It didn’t take long for the two of them to notice me.

I’ve never been involved in battles like other students, so I don’t know much about it, but it seemed they could sense my presence.

Leo seemed to be able to hide his presence well, but I couldn’t.

"If you were here, you should’ve said something."

"Well, you both seemed to be having so much fun…"

"What?! We weren’t having fun at all!"

Liar.

You were having a lot of fun, even if you won’t admit it.

You might be able to fool others, but not me.

Even though she still wore that grumpy expression, it was obvious.

But if I pointed this out, Orca would probably get embarrassed and change the subject.

So, I decided to just pretend to accept her denial and move on.

"Sure, if you say so. No big deal."

"…Why does that feel so irritating?"

"So, Stella, why are you here?"

Ignoring Orca’s grumbling, I turned to Stella.

It made sense for Leo and Orca to be here—Orca came daily, and Leo visited often.

But Stella? That was different.

It’s not like we hadn’t met before, but it was unusual for her to come to the counseling room.

Was she in a situation dangerous enough to need counseling? That didn’t seem right.

Most students at the academy have a strong sense of pride.

Understandably so—after all, they’re the ones who were always called geniuses in their hometowns.

And if you asked anyone who the most prideful person at the academy was, they’d probably say Stella.

She’s a princess, after all.

And people with strong pride are usually reluctant to seek counseling.

Of course, if they were completely overwhelmed and had no other choice, it might be different, but…

Given the timeline of Stella’s main quest, her crisis wouldn’t happen until much later.

The emperor was still alive.

There shouldn’t be any reason for her to be mentally struggling yet.

"I came to see you, Ophelia-sensei."

"…Me? Why?"

"The homework."

"?"

"…Don’t tell me you forgot? The homework you assigned me."

"No, I remember the homework, but…"

Of course, I remembered assigning it.

After all, the headmaster had just burst into the counseling room earlier, saying it gave her the creeps.

I wasn’t so dumb as to forget something that had happened less than a day ago.

…But why?

I tilted my head, not quite understanding where Stella was going with this, and she sighed.

"As I thought, you forgot. The deadline you set for the homework is too vague, don’t you think? ‘Until you see me again’ is pretty ambiguous."

"…Oh."

"I heard you’re always in the counseling room, so I thought I’d just take some time to come and see you."

Now that she mentioned it, I did say something like that.

I had thrown out that deadline without much thought since it was just a random assignment.

Maybe she realized it would be unreasonable to keep it up indefinitely, so she decided to come find me.

That was my mistake.

"Homework?"

"It’s none of your business. …Ophelia-sensei?"

"Yes, yes. I understand. How about you two play chess together while I take care of this counseling session?"

I felt a little bad for Leo.

He had waited this long, only to be practically shooed out of the counseling room.

…Though, thankfully, Leo didn’t seem to mind much.

"I haven’t played much chess before… but after watching you two, I want to give it a try! What about you, Orca?"

"…Fine. I’ll take out my frustration on you."

"Haha, go easy on me, please."

Luckily, Orca, who had been thoroughly beaten by Stella, still seemed enthusiastic.

Her tone was still sharp, but seeing her like this made me smile.

Orca, who was destined to wander alone her whole life, seemed to be slowly discovering the joy of interacting with others.

"It’s a good opportunity. What do you say, Ophelia-sensei? Care to chat while playing some chess?"

"Sounds good. Not a bad idea."

"Checkmate."

"…So, you were holding back against that girl after all?"

"Who knows? I always play seriously."

"Hah, what a lie."

But it was the truth.

Stella didn’t seem to believe me at all, though.

It was understandable, given that someone who had lost to Orca managed to wipe the floor with her.

"Want to play another round?"

"…Yes. This time, I’ll win."

Of course, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t gone easy on Orca.

It’s true that I’m better at chess than she is.

But it’s also true that I had lost to her.

You see, I’ve never played chess with a real person before…

I like chess, but no one around me was into it, so I usually played against a computer, and getting crushed was just part of the routine.

So how did I manage to beat Stella?

Well, that’s easy.

I had a strategy.

Sometimes, when you encounter Stella as another playable character, a mini-game of chess begins.

Winning didn’t yield much reward, but no gamer likes to miss out on even minor rewards.

After many gamers played countless rounds of chess against her, a strategy emerged…

A strategy to beat Stella.

I slyly moved my queen forward.

It was a position where her knight could capture my queen.

What would she do?

"…"

She hesitated, likely recalling previous experiences.

But eventually, she decided and captured my queen with her knight.

…Yes, she captured it.

She moved the knight that she shouldn’t have moved.

"And that’s checkmate."

"Wh-What?!"

"Care for another round?"

"…No, I’ve lost."

Once her knight, which had been protecting her key pieces, was out of the way, the rest of her pieces fell quickly, like dominoes.

Perhaps because she was now a person and not just a game character, her habits seemed even more pronounced.

"Alright, I’ve made my decision."

"About what?"

"The next assignment."

"W-What? I thought the homework was over…"

"A student should always be ready to take on assignments from their teacher, right?"

"Grr…"

Of course, she’s good at chess.

I don’t know exactly how good since I’m not that knowledgeable about chess.

But one thing’s for sure: the mini-game was unnecessarily difficult.

It was hard enough that strategies and guides were created just for it.

Without those strategies, there’s no way I could have beaten her.

On the flip side, the fact that strategies even exist means her playstyle is predictable.

Unlike the AI in typical chess games, which adapts to situations, she plays in a more human, but also more rigid, manner.

Stella is obsessed with powerful pieces, mainly the queen.

If she has the choice between moving a queen or a bishop, she’ll almost always move the queen.

The reason is simple.

It’s the strongest piece. The queen is stronger than the bishop.

A lot of players liked how her personality was reflected in her chess playstyle.

And I was one of those players.

"At least twice a week. You need to come to the counseling room and play chess with me. I won’t set specific days or times."

"…Hmm?"

"Don’t you want to?"

Her personality being reflected in her chess playstyle also meant that if you could change the way she played chess, even slightly, it could affect her worldview.

It might sound far-fetched, but…

Personality is built up from small things.

By changing the way she played chess, a game she enjoyed, even a small shift in her perspective was possible.

"…Fine. But be prepared. Next time, I won’t let it be so easy."

"That’s good to hear."

She’s a proud person.

She’s already lost several games of chess in a row, something she was confident in, so her pride must have taken a hit.

She’s probably grinding her teeth, determined to win next time.

But what if she continues to lose?

She’ll eventually realize.

That the way she plays chess is flawed.

That if she keeps playing this way, she’ll never win.

…If she ever comes to that realization—if she ever stops falling for the same strategies gamers have used against her for so long—Stella’s worldview will change.

Whether it’s a big change or a small one, I don’t know…

But I’d say a small change has already happened.

I saw her complimenting Orca through the door, after all.

"Oh, and I’ll reduce the complimenting homework to once every two days."

"W-What…?!"

"I’m trying to make things easier for you since it seemed like you were struggling. Don’t think too much about it."

"Can’t that homework just disappear altogether…?!"

"I never said it would."

"D-Damn it. I’ve already run out of ways to compliment that old hag and Charlotte…"

"So, you’ve only been complimenting those two so far?"

"Well, what else could I do? There’s no way a princess could go around complimenting people she doesn’t even know…"

…Well, isn’t she clever? Or should I say her methods are just misguided?

It’s not a bad thing, though.

Even complimenting people you know is harder than you’d think.

Giving compliments to familiar people can be challenging.

The fact that she’s managed to do it shows some growth, right?

"In that case, Princess Stella, why not compliment the students who come here? You were just complimenting Orca earlier. You’ve already done it once, so it shouldn’t be too hard."

"…I complimented her? Really?"

"Yes. Leo heard it too."

Only after seeing Leo nod did Stella finally seem to believe it.

With that, the chess game masquerading as a counseling session came to an end.