Prussia's declaration

Okisato glanced up at Diederich briefly before returning to his meal.

"Oi, you trying to ignore me? Here's the thing, you try to, I make it impossible to," Diederich sneered as he stomped his boot down on the table.

"And? You here for revenge?" Okisato glared, deciding to engage Diederich in conversation after all.

"More like glory. See if I beat you, that means that I'm stronger than my grandfather, who lost to you."

"So you're saying you can't beat him so to prove you're better than him, you'll beat the one guy that beat him."

A scowl began to form on Diederich's face, worsening as Iori chimed in that she had also beaten Red Reaper.

"He lost to you? What a joke. I can beat you easy."

"Bring it then, I'm down!"

"Nein! Diederich, refrain from battle. We know not what team you'll face tomorrow," a woman's voice sounded out.

Everyone turned to notice a woman with a short blonde bob clad in a Prussian military uniform.

"Oi, Ingrid. Since when did you start thinking you could order me around?" Diederich snarled as he marched up to the woman, towering above her.

"I'm following the orders set forth by the kaiser himself. Now refrain from pointless hostilities. We can't have you going all out against one of our biggest rivals."

"I'd be facing the woman."

"And you think she wouldn't tell her male teammates how you played? Not to mention she was one we were warned to be weary of."

"All I want to do is beat her, and prove I'm the strongest. Simple, right?"

"You're not even the second highest-rated player in our nation. Edeltraud, Volkner- NGH!?"

"Oi, I'm young, and my rating's only getting higher and higher. I'll eclipse them all by the time I've got the gold medal around my neck," Diederich snarled as he grabbed Ingrid's face.

"Oh? You think you'll surpass me? Not with my winning streak," a woman sneered.

A woman with short blonde hair along with two men, all garbed in Prussian uniforms had entered.

"So you're game's done? Or is Magdalena still playing?" Diederich glared as he released Ingrid.

"We decided to test out the new recruit."

The line caused Daria to rise and attempt to head back to the playing hall, yet the blonde-haired woman blocked her path.

"Oh? You smitten with our new recruit? Sorry, but no reentry to the playing hall upon leaving. Not to mention you'd have to take the bus anyway. Wouldn't want ya to waste a trip."

Daria scowled, yet what the woman said was true. The playing hall was located a little ways away from the main hotel at the convention center. Buses were provided to players for transport to and from, but once players left the playing hall, they could no longer re-enter primarily due to anti-cheating measures.

The woman was Edeltraud Ulbricht, the woman regarded a one of Prussia's cruelest as well as it's top female chess player. Despite that, Ingrid von Hessel, the woman who reprimanded Diederich earlier, was actually the nation's highest-ranking female military officer. She was good at chess, but always second to Edeltraud, leading to a fierce rivalry brewing between the two.

Prior to the inclusion of Hannelore Schroeder in the line-up, Magdalena Yok, a young woman with green hair that obscured one of her eyes, had been slotted to play on board 4 for the women's team, but was now officially the reserve member. As such, she was often given the role of being Hannelore's handler so to say whenever she wasn't playing.

As for the two men that had accompanied Edeltraud, one was Volkner Kainer, a young man without eyebrows who looked as though he was stressed 24/7. The other was Hans-Ulrich Müller, Prussia's top scientist and recently minted DSPCM of Berlin. As soon as the motion was approved, nearly all of Prussia's DSPCM positions were filled by those approved of by Red Reaper. Hans-Ulrich was the strongest of the bunch, which was why he was nominated to stand guard over Berlin, as thanks to Red Reaper's ability to warp to any secret puzzle cafe in the world, the one in Berlin would be seeing frequent visits from him.

"My, you truly did get a stylish makeover, maestro. Though seems ya half-assed the makeup," Edeltraud sneered.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Ya only painted your face white, but didn't apply the rest of the clown makeup!"

Rather than get angry, Daria did the opposite and began to chuckle. "Oh? Never heard of geisha before?"

Yet her trying to be calm and cool only further egged Edeltraud to push her buttons. "Ya know, how about I do your makeup, maybe shave all your hair off first and then paint ya like a clown."

"Oh? Well shave me bald then. I've been itching to know why my daughter's so addicted to being bald, and bald's peak femininity so shave me clean!"

""Peak"!? That bitch just developed a bald fetish and tried to justify it by claiming it was fashionable. Now allow me to educate you on Prussian culture; when a woman is sheared of all her hair, it's to demote her, degrade her, show all that she's a pathetic rat of a being that deserves only jeers and mockery. There are many women in the army who I keep freak-shaven as I dub it, due to their consistent failures. The men have more leniency when it comes to baldness, but once the eyebrows and eyelashes go, they too become freak-shaven worms for me to step on. In case my Japanese isn't good enough for you to understand, let me spell it out; I'm going to degrade and humiliate you."

"Bold words from a girl that hasn't even beaten one of my SPCMs."

"I haven't the time to seek them out, but since I have a free shot at you, I'll take it and win."

"And if I decide to sit the match out?"

A malicious grin spread across Edeltraud's face as she responded that she'd simply field Hannelore. The taunt was doomed to fail from the start as Edeltraud knew Daria HAD to play Prussia. Otherwise, Japan would jeopardize their chances.

Daria began to scowl as she realized she overplayed, only further widening Edeltraud's grin.

"And that's a much better look, a defeated scowl. If we play next round, I won't even field Hagemi. Oh, the look upon your face-"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

As Daria began to get riled up, the masked man rose and put his hand on her shoulder, calming her down.

"Oh? My apologies, I misspoke. See many mistake dear Hannelore for the missing Hagemi Shousen. It just slipped it's way onto my tongue, that's all."

Daria let out a sigh before beginning to head out. The others began to follow, save for Ginji who seemed happy to stay and socialize with the Prussians.

"Tomorrow, there will be a storm. And when there's a storm, my true power is unleashed. Lightning will strike for the whole day and night as I lead the Fatherland in crushing you," Diederich declared as lightning flashed.

"'Tomorrow'? The forecast said it would start raining tonight, and end by the afternoon," Okisato glared.

"Heute Abend ist der Auftakt. Morgen der Orkan [Tonight is the prelude. Tomorrow, the hurricane]."

Okisato shot Diederich one final blank glare before heading off. True to Diederich's word, the storm would hit tomorrow and Japan would find itself in Prussia's crosshairs.

"Iyah, such a bold declaration," Ginji sneered as Red Reaper arrived. "I saw that you won. So think you'll face us tomorrow?"

"You also won?"

"I tried, but no dice. But we play tomorrow, I'll definitely play you, strategically of course."

A malicious grin formed on Red Reaper's bony face. "'Strategically'? Then I hope we do play each other soon. I'd love to be the team that ends your title hopes."