Chess scheme and summer break
// Himeno's POV, class B //
~tap tap tap~
I looked up and saw two girls enter the classroom, clearly intent on challenging Lucy to a game of chess, "I'm sorry but Lucy has just played 3 matches. Your next opportunity to enter the competition will be tomorrow after class."
The shorter girl using a cane to walk tilted her head, "Is that so? And what competition are talking about?"
I see the taller girl roll her eyes, they both know about the competition. I pointed at the white board, "If you look over there, it says the number 45,000 right now. That is the number of points that is currently up for grabs. All you have to do is pay a 1,000 point entry fee and beat Lucy Hall in a game of chess."
The short girl nodded her head in understanding, "Quite a low risk - high reward game, no?"
"It is, I will play against you tomorrow if your up to the challenge. For now we must be going Himeno." I turned around and looked down slightly to see Lucy with a smug look in her eyes, I looked the other way and the walking cane girl had an equally smug face.
What is this? A smug off? Lucy walked off with the same smile sitting on her face, I just followed her.
To my left I saw Kanzaki close down the betting stands. The bets are mainly held between the upper years, as they are our main spectators. Naturally all betting winnings come out of Lucy's pockets. The bets are always high for Lucy's opposition and everyone always bets on Lucy so they can get some easy money. Right now Lucy is on a 90 game win streak. Due to the reward being so high, many people try to rematch her.
It's obvious to anyone that Lucy is trying to make most of her games seem as close as possible to give challengers the illusion that they can win next time. They can't, and they never will. The problem is that the people will realize this and we won't get any more challengers at all.
// Lucy's POV, library //
I was walking toward the crime section of the library with Himeno walking two steps behind me, we are currently waiting for Miyu to find us then we are going to my room to chill out for a bit. But first...
"Hello, what's your name?" I must have startled the girl, she had been looking for a certain book it seems.
"Oh hello there, i'm Hiyori Shiina. And you?"
I saw her holding a book and decided that was the perfect conversation starter. "My name is Lucy Hall. Do you mind if I take that book off your hands after you check it back in? I've been looking for it for a while now, it seems you must have had it."
I smiled to show it was all in jest, her eyes gained some sort of glimmer, "I'm actually just about to return it, if you want to come with me you can take it out at the same time."
"sure" I nodded.
Hiyori Shiina isn't important to the plot much, if at all. To my knowledge she didn't get too involved in the class competitions. I think there is a friend to be made here, it also may be a good way for me to extract information on class C. I can't depend on future knowledge when I have made multiple changes to the story no matter how big or small.
The silence was broken by light, rapid footsteps. It was Miyu. "Miyu, next time you are going to be and Himeno has been on her phone texting for the last 20 minutes. Her popularity really has sky rocketed, by the small smile on her face it looks like she's enjoying herself.
The good thing about having a photographic memory is that I don't have to comprehend any of the words I read, as long as I have looked at them for a minimal amount of time I will be able to remember a whole book word by word. I can read this book any time I want now.
I soon had a new book and was skimming over it in silence while Hiyori was reading opposite me.
I didn't mind in all honesty, despite sitting in silence I feel I have made some progress with befriending Hiyori.
behind me I could hear light footsteps, "Miyu, next time your going to be late a warning would be appreciated."
Miyu rolled her eyes, "I messaged Himeno. Himeno did you not tell Lucy? It said you saw the message, and you even responded saying not to worry."
Miyu, gave Himeno a slight glare and Himeno herself just rubbed the back of her head in shame, "hehehe, sorry I was texting a bunch of people earlier. I must have forgotten."
Miyu gave Himeno eyes that promissed punishment, naturally the only thing I could do here was stick my tongue out at her. Behind Miyu's back of course, I want pudding tonight.
I ignored Himeno's flabbergasted look, "Well it was fun Hiyori, but we better be off now."
I was ignored. She didn't even acknowledge the fact that I spoke to her. She didn't even look up from the book she was reading. Maybe I didn't make as much progress as I thought I did? ~sigh~
// Lucy's room //
I had just finished memorizing my new book when I popped the question, "So Miyu," She hummed in acknowledgement, "Why where you late?"
Miyu turned away from her cooking to respond, "As tomorow is the last day of term, Hirata wanted to hold a meeting. He said even though it's summer break we shouldn't do anything that could risk us points for the class."
Fair enough, "Miyu, who is Hirata?"
I can't tell her I have knowledge of every single person in class D, "Oh, he's our class leader. Hirata Yosuke. He's Karuizawa's boyfriend." A look seemed to enter Miyu's eyes but she quickly covered it up.
I was about to tease her but I suddenly felt my phone vibrate, ~vrr~.
"Girls, we have been invited to go to the pool tomorrow. Would you two like to go? Ichinose asked me to ask a few others to come as well."
The two of them nodded, Miyu a tad more enthusiastic than Himeno. I wonder why? Oh well.
"Then I think it's time we go shopping." At this Himeno got more excited, she loved shopping as any normal girl would.
~vrr~ I checked my phone and saw Ichinose ask me if I had a swimming costume, I replied 'no'. An hour later, I found myself, Miyu, Himeno, Ichinose, Chihiro Shiranami and Kozue Minamikata.
We went to kyaki mall to buy swimming costumes for all of us, I guess it was something that was going to happen eventually anyway. Naturally I would be paying for me and my girls.
I left the shop with a black two piece with sun flower prints. Miyu had a light blue two piece and Himeno had a very... bold and revealing, white-gray two piece. Damn, she has confidence about her body.
On our way out we saw a few class D students, including Kushida, Karuizawa, Hirata, Onodera, Inogashira and the three idiots. How they managed to weasel their way into this outing of theirs, I don't know.
We had a small chat on Ichinose's insistence, I mainly spoke to Hirata though. It was mainly just greetings but we had an interesting conversation.
"Your name is Hirata Yosuke right?"
He looked at me as if he didn't expect me to speak to him, "Oh yes, that's right. And your name is?"
I smiled, "Lucy Hall, so tell me, how did you manage to pull a girl like Karuizawa?" Of course he wouldn't expect this kind of question from a girl, I just wanted to make him flustered.
Sadly it didn't work, "Ah, we met in the first day and just kind of hit it off I guess." He answered calmly.
I tilted my head in confusion, "Really? You fell in love on the first day? How romantic!" I played the part of 'SIMPING SCHOOL GIRL!'
So far Hirata has only been surrounded with girls who are so obviously in love with him. This was the best way to avoid any suspicion as this is his current expectation for girls at the moment. hehe I really am to smart, a genius even!
I was startled when I heard Ichinose, "Lucy are you coming?"
I turned and followed the group walking away from me, "Hey, wait up!"
I did notice the stare in the back of my head, received by Karuizawa. Is she suspicious of me? Oh, well. What can you do?
// Hirata's POV //
I turned to the rest of the group only to see Ike, yamauchi and Sudo glaring daggers in my head.
"Hey what gives man? You already got Karuizawa, now your taking girls from the other classes too?"
"Yhea, what the hell?
Yamauchi nodded in agreement.
Thankfully Karuizawa answered for me, "He's not! Hirata is my boyfriend exclusively! Besides, that's the last girl I would expect to get a boyfriend."
We walked into the shop for bathing suits, but what Karuizawa said stuck in my mind. Why would she be the last girl to get a boyfriend?
When everybody had separated and I was alone with Karuizawa, I asked her about it.
"Why? Because she's a money hungry bitch."
Why would she call her that? "Hey, I don't think that's true. And that's a bit harsh isn't it?"
Karuizawa frowned because I disagreed with her, "You know what, after classes tomorrow come with me and i'll show you exactly what I mean."
I nodded my head at this.
// Hirata's POV, The next day after classes //
Damn, we're late. The girls just wouldn't let us leave. Eventually it turned out that Ayanokoji and Horikita joined us.
As we entered the room I saw a boy with a frustrated frown on his face stomp out of the room, pushing past us. I wonder what that was about?
I saw a girl with brown - blue hair change a number on the white board from 46,000 to 46,500. She spoke, "Next challenger, have you sent the entrance fee in yet?"
In the center of the room was a single table and two chairs. On the table was a chess board being neatly arranged by who I recognized as Lucy Hall. The 'new challenger' sat down opposite her and placed her walking cane down across her lap.
"I have, can we play now?" The small girl girl had a smug smile on her face, she shifted a few of her pawns slightly on the board.
"Not quite yet. This match is between Lucy Hall, playing as White and Aisu Sakayangi, playing as black. Everybody has 5 minutes to enter their bets! Today's bets are different however, as it is the last game this term, the reward for betting on Lucy is at it's highest, promising a 150% worth of points back for her win! On the other hand Arisu Sakayanagi has a 25% points back for her win!"
The eyes of many students widened at this, including mine. How would they manage to pay back all the points?
"Please do not worry as we have a teacher from class 1 B who has created written contracts, with a promise of paying all our debts over a 3 months time. Rest assured we can afford any number of points."
In this classroom right now, there are roughly 65 students and from what I can see over the 5 minute time period, 40 students placed bets. I think it's safe to assume they bet on Lucy to win.
In this 5 minute period, Karuizawa explained the rules of the tournament to me.
"Silence!" The girl who I now know as Himeno shouted and everyone listened. "When I press white's side of the 10 minute clock, the match may begin. Any talking from spectators will result in a temporary ban and that person's bet made null."
Silence reigned supreme, no one spoke a word. "Begin." ~clack~
The clock started and Lucy played d4, Sakayanagi played d5.
The game continued for 17 minutes and 24 seconds ending in checkmate, blacks win.
Even after a whole minute, nobody spoke. Not even the 'announcer'. It seemed a shock to everybody that Lucy had lost.
~sniff~ A girl started crying, i'm assuming that she was an upperclassmen. "B... but that was all my points for this month. A-and summer break is just about to start..." I watched as people broke down in tears and hysterics. Some stormed out of the room and others still hadn't broken out of the shock.
I couldn't believe my eyes, all these people suffering in front me. It hadn't even occurred to me that none of the class 1 B students where here besides Kanzaki, who was in shock at the result of the game.
Himeno, who couldn't believe her eyes.
Ichinose, who was taking in the reactions of everybody around her.
Finally, there was Lucy Hall. She just sat there looking directly into Sakayanagi's eyes.
I had to leave. This may not have effected anyone in my class but the month just started and it was about to be summer break. These people had little to no points now.
When I focused on Lucy Hall again, she was being escorted out of the room by Kanzaki and an African american boy. In the space of a minute, no class 1 B or class 1 A student remained.
What just happened? How can one person be so cruel?
// Lucy's POV //
I looked up and spoke, "Albert, you will receive 20,000 points by the end of the day."
"Kanzaki, you will receive 50,000 by the end of the day."
"Himeno, you will receive 75,000 by the end of the day."
"Ichinose and Kanzaki, if you don't mind, would you come to my room with me and Himeno?"
I received nods from everyone.
I sent Miyu a text, asking her to not come to my room for the day. I quickly got a response saying that she was going to go out with a few friends. good.
// Lucy's room //
The room was dead, Himeno may not be in shock anymore but she kept staring at me. No one uttered a word.
Before anyone could get a word in however, I bowed. I bowed low.
In fact I got into seiza. "Please forgive me." I whispered.
"How could you do this?" Ichinose couldn't comprehend what I had done still.
I spoke with resolution in my voice. "For the class."
"How could this possibly be for the class? This was just you being selfish!" It was Kanzaki this time.
"Please let me explain myself." I received hesitant nods from the both of them.
"I have recently discovered that class C's leader has been attempting to expel students from other classes. To be honest Kanzaki you are right, I am selfish for what I did. My goal is to graduate from class B with all of my classmates." Both of their eyes widened at the information I told them.
"I assume you understand that their is more to the S system than we currently know?" Two nods "I asked Sensei how many points it would take to reverse a students expulsion. She said 10 million points."
The look on Ichinose and Kanzaki's face was one of pure disbelief. "I understand that I am public enemy number one now, but I am willing to bear that burden for the sake of my class."
~Sniff~ Ichinose, crying, stood up and hugged me, "Thank you." She whispered.
Kanzaki left with Ichinose after a few minutes of talking.
I turned to the only other remaining person in the room, Himeno.
"Don't worry, this won't effect your standing at all." I thought that was all she wanted to hear but I couldn't say anything in front of the other two.
"How much of that was true?" I was confused by her question but decided to answer honestly.
"It costs 20 million points to reverse a students expulsion. Also, there are only two people who I want to graduate with." I sent a smile in her direction to affirm that she was one of those people.
"You are a very scary person. You know that right?"
I didn't respond.
I decided to look at my phone instead, the point total was a whopping 2,419,461.
I believe the only person who has a relatively close number of points in our year is Ichinose. She holds the majority of points of everyone in our class bar me and Himeno. I look after ours.
I promised those points will be used for 'other purposes'. The delusional children believed me.
// The next day //
I. Was. Not. A. Happy. Camper.
Standing in the girls changing room, I looked around and everyone had a bigger bust than me. Even Horikita gave me pitying looks. Damn these genetics.
The day went as anyone would expect, we played volleyball, there was the whole fiasco with the three idiots plan to plant a camera in the girls changing room and I met the school student council president. In fact that's happening right now.
Ryuen and the upper echelon of his class, Sakayanagi and the upper echelon of her class, me and Himeno, and the student council president. Oh and Sudo is here as well.
I decided to speak first, "Why hello there Sakayanagi. It's good to see you again." I grinned and turned to Ryuen, "Hello Ryuen, it's nice to meet you." I looked up, "I don't know who you are but hello to you too."
Everyone looked up, in that time I grabbed Sakayanagi's sun hat and placed it on my head, luaghing. "hahaha! I hope you don't mind if I borrow it? I proooomiiise i'll give it back before we go outside!"
Sakayanagi's classmates looked at me like I was crazy, "I suppose I don't mind, concider it repayment for the 45,000 points from yesterday." She smiled her smug smile.
I stood at attention, "Will do!" I turned toward Himeno, "How does it look? It looks good right?"
"You look lovely Lucy." I really do love it when people play along with me.
"Sakayanagi huh? Get lost with your muts." Ryuen actually called them dogs? They kinda are now that I think about it. But isn't he the same? I looked at the posse surrounding him.
~thud~ "ah!" I shrieked, "oh my god, are you okay?"
The student council president just jumped down from the second floor to the first floor. "Yes i'm quite alright, now would anyone mind telling me what's going on?"
"The student prez? Why are you here?" Ryuen was the oh so bold one.
Just as he was about to respond, we heard a loud voice outside. It was Horikita, she was giving her speech, standing atop the highest diving board.
I crept closer to the student council president, "Pst, she kinda looks like you. Isn't that weird?"
He didn't ignore me but he did shift his eyes over my form for a second.
So he is aware of who I am. I expect nothing less from a man such as himself. He likes to know everything that goes on in this school. Makes my job easier, I want to see if he'll deem me worthy of trying to beat Nagumo.
How interesting.
-----------------------------------------------------
Name: Lucy Hall
Class: 1 B
Class points: 830
Private points: 2,419,461
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Name: Yuki Himeno
Class: 1 B
Class points: 830
Private points: 114,529
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Name: Honami Ichinose
Class: 1 B
Class points: 830
Private points: 1,738,752