"Chess match, 1 vs 1"
"Now begins!"
Hashimoto is a famous handsome guy in Class B, and he is also good at using his appearance to gather information.
His parents are detectives, but maybe because he was brought up crooked, he feels that ordinary interpersonal relationships are meaningless, and he prefers to use network of interests to deal with interpersonal relationships.
People can be divided into three categories: useful, potentially useful, and no longer useful.
After he entered Class A and learned this school ranked students based on abilities, he found it interesting and began to build the network of relationships he had always wanted.
He joined Tennis club.
It's not there are many girls in tennis club, so he can stare at wobble up and down, but very little boys so he can make them pay attention to him.
Then he uses his good looks to approach girls.
If he thinks she is useful, he will try to seduce them.
If he thinks it is useless, he will politely reject confession.
In order to obtain some important information, he would even seduce boys.
The reason why he surrendered to Sakayanagi was not because he admired her methods, but because felt that she had behaved very differently since she entered school, her position was too stable, and benefits he could gain from offending her were too small.
So after Kamuro-san, he became a lackey too, but now under a lot of pressure.
Sakayanagi is very strong in chess.
Although he has studied hard, he is just an amateur compared.
So as second person in class who could play chess, Sakayanagi chose him as the player when she developed chess program.
He knew that his level could only be used as a tool, and was mentally prepared for this.
But as a smooth person, he certainly had to pretend to be trying hard.
In this way, if they win, he wins for class, but if lose, everything is Sakayanagi's fault.

"First-move."
Kiyotaka on the other side took initiative and moved the leftmost soldier first. It was a very common move.
'This means Ayanokoji across from me should be an amateur.....' So he had the upper hand, Hashimoto breathed a sigh of relief.
Very quickly.
Hashimoto noticed instructions coming from his headphones.
Before game, Hashimoto heard the teacher mention function of headphones, which can be used to receive instructions from command tower, but it seems they have been converted by a machine, so prompt sounds are now mechanical.
In other words, Arisu Sakayanagi, as commander, began to interfere with the game.
'Hello, this is different from what we agreed, Little Princess. Do you have to do it yourself first hand?' As he was thinking this, a voice came from headphones again.
[If you want to play on your own, then go ahead, but you'll be begging me to help you on 10th move.]
It was not voice of Princess Sakayanagi, but the other party typing, which was recognized by the system and converted into mechanical sound.
'Wait, isn't that just exactly like Ayanokoji's voice in front of me....?'
These are rules of the exam.
And now, literally speaking, Princess Sakayanagi allowed him to move within 10 steps, but does this mean that he can only move 10?
After careful consideration, Hashimoto immediately chose to be obedient.
Then soon he discovered how useful being a good pet was.
At 5th minute of the game, Hashimoto had a headache and put one hand on his forehead.
Then he sat in complete agony.
This is a rather distracted or shocked expression.
Hashimoto felt a terrible migraine coming now, when he was informed that he had become a chess contestant, he was naturally well-intentioned and made inquiries.
He found many clues and confirmed there seemed to be no students in Class C who were good at chess.
That is to say.
As Kiyotaka himself said, he only played chess for 2 weeks when he was a child, then stopped after.
It wasn't like he played 24/hours either, just 2 in a day.
This news must be wrong.
When facing Sakayanagi, he felt like there was a mountain in front of him.
But now Kiyotaka gave him the illusion that he came from a different world or something.
The opponent's chess moves can easily make people feel autistic.
The sweet and delicious chess piece was deliberately sent over to be eaten, but truth was that a trap had been set long ago.
Of course, with Hashimoto's chess skills, he would definitely not be able to fall into this simple move, but little Princess Sakayanagi chose to eat it.
This made him wonder if girl had been fooled.
However, as game continued, he discovered that if Sakayanagi did not choose to eat chips sent by the opponent, she would immediately be suppressed by these sweet and delicious chess pieces.
Moreover, this situation is not far from being defeated.
'Oh my god. In other words, if I didn't listen, I might have lost in 10 or a dozen steps? So Ayanokoji is a big fat liar.....I only learned chess for 2 weeks when I was a child. Kiss my ass, This is a super master!' As a result, Hashimoto found himself feeling more and more isolated as he looked at the situation and thought about positions he might play.
Simply. No more thinking. Be a tool.
So he immediately kept calm.
As for whether Sakayanagi's cumulative 30 minutes of intervention time was enough, that was none of his business.
Besides, even if he loses, it's her fault.
Anyway, Sakayanagi was the one who got involved first, so even if he is held accountable, he is just a tool.
Reputation will not decline.
If Sakayanagi wins, and only people wearing headphones are him and opponent.
Commander's voice will not be heard, but others can only tell from the expression of person wearing the headphones, if you are being helped.
But, Hashimoto is a very good actor.
Therefore, other people could only see that he was wearing a headset the whole time, so they had no idea when Sakayanagi intervened, nor did they know how much long she played.
In this way, if he wins the game, people may think he was the one playing chess before.
He can also gain some fame.
Having figured this out, Hashimoto stopped thinking without hesitation and immediately fully entered the role of a tool man, starting to play chess exactly according to Sakayanagi's instructions.
"..." The chess game began to become wild.
Sakayanagi's attack was fierce, and also very much like her.
One of her chess pieces was captured.
But this was a bait she sent out, and at same time, was not actually a bait.
Just too much wealth.
She personally likes to play endgames, not because film is more interesting, but because chess pieces can be moved more freely at the end.
The baits sent out now are just to take up space. Arisu attacked immediately after the bait was eaten.
She likes to attack, not defend.
Even Hikigaya-kun was also paying attention to the chessboard. 'This is a game between Masters.....Compared to me, who doesn't know how to play.'
However, When Sakayanagi proposed to compete with Kiyotaka in the name of fake genius, he was still a little concerned.
So he decided to buy some chess books for beginners, which included rules that even he could know.
Of course, newbies are still not suitable to get involved in such high-quality duels.
At the same time, as Commander, he has authority to pass on orders, but as a chess layman, it is already remarkable that he can understand the rules.
There is only one thing he needs to focus on now. Or maybe it was just a little bit Commander had to wait for.
'That was when Ayanokoji was at a disadvantage.....' With this in mind, Hikigaya-kun put on the headphones that were provided to reduce interference, and then placed his hands on the keyboard.
xxxxxxx
Other side.
Commander of A-class vs. D-class, whose exams had already ended, left the room.
Hiyori walked out, and several students from her class were waiting there, Ryuen, Ishizaki, and Ibuki.
"Ryuen-kun!"
Ichinose was walking with her head down, but when she spotted Ryuen, she immediately walked over to him.
"You've resorted to despicable tactics again!" She seemed very angry, her period wasn't helping her mood either.
During this Command Tower showdown, students in her class began to feel unwell one after another.
She didn't notice it at first.
But soon, in third game, a player was unable to play, and then got news that a contestant had diarrhea.
A person may not be taking good care of his or her health.
But it is obviously not normal that several people are experiencing this situation in a row.
So final conclusion is only... this is Ryuen's conspiracy.
After rules of the exam were announced, Ryuen's class assigned someone to follow students in her class.
They just approached but didn't attack.
They just followed the students, even to the toilet, which had a huge negative impact on people's brains.
Even Shibata-kun almost couldn't help but rush up to fight.
Although he finally restrained himself, Ichinose also thought about why Ryuen and others did bad.
This exam, he and men were too direct in tracking.
But there was no understanding of how far could his despicability go.
Therefore, she finally guarded against the people from Ryuen by her usual response of not shutting mouth, avoiding your gaze.
But unfortunately, Ryuen and his men still succeeded.
"Kuku.....This school is just so mean, because in evaluation criteria, Being Evil is also a kind of strength. Ichinose, school is a copy of outside society. Do you think world is absolutely fair and clean? Rather, you should thank us for letting you feel the darkness in advance and increasing your experience of being cheat-----"
"Ryūen! Your methods are too despicable! And you still want us to thank you?" Other students from Class A also ran over.
It's Ryuji Kanzaki.
However, Kanzaki-kun is not in a good condition now. He presses his left hand on his stomach, as if he is enduring something.
Apparently, he was also the one who drank water that was drugged with laxatives.
"Of course you should thank us! It's hard for people like you to survive in society, so I taught you a lesson, and haven't even charged yet!"
"So, Ryuen-kun, you admit that you attacked our players," Ichinose being school's Archangel she was even tried to make him confess his sins.
She reached her left hand into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone, "I have just recorded your conversation. If I submit this info to school, our match with your class will be cancelled. The current result does not count!"
There were 3 matches.
Class A won first one, then second was for Ryuen's class.
3rd loss for Ichinose's class, as someone was feeling unwell. Although Kanzaki-kun played at that time, but still lost.
Then, following 4 games had to be abandoned because players in Ichinose's class were unwell.
That means you only won 1 out of 7 games and lost 6, so you should be deducted 50X3=150 points.
Situation is not good. First of all, Class A's position is going to fall.
"Ichinose, did you do such a thing?" Kanzaki didn't expect that she was on guard.
"Then play the recording," But Ryuen kept smiling, "Or you'd better report it! And I can tell you that it wasn't done by a student in my class. That means there is a spy in your garden....kuku!"
"I won't believe it to be a traitor in my class!" Ichinose said righteously.
"Then go ahead and report it," Ryuen shrugged very normally, like he expected such a drama and fuss, "I dare to ask school to investigate this matter thoroughly, but do you dare? Such a united class would actually betray you in final exam of first grade. What a huge blow this will be! I'm afraid your unity will collapse immediately. Especially when the spy is caught in public!"
"Shut up, Ryuen!" Kanzaki just couldn't help it anymore.
"Kanzaki, you should go and take a shit in the restroom," But Ryuen put his hands in his pockets and turned away as if no one was worth his eyes.
His young ones quickly followed.
Hiyori looked at Ichinose and Kanzaki with regret, and left as well.
The smart Hiyori knew very well that Ryuen had found the weak spot of Ichinose's class, was very united, and even when they had to expel a classmate, chose to gather 20 million points from all the students.
After the class vote to withdraw from school was over, everyone in Class D saw that Ichinose began to live without living expenses.
If she reports the recording, exam might be cancelled and retaken.
However, fact there is a traitor in Ichinose's class can make people waver.
If a traitor appears in a very united class and is found out, all the students will be shaken, and will not be able to escape unscathed in next class vote to drop out.
This was a burden that Ichinose could not bear.
'.....This is bullying an honest person, Ryuen-kun.' After all, they are in different classes. Although Hiyori has a good personal relationship with Ichinose, she also has her own stance.
Because their class D was ranked 0 points, Teacher Sakagami would be the first to collapse. So, must gain something from this exam.
After thinking about the difference between selling points and scoring himself, Ryuen also felt that he had to get some points.
There were 7 games in total, and their Class D lost one and won 6 games.
So final score is 30X(6-1)+100 points= 250 points.
The monthly living expenses of 25,000 yen were guaranteed. At the same time, finally broke through 0 points.
Ryuen put his hands in his pockets, and Ishizaki, his follower, was also in a good mood.
It was just as expected.
Although Class A was very united, they were just a group of sheep with no attack power and could be slaughtered at will.
They had a complete victory.
In terms of operation, Ryuen wanted to attack Ichinose's class, but of course, he couldn't be so direct, so he deliberately set up a smokescreen and let students follow Ichinose's class to make them alert in wrong direction, and used the spies in Class A to drug people, causing all athletes in Class A to fail their events, resulting in great losses.
But Ryuen found it very strange.
'According to the information collected recently, Ichinose sometimes goes to Hikigaya Hachiman's dormitory. Maybe two of them have a good relationship, or dating. And Ichinose should have told Hikigaya about being followed by students from my class. She might not be able to see through my plan, but he would....Because creep was able to blackmail me several times in a row, I was certain that Hikigaya could see through it.....He even went to meet Shiina the day before exam and obtained information about spy in Ichinose's class....' Ryuen was a little worried that Hikigaya was going to take action or blackmail him again.
He also considered how to split the profits if he was blackmailed. In the end, Hikigaya did not intervene.
The plan went as originally planned.
Therefore, Ryuen couldn't tell what Hikigaya was thinking. 'Although he had a good relationship with Ichinose, he did not offer any help. Did you intentionally watch the other person get hurt? Do you want her to see the reality? Or... Is this guy an S?'
"Ryuen, can we move freely from now on?" Ibuki chose to leave his team. Because now that exams were over, she had no reason to stay here any longer.
"..."
But Ryuen was thinking about the meaning of Hikigaya Hachiman's actions and ignored Ibuki.
"Ryuen-san? Ibuki is calling you," Ishizaki also looked over with a little concern in his voice.
"Hikigaya Hachiman is really an S...."
"..."
???
Ishizaki was puzzled as to what strange things Ryuen was saying.
"Compared to S, I think Hikigaya-kun actually has M tendencies. I think he has a lot of potential."
"????" Ishizaki was utterly confused, he didn't know the hell they were talking about, 'Shiina-san was also saying something very strange.....'
xxxxxx
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