𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄- 𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐀 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

CHESS MASTER

"Checkmate."

Leona smirked as he took down the white king chess piece of yours, expectedly. He won, easily, as he had foreseen. Seeing the results shown on the chessboard, you couldn't even believe that you had lost the game so quickly, just within 10 minutes. You did take down a few black chessmen of Leona, but he took most of yours. You couldn't imagine the person in front of you was actually a master of chess.

"Easy-peasy. It didn't even take a half bag of my tricks to win it." Leona mocked while stretching his fingers. He only took around 15 moves to beat you, while people have around 40 moves per round, normally.

"Tsk," you hissed while crossing your arm and looking away. You tried to hide the reluctance and embarrassment of losing to the arrogant upperclassman. You were the one who accepted the challenge, yet, you were beaten up so fast. "And you said you were providing me a chance to defeat you." And you were dumb enough to fall into his trap.

"I lied, obviously." Leona shrugged with a light-minded smile. "Haha," you rolled your eyes. What could be more humiliating and frustrating than being teased by this annoying upperclassman? You looked at the black knight chessman in your hand, you're not gonna give up just like this.

You put the knight back on the checkboard, and that action caught the attention of Leona, who was yawning and toying with his braids. "Huh?" He raised a brow. The last game should have been able to smash all your confidence, didn't it? You put all the chess pieces back to their corresponding position, and finally, the white king at the middle of your side. "How about another round?"

Leona seemed to be a bite surprised. He did expect you to be down and frustrated for at least a while, but not asking for another round of battle. At least that was what had happened last time when he played chess with Ruggie. "I am not playing, Leona-san. It's impossible for me to beat you." Was all Ruggie said before leaving the table. "Why bother? You will lose anyways." He asked.

"I hate losing." You stated. "And I'd keep on trying until I win." You replied with a smirk. That's what you have been doing, back in the original world. You just couldn't let your competitiveness down without giving it one or a few more tries. And you would never want to be seen as a failure, not again.

You blinked twice to get the thoughts out of your brain and prepared yourself for another round. This detention-period chess game had totally triggered your competitive heart. "Just can't surrender without trying, right? So what do you say?"

Your words had caught Leona's awareness, and he again found this magicless herbivore in front of him unexpectedly unique. He threw and caught the king chessman in his hand and put it in the middle of the black chess pieces, where it belonged. "I wouldn't refuse such a good game, would I?" He replied with a thin smile.

The second round started, with you having the first move as the white side. Everything went well, and you were more focused and concentrated than in the last round. You tried to think of different possibilities and ways, so you could take down as many black chessmen as you could.

"Your turn." Leona voiced after moving his bishop to the next square. You looked at the black-and-white chessboard with your fingers on your chin, unconsciously biting your bottom lip. You tried to predict your opponent's next move, but you couldn't. After seconds of thinking, you reached your hand to the queen.

"If I were you, I wouldn't take that move." Before you could lift the chess piece, the deep voice of Leona uttered. You stopped your hand and looked up, "I'm sorry?"

Leona moved his chair a bit forward and moved your hand away from the chessboard. He picked up the white queen, which you were planning to move, "If you move this to F5, which is obviously what you're thinking of, then it'd be the dumbest idea." He said while moving the white queen to F5. He then pointed to the black rook, which was squares away from the white queen. "See this rook here? If I move it like this..." he explained while moving the chess piece, until the rook was on the white square behind the white queen. "Your queen is done." He then pushed down the stone-made chess piece of yours. "See?" He asked, looking up at you.