Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"I'm a complete novice at Go, so I don't understand at all. Senior, have you found any clues yet?"

"I don't know if this is a clue related to solving the puzzle, but I found that the person who set up this game should also be a beginner, and they deliberately used the three-star layout."

"A triple star formation?"

"It means occupying three star points on the Go board and connecting these three stones in a straight line... Oh, you probably don't understand what star points are, they are the nine big black dots on the board."

"Oh! Is there anything special about the Triad?"

"I didn't see anything particularly special about it... Oh, it's worth mentioning that this move is called 'Cosmic Style,' which was developed by the former top-tier Go player, Mr. Takemiya, but it's rarely used in professional matches nowadays."

He even started explaining it, which shows that this senior student Shi Guang really understands Go and is genuinely passionate about it.

"The Tri-Star Alliance and the Cosmic Stream..."

Could this be a clue?

In short, Kuroba Akira first wrote down this information, and then thanked Ishimitsu, who had shared the clues with him.

"Thank you, Senior Shi Guang. But is it alright if you tell me this clue?"

Does that mean you're not going to look for the prize yourself?

Shi Guangxue then smiled gently and said.

"Hehe, I'm not interested in the prize. If this answer can spark your interest in Go, then it's a win. Our Go club is currently recruiting. If you, Kuroba, are interested in Go, you can come and visit our club."

"Okay, definitely."

Kuroba Akira outwardly agreed, but inwardly he sighed.

I'm sorry, Senior Shi Guang, I'm already a member of the Literature and Art Department.

However, this senior is really nice. He has a gentle and scholarly air about him, and I feel like it would be very pleasant to get along with him.

"Well then, I have to go back to my class to help out, so goodbye, Kuroba-kun."

"Yes... uh."

Before leaving, Shi Guangxue very politely extended his hand to Kuroba Akira, indicating that he wanted to shake hands.

At that moment, Kuroba Akira caught a glimpse of the words on his right hand, and his expression began to falter.

"Junior Kuroba?"

"Uh, it's nothing... See you next time, Senior Shi Guang."

"Okay, goodbye."

After a brief handshake, Senior Ishimitsu turned and left, while Akira Kuroba stood there, staring blankly at his palm.

Because the ability to copy right hand was not eliminated beforehand, this handshake did not replicate Ishigami's ability either, but Kuroba Akira still vividly remembered the words he had just seen.

【Shogi S】

It's Shogi, not Go!

And it requires an S-rank talent!

This is the first time I've discovered someone with a talent even more advanced than the class monitor at school!

However, there's also Takanashi Mirai, a monster comparable to Shion... but she's no longer attending school, so we'll skip her.

In short, this talent was completely unexpected by Kuroba Akira, and Ishimitsu himself probably never realized he had this talent.

Seriously, Shi Guang, you really joined the wrong club!

If it were just this talent, Kuroba Akira wouldn't have thought much of it. However, the fact that this senior student, Ishimitsu, joined the Go club and became its president made Kuroba Akira quite regretful. It felt like he was watching a peerless genius go astray.

What a pity. With S-rank talent, this senior might have been able to obtain the Dragon King title, or even become the Eternal Dragon King...

But you can't just suddenly say to someone, "Senior! You're actually better suited to playing shogi!" They'd definitely find that baffling.

Moreover, even if he does achieve success in shogi, it wouldn't matter how good his results are if it's not something he enjoys.

Is this what they mean by 'missing out'?

Without a fateful opportunity, this senior might never have become interested in shogi, since he had already fallen in love with Go.

Kuroba Akira shook his head and sighed. This wasn't a case of talent being 'buried', but rather a case of 'choosing the wrong path,' and there was nothing he could do about it. Trying to 'correct' the other person might not be for their own good, and would only lead to misunderstanding.

It's a real shame that I can't get on that coattails. I remember that shogi champions can earn a lot of money, after all, it's Japan's national board game, even more popular than Go.

Let's think about the mystery: the triple star system, the universe...

Is this a veiled reference to Orion?

The most obvious feature of Orion is that the three stars Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Aldebaran are aligned in a straight line.

Then, speaking of Orion, it's a very recognizable constellation; you can even see it in cities with severe light pollution...

So, does the next step mean finding a place where Orion can be seen, or does it refer to the direction Orion is located...?

Glug glug.

As he pondered these clues, Kuroba Akira suddenly felt a little hungry, since he hadn't eaten breakfast that morning in order to catch up on sleep.

So he went out of the teaching building and wandered around the food stalls, but he didn't see anything that made Kuroba Akira's mouth water.

Kuroba Akira's mouth was ultimately spoiled by the class monitor.

The fast food these students made... well, for students, it's not bad, but compared to the class monitor's elaborate bento boxes, the difference is just too great.

It's a pity I won't be able to eat the class monitor's lunchbox today...sigh...

Kuroba Akira could only make do, so he bought a fried noodle bread to fill his stomach before continuing to wander around.

After that, he went to the physics lab to watch the dominoes, then to the biology department to assemble animal bone specimens, passed by to watch the street soccer performance by the handsome guys from the soccer department, and finally glanced at the time... it was only nine o'clock!

Time is passing so slowly! Why does today feel so long? Even daydreaming in class usually goes by faster!

Haha... I'm so bored by myself...

I just feel a bit listless.

Kuroba Akira understood this feeling very well; it was similar to electronic epilepsy, where you suddenly lose the interest in having fun alone.

But why is this so?

You should know that Kuroba Akira was a lone wolf for a whole semester, without even having the chance to speak to anyone. But he didn't feel bored at the time. On the contrary, he felt very fulfilled every day... Was it because he was learning a language and had things to do?

Furthermore, there was a very lively sports festival in the first half of the year, with an atmosphere similar to a cultural festival, but Kuroba Akira, who was alone at the time, did not feel this sense of loneliness...

Akira Kuroba roughly knew where the problem lay.

Since the start of this semester, I've been with the class monitor almost every day, except when we go to the bathroom together. Otherwise, she's basically always by my side.

From this perspective, the class monitor might have spent more time with him than Ziyin, not counting sleep time.

So now that there's no one around to talk to anytime, Kuroba Akira feels like something's missing, and his heart feels empty.

Is this what they mean by "it's hard to go from extravagance to frugality"?

If I can't even bear this little bit of loneliness... my human strength has decreased.

I didn't originally have this need, but after trying it, I started to miss it. It's similar to some addictions; once you've tried it, you can't stop.

So communicating with people is like an addiction... I'm starting to miss my class monitor.

After figuring it out, Kuroba Akira felt even more that there was no point in going to the cultural festival alone, so he decided to sneak into the empty infirmary and sleep until the agreed time of noon.

So Kuroba Akira went to the infirmary and saw Kobayakawa-sensei and Ro-sensei wrestling with each other as soon as he opened the door. Kobayakawa-sensei was disheveled, as if he were watching a women's wrestling match.

"Hurry up and put it on! I prepared this school uniform especially for you!"

"Wait, wait, stop fooling around! Junko! There's definitely no way you can fit into it!"

"Damn it! Are you trying to say your body has developed again? I don't believe it! Stop dawdling and change already! I don't believe you can pop the buttons off!"

"Ugh! No...don't pull me so hard, I can't breathe...!"

*Pfft...Whoosh!*

First came the sound of a thread snapping, followed by the sound of a button tearing through the air, and then... snap!

The button hit Kuroba Akira's forehead precisely.

"..." x3

Suddenly the whole world went silent.

Motoko Kobayakawa and Junko Ohno looked at Akira Kuroba as he opened the door... and the button on his head.

Kuroba Akira stared dumbfounded at Kobayakawa-sensei's chest, which was now completely 'bursting out' because of the missing buttons...

And so, the three of them fell into an eerie silence, none of them speaking first, until the button on Kuroba Akira's head lost its friction and finally fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

The sound seemed like some kind of signal, causing frozen time to flow again.

Immediately afterwards, Ms. Kobayakawa blushed so much that her face turned bright red, clutching her chest, sitting on the ground like a duck, whimpering softly, while Ms. Ra looked embarrassed.

"Uh... um... sorry! I'll come back later!"

Kuroba Akira immediately took a step back and closed the door to the infirmary, then picked up the button from the floor.

To witness something like a shirt button bursting open with your own eyes—the visual impact was truly incredible…

Ms. Kobayakawa's size is definitely the ceiling...

But it doesn't usually look this big, does it? It's almost as big as Aunt Akiko's!

At this moment, Akira Kuroba remembered that he had just seen bandages on the desk in the infirmary. Could it be that Ms. Kobayakawa usually wraps bandages around her before wearing a bra?

So today the seal has been broken?

Goodness, it even comes with cup-level liberation...

So far, among the adult women that Akira Kuroba knows, Motoko Kobayakawa, Akika Tashiro, and Akiko Takanashi are all very "big" in size. However, Akika Tashiro is slightly inferior to the other two, still only in the category of "large breasts," while the other two have already entered the realm of "extraordinary breasts."

Then, between Ms. Kobayakawa and Ms. Akiko, it's already difficult to distinguish the difference with the naked eye. In any case, both of them have an exceptionally abundant maternal symbolism, and this should be the limit of 'not making people feel disgusted'. Any larger and it would make people feel physically uncomfortable.

Within the "girls" category, the largest is Aizono Moe... but she's only just reached the realm of "large breasts".

It's true that there's a significant difference in body shape between a young, innocent girl and a mature woman.

This reminded Kuroba Akira of some figurines from his previous life, which had sixteen-year-old heads attached to thirty-six-year-old bodies, making them look very incongruous.

Young girls and mature women each have their own merits.