Look, I suspect that you've only heard Sona's side of the story, and probably just fragments, at that. Let me give you some background.
It started quietly.
A new student joined the chess club at the college level, and rapidly rose up the ranks. A boy this time. My king took notice when he'd defeated all others, and challenged him to a game. He forced a stalemate.
She didn't take that well, and challenged him to another. “Tomorrow,” he said, and took his leave.
The next day, they drew again; king and bishop against king, this time. Sona challenged him again, and one again he put it off for the following day.
Again, they drew. And again. King and knight, lone kings, infinite check, more stalemates; day after day, they found a way to deny each other the victory.
And day after day, their banter became less about the game, and more a conversation about anything that interested them. Sona began to take pleasure in the chats, looking forward to talking with an intellectual equal almost as much as she wanted to defeat him.
She'd had enough defeats across the table while growing up.
Likewise, the boy opened up more and more. Few in the school knew much about him; he was studious, but didn't talk all that much. Except during these games. He noticed the other students, but his gaze didn't linger on any of them, until it started to linger on Sona. Usually her eyes, while she was talking. And once in a while, when he thought no one would notice, it would pause on the way back down to the board.
Silly boy. I always notice. I notice everything.
My king didn't start returning such a gaze until we found ourselves playing volleyball against him. His gym shorts weren't quite as short as ours, but still exposed some powerful-looking quads that had been well hidden by the school uniform. She had a hard time keeping her eye on the ball.
His eyes, too, were pointed at her legs when the ball wasn't in flight, but never quite long enough to distract him from the game. Indeed, he made more calls than anyone else, and I failed to find fault with any of them. That was probably what led his team to victory, narrow as it was.
And that victory could be what distracted Sona from her next chess game with him. She left him with a white knight and bishop before offering a draw, which he declined. I never got around to learning that endgame, but it seems that he had. He had to walk her king from one corner to the next, but became the first student to beat her at chess.
That fired her up again. She consistently played white after that, thinking that it was just the half-pawn advantage that had let him beat her. Idle moments left her thinking about him, and about how to finally beat him. She tried to find books to teach her something new about the game. She tried to distract him during games, particularly when setting up a trap. She tried every opening in the book and then some.
Nothing worked. They drew again, and again, and again, until finally he won as black. And she found herself confronted by a hard truth.
“You're smarter than me,” she said. By the look on her face, she was no doubt remembering the end of her engagement.
“In some ways,” he replied. “And you're smarter than me in others.”
She frowned. “Like what?”
“Leadership, for one.”
“Don't you own a company?” I asked.
“Own, yes. Run, no. That's what Nojima and Sekigawa are for.” He continued on about the differences between emotional, interpersonal, logical, and various other types of intelligence, somewhat soothing Sona's pride, but the core issue remained.
She had found someone at least as intelligent as herself, who wasn't yet attached to anyone. Someone her age, decently attractive, well-mannered, and self-assured.
Nor had she missed my comment about his company. Once we got back to the Student Council room, she badgered me about that. It hadn't been that hard to find out; it's public information, after all. No, he wasn't exactly wealthy, but yes, he was financially secure. A small game company. Both board games and video games, oddly enough, mostly sharing IP. No, I hadn't tried any of them, but one of the school clubs had.
When she asked about exactly why I'd looked that up, I referred to her obvious interest in him. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one amused by her spluttering denial. Nor was I all that surprised to be asked to gather more information about him.
I was extremely surprised to be unable to get into his apartment, by any means. Teleportation, front door, windows, everything was blocked. Even scrying failed, whether he was home or not. Yet he didn't feel like a mage; in fact, he didn't feel like he had any power at all. Something was clearly odd.
I had to give up on observing from a nearby tree, too, when he walked up to offer me dinner. Normally, I'd reject an offering from the target of surveillance, but I thought I knew him, and the smell was irresistable. The taste was even better.
He didn't actually ask why I was out there, but I got the impression that he understood. We ended up chatting about his latest board game release, and he promised to bring a copy to school the next day.
That game replaced the next day's chess game, allowing me and Tsubasa to join in. It also prompted a conversation on the role of randomness in games; Sona doesn't particularly like it, but he seems to appreciate the way it allows players of different skill levels to play with each other. He expressed an issue with games that don't allow you to respond to the randomness, but none of us had played any of the examples he provided.
Speaking of games, I was able to observe him at work. He seems to have a part-time position at his own company, but I haven't quite grasped the specifics. Sometimes he was writing, sometimes coding, sometimes playtesting, and sometimes offering ideas. True to his word, he wasn't actually in charge, but everyone paid attention to his opinions.
Eventually, Sona's interest got so blatant that he asked her out. To an art museum, of all places, and a Thai restaurant.
He started sharing his lunch with her. And holding her hand. And calling her “Sō-chan” in less public settings.
After a few more dates, she invited him to be on the Student Council. When he politely asked why she'd want him for that, she described him as perhaps the most intelligent person in the school, and expressed an interest in his opinions and creative solutions to potential problems. He accepted.
As part of explaining the duties of the student council, she described the Three Factions and her place in Kuoh. He seemed to have known about some of that, and showed us what he could do.
His forcefield took a hit from Tsubaki, without going down. Using neither a magic circle nor devil power. That could've made a difference back when Kokabiel attacked.
His healing circle was even more amazing than his food. I'm positive that it fixed a problem I never even knew I had.
Nobody volunteered to test his knockout gas, but that sounded like a great option for a rating game if it works on devils.
Sona offered him her Rook. He took it.
After that, he spent much more time with us. Training, actual student council work, and a weekly board game night. He and Sona won far more than their fair share of games, of course, no matter what we were playing, but he somehow found ways for each of us to have fun.
He started hugging her in the mornings, as long as they first saw each other in the student council room. That was what finally got Saji to give up on her and notice the affections of Ruruko and Momo.
The first time Sona spent the night with him was a shock. She showed up to our Saturday training session completely relaxed, not criticizing a thing. Partly because she wasn't noticing anyone but him. If he hadn't been wrapping her in shields, we'd have trounced her for that.
She made him a cake for his birthday. He tried a bite, claimed that it needed something, and whipped up some sort of coconut pecan frosting that actually made it edible. To those of us who aren't crazy Sitri.
That wasn't long before the Youth Devil Gathering, and I understand that she took him home and asked Lord and Lady Sitri whether he should accompany her to the tea party, right? And they recommended waiting for the next one?
How did they know?
Anyway, the point is that it ended in much the same way.
The daily chess games were the first things to go. They tried a few other strategy games, like Go, Shogi, Reversi, and Grand Chess, but it became clear that he couldn't be beaten at anything without an element of chance.
Weekend dates didn't stop all at once. The first cancellation didn't hurt him, because he could understand how busy she was, and they rescheduled it for the following week. Another got interrupted in the middle by the Fallen. More and more often, something else came up, but it wasn't until she had to cancel three in a row that he stopped asking directly.
It didn't help that she'd missed a few of his invitations for a hug. She never had been as physically affectionate as he was, and I don't think he'd realized how important that would be to him. He never let the tears fall, but I could see them in his eyes.
She started getting more strict, even with him. He started calling her “my king” even outside of training and combat.
He lost the joy he'd brought to weekly game night. Tomoe kept things light-hearted, but the games started to get stale.
He wrote a few tragic backstories for a video game at work. Noujima pulled him aside to ask if he was okay. He wasn't.
Eventually, his heart started to heal. His eyes started to wander.
At one point, I touched his arm to ask something, and his eyes snapped to mine with such an intensity that I lost track of my question. For just a moment, the world was just the two of us. Then he asked what I needed, and I remembered what I had wanted to ask, and the moment was lost.
The next day, he caught my eyes on him at lunch, and offered me a leaf full of something creamy and nutty. It was almost as delicious as the dinner he'd shared with me so many months ago. And it told me that I had a chance, if I wanted to take it.
I privately asked our king for permission to date him. Normally, that wouldn't be strictly necessary —I doubt that Momo and Saji ever asked before becoming official, for example— but I wasn't entirely sure that she'd broken up with him. Or rather, whether she knew that she had.
She hadn't, and tried to claim that he was hers. “He's your Rook,” I told her, “but he's not your boyfriend anymore.” She demanded an explanation, but couldn't answer my questions about how long it had been since they'd last kissed, or gone on a date, or even smiled at each other.
She immediately stormed off to find him and drag him into an empty classroom. Their voices were loud enough that I could've listened in, but I really didn't want to. Her tears as she ran out provided plenty of evidence about the outcome.
As did the “training exercise” she chose to run on the next day. Her, Tsubaki, Momo, Bennia, and Saji aganst him, me, Tomoe, Tsubasa, and Ruruko. It got vicious, with Sona's spite on one side and Ruruko's on the other; it was grueling, with the master strategist pitted against the master tactician. I'm not even sure she wasn't trying to drown him with those water dragons of hers.
Our victory didn't improve Sona's mood at all. Perhaps she could've been helped by sticking around for the healing circle at the end, but that was his ability, and she wasn't ready to accept his service right then.
Meanwhile, I had to hold myself back from kissing him during our victory hugs. Instead, I walked home with him that evening, and we talked over dinner.
Just talked. I mean, there was some kissing at the end, but he didn't even try to touch anywhere fun. Still hasn't, even though we've gone on a couple of real dates since then. Says he's trying to avoid letting the physical relationship get ahead of the emotional one, or something stupid like that.
Okay, maybe it's not stupid, especially not after having been taken for granted by his last girlfriend, but I've been watching him for nearly a year now! We've been in the same peerage for months! We're already friends!
Sorry. But the point is, I'm not a homewrecker, or whatever she's claiming. She dropped his heart on the ground, and I'm picking up the pieces.
So go ahead and comfort her, in bed if you need to, just don't act like we're the problems here. We're still in her peerage, after all.
Oh, don't deny it. Weren't you listening? I notice everything.