" manifest?

The girl couldn't help but loathe her own frail body, which suffered from a congenital heart condition, once again!

"Forget it."

Aragaki Shun frowned as he looked at the stubborn gaze of Sakayanagi, who was blocking his path and refusing to let him leave.

He couldn't understand why such a seemingly delicate girl would push herself to this extent regardless of her health.

But everyone's philosophy is often forged by their unique life experiences; it is normal for outsiders who haven't endured their hardships to fail to understand.

All Aragaki Shun could do was end this situation quickly. If he really caused a scene and sent this person to the hospital, it would be truly hair-raising.

Thus, he picked up a black piece from the board, seized upon the mistake Sakayanagi had made earlier, and moved it to the position that would decide the game.

Once this move was played, even members of the Chess Club whose skills weren't as good as theirs could see that multiple white pieces were simultaneously in danger. In the following few moves, Sakayanagi Arisu would have to keep sacrificing important pieces just to avoid being checkmated.

In this situation, even if the girl persisted, the best outcome would be to keep dragging it out and struggle toward a draw.

But with her mind already clouded, to pursue a draw?

Does she really want to end up in the hospital?

"How about it? Let's end this match here. Once you've saved up enough points next time, you're welcome to challenge me again!"

Aragaki Shun said this, while glancing at the crowd of onlookers. Among them were a few middle-aged people whose expressions were clearly off; they were staring at Sakayanagi Arisu, hesitating whether to step forward.

With an aura that didn't fit the school's teachers, combined with their concern for Sakayanagi Arisu's physical condition, could they be professional medical staff hired by her family?

When he first saw that cane, Aragaki Shun had thought she just had trouble walking. Now, it seemed that her frailty might be due to a heart condition.

So, was it her family who was sick for letting her run around school with that body, or was the school sick for recruiting just anyone?

As this doubt arose, he remembered that the Board Chairman of this school was also named Sakayanagi, and he wondered why there would be medical staff specifically caring for a student in the Advanced Nurturing High School, which was known for its three-year closed-off education.

Case closed. So the school is her family's property, right!

Tsk, why did such a troublesome connection hire have to be in the same year as him?

After a few seconds of frustration, Aragaki Shun looked directly at the teacher who was witnessing the contract for this match.

Aren't you going to step forward and announce the result? Do you really want to watch the Board Chairman's connection hire collapse right in front of you?

"This match is now concluded. The winner is Class B first-year, Aragaki Shun. According to the contract, Class A first-year, Sakayanagi Arisu, must pay him 500,000 points."

Fortunately, the Chess Club's faculty advisor didn't drop the ball.

Whether the Board Chairman had already given instructions to the school staff, or he was simply worried about the trouble that would arise if a student actually collapsed, he didn't dawdle after receiving Aragaki Shun's signal and stepped forward to announce the result.

Aragaki Shun breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, Sakayanagi Arisu, whom he thought would continue to cause trouble, only stared blankly at the state of the board after hearing the result, without any other annoying actions.

It was good that it ended this way; otherwise, he would have wondered if she was really trying to use her frail body to frame him.

"...Aragaki-kun, are you really just a hobbyist who plays chess occasionally?"

Sakayanagi Arisu looked up and suddenly asked this question.

However, the next moment, she recalled the skill Aragaki Shun had displayed during the match—from moves he could solve with ease to techniques that grew increasingly unfathomable.

Sakayanagi had to bitterly admit in her heart that there truly were geniuses in this world who could surpass a normal person's decade of effort just by cramming at the last minute.

Yes, a normal person!

This was the first time Sakayanagi Arisu had ever referred to herself with such helplessness.

It wasn't as if she had never lost on the chessboard before.

But those people were either veteran professional players, where she could console herself with a lack of experience, or specialized students who made a living from chess, where she could explain it away as chess being merely one of her daily hobbies.

But now, she had encountered a peer who clearly hadn't invested much energy into the game, yet could catch up to her ten years of persistence within a few hours just by focusing.

Heh, she had been so smug, self-proclaimed as a genius, surrounded by the praise of her relatives since she was a child; it turned out she was only at such a laughable level after all...

Seeing the young girl acting like a fish caught in a net, wallowing in her own depression, Aragaki Shun felt inexplicably embarrassed, feeling as though he were bullying a little girl and shattering her childhood fantasies.

"Classmate Sakayanagi, it's getting late. Why don't you transfer the points you lost to me before going back to your dorm to space out on your own?"

If it's shattered, then so be it; a child has to face the reality that Santa Claus doesn't exist sooner or later.

I'm not even close with her; how to comfort her is something her parents should worry about.

The members of the Chess Club all looked over, and even Shibata gave him a look that said this guy was beyond saving.

Sakayanagi Arisu, who was in the middle of feeling sentimental, had her expression twisted in an instant. My father is the Board Chairman; do you really think I would welsh on your five hundred thousand points?

At this moment, the inscrutable image of Aragaki Shun in the young girl's eyes shattered into dust.

Glaring fiercely at this guy, Sakayanagi Arisu irritably transferred the five hundred thousand points via her phone.

Looking at the still-substantial amount of points remaining on her phone, she hesitated over whether to schedule another match with him right now.

But after going through this, whether she wanted to or not, she had to admit that as long as she remained in this frail body, she would absolutely never be able to defeat any opponent of similar skill.

In the past, she refused to accept this, until the facts told her that once she used her brain at full capacity for half an hour without securing a victory, she would be forced into the pathetic situation of losing without actually being defeated.

Seeing that the young girl really had the intention of scheduling another match, Aragaki Shun felt a headache coming on. He really didn't want to gamble against someone who might collapse on the field if he wasn't careful!

Not to mention the risk of gaining a reputation for bullying the disabled, there was also the fact that her relationship with the school's Board Chairman was unclear...