Emergency meeting

At the WWCF HQ, Daria, Wiley, Mariano, Sandy, Clifford, and Sherbert all stood before Katie's bed. Katie was in rough shape and bandaged from head to toe, constantly forced to intake blood to replenish all that she lost.

"And this happened because of a DESPER match? Well, that falls on her for being bad," Wiley scoffed.

The comment naturally angered all present, but everyone quieted down after hearing the stomping of Raymond's cane.

"I remember clearly that secret puzzle cafe was NOT up to proper anti-DESPER standards due to its unorthodox style compared to other Secret puzzle cafes. Maestro Frisch, you along with SPCM Mariano Mario and the hotel's owner, Hank Howzer Kowalski will bear the brunt of responsibility for this oversight."

"I believe it should instead fall to the WWCF for not carrying out proper inspections. Why was this loophole even ignored?" Wiley glared.

Raymond scowled and refused to elaborate, simply telling all present to attend the emergency meeting. Daria figured he had an idea on why the loophole was overlooked, but was deliberately choosing not to speak on it.

Sandy and Sherbert elected to stay behind to watch over Katie. Sherbert was still in tears, blaming herself for all this, while all Sandy could do was stare somberly at the ground clenching her fist.

Wiley took notice and shook his head as he headed out to the conference hall with the others.

"Do you truly not feel an ounce of sympathy for your SPCM?" Daria glared.

"It's hard for me to feel sympathetic to a girl that's constantly berating me and brainwashing my granddaughter with bullshit. But the more moderate ones, I can understand their pain. To them, she's a friend, and if she doesn't make it, their hearts will harden like mine did when those Misericordia bastards murdered my family. I'll never forgive them for what they did back then, and what they're doing now."

...

Daria shook her head as she sat down at a conference table. After all that had happened with both Michiko prior and the current situation with Katie and the Fairy league, an emergency council was called by the WWCF. All maestros were asked to attend, but so far, only a few including Daria and Wiley had shown up. Some SPCMs as well as various WWCF officials and ambassadors, including Raymond Redfield himself, were present.

Seeing that no one new was arriving, Raymond began the meeting. "I know this was billed as an emergency summons, but we might as well count this as a full-fledged meeting, since new policy changes are likely to arise from this. Now I assume you are all well aware of all the issues that have currently befallen at least 4 of our 7 secret chess maestros and their SPCMs. First up, is Mr. Ian Kimovich, Maestro of Russia."

A middle aged man rose and addressed the board. He highlighted that due to the actions of Desperado and Russia's leader, Tsar Grigori, he and his SPCMs that opposed him were constantly being bombarded with scare tactics.

Next up was Daria who summarized the Michiko incident and the impact it had on her SPCMs. "I regret that I have to use AI bots of them, but sadly I fear I may need to replace even the surviving members, due to the lasting damage they each received.'

"Then now would be a good time to abolish the secret puzzle cafes in Japan."

Everyone turned to face a young Indian man. His name was Vihaan Gosain, one of India's top chess players as well as a WWCF ambassador.

"Vihaan, you know the rules of the maestro project. It matters not what country they hail from. If they are top in the world, they may set up base in their home country," Raymond glared.

Vihaan slammed his fist down in frustration. "But India is one of the largest chess powerhouses in the world, not to mention the birthplace of chess itself! America, Russia, China, all have maestros, so why doesn't India? No maestro also means no secret puzzle cafes."

"That is actually why I decided to designate this as more of a policy-making meeting. Many of our representatives in countries lacking a maestro have complained about the lack of secret puzzle cafes. Thus, I proposed that we open secret puzzle cafes in these nations that would function just like a normal one, allowing players of that country to challenge SPCMs and maestros around the world. The ones that manage the cafes are also challengeable just like normal SPCMs, but given the title of Deputy secret puzzle cafe manager, or DSPCM, to denote the fact that their nation does not have a maestro. Some nations have already gotten them, and seem to be happy with it, the only real issue we the WWCF have is allocating how many spots each nation gets. India has already been granted the right to have the max amount of 6 DSPCMs, yet not one spot has been filled yet."

"Because I believe we deserve more! We have the talent, so why do we not have a maestro?"

"Blame you representatives for falling short in the maestro project. Though if it makes you feel better, we can create a position of Deputy maestro-"

"I will not accept a downgrade from what we should be rightfully given!"

"Very well, we shall move on to the vote for just the allocation of DSPCM spots for some of the nations that don't yet have one, notably for the nations that make up the United Kingdom."

"You shouldn't be complaining so much, Vihaan. India's rise in the chess world was a large reason why the DSPCM position came to be, so rather than sulk, you should do your job proper as it's representative here at the WWCF and start fielding candidates to fill those spots," a beautiful woman with long silver hair that obscured her right eye growled.

This woman was Amelia Stavanger, the maestro of Norway. Boasting a rating of 3300, she was often regarded as the strongest of the maestros. Though she had never actually beat Daria in a match, she had never lost to her either as all her matches against her had ended in draws. However, she had fared better than Daria in the maestro project overall, which is why she had been granted a higher rating than her.

"No, if they become DSPCMs, they can't compete in tournaments. SPCMs would be a different story since they'd serve a maestro-"

"Vihaan, the maestro project is not about representing the countries that are strongest at chess, it's about recognizing the strongest players in the world. If they hail from a nation that's also a chess powerhouse, so be it. If not, that doesn't affect things either," Raymond glared.

"In that case, I propose we strip Maestro Xiao Lin of her title."

"Oh? And why would anyone do that?" a voice sneered.

Everyone turned to notice Xiao Lin entering the room. She immediately locked eyes with Daria, exchanging silent glares as she headed to her seat.

"So the topic of the next discussion has arrived," Raymond nodded as Xiao Lin smirked and placed her DESPER on the table.

"The WWCF recognizes both the Desperado league and the DESPERs. And as a matter of fact, I don't think it's fair to single me out since nearly all of Maestro Himitsu's SPCMs are Desperados."

"Not by choice," Daria glared.

"And neither was I. That vile Michiko deceived me and now I am nothing more than her pawn. Why I'm even stuck sporting the bald look for the rest of days too. Talk about abuse."

"Not true in the slightest. During your wager, becoming a proxy of Michiko Azami was never in the cards, in fact, here's the full wager itself," Raymond stated as he pulled out his WWCF card.

Daria stared as Raymond turned his card purple and pulled up the wager for Xiao Lin's match with Ai. A whirlwind of emotions hit her, however, she kept them to herself in order to ask Raymond something else.

"How many members of the executive board are present here?"

Everyone stared in confusion as Raymond stated the info was confidential. Daria decided to press though, and argued that there was no reason for the executive members to remain secret, especially considering Pewler was one.

"Pewler is a special case. He was a pet-project so to say which is why he has a purple card and true rating of 2948 despite his normal card listing his rating at merely 100. I'm sure most all are aware of my card and true rating, but that is because I wish not to be top in the world, but will gladly play all who wish to challenge my might. And on that note, we do have some players closing in on 2900, which is remarkable. Though I feel the purple cards, much like the red used to denote SPCMs and DSPCMs, will only be used for myself and a few others here at the WWCF. Since Pewler has defected to the Desperado league, I will publicly disclose information on his origin and habits."

"Well about damn time!" Wiley snarled.

"I'm sure this must be rough for you Maestro Frisch. I heard of what happened to one of your SPCMs."

"I could care less about that hippie. I only approved her as an SPCM because of her talent, not because I liked her as a person."

The remark quickly enraged Daria as well as all the other American SPCMs in attendance.

"Vile and heartless fossil!" Clifford scoffed.

"For once I agree. That's too far," Mariano glared.

Before things could escalate, Raymond struck down the gavel. "It is clear we have some issues. It was reported that a DESPER was activated within the secret puzzle cafe in New York city. Said secret puzzle cafe was NOT up to proper anti-DESPER standards due to it's unorthodox style compared to other Secret puzzle cafes. Following this meeting and subsequent press session, I'll personally fix the issue of the security hole there as well as conduct an inspection on all other secret puzzle cafes in the world. On a slightly different note, these incidents have made me consider something; perhaps all maestros, SPCMs, and DSPCMs should also be allowed to compete in tournaments in order to keep their skills sharp."

"Hold on! Mr. President, I can understand the SPCMs and DSPCMs, but the maestros would be overkill. They'd completely dominate which is why we needed to make them maestros in the first place!" one WWCF staff member argued.

"There will naturally be set parameters. Now let us commence the discussion and vote."

Daria sighed as she realized her question was never going to be answered. "I wish Hagemi was around, she could probably give me some answers, but her whereabouts have been unknown ever since the Michiko incident."

"You look as though you want to say something," Kuon smiled.

"I was just wondering if there's been any updates on Hagemi Shousen's whereabouts."

Kuon scowled and revealed she had heard nothing on Hagemi's whereabouts. However, that could only be further from the truth, as unbeknownst to all, Hagemi was currently imprisoned in her basement.

...

After discussing a few more matters behind closed doors, everyone was dismissed. The measure to allow SPCMs and DSPCMs to compete in tournaments again passed unanimously, though Vihan still refused to consider appointing any DSPCMs in India. Maestros were also given approval to compete again, but only in certain tournaments.

Daria then returned to New York to find the secret puzzle cafe nearly deserted. Sheila was present manning the counter, yet there was no sign of Mimoko and co. But perhaps most disturbingly, there were pools of dried blood strewn about the floor.

Sheila took notice of Daria and began scowling. "Oh, you're back. Well you're too late. Those three are already being schooled in the art of compassion."

"What do you mean!?" Daria glared as she stormed over.

"I mean they're either gonna join Manny's movement, or die."

“So it’s begun then,” Raymond’s voice growled as he warped into the cafe.

He then noticed the DESPER key laying on the floor and promptly retrieved it. Daria naturally asked what it was, and to her surprise, Raymond told her all.

“A DESPER key!?”

“Yes, it can forcibly activate a DESPER.”

“S- So then they have them!?” Sheila trembled as she began to go pale in the face.

Daria and Raymond slowly walked up to her demanding to know what happened, yet all Sheila could do was curl up into a ball and cry.

“I’m sorry… I’M SORRY! I was scared!”