Sadistic sloth, and desperate vainglory

Despite the rain vanishing, everyone was still soaked as the rain the DESPER had summoned was real.

"Hmm, wonder what the after effects of this will be. Well, I'll find out after my nap," Skaberghast chuckled as he began to head out.

"Wait!"

Skaberghast let out a sigh and turned to face Okisato. "Agatha flew the coop ages ago, and since you lost, you're getting nothing out of me."

"Then how about a consolation prize?"

"For what?"

Okisato glared and displayed Skaberghast's profile on his WWCF card. "For destroying your 100% win-rate with the Muzio."

Thanks to the draw, Skaberghast's perfect win-rate with the Muzio gambit had been destroyed. While he still remained undefeated, the loss would sting, if Skaberghast actually cared about things like that.

"Sorry buddy, but I don't give a rat's ass about that. All I care about is the win percentage, and that's one of my best openings. Sure I have some pride over the fact that I know it's ins and outs, but me losing my 100% win-rate status with it? Nothing. It wasn't a loss, nor were Armageddon rules in effect so I live with a draw. But I guess I don't want you stalking me, so I'll ask; can you name everyone that conspired to kill Kana?"

Okisato paused as he recounted all the names his mother had mentioned. "You're the big one, but she also mentioned Agatha was the chief financier of the project along with the WWCF. She did give me 6 names though. In addition to you and Agatha, there was Flavio Baltho, Pheremona Cuscuta, Marjatta Virtanen, and Olavi Hellkkinen, the sinful six as I dub you."

"True, that was everyone present the day Agatha first stopped by to give the project a massive funding, but what if I told you there were more conspirators."

"Why would I believe you?"

"Mina Kowalski. That's all you get," Skaberghast snickered as he walked away.

Clouds began to form as it began raining naturally. Okisato immediately looked up the name, but scowled in disappointment as nothing came up in the WWCF database. He cursed Skaberghast under his breath for a few minutes before being interrupted by an incoming call.

"Inoue-senpai?"

"Ah, Tanabe-kun. I'm calling to let you know Carol-chan just became an official SPCM."

"Oh? So they finished the renovations?"

"Yes, so I was going to head over there and was wondering if you and the others would like to come as well."

"Sure, if fact, I've got some good news I'd like to deliver to Carol-chan myself..."

...

At Triple cedar hotel, Carol gasped as Okisato finished telling her what happened. "Mother Salem's dead!?"

"Yeah, but Agatha's still alive," Okisato sighed.

"Well, she always was the kind to do anything to get what she wanted. But Mother Salem being out of the picture does take some weight off me. So as thanks, I'll show you the cheat code for accessing the secret puzzle cafe."

"Weren't you going to show us all anyway?" Mimoko asked.

"Yeah, I'd just show you, but not tell you," Carol grinned as she led everyone into the newly renovated arcade room.

She quickly headed to a chess arcade in the back and began fiddling with the controls. First, she selected the CPU opponent, Bromeliaceae Nikaru and proceeded to play as black. As soon as Bromeliaceae played the Bongcloud, Carol responded by moving her bishop to d6, and after Bromeliaceae followed up by moving his king to f3, Mimoko began scowling as she realized what was going on.

"The code is the fastest possible castling checkmate, yes?"

"You got it. E4, e5, king e2, bishop d6, king f3, queen g5, bishop c4, knight h6, bishop e6, f captures e6, queen e2, and the king's side castle mate. You can only pull this off though against Bromeliaceae, but when you do..."

As soon as Carol got the mate, the arcade began moving to reveal a hidden passageway.

"You get access to the secrets within."

While Mimoko didn't have the fondest memories of the game, she did have to admit it was impressive to have it function as an entrance code.

After doing the daily puzzles, Mimoko quickly pulled out her phone and began looking up something. Curious, Okisato peered over her shoulder to find she was looking up Kuon.

"You're still flustered over her?"

"Tanabe-kun, you know it's rude to peek over someone's shoulder. But yes, especially since the Japanese federation just posted an official banner with the team rosters."

"Hold on, they do one for the men's team too?"

"Yes?"

Okisato quickly pulled out his phone and quickly pulled up the banner. Alongside him and Ginji, there was Zago-kun and a man named Ryonosuke Hobou, both of whom Okisato already knew would make the team. What he wanted to know was who the 5th member would be, though much to his surprise, it was a man garbed in a cloak, Akubra wide-brimmed hat, and luchador wrestling mask with a Japanese aesthetic. His name was billed simply as "The Masked man", not telling Okisato a thing about who he really was.

However, he shifted his mind to another matter and began searching for something, but scowled as his search came up empty.

...

At Skaberghast's hotel room, Agatha frowned as she found herself tied to a chair, with her family standing guard. "And why are you two getting in on this?"

"Because Emmie's dead because of you," Elenora glared.

"Like, because you like, keep using the gag spell on me," Sabrina glared.

"Sabrina, I'm shaving your damn head when this is over. Now as for you, why'd you tell me to come here?" Agatha glared at Skaberghast.

Skaberghast merely smiled as he laid on the bed and pulled out his phone. A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door. Simone opened it to reveal Kuon standing there. Wearing a thicker layer of makeup and now sporting a buzzed pixie cut, it was clear she was still upset about her loss.

"Huh, I thought I said show up bald," Skaberghast sneered.

"My apologies, but this is as short as I'm willing to go. Now just how do you intend to get me into the Chess Olympics?"

"Through these fine ladies. They've got wealth and sway in America."

Kuon raised an eyebrow as she noticed the Broadstones.

"Oh, I should introduce our mischievous damsel. She's Agatha Broadstone, one of the main funders of the DESPER project and one of the ringleaders of Kana Tanabe's murder."

Kuon didn't seem to show any reaction to the revelation, focused solely on one thing. "Can you get me on the American women's team?"

Agatha blinked for a few seconds before smirking and slithering out of her bindings. "Something that easy? Naturally. But care to explain who you are?"

As Kuon explained who she was, Skaberghast stealthily snuck out and went up to the rooftop to find Red Reaper, Jester, and Nyoan.

"So Streama festivalen is almost here. In that case, it's time to get to work," he maliciously smirked.