[ Chess ]

The sun was setting when they exited the café. Levi was waiting outside, sitting on a bench neatly hugged by flowers.

He stood up when he saw Geoffrey and Ella come out, dusting his uniform and cracking his neck slowly.

"You took a while..." said Levi with his usual dragging voice.

"Geoffrey offered me a parfait, and I intended to finish it. Maybe don't threaten the staff, next time?"

"Ehh," he simply answered.

"You threatened them because they woke you up?" asked Geoffrey.

Levi's eyes looked extremely tired, and his gaze felt empty. Yet, for a moment, it looked anything but.

"I don't mind waking up. But if I'm dreaming and you wake me up, I won't forgive you so easily."

Looking closer, Geoffrey noticed a feature in him that resembled himself. While everyone looked different from what they were used to in real life, with hair colors that shouldn't be possible without tints, not many had outstanding features like him.

As he looked closer, it was extremely hard to nice, however, Levi's dark-blue eyes hid clouds, instead of an usual iris.

It was mesmerizing.

"Your eyes," said Geoffrey.

Levi frowned, then suddenly remembered his own altered feature.

"Ahh, the clouds. Yeah. I don't know why. Seems your eyes are also special," replied Levi.

"Clouds?" said Ella.

She got closer, on the tip of her toes as she looked into Levi's eyes. 

In a fashion similar to Geoffrey's, he didn't seem to care about the proximity at all. 

An interesting trait, thought Geoffrey.

They started walking toward the dorms, the sun still warmly hitting the road and buildings around, it looked as if everything went through a orange lenses.

They didn't need to share the sidewalk with anyone, as the streets were mostly empty if it wasn't for the occasional cars.

They walked past several restaurants, cafés, and other similar establishment. Some of them even had students in them, most of them second years.

One-sided was the discussion, Ella animating it while Geoffrey and Levi mostly answered her questions. 

Despite how it seemed on the outside, she truly enjoyed the interactions, amazed every time they answered.

As they walked past a park, Levi stopped walking, bringing the whole group quickly to a halt.

"What is it?" asked Ella.

"There's tables with chess sets," he replied, pointing further into the park, across the street.

"Ooh, you like chess?" she asked.

"I was pretty good at it," he said.

He turned to Geoffrey. "You play?" 

"Barely."

"Let's play a game," said Levi.

"It's getting late..." started Geoffrey.

"He's right, I'm a bit tired and can't wait to lay down," said Ella.

"Come-on. Let's do a game, then we leave. I haven't played in a long time," said Levi.

Ella pushed Geoffrey toward Levi, with a bright smile.

"Just play with him, he's not asking for much!"

As she said that, she took a step away, waving her hand.

"And you're not coming?"

"This is it for our date! Sorry that Emilia forced you into this, but I did enjoy my time with you! Hopefully we have a real date someday!"

She walked away, Geoffrey waving at her until she was far enough, leaving both of them behind.

"Let's play those games quickly, I'd like to rest too," said Geoffrey.

They both crossed the street and went into the park. 

It wasn't that big, but it had a lot of trees, making it feel private, as if they were in totally separate world.

A section near the middle had a lot of tables around, with two seats. Each of them had a set of chess, the pieces already nicely organized.

They sat at one table, Levi's tired gaze looking at the pieces as if they told a story.

"Which side do you want?" asked Levi.

"You let me choose?" 

"Yeah. I was pretty good. It should at least make it a bit more fair."

"I'll take black, then."

Levi opened, making his first turn quick and decisive. 

Geoffrey followed, both of them barely spending a minute on each turn.

The breeze going through the leaves and grass was the only thing that could be heard, besides the pieces striking the board.

They played in complete silence, until finally one of them broke it.

"Checkmate," said Levi.

Geoffrey looked up from the board, matching Levi's gaze. 

"Well played," said Geoffrey.

"Let's play another one."

Geoffrey's shoulders fell down. "Really? It's already late..."

"We're already here. Might as well play a bit more."

After a long exhale, Geoffrey agreed, resetting the board and letting Levi make the first move again.

Once more, the sound of the pieces hitting the board was the only thing that could be heard in the middle of the park as they played once more.

In a similar pace as the first game, Levi made a final move, calling checkmate.

"Checkmate."

"Checkmate."

"Checkmate."

"Checkmate."

Geoffrey scratched his head, looking at Levi.

"We've played 6 games. Surely this is enough?" he asked.

Levi was resetting the board, the board only visible thanks to the lights nicely set around the park.

Night had totally taken over.

After placing the last pieces back, Levi sighed.

He raised his head, his eyes staring into Geoffrey's.

"Game one, you've made 10 textbook moves, then the 11th move was an inaccuracy. The 15th was a blunder, then another at 20."

Geoffrey raised his eyebrows, looking impressed.

"You can remember the moves we played and even analyze them? That's impressive."

"Game two," continued Levi. "11 textbook moves, inaccuracy at the 12th move, and blunders at 15 and 19."

"You don't really need to analyze each game..."

"Here's the other ones: [10 - 11 - 19 - 20] — [11 - 12 - 16 -20] [10 - 11 - 15 -20] [ 10 -11 - 15 - 21]. Don't you see a pattern?"

"What are you saying?"

"If you're going to let me win, maybe do it more subtly?"

Geoffrey internally sighed, scratching the back of his head.

Levi turned the board, the white pieces now in front of Geoffrey.

"Stop treating me like one of them. Play your best."

Geoffrey took a deep breath, looking at each individual piece before him.

"I don't like this game," he said.

"Same."

Geoffrey looked at Levi one more time.

While he looked the same way he did before, he could tell there was something in his gaze that he couldn't see before. 

The intensity was palpable, it felt as if they had been holding their breaths.

"Alright," finally said Geoffrey, moving the first piece.

About ten minutes in was when Levi grabbed his own king in his hand, spinning it around.

"What is it?" asked Geoffrey.

He then loudly set it on the table, Geoffrey could see through his tired gaze anger, as discernible as it could've been.

"You want to know what my power is?" asked Levi.

He didn't wait for Geoffrey's answer.

He raised his hand above the board, clouds appearing in his palm, multiplying until they took the shape of a firearm.

"I can conjure weapons."

He spun the weapon around his finger, a metallic clinking sound resounding as he then firmly held it, pointed toward Geoffrey.

He held it there for a few seconds.

He then carefully set the revolver on the table, the muzzle pointing toward Geoffrey, and letting go of it.

"So, how about we play a real game, now?" he asked.