Saboteur

"And just WHERE were you all!?" Mimoko fumed as everyone returned to the room.

"A comedy show," Okisato nodded as he glanced towards Maida. 

Maida scowled, knowing full well Okisato had lots of blackmail material on her, and covered for him. "It was at my judgement. If you are to blame anyone, blame me."

Mimoko was taken aback as she didn't expect Maida of all people to cover for the two, but she had no choice but to except the reasoning.

"I see... Tanabe-kun, you get off with a warning. Iori-chan, are you feeling better at least?"

"Better- ACHOO!"

"One more day of rest it seems," Daria sighed.

"No way! I wanna go to the Bermuda party tomorrow!"

"Then rest up so you can. It's at night I believe. As for everyone else, let's resume the strategy meeting. Boy, how familiar are you with the Bosnian team?"

"I studied them back at the playing hall," Okisato stated.

"And I assume since most of them are Desperados, we're benching Ginji, correct?" Ryonosuke asked.

"That's right. We can't have him throwing games. As for the assignments, I'll be taking on Miralem."

"The co-president of Bosnia as well as the rising star?"

"That's right. As for you, Mori, Refik is probably the best match for you. He tends to favor pawn pyramids and after a quick search through the archive, he also likes to play the Tennison occasionally, but if he does, you can punish him."

"Hmm, so you're assuming he'll be playing as White then... Very well, but what if he's not even fielded?"

"I have a feeling he will be. One of the players got completely soaked, much like Iori did back in the 4th round. Even if for some reason he is fielded, he'd be an easy mark."

"So I'm to assume I'd be getting the leftovers then?" Ryonosuke nodded.

"Sejad is the only unknown, but considering he was present when I figured out how Tvrtko played, I have a feeling he might try to convince Tvrtko to sit out, and substitute himself in his place."

"And if Tvrtko sits out, Ognjen has to play, no matter how sick he may be... Seems on brand for them to force him to play no matter how unwell he's feeling," the masked man nodded.

"Correct, as if he does end up getting others sick, they'll dump all the blame on him. And in the unlikely case where they do bench him, we have Tvrtko's number. Thus, if Hobou-san finds himself pitted against Sejad, I'd recommend going for a draw, as his records indicate he is more of a drawish player. Though if he's up against Ognjen, he should go for the win. Ognjen tends to be a very aggressive player, and if he gets tripped up... "

"I see. As expected of Tanabe-dono," Ryonosuke nodded.

As the men formalized their strategy, the women were still in the midst of crafting theirs.

"Now obviously, I have to take on Xiao Lin, and I want to as well. That bitch has been avoiding me ever since the Michiko incident, but now her back is against the wall. She'll be forced to play against me, and when she does, I'm going to humiliate her," Daria glared.

"Okaa-chan, please don't tell me you're going to play a dubious opening against her," Mimoko groaned.

"Not at all, but I will be attempting to pull off something nasty, and deserving for a bitch like her."

Mimoko frowned as she noticed Daria's clenched fist trembling madly. She truly held a grudge for what Xiao Lin had done to her, yet the nature of the incident still baffled her. Without spoiling too much on what the Ultima-master was, Daria revealed that while it did have a rating of 3200, it wasn't capable of forcing others into DESPER matches on it's own. To do so required a DESPER wielder to place their DESPER into the Ultima-master, and then either input the commands for the wager manually, or verbally. But the catch was that neither Haruki's nor Michiko's DESPER had been used for the wager, and Daria lacked the authority to access the Ultima-master's memory banks to check just who's DESPER had been used. Thus, the mystery remained as to who else could have been in on the conspiracy.

"Ah, my apologies for getting a bit lost there. Now Mimoko, you're taking on Xiu."

"Gladly. I'd love to pay her back-"

"Abandon such thoughts. If you want to beat her, you'll need to play at your best."

Mimoko was taken aback by how serious Daria had gotten. It really spoke volumes to just how much of a threat Xiu really was despite her personality.

"And that's not all. Chen Bao is another looming threat."

"Actually, I'd like to take her on," Tenju declared.

"You want to face Bao?"

"Yes, we have a history. Also, there's a separate matter I was wondering if I could discuss with you..."

...

The next morning, the weather still looked ominous, though not quite as bad as the day before. Nonetheless, Okisato decided to get up earlier than usual in order to get to the venue ahead of time. He wasn't the only one as Ryonosuke, Mimoko, Daria, Tenju, and the masked man had the same idea as well, and waited with him outside the hotel for the first bus of the day.

"Bright and early it seems," Noa smiled as she stepped out alongside some of her teammates.

"So who are you playing?" Mimoko asked.

"Hungary, so that means we get to sit at the second board."

"Ah that's right, they're the hosts so they always play at table 2. Well best of luck."

"They'll most certainly need it!" Zsa Zsa fumed as she stomped out, the look on her face clearly showing she was still distraught about her thrashing last night.

"I doubt it. Zsa Zsa doesn't care about any but Collette, so why would she play?" Okisato snickered.

Pure malice oozed out of Zsa Zsa as she zeroed in on Okisato. "You, you humiliated Zsa Zsa. Zsa Zsa will NEVER forgive you. And you, twintailed whore. You took advantage of Zsa Zsa to humiliate her further!" she glared as she shifted her gaze towards Mimoko.

"You brought it on yourself for smacking me in the face," Mimoko glared.

Zsa Zsa continued to glare at her before turning to board the bus. In Zsa Zsa's world, only her and Collette reign supreme, but you two... YOU TWO have invaded it and cast Zsa Zsa off her rightful throne! Zsa Zsa is angry, Zsa Zsa is FURIOUS! And thus, the mortals shall face her wrath as she comes to reclaim what is hers."

"Well thanks. Now we have a harder fight ahead of us," Elenora growled as she walked by.

"Please, I can handle her in my sleep!" Agatha smirked as she followed her onto the bus.

As the Japanese teams boarded, Okisato noticed Jad and the other Mongolians standing around, with Jad's glare solely focused on him.

"Ugh, I hope they're not gonna chase after us again," Mimoko trembled.

"I hear they begin riding once the bus containing their opponents leaves. With the weather much better, we should get to the venue before they can catch up, assuming their opponents aren't on board," Okisato scowled.

"I see," Mimoko nodded as she gazed anxiously out the window. "Utami-chan is late." 

"Ginji and Mori too. There is still plenty of time before the round starts, but I hope that bastard isn't up to anything."

...

Back in the hotel, Utami found her path blocked by an exuberant Ginji, holding a dubious liquid inside a small flask.

"Iyah, a good morning to you, Utami-chan. Want a sip to get your system up and running?"

With an unamused glare, Utami naturally declined and attempted to pass by.

"Ah, wrong answer! The right answer is... you don't have a choice," Ginji maliciously chuckled as he pulled a cloth out of his pocket and shoved it into Utami's face.

Utami desperately struggled, but it was no use. She was out cold in seconds, allowing Ginji to force feed her the dubious liquid with little resistance.

"Two down, and now the teams are screwed," Ginji thought as he skipped down the hall towards the lobby.