The mastermind

Regrouping inside the hotel, Iori was given immediate medical attention. No permanent damage was done, though Iori would have to take it easy for a few days. 

"Ugh, I'll just wear long sleeves," were her words upon hearing the news. 

Thanks to Peter, Daria was in the care of the WWCF medical team, while Haruki had been shipped off to the local hospital. Yuzuha was luckily en route back so she wouldn't have encounter him. Kotora's remains were collected by Ichimitsu, who left the hotel just as quickly as he had shown up. He hadn't even said a word to Mimoko, though perhaps Mimoko was in no shape to hear words from anyone as she locked herself in her hotel room. As for Okisato, his priority was dealing with the instigators of this. 

Requesting an audience with Raymond, Himitsudono obliged and warped him over to WWCF HQ with him. There, he was led to a conference room, where Raymond awaited him along with a bespectacled blue-haired woman in a blue latex overcoat and heels. 

"So you've come to discuss recent events with me. I've already gathered the gist of it from Peter's written complaint. So, what say you?" Raymond asked. 

"First off, I want to inform you of a traitor amongst the SPCMs, the maestros as well."

"SPCM Himitsusan, Safumi Bouzi, yes? We received a hysterical report from SPCM Himitsutan accusing her of murdering SPCM Himitsuue."

"I thought she was killed by one of the piece of shit's proxies." 

"Correct, but SPCM Himitsusan was reported to be the one that activated the DESPER, forcing SPCM Himitsuue into the DESPER match with Elijah Johnson." 

Okisato raised an eyebrow, but was unable to raise a point as Raymond shifted the conversation to Xiao Lin. 

"I have not heard anything in regards to Maestro Xiao Lin. So she now has a DESPER?" 

"Yes and according to Inoue-senpai, she kidnapped her brother and activated the DESPER for her match against Himi." 

Raymond pulled out his WWCF card and spun around so Okisato couldn't get a good glimpse at what he was looking up. However, Okisato did manage to catch that the color of the card was purple, and just like Himitsudono said, his rating was 2999. 

"So this is worthy of my anger. Come. We'll go visit SPCM Himitsusan."

...

"The hell you accusing me of!?" Safumi fumed as she laid in bed in a room at the WWCF medical facility. 

"YOU MURDERED TAIRA!" Tenju tearfully shouted as staffers held her back. 

Slam!

"I shall preside over the matter," Raymond declared as he arrived with Okisato and Himitsudono. 

Safumi's mood further worsened as she laid eyes on Okisato. 

"Don't give me that look. I might be able to prove your innocence."

"Oh? You have proof?" Raymond asked. 

"Safumi didn't leave this room, yes?"

"Well, she was always here when we arrived, but she could have snuck off in intervals," a nurse stated. 

"I can't see out of my left side well thanks to gorilla arm next to me, so no clue if she's really been laying here the whole time," Doraaki snarled as she laid with a bruised face and broken leg in the bed next to Safumi's. 

"Oh, thank you!" Safumi fumed. 

"Himitsusan, how much can you bench?" Okisato asked. 

"Huh!? 200 easy!" 

"So could you carry a woman on your shoulder?" 

Safumi scowled and threw off her blanket, revealing her thin legs. "When I'm out n' about, I'm stuck wearing braces. That's why I wear a long dress. Sure I can bench 200, but that's cuz I'm laying on a bench. If I need to use my legs for support, I'll crumple like paper."

"As I thought."

"HUH!? The hell did I need to explain things for!?"

"One final question; e4, c5, b4, c captures b4, a3, what is that?" 

"Huh!? Shit, ain't it?"

"The name of the opening." 

"THE HELL!? I don't know that shit!"

"E4, e5, knight f3, knight c6, bishop b5. The opening's name?"

"Ruy something. I know SOME opening names."

"Good enough. Now we just wait until the DESPER is recharged to save Inoue-senpai's mother," Okisato nodded as he turned and left. 

"Wh- What the hell did you just say?"

Okisato turned back around to notice Safumi's entire demeanor had changed. She actually looked horrified and not just her, Doraaki and Tenju as well. 

"The maestro... Taira tried to warn me. Through her memories-"

"A fake, right? She was someone named Himi, who worked at the hotel salon."

"I'll kill her."

...

Ai turned as Raymond and co entered the salon. "And what brings you all in?"

"An employee named "Himi"."

Ai scowled and gestured towards a chair. There sat a woman garbed in the same clothes Himi had been wearing, although her head appeared to be completely encased in wax. 

"I found her like this. And well, the wax is covering her nostrils. My guess is she's dead under here," she sighed as she slowly ripped off the wax. 

Indeed, Himi was in fact dead, but not just that, she was completely hairless, all her teeth were gone, her eyes were gouged out, even her hands had been scorched, burning off the skin that could have been used to identify her via fingerprints. 

"This looks way to suspicious. What a crafty woman. Seems she might really be maestro-level in a sense," Okisato thought. 

...

The next day, the skies were just as cloudy as they had been the evening prior. Unwilling to compete in the tournament, Mimoko trudged into the Triple cedar hotel salon with her head hung low.

"You don't look good. Want to talk with me?" Michiko asked as she approached Mimoko.

"...Yeah."

Michiko embraced Mimoko in a warm hug. "Don't worry, I'll be here for you whenever you need me," she smiled as Mimoko bawled her eyes out.

...

Mimoko trembled as she found herself staring at the very place she had been nearly 12 hours ago.

"My apologies. I thought this would be a nice quiet spot where we could be by ourselves, I didn't realize it was the place your brother was killed," Michiko frowned.

"It's fine... You didn't know," Mimoko trembled.

"I'm so sorry about Himi. I had no idea she was hiding nefarious plans. Though she refused to join the WWCF, she'd always ask me about the names of all the openings... To think I was educating a monster."

"Safumi-chan was with her... Why? Why was she so petty that she'd do all this!?"

"Indeed we were," a new voice growled.

Michiko and Mimoko turned to notice Raymond, Okisato, and Himitsudono.

"Tanabe-kun? Why are you here?" 

"To expose the mastermind behind all this."

"What do you-"

"Oi, you figured it out, huh?" Michiko grinned as she began to sound like Safumi.

"Michiko-chan?"

"Nah, it's me, twintails."

"Safumi-chan!? B- But how!?"

"Cuz I beat Michiko in a little DESPER match, n' now she's my proxy. Unlike Haruki though, she's got an on/off switch for free will."

"Cut the act, Himitsuchan," Okisato glared.

"An act? Pft, I failed drama in high school."

"E4, e5, bishop b5."

"Huh? The Portuguese?"

"E4, e5, knight f3, knight c6, bishop b5?"

"Sicilian Defense: Wing, Marshall Variation. ...!"

"Busted, miss "It's pointless to memorize all the names of the openings"."

Michiko's malicious grin slowly morphed into a scowl as Mimoko began to tremble. "M- Michiko-chan... Don't tell me..."

And then as lightning flashed, the actress shed her mask, letting loose an unsettling smug and distinct smile. "That's right. That "Safumi" you saw, was me the whole time. I was the one that tricked your mother."

Mimoko stared in horror. "H- How could you? HOW COULD YOU!?"

"'How could I'? Simple, I hate her. I hate that bitch, the other SPCMs, and you. That's why I made sure all the punishments would be irreversible."

"I- 'Irreversible'?"

"Yes, it means even if you beat me, NOTHING will be reversed! Your mother will never wake up again! So ready to play?"

As Mimoko began to be overwhelmed by the revelation, Okisato stepped in. "You'll play me, SPCM Himitsuchan," he glared as he pulled out a gold skeleton key.

Michiko’s eyes widened as her DESPER suddenly activated."Wh- What the hell is that!?"

"A prototype I've gifted Okisato Tanabe for field testing," Raymond stated.

"YOU BASTARD!"

“Now should I win, the reversal of the punishment unfairly inflicted upon Daria Inoue as she was deceived into being a spectator and being put in a comatose state should her "teammate", Maestro Xiao Lin, lose to your proxy, Ai Kamuro, shall occur. Not to mention, you, Michiko Azami, shall be subjected to whatever fate, WWCF president Raymond Redfield decrees upon you," Okisato declared.

Michiko's eyes widened a bit more as she stared at her DESPER. "Tch, so he was onto my bluff. Well whatever, he want’s a forced match, I’ll give him one,” she thought as she regained her composure. “When I win, I'll be acknowledged as the true Maestro Himitsu of Japan, and Okisato Tanabe shall be subjected to a cruel death by being impaled several times over by the branches of the tree behind me."

"You a maestro?" Okisato scoffed.

"My true rating should be 3000, since I am maestro material.”

A glass dome then appeared around Michiko and Okisato, sealing them off from the outside.

“It seems the DESPER will allow you to play as white, though it won't do you much good,” Michiko sneered as she sat down at the black end of the chessboard.

"Perfect, then let's begin. I know exactly how I'm going to humiliate you,” Okisato glared.