"I see," Hanako acknowledges, absent-mindedly eating another meatball. There were no expectations about the other girl being into chess at all. It was a rare occurrence in her school, too. Young students usually gravitate towards wildly different interests, and she never made sure to share her own with anyone except a few select people.

"... I heard about them through the d-daily announcements," she says. "But I n-never questioned their importance here. What about them...?"