Who is he ?

~Aron POV~

I let the silence linger for a moment before deciding to speak.

Me : Uh... I just got a notification, and it says I've been chosen.

Silence returns again before someone decides to answer me.

Naomi : Well, do your best.

She says it with a smile but I can see that she only does that to reassure me because she thinks I have no chance.

Haruki : This game is really too difficult anyway. It's as if guns are false hope to make us believe we have a chance of defending ourselves.

I ignore what Haruki and Naomi have just said and I turn to Kenta who says nothing and who prefers to turn his head as if to avoid saying something stupid to me that risks sinking me even further.

I sigh then enter the room without a word.

It's a rather ordinary classroom, apart from the fact that it is entirely white and that there is only one desk, with a chair in front of it on which I sit.

The board is actually a screen representing the chess board. As expected, each box is coded with a calculation that must be solved if we want to be able to move on it. On the other hand, I notice that some of these calculations require much more difficult concepts than the mathematics studied in high school. Some even use Schrödinger's equation, and another uses Fermat's Last Theorem! ? But what about so many notions that don't make sense to each other? Finally maybe Haruki resonates, the guns are only there to give hope. Solving these equations is already impossible for a high school student, even a gifted one, so winning a game of chess against an enemy who, according to what is displayed on the screen, is at a level of 2500 elo, all at the same time, plus the time limit of 10 minutes, then it's humanly impossible.

Hey, they're nice, they left some sheets of paper and a pen to mark the calculations and avoid doing them in your head. Even if it's not really going to be of much use to me.

**********

~Haruki's POV~

I wonder if the cats might come and attack us while we wait for Aron. Let's look on the bright side, the cats won't have time to find us because if Aron loses quickly he will get out quickly.

Suddenly the sound of the door opening takes me out of my thoughts.

I was right, if the player loses then he doesn't have to wait for the 10 minutes to end.

I hasten to go see him.

Me : it doesn't matter Aron, none of us could have done that you know...

I stop in my tracks and stop talking the moment I see the gun in his hands.

Me : You...you succeeded...

At that moment all my face can express is incomprehension.

How did he do it? Did he really succeed? He cheated ? If so, how did he cheat? But if he didn't cheat then how did he do it? Would he be strong enough to do this alone? If yes, then WHO IS HE! ! ?

All these questions started to go around in a loop in my head, trying to understand what happened.

Aron : Are you okay? Are you all pale?

I want to answer him and act like nothing, but suddenly time stops around me and my eyes widen at the sight of his smile. It's not a reassuring smile, on the contrary it gives me shivers. It's as if he was unhealthyly amused by my reaction of incomprehension to his victory. But strangely Haruki and Naomi who came to congratulate Aron while I was in shock, didn't see him. As if his smile was aimed directly at me, and he doesn't even try to hide it.

Aron : Is there a problem?

Suddenly Aron's expression returns to normal and I almost feel ashamed realizing that what I just saw was probably caused by my state of shock.

Me : No, it's nothing, I'm just surprised that you won, and so quickly too.

~Aron's POV~

Me : It wasn't as complicated as it looked. In fact the calculations were easy and the computer only had a level of 1200 elo.

Of course I'm lying, but the smile I display to hide this lie is more than enough for him to believe it.

He tries to hide it but it's no use, I read him as easily as if I read his thoughts. He felt the fear, the fear that we feel when we find ourselves facing something that we cannot understand, facing the unknown.

IN FRONT OF ME

Ultimately this school is more interesting than I imagined.

Naomi Ishikawa, Kenta Suzuki and Haruki Tanigawa. I have a feeling we're going to have fun together.