The time had finally come. Standing still as if on a battlefield, I looked up at the enemy’s fortress with grim eyes. It was the Bacchus mansion in Roskoff Village, namely Roger’s house.

The sky was clear, and the weather was quite good. The wind was moderately chilly, so it wasn’t cold. Considering Roger’s mood being somewhat affected by the weather, it was a lucky thing.

I thought of so many excuses for today. How to defeat Roger, I devised plans and appropriate responses to situations.

It was perfect. Now there was nothing to be afraid of.

“Oh my, Lise, are you here? Roger has been waiting for you. Please go upstairs.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

I climbed the stairs with my fist tightly clenched.

“Does that make sense? Are you already bored?”

Roger spoke with a rather dissatisfied voice. I knew this would happen.

The entire cause was my request to reduce the violin lesson to one hour. I spoke quite logically, but it didn’t work as expected.

I tried the rest of the plans, but none of them worked on him.

Roger is no easy opponent.

“But… I want to play chess.”

“So you want to reduce practice, even though it’s insufficient now? We play together. Even two hours a day is tough, but one hour will suffice?”

“I’m not giving up. I’ll practice well. But… there’s something more important to me than the violin.”

“Is that chess?”

I nodded at Roger’s cold gaze. He was silent, furrowing his brow without a word, his lips sealed. I knew what he was thinking.

I understood Roger’s feelings. It’s been less than a month since we started violin lessons. We were just learning to play, and Roger had devoted his time to me, who hadn’t even mastered the basics yet.

But if I said I wanted to do something else suddenly, even I would find it strange. Especially someone like Roger, who’s sensitive and pursues perfection.

He must be quite angry with the suddenly halved practice time. But I was desperate too.

“You can play chess with me.”

I couldn’t immediately respond to his unexpected words. Roger put down the violin and pulled out a chessboard from under his desk.

“What?”

I looked at the chessboard blankly as I set down the violin.

It was quite an old chessboard, with rounded, blunt corners. I approached and touched the chessboard, and it felt rough, apparently not having been sanded for a long time.

“I’m pretty good at chess.”

“…….”

“Does it sound like a lie?”

No.

Though I hadn’t known Roger for long, he was not a person who exaggerated or sugarcoated. In other words, his confident voice meant he was really good at chess.

Roger crossed his arms.

“Then let’s do this. If you lose to me in chess right now, you have to give up chess. Losing to me in the first place means you only have that much talent.”

“Fine.”

There was no twist. Roger’s face, boldly staring at the chessboard, was the evidence. He couldn’t believe he had lost to me so easily.

“As promised, the violin will only be for one hour from now on. You won’t go back on your word, right?”

“……What, what’s this?”

“I’m sorry, Roger. I understand why you’re angry. But I really couldn’t help it.”

“Why, why did I lose?”

Roger mumbled quietly. That was the problem. He seemed to have already forgotten the promise, and his pride was wounded by his defeat.
I didn’t come up with a big strategy to beat Roger. I didn’t attack recklessly. Roger might be upset if I said it out loud, but I saw all of his weak spots. They were all visible; how could I not attack?

Roger’s chess skill isn’t terrible. He played quite well.

“Yurik might be similar…….”

It was a compliment to his skill. He raised his head, as if he had heard my soft voice.

“Yurik?”

“Ah. He’s the son of the person who teaches me chess. He’s a boy our age, and his name is Yurik.”

“He has the same skill as me?”

“What? Yurik plays chess quite well.”

Roger’s expression began to harden. Oops. I realized too late that I had misspoken. It’s reasonable that Roger would be upset to be compared to a boy whose face he doesn’t even know.

Why do I always mess up my words in front of Roger?

“Roger…. Yurik is, you know, handsome, tall, and a really cool boy. He plays chess very well and is perfect! And you, you too.”

“…….”

It won’t do. Roger’s face is not just hardening; it’s sharp. It’s time to drop Yurik’s story and back off.

“Can’t you help me just once? If you don’t give me your time, I can’t play chess.”

“You like chess that much?”

“Yes.”

“Even if Mrs. Marsen opposes?”

Roger pinpointed it. Did he notice something between Isabelle and me? He started to organize the chess pieces on the board, a sign of admitting defeat.

“You’re trying to sneak chess in by cutting out violin time, aren’t you? Right?”

“Yyes.”

“Your mother and Mrs. Marsen are close. You know that. If your mother speaks up, you’ll be caught right away, won’t you?”

“I’ll talk to Mrs. Bacchus separately….”

“It’s no use asking my mother. She’s very bad at lying. Mrs. Marsen will probably notice right away.”