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One pawn, moving forward. One knight, above and to the right. One bishop, four squares above and to the left. One rook, shifting three squares to the side.
The chessboard’s squares stood stark and orderly like black and white cells, boxing in their tenants for a moment at a time. Everything moved with a logic, everything had its purpose and place, led along their paths only by time. Such were games--infinite possibilities packed into a finite space.
That was why Tsukasa liked games. Rules reshaped possibilities into practical tools. Tools created productivity, created order, created society. And who led a society but a king?
“You’re taking too long thinking, Suo~”
Across the wooden table, the former king of Knights rocked a knocked-out black pawn under his finger, looking bored. The high-altitude breeze rustled the leaves of the sky garden’s trees and threw a lock of orange hair in Leo’s face, which he blew back with a huff.
“Is that not an advantage of chess? Having time to think?” Tsukasa replied evenly, eyes glued to the board.
“Have a little sympathy for your chess partner. I’m not known for being patient, you know.” The pout was audible in Leo’s voice. “Why did you ask me to play with you again, anyway? I thought you’d be sulking about how badly you lost last time.”
Tsukasa sighed quietly. “Same reason as before.” At last, he decided to move a pawn. “I thought things would be easier this way.”
“Mm?” A puzzled hum from Leo drew Tsukasa’s eyes to him. “Can’t say things are easier...for you, anyway. That was a pretty crappy move just now.”
“I know.”
Leo shifted in his seat and leaned his chin on his left hand. “Hey, don’t tell me you’re giving up already? We only just got started.”
“Certainly not. I am never one to give up, and you know that. One failed move will not cost me everything, Leo-san.” Tsukasa gave his opponent a wry smile. “More importantly... How are you doing? How is your injury?”
“You mean this?” Leo lifted his right hand from under the table. His palm was about twice as thick as usual, the shape nearly indistinguishable under a layer of gauze; the long and almost dainty fingers he always used to write with were strapped together with surgical tape. The sight of it made Tsukasa deeply uneasy, as if it were a ghost of a hand. A mere suggestion at the end of Leo’s arm.
“Yes... I do hope it won’t scar. We managed to cover it up during the Judgment with some quick first aid and gloves, but I do not think you can wear gloves in public forever, Leo-san. The fans will surely have questions.”
“Bah, everybody’s got scars here and there. It’s nothing that weird,” Leo replied, flapping his injured white mitten of a hand dismissively. “In fact, I don’t mind. It’s kinda cool... Like a battle scar!”
Tsukasa snorted derisively. “Well, if it truly is not such a grave matter, I feel that I’ve wasted my energy worrying and wishing over and over and over that your hand would return to how it once was, smooth and free of scars.”
“I told you, you think too much, Suo~” Leo grinned, childishly, guilelessly. “Nobody can stay free of scars their entire life. Not even an idol. No matter how hard we try to have it that way. Sometimes we gotta sacrifice something to have something else--for me, it’s this hand for a while in exchange for getting to exercise my left hand a whole bunch. Kinda nostalgic, if you ask me.”
“You’re full of it,” Tsukasa shot back, though there was an amused melody to his voice. Leo looked rather satisfied.
Tsukasa knew. On the stage, Leo’s voice had been calm, low--but through the shock of the moment, Tsukasa knew from how Leo’s breath hitched ever so slightly that he’d done something he shouldn’t have.
Tsukasa had looked down. The silvery point of a knife shook in front of his own stomach, its bare-faced rage held at bay only by an uncovered hand. Leo’s hand. Leo’s hand, now dripping with dark blood. Dark blood, leaving thick red trails down the blade where skin met metal. Leaving black, angry marks on the floor.
There was no horror, no outrage, not even shock. He’d already guessed at the depth of the Oji’s hatred, even as he held out his final olive branch as the last nod to hope.
There was only guilt that he could not take responsibility.
“Leo-san...” Tsukasa started. Leo’s jokes had calmed his nerves somewhat, but the gravity of the situation loomed over him like a shadow. His eyes fell back to the orderly rows of black and white on the table. “If you hadn’t done that, I...”
“Hey, shush--”
“I would have taken the blow instead,” Tsukasa pressed on, ignoring Leo. “And I would have earned it, for Narukami-senpai’s naivete, for your and Ritsu-senpai’s treachery, for Sena-senpai’s silence, for my... blind optimism. I would have accepted my fate then. But in your usual fashion, Leo-san, you complicated things. You and I, we now share this burden of our mistakes together. I, in my heart, and you, on your own skin.”
Leo had fallen silent, an inscrutable expression on his face. Tsukasa could not tell if he was growing restless or listening intently.
“You are a better, braver knight than this king, still uncertain in his steps, could ever ask for.”
The silence stretched on, both of them waiting, or hesitating. Usually, Tsukasa would take a lack of response as stressful, or even offensive; but somehow, when Leo was the one being uncharacteristically quiet, it had the opposite effect.
At last, Leo reached out with his good hand and placed his fingers around one of his pieces--a knight, pearly white, which he placed at the very leftmost edge of the board.
Tsukasa pursed his lips in contemplation. “Ah, do you expect me to take that piece with my rook, Leo-san? Another calculated risk, perhaps?”
Leo grinned. “I dunno, you tell me! Do you think you can take down this brave knight and get away with it?”
“Given how you’ve played so far, Leo-san, you could be trying to provoke me into taking the bait... Or you could be bluffing, expecting me to make a different move after I’ve seen one of your gambits for myself...” Tsukasa hummed, contemplating. “Or... Ah.”
“What, inspiration strike you?” Leo’s eyes seemed to twinkle.
“You could say that.” Tsukasa picked up the rook that was waiting at the ready across from Leo’s knight. “My apologies if you were trying to goad me into a move, but I’m afraid this rook has other ideas. He’d rather be near his king, you see.”
With a confident move, he placed the rook squarely between his king and bishop. The round base of the piece sat askew between four different squares, straddling black and white alike.
“And this...”
“Isn’t it my turn, Suo?”
“No, no, not until these two are where they want to be as well.” This time, he picked up both knights from where they were and placed them just ahead of his king, like two statues at the entrance of a palace. “They’ve long been in service of the king, so they would rather be at his front protecting him than jumping ahead to who knows where.
“Now, as for these pawns, they would rather group up over here as they have seen the enemy first and will rush to take them down. As the lowest in rank, they are rather hungry for glory--”
“Reminds me of you last year!”
“Oh, be quiet,” Tsukasa laughed. “Now, how will your lone knight respond? He’s rushed ahead without a thought for his fellow soldiers nor his king’s wishes, and now he is surrounded by the black pawns. However will he get out of this situation?”
“Oh?” Leo wasn’t the least bit fazed. How terribly aggravating. “Well, well, well, it doesn’t seem like those silly pawns were ready for... the white king’s best warrior, who’s known through the ages as the master of the... super special spinny sword slash!”
“Better than your other names, I will admit.”
“Now that’s a low blow!”
Contrary to his words, Leo’s face glowed with an enormous toothy grin, brighter than the moon and brighter than the sun. Tsukasa knew that smile--it was the same one he’d seen at graduation last year, the same one he saw at his own coronation, the same one he’d seen every single time he drew up the airport with his chauffeur, and Leo was there on the curb with a pack full of gifts from Europe and arms wide open to greet him with a suffocating but warm welcome back hug.
Tsukasa breathed a sigh of relief. If Leo could still smile like this, then it would be fine. Shocking things could happen, Leo’s hand could be covered in scars, Tsukasa’s heart would hurt and break and hurt and break again and again and again, but it would be fine.
The chessboard was a mess now, pieces scattered every which way. White pieces lay on Tsukasa’s side of the board, black ones on Leo’s. Many had fallen, and only the two kings stood tall in the middle of the carnage around them.
“What now, Suo? There’s been so much death, and it’s just these two left standing. How does it end?”
Tsukasa smiled. “Mm... Perhaps...” He pushed the black king toward the white one, the bases touching one another ever so slightly.
“Perhaps we should leave their destinies up to them now, don’t you think?”