Checkmate

Monologue

Oh wow, this part marks about 1/2 of Checkmate finished! I'm really proud of this so far. This miiight be a long one, sorry! I hope you're enjoying it too ☆

 There will be 26 chapters in all

~In the future, around a year later. We'll go back the the time where the rest of Checkmate is set within the next chapter~

He was on the garden terrace, where a cool, gentle breeze blew. He sat at a table with a chessboard on it. Across from him was Izumi, who had a contemplative look on his face. His ice-blue eyes were narrowed, deep in thought. Eichi could almost see the gears turning in his head as he worked out his next move. King, queen, rook, bishop, knight, pawn- Eichi knew them all better than he knew his own reflection.

He could recall the endless games of chess he played against himself in the lonely stillness of his hospital room, spinning the board back and forth as he tried to outwit himself. White, then black, then do it again. Trapped in a cage of his own reasoning and sound logic

Izumi finally slid his knight two spaces to the left and three spaces forward, threatening Eichi's gleaming white bishop. The polish on the very well-loved chess pieces shone in the sunlight. Eichi lifted his head an almost imperceptible amount. That was a bold move for Izumi to make.

"When you can't find a solution," Eichi murmured, retreating with his bishop, "One method is to change your point of view. After talking with you, I've realized this again. We've both been rather narrow-minded. I can quite relate to you even on this." 

After a pause, he went on. "Neither of us have any particular great gifts of talent, but we must still stand and fight those dreaded geniuses. I sympathize, I empathize, and I believe we can be friends. We're classmates after all, let's get along." He suggested, offering a smile.

Izumi folded his hands, resting his head on them.

"Be quiet, Eichi. I'm thinking about my next move, so could you not chatter from the sidelines?" Another thought seemed to strike him, and a flicker of annoyance shot across his cordial demeanor. "What, now that I'm figuring out how to break free from this situation, you're throwing me off course by talking nonsense? Sly, that's what you are."

Eichi laughed, but he didn't stop. He felt in a talkative sort of mood today, and why not admit it? Izumi was fun to talk to. He was a lot less predictable than most people Eichi talked to. People who only ever gave predictable responses were boring. Izumi was a lot of fun to try and figure out.

"You're free to think that," Eichi said with a shrug, "But coming to that conclusion might mean you're digging your own grave, you know? It's so boring when matches get this stiff. I should have set a time limit." 

Izumi had moved a pawn into just the right position, the one Eichi had hoped. He promptly slid his rook three spaces forward and took it. "You know, even though we aren't betting on this match or anything, I still don't want to lose. I should've thought about it more."

Izumi gave Eichi an irate sort of side-eye. 

Eichi didn't want to lose. Not at chess, not at anything really. Maybe he wanted to win this game because he needed any win he could get. 

"I already told you to shut up." Izumi growled, much more frustrated now as his eyes flicked back and forth across the pieces. Eichi grinned.

"But my voice is no louder than a distant songbird, no? " Eichi had a somewhat faraway look in his pale eyes as his train of thought was directed to more important matters than the games of chess, both the physical and metaphorical ones. "As you know, something huge is coming up. That would be," Eichi paused for dramatic effect, "DDD. There's noise everywhere as people prepare for it."