Gather round the chessboard

As soon as Decebal and co had made their get-away, Okisato shook his head.

"...So Ayane is sorry, but she cannot play matches even though-"

"Your buddies already made off with the food supply."

Both Ayane and Justin stared in shock before Ayane nervously began smiling.

"Oh good, so... Guess Ayane can go-"

"I beat you, you buy back all the food from that vampire grandpa."

"AYANE WON'T HAVE ANY BLOOD LEFT THEN!"

"Then you'll be paying for anything we order in."

Ayane gritted her teeth as she realized she wasn't getting out of this. Especially since all the folks that had cleared the way for Decebal earlier were pissed off they had been tricked and that he was now auctioning the food off in exchange for blood.

"Alright! Deal is on! But you lose, and you buy everyone food!"

"Deal."

Once the board was ready, Ayane opened by moving her pawn to e4 while Okisato responded by moving his pawn to a6.

"The St. George defense!? Are you 2700 or 270!?" Justin fumed as Ayane relaxed a bit and moved her pawn to d3.

"How about you shut up and watch, or I'll drag you into this too. I'm in a bad mood," Okisato glared as he moved his pawn to e5.

Justin went silent and nervously sat down. Okisato's glare had more bite behind it than usual, and for good reason; he was extremely frustrated. The loss to India was one thing, but in addition to the lecture from Mimoko, he now had to worry about playing Mongolia tomorrow.

"How did we even get paired against them!? We have a point more than them, and we should be higher in the standings, so why? It's not like there's teams they haven't played either, so why?" Okisato thought as Ayane moved her knight to d2.

"Brazilian girl, beat that foul bastard!" Jadwiga scowled as she made her way to the front of the crowd.

Okisato turned and scowled. "I thought you were going bald, so is that a wig?"

"Not in the slightest! I was judged by peer jury to be innocent, thus I did not have to shave my head. I even won my game too so-"

"Bet you were playing as Black," Okisato scoffed as he moved his pawn to d5.

"And?"

"The Jadwiga gambit only works if you're playing as White," Okisato replied as Ayane moved her pawn to c4.

"CEASE ALL MENTION OF THAT SLANDEROUS OPENING!"

"How's it slanderous? You lost to it... TWICE!" Okisato snickered as he let his sadistic persona seep through while moving his pawn to d4.

As Jadwiga began trembled and continued to bicker with Okisato, Ayane was beginning to get nervous. "Uh oh, he went sado. Intel says he only does that when he's winning... No, Ayane's overthinking. He's just one-upping that Polish girl. Besides, the Polish girl is rooting for Ayane so Ayane can't disappoint her fan!" she thought as she moved her bishop to e2.

Okisato shifted his attention back to the game, his deadpan persona returning as he moved his knight to f6.

"See, Ayane was right. Just banter with Polish girl. He's not winning at all," Ayane thought as she moved her g-knight to f3.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

"You think I went chuuni JUST for her!? I went chuuni for both you and her! I'm just acting normal so that I can surprise you later on!" Okisato maniacally thought as he kept his deadpan persona while moving his knight to c6.

Unaware of Okiato's evil plan, Ayane castled king's side. Okisato moved his pawn to a5 as Ayane moved her rook to e1. Collette then arrived just as Okisato moved hos knight to d7, and naturally inquired about the state of things.

"Oh, some vampire grandpa from the Romanian team made off with all the food, and unless you're willing to let him suck your blood," Inez grumbled as Ayane moved her pawn to h4.

"What!? The food's gone!? Only I can steal it!" Ragnar fumed as he too arrived.

"Oh hello cheatle-dum, how've you been doing?" Okisato growled as he moved his pawn to g6.

"Terrible! We haven't won since day 1! The arbiters won't take their eyes off us, and we're drawing more than LVM of France!"

"Your problem, not mine," Okisato scoffed as Ayane moved her queen to a4.

"Your female teammates seem to be nowhere in sight," Collette scowled as Okisato moved his knight to c5.

"I was sent to grab dinner for all as punishment for losing so badly, or rather by playing a risky opening against Arun of all people," Okisato grumbled as Ayane moved her queen to d1.

"Well, in that case convey a message."

"And that would be?"

"We will take gold from you. We French are resilient and won't let one small faceplant stop us. We haven't lost nor drawn since, so the moment your women's team loses, WE win gold!"

"Well that's just bluster. So what teams have you beaten then?" Okisato asked as he moved his pawn to h5.

Collette went silent as Ayane moved her king to h1, revealing to Okisato that the teams France had beaten likely weren't the strongest of teams out there.

"Figured. You had an easy 2nd round opponent, and the 3rd and 4th round teams you beat weren't top teams either I assume. India's more likely to become a lurking threat. Speaking of which, think you can beat them?" Okisato taunted as he moved his bishop to d6.

Collette simply scowled and stared at her phone. France's next round opponent was Hungary, the host nation itself. Even though Collette was higher rated than Hungary's top player, Zsa Zsa Gál, she knew her personally and knew that she and her teammates were no pushovers when it came to chess. Not to mention them being the home team provided a morale boost and increased motivation to win.

"Wow, it's like he doesn't even care about Ayane. Not like Ayane minds. Ayane likes to sneak away like a ninja when things get rough," Ayane thought as she moved her king to h2.

Okisato continued to multitask, moving his bishop to g4 and continuing the banter with the ever growing crowd. Though as Ayane moved her knight to b3, she noticed something; not a single piece had been captured yet. But that soon changed as Okisato drew first blood by capturing the knight at f3 with his bishop, forcing Ayane to capture said bishop with her bishop.

"Check. Just cuz I'm bantering with the peanut gallery, doesn't mean I've diverted focus from this. I'm still going to crush you and make you pay for everyone's dinner," Okisato declared as he captured the pawn at h4 with his queen and shot Ayane a menacing glare.

"B- But there's nothing left to buy! And Ayane's not letting all her blood get sucked just so you all can eat hotel food," Ayane nervously stuttered as she moved her king to g1.

"Then we order with Ubel eats and you pay for it all," Okisato retorted as he moved his knight to e6.

"Somebody call Übel?" Übel asked as he strolled up.

"No, Ubel eats, the company."

"Oh."

Übel dejectedly twiddled his fingers as Ayane moved her pawn to g3. Okisato deflected the attack by moving his queen to f6, while Ayane shifted attention to the other side of the board in order to move her pawn to a4. Okisato didn't care and castled queen's side, as Ayane was left wondering what to do, eventually settling on moving her bishop to d2.

But after Okisato moved his bishop to b4, Ayane promptly captured it with her bishop, forcing Okisato to capture it with his knight.

"Don't like trading pieces?" Ayane asked as she moved her pawn to c5.

"What gave you that impression?" Okisato asked as he moved his pawn to h4.

"Just wanted to check to make sure you were fine losing pieces for free," Ayane shrugged as she captured the pawn at a5 with her knight.

"How is this free? I get a pawn too," Okisato scowled as he captured the pawn at g3 with his h-pawn.

"Because Ayane gets an extra pawn! You lose," Ayane smirked as she captured the pawn at g3 with her f-pawn.

At this point, Okisato decided the gig was up and let loose the sadistic smile he'd been holding in since the 6th move, while moving his rook to h3.

"Uh, nice try, but Ayane's immune to psychological tricks like that," Ayane nervously smiled as a bead of sweat ran down her face while she moved her king to g2.

"So what's the most expensive place round here that does Ubel eats?" Okisato sadistically asked aloud as he moved his d-rook to h8.

"Aranyropogós kaviár is the name I've heard... WAIT! You're going to lose, right!?" Jadwiga nervously asked as Ayane moved her king to g1.

"Huh? I break you THAT badly? Anyone at your level can see she's screwed," Okisato scoffed as he captured the pawn at g3 with his rook.

Ayane went pale and stared at the board. "A- Ayane's not going to lose... Ayane can't afford to pay," she thought as she moved her king to f2.

But she was on the verge of it as Okisato moved his rook to h2, forcing Ayane to move her king to f1 or fave mate in 1. Her face only got paler as Okisato captured the bishop at f3 with his rook, sending her king to g1. And after rook g3, there was only one move Ayane could make.

"Well go on, take my rook," Okisato sneered.

Tears began to pour out of Ayane's eyes as she did just that and captured the rook at h2 with her king.

"And the rook is gone. Checkmate, ba-ka!" Okisato snickered as he moved his queen to h4, winning the game.

Ayane covered her eyes with her hands as the board vanished and everyone began requesting orders. Things only got worse for her when after a few people went, her credit card was locked due to the excessive spending.

"NO! AYANE NEEDS TO PAY! HOW CAN SHE NOW!?"

"Need some money? Well lucky you, I just got a big payday thanks to a research project that just paid it's dividend," Skaberghast chuckled as he strolled up, flashing a 7-figure amount on his phone screen. "Of course, you'll have to do something for me; shave your head and eyebrows, eyelashes too, oh and have em wax and depilatory cream ya, laser too."

Ayane shot Skaberghast a look of disgust, but ultimately had no choice but to accept. "Looks like Ayane's coming home bald... Ugh, Inori- THAT'S right, INORI!"

Ayane immediately darted off as everyone began chasing after her.

"Welp, I'll wait around. Have a feeling some cute girl's gonna end up bald tonight," Skaberghast smirked as he headed out.

Okisato glued his glare to him until he was out of sight, though he begrudgingly had to admit Skaberghast had made a powerplay of a move, and that Ayane was likely going to end up bald.

"Well, guess having Skaberghast pay for everything wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe I'll camp out near the hotel salon."

Little did he know, a terrifying evil was about to show itself and disrupt everything.

...

As Ayane ran, she cursed herself aloud for making a deal with Mălina all for a quick buck. But manipulation was her forte. Ayane was after all, a far more malicious woman than she let on. In fact, she had even sold her soul to a devil, a devil who just so happened to be lying in wait.

"All was going according to plan. Those stupid vampires fell for it! But of course they'd never catch on that a priest had everything planned. Ayane is such a good actress. Now, begins the first of seven long nights of famine," she thought as she stopped before two double doors leading to a private ballroom at the end of a long narrow hallway.

14 people had ended up chasing her this far, while many of the others that had been were stationing themselves elsewhere. But with the doors to the ballroom seemingly locked and the hall being on the third floor, it looked like Ayane was cornered.

"That's as far as you go. Now, time to own up to your misdeed," Vesna glared as she stepped forward.

Upon noticing Vesna, a dark menacing smile overtook Ayane's face as she knocked on the door and slowly began belly dancing. "Vesna Moroz... You know Ayane sold her soul to a Russian?"

Vesna's gaze narrowed, but she didn't allow herself to be agitated.

"Tough, but what if Ayane said it was to... Vasilyevich?"

"Sadly many sell their soul to that filth. To know you're amongst them is more saddening than maddening."

"To... TSAR Vasilyevich, yes?"

"Yes? That bastard is the only man-"

Creak!

The double doors slowly began to open as a giant of a man clad in a blue military uniform stepped out. He was big and muscular with bloodshot blue eyes with golden irises and a long unruly beard. Everyone froze in terror as the giant towered above then all, gazing down with preying eyes.

Vesna immediately went pale and trembled in fear as she recognized the monster of a man before her. This was the only Russian she was deathly afraid of.

"Ra- Rasputin..."

A sinister mile spread on the face of 2802-rated Rasputin Vasilyevich, firstborn son of Tsar Grigori Ivan Vasilyevich I, as he raised his arms into the air. "Time to rave!" he declared as lightning flashed.

The full game:

White: Ayane Rodrigues (1952) Black: Okisato Tanabe (2700)

1. e4 a6

2. d3 e5

3. Nd2 d5

4. c4 d4

5. Be2 Nf6

6. Ngf3 Nc6

7. O-O a5

8. Re1 Nd7

9. h4 g6

10. Qa4 Nc5

11. Qd1 h5

12. Kh1 Bd6

13. Kh2 Bg4

14. Nb3 Bxf3

15. Bxf3 Qxh4+

16. Kg1 Ne6

17. g3 Qf6

18. a4 O-O-O

19. Bd2 Bb4

20. Bxb4 Nxb4

21. c5 h4

22. Nxa5 hxg3

23. fxg3 Rh3

24. Kg2 Rdh8

25. Kg1 Rxg3+

26. Kf2 Rh2+

27. Kf1 Rxf3+

28. Kg1 Rg3+

29. Kxh2 Qh4#