Chapter 22 ◈ Athena the Chessmaster

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"So, Athena

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"So, Athena. . ." I began, "Are you going to give me a hint of what we're going to do today?"

"I'll tell you when."

It was a late Sunday morning and Athena still hadn't made a move about what I'm going to have for training. I kept asking her but she wouldn't give a straight answer. I even tried reading her head but all I saw was a blank.

"I see you in my head," she once said. "Stop spying on my thoughts or I won't start training you."

The two of us were currently in our dorm. I was lazily lying on my bed, staring at the room aimlessly. Meanwhile, Athena was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and eyes closed, which I eventually assumed that she was meditating.

I let out a long groan. "Athena! I'm bored! When are we even going to start?"

She opened an eye and looked at me. "Soon."

"But we're wasting time!" I sighed in frustration. "You know what? If we're not going to do anything today, then I'll just go out and hang out with Pierre."

I rose from my bed and walked past Athena.

"Where are you planning to go?" she asked.

I stopped near the door. "Well, I'm going to the library or whatever and meet him there."

Athena opened both of her eyes and stood up. "Perfect timing. I was planning for us to go there."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, now you decide to move and do something!"

She smirked. "I just waited until you ran out of patience. You had it longer than expected. Congratulations, you passed my first test."

"Wait, wha—" I raised my hands in surrender. "You know what, I'm done! Let's just go before I do something I don't wanna do. I mean seriously, you're so painfully unbearable!"

"And you're impatient and naive." She went out of the room without waiting for me.

"Hey, Athena! Wait!" I shouted before following her. "Who do you think you're calling naive?"

Fast forward to the library, Athena picked a table that was at the far end of the library. She told me she wanted as few people coming near us as possible. As soon as I sat at the table, she ordered me to ask the librarian for a chessboard.

"If she refuses to give you one, just tell her that I requested for it," she added. "She'll then give you one easily."

I looked at her skeptically. "First off, you can do that? Asking the librarian for a chessboard, I mean."

She stared at me as if it was obvious. "As long as you're quiet and don't disturb anyone, you can ask for a chessboard or other available board games like checkers and Scrabble."

"Wow, that's nice. I should probably play those with Pierre sometime," I murmured, then turned back to Athena. "And second, why didn't you ask the librarian earlier when we passed by the front desk?"

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