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¡°¡­I don¡¯t want that to happen, no,¡± said Mii-chan, shaking her head as she thought back to Hirata¡¯s rejection from earlier. ¡°I¡¯d hate for that to happen, but¡­if hating me makes Hirata-kun feel like he¡¯s not alone anymore, even just a little bit, then that would be a relief. I think¡­in that case, I¡¯d be okay with him hating me!¡± she asserted strongly.

¡°If Suzune can stop chasing after this illusion she has of me, break her dependence on me, and confront herself honestly, then¡­¡±
A gust of spring wind blew past us.
¡°She will probably surpass me and become someone even you can¡¯t ignore,¡± said Manabu.

As soon as I started playing, I was forced to understand something that made me gasp.
Sakayanagi¡¯s chess skills were incredible. Enough to be genuinely worthy of my respect. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she went on to make a name for herself as a professional chess player.

A young boy was playing chess, overwhelming his opponents one after another. Of all of the children I could see through the glass, he was the only one who captured both my gaze and my heart.

¡°By the way, Father. I was thinking of learning how to play chess¡­¡±

¡°More importantly, though, I can¡¯t imagine that it¡¯s possible to artificially create geniuses.¡±
A person¡¯s potential is determined the moment they are born. The moment they come into this world. The product of chance. It just so happens to manifest in a variety of ways.
That¡¯s how the human world works. We can¡¯t do anything more than what is coded into our DNA. We awaken to things either through the blood of our ancestors, passed onto us, or through a mutation.
In other words, if you wished to create a genius, then you had no choice but to do it by manipulating DNA. If you were born an ordinary person, then an ordinary person you would stay, no matter how far their tactics went. No matter how privileged your environment, if you weren¡¯t an exceptional learner, you¡¯d never become a genius.

¡°[..]if you carelessly competed against me one-on-one, it would undoubtedly cause the people around you to grow suspicious. I wanted to avoid that. Though the acting director took advantage of it all, in the end¡­¡±
Sakayanagi had done her best to consider and accommodate my circumstances when she made her plans for this special exam. That was probably exactly why she was so irritated by Tsukishiro¡¯s interference.

¡°Earlier, when I talked about the reason why I avoided a one-on-one match with you, I lied.¡±
She¡¯d said she avoided it out of consideration for me, to keep attention from being focused on me. Now, she retracted that answer.
¡°To be honest, it¡¯s because I wanted to be with you, Ayanokouji-kun, even if for just one second longer,¡± said Sakayanagi, offering her right hand to me.
I took it, thinking that she was going for a handshake. But she put her left hand over mine, enveloping it.

¡°People can come to know warmth by touch. And that is precious. The warmth of another¡¯s skin is by no means a bad thing. Please remember that.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.
¡°It¡¯s a belated message from me.¡±
I stood there, still unable to understand what she meant. Sakayanagi slowly let go of my hand and started walking away.

¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m quite a slow walker.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize for that.¡±
She was certainly slow. It was because of her disability, though. And oddly enough, I was grateful for that today.

¡°I¡¯ve been dying to get to know you. I feel like you¡¯re a childhood friend whom I¡¯ve been chasing for the longest time but haven¡¯t had the chance to actually meet. If we can compete against one another so easily, then I feel like the value of doing so will be diminished,¡± she replied.
She looked at me and smiled sweetly.