Sometimes, life throws you into awkward situations.
Like accidentally sending the wrong photo on a messenger… or showing someone your phone gallery and accidentally flipping to that unwanted photo.
That feeling when you’re forced into an embarrassing play…
But I never imagined the day would come when I’d learn it might be a blessing if that’s all it ended up being.
“…Mika, what’s this photo?”
“Wow—oh. Um. Uhhh…”
“You haven’t done this in a while, and now you’re back to saying naughty things. You’re going to get a proper scolding today.”
The whole thing started with me showing Nagisa one of the photos taken at Kivotos. She took great care of me there. The hospitality was off the charts! I was trying to show off the food I got at Hyunryongmun…
But as I swiped, an unexpected photo I distinctly remembered storing in another album popped up.
Forget about scolding me, Nagisa was positioning a white chess piece towards her side of the board, moving her phone to c4 and making her move.
“So, what on earth made you cry…? No, forget that. Why did you even take a picture of you crying?”
“I saw you crying, and you looked so pretty that I couldn’t help it…?”
“That’s… that’s an acceptable excuse? No, wait, how is it even a reason to take a crying picture? I really can’t understand how someone like you exists… Haaa.”
As she muttered in disbelief and sighed deeply, a mischievous thought crossed my mind. I just can’t resist these moments. I made my next move to e5 and opened my mouth.
“…Should I send it to you?”
“What? No! Don’t send it! Why would you ask that when I’m lecturing you?”
Watching Nagisa lose her composure from my offhand comment was quite amusing. Even she couldn’t resist that crying face.
“Hahaha. I’ll only send it to you, Nagisa-chan. Should I treasure it?”
“…F-fine. But don’t show it to anyone but me. Not even Hina.”
With a conflicted expression about whether she should be happy to have received such a photo, Nagisa nodded. Honestly, how could showing a hint of possessiveness be so cute?
We smoothly pulled out our knights and I placed Bb4 in response to Nagisa’s g3.
“So, who made you cry and what on earth did they do…? If something significant happened, why didn’t you say anything?”
Without hesitation, Nagisa aimed for an Nd5 to trade knights, which made me suspicious of her motives, but I decided to respond.
“Well, it’s really not a big deal. I’m just working with the president of Hyeonmusanghoe on a project, you know? During the testing of the mala seasoning recipe… um?”
But the situation turned a bit odd. With her pawn on d5 threatening my knight, I found myself at a crossroads—whether to save it or allow another knight trade.
“During the testing?”
“Uh… I was planning to sell the mala seasoning divided into four spice levels. But, during the test, it was unexpectedly spicy, and I surprisingly cried… I seriously thought I was gonna die.”
In the end, I chose to trade the knights. I wasn’t as skilled as Nagisa in knight operations yet, so I figured a knight trade would make the game easier.
“No matter how I think about it, saying you just cried a little sounds a bit of a stretch…”
Nagisa executed Qb3 without hesitation, threatening my bishop. I really felt like I was trapped. I tried to protect my bishop with Qe7, but Nagisa moved her pawn to a3, and suddenly I realized…
“…Is this a trap?”
“Hoohoo. Well, what do you think?”
How sneaky. Nagisa often tests how well I can read the board like this. Having been caught in common traps more than once, I tend to suspect it’s a trap if I feel caught.
I moved the pawn from f3 to e2, capturing her pawn, hoping to buy myself some time, but without a moment’s pause, Nagisa placed Bxe2 and reset the timer.
We were in a time-restricted game, allowing one minute between moves, according to Nagisa’s theory that it would speed up the thought process. But honestly, it felt like she was just trying to mess with me. One minute felt too short, making me anxious and causing needless blunders.
“The student council president of Sanhaegyeong expressed a desire to build camaraderie with us; what do you think?”
To avoid being the only one who’s flustered, I moved my threatened bishop one square back and threw Nagisa a dilemma. If she played her next move without hesitation, it would surely confirm my trap; if she thought about it, maybe it wasn’t.
Well, it was “maybe” only if I presumed she was thinking several moves ahead.
“Hmmm… Mika, do you want to conquer Kivotos or something?”
With a smug smile that felt like she was mocking my simple plan, Nagisa replied while taking a sip of tea. She meant that I shouldn’t try to overthink it and just figure it out by myself.
“It’s a joke. You’re not the kind of person to do that, Mika. It’s definitely something to welcome from Sanhaegyeong; it can help you pursue your dreams!”
“I suppose so… Ah.”
The moment Nagisa moved her pawn from c6 to capture my pawn on b7, I realized I had fallen squarely into a one-sided loss.
If I didn’t eat that pawn with my bishop on c8, that pawn would eat my rook and promote itself to a queen, threatening me. If I did take it, she would simply take my bishop with her queen on b3.
It wasn’t a trap; I just made a blunder. Moves I thought were exchanges ended up with me losing a piece.
“That’s so unfair, Nagisa-chan. Can’t we remove the time limit rule?”
“Mika, you need to become a little more special.”
“…How does that relate to having a time limit?”
“People with too much greed can easily be crushed by their own ambitions unless their abilities match; it might not apply to you at the moment, but will it continue to hold true in the future? Your story won’t end just with graduation. Even if it’s an uncertain future, you’ll keep dreaming as you move forward.”
“I’m not sure… I don’t really need to be special, do I?”
“…Huh?”
“Nagisa-chan, I’m no superhuman like the Student Council President, and I don’t need to be. I don’t want to shoulder all the weight by myself. Or are you planning to ignore it if I ask you for help?”
“Well, it’s not that…”
Nagisa wanted me to become something special… it wasn’t because she expected something from me but out of concern I wouldn’t trip over my own feet.
I understand that feeling, but…
“Still, it feels a bit like teasing when you bring that up while you’re torturing someone who plays the game you excel at.”
“That’s not it! I’m really grateful for what you do for me!”
“Hahaha. I know… I just feel a bit vexed because I was messing around and ended up losing, just a little.”
As we lost one piece, we were left with queens and two rooks each; Nagisa held the advantage with her bishops, while I had just one more pawn.
Against anyone else, it might have been a fair game, but against a player like Nagisa, the chance of winning was minuscule.
There was no way I could play my best from here on out, and unless Nagisa made a significant mistake, the game was past saving.
Despite that, I pushed on, starting with castling, trading queens, and then trading rooks. But eventually, I hit a wall, unable to find a good move due to her bishop’s numerical advantage.
“You’ve really improved. In the past, even if we started similarly, I would’ve checkmated you about thirty moves ago.”
“Honestly, if I had improved, I wouldn’t have put myself in such a situation, Nagisa-chan.”
“Hoohoo. It’s true you’ve improved… if you play against someone other than me, you’ll understand. Check.”
“Ugh.”
With two bishops closing in on me, I shielded one with a bishop for a turn and managed to clean up one pawn, but my defeat was certain. Even knowing I was done for, I stubbornly continued, leading to a checkmate as Nagisa promoted her pawn.
It looked like a fierce battle, but in reality, it was just me struggling, inwardly screaming that I needed to win. Having been bested by Nagisa’s knight maneuvers many times, I regretted so eagerly accepting the knight trade.
“Mika, I don’t say things like this lightly. I really mean it. You’ve made it this far with a time limit… As the saying goes, seeing is believing. It’d be faster to experience it yourself than to hear a hundred stories.”
“But I just learned chess because I like you, Nagisa-chan. I don’t have any interest in playing against others.”
“…Ah, right.”
Initially, I had a strong competitive spirit. The real reason I kept playing chess with Nagisa, even while losing, was because I enjoyed seeing her happy.
If Nagisa’s happy, then so am I.
But to compete with someone else? I’d probably die from frustration every time I lose like this.
“That tea from Sanhaegyeong is truly something special. This pu-erh tea is quite…”
Blushing and avoiding my gaze, Nagisa changed the subject. Unfortunately for her, I had a trap set in that very direction.
“Hahaha, just so you know. It’s not actually pu-erh.”
“…Huh?”
“Umm, what was it called… sheng? In other words, you’ve been tricked by me☆”
Anticipating I’d lose at chess, I concocted a little revenge beforehand. While on the chessboard Nagisa was ahead, outside the game, I wasn’t!
“…”
“First, pu-erh is rarely sold as tea leaves. I think they call the loose leaf ‘shaocha’ or something… Anyway, I was advised to buy the shaped tea like those from your place as a gift, so I picked some up. Yep, I put it in the cupboard, so let’s drink it together later—”
“Shhh. Mika. I just so happen to have a roll cake at home that I bought yesterday.”
“Wow—oh…?”
No, please don’t bring things like that to your house. I’m scared, Nagisa-chan.
“Today, I want to feed you some DIY roll cake, if that’s okay?”
“…You’re cutting it, right?”
“Hoohoo.”
“It is, right…?”
Thank goodness, Nagisa carefully cut up the roll cake.
…But from now on, roll cakes are banned in our house.
