Rain and Rebirth [Season 5 End]

Everyone sobbed as Scharlachrot's casket was lowered into the grave. The skies themselves cried too as the rain only grew heavier.

"Heather-chan, you'll catch a cold if you don't get under the umbrella," Sorcha sighed.

Heather remained silent as she stood in the rain, staring down at Scharlachrot's coffin. Her hair now drooped down, soaked by the rain, yet she didn't care.

"He didn't even leave her pretty face. I can't even see my Scharlachrot's pretty face anymore... I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"

"Heather, we all feel the same, but we can't just go and declare war on everyone," Medeucesa nervously stated.

"They killed my Scharlachrot! Prussia, Russia, the Desperados, the WWCF, I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"

Now that Scharlachrot was dead, Heather's attitude had taken a turn for the worse. Gone was her lovable airheaded villainess persona, and in its place, a broken and angry one. It was like she too had died as well.

"Heather, I know you're upset, we all are, but we can't just wage wars, it will only lead to more death and suffering," Sorcha sighed.

"I'll lead. I'm the queen, I'm strong. We rule a damn country, don't we? Then prepare our munitions!"

The grunts began shuffling uneasily as the executives sighed and huddled up. "We have to placate her, otherwise everything will fall apart," Bette whispered.

"How we do it?" Plum asked.

"We just need to direct her anger at one person; the one who caused all her suffering," Vittoria glared.

"The reaper!? Are you insane? That madman would wipe us all out!" Bette glared.

"No, he may have done the deed, but how did he get that DESPER key? I was wondering why Scharlachrot was acting a tad paranoid, seems it was because she sensed a rat in our midst."

"Yeah, I remember too. She was suspicious because you n' Medeucesa had played friendlies against Desperados."

"Those? Ugh, they were just standard underground matches with no wagers," Medeucesa groaned.

"I never saw her so sad, I wonder if she felt she'd be eliminated back then," Sorcha sighed.

"We're getting off topic. I vote we direct her anger at Melania and that grunt that colluded with her. They were WWCF spies, and we've been against the WWCF from the start anyway. Plus, they'll settle things with chess, so no need to worry about lots of bloodshed," Vittoria stated.

Everyone nodded and decided to go with that. As the executives presented their plan to Heather, Tsar Grigori watched afar from his warship. “So the Fairy league is dead. Scharlachrot Karmesinrot really was the backbone of this league. Now that she's gone, they'll get more sporadic.”

Heather glared at everyone before turning back to look down at Scharlachrot's coffin. "I called myself the queen of the fairies, but Scharlachrot was truly my fairy queen. Now that she's dead, so too is the magic that bound us together. Henceforth, I am Heather Spriggan, empress of the Spriggan league. Our goal is to eliminate those who took our fairy queen, Scharlachrot from us. And for her, we will make fairy chess the only way to play chess in the world!"

On his warship, Tsar Grigori chuckled as he lowered his binoculars and set sail. “Seems like that girl made a grave error giving Kaiser Richthofen a DESPER key. I can only imagine the suffering she must be going through. Hmm, wonder if the oni-tiger and his chess club will be in the crosshairs? I can only hope."

...

In Berlin, Red Reaper sat upon his throne, jostling his DESPER in one hand as he read the news on his phone with the other. Even though he had suffered three straight losses to Okisato and had his rating drop to 2773 when all was said and done, he had ultimately emerged from this war so to say, the victor. Not only had he dealt with a traitor he long sought to eliminate, but in the process was able to get ahold of a DESPER key and hand it off to Skaberghast to analyze. Thanks to that, the Desperado league could now mass produce them, resulting in a hero’s celebration for Red Reaper.

“So the fairies have snapped and become spriggans. How comical. No matter what they are, they are but fodder in the face of my might. I do wonder what happened to fräulein Melania,” Red Reaper mused aloud.

…

In Paris, France, a beautiful woman with long multicolored hair hummed as she cleaned the salon. Suddenly, Ina and Melania staggered in, exhausted and out of breath.

"Bonjour, bienvenue. Comment puis-je vous server [Hello, welcome in. How may I serve you]?"

"Je veux Melisha, s'il vous plaît, et juste un masque pour le visage et les cheveux [I want Melisha, please, and just a facial and hair mask]."

"Ensuite, asseyez-vous, je préparerai la tondeuse, la crème et la cire [Then take a seat, I'll prepare the clippers, cream, and wax]."

Ina and Melania grimaced as the woman giddily grabbed them and shoved her into a chair. "I didn't request a shave,” Ina snarled.

"Désolé, je ne comprends pas le japonais [Sorry, I don't understand Japanese]."

"Bullshit! You're a native Japanese speaker!"

The woman didn't seem to care, but the moment she touched Ina's hair, a scowl appeared on her face. "You're wearing an intricate wig again."

"Well no shit, I don't want my real hair follicles destroyed!"

"Then it seems I'll be unable to properly service you, a shame."

“We only came here because this is a safe country. Otherwise I wouldn’t dare set foot in your establishment,” Melania glared as she ruffled her hair.

The woman went silent and sat down in an adjacent chair. She was known as Melisha Kamaleon, a WWCF executive board member known for infiltrating various underground chess leagues and destroying them from within. No one knew what her true face or name were, but for now she was going by Melisha Vousrendrechauve, a young stylist that had moved to Paris from the countryside.

“Is that really the reason why? You could just warp to WWCF HQ from a secret puzzle cafe,” Melisha glared.

“But then we’d have to warp back to that one.”

“Then why come here instead of going straight to Fifi’s. Heck, since you’re both WWCF officials, albeit of different classes, you should be able to warp to any secret puzzle cafe in the world, so why come to me?”

Ina frowned and got up, giving Melania one final somber look. “This is as far as I go with you. Now, just like you wished, you’re on your own,” she sighed as she left the salon.

Melisha turned her attention back to Melania, who sat in the chair, looking as though she wanted Melisha to service her.

A malicious smile spread across Melisha’s face as she grasped the situation and began caping Melania.

“Just so you know, shaving ALL your hair off is a requirement for my plastic surgery services.”

“Do it. I don’t want to see this pitiful face much longer.”

Melisha giggled and began shearing Melania without hesitation, throwing in a “complimentary” wax and laser.

Once finished, Melania let out a heavy sigh as she stared at her now hairless reflection in the mirror. While she kept a stoic expression on her face, she was unable to stop the tears from trickling down her face, though the tears were not shed because of her new hairless state, but rather because of her great failure.

“Now I can never return to RR-sama’s side… I’m sorry,” she thought as Melisha clamped her hand down on her now bald head and tilted her back.

“You’re lucky I have no loyalty to Redfield, otherwise I’d sell you out the moment you left. Well, since you’re my self-proclaimed worst enemy, I’ll make sure your new look is quite hideous,” Melisha thought.

…

At Stanford, Skaberghst scowled as Mona stood before him. "And you let Jackie run off?"

"She just had to go to the bathroom."

"Bullshit! You let her escape! Now you're gonna have to go retrieve her!"

"But she should still be-"

"Japan. Did you forget about the experiment? Now get your ass over to Kawaguchi."

"The experiment? ...! You're saying it was a success!?"

"Partially it seems. If Jackie ran off, it's likely the wager took effect."

As Mona began to head out, Olga barged in holding a stack of papers. She was too frantic to form a coherent sentence, so she just dumped the stack of papers on Skaberghast, before standing awkwardly, awaiting his response.

"And this? Research? Complaints? Office work? I don't like expending unnecessary energy you- ...!"

Skarghast instantly shot up as he gazed at the headline of the paper. "DESPER key research, and a hostage!? Seems like I'm motivated after all. Change of plans, I'll head to Kawaguchi."

...

In Japan, the chess club all gathered at the school.

"You're lucky the school allows clubs to meet here during break," Maida grumbled.

"We've been through a lot. So it's nice for us all to reunite here," Mimoko nodded.

"Why're ya wearing your school uniform though?" Yuusuke asked.

"Because we're at school engaging in official club activities, that's why."

"Mimoko-sama looks great in her school uniform," Utami gashed.

"Yes, since this is considered official club activity on school grounds school uniforms should be encouraged," Maida stated as she glared at Iori.

"I didn't get any memos about uniform requirements. Besides, it's still our break," Iori grumbled.

"I know our school tends to have its summer break a bit later than most schools, but it is still encouraged that you do abide by school rules should you come to school grounds for official club or academic related activity."

"So anything new on your end?" Okisato asked.

"I managed to get ahold of Kazuya Enoki's DESPER, but I can't even crack it open. It certainly is foreign tech, and that only increases my curiosity about it. It's a shame Numakawa-kun perished. He had such a smart mind.

"That's debatable."

"Hahahaha! I think not, Tanabe," a voice rang out.

Everyone turned to see Jackie standing before them.

"Why are you here?" Okisato glared.

"Ah, of course you don't recognize me. It is I, Syouma Numakawa!" Jackie declared.

"Huh?"

...

Maida furrowed her brow as Jackie finished making her case for why she was actually Numakawa. "You're claiming you were challenged to a match vs this Jackie Egghead with the condition for winning being that if you die, your consciousness will be uploaded into Jackie's mind, yes?"

"That is correct, and it appears as though her consciousness and memories have been erased, meaning she is effectively dead and I am the sole mind in control of this body," Jackie stated.

"And how are we to believe you?"

"I shall recount my last memories. You see, I engaged in a match to save Zenihara-san from a skeletal man, yet the bastard must have cheated as I played the perfect Grob opening and Grob gambit."

The act was certainly convincing, the only problem was that it could just be that, an act. While it did seem likely that Jackie at least had Numakawa's memories, there was no guarantee that her consciousness was truly gone.

"Maida-sensei, you're a woman of science, yes? Then you should know that this is really me," Jackie smirked.

"You certainly do act just like Numakawa-kun, but the woman whose body you've claimed to have hijacked is an affiliate of a Desperado."

"I am well aware, in fact I made a great escape from Stanford in order to get back here. All to continue my good student life."

"I think that girl is actually a college student so you can't re-enroll in high school," Okisato grumbled.

The fact seemed to shock Jackie greatly as she sunk to the floor and mumbled, "Impossible."

After sulking for a bit, Jackie rose and began to head out, promising to enroll in a university. As she left the school and headed outside, she found herself face-to-face with Skaberghast.

"Well, well, Jackie, or should I call you Numakawa? Hmm, we'll go with Jackie Numakawa."

"Ah, Skabby. Why ya here? I thought you were too lazy to do shit."

"I was going to just send Mona, but then I got a surge of motivation. And since I can warp to any secret puzzle cafe I've been to, I came to the closest one here and made my way to Kawaguchi. Now, let's have a nice chat over lunch."

[Season 5 End]