Everyone's favorite bald catgirl is back

"Nya, nya, nya! Ohayo, nya! It's me, Nyoan Nyakuoji, everyone's favorite bald catgirl. It's been a while since I've shown my cute face, hasn't it? Well that's because I've been busy with uncle Jester's scheme," Nyoan smiled.

"'Uncle Jester'!? Wait, like the clown that's always kidnapping Madoka!?" Yuni cried.

"Excatly, nya! Turns out he's Kuon-sama's biological grandfather, though more in the Genghis Khan kind of way. I hate him, nya. He always shoves my face in the toilet, puts laxatives in my cat food, and most of all he upsets Kuon-sama and begs for money from her like a bum, nya! He even free-loaded at her place and made a mess of it, nya!"

"So then you're going to double cross him?" Astrid asked.

"Nyo! I hate him, nya. But this plan is just too good to betray, nya. Nyoan's got her name on it, nya.

"Kuon... Hold up, like Kuon Nanya?" Carol asked.

"That's Kuon-sama, nya," Nyoan happily purred.

Carol bit her lip. Literally just a few days prior, the Japanese chess federation had held a last-minute qualification tournament for the women's national chess team. This decision was spurned largely by Mimoko Inoue's rapid rise in the chess world and the disappearance of Hagemi Shousen, the world's top female chess player and 8th best overall, at least publicly. In reality, 7 secret super grandmasters all with ratings over 3000 were the true top players in the world, with the honor of top female player in the world being held by 3300-rated maestro Amelia Stavanger of Norway.

Maestros were normally forbidden from competitive play, but the WWCF had decided to reverse that and now decided whether maestros could participate in tournaments on a case by case basis. As for the tournament in question, the prestigious Chess Olympics, set to be held in a little over a week in Budapest, Hungary, maestros had been given the all clear to participate, with all national federations, with the exception of Japan, immediately slotting them to their teams if they had one.

Japan had instead required it's maestro, Maestro Himitsu, to participate in the women's qualification tournament just like everyone else, which she had no trouble winning with a perfect score. There were only 5 spots on the team though, meaning only 4 spots remained up for grabs. Mimoko and Iori easily secured 2 of them, and with how things had been going, Kuon looked as though she'd barely scrape by, until she was matched against Mimoko and suffered a soul crushing defeat, resulting in her just missing out thanks to tie-breaks.

Furious that a spot that had previously been reserved for her had now been lost to Mimoko, she cut a deal with an influential American politician and chess player, Agatha Broadstone, resulting in her now representing America's women's team in the Chess Olympics. The news had a negative effect on Mimoko as she was constantly beating herself up for dooming Kuon's chances, even though it was no fault of her own.

But if Kuon's self-proclaimed servant was here, it was possible Kuon might have a hand in all this.

"So where is Kuon?" Carol asked.

"America, nya," Nyoan dejectedly sighed, her hairless cattail slowly lowering between her legs.

"She order this?"

"No, nya."

"Uh, mind filling us in on who this "Kuon" is?" Serika growled.

"Later. First we gotta get out of this mess. With some chess I assume?"

Nyoan immediately lit up as she pulled out her DESPER. "Perfect, nya! Now how about an odds match- Oh wait, I heard your rating's too low for that, nya. Oh well, I should be able to beat you normally then, nya."