Chapter 92: What Is Wrong With You Father and Daughter?!
"But as far as I know, Shimizu-kun, you shouldn't have practiced that hard. So how were you able to defeat the seniors from so many major clubs?"
Yuto rubbed his nose. "That should be because my talent is just a tiny bit higher than theirs. So I only need to work a little, and I become better than them."
Every student in Class A felt their mouths twitch at that answer.
What an arrogant reply...
"Shimizu-kun, aren't you afraid someone will hit you for saying that?" Arisu asked with a smile.
"No. Because they can't beat me."
"..."
Mm. Very reasonable. Very convincing.
"That's enough chatting. Time for the main event. I have an appointment with an old man, so let's settle this quickly, Sakayanagi-san."
"Very well."
Arisu put away her smile, and her entire presence turned serious.
Kikyo and Kei, standing on either side of Yuto, suddenly felt an inexplicable pressure.
That pressure came from the small, delicate silver-haired girl in front of them.
After that, the only sounds left in the Class A classroom were the crisp taps of Yuto and Arisu placing their pieces, and the clicking of the chess clock.
Most of them did not understand chess.
They could not read the board between Yuto and Arisu at all.
Yet somehow, a suffocating pressure rose in their hearts.
It was a pressure that made even breathing feel difficult.
At the same time, the sound of Yuto and Arisu placing their pieces seemed to tug at their breathing and heartbeats.
It was truly an unbelievable situation.
Katsuragi, who had also stayed in the Class A classroom, felt some regret.
He should have opposed Arisu's decision to make Class A the venue for this wager.
'Sakayanagi intends to use this wager against Shimizu-kun to let the students feel her presence. That way, she can strengthen the awe she holds in everyone's hearts.'
Katsuragi thought silently.
He understood very clearly that once Arisu's wager with Yuto ended, whether she won or lost, her reputation would absolutely rise another step.
Thirty-one minutes later, Arisu looked expressionlessly at her king, which had fallen into encirclement.
The timer ticked away.
Finally, all of Arisu's remaining thinking time ran out.
"I lost."
Arisu had never faced such a complex and powerful opponent before.
Shimizu Yuto could not only answer every move she made, but even respond with something better.
"I lost completely."
Arisu stared deeply at Yuto, who sat across from her.
Her eyes were bright and intense. There was no disappointment from defeat, only joy and heat from encountering powerful prey.
A bottomless genius had surrounded and crushed her openly on the chessboard.
Wasn't someone like that even more interesting to challenge?
If she defeated Yuto, Arisu felt she would gain a satisfaction and sense of achievement she had never experienced before.
In short, Arisu had set her sights on Yuto.
'That old man really wasn't bragging about his daughter. If I hadn't used mind-reading near the end, it would've been hard to say who'd win.'
Yuto closed his eyes and rubbed his brow, easing the slight fatigue brought by mind-reading.
Then he opened his eyes, looked at Arisu, who was staring at him brightly, and said, "Will you give me the weakness, or pay 1.34 million points?"
"Naturally, the 1.34 million points. That was what our wager contract stated, was it not?" Arisu answered with a smile.
Kamuro felt very moved.
Even now, Yuto was still thinking about helping her take her weakness back from that damn little loli, Sakayanagi Arisu.
"Then transfer the points."
Yuto handed his student ID to Arisu, who sat across from him.
She did not try to go back on her word. Very straightforwardly, she used her school phone to transfer 1.34 million points to Yuto's student ID.
At this moment, Yuto's personal points became 18,747,565.
He was only about 1.3 million points away from the twenty million he had been longing for.
Yuto satisfiedly took back his student ID.
"If you still want to wager against me, Sakayanagi-san, contact me anytime. The stake can be the weakness, or 1.3 million points."
"Hmph."
Arisu gave a soft huff.
She looked toward Kamuro and showed a faint, unreadable smile. "Kamuro, see off this victorious guest for me."
"..." Kamuro rose to her feet, her long, shapely legs carrying her toward Yuto.
If it were any other order from Arisu, Kamuro would definitely complain and show disgust.
But she would not complain about this order at all.
"Then I'll see you later."
Yuto said goodbye to Arisu, then left the Class A classroom with Kamuro, Kikyo, and Kei.
After Yuto stepped out of the classroom, Arisu rubbed her brow with her pale, slender fingers.
Hashimoto Masayoshi hurriedly said, "Princess, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. I simply used my mind too much."
As soon as Arisu said that, the students of the Sakayanagi faction gathered around her.
Their concerned greetings made Arisu truly look like a princess.
Speaking of which, the title "Princess" had been decided by Hashimoto on his own.
With his frivolous personality, he felt Sakayanagi Arisu was as beautiful as a princess.
After leaving the Class A classroom, Kamuro's whole body relaxed.
She showed Yuto a sincere and beautiful smile. "Shimizu, thank you."
"No need to thank me. I didn't really help you."
"No, this was enough," Kamuro answered with a blooming smile.
What Kamuro cared about was not whether Yuto could take her weakness back from Arisu.
What she cared about was Yuto's intention.
With that intention alone, Kamuro felt that Yuto cared about her.
For her, that was already enough.
Yuto and Kamuro's conversation made Kei's pretty face fill with suspicion.
"Yuto, you know her?"
"Mm. We're friends." Yuto nodded.
"That's right. We're friends," Kamuro agreed with a smile.
"Kei, Kikyo, Kamuro, I still have an appointment with someone else, so I'll leave first."
Yuto said goodbye to the three girls.
"Yuto, where are you going?" Kei quickly asked.
"I'm going to the faculty office building. Kei, do you want to come with me?"
In truth, Yuto was not going to the faculty office building. He was going to the chairman's building.
He only felt that saying "chairman" would make Kamuro overthink things, so he hid it a little.
"This... I won't go with you."
Kei shrank back slightly.
Yuto was clearly going somewhere like that for serious business, so what would she follow him for?
Besides, as a student, Kei held a little awe toward the teaching staff.
Not everyone was like Yuto, who had the nerve to casually and comfortably chat with teachers like Chabashira Sae.
"Then I'll go first. See you later."
"Take care~"
The three girls watched Yuto leave.
After they could no longer see him, Kikyo looked at Kamuro.
"I remember your name is Kamuro Masumi, right? Kamuro-san."
"Ah, yes. Is something wrong?"
"I don't think I've exchanged contact information with you yet. Could we exchange contacts?"
Kei glanced at Kikyo, who was exchanging contact information with Kamuro.
Then she left behind the words, "I'm going," and walked away from them.
Yuto was gone, so Kei had no intention of staying alone with these two girls who seemed to have feelings for her future boyfriend.
Yuto arrived in front of Chairman Sakayanagi's office.
Chairman Sakayanagi's secretary had already been informed that Yuto would come, so he naturally pushed open the office door.
"Shimizu, please come in. The chairman has already set up the chessboard and is waiting for you."
"Is that so? That old man sure is impatient."
After Yuto entered the office directly, Chairman Sakayanagi, who had been sitting behind the desk, immediately stood up and walked over with a smile.
"Shimizu, who won the wager between you and Arisu?"
"I won. Disappointed?" Yuto asked with a smile.
"What is there to be disappointed about? It's not as if I don't know your chess skill," Chairman Sakayanagi replied without care.
In truth, he had already guessed that Yuto would win.
After all, Chairman Sakayanagi had played chess against both Arisu and Yuto.
Although he had never won a single match against either of them, losing so many times still gave him a certain judgment of who was stronger.
"Actually, I used an ability outside of chess, so I managed to beat your daughter. If we fought normally, it would be hard to say who would win," Yuto said honestly.
Chairman Sakayanagi's expression paused.
"Shimizu, do you mean... you used your looks to affect Arisu's judgment of the board?"
"That's not the kind of ability I meant!" Yuto rolled his eyes at Chairman Sakayanagi in annoyance.
He meant mind-reading, not seduction!
"No, Shimizu-kun defeated me fair and square. He did not use any strange schemes or abilities."
A pleasant voice came from outside the chairman's office.
Immediately afterward, Sakayanagi Arisu slowly entered the office, leaning on her cane.
"Arisu, why are you here?" Chairman Sakayanagi asked in surprise.
"Because I discovered an extraordinary genius, so I came specifically to confirm his situation with you. But from the looks of things..."
Arisu's eyes moved between Yuto and Chairman Sakayanagi.
She said with great surprise, "Father, you seem to have known this extraordinary genius for quite some time. May I ask how the two of you met?"
"It was an unbearable ill-fated connection, and then we got to know each other," Yuto said with a disgusted expression, as if the past was too painful to recall.
Chairman Sakayanagi's mouth twitched.
Wasn't that something he should be saying?
Arisu looked at her father in surprise when she saw that he did not refute it.
Since Chairman Sakayanagi did not get angry or deny it, his relationship with Shimizu Yuto must truly be good.
Otherwise, he would definitely have objected to the words "ill-fated connection."
Arisu gave Yuto a meaningful look.
"So when Shimizu-kun said in the classroom that he had an appointment with an old man, could that old man be my father?"
"That's right."
Yuto admitted it openly.
He pointed at the chessboard Chairman Sakayanagi had already prepared. "Want to keep wagering?"
"I would like to, but I no longer have any stakes."
"Who says you don't?" Yuto asked with a smile.
"I know Shimizu-kun is referring to Kamuro-san's matter. However, I do not plan to use that as a stake. After all..."
Arisu smiled and waved the cane in her hand.
"After all, my legs are inconvenient. I need someone to run errands for me."
"Anyone can run errands, right? Does it have to be Kamuro?"
"Although anyone can do it, I like Kamuro-san best. When facing my orders, she always shows a disgusted, troubled expression, yet has no choice but to carry them out."
"That kind of Kamuro-san is simply too interesting."
Arisu's answer, full of amusement, made Yuto turn his head toward Chairman Sakayanagi.
"Old man, there's a serious problem with your education. How did you raise such a nasty daughter?"
"Ahem. Arisu's personality takes after her mother. It has nothing to do with my education," Chairman Sakayanagi said with a cough.
Hey, this old man was still trying to dodge responsibility!
After that, Chairman Sakayanagi urged Yuto to play chess with him.
Arisu sat on the sofa nearby and watched the chess match between Chairman Sakayanagi and Yuto with great interest.
As she sat there quietly, Arisu really looked like a delicate and beautiful doll.
But Arisu soon stopped being quiet.
She began disdaining Chairman Sakayanagi's moves and started making comments from the side, making Yuto roll his eyes at her.
"Sakayanagi, you should know the saying, 'A true gentleman does not speak while watching a game, and a real man does not regret his moves,' right?"
"How did you father and daughter each take one half of that saying?"
"A true gentleman does not speak while watching a game" meant not talking or pointing things out while watching others play chess.
Yet Arisu was pointing things out from the side.
"A real man does not regret his moves" meant one should not take back a move after placing a piece.
Yet Chairman Sakayanagi often regretted his moves in chess.
What was wrong with this father and daughter?!
In the end, Chairman Sakayanagi drove Arisu out of the chairman's office, then continued playing chess with Yuto.
"..."
Arisu silently looked at the closed office door.
Was she really her father's biological daughter?
He had actually driven her out just so he could play chess quietly...
"Shimizu Yuto... His relationship with Father is far too harmonious. How exactly did they meet?"
Murmuring to herself, Arisu turned and left.
She needed to find a suitable time to have a proper talk with her father, Sakayanagi Narumori.
…
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