The Chess Piece

During lunch break, Kushida came to the rooftop of the school building. Seeing that no one was around, she cautiously pushed open the door that had been left ajar.

"There's a small problem with Ryuen." After opening the door, she spotted a familiar figure standing by the railing. She walked over quietly and spoke first.

"It's about points, right?" Mu Tianchen turned around and looked at Kushida.

"You guessed it. That's pretty scary."

"What's so hard to guess? He may be Ryuen and have the whole class under his thumb, and he can come up with a million points, but as the class leader, he can't just ignore his responsibilities, even if he doesn't show it."

"Why do you say that?" Kushida was confused. Ryuen gave her the impression of a gang boss who used violence to intimidate others. She couldn't imagine him taking responsibility for the underlings below him.

"Do you know that you can use points to buy a Class Transfer Right?"

"You can transfer classes?!" Kushida cried out in surprise, then covered her mouth with her hand.

A moment later, she asked, "How many points does a Class Transfer Right cost?"

From Kushida's reaction, Mu Tianchen could easily tell how badly she wanted to leave this class—so badly that she wished she could transfer immediately.

He suspected it was because of Horikita, though he couldn't tell why she held such a grudge against her.

"Twenty million."

"Twenty million points?!" Kushida's eyes visibly dimmed. "That's not an amount an ordinary person could save up. But if it's you, Tianchen, I'm sure you could do it, right?"

After all, in Kushida's eyes, the man standing before her was unfathomably capable.

"I do have plans to do that. But weren't we talking about Ryuen?"

"Ryuen...? Right..." Kushida could tell he didn't want to talk much about himself, so she didn't press further.

"As for Ryuen, I suspect he's trying to raise a huge number of points."

"I don't quite understand what you mean, Tianchen. Doesn't he already have the whole class under his thumb? He shouldn't be short on points, should he?" Kushida was puzzled by what he said.

"Enough points for everyone in Class C to transfer to Class A." Mu Tianchen continued, shifting his gaze from the distance to Kushida.

"What?! That... can't be possible, can it? Twenty million is already a lot. To transfer everyone... that would take an enormous number of points."

Kushida was clearly shaken. Saving up twenty million points to transfer to Class A herself would already be difficult, let alone getting everyone in Class C to transfer...

She never imagined Ryuen would have such ambition.

"But how did you figure that out, Tianchen?"

Women were curious by nature. Kushida didn't doubt the man's judgment, but she still wanted to know how he'd reached that conclusion.

"Because of the points."

"The points?"

"I've tricked him into revealing how many points he has before. Every time, he's handed them over without hesitation, even if he had no choice."

"But that only proves he's always confident in his ability to earn more points. To him, this is no big deal."

"Then why would he want everyone to transfer? Wouldn't it be better to go alone?" Kushida still couldn't believe he was the kind of leader who took responsibility for everyone in his class.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have used violence to control the class.

"It's just a feeling."

"A feeling?" Kushida found it hard to believe that a man like him would say something like that. It was completely at odds with the impression he'd given her before.

"He reminds me a lot of someone I used to know. A lot. But that person has decided to start changing now..."

Kushida was at a loss, but his expression was calm as he said it, as if he'd finally let something go. She didn't dare speak, afraid of disturbing him.

"If there's nothing else, head back for now. Remember what I asked you to do."

"Mm, o-okay." Kushida was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something and turned back.

"What is it?"

"It's just... Ayanokoji came to see me today and asked me to go with him after school."

"Ayanokoji?" Mu Tianchen slowly smiled at the name. "I didn't think he'd make a move after all. Interesting."

"What do you mean?" Kushida didn't quite understand. To her, Ayanokoji seemed like an ordinary passerby, someone who barely stood out at all.

"Nothing. Whatever he asks you to do, just go along with it. It's probably about the Past Exam Papers."

"The Past Exam Papers... Could Ayanokoji actually be a really capable person?" Kushida couldn't help wondering. Anyone who thought of using Past Exam Papers was definitely no ordinary person.

"He might even be smarter than me."

"I see. No wonder Horikita spends time with him..." A hint of hostility flashed in Kushida's eyes. Perhaps, at that moment, she began to see Ayanokoji as an enemy, too.

"I'll cooperate. But if it really is about the Past Exam Papers, won't that conflict with your plan?"

Mu Tianchen's plan was for her to hand out Past Exam Papers to Class D the day before the exam. If Ayanokoji had asked her to do the same thing, the two plans would contradict each other.

"Actually, there's no conflict. The goal is the same, so it doesn't matter who does it. Besides, I don't believe he'd take credit for the results himself."

Mu Tianchen smiled. "He'll probably give the credit to you or Horikita."

"Wait... Does Ayanokoji also not want to reveal his abilities? Why would he do that?"

Kushida wasn't stupid; she understood what he meant. But to her, this was a great chance to earn her classmates' trust and goodwill.

Was he really willing to give it up so easily? Wasn't that a little too generous?

"He definitely doesn't want to reveal them." Mu Tianchen gave her a firm answer. "People who truly hold power and are exceptionally capable often prefer to stay behind the scenes as 'puppet masters.'"

"He's playing a game of chess. Everything he can think of and make use of—all the people and relationships around him—are nothing more than 'chess pieces' and 'tools.'"

Hearing Mu Tianchen put it that way, Kushida felt a chill of fear—not only toward Ayanokoji, but toward him as well.

"Why do you know so much about him?"

"I just know a few things about him. All right, that's enough for today." Mu Tianchen waved a hand, signaling for Kushida to leave.

Kushida couldn't stay there any longer. She turned and pushed open the rooftop door.

"So it seems I might be one of his chess pieces, too..." Kushida thought.

Still, even though she knew they were using each other, she seemed to have developed a little interest in this man...