Off to the mysterious tournament

At an undisclosed location, Mama rabbit met up with Bon. "Have you finalized things?" she asked.

"We wouldn't be sending out summons for the tournament if we hadn't," Bon scoffed as he cleaned a glass.

"We have some interesting participants, courtesy of me."

"Maestro Xiao Lin?"

Mama rabbit let loose an eerie grin. ""Maestro"? Bon, have you forgotten what happened nearly 20 years ago?"

"You're not authorized to bring up that topic."

"Why not? Wasn't I there-"

"If that's all you're here to discuss, then leave."

"You don't want to hear what it was that got her condemned to the tournament?"

"I can view your game logs. Still, what a pathetic display. Aging could be accepted, but Xiao Lin only barely squeaked in to become a maestro. She was only able to avoid arousing suspicion thanks to her challenge, but after her fall from grace to the oni-tiger, her fault lines have been exposed. She should've dropped below 3000 after the Chess Olympics, but corporate put the floor in at 3000."

"We talkin' bout the maestro we bagged?" the bald bunny girl giggled as she hopped over.

"I heard you secured Kit Ziegler."

"Bout time we did. That guy's nothing but a loser with an inflated ego," a young man in a sherpa outfit with spikey hair and a deranged look in his eyes cackled as he bounced over.

"And who'd you bag?"

"Wanna know? Wanna know? Secret."

"The maestro-"

"No, no, no, you dumb bitch, secret like I'm not telling you, not the maestro who's still one of the best."

The bald girl glared and prepared to beat up the young man.

"Enough. I've seen the roster, so there's no use hiding it," Bon glared.

"Tch, it's just some boyband slop."

That left half the roster still a mystery with Bon deciding to end things there. "When we gather again at the tournament, we shall see which stain we remove from the world."

...

At the airport, Mimoko sat waiting by the gate, eating a rice ball.

"So you're going at it alone?" Okisato asked as he waltzed up.

"Okaa-chan told you?" Mimoko frowned.

"Something along the lines of "Protect my daughter"."

Mimoko grimaced in disgust. "This is not a date, and not a matter I want to drag others into."

"I'm the one who has more the right to investigate. Not to mention, I tend to be the calmer one in these types of situations."

"Still... A boy and a girl traveling alone for whatever reason," Mimoko mumbled as her face went red.

"You'll have to deal with it. Your mother knows about the Jobberslayers and clearly felt the need to request me accompanying you, a testament to their threat level. You might be one of the best at the chessboard, but that didn't stop you from getting kidnapped by the Fairy League."

"Mmm..."

"Thus, we go in together, and watch each other's backs."

Mimoko slowly nodded and got up as boarding began.

...

At Yuusuke's house, Bon stood before the door, grooming himself before preparing to ring the bell. "This stain... he's at a low, so all it should take is me revealing my identity to him now to completely destroy him. And with me being his transport to the venue, he won't be able to digest things quick enough," he thought as he rang the bell.