~Scene Continues, Soutarou POV~
Serafall emotionally declared, “And you!
You’re supposed to be devastated that you can’t marry So-tan immediately!
At least look a little heartbroken!”
Soutarou glanced toward Sona.
Then toward Serafall.
Soutarou casually replied, “I just met President Mitori this morning.”
Sona’s eye twitched.
Sona sharply corrected, “Shitori.”
Soutarou lightly struck his fist against his palm.
Soutarou brightly acknowledged, “Right.
President Mouna.”
Sona’s expression darkened.
Rias giggled audibly.
Momo covered her mouth.
Tsubaki sighed.
Even Grayfia’s eyes appeared faintly amused.
For several seconds, the atmosphere finally loosened.
Then Sona looked down at the board.
The fallen King remained upon its side.
Her loss remained undeniable.
Her fingers reached forward.
She stood the King upright.
Then Sona began returning the pieces to their starting positions.
Soutarou watched her.
Sona didn’t look up.
Sona firmly ordered, “Again.”
Soutarou blinked and reminded, “Uh…
The engagement match is over.”
Sona placed her Queen onto its square.
Sona answered, “I am well aware of that fact.”
Her hands continued resetting the board.
Sona added, “This match isn’t for the engagement.”
Soutarou’s smile became genuine.
Not the charming expression he used to manage a crowd…
Not the teasing smile he used to irritate her…
The same open enjoyment Rias had drawn from him while discussing anime.
Sona saw it as Soutarou leaned back and asked, “Right now?
We’ve already been here all day.”
Sona’s violet eyes locked upon his.
A competitive fire burned behind her glasses.
Sona firmly replied, “You do not get to walk into my school, mispronounce my name, defeat me by the width of a fucking fingernail, and then leave me with nothing but a single result.
That’s like finishing right before I got my satisfaction!”
Soutarou raised one brow as Sona continued with increasing intensity, “I want another round!”
Soutarou stared at her.
Then his expression turned strange.
Soutarou cautiously and warily asked, “Wait…
Why are you making it sound like I blue-balled you?!?!”
Tsubaki choked.
Momo spat a mouthful of tea back into her cup.
Rias collapsed against Akeno in laughter.
Yumi covered her face.
Serafall’s head snapped between Soutarou and Sona with renewed horror.
Sona entered a coughing fit.
Her face became crimson.
Sona slammed both hands against the table.
Several pieces rolled across the board.
Sona furiously shouted, “You…!”
Soutarou immediately looked away and whistled.
Then he coughed into his fist.
Soutarou hurriedly began returning the displaced pieces and diplomatically said, “*Ehem*…
Alright, Prez.
This time you can take White.”
Sona glared at him with enough force to replace demonic power.
Sona warned, “Don’t think I’ll forget what you just said.”
Soutarou waved one hand dismissively.
Soutarou cheerfully urged, “Come on~.
I’ll show you a good time baby girl.”
Sona raised one clenched fist.
Sona indignantly repeated, “You…!”
Tsubaki slowly shook her head.
Momo covered her mouth as a quiet laugh escaped despite the tea still threatening to choke her.
Rias wiped tears from the corners of her eyes.
Grayfia looked toward the ceiling.
Serafall muttered, “He flirts with her too…”
The second game began.
This time, Sona possessed White…
The first game had carried the pressure of a contract, a house vow, and Sona’s future.
The second carried something simpler.
Enjoyment.
Sona’s lips tightened whenever Soutarou escaped a threat.
Soutarou grinned whenever Sona found a move he hadn’t expected.
He casually referred to his Knight as a horsie.
Sona corrected him every single time to which Soutarou only did it again deliberately with more vigor.
Sona’s glare sharpened.
Then the clock was pressed and both became serious once more.
She refused unnecessary exchanges, kept her pieces active, and created a kingside attack before Soutarou could stabilize.
He defended accurately…
Then almost accurately…
Then discovered that the difference between the two was enough.
Sona’s Rook penetrated the seventh rank.
Her Bishop cut across his King’s escape.
A Knight Soutarou had jokingly called a horse delivered the final fork that destroyed his position.
Soutarou stared at the board.
Sona sat perfectly still.
The smallest, most satisfied smile appeared upon her lips.
Soutarou tipped over his King.
*Tok.*
Sona adjusted her glasses and she calmly announced, “One to one.”
Soutarou pointed accusingly toward her Knight.
Soutarou complained, “Heyyy~ That horsie was cheating.”
Sona’s smile sharpened and she corrected again for the nth time, “Knight.”
Soutarou nodded solemnly as he replied, “The cheating horsie.”
Sona’s eyebrow twitched.
The third game began before anyone suggested stopping them.
By then, the sun had lowered beyond Kuoh Academy’s windows.
Amber evening light stretched across the Student Council room and turned the board’s polished squares into alternating pools of gold and shadow.
Serafall had finally abandoned the corner and now watched from behind Sona’s couch with her chin resting upon its back.
Grayfia remained beside the restored banners.
Rias and Akeno shared the opposite couch.
Yumi had taken a seat near them.
Momo continued recording the moves even though her notes had gradually become less technical and more concerned with Soutarou’s expressions.
Tsubaki watched with the exhausted vigilance of someone observing two natural disasters voluntarily collide for entertainment.
The final game was narrower than either before it.
Sona attempted to seize space.
Soutarou broke it apart.
Soutarou prepared an attack.
Sona traded the most dangerous piece before it could begin.
Neither achieved a lasting advantage through the opening.
Neither surrendered the center.
The game entered a tense middle phase where one inaccurate move would decide everything.
Soutarou’s clock fell beneath one minute.
Sona’s followed seconds later.
Their hands moved faster.
The board blurred beneath repeated exchanges.
Rias stopped understanding the position entirely.
Momo gave up recording variations and simply wrote the moves.
Tsubaki leaned so far forward that her long hair slipped across one shoulder.
Then Sona made one small inaccuracy.
Not a blunder…
Not a hanging piece…
One defensive move performed in the wrong order.
Soutarou’s eyes sharpened.
He sacrificed a Pawn to open a file.
Sona accepted because refusing would create a different weakness.
Soutarou’s Rook entered.Sona drove it back.
His Knight jumped into the square her defensive move had weakened.
Sona exchanged it.
The exchange forced her King one step away from the center.
One step was enough.
Soutarou’s remaining Bishop crossed the board and supported a Pawn that had been waiting quietly upon the opposite wing.
The Pawn advanced.
Sona’s Rook rushed toward it.
Soutarou’s King reached the center first.
The same lesson from the first game returned in a different form.
The King became a weapon.
Sona fought until both clocks hovered above seconds.
She found one resource…
Then another…
Then reached a position where her Rook could stop the passed Pawn only by abandoning the remaining Pawns behind her King.
Her eyes raced across the board.
Soutarou waited.
Sona exhaled.
Her fingers touched her King.
For the second time that evening, she tipped it over.
*Tok.*
The final clock continued ticking for one second before Momo remembered to stop it.
*Click.*
Silence held the room.
Then Soutarou leaned back with an exhausted grin.
Soutarou declared, “Two to one.”
Sona stared at the board.
Her expression wasn’t bitter.
If anything, she appeared more alive than she had at any point before the first match began.
Sona slowly adjusted her glasses.
Sona stated, “Next time, I will win.”
Soutarou rose from the couch.
Soutarou stretched both arms above his head and lightly replied, “Sure, sure~.”
Sona’s eyes narrowed.
Soutarou looked down at her and added, “But until then, I’m counting this as proof that President Mitori agreed to date me~.”
Sona’s face reddened.
Sona sharply corrected, “Shitori!”
Soutarou tapped one fist against his palm.
President Mouna.”
Sona stood.
Soutarou immediately moved around the couch before she could reach him.
Rias laughed as he used the table to maintain distance.
Akeno covered her lips.
Momo watched Soutarou’s retreating figure with another quiet smile.
Tsubaki tried and failed to restore order.
Serafall stared at her sister chasing the Valefor heir around the Student Council room.
Her eyes became hollow again.
Serafall whispered, “They’re already flirting…”
Grayfia calmly corrected, “They’re arguing.”
Serafall pointed toward them and insisted, “That is flirting for So-tan…!”
Grayfia considered the scene.
Sona threatened to assign Soutarou enough demerits to prevent his graduation.
Soutarou reminded her that she’d just agreed to wait until after university.
To which Sona only became even angrier.
Grayfia remained silent.
Eventually, the room settled.
The board remained frozen in Soutarou’s second victory.
Sona returned to her seat and stared at the final position.
Soutarou gathered the restored house seals, the written instructions, and the blank white key Serafall intended to retrieve the following day.
He paused beside the door.
His gaze moved toward Sona.
The teasing expression softened.
Soutarou sincerely said, “I had fun.”
Sona looked up.
For a brief moment, none of the politics, contracts, or ancient obligations existed between them.
Only the board…
The challenge…
And the promise of another match.
Sona’s lips curved into a small, genuine smile.
Sona quietly replied, “So did I.”
Soutarou nodded.
Then he left the Student Council room with the key to his future peerage resting inside his bag.
~Sona POV, Moments Later~
The door closed behind Soutarou.
Sona’s eyes returned to the board.
Two losses…
One victory…
The engagement match had been the first.
She’d accepted its result.
Soutarou had then refused to turn that acceptance into a cage.
He’d asked to know her first.
Not her house…
Not her bloodline…
Not the contract…
Her.
Tsubaki remained beside the table.
Momo quietly collected the scattered cups while repeatedly glancing toward the closed door.
Rias and Akeno spoke softly near the opposite couch.
Grayfia gathered the remaining documents.
Serafall had returned to jealous muttering.
Tsubaki looked toward Sona.
Tsubaki gently asked, “My Lady…
Are you truly comfortable allowing the vow to remain?”
Sona didn’t answer immediately.
Her fingertips touched the square where Soutarou’s King had stood.
She remembered his posture when the clock started…
The complete focus in his eyes…
The patience with which he built the smallest advantage…
The respect in his voice after winning…
And the way he had spoken of dreams he didn’t yet know she carried.
Sona adjusted her glasses.
Sona calmly answered, “He defeated me under the condition I chose.”
Tsubaki nodded.
Sona continued, “I will honor that.”
Tsubaki studied her carefully.
Tsubaki then asked, “And his decision to postpone formalizing it?”
Sona’s gaze shifted toward the evening sky beyond the window.
Sona quietly admitted, “That’s why I’m willing to learn whether I want him to stay when the waiting ends.”
Momo paused while holding a teacup.
Rias glanced over.
Serafall released another wounded whimper.
Sona’s small smile returned.
Her eyes lowered toward the final position.
Sona moved Soutarou’s King back to its starting square.
Then she moved her own.
Sona thought with absolute certainty…
<Next time…
I’ll win.>
***Author’s Note: Soutarou and Sona’s first match was inspired by José Raúl Capablanca vs.
Harry Golombek (1939).
It’s an example of a Carlsbad Pawn Structure and a Minority Attack.
https://chesstempo.com/game-database/game/jose-capablanca-vs-harry-golombek/1009410/57
→
The first match play by play.
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/QwoYy3QtN/analysis?move=46