Matsushita Chiaki Short Story: Mind Games

Im chasing Ayanokouji-kun with light steps pondering on where to take a break. And then when I arrived at that corner I had seen him disappear from, I met him. He was facing me.

Wha!?

I let out my surprised voice at this unexpected development.

Why. That was obvious, he had noticed that I was tailing him.

Do you need something from me?

Me, what do you mean? is something I want to say, but it seems like youve seen through me already.

He was inviting me so I cant feign ignorance as that would just feel like Im conceding more goals. Id better just acknowledge it.

Yes, well you see, I was chasing after you.

I may have sucked at this, but do people usually notice someone tailing them? Was I seen by him somewhere?

Just as I expected, Ayanokouji-kun in front of me is may not be normal. I became more wary of him.

Now that it has come to this, its either sink or swim, lets make sure. As long as its mind games, I dont think I will lose.

Why do you think I followed after you?

Ill try to lead him with questions to make him tell me to what degree he has noticed me.

Who knows, I dont know where to start. More importantly, when did you begin tailing me?

I wanted to pry some information from him, but he had managed to hand the ball over to me.

It was just now maybe. So

Just now?

Ah, dang, he only throws such ambiguous questions. But I have to stay calm. Stay calm. If I let my rhythm get disturbed and say something incoherent, it will be my loss. I wonder if I should just say that I thought him and the chairman meeting as unusual and therefore followed after him? If I say I started to tail him at the cafe, he would most likely ask why.

Who was it again right, from when you talked to that new chairman I think?

Since Ive managed to keep some space between him and me, I will take the initiative and come back at you.

So did something happen? You talked with the chairman, right?

It seems like hes planning to remodel Keyaki mall and saw me and asked for opinions. What facilities would make me happy etc. He asked me a few questions about that.

Ohhh, so thats what it was

Certainly, there were other adults there when they started conversing so it might just be a coincidence. It seems like there are no links between his true abilities and the Chairman after all.

So, what about it?

Its not really related to that, you see. There is just something I found interesting.

The thing with the Chairman wasnt important to me. It was whether Ayanokouji-kun was being serious or not, only that.

You know, during the final special exam last semester you were the leader, right?

Since I ended up meeting him like this, Ill throw every single information I know at him.

During that flash arithmetic event, the answer you and Kouenji gave was the same.

It wasnt a math problem that could be solved by chance.

I did flash arithmetics during middle school so Im relatively good at it.

Im the same but, that level of yours cant explained as being relatively good at it, right? Thats probably at the national level, is what I think.

That was just because it was an event Im good at. In fact, Ive also participated in national competitions.

Ayanokouji-kun easily admitted to it.

really?

Yeah. Since it was an event Im good at, you may have misunderstood me I think.

It seems plausible that there are persons who are only good at flash arithmetics. But unless you are pretty smart, you wont be able to solve problems just like that one. And the fact that he didnt reveal that he was good at it is a problem in itself.

But you know, why didnt you just tell us that a bit earlier?

Thats true. But, you know my personality, right? Im not at the position where I can just take the initiative and tell the class about it. I became the leader since I had the protection point after all. Whats more, our opponent was Sakayanagi from class A. Even if I said I was good at it, I was worried since I didnt know whether they would have believed me or not.

I had planned to corner him, but I cant get a grasp of him. He easily answered my questions like it was the natural thing to do. He didnt try to excuse himself in some flustered manner either. The are a lot of people that dont have confidence in themselves. They are unable to declare something since they are cant say what they want to. There is nothing in our conversation that is weird when comparing it to how he has been until now.

That Well, that may be so.

Oh, no no! I cant seem to say what I was thinking in my head. Was it because he didnt lie? No, even if that was the case, there is still something suspicious thing going on. It may change if brought up the cases regarding Hirata-kun and Karuizawa-san. My pace may have been thrown into disorder, but I promised again from the bottom of my heart, yet again, that I would regain my strength for what to come next.