A host of encounters

After felling another challenger, Okisato returned to his seat just as a new group took the stage. This time it was both the Austrian men's team and three members of the Austrian women's team.

"Attention! I am Maestro Muigg, and today, I... and these... accompanying instruments, shall play some of the music from our nation's storied past," a man with wild gray hair proclaimed.

The group began playing without anyone else being introduced, prompting Okisato to have to look everyone up via his WWCF card. He already knew about Wolfgang, so he moved onto the balding man with a mustache.

"Konrad Joppich, 2601. It says he's the reserve member."

Moving on to the man with wild purple hair, Okisato learned his name was Hansjorg Dopfer, a 2559-rated grandmaster. Next up was the only other man Okisato didn't know the name of. His name turned out to be Utto Kornhuber, with his rating being 2556, and holding the grandmaster title like the others.

As for Maestro Muigg himself, it turned out he was not a 3000-rated maestro, but his first name was listed as "Maestro". His rating of 2704 was nothing to scoff at though, proving he most certainly was a formidable force in the chess world.

As for the three women, the one with a pirple side shave turned out to be 2302-rated Almuth Pircher, a name Okisato had in fact heard of, but not within chess.

"If I recall correctly, she's been listed as a composer on numerous movies and shows. She's also got connections here in Japan as she's composed the soundtracks for quite a few animes. Hmm, then could one of the two blonde women be Arii Eyepeltauer?"

Arii Eyepeltauer was a famous Japanese-Austrian voice actress, who also dabbled with the violin. Okisato was a fan of her works, and listened to her podcast, but he didn't know she was competing on the Austrian women's team. Then again, he hadn't exactly been keeping up with her podcast due to all the prep work he himself was doing for the Chess Olympics.

That meant the reaming woman was 2208-rated Isolde Oberleitner. With Arii's rating only being 1847, it naturally got Okisato curious about the other two members of the team. And coincidentally, both walked by, causing Okisato to unintentionally see their profiles. The bald girl covered in what appeared to be various purple tattoos was named Friedl Muigg, and had a rating of 2176 and title of women's candidate master. With her surname being the same as Maestro's and Wolfgang's, it begged the question of what the dynamics were between them, but Okisato was more drawn to the final member of the team. She was only rated 1871, but Okisato recognized her as Matsuba Yuhi, a famous Japanese voice actress and close friend of Arii.

"Yuhi-san's on the Austrian team? How'd that come to be? Come to think of it, how'd Arii-san manage to get on with her rating being under 2000? Austria's the type of country you'd expect to have at least 5 female players above 2000, so how'd she get on the team? And more mysteriously, how did Yuhi-san get on the team?"

The mystery would have to wait as a girl suddenly tumbled into the table, spilling drinks everywhere.

"Iyaaaah! Don't slam me into the table again, Meelis!" Õnne moaned as she began licking up the spilled drinks.

"So did "Meelis" take note I was sitting here before you threw yourself into the table?" Okisato growled.

Õnne's blissful expression vanished instantly as a scowl overtook her face. "Oh, it's you. Well no matter, I'll be leaving."

"ÕNNE!" a voice shouted.

Õnne rolled her eyes as a group of 5 men marched up behind her.

"Õnne, the hell are you saying about me!?" a stout middle-aged man with wavy brunette hair and a goatee snarled.

"Huh? Nothing, you fat old pig. Now piss off. I'm on date IRL!" Õnne squealed as she suddenly began hugging Okisato.

Okisato quickly maneuvered out of her grip and began storming away. However, two large young men, both blonde and looking almost identical to one another blocked his way.

"Sit down and... talk," they eerily smiled as they began shoving Okisato back.

"GYAAAAH! M- My wife... It's my wife! Save me!" a man with long gray hair trembled as he hid behind a miserable looking middle-aged man.

"Kühvel, your wife is dead. We all buried her, so we know she ain't coming back to get ya," the man sighed.

"L- Look over there!"

The man turned, but to his shock and horror, there stood a woman with black hair, pale gray skin, and black eyes with glowing pink irises. The girl most certainly was a zombie, but not of Kühvel's wife. Rather, she was simply Turakina Khatun of the Mongolian women's team.

As for Kühvel Hauakaevaja, he was a timid man who once had an abusive wife. One day, his wife finally died, and he was thrilled, but every night after burying her, he had nightmares of her. Worse, he was the town gravedigger so he was always in close proximity to his wife's body, only fueling his paranoia.

As for the man he was cowering behind, his name was Georg Rõivas, Maila's father. He was a grandmaster and farmer that believed his daughter, Maila, would become the world's savior. The town he lived in also believed in Maila, including the two twin boys, Feliks and Paavo Sokk, as well as the angry middle-aged man.

As Okisato tried to force his way past Feliks and Paavo, the two suddenly parted, only for the middle-aged man to now block Okisato's path. "The hell are you, and the hell did you corrupt my daughter with!?"

"And you are?" Okisato glared.

"Meelis Sokk!"

"Meelis?"

It was then that all the dots connected. "Ah, do you've got family issues, Õnne-chan," Okisato nodded as he turned towards an Onee trying to stealthily escape.

"Tch, was hoping you wouldn't find out. But guess I'll do the introductions. The pig's Meelis Sokk, the inspiration for my precious Meelis. And the creepy twins, my shitty little brothers. Brats act like they're straight out of a horror movie 24/7, and seem to always be with each other too. And the other two... irrelevant."

Both Kühvel and Georg appeared greatly hurt by the comment and sunk to the floor in depression.

"You brat, technology's corrupted you. We used to all be a nice happy village, then you got a damn smartphone and the damn thing brainwashed you!" Meelis fumed.

"Maila's also starting to grow distant... She's the savior though... But she's still got a good heart... But she's been avoiding me... Why?" Georg trembled.

"Maybe because she lost her game, dipshit. If you won't use your smartphone, use your WWCF card to watch the matches," Õnne snarled.

"Y- You used to be so nice too... Why do all women end up like this..."

"Because you're pathetic, that's why. The whole damn town is. That's why I left it for the city. Now piss off and let me enjoy my date."

"Like hell! That thing you made's a damn mockery of me, your own father! YOU TRYIN' TO SLANDER ME AS SOME ABUSIVE SEX HOG!?" Meelis roared.

"Yes. Oh, but I also made his voice a bit of a mixture between Feliks and Paavo. Really goes to show how much I hate archaic assholes like you."

Okisato meanwhile, had heard enough of this squabble and wanted to leave, but both Feliks and Paavo were blocking him once more. "Do you want me to destroy you in 6B?" Okisato glared as he cracked his knuckles.

"We could take a scrawny bean like you," the twins grinned in unison.

As the three stared each other down, Kühvel decided to look Okisato up on his WWCF card, and as soon as he did, he went pale. "F- Feliks! Paavo! Let that guy go! He'll destroy us all if we anger him further!"

Everyone turned and gathered round, growing equally as pale when they saw Okisato's profile.

"Hah!? 2700!? Uh... Oh no," Meelis trembled as Okisato cracked his knuckles.

"How about a 5 versus 1?"

Everyone began to sweat, before Feliks suddenly pointed at the stage. "Uh, we're up next! Sorry, but we gotta play!" he nervously smiled as everyone took the cue and ran off.

There was some truth to Feliks' word as the 5 grabbed their accordions and went up on stage to perform the Estonian folk song, Kui mina ükskord noores eas võtsin vana naise.

"Huh, now those are some interesting lyrics. So, care to explain why you dragged me into your problems?" Okisato asked as he stared down Õnne.

Õnne smirked and shrugged, intentionally jiggling her breasts in the process. "Just a little coincidence. Perhaps, I was just testing your manhood."

"Always the difficult one," Okisato grumbled.

"I've always been difficult. It's my whole character trait, thank you very much."

"A trait you should rock with pride. Show them you're a girl with no restraints," a voice giggled.

Okisato and Õnne turned to come face to face with a completely hairless girl in a pink kimono and white sneakers. The woman was flanked by a purple-haired girl in a mask and hoodie on one side, and a blonde-haired girl with half her head shaved and tattooed on the other.

A quick search on the WWCF card revealed the three to be Azerbaijan's Aydan Bülbül, Dinara Pərdə, and Afag Taghiyeva, respectively.

"And what's the pleasure of this encounter?" Õnne asked.

"Just passin' by. Keep up the freedom, girl," Aydan smiled as she strolled away.

Aydan Bülbül was the daughter of Azerbaijan's president as well as the self proclaimed "bad bitch of Baku", and a free spirit. "Liberation" was her favorite word as she believed liberation to be the key to freedom and living your life as you pleased. If she wanted to do something, she'd do it. Skateboarding, shaving her head, playing chess, or even helping others achieve "liberation", Aydan believed the freedom to choose what you want to do with your life was the key to humanity's happiness. As a result of her worldview, a cult had begun to form around her.

Her popularity had even surpassed her father's both domestically and abroad, even putting her in contention for a Nobel peace prize for her activism. She wasn't without her skeptics though.

As Aydan and her group strolled away, a bald goth girl covered in tattoos named, Aigul Orujova watched from afar. "Aydan... I won't let you pull the wool over anyone else's eyes," she thought.