Groggy mosquito

"Now I expect you to get rest. You're still not 100%, so no exploring," Maida glared as she headed out.

Naturally, Iori had no intentions of adhering to that and after a few minutes had passed, began to sneak out of the room. There was still a chance Maida could have anticipated this, and could be hiding nearby, but the coast appeared clear until...

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Maida's voice rang out.

Iori darted back inside, but to her surprise, the shout wasn't directed at her. Peeking out, she noticed Maida confronting a woman with short orange hair. And behind the two laid Azenira and Ryonosuke, both looking incredibly queasy.

"They were each reported to have been found in different sections of the hall. Apparently, they've been vomiting non-stop," the orange-haired woman replied.

"And just who are you!?"

"Dr. Yllka Sulejmani. I'm a doctor by day, but I am here as a member of the Albanian women's team."

Maida didn't doubt the woman's veracity, but that still didn't alleviate her anxiety with the whole situation. Iori meanwhile quickly threw on a jacket before tying her laces and sprinting for the lobby, sneezing occasionally as she ran.

As she reached the lobby, she noticed the bus leaving and quickly charged for it, leaping onto an open window and hanging on for dear life.

"Well that's a crazy one," Jochi chuckled as Jad summoned some boney horses.

One too many it seemed. But it's purpose became clear as Jad ripped it's skull off and used it to replace the one he had shattered yesterday. And then, the Mongols began riding, spooking Iori even more.

"WHAT THE FUCK!? LET ME IN! THERE'S CRAZY MONGOLS AFTER ME!"

Unfortunately for Iori, the one at the window seat was Alice Utsugi, someone who hated her.

"Think I'll just close the window. The weather looks bad."

But as she prepared to do so, Alya leaned over from the seat behind to stop her. "No way! We gotta help Iori-chan!"

But Alya's involvement drew the ire of a third party.

"Get away from that French girl, you fucking backstabber!" Anastasia shouted as she dove over from the seat in front and began wrestling with Alya, not only blocking Iori from climbing up through the window, but also squishing Alice between them.

"Hey! Get off my sister!" Mimosa yelled as she jumped into the tussle.

The Mongols meanwhile began to catch up, prompting Iori to just go for it, mustering all her strength to launch herself up through the window, bonking into everyone and sending them, including herself, to the floor of the bus.

Alice began trembling as she stared at the spectacle before her. Not only was Iori now on top of Mimosa, but their lips had locked too, causing Mimosa to tear up as Iori quickly got off her.

"Th- THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER!?" Alice shouted.

"Relax, I was wearing a mask so- ...!?"

Iori went pale as she realized her mask had slipped down, meaning her lips had in fact made direct contact with Mimosa's. "Ah fuck."

Alice slapped her aside and immediately leaned down to kiss Mimosa, claiming she was "sanitizing" her lips, as onlookers stared in shock.

Iori meanwhile began to go a bit pale as she realized what her kiss could mean. "Fuck, I'm gonna get detentioned hard."

...

At the playing hall,  Daria paced anxiously as Xiao Lin and Xiu shot her smug grins.

"Ah, is maestro Himitsu nervous? What a riot!" Xiao Lin cackled.

"That's rich coming from the woman with a mouth for taunting, and a hobby for fleeing. But this time I'm going to humiliate you, "partner"."

"'Partner'!? Since when did you get the delusion I'd ever consider you a companion?"

"That makes two of us, so why the hell was I considered your "partner" back in mid-August!?"

Xiao Lin raised a browless eyebrow that now had an eyebrow drawn over it. "Who knows, but it worked at the time, so that's all that matters."

"I heard what the boy did to you, and you deserved it. But it isn't enough to satisfy my anger with you. Xiao Lin, I'm going to humiliate you."

Xiao Lin's smug demeanor began to change as a scowl quickly dominated her face. Xiu on the other hand only grew smugger as she panned her field of vision from Mimoko, to Tenju, and then to the empty seat at board 4 across from Jia.

"And it'll be 1-1, 2-1 after Bao crushes that ironing board pipsqueak. So Mimo, wanna draw?" Xiu taunted."

"No. And second, where are you getting your numbers from?" Mimoko glared.

"Duh, Xiao Lin loses, you forfeit on time at board 4, and Bao beats Himitsutan!"

"Well numbers are off, cuz- ACHOO! Ugh, cuz I'm here," Iori grumbled as she trudged over.

Normally, everyone would have been upset that Iori was here instead of resting, but a sick Iori on board 4 was better than nothing.

"No, Xiu's match is perfect. There's not a chance I'd lose to a sick bitch like this," Jia gleefully scoffed.

"Please, I'm 69% at worse," Iori snarled as she plopped down in the seat across from Jia.

As for Tenju, she found herself staring at Bao. Normally, Bao was a woman of few words off the chessboard, but this time, she had unstitched her mouth in order to have a proper conversation with Tenju.

"So now that you have Taira's talent, you think you can actually match me? Rubbish. You're nothing but a pathetic leech, hiding behind women stronger than you. And now, you're usurping your sister's legacy with stolen strength!? You disgust me, Himitsutan."

Bao had a history with both Tenju and Taira. When the two first set up their secret puzzle cafe, they were often accosted by unsavory folks. By chance, someone that was visiting the cafe requested a match with Bao, who upon warping over, quickly put all the unsavory folks in check with her intimidating appearance. This led to the three getting to know each other, and Bao to end up popping by occasionally to help put Tenju and Taira at ease. But the more she came, the more she noticed Tenju's insecurities and Taira's reluctance to leave her sister's side.

Like Alice, she began resenting Tenju following Taira's death, but unlike her, didn't fully blame her for the incident as her own boss, Xiao Lin, had played a central role in the grand scheme.

Tenju let out a sigh. "I don't blame you. But you got some things wrong. My SPCM name is no longer Himitsutan. I've always hated that stupid nickname. It was nothing but a representation of the petite clingy detriment I once was to Taira. And I am NOT usurping her legacy or stealing her strength. I'm merely a vessel for her prowess that has been passed on to me. Henceforth, I am SPCM Himitsuue: Tenju Kuroshiro."

Daria closed her eyes and held her head down. She was honestly surprised this was what Tenju had wanted to discus last night, but when she heard her reasoning, it all made sense. "SPCM Himitsuue was Taira's title. She wants to cast aside her own legacy in order to further her sister's. I never intended on passing Taira's title, nor any of the past SPCMs onto the new ones. But I understand why Tenju wants to do this. She still feels guilt. I do too. Thus, the least I can do is allow her to take Taira's title of Himitsuue. Now, she just needs to prove she's worthy of it and carrying Taira's legacy."

Bao began gritting her teeth in fury as she pulled out a rubber gag ball and put it on. "Tenju, you're cruising for a massive bruising. Out of the gate, I'm going to be non-stop aggressive," she thought.

And as the round began, Tenju opened her game by moving her pawn to d4, with Bao moving her knight out to f6. Deciding to best play things safe, Tenju moved her bishop to f4, hoping to go for a London System, but Bao put a halt to that by moving her pawn to c5. All the while gnawing ferociously on her rubber gag ball as if she was a dog with a chew toy. Tenju knew how to handle this though and boldly moved her pawn forward to d5, but then came the aggression Bao had promised in the form of queen to b6, sending Tenju into a deep think.

Bao wasn't the only one seeking to completely crush her foe. Despite her flirtatious smile, a great darkness was lurking in Xiu. It was akin to the jealousy and resentment Xiao Lin felt towards Daria, except Xiu had managed to keep it in check.

"Nothing to worry about, girl. You're the queen. All ya gotta do is grind her to a draw at worse. Bao and Jia got this, and worst case scenario, I make a win to pull us even. Sorry Xiao Lin, you're gonna lose no matter what, so at least take solace in the fact that I'll be spearheading the effort to carry your ass," she thought as she opened her game against Mimoko by moving her pawn to e4.

At the strategy meeting last night, Mimoko was heavily advised to push for a draw, but her mother's anxiety towards Xiu had actually had the opposite effect on Mimoko.

"If Mei-mo-chan is truly as strong as okaa-chan believes her to be, then there's no need to hold back. I'd love for her to be a proper rival," Mimoko thought as she moved her pawn to c5.

"Oh my, is that a Sicilian? Mimo wants to play hardball? Oh, now I can truly step all over you, and show all watching why I, the women's world chess champion, am THE queen of chess!" she thought as she moved her knight to f3.

Speaking of Mimoko's mother, Daria wasted no time in opening the game by moving her pawn to e4, as Xiao Lin responded by moving her pawn to d5. Daria instantly captured said pawn with her e-pawn, but rather than recapture with her queen, Xiao Lin instead moved her knight out to f6.

"Oh how kind, now humiliating you will be that much easier," Daria thought as she moved her knight to f3.

Xiao Lin captured the pawn at d5 with her knight, but Daria had already expected that and moved her pawn to d4.

"You must be over the moon thinking you've got the edge since I went for the Modern variation. Well tough luck! I'm about to prove why I'm better than you!" Xiao Lin thought as she moved her pawn to g6.

Things were also getting wild in the commentator's booth.

"We got our first maestro vs maestro clash of the tournament, and sparks are flying!" Laila proclaimed as Daria moved her knight to c3.

"Tell me about it. This tournament takes on a whole different meaning when you're in the commentator's booth instead of on the floor. But this girl's got to see a bird's eye view of it all once, and what better time to do it than when the maestros clash!?" Kisha grinned as Xiao Lin moved her bishop to g7.

"And you're getting your money's worth. This is classical time control, but those two are playing like it's blitz. Our computers are having trouble keeping up with the live moves," Laila nervously chuckled.

Indeed, the best way to get an idea of how the game was going was to look at the live feed of the players themselves, or better yet, the overhead view of the board.

"Crazy how many cameras ya got around the joint. Oh, that reminds me, the roof here really sucks. It broke twice in two days and soaked two players. One was Japan's Iori Ishikiridokoro, who appears to have caught a cold thanks to the soaking, yet here she is marching on. Can we go to that game real quick?"

Laila scowled and stared at the state of the Daria vs Xiao Lin game. If the game was showing signs of slowing down, she might have been more inclined to at least pan out the camera, but the two had already reached the 20th move despite barely any time having passed. H3, a king's side castle, bishop e2, c5, d5, bishop f5, and a king's side castle had just come in, even though the live game was far beyond that point.

"Sorry, you'll have to slide down to the others to see if they'll humor you. The maestro match is the marquee event of the day, and we can't shift focus, especially with how fast those two are playing. Heck, our computer feed still isn't up to date! Knight captures e4, bishop captures e4, rook e1, knight d7, and whoa! Eval bar's shifting more towards Maestro Himitsu."

"That reminds me, why do we refer to her as "Maestro Himitsu" when she's got a proper name?"

"It's what's listed on her WWCF card. Though, you can change your name pretty easily. Not to mention, her real name likely is stored in the files as apparently she used to be a professional player before becoming a maestro."

"Now that's a lore drop. Ah! More moves incoming! Knight d2, f5, f3, bishop captures d5, c captures d5, WAIT! That's a whole bishop, Xiao Lin just trapped and lost!"

"Yes, and worse, the live feed seems to suggest the two are closing in on the 30th move, and the computer's only at move 15 with knight b6 being the latest one on our screen. Ugh, Danny's on the floor today, so we can't ask him to try and make sense of things, and since those two are playing so fast, we might not be able to get special guest, Judit Polgar in to commentate before it's over."

But a break in the action occurred as Xiao Lin got up to walk around. Though difficult to see, she was wielding a translucent cane, as she hobbled around. This break in the action gave the commentators the chance to catch up to the action.

"So seems like f4, queen captures d5, a-rook d8, queen c2, e6, knight f3, bishop d4, bishop f1, queen d7, bishop d2, queen e7, queen b3, knight d5, knight captures d4, and c captures d4, leads us to the current position!" Laila declared.

"Talk about intense, and look at the eval bar, it's completely in Maestro Himitsu's favor."

"For now at least, Kisha. Maestro Himitsu is up a pawn, and has the edge, but things can change at the drop of a hat," Laila stated as Daria moved her bishop to c4.

"Oh good, the updates are live again."

"But for how long remains to be seen. Though I'll be keeping an eye on the live feed just in case those two pick up the pace again.

At the board, Xiao Lin scowled as she sat back down and moved her queen to f7. She knew this position was losing, but she would never resign to the woman she envied so much.

But while things were looking good on board 1, there was trouble at board 4. Jia had opened the game by moving her pawn to d4, to which Iori responded to by moving her pawn to e5, going for the Englund gambit. Jia had captured the pawn at e5 with her d-pawn, but instead of going knight c6, Iori had instead moved her queen to h4.

This was known as the Mosquito gambit. If Iori were in top form, there would be nothing to worry about, but not only was she still sick, but that combined with the events from this morning had put great strain on her mind.

And for Jia, that was the best news she had all day. "What an idiot. Well, this is what happens when you try and field a sick player. They blunder, blunder, blunder," she thought as she moved her knight to f3.

Iori let out a sneeze and wiped her eyes as she stared at the board. "Ugh, what am I doing? Damn calculator's all busted so I should be playing something safer. Ugh," she thought as she glanced around.