Chapter 14: Monopoly Chess
Got played.
Even Fujiwara Chika had to admit—it was a complete trap she had fallen into.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Love is war!
Whoever falls in love first—loses!
Exploitation and being exploited, sacrifice and being sacrificed!
The strong—must humiliate the weak!
And what is the consequence of failure?
Is it the inability to raise one's head in love? Is it one's status in the family after marriage?
No!
Those things don't matter!
To Fujiwara Chika – who lost 186 times and drew 4 times last year – what matters most is winning the game called "confession"!
She must make Sakurai fall in love with her!
However, things didn't seem to be going smoothly.
(╥ ω ╥)
————
"Chi-chan is seriously super cute." Sakurai Saki smiled happily.
"Just hugging her makes me feel healed."
Too cute! Chi-chan!?
( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
"If possible, I want to be with Chi-chan for the rest of my life."
Together for life?
With Chi-chan?
It was as if steam was rising from the top of Chika's head.
(๑/////๑ " )
She was about to overload.
"Um, President, and also Sakurai-kun. I feel a little unwell, I'll head home first…"
Fujiwara Chika said, then staggered out of the student council room.
Leaning against the door behind her.
Fujiwara Chika pressed her hand to her forehead to feel her temperature.
'So hot~'
⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
...
After school.
Sakurai left the home economics classroom.
Today was the day he had to tutor the Nakano quintuplets.
Honestly, such a pain in the ass.
Just thinking about having to face those five faces that always looked down on him pissed him off.
In the student council room.
"Huh? Sakurai-senpai, what's wrong, senpai?"
Ishigami Yuu looked at the person who just walked in.
Then he looked at Sakurai sit down next to him.
"Ishigami-kun, let me ask you something. As someone who gave up on studying, what were you thinking when you dropped out?" Sakurai Saki set down his bag.
"Why are you asking that?"
"Because of today's tutoring session."
"Sakurai-senpai, you work as a tutor?" Ishigami Yuu looked quite impressed.
"Umu, all problematic kids. Not only are they uninterested in studying, I even suspect they hate men."
"Kids? Elementary school? Girls?" Ishigami Yuu smelled gossip.
(✪▽✪)
"They're classmates." Shirogane Miyuki, who was sitting in the president's seat organizing documents, spoke up to clarify.
"The teacher originally asked me, but I felt I couldn't do it, so I passed it on to Sakurai."
"Umu umu. That's exactly what happened."
Sakurai nodded.
If it weren't for the invitation from the other party, Sakurai Saki definitely wouldn't have taken on this thankless and exhausting job.
Moreover, those five were like jumping rope on a red line – totally a bunch of idiots.
The difficulty level of teaching them was absurd to the point of ridiculous.
Last week, he had gone twice on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Since it was still summer break and school hadn't started, he ended up only meeting two of the five sisters.
One was Nakano Miku, the other was Nakano Itsuki.
Sakurai suspected the remaining three were deliberately avoiding him.
But when accepting this job, Sakurai never promised to fulfill all of the other party's expectations.
Turning five idiots into normal people.
Almost impossible.
"Sakurai-senpai, I think the reason they don't want to study is probably because their fundamentals are way too weak." Ishigami Yuu said while pressing buttons on his game console.
"They can't see a path forward, so they give up…"
So, just letting them taste the sweetness of learning should be enough?
Sakurai Saki pondered with a blank expression.
Right after that, the door was pushed open again.
The ones who entered were Shinomiya Kaguya and Fujiwara Chika.
Secretary Fujiwara was clinging to Kaguya's arm.
"Kaguya-san~ come play with me~"
(๑✪ᆺ✪๑)
She was pestering someone to play a game with her again.
"Fujiwara-san, can't you go find someone from the board game club to play with?"
Kaguya tried to push Fujiwara Chika away, but it was useless.
"Everyone in the board game club is busy today, and it looks like Sakurai-kun has something going on too." Chika spoke while glancing into the room.
And then...
The moment she saw Sakurai, she immediately let go of Kaguya.
Shinomiya Kaguya watched her back as she walked away.
For some reason, she felt a little disappointed.
( ,,⩌'︿'⩌,,)
"Sakurai-kun!!!"
٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-
Secretary Fujiwara ran over while pulling a board game box from her bag.
It was Monopoly Chess.
Faced with Fujiwara Chika's sparkling, glowing eyes, Sakurai Saki found it hard to say no.
"I have to go to my part-time job soon, so I can only play for an hour at most."
It was now 3:30 PM, just after school, and the tutoring location was in Minato Ward, so it wasn't too far.
Playing one round would still be on time.
"Ishigami-kun, want to play a round?"
"Senpai, I'm not interested in Monopoly. Traditional board games are totally boring." Ishigami answered while playing his handheld game console, showing zero intention of joining.
Meanwhile, Shinomiya Kaguya looked extremely excited.
That was the main reason why Ishigami Yuu decided not to join.
That senpai was basically a symbol of fear, an abyss taking the form of a young girl.
Best to stay as far away as possible.
Ishigami: .·°՞(っ- ‸ - ς)՞°·. it's devil!
"Ishigami-kun, don't tell me… you're scared~?" Fujiwara Chika covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.
Ishigami Yuu lifted his head.
He let out a scoffing laugh.
"Fine, I'll play! But Fujiwara-senpai, wasn't it you who came in dead last when we played Aeroplane Chess last time? Losing that miserably and still wanting a rematch—if it were me, I'd be so ashamed I'd want to crawl into a hole." Ishigami Yuu's ability to roast others remained top-tier.
Facing his sharp-edged sarcasm—
"But Sakurai-kun came in first!" Secretary Fujiwara tilted her head, looking innocent.
What does Sakurai-senpai coming in first have to do with you, Fujiwara-senpai?
(ಠ_ಠ)
Ishigami Yuu grumbled silently.
Shinomiya Kaguya sat down next to Fujiwara Chika and watched her set up the Monopoly Chess board.
Monopoly—
Kaguya had heard of it before.
This was a game that heavily depended on luck.
And in terms of luck, she, Shinomiya Kaguya, was always confident.
As for the reason she was joining?
She simply wanted to demonstrate the strength of the Shinomiya family.
It was absolutely not because the last time she saw them playing Aeroplane Chess, it looked fun and made her want to join.
Absolutely not!
Kaguya: (,,¬﹏¬,,)
"When do we start?" Kaguya's cold face had softened a bit.
"Kaguya-san, if we start like this, it'll be boring~!" Fujiwara Chika raised her right index finger, shook it side to side, her face full of mystery.
"Then what? You bringing out prizes?" Ishigami Yuu glanced at her.
"Nah~ nah~ nah~ This time we'll play it like… a punishment game!~"
( ︶︿︶)づ
Sakurai glanced at the board, a little curious about her plan.
"The first winner gets to ask a question to one of the losers! And the loser isn't allowed to lie!" Secretary Fujiwara explained happily.
"In other words—truth or dare! President, wanna join~?" Fujiwara Chika excitedly asked Shirogane Miyuki.
You have to answer and can't lie!
As long as I win, then ask that question—I'll know whether Sakurai-kun likes someone or not!
Everything Just According to Keikaku!
(≖⩊≖)
Fujiwara Chika smiled in an Yagami-like manner, as if she had already secured victory.
"I'll pass this time." Shirogane Miyuki replied while rubbing the dark circles under his eyes.
There had been too much going on lately—besides the morning club recruitment, there was also the afternoon freshman welcome event.
The performance schedule of each club had already been published.
"So it's four players then!" Fujiwara Chika pulled out the pieces and item cards from the box.
Then quickly arranged the board neatly.
But in a place she couldn't see—
Sakurai Saki and Ishigami Yuu exchanged a quiet smile.
Monopoly—also had a way to secure victory.