Chapter 57: The Battle of the Weak

  Hikigaya and a certain small troublemaker arrived once again at the activity room of the Chess Club. The room was still empty, except for a purple-haired girl who was pying with her phone while sucking on a lollipop in the corner. Kamuro briefly gnced up at the two of them before continuing to py with her phone.

  "Today, it’s just me, Hikigaya-kun, and Masumi-san," Sakayanagi walked over to a table where a chessboard had already been set up, turned around, and leaned forward slightly.

  "Please."

  Seeing this, Hikigaya didn’t hesitate and took his seat. After gncing around the room, he asked in confusion, "Is this your Css A's activity room? Why is it that every time I come here, it's always just the few of you?"

  Sakayanagi chuckled lightly. "Unfortunately, this is a club activity room. But when someone loses a game, they have to pay a price, especially in this school, where winning and losing are very important things. Am I right?"

  "I feel like Sakayanagi is hinting at something."

  "Heh, this president lost three games in a row, so the next three days of use for this activity room are mine." Sakayanagi said casually, "So, Hikigaya-kun, are you willing to bet something? If you win, I’ll agree to any condition you want~ Any, I promise."

  "That’s quite an enticing offer." Hikigaya wasn’t swayed by the bait Sakayanagi had thrown out and calmly replied, "But the prerequisite is to win; otherwise, no matter how many promises you make, they’ll just be empty words."

  And besides, I wouldn't use this kind of condition for something like that! Probably?

  Hikigaya had already experienced Sakayanagi's chess skills firsthand, and with his current level, honestly, his chances of beating her were very slim.

  "But I’ll accept anyway."

  This caught Sakayanagi by surprise. She had thought Hikigaya would take this opportunity to propose other conditions, and she had made preparations accordingly. It could only be said that the result was correct, but the process was wrong, which left Sakayanagi, who had been in a good mood, with a trace of gloom.

  Kamuro, who had been sitting not far away, subconsciously raised her head to look at the boy with dead fish eyes. Her brows furrowed, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she merely sighed quietly.

  "Does Hikigaya-kun have some secret winning strategy?"

  Sakayanagi tried to read Hikigaya’s face for any clues, but all she could see was an expressionless face and a pair of cold, indifferent dead fish eyes.

  Seeing this, Sakayanagi stopped pressing the matter. In the face of absolute strength, any small moves would be in vain. She was confident in her own abilities.

  Sakayanagi chose to py as Bck, which also served as a dispy of her confidence in her skills. Hikigaya, understanding the gap in their strength, didn’t hesitate to choose White and take the first move.

  In the quiet activity room, the only sound was the click of chess pieces being pced. Sakayanagi made one move, and before she could even settle, Hikigaya immediately pushed a piece forward. His pace was extremely fast.

  Almost as soon as Hikigaya completed his move, without any pause for thought, Sakayanagi made her next move. She gnced up at Hikigaya with a slight smile, as if saying, "Since you want to py fast, then I’ll gdly oblige."

  From that point on, the two of them started competing in speed, continuously speeding up their moves, which also indirectly shortened their thinking time, causing the game to progress very quickly.

  Despite pying speed chess, there was not a trace of nervousness on Sakayanagi’s face. On the contrary, she appeared calm and confident throughout. This was either because of her confidence in her chess skills or because she had already figured out Hikigaya’s level of py.

  It was like a cat teasing a mouse.

  Kamuro, not sure when she had walked over to their side, didn’t understand chess, but she could read their expressions. One was confident and composed, while the other was fully focused, unwilling to rex. It was clear who was stronger.

  However, by the middle of the game, Hikigaya’s speed gradually slowed down. His pauses and thinking time became longer, while Sakayanagi maintained her speed, still very quick. To outsiders, it gave off a sense of pressure, and Sakayanagi’s smile became even more pronounced.

  "Is it really that hard to beat talent with effort?"

  Kamuro felt a sense of inexplicable mencholy. No matter how hard one worked, someone else’s talent could make up for decades of hard study.

  Talent is 99% sweat and 1% talent, but that 1% of talent is the most important.

  Last time, Kamuro had thought that Hikigaya had intentionally hidden his strength to lose to Sakayanagi, but now it seemed... the one who had hidden their strength was probably Sakayanagi.

  Damn it! Both of them are liars!

  With that thought, Kamuro couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

  Just when Kamuro thought that the game had no more suspense, Sakayanagi suddenly let out a soft sound.

  "Hm?"

  Suddenly, a look of confusion fshed across Sakayanagi’s face. Her hand, which had been about to move a piece, paused in mid-air for several seconds but did not fall. This seemed to be just a trivial interruption, and after that, Sakayanagi’s moves proceeded smoothly.

  But perhaps even Sakayanagi didn’t notice it; her pace had unconsciously slowed down, and there was now a hint of caution in her moves.

  On the board, Sakayanagi’s Bck pieces still held a significant advantage. No matter how Hikigaya attacked, he couldn’t break her ironcd defense. Meanwhile, Sakayanagi could easily adjust her formation, turning the defense into sharp spears that pierced Hikigaya’s "heart"!

  Sakayanagi maintained a rge advantage heading into the endgame. As long as she pyed steadily, winning was just a matter of time.

  But Kamuro noticed, to her surprise, that Sakayanagi’s face no longer showed the previous composure. The faint smile she had was gone, and there was no sign of it returning.

  Could Hikigaya create a miracle?

  Was there going to be a reversal?

  Unfortunately, there was no reversal. The final result was still Sakayanagi’s victory.

  However, as the winner, there was no smile on Sakayanagi’s face, and it even looked a little gloomy.

  "Hikigaya-kun, did you never pn to win from the start?" The silver-haired girl looked up and stared at the boy across from her, whose expression hadn’t changed at all.

  On the empty chessboard, only two bck pieces remained, making them rather conspicuous. The boy across from her had approached the game with the mindset of "if I go down, I’ll drag you with me" from the start, and had never considered winning.

  "I don’t think anyone likes losing, right?"

  Hikigaya picked up the two bck pieces from the board and returned them to their original positions before looking at the girl across from him, his expression conveying an indescribable calmness. "In terms of chess skills, I’m not as good as you. But, you know, there’s no rule in this world that says the weak must submit to the strong. Even though the final result won’t change, at least the process will have some meaning."

  "I know. Sakayanagi from Css A is more excellent than me in every way—family background, css standing, academic ability, and so on..."

  Hikigaya slowly stood up, gnced at the empty chessboard, and then mocked himself. "But, well, this is the final struggle of someone like me, an ordinary person."

  Even ordinary people have their struggles and ways of fighting.