Coming to this new school, I've felt much more constricted than ever.
I didn't realise it at first, but around , there are so geniuses who are above .
I've been completely overshadowed.
Tachibana Emi, Hasegawa Mio and even Murakami Akio—they're all at a level that I can't even fathom at the mont. Despite how much I studied for the last academic exam, I still couldn't beat them.
Maybe this is my limit.
Maybe this is as far as I can go.
Maybe so people are just—better than .
No...
No.
No.
Never again will I fall back to the mindset I had back then.
I'll devour them. I'll completely destroy them. That is what I, Fujiharu Sara, have been doing this entire ti. My greatest strength is hard work. There's nothing I can't overco with more work. I'll just push myself even further. I'll defeat them all.
Finally, I'll defeat Mizuhara Ayato.
***
"Fujiharu! Let's go practice for the chess tournant."
I was with my usual group of friends. Since I wanted to get so practice in as well, I decided to follow them to the library. Sotis they make it a little difficult to learn as they get distracted quite easily, but I did need so opponents to practice with.
Practically every single chess-related book in the entire library had been borrowed already. I'd been looking through so openings and puzzles during the last few days, practising as vigorously as I could. Every night, I'd morise more openings with my phone as I prepared for this special exam.
"Fujiharu-chan, play against !"
"Alright."
The main issue was that most of the students who were actually good at chess seed to disregard practice. Playing with my friends is fun and all, but if I really wanted to improve, I'd have to play against so more difficult opponents.
My friend, Shimizu Hana, was a relatively intelligent person. However, in terms of chess, her skill level wasn't near high enough to challenge seriously. I kept up appearances still, playing with her and holding back, but this definitely wasn't helping my chess ability very much.
I wanted to find soone strong.
After spending a little bit of ti playing against my friends, I decided to leave the general group.
"Sorry guys, I'll be back. I want to see if there are any free chess books."
There definitely weren't, but it bought so ti to do so practice on my own. Looking through various websites, I set up chess puzzles and attempted to solve them. I continued to increase the difficulty, training my brain to recognise the specific patterns.
Still, I wanted to play a proper match.
I decided to revise so of the openings I had morised. Setting up the board, I played out the openings by mory. One after another, I made sure that they were firmly in my head. Again and again, I continued to revise and morise.
Testing myself in various conditions, I stood up and played the moves. Then, I played the moves after flipping the board. I needed to make sure I wouldn't forget them under stress. Again and again, all I could do was try to morise these openings as well as I could. After all, morising is all I've ever known to do.
morise.
Practice.
I just need to get it all into my head. This chess tournant was one of the best opportunities for to go face-to-face with so of the smartest students in the school. I needed to prove that I was stronger than them.
More puzzles. Clicking off the website I was on before, I scrolled down, looking for another. 'Hard Chess Puzzles'... good enough for . Setting them up on the board, I controlled my thought process, ticulously breaking down the position.
Complete.
Ah, satisfying.
Ti for another.
After a little while, I completed a number of puzzles on this new website. At this point, I wasn't too sure how I was going to keep improving. The difficulty of the puzzles was inconsistent. So were so easy that they definitely didn't help improve at all.
I guess I might go around the library and see if there's soone who I can play against.
Walking around, I searched for Class 2-A students. Most seed to be indifferent when it ca to this exam. I guess it wasn't too hard to top a group. However, I was aiming higher than that.
I wanted to get into the Finals. I wanted to win the Finals.
Suddenly, I saw a familiar face. It was of a girl I had t once before. After being brought to her apartnt by Mizuhara, I was able to see that she had a number of chess trophies and prizes. If I wanted to challenge soone strong, she was definitely the choice.
Quickly, I made my way over.
"Hey, you're Kanako, aren't you?"
She turned around with a sowhat confused look on her face. I guess I was talking to her a little bit out of the blue.
"Yes, what do you want from ?" she replied.
"I've heard your na before. You're the chess prodigy, right?"
I just wanted to confirm that she was as talented at chess as I thought she was. I never really got to examine her awards in detail, so I wasn't too sure. It was possible that they might've been from a sibling of hers or sothing else.
"Yes, I guess I am," she answered with a detached tone.
"Haa, so this current special exam was made perfectly for you then."
She didn't seem too enthusiastic about talking to . I was starting to get a little bit desperate since I'd been struggling to find a competent opponent this entire ti. I really wanted to test my skills against her.
"Just get to the point. What do you want?"
"Eh? No need to be so bitter~. Well, I guess it's true that I ca here to tell you sothing."
She was losing interest.
I guess I'll just say this.
"You like Mizuhara, don't you~?"
Her face went red.
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