Chapter 14:

Bughouse brawl

En Passant Grandmaster

As soon as school got out, Okisato was allowed to leave the detention hall. The first thing he did was locate Mimoko, who was with Utami. As soon as he saw Utami, he stared Mimoko in the eye.

“Inoue-senpai, are you prepared to risk everything on Enoki-san?”

“Yes, I am resolved to fight for Utami-chan.”

“Enoki-san, are you truly all in on this?”

“Y- Yes. I- I won’t let Inoue-sama down.”

“Good. Now let’s gather the others before we face off against the shogi club.”

…

Students stared and murmured as all the members of the chess club angrily marched towards the principal's office.

"That fat balding asshole made me mop the whole damn school. That has to count as abuse of power," Yuusuke growled.

"All the more reason we put him in his place," Mimoko glared.

"Inoue-senpai, be careful. Bughouse can easily throw a top player off their game due to the piece dropping rule. This will also be an all or nothing gambit that will affect not only you and Enoki-san, but all of us as well. Are you two willing to go forth?" Okisato asked.

"Yes, I'm prepared."

Okisato calmly nodded as the group reached their destination. "Then let's enter."

As the five entered, they were greeted by the principal, Gyro, the student council vice-president, and Shion and her two lackeys.

"So you intend to take Utami from me? No, I can't have that, she's a valuable asset to me," the principal scowled.

"'ASSET'!? You piece of shit! You don't even view her as human!" Mimoko glared.

"I heard you and Shiton have been beatin’ her up, that story alone will get your assess mondo backlash," Iori glared.

"Someone should kick all your teeth in so you can never slander me like that again," Shion sneered.

Iori's murderous intent nearly cracked through, however, Okisato eased the tension. "Mr. Principal, you sure seem calm about the prospect of letting your daughter join the chess club to play chess. Is there something you're hiding from us?"

The principal stared in shock for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. "Well, I guess I'm calm because it won't change anything in the end. Your club will eventually be dissolved by the school board due to lack of purpose."

"'Lack of purpose'!? But we're going to compete tomorrow in the tournament!" Mimoko argued.

"No, no, no you're not!"

"...Are you saying my club members are ineligible?"

"Sadly no, Shousen barely scraped by on his math test today and Ishikiridokoro somehow managed to turn in a passable report."

"Then what is it?"

"School rules prevent you from competing.”

"WHAT!?"

"Yes, school rules state clubs cannot be allowed to compete in sporting events unless they have a supervising instructor, and your club does not have an instructor!"

"So if we get an instructor to supervise, we can compete as a team?"

"Yes, but that isn't going to happen. None of the teachers here play chess, and I'll fire anyone that dares to volunteer to supervise your club."

"In that case, there's no need to hold back. Who are you nominating to play against us?" Okisato glared.

"Two of the shogi club's best members; Mami Manabe, and the president of the shogi club, Nagi Enoki,” the principal declared as the blue-haired girl and the student council vice president stepped forward.

"Perfect in that case, Inoue-senpai will play Nagi while Enoki-san plays Manabe. As for the punishment, if we win, Utami Enoki is free from both the shogi club's and your influence, but if we lose, Utami Enoki will never be free and the chess club will be dissolved, never to be formed again. All members of it will also be forbidden from competitive chess for the rest of their highschool careers. As for the game, the ultimate shock of death should be delivered to the one that gets checkmated, while their teammate gets a more tolerable voltage. You hear all that, Gyro?" Okisato glared.

A sinister smile appeared on Gyro's face as he pulled out his DESPER. "It really was worth saving it for this," he snickered as he activated the DESPER.

Immediately, the room transformed into a giant bug zapper light. Iori's eyes widened as she began trembling. "This guy has the tech, there really is more of this stuff," she thought as she maintained her streamer persona.

All the spectators sat down in the bleachers that spawned as Gyro went over the rules. "I'm sure you are all well aware, but this is a two player game. You are free to converse with your teammate, but do be mindful of the time. All players will only have 10 minutes each on their clocks. The only other rule I’ll remind you of is that pawns cannot be dropped on the 1st or 8th ranks. Also, if a pawn that has been promoted is captured, it will return to being a pawn, meaning your teammate will not get to use the piece it was promoted to. And with that, White's time starts now!"

Mimoko immediately opened by moving her pawn to e4, followed by Nagi moving his pawn to e5. She then moved her knight to f3, while Nagi moved his pawn to d6.

On the other board, Mami opened by moving her knight to f3, followed by Utami moving her pawn to d5.

"This truly is an intellectually inferior game to shogi," Mami scoffed as she moved her pawn to d4.

"Do not insult chess. Chess requires lots of planning and thinking, just like shogi," Utami glared as she moved her knight to c6.

"OI! Who said you could talk back!?" the principal shouted.

"Do not interfere, spectators interfering will result in a loss, as well as a penalty for the perpetrator. I suggest you make use of this and shut up," Gyro glared as he tossed the principal a roll of tape.

In reality, the players were surrounded with an invisible sound-proof barrier, preventing any chance of spectator interference. Though for the other spectators and Gyro, they’d be stuck hearing the principal’s ranting so long as he didn’t make use of the duct tape, which naturally he didn’t.

Back at the board, Nagi began glaring at Utami as Mimoko moved her knight to c3. "Where did this attitude come from? I've never seen it before," he glared as he moved his knight to f6.

"I become strong and unrestrained when I play chess," Utami stated as Mami moved her pawn to c3.

"Only during chess?"

"Yes, though I hope to expand my confidence outside of chess," Utami nodded as she moved her pawn to f6.

"You are nothing but an expendable pawn. I will not allow you to be promoted," Nagi glared as Mimoko moved her bishop to c4.

"Shouldn't you be more supportive of your little sister?" Mimoko glared as Nagi moved his bishop to g4.

"Why? She's a failure. Her only purpose is to be an expendable pawn," Nagi scoffed as Mami moved her queen to a4.

"That's right, she's doing perfectly well as Shion-sama's sandbag," Mami huffed as Utami moved her bishop to d7.

"I hate it," Utami glared as Mimoko castled king's side.

"But you keep coming back, so you must love it," Mami sneered as Nagi moved his knight to c6.

"I'm making my stand, now," Utami glared as Mami moved her bishop to e3.

"A ‘stand’? You think you'd actually be able to better yourself? Shion-sama can easily get you years in prison for a crime of her choosing," Mami scowled as Utami moved her pawn to e5.

"I can't believe despicable demons like you exist," Mimoko glared as she moved her pawn to h3.

"This is called "society", woman. She has no value, thus she is nothing but garbage, and garbage cannot rise from the trash heap," Nagi scoffed as he captured the knight at f3 with his bishop.

"Clearly you have a messed up worldview. All the more reason for me, and Utami-chan to beat you both," Mimoko glared as she captured the bishop at f3 with her queen.

Mami quickly dropped the captured knight at a5, prompting Utami to capture it with her knight. However, Mami then captured the knight at a5 with her queen and handed the knight off to Nagi.

"I heard you are skilled at chess, however, that is only in regular play. Utami is a failure, and as such will be your downfall," Nagi declared as he dropped the knight Mami captured on g5.

"Utami-chan won't lose, she's strong," Mimoko smiled as she moved her queen to e3.

"No, she will drag you down to hell with her. A fitting fate for someone like you that dares to step out of line," Nagi scoffed as he moved his queen to d7.

"And what did I do to offend you? All I did was stand up for Utami-chan and tell off you and your lousy father when you both resisted my request to form a chess club," Mimoko glared as she moved her bishop to e2.

"And that's why you must be dealt with. You must not be allowed to jam the cogs," Nagi glared back as he captured the pawn at h3 with his knight.

"Then call me a rebel, cause I'm fighting back," Mimoko retorted as she captured the knight at h3 with her g-pawn.

"Then you will be bearing the brunt of your punishment when I mate you."

"Mate me? Well, you-"

"Utami will provide all the pieces I need and just like I ordained, she'll be the one that drags you to hell with her," Nagi coldly stated as Mami moved her queen to a6.

A smile began to spread on Mimoko's face. "You're the one underestimating Utami-chan."

"No, you have blind faith in her."

"’Blind faith’? Utami-chan, what do you think you should do for your next move?"

"I should place the bishop you captured on b5," Utami confidently stated as she did just that.

Nagi's eyes widened with shock. "MAMI! YOU IDIOT! Salvage that mess immediately!"

"Huh? But I can just- UGAH!? I can't go there, or there. UGH!" Mami fumed as she moved her queen to b7.

"Nagi-nii, Manabe-san, I will never bring Inoue-sama down!" Utami roared as she moved her d-bishop to c6, diminishing any hope of Mami avoiding the capture of her queen.

Mami immediately clicked her tongue in frustration as she captured the rook at a8 with her queen.

"I won't let you gain the upper hand, CHECK!" Nagi shouted as he slammed the rook Mami captured down on g6.

"Your words don't phase me, you're going to lose," Utami glared as Mimoko dropped the captured knight on g3.

"SHIT!" Nagi fumed as he castled queen's side.

A smile quickly formed on Mimoko’s face as she patted Utami on the shoulder. "Give her a scare, girl."

Utami blushed and happily nodded as she captured the queen at a8 with her bishop.

"This isn't over yet!" Mami roared as she moved her knight to d2.

Mimoko simply smiled as she captured the pawn at a7 with her queen.

Almost immediately, Nagi and Mami began grinning maliciously as they burst into mocking laughter. "What a fool! You just lost your advantage!" Nagi cackled as he captured the queen at a7 with his knight.

"Now I have a queen again. Who would have thought YOU would be the one to ultimately blunder!" Mami laughed as she twiddled the captured queen in her hand.

Mimoko immediately began smiling from ear to ear. "You'll never get the chance to use it," she confidently declared as Utami dropped the captured knight at c2, placing Mami's king in check.

"So you delay my wrath by a turn," Mami scoffed as she moved her king to d2.

"Yes, Mami only needs to protect her pieces while I mate you," Nagi sneered.

"Inoue-sama just said you'll never get the chance to use that queen," Utami glared as she captured the rook at a1 with her knight.

"You are delusional. Mami, place the queen at e6 and put her in check."

"You got it! Utami-chan, you've become dumber from all the times we've kicked your face in. Guess we’ll have to smack you around some more to see if you'll start working again!" Mami cackled as she thrust the captured queen towards e6.

"Checkmate!" Mimoko declared as she dropped the captured queen at a8 before Mami could even put her piece down.

"Do not make comedy, that is an illegal move. You cannot-"

"This isn't shogi. Bughouse rules allow you to drop a piece that will mate."

"You forget I have reserve pieces-"

"All pawns."

"So? I-"

"-Can't drop a pawn on the 1st or 8th ranks. You lose."

In an instant, Nagi went pale as he stared at the board. "No, NO! HOW COULD I LOSE!? MAMI! YOU BLEW IT! YOU LOST US THE GAME!"

"HUH!? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GOT MATED!" Mami shouted as she too went pale.

"I hope you didn't forget the punishment," Gyro snickered as Nagi and Mami found themselves trapped inside glass bug zappers.

"Wh- WHAT IS THIS!?"

"The punishment. As we all agreed, the losers get shocked, with the one who was mated receiving the more lethal voltage."

"'LETHAL'!? MR. GUNNERSON, WHAT ARE YOU- AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Nearly everyone stared in horror as Nagi let loose a bloodcurdling scream as he was electrocuted before their eyes. Mami immediately began to soil herself as she frantically began banging on the clear walls imprisoning her.

"Wow, what a turn-on. I wonder how loud that bitch is gonna scream," Iori gleefully thought as she recorded the execution with a malicious grin on her face.

Okisato took notice of Iori’s attitude, but assumed she was likely filming for clout, noting it probably wouldn’t be the best course of action for her to upload the video publicly. Though he had no qualms about Nagi and Mami’s punishment. In his mind, they deserved it.

As soon as Nagi finally stopped screaming, the walls around him vanished and he fell to the floor with a thud, before jittering around. After a few seconds, he stopped moving completely.

Gyro then rolled him over with his boot and examined him. "Completely dead. What a travesty, he was such a talented shogi player."

The principal immediately went pale. "D- DEAD!? No, NO! STOP THE JOKE-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everyone turned as Mami's electrocution began. Despite her voltage being lower than Nagi's, she visibly seemed to be in more pain.

Eventually, she too stopped screaming and was released from her prison. After she stopped jittering, Gyro examined her too. "Why I don't believe it, a double kill," he clapped to nearly everyone's horror.

Despite winning, Utami and Mimoko were consumed with fear and shock as the DESPER deactivated and the room returned to normal. The principal immediately ran to Nagi's corpse as Kigyoku and Shion approached Mami's corpse and examined it.

"So she really is dead. What an intriguing development," Shion maliciously thought before immediately heading out with Kigyoku.

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (Unrated) Black: Nagi Enoki (n/a)

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (Unrated) Black: Nagi Enoki (n/a)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 d6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Bc4 Bg4

5. O-O Nc6

6. h3 Bxf3

7. Qxf3 N@g5