Chapter 39:

The forgotten prodigy [Season 2 Intro]

En Passant Grandmaster

At the Shogikawa gakuin highschool, there exists a chess club. Until recently, it didn't have one, but in the span of a week, it not only gained one, but its president, Mimoko Inoue immediately rose to fame as a chess prodigy. The unbelievable part is that it hasn't even been 24 hours since she won the tournament and received not only a rating of 2700, but also the title of grandmaster. However, this is only the start of the Shogikawa gakuin chess club's tale…

…

At the highschool, news of the chess club's feats had swept through the entire student body. Nearly everyone had congratulated club's members as they arrived at school. One notable exception was the school's principal, Nagi Enoki, who sat brooding in his office as he stared at his computer. Articles of Mimoko's accomplishments were flooding the internet, however, the article that most angered him was actually one telling about how the corpse of a man named Gunther Gunnerson had been found at the venue where the chess tournament had taken place.

Gunther Gunnerson, better known by his alias, Gyro, was a grandmaster and business associate of the principal. He was also a member of the Desperado league, an infamous underground chess league. Fearing the threat Mimoko would pose, Gyro sought to eliminate her before she could be given a rating, but failed and lost his life as a result. Prior to his death, he had made a promise that he would help the principal build a shogi empire, though in secret was thinking of ending his business ties to him in favor of someone else.

"So Mr. Gyro's dead. Now who the hell is going to help make my empire a reality!? After Nagi was killed in that damn chess game, he promised me he'd provide a suitable substitute for me, but now he's dead too!" the principal fumed.

"Oh, you certainly seem to be relying a lot on outsiders, why not rely on your own blood?" a voice sneered.

The principal turned to see a young man that looked almost identical to Nagi, aside from the nasty scar on the left side of his face, accompanied by a young woman with short silver hair.

"Kazuya, where have you been this past week!?" the principal fumed.

"Why should I have to tell you?" the young man sneered.

"I wish you were meek like Utami, then I could force you into submission."

"Wow, you really are a scumbag, well guess that's where I get it from," Kazuya laughed as he pulled out a DESPER.

"I- Is that-"

"Yes, Gyro did say he'd compensate you, so here I am, the prodigy you cast aside. Now why don't we have a little match, win and I'll become you're meek little pawn and do all that you wish, lose and you jump off the roof."

"So he gave that to you? Then we'll have a proper shogi-"

"Sorry, DESPER's only work in chess matches. Now, let's have a match, or do you know you'd lose?"

"I'm not playing chess."

"You don't have a choice, scumbag," Kazuya sneered as the woman pulled out her DESPER and activated it.

The principal blinked as he suddenly found himself on the school roof along with Kazuya and the woman. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!? Just who is that bitch!?"

"I am Svetlana Smirnova. Kazuya is to save his DESPER for something else," the woman glared as she dragged a bound and gagged Utami out from behind a wall.

The principal didn't seem phased by Utami's state in the slightest, caring more about his own well-being as he found himself walking towards a chessboard.

...

In class, Okisato watched a broadcast of Mimoko being interviewed on his phone. He was unable to finish watching it though, as Maida arrived and began class.

"Now we are going to resume the experiment from Saturday. You will all partner up each make 9 moves from the 1. e4 Nf6 position, then switch sides and reset the board before each making 9 moves once more," Maida stated.

Okisato ended up being paired up with Yuusuke and decided to play as black first. Yuusuke gleefully accepted and moved his pawn to e5, prompting Okisato to move his knight to e4.

"Oi, don't run away!" Yuusuke snarled as he moved his pawn to d3.

Okisato paid the taunt, no heed and moved his knight to c5. Yuusuke wasn't finished though, and moved his pawn to d4, prompting Okisato to move his knight back to e4.

Yuusuke let out a snarl and moved his bishop to d3, but as soon as Okisato moved his pawn to d5, his face lit up. "AHA! You blew it! En passant!" Yuusuke shouted as he performed en passant and captured the pawn at d5 with his e-pawn.

"Wow, I'm so scared," Okisato sarcastically trembled as he captured the pawn at d6 with his knight.

"You're still in a bad position," Yuusuke glared as he moved his queen to f3.

"It's only practice," Okisato said as he moved his bishop to e6.

"I'm tryin’ to beat ya!" Yuusuke fumed as he moved his bishop to g5.

"Then we'll see which one of us played better as white. Two moves to go," Okisato said as he moved his pawn to h5.

"Like you'll play better than me," Yuusuke scoffed as he moved his bishop to h4 while Okisato moved his pawn to g5.

Yuusuke's final move was bishop g3, while Okisato's was knight c5.

After resetting the board, Okisato made his first move as white; queen to f3.

"Oi, don't spook me," Yuusuke trembled as he moved his pawn to e5.

Okisato continued the onslaught and moved his bishop to c4. Yuusuke then got an idea and confidently smirked as he moved his pawn to d5. "Go on, take it," he grinned.

"Sure," Okisato nodded as he captured the pawn at d5 with his e-pawn.

Yuusuke promptly captured the pawn at d5 with his knight, followed by Okisato capturing said knight with his bishop.

"A fine trade, "Genius"," Yuusuke sneered as he captured the bishop at d5 with his queen.

"Yeah, Thanks dumbass!" Okisato maniacally laughed as he captured the queen at d5 with his queen.

"You lost it? Now we exchange- GEH! I hung my queen!"

Yuusuke sat in shock for a few moments before dejectedly moving his bishop to e6.

"Check, sucker!" Okisato taunted as he moved his queen to b5.

"Now you're just bein’ an asshole!" Yuusuke tearfully glared as he moved his knight to d7.

Okisato then captured the pawn at d7, prompting Yuusuke to cover his face with his hand as he moved his rook to b8. "Okaa's gonna kill me if she hears about this," he shuddered as Okisato captured the pawn at c7 with his queen.

Yuuske then moved his rook to b6 followed by Okisato moving his pawn to d4. "I'll take what I can get," Yuusuke tearfully snarled as he captured the pawn at d4 with his e-pawn, ending the experiment.

"I'd say I did better, what about you?" Okisato asked as his default persona returned.

"I really hate you, man," Yuusuke glared.

...

Outside, Mimoko walked through the school gates and headed for the main entrance. Upon seeing her, Kazuya let loose a malicious smile and finally moved his piece, checkmating the principal.

Before the principal could protest at how long Kazuya made him wait, he found himself running towards the edge of the roof and leaping off it, letting out a scream.

Within seconds, teachers and students were running outside to see what was going on.

Kazuya meanwhile stared down and watched the chaos unfolding before him with a sinister smile on his face. "Well, one less piece of shit to clean up. Now, time to drag "Mimoko-sama" to hell with me."

The full experiment:

White: Yuusuke Shousen Black: Okisato Tanabe

1. e4 Nf6

2. e5 Ne4

3. d3 Nc5

4. d4 Ne4

5. Bd3 d5

6. exd6 Nxd6

7. Qf3 Be6

8. Bg5 h6

9. Bh4 g5

10. Bg3 Nc6