The first domino

Tenju and Taira sat patiently in the hotel room Mizuse had brought them to.

"I sure hope the maestro gets here soon," Tenju grumbled as she huddled up next to Taira.

"O- Onee-chan, too close."

"Come on, we've been close ever since birth. In fact, I love you more than anyone else in the world."

Taira let out a light smile as the door to the room suddenly opened.

Ai entered garbed in a fiery orange kimono and white sneakers, and had also done her hair and makeup. "Why hello Himitsutan and Himitsuue, it has been an eon."

Taira immediately went on guard as Tenju happily greeted Ai. "Maestro Himitsu. It has been eons indeed. In fact, you're lucky we owe so much to you, otherwise we wouldn't be waiting here for over 2 HOURS just to speak with you."

"Ever the impatient one. But I do have something important to discus with Himitsuue. Himitsutan, could you give us a brief moment of privacy?"

"Yes, though um, please don't take too long. I don't like being separated from her for too long."

"Yes, it will only take a minute."

As Tenju began to get up, Taira suddenly grabbed her arm. "What's wrong?"

"Te- Te- Te- Tenju, sh- sh- she's not..."

"Not what? MMPH!?"

Taira stared in shock as Tenju was suddenly chloroformed from behind and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Sorry, but we can't have any discrepancies. Now then, how about we get down to business," Ai sneered as the scenery suddenly began to change. Taira quickly realized a DESPER had been activated and watched as Tenju was suddenly imprisoned in a pawn.

"Now Taira. Will you choose to play? If not, your sister will die,” Ai sneered.

Taira began trembling uncontrollably, before finally uttering, "No."

Ai went pale with shock as the DESPER deactivated, returning the room to normal.

Taira Kuroshiro was known to be a timid and shy girl. However, under all that shyness laid a genius intellect. Unlike Utami who manifested alternate personas to exude her true feelings, Taira did none of that and was instead timidly stuttering all the time. However, that didn't mean she was afraid to speak her mind or do what needed to be done. While her older sister, Tenju, could be considered more of the muscle, Taira was surprisingly skilled at martial arts and was even a 1-dan in karate. And in chess, she was a prodigy and boasted a rating of 2631, the highest of all the SPCMs in Japan, and the title of grandmaster.

This was part of the reason Raymond Redfield had signed off on the idea on having her only be challengable after the other 6 SPCMs had been beaten and allowed her to jointly manage a secret puzzle cafe with Tenju. As such, there were only 6 secret puzzle cafes in Japan, even though there were 7 SPCMs. While many believed the reason for this was ultimately rooted in the fact that Taira was too timid to leave Tenju's side, the real truth of the matter was that Taita herself feared Tenju would be hurt if she wasn't constantly by her side.

Sweat began to run down Ai's face as she lunged for the unconscious Tenju. Taira, however, leapt into the air, and promptly sent her flying face first into the wall, embedding her there for a moment, before she pulled herself out and turned to face her with a maniacal grin plastered on her face.

"Kinda hard to see those glaring eyes of yours with all that hair. Why don't we SHAVE IT ALL OFF!?" Ai shouted as she maniacally charged at Taira.

Taira scooped Tenju into her arms and leapt over Ai with ease, sending her crashing into the other wall, further embedding her in the wall. She then took the chance to run, however...

"DESPER, activate!"

Taira's eyes widened as she suddenly found herself in the middle of the woods, surrounded by monstrous trees. She turned to notice a hooded woman along with Ai and Mizuse.

"Well that was quite the scare. Seems you called the bluff, but sadly, our hooded beauty over here has a rating much higher than you," Mizuse sneered as a chessboard suddenly appeared.

Taira slowly set Tenju down as she found herself forcefully walking towards the board along with Ai.

"Now for the conditions. Should you, Taira Kuroshiro lose, then you shall..."

Taira began to sweat buckets as she heard the conditions. "A- And if I win, w- We go free. A- And you all turn yourselves in!"

"Very well. Now, time to experience the full might of Maestro Himitsu," Mizuse sneered as Ai made the first move.

...

Tenju slowly opened her eyes as the morning sun crept into the room. She immediately shot up and found that she was back in her own bed.

"M- Morning," Taira stuttered.

Tenju immediately sked about last night, only to be met by a confused head tilt from Taira, who explained that the Maestro never came by so they returned home where Tenju had decided to sip some beer and conked out shortly after.

Tenju blinked in confusion at the explanation, but after noticing the beer can in question, figured Taira was likely telling the truth.

"Sorry. So do we head back to Tochigi?"

"N- No. W- We'll wait here until the maestro calls."

Tenju shrugged and flopped back onto the bed. "Fine with me."