Final Exam Of First Year [7]

On the other hand, 30 minutes just passed.

As if waking up from his deep slumber, Koenji opened his eyes finally.

He took the queen's pawn to d5, and clicked his side of the clock.

"That was quite refreshing, if I say so myself. Hmm....30 minutes have passed.", he said.

Then, he looked at Hashimoto.

"Hey. Tell your commander to make the moves herself from now on."

Hashimoto stared at Koenji, bewildered by his casual demeanor.

The tension that had built up in the room was suffocating, yet Koenji acted as if he had just woken from a nap in the park.

His carefree smile and relaxed posture only added to the surreal atmosphere.

Koenji was an unknown quantity for everyone.

Like, in an equation, if there is a single variable, you can easily find it's value.

However, if there are two variables, then you would need at least two equations to find their values.

But, Koenji is like an equation full of variables.

It doesn't matter how many more equations you make, predicting his behavior.

There is no way, one can solve for that many variables.

He acts according to his own instincts.

Truly a wild one, he is.

Hashimoto was astonished for sure, but considering this was an insult to himself, he ignored Koenji's words, and moved with the standard approach to the Scandinavian defense, by capturing the black pawn on d5.

A slight smirk appeared on Koenji's face, as Hashimoto decided to play with Koenji himself.

"Did you know that, courage is just another form of foolishness?", Koenji said, while playing an unusual move by moving a pawn to c6.

 He could have recaptured the d5 pawn by the queen, but he decided not to go with the standard textbook moves.

This threw Hashimoto off, as he hadn't prepared for this move.

Surely, he had practiced with Sakayanagi for this event, but this game is not that simple, which you can master just by practicing a lot.

Then, Hashimoto decided to go on the defensive by developing his knight to c3, allowing Koenji to take the pawn on d5.

However, instead of taking the pawn, Koenji played on the defensive side too, and developed his knight to f6.

Looking at Koenji's defensive approach, Hashimoto thought for a moment, as he had plenty of time, compared to his opponent.

Surely, Koenji's skills in chess was unknown to him.

And judging by the time he just slept through the match, he might be a very good player.

Maybe he was trying to psychologically drain Hashimoto's energy, by delaying the game.

If that was his intention, then he was pretty much successful in it.

Chess is a game of minds.

You have to remain at your very best form, to perform without any mistakes.

And by just staying put for 30 minutes in a serious match, Hashimoto's patience was running out.

He nearly wasted 10 minutes, just thinking of his 4th move, leaving him with about 48 minutes. Meanwhile, Koenji had around 29 minutes, but his moves were pretty fast, like he was just blindly moving the pieces without thinking at all.

As the pressure built up, Hashimoto decided to capture the pawn on c6 by his pawn on d5.

However, without recapturing the pawn again, Koenji decided to develop his king's pawn.

Hashimoto was thrown into deep thought again. 

He was certain of the fact that, it was Koenji's trap.

Deciding to observe the possible outcomes from this point, however, he couldn't see any trap at all.

The fear of losing pieces loomed within Hashimoto, as the clock kept on ticking.

Certainly, he was taught by Sakayanagi, whose policy is to be always on the offensive side.

But right now, his choice might cause problem afterwards.

Moreover, if by any chance, they lose this game, due to Hashimoto's careless mistake, then their flow of victories would be broken.

Hashimoto felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on him. Each tick of the clock echoed in his ears, amplifying his anxiety. Koenji's easygoing demeanor only added to the pressure; it felt like a game within a game, where Hashimoto was constantly second-guessing himself.

As he scrutinized the board, Hashimoto could see that Koenji's last move to e5 had opened up opportunities, but it also left his king's side vulnerable. "Is he trying to lure me into a trap?" Hashimoto pondered, feeling the sweat bead on his forehead.

He had another 40 minutes, while Koenji had 28 minutes remaining.

Hashimoto still had the time advantage, but if he wastes another minute, then that advantage was going to be wasted.

After thoroughly thinking about the outcomes, he decided to signal Sakayanagi, that he needed help.

Sakayanagi, understanding that Hashimoto was at his limit, decided to exercise her rights of commander.

From here onwards, she had exactly 30 minutes of intervention time.

"Surely, Koenji-kun made some interesting moves, but unfortunately, those are not the moves of a pro, Yamauchi-kun. Well then, let's see if he really is the mastermind behind you or not.", said Sakayanagi, while making her first move as developing another knight.

As Sakayanagi took control of the board, the atmosphere shifted. Her focus sharpened, and Hashimoto could sense her strategic brilliance radiating through the room.

"Ah, the commander is playing," Koenji mused, leaning back slightly, his gaze now intense. "Seems like I won't be bored anymore."

 After Sakayanagi joined the party, moves became faster.

Koenji retained his tempo, while swiftly making the best moves possible.

Sakayanagi, too, typed the commands on her interface, which reached Hashimoto's ears through the headphone after a split second interval.

The spectators eyes were fixed on the board displayed on the screen.

None of them made any mistake, nor did they leave any opening for their opponent. 

Pieces were traded almost at every move.

It was like the position was a draw, and none of the opponents were agreeing to give up their position.

Each had only 2 pawns, a rook, and both the queens left.

"Impressive indeed. Koenji-kun is really a player worthy of praise. From predicting my moves, to strengthening his defense, he has truly surpassed my expectations. However, it's unfortunate that I have to end the game here."

Then she typed her intended move and said, "check."

It was supposed to be a check from her queen.

As the game was going on smoothly, Hashimoto didn't bother to question her move at all. 

Just after making the move, that Hashimoto realized a bitter truth.

It was a blunder of a move.

Sakayanagi intended to give a series of checks to corner Koenji's king, so she started with the queen.

And Hashimoto just did as he was told on the headphone.

However, on the board, it was shown that Hashimoto just sacrificed his queen.

"Heh. A careless mistake.", said Koenji, and chopped off the queen with his rook.

It took a few moment to Sakayanagi to process what happened back there.

She typed the command to check Koenji's king, but the move Hashimoto made was completely different from what she commanded.

How did this happen?

The commander was supposed to type their command on the computer, which would go through school officials/examiners, then would be sent to the player.

So, it was not like, the commander could directly give their command.

Confused, Sakayanagi, turned to Sakagami for clarification.

"Um Sakagami-sensei, I think there was a miscommunication during the command transfer. A different move from mine might have been given to Hashimoto during that period. Could you please request a verification?"

"Are you saying that the examiners gave a different command from what you typed?", Sakagami asked to double check.

"Yes, I think that might have happened. You can see the command I gave here.", then she showed her screen to Sakagami.

Then he cross-checked the chess board on the screen.

It was indeed different. 

Way too different.

Like this single move could have decided the victor of the match.

Hence, understanding the gravity of the situation, Sakagami went outside, to check the matter with an examiner.

Hashimoto panicked at first, but after the invigilator paused both of their clocks, as a cross checking was going on, he felt relieved.

He did exactly as he was told, so it was definitely not his fault.

Examiners were human only. 

Surely, they might have made a mistake while transferring the command to the player.

A very plausible explanation of what happened.

However, Sakagami returned with an expressionless face, and announced that,.....

"The examiners have dismissed any complaint of mistake made by them. They were completely accurate at their work. And it was concluded that, this mistake, as the commander quoted, was made by the player himself. Maybe he made a mistake while moving the pieces. So this game would go on as usual without reverting the previous move. That's all."

A wave of silence spread throughout the commanders' room.

Both the commanders and teachers remained silent, as the ticking of the clock, reverberated throughout.

Hashimoto's grumbling to the invigilator-in-charge was vaguely audible.

Hoshinomiya was beyond surprised, as she looked at the chess board.

This queen's sacrifice didn't make any sense to her.

Due to lack of pieces, there was not much white could do after this sacrifice, and was doomed to lose.

In a split second, everything changed.

Yamauchi remained silent with his usual tensed face, looking at his computer screen.

However, after a long time, Sakayanagi's expression has changed.

There was an unusual frown on her face.

After understanding the whole situation, still unable to accept, she asked to Yamauchi.

"What have you done, Yamauchi-kun?"

Yamauchi looked up finally, and the serious expression he wore a few moments ago, was gone.

Instead, he was slightly relaxed.

"I-I didn't do anything. H-He made me do it.", he pretended to be stammering.

"He? Koenji-kun?", Sakayanagi asked confused by his response.

"No.", he closed the distance between them, and as if trying to whisper into her ears, he continued, "The devil made me do it."

"Huh?", Sakayanagi asked, annoyed by Yamauchi's choice of words.

"You didn't know? There is an alternate dimension beneath this school, known as the Upside Down. There lives an ancient devil, who can control people's minds through psychic powers. He was the one who made me do all this."

"...."

"You are supposed to laugh it off here, you know. It was just a joke. I told you before, didn't I? Koenji is the real mastermind."

Time was running out of hand, and as Hashimoto didn't hear anything from Sakayanagi, he tried making the moves himself. 

However, without the quenn, the strongest piece on the board, gone, he couldn't do much, and lost very badly.

Sakayanagi, with mixed feelings about this matter, stayed silent until the end of the match.

She understood everything that happened, and why she lost, but couldn't come to accept it.

As she looked at Yamauchi again, a smirk had appeared on his face as well.

Winning a match after consecutive losses, a new sense of hope was starting to sprout within the students of class C.

Then, Yamauchi opened his mouth, as the announcement of the next event to be competed on started.

"The real game begins from now."

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Author's Notes :

Please comment down your thoughts on this chapter.

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