You there. Yeah, you. Have you heard of a thing called Zugzwang? It's a term for when you're in a situation where you're obligated to, or have to make a choice, but you're at a disadvantage for having to do so. You could have two great choices. Say that you're forced to choose between getting five hundred thousand yen, or five million yen. Both are great choices, right? You can't go wrong there. But, what if the cost of your choice will be that you have to get rid of all the money you already had to get the new money? If you're flat broke, then this situation is great. What's five hundred yen going to hurt you when you're getting one thousand, or one hundred thousand times that much in return? It's great. Now, what if you're rich? Or already have more than five million? Suddenly, the situation isn't so great. You're exchanging your money to get less than you had before. You're going to be put at a loss, but you still have to choose. That's Zugzwang. Having bad choices to pick from is an even better example. Suppose that during class, you must choose between stripping down to your underwear on top of your desk or shouting a sensual love confession to your teacher, regardless if it's genuine or not. You may think that one choice is better than the other and which one that is depends on who you ask. But either way, no matter which option you pick, your social life at school is in jeopardy. You stand to gain nothing, and to lose a whole lot. You have the two evils. And you can't do nothing. You can't ignore the situation, because you're forced to choose one. Your choice doesn't matter, because both choices mean one thing. You lose. That is Zugzwang. Such ridiculous situations would never happen in ordinary, everyday life. Being forced to choose between such horrible things would only happen in a manga or anime. How unrealistic. That's what you probably just thought, or something like that. But I assure you, It's plenty realistic. otherwise, I wouldn't have included this in here. Scenarios where you are at a loss by having to make a move are commonplace, and happen all the time. Like if you're playing chess, and the only moves you can make will result in you getting checkmated. But there's no passing or skipping turns in chess. You have to do something, even if you suffer as a result. Maybe you really need to use the restroom, and the only bathroom available is at the nearby convenience store. But the clerk says you can't use the bathroom unless you buy something. So, you need to use the pocket money you have on you to buy either a sandwich or a pack of soda. But, your pocket money is the only money you brought for the train ticket home. So, you buy the sandwich or the soda and use the bathroom, then have no money to get home. Or you say To hell with this, I'll hold it until I get home, then suffer your train ride with a full bladder. In that case, whether you choose to make a choice, or don't, you lose. That's Zugzwang too. The way I see things, Zugzwang can occur even if you don't know it's happening. Hypothetically, you're thirsty and want to get a drink. There are two vending machines in front of you. Your choices are between a sports drink machine, and a soda machine. What you don't know is that both machines will take your money and not dispense anything. You're not being forced to make a choice, but you're certainly obligated to, because you're thirsty. So, you pick a machine because you're not aware of your money's unfortunate fate, and you lose that cash forever. Even though you didn't know that both choices sucked, I still consider that Zugzwang. Even worse, you could have tried the other machine after losing your money to the first one, and have suffered double the loss. That would be awful! Sorry, that was a bit off topic. Anyway, Zugzwang is very real, and it can happen to anybody. It happened to me. Yamazaki Shiro had a particularly unfortunate encounter with Zugzwang.
The day of the school "event" had arrived. Though it was less of an event and more of an opportunity for the top three hundred students at Ataraxia to beat the living daylights out of me. Actually, that's exactly what it was. Standing out in the practice gym, I waited. "Alright students, get ready for the main event." Meari said over the intercom. I think that Meari really likes to use the intercom, because she does use it every chance she gets. Every event, every morning for announcements, every lunch period for announcements, and every afternoon for announcements. How much stuff was there to report on at this school? The truth is little to none, but Meari likes to hear her own voice, so she usually would just repeat the same news but word it differently, like she used her free time to run the same paragraph through a thesaurus twenty different times. "Today's battle is one for the books." No it wasn't. "In one corner of the field, we have the number one student, Yamazaki Shiro. In the other corner, we have all the students ranked number two all the way to number three hundred one. These students will compete against each other, and the one hundred fifty winners will each show off against Shiro for the number one spot on the academy leaderboards." I couldn't be included in the group of three hundred since I was number one, so rank numbers 2-301 were my opponents. "Now, I'd like to bring on a special guest to make a surprising new addition!"
"Thanks for having me, headmaster." What on Earth did Meari bring Xifeng on the mic for?
"I'm Liu Xifeng representing Niyomi Labs. I'd like to make a shocking new revelation. This revelation are the conditions for each side if they win. Shiro will be defeated if he is incapacitated or rendered unable to fight. If he loses, Shiro will wear a butler uniform and serve the rest of the student body for a week." The hell? "Shiro wins if he incapacitates his one hundred fifty challengers or renders them unable to fight. If he wins, the entire student body will replace their school uniforms with maid outfits, and will serve Shiro as 'master' for one week." From the looks of the gathered students, I could already tell that they were thinking this was my perverted idea. I hijacked the intercom with my earpiece to quickly say "Just so you all know, I had no part in deciding these conditions!"
I doubt that anyone believed me. "Let the battle commence."
First, the three hundred students had their battles, and in the end of that part of the event there were only one hundred fifty winners left over. I don't want to detail every single fight, since I fought one hundred fifty of them, but I'll cover the most notable of them.
My first opponent, Natsumi, ranked number three hundred one on the school leaderboard.
"I'm not going to go easy on you." Natsumi told me.
"Okay, okay."
Natsumi used her light essence to create her Malevolent Piece. Her weapon is Hysteria, a pair of quickstep boots that allow inhuman speed. How are fast boots a weapon? Well, these boots manipulate her speed to make her so fast and so powerful, she can cut through bone with the wind produced from her movements. One attack in particular that I knew she was going to use involved this. She distanced herself from me, and prepared a long distance kick. What was intended to hit me was not her foot, but the air sent forward from her kick. The gust of wind she sent forward was so intense it made a thirteen foot gash in the ground behind where I dodged the attack. Again, she prepared another attack. This time, a punch. Her fist and arm flew straight in front of her, and the bolt of air again flew in my direction. There was no need for me to make any sort of weapon with my light element, I just used my element to catch Natsumi's wind blast with my hand. I closed my fist, and reopened it, dissolving the wind pressure. Now, here, I thought up two ideas. One, use a normal attack, like making a gun from my light element and shooting incapacitating bullets at her. But that was boring. I did that with Harumi. Two, utilize a technique similar to Natsumi's wind attacks. That was the right option. I held my palm out and upward, and put my thumb and index finger together. Combined with my light element, I flicked. My index finger flew outward. My flick produced a wind bullet that when compared to Natsumi's air attacks, stung a lot more. I like to fight Rook versus Rook battles with non-lethal attacks, so that was what I used. Natumi's attacks, had they connected, could have easily shaved off a portion of my cheek. She wasn't joking when she said she wouldn't go easy on me. My wind bullet connected with her neck, and the pressure dissolved. She fell asleep from my attack. "Ladies and man, Shiro has incapacitated number three hundred one with a single flick!"
Natsumi, defeated.
While I didn't pay much attention to the crowd's behavior, I heard "Holy shit!" and "One attack?" a lot.
Several more battles passed that I didn't bother trying too much with, so I won't go into detail about them. That makes me sound like a pompous douchebag, but I don't want to bore anyone.
Rank number one hundred thirteen, Fujino Kimi.
"Sup."
"Don't address me so casually."
"Sup, Fujino."
"That's not any better."
"Whatever, let's fight."
Kimi's Malevolent Piece, Dawne. A spear made from the light essence that is so illuminatingly, blindingly, bright. So bright, it's almost heavenly. She rotated her feet to get into a ready stance. As she gave a somewhat quiet battle cry, she threw Dawne straight at me. I knew already, but this confirmed that she really did despise me as well as all men. I'm sure she hated the idea of an outsider in the school already, but the icing on the cake for her malice was that I was a guy. How did such a heavenly seeming spear ring with such a hellish intent? The answer was it belonged to Fujino Kimi. That spear had been imbued with years of pent up anger toward the male race, I was sure of it. But, I caught it.
"This has a nice pattern engraved in it. I can tell a lot of hard work, perseverance, and emotion went into this weapon."
"How did you catch it?" Kimi yelled loud enough for the whole gym to hear her, without the intercom.
"Remember, Shiro's power measures at six and a half million." Xifeng reminded all of them from the commentator's area.
"There you have it." I said to Kimi.
"That can't be! You're just a boy! Garbage. Trash. Scum. Waste."
"Garbage that you shared a room with for a while." If she didn't completely hate me already, that comment did it. I had awakened some beast of rage in her.
She was so visibly angry, I was convinced that the aura of light building on her spear was pure ill will. She started sprinting straight at me, Dawne pointed forward.
"I hate you. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate-"
Once she was close enough to strike, she jumped up in the air off one leg, and thrust her arm out, along with the spear.
"-you."
"I hate you!"
Thwip. I bent the tip of her spear when I grabbed it. I was holding Dawne. Kimi was no longer holding Dawne, Dawne was holding Kimi. Kimi wasn't putting Dawne up in the air, Dawne was putting Kimi in the air, because I was holding Dawne. I was holding up both through the spear.
"Sorry, about this Fujino."
I threw Dawne to the other side of the gym, and I poked Kimi in a pressure point that made her faint. I laid her down for the medical staff to collect.
Fujino Kimi, defeated.
With each opponent defeated, I was getting ever so close to the inevitability that was fighting rank number two, Sugimoto Harumi, again. But that didn't happen.
-------------------
Somewhere unknown to Shiro, a new opponent began to move.
-------------------
Rank number ten, Tajima Yuka.
"I didn't know you were rank ten."
"Now you do. Let's fight fair, okay?" Yuka calmly remarked.
Yuka unsheathed her Eclipse. The volley of blades was ready to act upon her will. I don't know what got into me, but I felt quite cheeky. "Yuka, for three seconds, I won't move a muscle. I'll give you that time to strike me." I proposed.
"Feeling cocky, are you? You might regret this."
"Won't know until it happens."
In those three seconds, Yuka used a new technique with her Eclipse that I hadn't seen before. She send her blades spiraling toward me, but not to attack. Instead, her intent was to bind me. The blades wrapped tight around me, squeezing me in one of the tightest holds I had ever been in.
"So? You like?"
"I'm happy to see you've been working on new techniques. Unfortunately, It won't work."
I jerked my arms downward, diagonal to my thighs, and broke off her blades. Then, I caught one of the blades, rendering the rest ineffective. "I think you should work on your reflexes and speed quite a bit. They're quite well as they are now, you wouldn't have earned the number ten spot without your amazing skills. But Eclipse's blades still can't each act as an individual entity. Improving your speed will help with that. It may not make sense, but that's what I recommend."
"I see. Thanks."
"...."
"I concede."
"Why?"
"As it stands, I see that I have no chance of defeating you."
"So you're going to quit?"
"I'm not quitting, I'm gracefully accepting the inevitable loss." I would try to convince her that she'll never know the outcome until she tries her hardest, but it wouldn't get through to her yet, so I let her concede and give me that smug yet playful grin as she walked off.
Tajima Yuka, forfeit.
Rank number two, Sugimoto Harumi.
"You don't hate me anymore, do you?"
"Nope. But I still kinda dislike you."
"Understandable."
I got ready for the battle commence signal, but it never came. Rather, a loud crash came from outside, followed by sirens. "Students, return to your dormitories immediately. Instructors, meet in the central hall. Today's event is cancelled." Meari spoke through the intercom. She could be collected and serious if need be. I didn't go to the dorms though. "Yamazaki Shiro, meet with the instructors in the central hall." Also played through the intercom. So I went. When I arrived there, all the teachers were already assembled. "Sorry to force this on you Shiro, but there's an enemy at the front gate. Can you go fight them?"
Huh?
"Are you guys serious?"
"We don't want to admit it, but you're stronger than us. It's less of a risk if you go fight them."
"Isn't a core duty of a teacher to protect the students?"
"..."
"Fine. But don't look down on me anymore after this. I know you all do. You don't hide it well. You may not like me, but I'm here for now."
"Thank you, Shiro." Miss Saegusa spoke up.
"We really do appreciate your help. A lot of people here don't want to accept you, or that you're very strong, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that. It's not right. From here on, I'll help you get comfortable at Ataraxia. Let me know if you need anything."
Well now. I wasn't expecting such kind words from Miss Saegusa. I don't think she ever disliked me, but she definitely was on the fence about me at first. I wonder what caused her opinion of me to change? I was touched by her words though. I think helping students be comfortable is what teachers are supposed to do anyway, but I understood that she would go out of her way for me.
"Thank you, Miss Saegusa. Your words have moved me and given me inspiration."
"W-well I'm glad." Her face turned a slight red and she fidgeted her index fingers together.
"I'll go visit the intruder at the gate."
I used the light element to create a rifle in my arms.
"Just wait for me, I'll be back."
I rushed out the building toward the gates. "So, they've sent someone finally." Said the woman in front of me.
"Are you a terrorist?"
"That depends on who you ask."
"Gotcha. Were you involved in blowing up my dorm a few weeks back?" I wanted to ask, as basic information gathering as well as because I was curious.
"No idea what you mean."
"I'll assume you're being truthful. So, what brings you to Ataraxia today?"
"This school holds something that I need."
"I see. Well, what is it? I might be able to get it for you."
"What?"
"You heard. What are you looking for?"
"A tier four power module."
"Uhh, hold on." I grabbed my phone and made a call to Meari. The attacker lady was quite astounded by my behavior, I'm sure of it. I put the phone on speaker.
"Yo, Meari. Miss hot and bothered says she came here for a tier four power module."
"I am not hot and bothered!" I'm not to fond of crude jokes, but I don't mind making them when someone is annoying me. In this case, that lady.
"Uhh, yeah, she can't have that, sorry." Said Meari over the phone. I hung up, turned to the lady, and said "You heard. You're out of luck, sorry."
"I won't take no for an answer."
"Then how about this. You tell me what organization you're from, and I'll help you out."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Just rat yourself out, and I'll get you what you want."
"Like I'd fall for that."
"Really? Then, you're not interested in this?"
I retrieved from my "inventory" a tier four power module.
"Where did you get that? This academy is supposed to hold the only one in the known world."
"I have a bunch of these. Look." I retrieved a bag of them, and showed them to her.
"Those are all real?"
"Hand me a gun." This lady really handed me one of her guns.
I attached one of the power modules to the weapon. I pointed it towards some trees, and fired it.
"See? Much more effective than before. Totally legit." I said.
"I won't ask where you got those, but I'll leave if you give me one."
Actually these tier four power cores are super commonplace, or so I'd thought. In the past, Niyomi Labs had given a few to me, so I replicated them carefully using my essences and some handywork. I had a bunch eventually. Turns out they're a rare commodity. Who knew? Everyone, except me, I guess.
"Sorry, but I can't hand it over. You came uninvited, and caused whatever that loud noise was. So that's a no."
"You'll regret it." She got ready to fight. She used light element to create an interesting blade. I hadn't expected this lady to be a Rook. She seemed like the normal hired operative to me.
"Wait." I said. She actually exited her fighting stance. This is how I knew my next parlor trick would work.
I created a little wind in her direction.
"Hmm. Aren't you a little old for bunnies?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Your panties. They seem a bit childish."
The intruder got embarrassed by my comment. She was definitely hot and bothered now.
"You- I hate you."
She came at me with her blade, but I stopped her by pressing my hand on her forehead.
"Sorry, but your hatred for me isn't nearly as intense as Fujino's. You don't have anything against her."
I regret being so perverted with this lady now, but I do still think it was funny. Of course, I still sent her flying. She was an enemy. With that taken care of, I returned to the central hall.
----------
"I didn't expect the number one to be so crude."
"He's usually not. He's reliable and a good guy."
"You sure? Maybe that's why she's after him."
"Maybe. Who knows what she's thinking?"
----------
"Yo, Miss Saegusa, the bad lady's gone."
"Thank you, truly, but I'm afraid this attack isn't over." You mean to tell me more of them showed up while I was heading back? My, what a pain.
"Where are they?" I said after releasing a sigh.
"The main courtyard."
"Got it."
While I headed to the courtyard, I had run into Yuka. She decided not to listen to orders, and wander around instead. She definitely fits the delinquent trope.
"Hey Yuka, wanna check this out with me?"
"Sure. I'm bored anyway."
"Let's go."
When we arrived at the courtyard, I was astonished at the tenacity of these people.
"Holy hell, you threw that bulldozer into the dirt?"
"Hehe, impressed?"
"Why would you do that? Are you stupid? I understand you need to make an intimidating impression as the bad guy, but that's just unnecessary! What point was there in doing that? All you did was screw up the lawn that the faculty take good care of. Now they're gonna have to fill in that hole, and it'll just be an ugly patch of dirt that doesn't blend for a while until the grass grows again. Congratulations, you've accomplished nothing. If your goal was to prove to me that you're an inconsiderate moron, then mission success. Hurray. A winner is you! Asshole." I got carried away. But there was the off chance that the new intruder would get bored by my talk and leave. Why did she even have a bulldozer anyway?
"Way to let 'em have it." Said Yuka, sarcastically.
"I don't like your tone, kid." Said the new lady.
"I don't like how you piledrivered a bulldozer into the grass. I should piledrive you for that."
The lady brought a disgusted look on her face.
"That's not what I meant, god."
"Ahem. So I heard that the one who came here before me was defeated. That's a shame, but I won't lose that easily. I won't be defeated by a lowly man." This new woman reminded me of a certain someone.
"How's a regular man going to face a Rook?"
"I'm not regular. But that doesn't matter. If you're with that other chick, you want this, right?" I pulled out a tier four power module.
She looked shocked, like she had only ever heard about them in rumors.
"If I give you this, will you go away and never come back? I'm tired of dealing with you people already."
"I agree to those conditions."
"Fine. Come here, I'll give it to you."
Hook, line, and sinker.
"Ungh-"
"Congratulations, you've been played. Please leave, and take your bulldozer with you."
I smacked her, and threw her with the bulldozer. No light element or Yuka needed. Maybe I didn't need to smack her, maybe I just needed to catch her off guard. But in my defense she was threatening the lives of students just by being present.
"Wow. You give zero fucks." Interjected Yuka.
"When it comes to rude people like that, yeah. I care about my friends though."
As I turned around to return with Yuka to the teachers, I was already being shot at. I evaded the bullets, in time to vent my frustration. "Oh my god, will you people give it a rest, I have had enough of this alr-"
When I went to face the direction of the bullets, I saw. It was the masked woman in black, standing in front of a vehicle. When did that car get there? How didn't I hear it?
"Why did you shoot at me?"
"I was testing your reflexes."
"Some method you have there."
"To make up for my abruptness, I took care of the rest of those ladies for you there were three more."
"I don't trust you at all, but thanks."
"Don't mention it. Anything for an old friend."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"So what's the meaning of your visit?"
"Someone wants to see you."
"Who?"
"I can't tell you unless you agree to get in this car and go somewhere with me." Shady.
"Take off the mask and I might."
"Can't do that."
"No dice then."
"If you pay her a visit, she'll make it worth your while. She's been wanting to see you for so long."
"Who is she?"
"Get in the car and you'll know."
"Fine. You seem more trustworthy than the other masked women in black that I know."
"You know other masked women in black?"
"It was a joke."
I sent a text to Meari, Natsumi, and Yuka. "Getting in car with stranger, I'll be back"
"Why did you send that to me? I'm right here." Yuka asked.
"I was already texting, so why not."
"How did you get my number anyway?"
"Magic." I couldn't tell her that Meari gave it to me(I didn't ask her for it, I promise).
"Nice ride though." I said to the masked woman.
"Indeed."
"Where are we headed and how long until we get there?"
"That's a secret, and we're almost there." She lied. The drive went on for three more hours.
"We're here."
She masked lady in black parked in front of a large, frivoulous mansion.
"So the masked mistress brought a young man to her mansion for what?"
"This isn't my mansion, and please refrain from calling me a masked mistress."
"Fine."
As we entered the door, a maid greeted me. I accepted that I would never see the Ataraxia student body in maid outfits due to the event being cancelled, nor did I really want to, but this maid looked quite good in her outfit. "The master will be with you shortly. Please follow me to the common room." She said. I followed her to the common room. "Please sit until the master is ready."
After a while, the master came out.
"Long time no see, Shiro." My jaw was to the floor. I was feeling a well of emotions that I didn't know I had inside me.
"Sis?"