Shirou Kamui was skipping class.

He'd made the decision to do so nearly an hour before, when he realized that not only was his 3:00 class Calculus, which was as close to torture as he could get without the presence of his twin star, but it was Calculus with both Sorata and Keiichi.

The combination of the two of them and their perpetual genkiness, combined with the mind-numbing equations was enough to drive him insane.

And he figured he didn't need any extra help in that area.

So, at exactly 2:50, instead of dutifully heading across campus to the vast mathematics and sciences building, he was walking in the opposite direction, away from the relative safety of the Campus, and towards the city.

His steps led him to Ueno Park.

Ueno Park was never a good idea, but, then, his whole existence always had the aura of a really bad cosmic idea.

***

Kigai Yuuto sat under the shade of a peach blossom tree in Ueno Park, his trench coat draped across the bench he was sitting on. An older man had recently vacated the opposite bench, a retired government employee who enjoyed the same pursuits that Yuuto did.

Specifically, tea and chess.

Chess was essentially civilized war; it represented the toppling of nations with the mere toppling of ivory and onyx figures. It was a battle, minus all the mess of blood and death.

Chess was conflict stripped of emotion and politics, to its purest and barest form. Strategy, and the perseverance of strategy when thrown the unexpected.

Yuuto glanced up from his reverie at the sound of shuffling feet. He smiled.

Shirou Kamui was walking past him, appearing to look everywhere at once, and thus, never really seeing anything at all.

It was why, Yuuto mused, the boy never really did well in battles. He was unable to focus on his own goals properly.

"Would you care for a game of chess, Shirou-san?" He was amused to see Kamui start at the sound of his voice,

Kamui's eyes widened, and then he huffed out a sigh. "Is it possible for me to go anywhere without seeing someone who's involved in the End of the World?"

Yuuto blinked innocently. "I'm just a simple government employee."

Kamui slumped onto the bench opposite Yuuto. "That's what they all say," he muttered. He examined the inlaid table in front of them. "Chess?"

"Some find it to be a relaxing pursuit, I believe," Yuuto offered as he set up the pieces. "So, do you want to play?"

"Hn," grunted Kamui. "I suppose. I'll play white."

"Of course."

***

Within fifteen minutes, it was clear to anyone who might be watching that the teenaged boy hadn't a chance in hell against the blond salaryman.

Kamui himself was contemplating the advantages of blowing up the chess table.

"Having trouble, Shirou-san?" inquired Yuuto lazily. He merely received a scowl in response.

Kamui, Yuuto reflected, was the type who refused to accept defeat at any cost. That was one of the main problems he was having with the game.

Eventually, Kamui moved a rook in a direction that neither cost nor gained him anything.

Yuuto moved his pawn into a position that would not only sacrifice that piece but several others. It would also put his knight in a position to take Kamui's queen.

In chess, as in life, you had to sacrifice for the better of the whole.

He patiently waited for the inevitable ending of the game. He won, as he expected.

"Shirou-san?" he asked as Kamui continued to stare uncomprehending at the board. "Do you want to know where you went wrong?"

Kamui simply raised violet eyes to Yuuto's face.

"It was here," Yuuto pointed to the place where his black pawns had been.

"But I took your pawns there," Kamui protested.

"Yes," acknowledged Yuuto as he shrugged into his taupe trenchcoat. "And that's exactly what I planned.

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to gain what you truly Wish." He lifted his hand in a wave as he walked away. "Ja ne."

Kamui stared thoughtfully down at the chessboard as if it held the answers to eternity. "Ja ne," he returned absent-mindedly. He had to make sacrifices…what did that mean, precisely?

Across the park from the Dragon of Heaven, a black-clad man with beautiful, mismatched eyes smiled for the first time in months.

Kamui was learning.

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