The one who's paying for dinner

As Diederich twitched on the ground, the entire playing hall turned their attention to him. Clocks were stopped as two angry men stood each other down. One was Red Reaper, furious with his grandson and seeking to punish him personally while the other was Raymond Redfield, naturally angry at the disruption Diederich had caused.

"Three day's suspension. He's been warned about his conduct, but this breaks the camel's back. Since your team lost anyway, the result shall stand with Japan winning 2.5-1.5. As for him, he'll be released following the completion of your team's 6th round game, so he may participate in the Bermuda party should you so choose to let him. And to arbiters, once the games are reset, clocks may resume," Raymond declared.

Red Reaper seethed with fury as Raymond warped away to WWCF HQ with Diederich. "Übel... The medicine balls..."

Übel nervously saluted and ran off, going through the checkpoint as fast as he could as Red Reaper menacingly marched after him. Once he was outside, he made a phone call, and within minutes, a large truck arrived carrying an array of steel balls the size of bowling balls in it's flatbed.

The steel balls were known as "medicine balls" each weighed ten tons, forcing Prussia to have them taken to Budapest by truck as 22 of them were too heavy to fly. As for their purpose, Red Reaper hopped into the flatbed and clenched one in his hand, lifting it up effortlessly before crushing it to pieces in his hand. He then began cursing in German and kicking some of the medicine ball's fragments, with one flying so high into the sky, it was electrocuted with lightning.

These medicine balls were Red Reaper's stress relief. When he couldn't quell his anger with a hunt, these were his next go-to option. But for others, it was pure terror as now ten-ton steel fragments were flying everywhere. By some miracle, nobody was hurt from Red Reaper's anger, but if he were to get upset again, there would be more ten-ton steel fragments in the forecast.

Poor Volkner, meanwhile had long since lost consciousness, foaming at the mouth and soiling himself as Hans-Ulrich dragged him out. Luckily for him, most of Red Reaper's anger was directed at Diederich, though there was exactly 10% left to be directed at him.

"Hans-Ulrich, the status of the women?" Red Reaper snarled as he menacingly hovered over a medicine ball.

"It appears... like they have just won!" Hans-Ulrich nervously exclaimed as he flashed his WWCF card.

Sure enough, Red Reaper could see in the live feed that Prussia's women's team had clinched their match against Georgia with a 2.5-1.5 score. This was enough to subside Red Reaper's anger, but Volkner wasn't off the hook for his blunder.

Since they couldn't re-enter the playing hall, the men waited until the women's team exited. Nearly all the women went silent as they noticed Red Reaper and the flat-bed truck, all except Hannelore who just stared blankly.

"I heard you won... Excellent. Edeltraud!"

"YES SIR!"

"Drill every Latvian gambit line into Volkner, and don't let him sleep until he memorizes it all!"

"YES, MY KAISER!"

None dare ask about Diederich, though all could correctly assume he had been handed a suspension, meaning Prussia's men's team was temporarily without a reserve player. Them losing to Japan was also a blow as even though they could bounce back in light of Diederich's suspension, the loss to Japan could matter if tiebreaks were needed for podium placement.

...

In the dining hall, team Japan celebrated their victory, with the exception of Ginji who had been banished to the far end of the table for his actions.

"Oi, isn't it a little cruel to snide me from the festivities? I did put my absolute faith in you all despite my loss," Ginji frowned.

"You nearly cost us the match, not to mention you nearly got both teams in big trouble by dragging that Polish girl into your scheme," Okisato glared.

"Please, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why were our lanyards in YOUR hotel room?"

"Ask Houbou-kun; he found them."

Arguing with Ginji was pointless, so Okisato returned his attention to the festivities.

"Now Okaa-chan, care to repent for your sins?" Mimoko glared as she summoned a chessboard with her WWCF card.

"With a game? In that case-"

"You'll play the "Jadwiga gambit", and I'll show you just how badly you sinned."

Daria grimaced as she realized she was in for a rough time. Not once did Mimoko blunder, eventually leading to Daria losing, even though she too played perfectly barring the Jadwiga gambit.

"Just what possessed you to even attempt that!?" Mimoko fumed.

"Well, Iori made note of Jadwiga's psych in the fact it likely hadn't recovered in such a short time. Plus, if a maestro like me played the move against her right after such a humiliating defeat, it would break her, and sure enough it did."

"The Polish team's already filling complaints against us, which reminds me... Tanabe-kun, we need to discuss last night in detail," Mimoko angrily smiled as she turned towards Okisato.

"Ginji did it," Okisato flatly stated before taking off.

"DON'T RUN FROM ME!"

As the two ran around the dining hall, they bumped into a group of women of varying nationalities along with two men from the Canadian team.

"Whoa buckos, where ya runnin' to, eh?" the large hairy mountain of a man asked as he blocked Okisato's path.

This allowed Mimoko to catch him, but the group didn't let the two leave.

"Oi, this ain't a playground. I nearly spilled my tray cuz of your running," a girl with short brown hair and blonde highlights that obscured one of her eyes snarled.

"What's the harm? Let the energy run wild!" a girl covered in tattoos with wavy blonde hair smiled.

"Look, fun n' games is fine, but there is proper decorum, ya know," Saloni Madhock sighed.

"Yeah, no running. Now you seen a mop bucket anywhere? I gotta piss," the other Canadian man snarled as he adjusted his glasses.

The man was known as Justin Beaver, a cynical and newly minted DSPCM from Toronto infamous for peeing in mop buckets. Nobody knew why he did it, though rumors were that it was due to him losing a DESPER match to none other than Nyoan, but the lack of a game log seemed to disprove the theory.

Beaver's teammate, the large mountain of a man, was known as Grizzly Snuggler. True to his name, he liked snuggling with grizzly bears, and playing chess and hockey with them.

The girls, however were all from different teams and had simply met up to eat together with the two Canadians after the blonde haired girl offered to pay for dinner. After Saloni introduced herself, the girl with short brown hair introduced herself as Inez Pereya of Argentina.

"Oh, and just because my teammates are all football nuts, it doesn't mean I am. In fact, I can't stand it," Inez growled.

"WHAT!? Such blasphemy! Inori will tattle on you!" the blonde girl playfully gasped.

She then introduced herself as Inori Rodrigues of Brazil.

"'Inori'? Does that mean-"

"Yup, Inori's half-Japanese. On Inori's mother's side to be precise," Inori stated as she adjusted her glasses.

"That's a lot of tattoos you've got," Mimoko noted as she stared at Inori.

"Oh? Inori thinks they bring out her beauty. Inori understands why you're weary. Inori's mother nearly dragged her to laser tattoo removal when Inori came home inked. But mommy knows Inori's a bad girl."

"Indeed you are!" a voice snarled as a hand clamped down on Inori's shoulder.

The hand belonged to a girl who looked identical to Inori save for the fact she didn't have a single tattoo on her body and was wearing white slip-on sneakers instead of black ones like Inori.

"Oh right, when me n' Indira were going over all the teams, I remember there were two girls on the Brazilian team each with Japanese first names and the same surname. That means she must be Ayane Rodrigues," Saloni stated.

"No, I'M Inori Rodrigues. THIS is my older twin sister, Ayane," the girl grumbled as she removed "Inori"'s glasses.

"Uhp, Ayane's busted. Oh well."

Ayane Rodrigues was known for frequently masquerading as her younger twin sister, Inori. She was devoted to the act and would carry multiple pairs of the glasses Inori wore as well as extra makeup to conceal her tattoos. Inori on the other hand was more of the serious type, as well as the top female player from Brazil with a rating of 2055.

"And just what were you doing masquerading as me this time!?" Inori fumed.

"Ayane just agreed to have dinner-"

"Offer to buy dinner, you mean!?"

Ayane's sweaty face and nervous laughter confirmed Inori's suspicions.

"This is why Ayane always wears sneakers, so she can run for it!" Ayane cried as she sped off.

"Get your ass back here!" Inori shouted as she gave chase.

"And there goes my prime rib benefactor. So anyone else wanna pay up for dinner?" Beaver grumbled.

"Oh? A simple matter of currency? Well, allow me to benefact thee," a voice snickered.

Everyone looked around, but no one seemed to be around.

"Up top!"

Everyone's gazes shifted upwards, but all that was there was a bat. However, the bat then turned into a girl and leapt to the floor. Her skin was pale and she had long dark blue hair and pointy fangs. Based on her appearance and the fact that she could turn into a bat, it was fair to assume she was a vampire.

"And would the price of dinner be in blood?" Okisato asked.

"Well that's rude, but yes. I do pine for a fine gallon of blood."

"The sun's still up; drag her out," Beaver growled.

"AHEM! While I am a vampire, and one that has evolved to the point where things like sunlight, water, and garlic are unable to phase me, I DO get nasty sunburns and would prefer not to have to spend days at the skin clinic or in bandages, so please refrain from dragging me out until I apply my sunscreen."

Yet before anyone could do anything, servers arrived with plates of prime rib. "Order of prime rib for 5 for party of Inori!"

"That bitch! We didn't order shit! Take it back!" Beaver fumed.

"Um, we can't. This is pricey meat and-"

"NOM!"

Before anyone could react, the vampire girl had snagged one of the steaks and devoured it in seconds. "Ah, a delicious appetizer. Now no need to worry about currency. I'm well loaded on that front," she smirked as she flashed a fan of cash.

Worse, the amount of cash she had was exactly the amount needed to pay for the meal, meaning everyone was now in her debt. Okisato attempted to sneak away, but Mimoko stopped him. Chiding him for abandoning those in need.

"Uh, we aren't involved, and all they need to do is go after Inori."

"Oh, and should I excuse the one who was so rude to me? Nonsense!" the vampire girl scoffed as she inserted herself between Mimoko and Okisato.

"Then how about we settle this in chess. You win, we pay whatever, but you lose, we don't have to pay you jack and the meal's on you."

"Fair. Now who shall step forth to challenge me?"

"Me-"

"Tanabe-kun, I'M playing her," Mimoko angrily smiled as she clamped her hand down on Okisato's shoulder.

"Huh? Why-"

"Because you're on probation for that "Jadwiga gambit" you created. Now watch the match closely. I'm going to show you some proper chess."

"What happened to having fun?"

"Jadwiga-chan didn't look like she was having fun, in fact I'm a bit worried about her, and all the opponents I've faced..."

A somber look overtook Mimoko's face for a brief moment before she regained her smile and faced the vampire girl.

"So you're up. Alright, let's play."

"Then let's summon the board Miss..."

"I don't have to tell you my name!" the vampire girl proudly huffed.

"Mălina Drăculești of Romania. She's on board 2 and has a rating of 2348," Saloni stated.

"FUCK YOU!"

"Um, she does know her name and rating are displayed on our WWCF cards, right?" Mimoko nervously thought.