A Simple Practice

"So, is this the reason why there's another permanent resident here?"

After hearing why Hasebe was also appearing in the activity room, Sakayanagi sighed helplessly and picked up a snack from the table to take a bite.

"Didn't you say you couldn't reveal secrets about your friends?"

Just when I thought Sakayanagi had lost interest in the matter, her tone shifted, and she switched directly into "instigator" mode.

"When did I ever say that Hasebe and I were friends?"

"I see, so you're emphasizing that you only keep secrets for Sakura, right?"

"That goes without saying."

Having received a satisfactory answer, Sakayanagi lost interest in further questioning and turned her attention to the manuscript I had recently finished writing for her.

"You wrote about 'love' for Hiyori and 'the human heart' for me. I wonder what Masaryu-kun will prepare for Ichinose-san?"

Sakayanagi tucked the manuscript I had given her into the exquisitely crafted box she had brought along, asking me out of curiosity.

"Ichinose, huh? I haven't decided yet. Mediocre writing doesn't give me the urge to pick up my pen. If she can maintain her original intent throughout her time at this school, then I might have a few ideas."

To traverse a thousand sails and yet remain unchanged in one's original intent—that is a very powerful strength of the heart, and to me, that is also a form of "beauty."

"Masaryu-kun, could you help Sakura-san and me with something?"

Just as Sakayanagi and I were chatting idly, Ichinose arrived at my desk with Sakura in tow.

"What kind of help?"

"We'd like to ask Masaryu-kun to be the referee. Sakura-san and I want to practice the event from this upcoming special exam."

Ichinose and Sakura showed me the cards in their hands.

The cards were about the same size as standard playing cards, the only difference being that they were significantly thicker.

"Since it's just the two of you, let's decide the order of play with a coin toss. If it's a tie, we'll toss again. Whoever has the higher score at the end wins."

I looked over at the Class C students sitting at the large desk and saw that Hasebe was also there, buried in her test papers, so I agreed.

"I'll take heads."

"Then I'll be tails."

Once Sakura and Ichinose had made their choices, I tossed the coin into the air. Tracking its trajectory, I brought both hands together and slapped the coin down onto the back of my hand.

"Tails. Sakura goes first. Both of you, place your hands face down on the table, and Sakura, please choose one card to hand to me."

Removing the hand that had covered the coin, I showed the result to both of them and officially entered "dealer" mode.

"How about this one?"

After a moment of hesitation, Sakura selected a white card from the nine in front of her and handed it to me.

"Now, Ichinose, please choose a card from your hand and give it to me."

After taking Sakura's card, I didn't look at the value immediately; instead, I placed it in front of me and continued the process.

"For the first move, I'll play this one~"

Although Ichinose remained calm on the surface after the match began, I could still detect her nervousness through her body language.

I suppose this is the first time both Sakura and Ichinose have played this game, right?

"Results: Sakura wins. Score 0:1, Sakura leads."

Only after both had handed me their cards did I flip them over to face me. Sakura had played a 9, and Ichinose had played a 5. Playing a 9 in the very first round—that wasn't a very good choice.

"In that case, for the second round, I'll play this."

For her second move, Sakura again chose to hand me a white card.

"A white card again for the second move? In that case, I'll play this."

For her second move, Ichinose chose a black card.

"Results: Sakura wins. Score 0:2, Sakura leads."

The card Sakura gave me was a 7, and Ichinose's was a 6. The score is now 0:2. While Sakura appears to be in the lead, she is actually at a significant disadvantage in the overall strategy.

"Airi, that's amazing! You're two points ahead of Ichinose!"

Before Sakura could make her third move, Hasebe's voice suddenly rang out from behind her. Startled, Sakura dropped the card she had picked up onto the table; it flipped over, revealing its value—a 2.

"I'm sorry, I messed up again."

Sensing the atmosphere instantly freeze, Hasebe realized she had ruined the moment and began apologizing profusely to Airi.

"It's okay, Gaga. We're just practicing for the special exam, after all."

Airi stopped thinking and turned to comfort Hasebe.

"Let's not count this one. Since it's not an official match, I'll help her reshuffle."

Looking at the black 2 that had fallen onto the table, I suspected she was following the tactics decided during the Class D meeting—using high-value cards only to secure points for the 8 and 9, while trying to bait the opponent into wasting their high cards at other times.

Because the special exam involves a four-person match rather than a two-person one, the variables will be much greater.

"Actually, I came over to hand in my test. I've given it my all!"

Hasebe handed her completed test paper to Sakayanagi, who, after a brief glance, struggled to suppress a laugh as he passed it over to Hiyori.

From my vantage point, I could clearly see the corner of Hiyori's mouth twitch; my interest in that test paper now far exceeded my interest in continuing as the referee.

"You two continue; I'm going to help Hasebe-san analyze this paper."

Hiyori pulled a red pen from my pen holder and led Hasebe to a nearby desk to go over the test.

"Has Hasebe-san finished that paper already? It seems the others should be close as well, so let's pick up the pace, Sakura-san~"

"Understood, for my third move, I'll play this card."

Sakura chose another black card for her third move, and Ichinose responded with a white card.

"Results: Ichinose wins. The score is 1:2, Sakura leads. Ichinose will lead the next round."

The card Sakura gave me for this round was still that 2, while Ichinose gave me a 3; from this move on, the scales of victory had tipped completely in Ichinose's favor.

"Results: Ichinose wins. The score is 5:3, and Ichinose-san is the final victor."

In the subsequent rounds of play, Ichinose used her white 9 to capture Sakura's black 8, used her black 8 to capture a black 4, and used her white 7 to capture a black 6, scoring three consecutive points to bring the score to 4:2.

Under these circumstances, Ichinose was already in an invincible position; the best Sakura could hope for was a draw.

Because as long as Ichinose ensured that white 1 wasn't countered, victory was guaranteed. Even if white 1 were countered, Sakura would still need to win another round. With Sakura left with white 1, 3, and 5, and Ichinose holding black 2, 4, and white 1, the initiative in their game remained firmly in Ichinose's hands.