Chapter 670:

One last game on New Year's Eve

En Passant Grandmaster

At last, New Year's Eve arrived. With everyone gathering at Ryokoma for festivities, things were certainly lively.

"And time for the big announcement! The Ewetube team that will be competing in the World Chess League is about to be revealed!" Iori announced.

"The Stream team, but only two of us can make the team," Carol frowned.

"Milfmilk want to be the under 2000 spot?" Astrid asked.

"Nah, she doesn't play chess, right?" Leona scoffed.

"You don't either."

"She does claim she's good," Madoka noted.

"Ladies, the announcement?" Harumi smiled as she sat in what appeared to be a green latex body suit and a pair of sparkly silver sneakers.

"Ah, the announcement is... We couldn't finalize our lineup in time for the show tonight! That means poor Milfmilk over here gets punished!" Iori declared.

"More like I already am. This "bodysuit"... hot wax."

"And where there is wax, there's also baldness," Astrid smirked as she whipped out a pair of hair clippers. "Leona, I think I want you to advertise me a bit more."

"No! It just grew back to fuzz length!"

"Ladies, a democratic vote; should we wax Leona back to the bald side?"

"Wait, WAX!?"

"Yup," Iori snickered.

"Yup, yup," Carol nodded.

"And my vote of 3 means majority rules, even if the rest vote no," Astrid snickered.

Leona began to angrily pout as gloopy green wax was poured on her head, face and eyebrows. Much to her dismay, she had to endure 3 full rounds of waxing until her head was smooth enough for Astrid's liking.

"And now the main dish. Milfmilk, you ready?" Astrid smiled.

"My head can't be a sparkly ball unless it's smooth like a cue ball," Harumi chuckled as she tied back her hair.

"Then we begin. Leona?"

"Muwahaha! The bald has consumed me! Now you must join the bald side!" Leona cackled as she grabbed a pair of clippers.

The others quickly helped with the shearing, taking 5 minutes before lathering Harumi's now buzzed head and eyebrows with shaving cream and making her smooth. Then came the wax and unwaxing, leaving Harumi 98% nude and 100% hairless.

Once her smoothness was confirmed, makeup teams rushed in and began gluing sparkly silver gems all over her skin. The process took a good few hours, but it was finished well before the midnight hour.

"Seems we still have some time before the countdown," Mimoko smiled.

"Want to play a game?" Okisato asked.

"If we could. Though I don't want to rush things."

Then why not take a look back at an old game and try and chart a different path with it."

"I think I know which game you're thinking of."

...

Once the board was set up, Okisato opened by moving his pawn to c4, while Mimoko responded by moving her pawn to b6. "Seeing you play this move now makes me scratch my head," Okisato stated as he moved his knight to c3.

"I was trying to go for a reverse Nimzo," Mimoko stated as she moved her bishop to b7.

"It paid off as I went e4," Okisato shrugged as he moved his pawn to e4.

"We were playing at rapid speed, so we didn't have lots of time to think," Mimoko chuckled as she moved her pawn to e6.

"Things were somewhat stable though," Okisato noted as e5, d6, and knight f3 quickly showed themselves on the board.

"Yes, but then came the e5 trade," Mimoko frowned as d captures e5 and knight captures e5 were quickly played. "And in my haste, I went f6," she stated as she moved her pawn to f6.

Okisato's gaze narrowed, before he let out a groan. "I missed queen h5."

"Yes, it's ironic that this is the game that got me in Shousen-chan's good graces, yet I played so horribly."

"We were more focused on not getting flagged. And sometimes even a bad move can get you a win as if your opponent is expecting perfect play, a questionable move might throw them off enough to put them at a huge time deficit. And in over-the-board play, you can't pre-move, so you'll have to scramble physically."

"So, are you going to check me, or continue to play out the game as we did back then?"

"Want me to check you?"

"Yes. I want to see if you know how to mate me."

"Alright," Okisato shrugged as he moved his queen to h5.

"Now, what is the next move?" Mimoko asked as she moved her king to e7.

"Queen f7, check," Okisato stated as he moved his queen to f7.

"And that forces king d6. But what comes next?"

"C5, check," Okisato responded as he moved his pawn to c5.

"So good," Mimoko smiled as she captured the pawn at c5 with her king.

"How long has this game been weighing on your mind for?" Okisato asked as he captured the pawn at e6 with his queen.

"Quite a bit, actually," Mimoko stated as she moved her queen to d5.

"Is it because you wonder what might've happened if you lost?" Okisato asked as he captured the queen at d5 with his knight.

"That, and it makes me question if I'm truly worthy of all this praise I've been given," Mimoko meekly smiled as she captured the knight at d5 with her bishop.

Okisato went silent as he moved his pawn to d4, checking Mimoko and prompting her to move her king to b4. "You also had a notable mistake in your game with Shousen-san," he noted as he captured the bishop at d5 with his queen.

"Yes. And though I had a good tournament, I feel it was a bit much to start me off at 2700 and the GM title," Mimoko nodded as she moved her pawn to c5.

"So is this game part of you trying to ease your angsts?" Okisato asked as he moved his queen to c4, checking Mimoko and forcing her king to a5.

"Perhaps," Mimoko smiled as she thought back to her match with Peter at Triple Cedar.

"Then I hope this will help you grow. Checkmate," Okisato nodded as he moved his queen to b5, winning the game.

"Hey! Ball's about to drop! What are you two doing!?" Iori called out.

"We took that long? But it felt so short," Mimoko gasped.

Quickly, the two joined the others and watched as Harumi slowly descended upside-down on a pole alongside a giant ball.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

2025 was here. And the first big event was Harumi getting gunged in syrup and honey before being mummified and laid on a table. Iori and Mimoko also caused a scene by both managing to kiss Okisato on the lips at the same time, inadvertently making lip contact with each other.

"Inoue-senpai... I didn't take you for the horny type," Okisato grumbled.

"I- It's just your reward for the game," Mimoko huffed as her face went red.

"Harem, harem," Iori chanted.

"Mmph ngh mmph mmph ngh mmph ngh mmph [I can lobby the PM to legalize polygamy]," Harumi giggled as she managed to hop over to the three, still mummified.

"Hey, no running away, mummy. We still gotta encase you in sticky strings," Astrid smirked as she began dragging Harumi back to the table.

"Looks like 2025 will be just as eventful as this year. But that also means there's only a few months left until Inoue-senpai and Iori-chan graduate," Okisato thought as he stared up at the ball.

The full game:

White: Okisato Tanabe (2802) Black: Mimoko Inoue (2870)

1. c4 b6

2. Nc3 Bb7

3. e4 e6

4. e5 d6

5. Nf3 dxe5

6. Nxe5 f6

7. Qh5+ Ke7

8. Qf7+ Kd6

9. c5+ Kxc5

10. Qxe6 Qd5