Set the Wager

"Your playing style has changed, Hoshino!" Sakayanagi said, looking at the board again with a mischievous smile in her eyes.

"No, it hasn't. I'm just playing normally."

"You don't need to hide it. Playing against you is quite a feeling! At first, you played cautiously for a few moves, then started doing everything you could to trade pieces with me. I gained a huge advantage, but once you started talking to me, your play changed. It became much more deceptive! I almost lost despite my huge advantage!" Sakayanagi smiled, showing no trace of the fear she might have felt at nearly losing.

"...I still lost, though."

"Hahaha! And you thought you'd won, putting on that triumphant act..." Hashimoto laughed loudly and started laying into Hoshino.

"Shut up!" Hoshino shot Hashimoto a glare.

"That was fun! I haven't played such a tense game in ages!"

Tense? Hoshino hadn't seen Sakayanagi look the least bit tense the entire time!

"You're good at reading people, Hoshino," Sakayanagi said suddenly, changing the subject.

"Hm? What?" Hoshino struggled to follow.

"You weren't talking to me just to distract me, were you? You were mostly trying to find an opening. You never looked at my face, but you were still paying attention to my movements, weren't you?"

"..." Sakayanagi had guessed right. Hoshino was so far behind her in chess that he'd had to observe things outside the game and use them as leverage within it.

At first, Hoshino had only been going through the motions, hoping to draw out some information. He'd only started paying closer attention when he noticed a few changes in Sakayanagi's behavior as she played. It had been a kind of battle of wits, after all. Since this was their first meeting, he could have misread her.

"Creepy! You were staring at a girl's body..." Kamuro said in disgust, criticizing Hoshino's behavior.

"...Sorry!" Hoshino could only apologize.

"Ha ha ha..." Hashimoto was still enjoying himself.

"Hoshino, how many points do you think Class D will have left this month?" Sakayanagi shifted the conversation to their classes.

"Probably not many. I'll be grateful if we even have thirty thousand!" Still seething over Hashimoto's teasing, Hoshino answered without thinking. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it.

"Seriously? Is it really that bad?" Hashimoto looked surprised. Sakayanagi and Kamuro turned to Hoshino with equally astonished expressions.

"Yeah. And that's the optimistic estimate! I might be living on dirt next month." Since he'd already said it, Hoshino decided there was no point in hiding anything.

"...So you figured out the school's rules too, Hoshino? Our princess here worked it out a long time ago—"

"Wait, if you've figured out the rules, why didn't you warn your classmates?" Kamuro asked, looking confused.

"...Because I'm not interested in competing. Besides, someone in Class D must have noticed the rules too and still chose not to say anything. So there'd be no point in me bringing it up."

"What do you mean?"

"...I mean that Class D is full of underachievers. Otherwise, we'd still have plenty of points even if no one warned us." Hoshino looked at Kamuro as if he doubted her intelligence.

"Then, Hoshino, want to make a bet?" The silver-haired girl smiled with evident interest.

"Hm? What kind?" Hoshino turned back to Sakayanagi, a trace of confusion in his eyes. He had no idea what she was up to.

"Let's guess how many points the other will have next month. Whoever gets closer wins. What do you say?"

There were so many loopholes in Sakayanagi's proposal that Hoshino didn't even know where to begin. She was obviously trying to trap him! Given the conversation so far, someone might think they were only guessing the number of points their class score would earn them individually. But Sakayanagi had only said how many points the other person would have next month, which could mean something entirely different. And who could say whether she meant just herself or all three of them?

"Forget it. I lose." Hoshino had no desire to waste time on this and promptly refused.

"Oh? So you're the type to give up that easily, Hoshino?" Sakayanagi tapped her chin with her index finger, a mischievous smile on her lips as she taunted him.

"Yes. When it comes to schemes, I'm no match for you," Hoshino replied coolly. His gaze returned to the chessboard, and he seemed lost in thought.

"Honestly, why call it a scheme? It's called intelligence." Sakayanagi knew exactly what he meant, but she wasn't the least bit embarrassed at being found out. If anything, a greater spark of interest burned in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Sure..." Hoshino answered dismissively.

"Then why don't you set the rules? Shall we make a bet?" Sakayanagi didn't give up, persistently pressing him.

"You're pretty confident, aren't you? What do I get out of betting with you? Honestly..." Hoshino raised his head and pretended to look impatient, as if he had no interest in the wager at all.

"You could win five hundred thousand private points!" Sakayanagi named her price before Hoshino could finish.

"Five hundred thousand? That's an awful lot of money, and so quickly!" Hoshino's heart raced. He was astonished, and the amount didn't quite feel real—but the corners of his mouth, secretly curling upward, gave away what he was thinking.

"Uh...but I can't afford five hundred thousand either. Do you even spend your points, Sakayanagi? You can come up with that much next month? Wait, this..."

"Don't worry. Even if you lose, I wasn't planning on making you pay those five hundred thousand points. After all, your class next month... From then on, you can be my friend! The kind who signs a contract!"

This woman was bad news! She was trying to buy Hoshino for five hundred thousand points! She wanted him to spy on Class A and work under her! That was quite a racket!

It was the first month of school, and most students still had little idea what points meant or how much they were worth. It really was the best time to buy up information and recruit spies.

Five hundred thousand seemed like a lot, but divided among the class, it came to a little over ten thousand per person. If the information was valuable, she could make it all back in one go. Besides, there was no time limit on how long he'd have to act as her spy. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn't a good deal. Betraying his class could get him ostracized if he were exposed, and his usual points would be reduced too. He might even give the other side leverage over him.

Still, Sakayanagi's boldness in making such an offer without fully understanding the school rules or exam system caught Hoshino off guard.

Accept or refuse?

Hoshino didn't even need to think about it. Judging by what he'd seen since the start of school and his own deductions, he could hardly imagine how many points Class D would have left. He didn't have much sense of loyalty to the class anyway; he'd always been a loner. Getting more points so he could live a little more comfortably was all he cared about right now. And even if he lost, working under Sakayanagi would have its perks. At the very least, he could use Class A's name to get things done.

Besides, Hoshino didn't think he was guaranteed to lose. He could set the rules himself, so all he had to do was give himself an advantage!

"...Whew. All right! But I'll need to think about the rules. What should the competition be?" Hoshino furrowed his brows and put on a conflicted expression. After a long pause, he let out a breath and relaxed, accepting his fate.

"Anything you like! As long as I agree to it!"

"Knew it..."

Hoshino looked around and finally spotted a clock in a corner of the library. An hour and a half had passed, and it was about time for dinner.

He stood, waved, picked up his bag from beside the table, and said goodbye before leaving the library. But the corners of his mouth, curling upward, gave away his mood.