However, there were people even more pressed for time.
"If we're playing a speed game, how about 6 seconds?" Illumi said casually. [Shortening the thinking time gives me an advantage when playing against Chrollo.]
Illumi, do you remember that you're supposed to lose?
"Then how about a maximum of 4 seconds? It's just a pastime to kill time anyway, right?" Chrollo played with the shogi piece he had just picked up. [4 seconds is the limit. Even Illumi can't go lower, so I've won.]
What are these two competing in? The winner isn't decided by who dares to say the shortest time, is it?
"Sure, it's just a pastime," Illumi said, seemingly indifferent, while actually weighing his options in his mind.
You two are already competing, and you're both very competitive!
Chrollo and Illumi sat down in the arena, placing the chessboard in the center. As they set up the pieces, Saiki Kusuo heard their calculating thoughts regarding their strategy.
So noisy.
"Then, the shogi match in area 0... the starting player on the left clears the board, begin!"
Two chess pieces immediately hit the board.
The dark creature referee announced in real-time: "First move, 7-9-1, Pawn! Second move, 2-4-5, King!"
It even announces the moves, being surprisingly considerate to the blind.
However, the dark creature didn't realize what would happen after a short opening between two powerhouses who only had 4 seconds to make a move.
"4-7-5 King! 5-7-1 Knight! 4-7-4 Archer! 314 Junior General, 358 Lieutenant General, 646 Knight, 468 Cannon, 528 Ninja..." [Wait, why is it getting faster and faster! I can't keep up!!]
Even the dark creature rarely let out an inner roar.
Do these two even have time to think? One person makes a move, and the other immediately follows. Both of them are so quick; they must practice their hand speed regularly! Saiki Kusuo calculated that their average time was...
0.78 seconds. What are you two playing? Hot potato shogi?!
However, as the two of them quickly filled the board with pieces, this time gradually increased, requiring two or three seconds to think. However, both of them accurately controlled the time, and neither exceeded four seconds per move.
Inevitably, this led to moves being made without full consideration.
Saiki Kusuo could not see the position of the pieces but automatically arranged the pieces in his mind, based on the move announcements.
An ominous feeling. Illumi has experience playing against his grandfather...
The match was still in progress, but before Saiki Kusuo could hear Illumi's thoughts and know the later moves, Chrollo suddenly scattered the pieces.
"I lost."
This guy admits defeat even faster than he plays.
What's the point of playing yourself to lose? The points are just given away like that? I didn't even need to stand here in the first place.
"Although it's no problem for the points to go to Illumi, want to try again? Was that last one a pre-existing routine?"
So it turns out he doesn't care where the points go because Illumi is a member of the group.
Illumi admitted, "Yeah, can't I use it?"
"Of course, you can. Since you really know shogi, let's extend the time to 6 seconds this time." [Although I also have routines, I don't really want to use them. Besides, it was his pace from the beginning, so I'm kind of getting the hang of it...]
Why don't you use the winning routine?
In the new match, Chrollo played much more seriously. He switched between fast and slow moves within the six seconds, but Illumi's pace became slower and slower.
[The one on the right is going to win.] Saiki Kusuo heard a confident voice.
He looked up into the distance, to a spot in the stands, where there were two heat signatures, one large and one small.
Who is it? That voice sounds a little familiar.
The pieces scattered again, and Illumi said, "I lost."
They finished so quickly!
One win and one loss, and the situation was reversed again.
Just as Saiki Kusuo thought they were going to play another match to determine the real winner, Chrollo suddenly said, "Shalnark, do you want to give it a try?"
What am I supposed to play when I can't see?
"You announce the moves, and I'll be responsible for placing them," Chrollo flipped a chess piece up and caught it. Saiki Kusuo heard the calculation in his mind.
Chrollo: [There's not enough time. Let's limit the shogi time to 3 seconds.]
How confident are you in my thinking speed? I never said I knew how to play shogi, and Illumi would never accept such a crazy time...
"There's not enough time. If we're going to play, we can only limit the move time to three seconds."
Illumi brought it up himself.
At the same time, Illumi's thoughts: [Did Hisoka fall into a pit? Even if he comes up after the deciding match starts, it'll be useless.]
Well, Hisoka himself is standing right next to us. Nothing else will come up.
Chrollo responded, "Then three seconds it is. Our Shalnark is a very fast thinker."
Can you just make that up? How will Shalnark face this perception after he's revived?
However, as a psychic, accepting the three-second condition is a bit too unfair to non-psychics.
[Let's set it at five seconds. That will decide the winner.] Saiki Kusuo suggested.
At five seconds, although Illumi's thinking time is longer, Saiki Kusuo decided to solve each move in 0.78 seconds, leaving the extra 0.22 seconds for Chrollo to place the piece.
51 and 33, the total time is the same.
Illumi recalled the moves of the first round in his mind: [Without proper thinking, five seconds shouldn't be enough to deal with the routines learned from Grandpa, and shogi is already an unpopular game.]
"Okay, so I'm announcing the moves, right?" Illumi picked up a chess piece and already had the starting posture for the first move, wanting to seize the initiative.
"Yes, let's start right away," Chrollo said.
"But why is Shalnark blindfolded? Is he injured? 7-9-1, Pawn."
[2-4-5, King.] Saiki Kusuo answered immediately and sat down next to the chessboard with his legs tucked in.
Chrollo placed the pieces as he said, "Eyes that can't be seen in the light for the time being will be fine soon."
Illumi puzzled, "Was he assassinated? 4-7-5, King."
Saiki Kusuo responds: He was certainly assassinated by my eyes.
At the same time answering immediately: [5-7-1, Knight.]
Chrollo finished with clear strokes, jokingly, "If you do all kinds of bad things, sometimes there will be some luck on the retribution end."
Saiki Kusuo said: That is you yourself.
Illumi put on an enlightened look: "4-7-4, Archer. Sometimes our family will also go unlucky, and meet a lot of avengers in a row. Obviously our photos are very expensive, worth nearly 100 million."
Hunter-level Zoldyck photos.
[3-1-4, Junior General.] Saiki Kusuo replied immediately.
"3-5-8, Lieutenant General."
[646, Knight.] Responded immediately.
"...4-6-8, Cannon."
[528, Ninja.] Responded immediately.
There was a subtle sound from the chessboard, the sound of a piece tapping on the board surface. Saiki Kusuo saw through heat sensing that Chrollo was holding pieces, but was only tapping on the edge of the board.
What's wrong? Do you have an opinion on your own moves?
"Not to mention the thinking time is too short... Shalnark, are you playing our first round?"
As expected, he was discovered.
Saiki Kusuo folded his arms and didn't answer. When there are no chess pieces on the chessboard, the greatest possible number of possibilities they are free to move.
There are too many, and one cannot defeat the other party no matter how many steps at the beginning, so how to move the pieces is like a psychic fishing in the sea. Anything can be caught, there are no requirements for the process, there is only the endpoint of winning.
There are a thousand ways to play chess, and all can be known. In short, if you really let him come up with an opener himself, you will have choice paralysis.
[Illumi's setup is already taking shape, why are you doing this? Are you just lazy to compete and want to lose?] Chrollo wondered, but 5 seconds is too short, so he still put down the chess piece just over 4 seconds in.
Oh well, don't look at me like this, sometimes I'm still very competitive, and even if I win at this time, it's Shalnark who attracts too much attention, not me.
Illumi put down the chess piece he had been thinking about for a long time: [Shalnark and Chrollo are on too good of terms, he actually remembered every step Chrollo took in the first round.]
That's not true, it's just that I have a bit of perfect recall, that wherever you go, I still remember.
His next move of course was also answered immediately.
As time progressed, Illumi took the initiative to change his chess play from a certain step, and a change came with it.
In all the thousands of ways to play chess, Saiki Kusuo finally had thought about it once seriously, it taking all of 0.42 seconds, leaving 0.36 seconds to transmit.
Chrollo heard Saiki Kusuo's chess moves and put down one piece after another. He was the one holding the pieces, he was the closest, but he couldn't accurately know what Saiki Kusuo wanted to do.
What is the purpose of each move? What changes can it bring? Possibilities? It seemed like an irregular network was being built, unrelated to any experience, unrelated to any vested interests, and the gaze seemed to always be placed far into the future. Even though a person was moving step by step, the chess appeared to be moving as a whole. Because the main purpose could not be seen , every chess piece lurked in the dark, and each one could be used for him at a particularly unexpected opportunity. It didn't matter if you lost an important chess piece, and after a few steps the other party would pay the same or even a more painful price.
Chrollo felt more and more shocked. He knew how good Saiki Kusuo was, but the impression had always remained at the level of ability and research. He didn't expect...
He didn't expect that, if the environment was suitable, he would likely become the world-renowned spider head...no, the demon king who controls the entire hunter world!
Saiki Kusuo: Neither one will be! Why do you and Kusuke have the same ideas, you two villains!
As the game went on for a long time, Illumi also found that he was getting more and more difficult. The formation of the routine disintegrated on its own, and the chess moves Shalnark gave without thinking seemed to have traps that had been thought out dozens of steps in advance, but he couldn't see through them. He couldn't figure it out within five seconds, but if he had ten seconds, twenty seconds, he still might not be able to figure it out.
Was it because Shalnark's usual light was overshadowed by Chrollo that he hadn't noticed it? So that was the kind of scheming this person had...
If he could be recruited into the Zoldyck, it would definitely shock the entire Zoldyck, no, shock the entire world of butlers!
Saiki Kusuo: I'm already a Zoldyck! And why a butler?!
5 seconds arrived, and Illumi put down the pieces in his hand.
"I lost. I didn't expect Shalnark to be so good. Is it a new ability?"
Who will specially train for shogi... Oh, there is Komugi, my apologies.
"Can I take over and continue playing?" Chrollo said.
Do you want to lose that much? Based on what he said, he knows I can mind-read.
Chrollo: [The arrangement of these chess pieces far exceeds what we had envisioned.]"It's such a wonderful game of chess, I want to know if he can still bring me surprises before the final victory."
[But there is not much time left.]
The referee above had been holding up the time card, and now there should only be two minutes left...
The three people looked up, and the time card in the referee's hand showed a countdown: 27 minutes and 49 seconds.
Everyone: ...
Having been through so much, there's no way only two minutes could have passed.
"Ah, well... There's still so much time left!" The referee pretended to be calm as he held up the sign.
Chrollo gave a soft laugh and raised the chess pieces, "If there is still so little time, let's just play! I'll take over Illumi's chess moves, and you continue to represent us, okay? You announce the chess moves and I'll help you play. There is no time limit."
Are you controlling this referee with your mind? Why would the dark creature be biased? Who wants to see the result of the chess game?
Saiki Kusuo heard those nearby's thoughts; there was an unusual amount of people focusing on the answer to this chess game, not just the three people on stage.
The look of the lord's chess is shogi for everyone, everyone has more or less learned how to use shogi during this time, some people love it, and some have already learned and mastered it. When everyone in the environment is passionate about one thing, people's interest in it is very high.
This leads to many acquaintances who are expecting Saiki Kusuo to continue playing chess now.
Saiki Kusuo hesitated slightly and nodded in agreement.
Although the Shalnark who doesn't know how to play chess is a little innocent, he doesn't know how many abnormal impressions he will face when he wakes up tomorrow.
"9-9-1, Knight," Chrollo said.
The game continued.
Illumi folded his arms and watched from the sidelines. After his eyes left the chess game, he seriously began to focus on the environment.
For example, Hisoka, who was not far away, was standing with one hand propped against his waist and the other hand in front of his abdomen, palm facing up.
For example, the golden semicircle that was faintly drawn around the arena with mystical powers.
What is this thing? Did no one notice it?
If they noticed it but ignored it, is it decorative neon lights?
Can he ask about an anomaly that no one mentioned?
...
Moreover, he was still gradually drawing along the edge of the arena, like a pen drawing a circle, still "drawing."
At the same time, in another part of the school.
"If the glasses prepared for Kusuo break, you have to take nude photos of cats!"
In the office, a child and a person were talking.
The child had blond hair, was sitting on the table, and was holding a chain in his hand.
The end of the chain held a person. That person had white hair, was sitting cross-legged on the seat, and had just had the glasses put on them by the child.
"Hahaha, suddenly falling into a psychic power recovery period, with weird psychic powers that turned big brother into little brother, is it indiscriminate or is there some other meaning?"
The white-haired boy looked apologetic, but on this point he was very sure: "Accidental psychic power, indiscriminate, unconscious, uncontrollable."