Advantage to the One Who Takes the Corner
Initially, it just started off as a way to kill time.
"Alright, with this, that"s three wins in a row for me."
"Haruksan, are you sure you didn"t count wrong?"
"No, I am sure I didn"t count wrong In addition, isn"t it obvious who won if we just look at the board?"
I glanced at the board in amazement, my black pieces had been completely overwhelmed by her white pieces.
"It"s been a while since I"ve played Oth.e.l.lo."
Haah, that was fun, Hiiragi-chan said as she stretched her hands.
However, I won"t settle for just this. I bet my will and pride, no matter what, I want to win at least once…!
"O-one more time."
"Eeeh? Didn"t you say the same thing earlier, Seiji-kun?"
"But, still, let"s just do one more time…"
"Fufu, did losing against me frustrate you to that degree?"
While grinning, Hiiragi-chan glanced in my direction.
That"s right, I"m frustrated. With the face of a man, I want to at least win once.
"I thought of something nice! Since just playing is kind of boring, how about the loser has play a penalty game?"
"That"s fine. No take backs later, okay? It can"t be changed."
"Seiji-kun, that"s tying the noose around your neck, you know? How about we do this, if you lose you have to say ten things you like about the other person! Man… this is great!"
I"m sorry if you"re just starting to get excited about this, but the person who will dominate the board next will be me. I know of a little trick.
——The person who takes the corner has an advantage! Or, so I just noticed.
Taking the pieces back into my hand, we started our fourth round.
You were able to take three straight wins from me as I was ignorant, but now that I understand everything, can you still win against me.
Pata, I turned over a white piece towards the black side.
"Ten things you like about the other person. Isn"t that quite a lot?"
"It isn"t that much. For me the number of things I like about Seiji-kun, is probably the same as the number of cells in your body."
"That"s way too many, right?"
"I love you down to your cells ♡"
"That statement, is a little scary…"
Pata pata, Hiiragi-chan dyed my black pieces white.
… Ah, uhhh. T-the corners have been taken before I even noticed. The black pieces are super outnumbered.
"… HHaruksan, would you mind making some coffee?"
"Yeah. Wait a moment."
Hiiragi-chan stood up from her seat and headed in the direction of the kitchen. As she was turned away, I fiddled around with the board a bit.
"Seiji-kun, you really like coffee. I"m a black tea person, I don"t really get why coffee could taste good—Here"s your coffee."
"Ah, yeah, thanks."
While tilting the cup with coffee in it, I casually observed Hiiragi-chan.
"Ummmm, next is my turn, right…?"
Pata, she set down a white piece and turned over my piece.
What!? The piece that I secretly fixed earlier has all of a sudden turned back to white!? I put in so much effort to move the pieces without being noticed too!
"Haruksan, you just moved that piece, right?"
"That"s because Seiji-kun did it first, right?"
It"ll become like that, so I can"t point it out.
When did it happen…? She"s too quick, that I didn"t even realize it.
"Haruksan, I think I would like some milk today…"
"Ah, sorry. I just thought that you usually want it black."
"It"s fine, it"s fine. Don"t worry about it."
Hiiragi-chan once again stood up from her seat. Aiming for the moment that she turned away, I moved the pieces of the board to my advantage. Like this, I"ll be able to make a comeback with my next move.
"Put as much as you want," Hiiragi-chan said as she brought three packages of creamer and set them on the table.
"Yeah, thanks."
Opening the cover, I dumped one into the cup.
"My turn is done, it"s your turn."
Now then, my one turn come back… wait…? W-what!? It"s already flipped back!? I don"t remember losing sight of it…!
As I took a sidelong glance at Hiiragi-chan, she was smiling. However, it was weird. If she noticed, then wouldn"t she point out that I was cheating. She normally says everything in a straightforward manner.
Under the table, Hiiragi-chan entangled her tights covered legs with mine.
"…Is something wrong?"
"N-no… it"s nothing."
The board had cleanly returned to its original state. Does she have it completely memorized?
Suri suri, she secretly started rubbing her legs against mine. She does that when she wants to be spoiled, but now is a time to hold back.
We are currently at Hiiragi-chan"s place.
There shouldn"t be any issues, why should I need to hold back? Is it because we"re in the middle of a game that I need to endure?
While nervous, I stretched out my hand, and placed down my piece. At that moment, I flipped a white piece below my palm and turned it black.
Alright. It wasn"t found out.
"…That just now was the third time."
Without speaking to anyone in particular, Hiiragi-chan spoke as if muttering, and then placed down a white piece while flipping a nearby black piece.
She knew about my trickery but didn"t point it out…!? Why? Is there any merit in not pointing out my cheating?
It was my turn, but I couldn"t overturn her lead and it ended in my fourth loss.
"Seiji-kun, three penalties."
I raised my hand in surrender.
"Sorry. I apologize for moving things out of turn."
"Fufun… since it"s 3 penalties, 10 times 10 times 10, it becomes 1000 things you like about me."
"That"s too many! If it"s 3, then shouldn"t it just be 10 times 3?"
Do you really want me to say 1000 things I like about you?
"Seiji-kun, do you really have complaints for me? You were the one who was cheating."
"Ku…"
"The first time was when I went to make coffee, you turned over 5 pieces near the corner so that it wouldn"t look unnatural."
S-she"s right…
"Sensei, but still, isn"t 1000 too many?"
Hiiragi-chan, with her tights covered legs still entangled with my legs, started rubbing.
"You won"t say it?"
"If it was at least 100…"
"The second time was four pieces in the top left, and the third time was when you put down your own piece, you flipped over an extra white piece."
She perfectly pointed all of them out. It seems that she can see through my cheating quite easily.
Even though you"re usually a little airheaded and sometimes helpless, stop excelling in random places…
She stood up and came over to my side, and lay down on my thighs.
"Give me a princess carry like this."
"Eh. Like this?"
"What about it?"
"No, it"s nothing."
So, she was aiming for this when she didn"t point out my cheating. Since it can"t be helped, I put in the effort and lifted Hiiragi-chan up.
"Seiji-kun, you"re so strong."
With both my arms occupied, Hiiragi-chan was able to kiss me however much she wanted. Giving me love bites, kissing me, she was allowed to do anything she wanted to me. There"s definitely going to be kiss marks left…
"What part of me do you like?"
Reluctantly, I did as I was told.
"The airheaded part of you."
"Am I really like that…? W-what else?"
"The helpless part of you."
"I"m not helpless."
"The part of you where you think of me too much and go too far."
"Uuu… sorry…"
"Also…"
"Enough is enough."
"Including all of that, I love you."
"Seiji-kun, geez!"
Even if I were to stop giving her a princess carry, Hiiragi-chan didn"t seem like she would stop clinging on to me
"Giving me the carrot after the stick. Seiji-kun, you"re such a tease… ♡
I wasn"t made to say a thousand things, but I wasn"t given any right to refuse her kisses. In my heart, I swore that I would never again cheat at Oth.e.l.lo.