GJ Bu - Volume 1 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: It’s a Challenge! – Part 1

“I challenge you!”

Megumi said, holding an othello board in one hand, pointing to Shion with the other.

“Very well, let’s begin.”

The game genius had no objections. Putting a bookmark on the paperback she was reading, she accepted the challenge.

The ones who were dumbfounded were Kyouya and the others.

Mao let her mouth drop open absentmindedly. The pocky she held in her mouth fell down. Kirara too, asking “A combat?” dragged a chair closer to the round table.

Kyouya was flustered.

“Megumi-chan, you’re being reckless.”

The two were already facing each other competitively. Assuming her side on the table, Megumi whispered to Kyouya.

“It’s okay. Leave it to me. I’ve got a chance of winning.”

She asserted.

Tightly pulling together her chubby eyebrows, she put on an unusually determined face on.

“No, look, Shion-san is a genius in games.”

Kyouya kept insisting.

In the GJ club, there wasn’t a human capable of competing in games with Shion. No matter what game, no one had a single chance.

“A genius is a genius precisely because he is an insurmountable wall. If something somehow ends up defeating him, you can’t say he’s a genius anymore.”

“Don’t talk about what you don’t understand, just give up. Megu hates losing. The other day we were playing cat’s cradle and she wouldn’t let me stop until we did it all the way. She’s just stubborn; she won’t even hear what you’re saying.”

“But… why othello?”

If she had picked a game that relied a bit more on luck she might even have gotten a chance. At blackjack, for example, even Shion might lose.

“But in Othello, you can aim for a complete turn around in a single move, right?”

Megumi cheerfully said.

It was useless. Kyouya decided he’d have to watch her back.

“Which should I pick?”

Shion took one black and white piece and threw it like a coin toss. She hid the piece in her hand and asked Megumi to guess.

“Black.”

Having gotten the color right, Megumi was given the first move. The game had begun.

The beginnings proceeded smoothly.

Both sides placed the pieces leaving almost no time to think. Only when a piece was turned did the game pause for a second.

However, midway through the game, Megumi’s hand stopped. She started to look as if she was pondering.

“Oh, that’s unexpected.”

Mao said while munching down her pocky.

The major expectation was that the game would be settled midway through, but countering those expectations, Megumi was putting up a brave fight.

As the end of the game approached, Megumi’s black pieces were still almost half of the total.

It was a close contest.

“Shii, are you going easy on her?”

“No, I wouldn’t do such a rude thing. I’m giving it my best, of course.”

Shion answered under Mao’s firm stare.

However, to Kyouya it looked like the black and white pieces were numbered almost equally. If Shion wasn’t going easy on Megumi, then just what was going on?

The board’s surface was almost entirely filled with pieces. Only a few spots remained for placing them.

“Ah!”

Megumi suddenly said. Her eyebrows knit together and with a serious face she placed a piece on the board. Even though several of Shion’s pieces got turned over, she looked regretful.

“Ooh, I see.”

Mao said.

“Tasty?”

Kirara said something too.

“What happened?”

Kyouya was the only one who didn’t understand.

“Just look.”

When Shion placed the last piece at the last spot, even Kyouya understood.

Every black piece flipped sides at once. The whole board turned to white. The 8×8 grid had become completely one colored. It was a perfect victory.

“Wow, that was pretty difficult.”

Shion said. Winning or losing had never been her concern. What she was aiming for was a perfect victory. Indeed, she was a game genius.

“A complete defeat.”

As Megumi recognized her defeat, her angelic smile returned to her face.

Sign:”Continuation“