Smothered mate

A heavy air of tension hung over the playing area as Utami and Maria stared each other down.

Maria clutched her hair tightly as she moved her pawn to e4. "You have no idea how much my hair means to me," she snarled.

"And you have no idea how badly that punishment would destroy my life," Utami retorted without hesitation as she moved her pawn to e5.

Maria was taken aback by Utami's personality shift, but maintained her composure and moved her knight to f3. "Why did we have to run into each other!? This is a big risk for me!"

"Your comrade was the one that activated the DESPER, not to mention you were quite bloodthirsty before the wagers were made," Utami glared as she moved her knight to c6.

"Then do us both a favor and draw the game," Maria glared as she moved her bishop to c4.

Utami thought for a moment before a scowl appeared on her face. "My apologies, but I am a holy warrior of Mimoko-sama. If I were to throw a game, I'd be upsetting not only myself, but her as well. She's been through enough already. If you lose, you just go bald. I lose, my life is over."

"MY HAIR IS MY LIFE!"

Ever since she was young, Maria Wykształciuchy strived to be the center of attention, however, despite being an academic elite, she never seemed to stand out. That was until her sophomore year of high school when she decided to not only dye her hair turquoise, but also perm it into an afro as well. The flamboyant hair style quickly turned heads, and before she knew it, Maria had a brand image. Her turquoise afro had become such a big part of her image, that she even founded a consulting business with her afro as the logo. To her, losing her hair would be the equivalent of her losing everything. She'd no longer be able to brand herself as the turquoise afro girl, and would instead be mocked for her failure in the short term before fading to obscurity in the long term.

This was exactly the reason Skaberghast decided to conjure up such a devastating wager as Maria losing her hair would be considered by the DESPER to be equal to Utami's punishment of being forced to quit chess and take up shogi for the rest of her life. While Skaberghast wasn't positive the wagers didn't need to be equal in order to be accepted, he decided to do so in order to increase the chances of seeing if it was possible to take on minor punishments to a big team wager.

Utami stared at Maria as she thought back to earlier in the day. She had attempted to follow Mimoko as she was dragged along by Iori and Carol, but as soon as the fog rolled in, she lost sight of them. She returned to her apartment and quickly learned from Daria that Mimoko was in London. An emergency meeting of the chess club was called and after Okisato gave his testimony on what happened, the chess club had voted to head off to London. However, they had failed to consider that a second trap might be lying in wait for them.

While Okisato was generally tight-lipped, he did make sure to tell everyone in the chess club all of the Desperado league members he knew about. Skaberghast was one of them, and was said to be one of the most dangerous and sadistic members of the league. It was only now that Utami realized just what he meant by those words.

"That scum. He's having us put our futures on the line just for an experiment. Worse, Tanabe can do nothing but watch. This team bout truly is resting on my shoulders. Which is why I must be as cutthroat as need be," Utami thought as she moved her knight to d4.

Maria adjusted her glasses as she stared at the board. "For such a heartfelt speech, you certainly reversed course. Well, it was only natural you lay down your life for an intellectual and prodigious woman like myself," she scoffed as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight

'Laying down my life for you'? Don't make me laugh, scum. You just accepted my Blackburne Shilling gambit," Utami smirked as she moved her queen to g5.

"And you just fell for the fried liver. Fitting for a rube," Maria scoffed as she captured the pawn at f7 with her knight.

"That is NOT the fried liver attack. Mimoko-sama would scold you for suggesting so," Utami glared as she captured the pawn at g2 with her queen.

"I can just move my rook," Maria snarled as she moved her rook to f1.

"And I can just check you," Utami retorted as she captured the pawn at e4 with her queen.

"Rubbish. I can just block," Maria scoffed as she moved her bishop to e2.

A maniacal smile spread across Utami's face as she stared at the board. "Oh, you "smart" intellectual girl. Do you know what you've just done?"

Maria shot Utami a confused glare. "Will you get that degenerate look off your face? It's hurting my eyes."

"Don't worry, I'm smiling because you're going to be smothered in shaving cream and hot wax when you're shaved bald, just like you smothered your king! Checkmate!" Utami maniacally laughed as she slammed her knight down on f3, winning the game.

"NO! I can just take with the bishop-"

"Queen has it pinned. You smothered it."

Tears began to well up in Maria's eyes as she turned to Jackie. "EQUALIZE, YOU BITCH! I'M NOT GOING BALD!"

"Fear not. A win by me should theoretically neutralize everything as the DESPER appears to be holding off on the minor punishments. And the nerd queen just so happens to have found the perfect move to win any game," Jackie confidently declared as she adjusted her glasses.

"Hoh? I too have such a move. This will truly be a battle of minds," Numakawa smiled as he adjusted his glasses.

The full game:

White: Maria Wykształciuchy (1400) Black: Utami Enoki (1500)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bc4 Nd4

4. Nxe5 Qg5

5. Nxf7 Qxg2 

6. Rf1 Qxe4+

7. Be2 Nf3#