Epilogue

Daria rose and began applauding Mimoko. "Well done. You have now become the 4th person to best me."

"Who was the first? The WWCF president? A maestro?"

"My, asking questions already. Well you've earned that much, so I'll tell you that the 1st person to beat me is the strongest of all the maestros. Amongst all the maestros I'm second only to one," Daria smiled as she began to blush. "Now, pull out your WWCF card."

Mimoko did as instructed while Daria pulled out her own WWCF card. "By my authority as one of the 7 secret chess maestros, I hereby certify that you, Mimoko Inoue have truly and legally bested me in a game of chess, and cleared all the trials I set forth," Daria stated as a badge appeared on Mimoko's WWCF card. "Since you beat me, you can rematch me at any time for just 10 points. Plus, you can choose whether or not to implement the challenge I placed on you. This means, you'll be able to play me as white now too, but don't think it will be any easier. Second, you get a nice 10,000 points for beating me. And finally, should you so desire to play me in a casual game, I shall oblige," Daria smiled as Mimoko immediately hugged her.

"Thank you, Okaa-chan. It means a lot to me," Mimoko tearfully smiled.

After embracing each other in a hug, Mimoko headed for the sofa to sit down and watch as Peter challenged Daria to a match.

"I want you to play as black, in fact, I'm actually hoping you'll humor me in the game," Peter grinned.

"Up to something, most likely a meme play. Very well, I shall humor you just this once," Daria nodded as the board reset.

Peter than sat down and moved his pawn to e4, before hovering his hand over his king.

"You're going to perform the bongcloud, yes?" Daria sighed as she moved her pawn to e5.

"Yes, but I'm hoping you oblige," Peter chuckled as he moved his king to e2.

"Wait, are you asking the maestro to perform the Double Bongcloud!?" Himitsudono asked.

"Yes, I believe he is," Daria scowled.

"Why the scowl? Top players tend to play wild openings to liven up the game. In fact, ever since Magnus Carleson and Hikaru Nakamura performed the Double Bongcloud in an official match, I've been wondering what a serious game would be like from that point forward, and in the process, I thought of something amazing," Peter grinned.

"Very well, show it to me," Daria sighed as she moved her king to e7.

"First, we must mirror each other for two more moves, then we go wild," Peter stated as he moved his queen to e1.

"And what is that?" Daria asked as she moved her queen to e8.

"I call it the Bongcloud Circus Game," Peter grinned as he moved his king to d1.

"A circus? Because of the insanity?" Daria asked as she moved her king to d7.

"Correct. Not only did we start with a Double Bongcloud, but also a king and queen swap. Truly a circus of insanity, hence why I dub this opening, "The Bongcloud Circus Game". Now, let us begin for real."

The two ended up playing seriously from that point forward which eventually led to a draw.

"Today was a bountiful day," Peter chuckled as he began to head out.

"Because Inoue-senpai won and you got to play the maestro?" Okisato asked.

"More than that, the fool has cast aside her mask and shown her mad prowess. In fact, why don't we have a little bout," Peter snickered as he approached Iori.

"Lol, nah."

Peter, however, didn't seem phased in the slightest, almost as if he expected the answer. "Just so you know, the league is aware of your talent," he stated before he left.

"Yeah, I got it," Iori grumbled as she pulled up her WWCF card. 

"Ah, we never really got to compare ratings. I guess we should all do so now," Okisato nodded. 

With the tournament over, everyone had naturally seen their ratings increase despite some not fully participating in all the rapid rounds. Other matches that had been factored into everyone's rating included bouts with the SPCMs, Haruki and his proxies, and naturally Maestro Himitsu. That being said, Iori's rating of 1188 she got from the tournament's completion hadn't bumped up even a point following her win over Himitsudono, though at least she had a badge from beating him. 

Okisato on the other hand had gotten his 2600 rating thanks mainly to him beating Daria, though him winning the rapid despite nearly missing a round due to Michiko was also a factor in play. Mimoko had managed to increase her rating to 2730, thanks mainly to her beating Daria. As for the others, Rodeo had managed to rebound enough in the rapid to end things off with a rating of 500 even, while Utami's had climbed up to 1500, encroaching on Yuusuke's 1600. Yuzuha hadn't seen any change in her rating of 350, though given the circumstances, it made sense. Numakawa on the other hand had dropped in rating down to 400 after a disastrous run in both the blitz and rapid. As for Maida, she didn't compete at all, so her rating didn't change. 

"And now that business is done, we MUST depart," Maida sternly glared as she began to usher everyone towards the exit.  

                                                                                                                                                                                  "Ugh, I'll have to save up my points for that warping ability," Mimoko thought.

...

"Mimoko! Come eat your breakfast!" Daria hollered.

"Yes, yes. I gotta get to school, though," Mimoko grumbled.

With the principal's death and Kazuya still MIA, Utami had returned to her place, though was always welcome to come back anytime she wished. However, with the loss of Kotora still eating at Mimoko, she felt it was best to give everyone some time to breath without her presence.  Though things had been fine when Mimoko returned home last night, this morning, grief once again took hold of her as she stared at Kotora's empty chair. 

"You don't need to keep blaming yourself for what happened to Kotora," Daria frowned as Mimoko plopped down at the table. 

"I played too good, or rather I was negligent and forgot he would die if his piece was captured or promoted. In fact, I was so focused I even forgot he was in the piece until it was too late. He was screaming in pain, hurling insults at me. I still have nightmares about seeing him strewn about the place screaming in pain as he bleeds to death. He didn't deserve it. Chess was not the world he wanted to be a part of, yet that world gruesomely killed him."

Daria closed her eyes. "Mimoko, underground chess matches have existed for centuries. They've only become more frequent due to being easier to pull off thanks to the DESPERS. Perhaps if they didn't exist, the games where people are imprisoned in pieces would not come to be."

"How much do you know about the DESPERs?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you much."

"Because of the maestro rule?"

"No, because I truly do not know much about them, or at the least, I'm positive you already know of all the knowledge I possess on the DESPERS. Though if there is anything you don't already know, it's that the WWCF was involved in their creation."

"Wait, if that's true then how come the maestros don't know about it!?"

"The maestros are only the secret top chess players in the world, not the members of the WWCF's executive board."

"The executive board knows?"

"Well, they're the super secret policy makers, so it makes sense they'd be privy to all the WWCF's secrets."

"What about the Ultima-master?"

Daria began to scowl. "That is the president's pet-project. I guess you could consider it a pseudo maestro. And before you ask, yes I've beaten it, but it has a protocol that prevents its destruction if a maestro or Desperado league member beats it."

"Protocol?"

"Well, I won't spoil that surprise for you. Though I will say that it was created before the DESPERs hit the scene. Gunnerson was actually the one that implemented the DESPERs into the Ultima-master as a way to protect it."

"Mr. Gunnerson?"

"Yeah, though I honestly don't know much more beyond that. Welp, that's all I got. Now before you head off to school... "

Mimoko's eyes widened as Daria placed a chessboard on the table and quickly set up the pieces. 

"So wanna play and chat over breakfast?" Daria asked as she sat down and moved her knight to f3.

Mimoko smiled and sat down at the table. "Okaa-chan, I've wanted to do this for a long time," she smiled as she moved her pawn to e6 and began eating her breakfast.

"Now everything's good," Ichimitsu nodded as he read his paper.

"And you were just doing as you pleased while everything happened. YOU I haven't forgiven," Mimoko glared.

"Don't worry dear, she'll eventually forgive you. After all, you truly did do a lot behind the scenes," Daria smiled.

[Volume 2 End]