What I wouldn't give to have some more time to sleep. Souta Fujimura looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He was tired of it, going to school every day, being whoever and whatever people needed of him. I hope that kid is doing all right.
It was just yesterday when a senior told Souta that he was being blackmailed; the kid refused; however, to tell him what he was being blackmailed with, making it substantially more difficult for Souta to be of any help, but help he must either way, he had a reputation to uphold after all.
Souta put his shoes on and grabbed the backpack he left on the kitchen countertop; if this was a Saturday, he might've been able to talk to his mother, but on weekdays she always left home before Souta even woke up to go to the university and prepare her lecture. The university, NUS, was widely considered one of the best schools in Singapore, if not the entire world. The fact that his mother taught at such a school gave his family prestige in a country where education was universally valued.
Souta opened the door to his unassuming apartment right in the middle of downtown core; the school he went to was only thirteen hundred meters away. Astoria International Academy was that school; it's Singapore's most exclusive and competitive private institution. The Academy offers classes from middle school all the way up till the final year of high school; in fact, only kids who enrolled at the school in middle school could even attend its high school, and of those, only those hand-picked from the middle school by the institution could attend the high school division.
The vetting process for a chance to be picked was also intense. They had Souta go through various academic trials and psychological screenings. Astoria did not care for average students; they wanted only those who they thought had the potential to rise above their station after graduation. However, they knew that simply collecting talented individuals was not enough to guarantee their alumni's success.
The moment Souta walked into the marble halls of the school, he saw it; the grading board. It displayed every single student's grades, divided into four separate boards, one for each year. Souta walked towards the juniors' board near the end of the hall. Second again, huh… Souta thought to himself. This result was to be expected. Ever since he got into high school, he had only been first once, in his first trimester. Ever since then, another student, Orion Cain, had gotten first in every single trimester. Orion was truly a monster in academic discipline; even though Souta knew little about him since they were in different classes, he knew that when it came to getting the job done, Orion was always dependable.
Dead last again? Souta thought while looking at the bottom of the board: Renji Arakawa. Souta never talked much to Renji, even though they were in the same class; Renji was a loner, while Souta always had people nearby, but even then Souta had an idea of the type of person Renji was, someone who appeared to be a slacker on the surface but always thought things out before doing them, someone who does things at their pleasure, they were at the bottom of the board not because they couldn't get a higher rank but because they cared not for it.
Souta looked at his phone, checking the time: 6:45. Still early, but I should probably get going to the chess club. He went toward the teacher's lounge to get the keys to the clubroom; fortunately for him, both rooms were relatively close, only a 5-minute walk between them. Souta found the teacher's lounge empty, something unusual but not necessarily concerning. It was still very early; classes only started at 8 anyway, and most of the staff probably hadn't arrived yet; however, the empty room still gave Souta the creeps; it was quiet, eerily so. Souta stepped into the room, scanning for any signs of movement: it was still dark outside, and the only light that came into the room came from the bustling city outside, which never sleeps. Souta tried turning on the lights to no success; he summed it up to a broken switch and continued forward toward the cabinet where the spare keys were stored. He opened the cabinet and turned on his phone's flashlight to read the labels above every key. After a few seconds of scouring, he found the key. He left the room as fast as he could. Even after grabbing the keys and leaving the room, something felt off about the room to him; he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Souta put the key in the keyhole, turning it counterclockwise and opening the door. That's weird, Souta thought to himself; the door felt like it had a distinctive lack of resistance. Ignoring that, Souta walked into the clubroom and turned on the lights. The room was 8 by 8 meters, being one of the smaller rooms in the school but big enough for the chess club. The club only has 23 members anyway, and for a high school with a thousand students enrolled, that number seems even smaller in comparison. Souta continued setting up the room, turning on the projector and setting up chess boards on the 6 tables with clocks on them. In the corner of the room was the laptop connected to the projector; next to it sat 2 bean bags, pillows, and blankets on the floor. While Souta went over to the corner of the room to turn on the computer, he nonchalantly kicked the blankets in between the bean bags.
"What the hell, dude!" Renji Arakawa's voice, normally playful and calm, rang out with genuine surprise. "How did you even know I was in here, anyway?"
"You left the door unlocked…" Souta answered curtly
"No, I didn't," Renji shot back immediately, holding up the clubroom keys in one hand, his other pressed against his stomach. "You didn't have to kick me that hard, you know."
Souta paused, narrowing his eyes at the keys Renji held. Hadn't he just unlocked the door himself? He could've sworn it was unlocked already. A strange unease prickled the back of his neck, but he quickly dismissed it. "Stop complaining," he finally said bluntly. "It's your fault for hiding in a pile of blankets like a horror movie villain."
Renji sighed, clenching his stomach theatrically. He hoped his act would break Souta's annoyingly serious demeanor, but Souta remained stoic as ever. Renji found himself intrigued yet again by the contradictions that defined Souta Fujimura. He had spent the last two weeks hanging around the chess club, quietly observing him. To Souta, Renji's presence was just another annoyance, a random distraction. But to Renji, nothing was random. Every action had a purpose—especially his newfound interest in the enigmatic boy sitting across the room.
Souta was intelligent yet humble, dispassionate yet always extending a helping hand. Renji couldn't help but feel fascinated, almost obsessively drawn to understanding how someone so naturally brilliant could willingly remain second-best at everything, choosing humility and restraint instead of dominance. To Renji, whose entire life revolved around calculated chaos, Souta represented something entirely opposite—and he was determined to understand him, no matter what.
Renji dropped back onto one of the beanbags with a sigh; Souta had already moved on from their conversation, organizing the chess pieces on the tables as he was doing before. Even after their conversation, Souta still kept up his stoic performance, something Renji had come to admire—and simultaneously question. He felt another faint stab of curiosity in his mind. Was Souta really this composed, or was it all just an elaborate act? He thought to himself.
As club members started trickling into the room, the silence gave way to casual chatter and laughter. Among those who entered were Takumi Arisaka and Wei Shen; they were often seen together despite their differences. As soon as Takumi walked in, he greeted everyone close to him instantly. That loud and lively personality is what he was known for, and it was what kept people wanting him to stay close; it was infectious. Wei Shen, on the other hand, waited a bit until Takumi had already walked in to follow, giving Souta a nod that he wasn't even sure he saw. He headed towards a corner of the room, pulling out a small notebook and sitting on one of the few tables that did not have a chessboard on it.
"Mornin', Souta!" Takumi warmly greeted someone he considered a friend, a friendly smile plastered on his face; however, Renji could sense that there was something tense behind those carefree eyes and demeanor. "You're early, like always."
"Someone has to set up," Souta responded flatly, his voice betraying none of his earlier unease
Takumi laughed softly at that remark, glancing around the clubroom. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Takumi's right hand trembled slightly, something that wasn't lost on Renji, who was looking in their direction. It was obvious to him that Takumi wanted to say something else, but instead, he simply walked toward Wei Shen, who sat quietly writing something in his notebook.
Renji watched carefully as Takumi sat next to Wei Shen and said something; Wei Shen's eyes shot up toward Souta, lingering on him for a second with a subtle but explicit intensity before going back to his notebook. There was definitely something going on here; he could practically taste the underlying tension in the air.
Souta, seemingly oblivious to the subtle exchange as he was still setting up the last of the chessboards, turned his attention to Lucas—a freshman who was new to the club. He was no slouch at chess, boasting an impressive 1750 FIDE rating; however, he didn't know anyone here at the club well, and the anxiety of being around unfamiliar people was clearly displayed on his face. Renji didn't know much about chess; however, he found himself drawn to watching the match between Souta and Lucas all the same. Renji observed the careful, intentional way Souta played the opening, how he moved the pieces; after 15 moves Renji noticed slight moments of hesitations from Souta, the opening was done and over with and now came the hard part of the game but there was something about Souta's hesitation which didn't feel natural to him, subtle twitches in the corner of his lips, it wasn't the reaction of something who was frustrated about losing but frustrated about something else.
Fascinating, Renji thought, leaning forward with newfound interest. He knew how chess worked, but he couldn't keep up with the people playing just in front of him. What he could see was that Souta wasn't playing to the fullest of his ability. You're holding back, aren't you, Souta? The hesitation, the reactions, it wasn't that of frustration or surprise, just that of disappointment and empathy. Why are you pretending not to see the way to win? Who are you fooling, them or yourself? Each detail Renji saw revealed to him a little more of who Souta Fujimura truly was beneath that calm mask he wore.
It's almost amusing, really. Souta Fujimura is a man so desperate to help others that he'd sacrifice his own advantage, his own pride, without a second thought. It's so in character for him, yet so contradictory at the same time.
Renji leaned back again, falling into the beanbag, smiling to himself. He had finally found his first hint into the puzzle that was Souta Fujimura.
"I resign," Souta said as he was standing up to shake Lucas' hand.
"Good game." Lucas spouted.
"Likewise," Souta said with a dry smile sprawled on his face.
The bell rang. At Astoria, there was a bell that rang that rang 10 minutes before class to tell students to get ready, despite how normal it can feel at times, the bell served as a constant reminder of how this school wasn't normal; it was only for the best, and tardiness wasn't going to be accepted.
"Well, I got to go. See the rest of you after school," Souta blurted before walking around from the table. Takumi flinched at the words but stayed seated. Renji, seeing this, instantly knew that Souta was ignoring the telltale signs Takumi was showing. Maybe he could've missed the trembling in Takumi's hand initially, but no way Souta would've missed this, too, Renji thought to himself.
Renji took his leave right after Souta left the room; they were both in the same class after all, a class that was all the way on the other side of the campus. Before leaving, however, he nudged Takumi's shoulder
"Come talk to me and Souta at lunch; he only didn't talk to you right now because he's busy," Renji told Takumi, and before even giving him time to answer, Renji had already left the clubroom. Of course, Renji didn't really know why Souta chose to ignore Takumi, but by doing this, he'll get Takumi to tell indirectly by sitting with Souta at lunch.
"So why did you let Lucas win?" Renji asked, after catching up to Souta, who was a few meters ahead of him.
"I didn't?" Souta answered, sounding genuinely confused. If Renji hadn't seen what he had seen up close and personal, he would've been inclined to genuinely believe him. Nothing about Souta told Renji that he was lying, and that scared him. Renji was used to being able to tell whether someone was lying or not, be it through their tone of voice or body language, but right now, Souta was as unreadable as could be.
"If you're this good at lying, why weren't you when you were playing with Lucas?" Renji questioned; if his voice wasn't so playful, you would've thought that he was interrogating Souta.
"I'm not lying." Souta refuted annoyingly. Is he actually not lying? The thought came across Renji's mind for a split second before he shoved it back into the depths. He had to be lying; Renji was sure of it.
"If you say so," Renji said playfully. "Oh, and by the way. I told Takumi to meet up with us during lunch."
"Wh-why?" Souta answered, clearly annoyed, but before he could press forward, Renji started running away
"Wait!" Souta shouted.
"Don't worry about it, I'll pay for lunch, just be there!" Renji yelled back
Souta couldn't be bothered to run after him, and anyway, he'd be able to talk to Renji after class ended but before they went to lunch. What a pain. I really didn't want to need to help again.