Pragma: Enduring Love

Chapter 9

"Ah... Yue-kun, that's another checkmate~"

Yue just chuckled as he didn't wait for Ranpo to move his own chess piece, Yue with grace, knocked down his own king conceding defeat. Ranpo smirked at him "See this is what I like about you Yue-kun, you can easily admit defeat without shame." Ranpo stated, eyes back at the board.

Yue just smiled at him, his one eye wandering the board, studying the aftermath of the game like he always does. Ranpo hummed as he looked at the kid in front of him "You know Yue-kun... maybe the reason you don't win against me is because... you don't use the queen piece often." Ranpo paused as he waited for Yue to look at him "Any particular reason why?"

Yue shrugged, picking up his white queen of the board, despite the long chess battle, his queen piece still on the board "Ah well, it's because it's the most powerful piece in the board. I don't like using such piece in the game not until it's the last resort. If I lost, at least I still have both my favorite pieces the king and the queen."

Ranpo laughed at that, this kid is truly impressive, he thought "Precisely! That's why you should use it more! And this is chess, pieces are bound to be lost to gain a win."

Yue just shakes his head, before carefully placing the queen back in the board, where the king's piece would have been at the start of the game, Ranpo raised his eyebrow at that. "I truly appreciate games like this with you Ranpo-san! It's making me learn new things everyday!" Yue said instead "But really I don't actually play to win, I play to learn. Winning isn't really something I... crave to have as of the moment. I am fine with losing all over a chess game, at least I am learning something! Mama did say something like that to me. If a chess player can't win without using his most powerful piece then, is he truly a great player? Or just someone independent to power that is not his own. What a boring way to win~"

Ranpo hummed in contemplation as Yue started to pack up the chess pieces slowly, putting each and ever piece carefully inside the board "You know... almost everybody believes that you are a very carbon copy of Dazai, I believed that too, I mean you look exactly the same down to the nose. But, everyday you prove me wrong, you're an interesting kid Yue-kun. You are your father's child but... down in the core you two are very... well different in a way that I can't still point out." Ranpo watched as Yue finally finished packing up the board "Dazai hates... well more like loathes losing. That's why he refused to play chess with me, such a competitive person your father is. But that's exactly why... Dazai is such a genius at every way possible. He is an alpha so maybe it's wired in his instinct, the need to always win, to always come on the top. That's what makes him interesting, one look at Dazai and you will think 'Ha? That person?' I mean look at him, he sometimes acts pathetic, clingy, easy going, and many more that breaks traditional alpha standards, and yet he is the very one person you don't want to be your enemy..." Ranpo looks at Yue, brown eye staring back at him, Ranpo smirked "Dazai is a very scary man, like an innocent sheep in a wolf's body, a wolf among sheep as they say. But you, a very young child barely even 5 years old but is already considered as a world threat, at least by people who knew what you can do. I wonder Yue-kun... you and Dazai are so different yet so similar it makes me wonder... between the two of you, who will be the first one to given in into irrationality? What would be the cause of it? Who will be the cause of it? Such questions makes me curious to get to know you more and more, because as of now, despite working with Dazai for years now, I could just count in one hand the facts I know about the guy, same goes to you but well we've just met for a few weeks now, that's to be expected." Ranpo then shrugged before leaning back into the couch "What I'm trying to say is that... you are a very... interesting combination of Yokohama's feared duo. A normal person would have a headache trying to figure you out, a normal person would have aneurysm trying to figure Dazai out. But... for some reason only one person could do both, effortlessly too that it makes me a little bit jealous. Ah well, Chuuya-san isn't really normal person, is he? Chuuya-san as a person... well another puzzle to be solved but if he was easy to be solved, I doubt Dazai would have been interested in him, and yet he got the Dazai wrapped around his finger. Such a mystery too~"