"Sakayanagi Arisu, do you think you've already won?" Jin curved his lips slightly, picked up his own piece, and began moving it at the slowest pace since the start of the match. "That is truly disappointing."
"Ultimately, it is merely the Wisdom of Mortals."
The piece landed.
Arima Andras Jin, claimed the victory.
Looking at the result on the chessboard, Sakayanagi Arisu's expression froze.
She have lost?
Before even meeting the White Room's greatest masterpiece, she had actually tasted defeat.
In addition, the words spoken by Jin were also difficult for her to accept.
The Wisdom of Mortals.
For her, who prided herself on being a genius and was surrounded by the praise of her relatives since childhood, Jin's evaluation was undoubtedly a complete denial of everything she was.
"Arima-san, was all of this within your prediction?" Sakayanagi Arisu calmed her emotions and looked at the spirited young man before her.
She had initially thought the young man only had good looks, but later discovered that his chess skills were also formidable.
Finally, he even set a trap, making Sakayanagi Arisu believe she had successfully broken the situation, only to end up as a laughingstock.
"Habitually considering multiple possibilities is an essential quality for playing games of this type." Jin took out his Student Terminal. "Compared to that, shouldn't Classmate Sakayanagi be making the transfer?"
"Arima-san is really eager," Sakayanagi Arisu said helplessly, taking out her Student Terminal and transferring the 800,000 points she had worked hard to earn to him.
Luckily, she had earned one million points today.
Even if she lost 800,000, she still had 300,000 points remaining.
It was still a decent gain.
But more than the points, Sakayanagi Arisu's greatest gain was discovering a man like Arima Andras Jin.
Not only does he possess formidable strength, but he also evaluates her as having "The Wisdom of Mortals."
This school truly won't let people get bored.
"Arima-san, if it's convenient, could you escort me back to the dorm?" Sakayanagi Arisu picked up her cane, hinting that her legs were inconvenient.
She had developed a strong interest in Jin, eager to understand the young man more deeply.
...
On the way to the dormitory building. "Arima-san is quite mean, isn't he?"
The short white-haired girl walked with a cane, her steps slow, a faint smile on her pretty and cute face. "To say that playing chess is just your hobby."
'Is he trying to humiliate me?' It wasn't Sakayanagi Arisu boasting, but in chess matches, she had never lost to anyone.
Yet, in their recent conversation, Jin claimed to be a hobbyist. Who is he trying to fool?
Jin shook his head. "I have no intention of humiliating you; I'm just telling the truth."
Before this, he had never even thought to play chess with someone else who was quite proficient other than Sona Sitri.
If it wasn't for the sake of earning private points, Jin would not even bother to play any games whatsoever.
"Arima-san really likes to lie," Sakayanagi Arisu said with a beaming smile. "I wonder how many girls have been deceived by Arima-san's lies."
Jin sighed helplessly. "Alas, no one believes the truth anymore. This era is truly sad."
"Heh heh." Sakayanagi Arisu sneered.
She wouldn't believe a single word the boy said.
"Arima-san is collecting points so eagerly, he must have noticed the strange things about the school, right?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's beautiful eyes looked over calmly. "Should we exchange information?"
This school, from the very beginning, had been concealing and misleading students.
It was like a magician's performance.
To hide their true actions, magicians use words, gestures, and other methods to divert the audience's attention.
The school's actions were naturally the same.
They deliberately used 100,000 points to attract everyone's attention, thereby concealing the truly important aspects.
Sakayanagi Arisu could naturally see through such clumsy concealment, so on the first day of school, she used her advantage of still having 100,000 points to compete with upperclassmen.
Originally, she had earned over a million points, enough to live comfortably for the entire school year.
Yet, unexpectedly, she lost 800,000 points to the boy in the blink of an eye.
In her opinion, the student named Arima Andras Jin undoubtedly has a formidable strength.
If it were Arima-san, he would certainly be able to discover the strange things about the school.
Perhaps he could even discover things that Sakayanagi Arisu hadn't noticed.
"There's no need," Arima Jin said confidently. "Cooperating with friends can indeed speed things up, but exploring alone is more interesting."
"Arima-san is very confident, isn't he?" Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes, observing the boy beside her.
"Someone without confidence wouldn't put all their points on the line to compete with others."
"That's true."
"But if you really need information, you should prepare 1 million private points first, and after gathering it, I'll contact you."
"Arima-san is truly greedy, not even sparing a girl like me"
Jin said nothing, just smiled.
The two chatted cheerfully, then arrived at the dormitory building.
Students at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing live in the same dormitory building, regardless of gender.
Boys live on the higher floors, while girls live on the lower floors, so there are elevators available.
Jin and the others entered the elevator, preparing to go to the higher floors first.
Just then, an anxious girl's voice sounded from outside.
"Please wait!"
A tall girl ran over in a hurry.
Seeing this, Jin held the elevator door open, giving the girl time.
"Phew… I made it."
The short-haired girl gasped for breath, sweat beading on her forehead.
"It's alright even if you don't rush, I'll wait for Ando-san," Jin said with a smile.
"Eh?" Ando Sayo blinked, her small face showing surprise. "I thought the back looked similar, but it really is Arima-san."
She had just been walking behind Jin and the others.
When she saw a back similar to Jin's, she thought about going over to greet him.
But upon seeing the petite, white-haired girl beside Jin, she dismissed the idea.
"I thought Arima-san just came to school today, so he shouldn't have made friends so quickly. I just thought it was someone who looked similar from behind," Ando Sayo said with an embarrassed smile.
"Ando-san, you misunderstood," Sakayanagi Arisu smiled slightly. "Arima-san and I aren't friends earlier. But now we are friends."
Jin, who could defeat her in chess, indeed had the qualifications to be her friend.
Perhaps in the future, Jin could give her even greater surprises.
Though she didn't know for now, Jin really does planning to giving her a surprise in the near future, a life-changing surprise at that.
"So you two don't knew each other before?"
"We just met today."
"Ah?"
Ando Sayo widened her eyes, showing a surprised expression.
Arima-san is so amazing. He made friends with a cute girl on the first day of school from other class.
"I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Sakayanagi Arisu from Class 1-A. I just played chess with Arima-san at the Chess Club in the club activities building, and that's how we became friends," Sakayanagi Arisu said politely.
"I'm Ando Sayo from class 1-B." The girl responded with a smile, then looked at Jin with admiration. "I didn't expect Arima-san to play chess, it sounds very impressive."
To Ando Sayo, chess was a high-end game played by masters. Someone like her couldn't even understand that the rules have no affinity with it.
"Ando-san, weren't you planning to go to karaoke with our classmates?" Jin asked curiously.
"We already finished singing," Ando Sayo said with a smile. "Considering we might need to buy a lot of daily necessities later, each of us only sang two songs, then came back to the dormitory."
"Now, there shouldn't be crouds around the convenience stores." Ando Sayo said.
New students from other classes probably returned to their dorms shortly after the opening ceremony, then went out to buy daily necessities.
After buying their daily necessities, those students might then go to karaoke or other entertainment facilities to relax.
The students of class 1-B, however, did the opposite. They went to play first, then bought daily necessities.
And they successfully avoided the peak hours inside the departmental stores.
The conversation inside the elevator felt thick with a quiet tension, balanced by Ando Sayo's bubbly innocence and Sakayanagi Arisu's razor-sharp observation.
As the lift ascended, the mirrored walls reflected a trio that looked almost like a portrait of the school's underlying hierarchy, the physically fragile but intellectually predatory Sakayanagi, the earnest and unassuming Ando, and Jin—the enigma who had just shattered a genius's pride for 800,000 private points.
"Avoiding the peak hours is a wise tactical move, Ando-san," Sakayanagi remarked, her voice like velvet. She leaned slightly on her cane, her eyes never leaving Jin's reflection.
"Though, I suspect Arima-san prefers to operate when the stage is empty for entirely different reasons."
Jin merely offered a noncommittal hum. The elevator pinged, reaching the lower residential floors.