2 Umpteenth Defea (2/2)

With the sense of defeat that resurfaced from yesterday, I slumped down in my chair and looked at the ceiling.

”Well, nothing comes out of grumbling over a loss, anyway. Let's at least try to understand what went wrong here...”

I slowly sit back up, resuming my former position.

And with that, I intensely studied the chess match. But...

*Seriously, where did I go wrong here?*

After watching through the replay once, nothing obvious jumped out at me.

*It's seriously like she's leading me around by the nose, dammit.*

Determined to find something on the second time watching it through, I sat up with my back ramrod straight, and then leaned forward slightly. However, I was unable to find anything really significant.

And on it went. I watched it at normal playback speed, half speed, double speed. I flipped it on its side, upside down, and even flipped myself upside down. And then it hit me.

*Maybe I should have moved the knight to B-6 there. It would have definitely given me more openings and even a potential to win the match!*

I experienced a moment of ecstasy, but that's all it lasted. A moment. Because then, I hit myself with the truth that I always force myself to hear but never want to.

I take a deep breath in, and...

”Are you kidding me? After watching the replay of this chess game like a million times, the best piece of info I'm able to get out of it is one mere move that *could* have been better? After all this time, I'm not really getting better at all. This world really does favor the talented! All I've got are mediocre skills, and nothing is going to change that!”

I laughed about how foolish I was being. I laughed at myself for even allowing myself to experience a moment of ecstasy even though I discovered a completely useless piece of information. And I laughed at myself for thinking that I could ever surpa.s.s her.

My maniacal laughter must have caused quite the ruckus, because I heard another knock at my door before I could even tell someone was approaching.

”Hey, Jon, you're not beating yourself up over yesterday, are you? Come eat breakfast, it's getting cold. Don't worry, Mom and Dad have already left. Besides, you're already better at chess than most people, aren't you? Isn't that good enough? Because you know I'll always be better than you~”

”You..! ...Sorry...”

”Don't worry about it, and just come eat breakfast, ok?”

*I guess it's true that I'm the second best chess player at my school, but they don't even compare to her! It really isn't a fair comparison at all!*

Looking at it from a logical standpoint, it really shouldn't matter. Since I really was the second best chess player at my school, and the best one was my best friend. But there was still something in the back of my head that was telling me I wasn't good enough. After all, even though I was better at sports than my sister, I couldn't match her at all in games that came down to pure skill and mental ability. Some video games were an exception, but as a guy, being inferior to my sister at most video games was undoubtedly a psychological blow.

Before I had noticed it, my sister had already left from behind the door.

*And she's as sneaky as ever, too. Although I can't tell if it's on purpose...*

Along with my good physical abilities, I had an uncanny ability to sense people approaching. And of course, she is one of the only ones whose movements I can't read. With yet another sigh, I checked the clock on the bottom corner of my monitor.

07:09, fifty-one minutes before the start of school.

*I'll definitely be on time even after studying that chess match a million times. Why were my parents freaking out over that, anyway?*

I quickly got dressed with a tank top, t-s.h.i.+rt, and sweater that I had set out on my bed the night before. As for pants... I hadn't thought that far ahead.

With a slight frustrated look and an unnecessary few extra seconds, I finally decided on the ultimate winter wear.

*These red and green shorts should be fine for today... it's not even that cold out.*

After donning the merry apparel and quickly brus.h.i.+ng my teeth, I finally decided that it was time to step out into the great big world.

*One of the favorite parts of my day. Time to eat some breakfast!*

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