COTE : There is Something Wrong With Hikigaya

After leaving the shogi club, Hikigaya took out his phone to check. Sure enough, the 60,000 private points had already been transferred. He let out a small sigh of relief. 

He had played three matches in the club, each with a 20,000 private point bet. This was the best way he could think of to earn points after returning from club recruitment. 

Although Hikigaya had some knowledge of board games like Go and shogi, he wasn't nearly skilled enough to beat a player like President Shimada, who held a first dan ranking. 

So… he cheated! 

For the entire first week of school, Hikigaya had practically lived in the library. That had all been preparation for this challenge. 

The school library had a vast collection of books, including many famous and classic shogi strategy books. But that alone wasn't enough. Because of the nature of shogi, memorizing game records was incredibly important. And luckily, "Fate's Compensation" had gifted Hikigaya with a memory far beyond even speed-reading techniques. 

No matter the board game, memorizing the games of top players was always the fastest way to improve. Especially for a beginner like Hikigaya, this stage of skill development was the quickest and most effective. 

He had found a huge number of books on the legendary Eternal Dragon King in the library—strategy books, formula books, and over ten years' worth of match records. While he didn't memorize thousands, he had at least stored hundreds of these game records perfectly in his mind. 

With this advantage, plus the fact that he had studied his opponent's games while they knew nothing about his style, defeating one of the top ten high school shogi players in the country was inevitable. 

Of course, it wasn't just shogi. 

Go, chess, mahjong, Rubik's cube, karuta, bridge—any game that relied on memory, he had force-fed himself knowledge over the past seven days. 

Now, Hikigaya felt like he was ridiculously strong… almost terrifyingly strong.

Of course, this kind of forced growth wouldn't turn him into a Super Saiyan, but becoming someone like Yamcha or Tao Pai Pai should be doable. 

In most high schools, sports clubs like baseball, soccer, and basketball always have the most members. Meanwhile, board game clubs tend to be niche and unpopular, barely getting any attention. 

ANHS was no exception. Plus, since the total number of students across all three grades was much smaller than in regular high schools, these niche clubs had ridiculously few members. 

Take the Shogi Club, for example—it had 15 members, which was already considered a lot for a board game club. The Karuta Club and the Rubik's Cube Club combined probably didn't even have 10 people. That's why Hikigaya stood out so much when he joined, and in the process, he earned quite a few private points. After all, finding someone with the same interests in this school was pretty rare. 

But having fewer members and being unpopular didn't mean these clubs were "low level." In fact, the overall skill level of ANHS High School's clubs was very high, and the Shogi and Go clubs were no exception. 

In just one week, thanks to his photographic memory, Hikigaya managed to rack up almost 500,000 private points. Even he was shocked when he saw that number! 

It should've been even higher, but he suffered a brutal loss at the Mahjong Club. The club president, a senior named Atago, used some ridiculous space-time killing technique and a legendary reversal hand to completely crush him. That round of Mahjong was like a battlefield, and Hikigaya ended up losing a huge chunk of his winnings. 

Still, this result was more than enough to make him happy. 

Having money in your pocket really puts your mind at ease. 

By now, the clubs had probably caught on to his little "money-farming" scheme. But Hikigaya had always planned to hit and run—it was a one-time deal anyway. 

On Friday after school, Hikigaya returned to the club building. He had an appointment with the Chess Club president, who had challenged him again, unwilling to accept his last defeat. 

Hikigaya happily agreed. The reason was simple: this president wasn't that skilled, but he was super addicted to the game. 

Among all the board game clubs Hikigaya had visited, the ones with the highest level of play were the Shogi, Go, and Mahjong clubs. Their members, including the club presidents, were all incredibly skilled. 

The Chess Club, on the other hand, was on a completely different level. Without any real competition, it was more like a casual hobby club. 

But hey, if someone wanted to hand over free money, Hikigaya wasn't about to say no. 

As soon as he entered the clubroom, though, he sensed something was off. 

The small-statured club president was nowhere to be seen. Instead, sitting inside was a petite girl with white hair, wearing a beret. She held a cane, and it looked like she had difficulty moving. 

Besides her, there were two other students. 

One was a blond guy with a ponytail, giving off a "cool but kinda shady" vibe. But for some reason, Hikigaya couldn't shake the feeling that he was just some shallow playboy. 

The other was a long-haired girl with purple hair, casually scrolling through her phone with a bored expression. When Hikigaya glanced at her a little longer than usual, she finally lifted her head slightly and frowned, as if she was thinking about something. 

"You guys are…?" 

Hikigaya was confused. As far as he remembered, none of these people were part of the Chess Club. 

"Good evening. I am Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A. A pleasure to meet you," the white-haired girl said as she slowly stood up, greeting him with a refined noble-like gesture. 

"You're… Sakayanagi Arisu?" 

Hikigaya froze for a moment. Then, without even thinking, he immediately turned around to leave! 

Bang! 

The door suddenly slammed shut. 

A tall, muscular guy wearing gloves was now blocking the exit, glaring at Hikigaya with an expression that basically said, "Move and I'll beat the crap out of you." 

"You know who I am, don't you?" 

Sakayanagi's voice rang out behind him. For some reason, Hikigaya felt a chill down his spine. 

"Nope." 

Hikigaya turned back with a dumb-looking smile. 

"I just thought this whole situation seemed really suspicious. And, well, I scare easily. Being suddenly surrounded by strangers in a closed space like this… anyone would be a little freaked out." 

To be fair, he really didn't know this white-haired girl personally. But the name "Sakayanagi Arisu" was something he had heard from someone before. 

Now, the actual person had suddenly appeared before him, tricked him into coming here, and even had someone block the door. 

There was no way this was going to end well. 

"Oh?" 

Sakayanagi smiled as she studied him carefully. 

"I see. That was indeed a little rude of us." 

--- 

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