After school, Felix was busy working in the student council room, while Elliot and Monica were heading there almost at the same time. It seemed that they had been selected to be part of the chess tournament, and had a brief conversation with Prof. Boyd about it.
Everybody but Felix had just left the student council room.
With the school festival coming up, they were busy dealing with outside parties and meeting with the heads of the various departments. On the other hand, Felix had a little more time on his hands since he was just waiting for the report.
Just then, he heard some good news: Elliot and Monica had been selected to be part of the chess tournament.
Felix smiled at them.
"Glad to hear that two of our student council members have been chosen again this year. Good luck in representing the school. I'll reduce your workload a bit until the upcoming chess tournament is over."
"Tha… Thank, you…"
With the school festival just around the corner, the student council members were naturally very busy, but Monica always finished her work quickly, and Bridget, who shared Elliot's position as secretary, will be able to cover for him.
Bridget, the secretary, although talented in her own right, proved to be quite adept at working with people. Her ability to keep the department heads, committees and club representatives on track was almost endearing.
Right now, the busiest person was definitely Neil, the general affairs manager. Felix has been following up on Neil's work, but it might be better to have Cyril help him as well. Up until now, Cyril had been assigned as Monica's trainer, but once the chess tournament is over, it should be no problem to remove Cyril from that role.
Felix glanced at Monica and Elliot as he contemplated the work arrangements.
Monica remained as usual, awkwardly downcast, fidgeting and kneading her fingers. However, the mood of Elliot standing next to her seemed to be much less spiky.
Elliot was not pleased with the idea of Monica, a commoner, becoming a member of the student council, but his attitude has softened a bit recently.
…Cyril's attitude has changed recently, and now Elliot too, has something happened between them and the little squirrel that I'm not aware of?
In Elliot's case, it was probably about the chess class. Felix originally wanted to recommend a practical magic class to Monica, but she chose to take a chess class. If only he had been a year behind, he would have been able to play chess with her, he thought, secretly disappointed. After all, he had taken a chess class last year.
"How strong is the little squirrel from your point of view, Elliot?"
"Pretty impressive. Despite only having played three times as a beginner, I was dragged into a stalemate."
"Oh?"
Elliot was strong enough to be chosen as the captain of the team. It would be worthy of praise if she could get a draw against him
Felix suddenly thought of something, took out a chessboard and a set of pieces from the cabinet, and then turned his head at Monica.
"How about playing a match with me? It never hurts to play against a variety of opponents when competing in chess tournaments."
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I wouldn't dare… I-I… don't want to interfere, with your work, Your Highness."
"I have some free time right now. Right… if you beat me, I will listen to one of your requests, anything."
Monica's round eyes widened at Felix's proposal. Her normally dark and shadowy brown eyes reflected the light diffusely, glittering with the color of young leaves.
"A-Anything?"
"Yeah."
Nodding, Felix secretly felt a surge of excitement in his heart.
Usually, Monica would never ask for anything from anyone. She was the kind of girl who would squirm apologetically even just to borrow a quill.
Now such a Monica will ask a favor from him!
What exactly will this little squirrel be asking Felix for?
…maybe a mathematical book?
It could very well be, but if it really was, so be it. After all, how could you not want to reward a cute little animal when it's begging for something?
Felix recalled the scene where Monica was drinking chocolate with Cyril not long ago.
Lately, his favorite little squirrel seemed to be quite attached to Cyril. Before he knew it, the way she called him had changed from "Lord Ashley" to "Lord Cyril". But she still addressed Felix as "Your Highness"!
All in all, he was sulking over the fact that his favorite pet was fond of someone other than him.
Well, if all she wants is a mathematical book, so be it.
It might be fun to surprise the little squirrel by presenting her with an extremely rare book. With this idea in mind, Felix arranged his pieces.
Now, he had to lose cleverly without Elliot and Monica noticing.
＊ ＊ ＊
"It's checkmate."
Felix secretly smiled at the board as he listened to Monica's declaration.
…hmmm…
He did cut a few corners, but Monica won the game outright. Perhaps there was no reason to cut corners in this match.
I was planning on making it a little more of a close game, but…oh well. It was going to be a losing game anyway.
While Felix was thinking about this, Elliot, who had been watching this one-sided and overwhelming game, glared at Monica with twitching cheeks.
"…I just realized, Miss Norton… you went easy on me during our match at lunch, didn't you?"
At Elliot's words, Monica was taken aback and shook her head.
"N-N-N-N-No, I don't, I…never went easy on you!"
Monica desperately denied Elliot's claims, then…
"I did all I could to make it a stalemate!"
She blew herself up.
"I knew it, you were aiming for a draw from the start, and did you know what that is? They call that hold-ing-back!"
Elliot grunted in a low voice and pinched Monica's right cheek. The soft cheek of Monica stretched further than he expected.
With a pinch on her cheek, Monica gave a gagging, sobbing excuse.
"I only wanted to test a pattern for becoming a stalemateeeeeee…"
"So you used me as a test subject. Now I'm pissed. I'm going to tell Prof. Boyd to swap out the captain for the front player."
"Noooooh! I'm sowwyyyyyy!"
The scene of Elliot pinching Monica's cheeks as she whimpered bitterly gave Felix the familiar look of that brat.
Although Elliot was now obsessed with maintaining the integrity of nobility, Felix knew that he used to be quite a rascal.
They're so lively, really.
Felix laughed as he looked at Elliot, who looked strangely happy despite his anger.
"Secretary Howard, please spare her at that. You'll stretch the little squirrel's cheek pouch out."
Monica rubbed her reddened cheeks as she sniffled when Elliot pulled his hand away from her cheek with a look of dejection on his face.
"So, what does the little squirrel want to ask me for?"
"I…can ask anything… can't I?"
"Of course."
Monica clenched her fists tensely as Felix nodded approvingly.
"I wish…you'd stop…calling me "little squirrel."
"…………"
Felix silently reached out with a smiling, gentle smile and pinched Monica's left cheek, which was still white.
"Whyyyyy!?"
"Wow, it stretches really well. Yeah, this is going to be a bit of a habit."
"ihh huurhhs." (It hurts)
"Oh, I apologize, Monica."
When Felix quickly pulled his hand away, Monica stroked her cheeks on both sides, sobbing miserably… then opening her eyes to the limit, and looked at Felix.
"Just now… you called me…"
"Mm. What's the matter, Monica?"
Monica's cheeks were red and swollen, but she managed to turn them back to normal when Felix smiled at her.
"At…at least, like everyone else, I mean, like, Miss Norton, or Treasurer Norton…"
"I assume your request is to stop calling me "little squirrel"? But I don't recall it stating anything about how I call."
Monica finally stopped twitching at Felix's nonchalant reply.
At this moment, in Monica's mind, there was [Barrier Magician] with a bad personality laughing, although Felix had no way of knowing.
——Hahaha, this is what happens when you don't set strict conditions.
This was what it meant to win the fight and lose the war, Monica thought as she cried in her heart.
