The Wager, the First Millionaire Among the Freshmen

After school on April 30th, I visited a classroom in the club building.

My destination was a room near the stairs on the fourth floor—the activity room for the Chess Club.

"Excuse me."

I knocked on the door and stepped inside.

The room was about the size of a standard classroom, and inside, seven boys and four girls were playing chess, with only one person not participating. The faculty advisor sat in the corner reading a book.

At that moment, a boy who wasn't seated noticed me and spoke up:

"Who are you?"

"Hikigaya Hachiman from Class D, first year."

"A first-year? Ah, don't tell me you were agonizing over joining a club and only just decided?"

Most people would think that, given that the deadline for club registration was the end of April.

However...

"No, to be honest, I'm here to gamble private points."

As soon as those words left my mouth, the air in the room suddenly froze.

Everyone turned to look at me with scrutinizing eyes.

Just as I had said, my purpose for coming to the Chess Club was to gamble.

The school intranet stated that all clubs had these kinds of activities, and I had chosen the Chess Club.

"Oh? What exactly do you mean by gambling points?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. I've looked into the school's system, and the situation for Class D this year is truly miserable."

Hearing me say this, the upperclassman in front of me wore an intrigued expression.

"Heh... it's pretty impressive that you saw through that before May. So you're planning to earn points through gambling?"

"That's right. I checked that the Chess Club accepts wagers."

My research indicated that all clubs seemed to have gambling—presumably because the members themselves were hungry for points.

"Haha. I have indeed participated in gambling before, and I don't mind accepting a challenge."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course, but are you prepared for the possibility of losing everything?"

"I am."

"Good. How much are you betting?"

"I'm going all-in with 50,000 points."

I held up my terminal, and the upperclassman smiled with admiration.

"All-in, huh? Then, out of respect, I'll bet 100,000 points."

Is this the composure of the strong? Or do upperclassmen just have an abundance of points?

Regardless, I was lucky.

If I win, I get 100,000; if I lose, I have nothing to fear—I had already transferred my points to Shiina for safekeeping this morning, so I could at least avoid hitting zero.

What? Calling me underhanded? Shut up, what's wrong with being prepared for a rainy day?

"Please, take a seat over there."

"Understood. It seems you're quite used to this."

Although the faculty advisor glanced in our direction, they showed no intention of stopping us.

It seems gambling is indeed tacitly permitted.

"Like I said, people came here to gamble last year, too. Let's begin. Shall I let you go first?"

"I'll take you up on that offer."

Saying this, I pushed my pawn forward.

Ten minutes later...

"..."

"..."

We exchanged pieces in silence.

The upperclassmen watching held their breath. When I moved my knight, the upperclassman's mouth twitched—this move would force him to sacrifice his bishop or his rook.

I have a significant lead right now; as long as I don't let my guard down, I won't lose.

The upperclassman's style was aggressive, much like Sakanayanagi's, but his offensive was nowhere near as sharp as hers.

That girl's offensive was as fierce as if she were trying to crush everything in her path.

Perhaps because I had been crushed by Sakanayanagi hundreds of times and repeatedly reviewed those matches, my strength had far surpassed the period when I first played against her.

The senior's attacking methods were limited, and I could neutralize them one by one; I estimated I would checkmate him in another 20 to 30 moves.

When the senior painfully gave up his "Rook," I unceremoniously captured his "Bishop." If only Shogi allowed you to reuse captured pieces.

We clashed like this until the 25th move—

"Checkmate."

I whispered as I placed my "Queen" beside his "King."

If the King didn't move, it would be captured by the Queen; if it tried to escape, it would be struck down by the "Rook"; if it captured the Queen, it would be finished off by the "Knight"—and the only piece capable of attacking the Queen had no way to escape.

"Haha... I lost. You're really strong."

After all, having been brutally crushed by that monster Sakanayanagi for the past month, I had studied desperately on how to beat her.

Honestly, I had no entertainment other than studying and playing chess, so my progress was naturally rapid.

"I have been training, after all."

"I'd say you're just too good at handling offensives. Anyway, I concede. I'll transfer the points. Give me your account number."

Hearing that, I wrote down my ID number on a piece of paper and handed it to the senior.

The senior operated his phone and then looked up at me.

"I've already transferred it to your terminal. Check it."

I opened my terminal and saw that my balance had indeed risen from 50,000 to 150,000.

So transferring points is this simple.

If this situation isn't handled well, it could lead to disputes; I must remain vigilant.

While I was thinking about this, the female senior who had been watching the match suddenly spoke up: "You're quite impressive. Want to play a round with me?"

"When you say 'play a round,' does that mean betting points?"

"Of course. Your wallet has gotten fatter, hasn't it?"

"I suppose so. Are we going all-in?"

"That would be too pitiful if you lost. How about 80,000?"

Thank goodness for that.

Although I went all-in for the first match to pique their interest, I actually hate putting all my eggs in one basket.

If I'm going to bet, it's better to leave some room for error.

"Understood. 80,000 it is."

"Deal. Kato, move aside."

"Oh, be careful. This kid is really strong."

"I can tell just by looking at the match record."

The female senior said this while resetting the pieces across from me.

Well then... let me take the second match as well.

Three hours later...

"Whew..."

I sighed as I walked down the stairs of the club building.

As it turned out, I had been gambling until the club activities ended, and after consecutive matches, I was exhausted from overusing my brain.

Although tired, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.

I looked at the terminal in my hand—it displayed 860,000 points.

After playing against all the members of the Chess Club and achieving a record of nine wins and two losses, I had successfully rolled my initial 50,000 capital into nearly 900,000.

Judging by the results, it was a complete victory.

The seniors all held large amounts of accumulated points, and by the second half, some were betting 200,000 directly.

However, the two matches I lost to the club president and vice-president were truly a pity.

If I could have won those two, I could have earned around 1.5 million.

The other seniors said they wanted revenge at the beginning of next month, and I plan to go back and gamble a few more rounds then.

It's just that...

(I absolutely cannot let anyone in class know about these points.)

According to the information about the S-System I gathered from the Chess Club seniors, the points distributed to our class tomorrow will definitely still be zero.

Some students in the class are already bottoming out on points; if they find out I have this much on hand, it will definitely cause trouble.

(I've earned them, but I wish this school had a banking system.)

If that were the case, even if my terminal were seen, it wouldn't matter as long as my passbook wasn't discovered... In any case, I'd better not turn it on in the classroom.

Walls have ears.

"Hikigaya-kun?"

I had just reached the first-floor hallway, ready to leave the club building, when I suddenly heard a voice coming from the entrance stairs.

Looking up, I saw Shiina standing there.

"Oh, Shiina. What a coincidence."

"I think that's my line. I just finished up with the Tea Ceremony Club and was heading back. I thought you weren't in any clubs, Hikigaya-kun? Did you finally join one on the deadline today?"

Shiina walked down the stairs as she spoke.

I hesitated over whether to tell the truth, but given her personality, she wasn't the type to go around spreading rumors, so I decided to be honest.

"I went to the Chess Club to challenge them and gamble for points."

"Gambling for points... is this to prepare for what comes after tomorrow?"

Shiina had a decent understanding of the point system, so she grasped my intentions immediately.

"You could say that."

I had assumed most girls would despise gambling, but there wasn't a hint of disdain on the face of the airheaded Shiina.

She simply continued, "How much did you win?"

"860,000."

After I leaned in close to her ear to whisper the answer, Shiina wore a rare expression of surprise. "That really is quite a haul."

"The upperclassmen are millionaires; the stakes were high."

"I see. So, is there anyone stronger than Sakanayanagi-san?"

"No."

The word slipped out before I could think.

Although I had lost to the president and vice-president twice, Sakanayanagi's skill was undoubtedly superior to theirs.

"Anyway, I don't have to worry about points for a while. By the way, I'm heading back to the dorms. You?"

"Mm, let's go back together."

As she said this, Shiina took my hand.

Ever since the second day of school when Sakanayanagi and Shiina both held my hand, I'd been led around like this whenever I ran into them after school, making the surrounding boys look at me as if they wanted to kill me with their glares.

Shiina was an airhead who didn't care about the eyes of others, while Sakanayanagi actually seemed to enjoy the situation.

But since the former acted out of pure kindness and I couldn't bear to pull away, and the latter was physically frail and I feared hurting her, the result was that I could never break free when either of them held my hand.

Sigh... whatever. Let them be.

I let out a soft sigh and walked away side-by-side with Shiina.

I had come to terms with it a week ago; since I couldn't shake them off, I might as well accept it.

Complaining about it now was meaningless.

And so, we walked back to the dorms under the watchful eyes of everyone.

The pathetic thing was that, compared to when I first enrolled, I had already grown accustomed to being stared at.

I had originally made up my mind to keep my distance from others, but ever since I met Shiina on the bus on the first day and was targeted by Sakanayanagi after school, the time I spent with them had only increased.

"...Life is truly unpredictable."

"?" You suddenly said something strange?"

"It's nothing. I just feel like my school life is completely different from what I imagined before enrolling."

"Ah... that's true. I also thought I would be spending every day in the library." Shiina offered a gentle smile. "But even if it's different from what I imagined, I'm very happy with how things are now."

Seeing her smile like that, my cheeks burned, and I quickly looked away.

I feared this heat wouldn't fade until we parted ways at the dormitory elevator.

I woke up the next day and immediately checked my terminal—860,000 points.

As expected, not a single point had been added.

As I got ready for school, I thought to myself that the classroom was probably about to turn into a chaotic mess.