Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #7:

Believe it or not, there isn't much to discuss about Chapter 7: Confrontation.
The chapter primarily serves as a buildup for the the next few chapters so there isn't much to really talk about. One thing I will mention is that the song I believe fits the Desperado league the best is Bach's prelude and fugue in E minor BWV 533. So feel free to play it in the background whenever the Desperado league comes on screen. Now let's talk about Mei.

Mei Utsunomiya is your typical strict disciplinary committee head. Because of that, she feels that her image is directly influenced by the school's, which is why she strictly enforces all the rules. Iori's been a frequent offender for years, and the only reason she doesn't get punished a lot is due to her financial situation.

Mei once punished Iori harshly for her appearance, but Iori naturally used her clout to start a controversy and frame the incident as Mei discriminating against her because she's poor and thus had no choice but to adopt an eye catching look in order to make bank as a streamer.

Her name is spelled 宇都宮 命 (Utsunomiya Mei) in kanji. Her name, 命, can mean "fate" as well as "ordering" which she tends to do a lot of. Her last name, 宇都宮, can mean "intelligence", "to rule", and "shrine".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

As for Mei herself, she actually one of the more underdeveloped characters, though I don't exactly have big plans for her. In terms of design, she draws inspiration from Kobachi Osaragi from Kaguya-sama while her personality is inspired more by Himeko Momokino from Citrus.

Her birthday is June 6th, which is the same as Osaragi's. I actually wanted it to be the same as Himeko Momokino's, but since her birthday is not listed, I chose to have her share it with Osaragi.

Since Mei doesn't play chess, nor plans to, she doesn't have a favorite piece. Even if she did play though, she wouldn't consider one piece more valuable than the others as all have their uses.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #27:

Time to discuss Chapter 27: Prelude to the third round.
Obviously, this is a buildup chapter. The first notable thing about this chapter is... Mimoko's casual attire. Mimoko thinks suspenders look cute which is why she usually pairs them with a skirt and long sleeve shirt.

Now onto the new Desperados. First off is Svetlana Smirnova. Her design was inspired by Jill Sturgeon from Metallic Rouge, who in turn reminds me a lot of Sibylla from Spy Kyoushitsu. There's no kanji for her name, but
スヴェトラーナ・スミルノワ (Svetlana Smirnova) is how her name is written in katakana. However, since she's Russian, her name can be written as Светлана Смирнова (Svetlana Smirnova) in Russian.

Her birthday is September 28th, which she shares with Aleksandra Goryachkina, a Russian grandmaster that is also one of the top female chess players of all time.

Her favorite piece is the rook since she views it as an extension of her sledgehammer, which is her preferred weapon of choice.

Now onto Haruki Kamoshida. 鴨志田 春樹 (Kamoshida Haruki) is how his name is written. His first name, 春樹, means "Spring" and "tree". It is also written the same as Haruki Yamauchi's name from Classroom of the elite. His last name, 鴨志田, means "duck", "aspiration", and "rice field". It is also written the same as Suguru Kamoshida's name from Persona 5.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Considering Haruki's named after two big pieces of shit, you can probably guess that he's going to be a massive piece of shit, and you're right. This piece of shit will by far be one of the most vile and despicable characters in the story. Though believe it or not, Kakeru Ryūen from Classroom of the elite is by far the biggest inspiration behind his character. So much so, that I honestly imagine him sounding just like him when he talks.

His birthday is May 30th, which he shares with Haruki Yamauchi from Classroom of the elite.

His favorite piece is the king, because that's how he views himself.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #26:

Time to discuss Chapter 26: The secret puzzle cafe.
The concept of the secret puzzle cafe was another byproduct of my "if this novel gets a video game adaptation, this will be a key feature in it" mentality. There's actually more to do in the puzzle cafe than just attempting chess puzzles. Chess terminology quizzes, exhibition matches against fellow players, and chess variants are all offered at the secret puzzle cafe.

4-player chess, or 4-way chess as I call it, is the cafe's main attraction aside from the daily puzzles. There are actually a few variations for 4-way chess rules, but for simplicity's sake, this universe version of the game follows the chess.com rules for the game.

Since I've made such a big deal about 4-way chess, I'm sure you can guess that there will eventually be a 4-way chess game in the series. To that, I say yes, but it will take some time due to the research that will need to go into it, and because of where I plan for it to make its debut in the story.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #13:

Time to discuss Chapter 13: Skewer.
First off, let's explain the title. In chess, a skewer occurs when two pieces in a line are under attack, however, unlike a pin in which a lower valued piece is under attack and the higher valued piece is behind it, the higher valued piece is under attack while the lower valued piece is behind it. This means that many will choose to move the higher valued piece to safety, and forsake the lower valued piece.

Now let's talk about the trio of bullies. First up is the leader of the group, Shion Segawa. She takes heavy inspiration from Shiho Manabe from Classroom of the elite, but draws her name from Sion of My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered and Hiro Segawa of A couple of cuckoos. The kanji for her name is 背川 姫媛 (Segawa Shion). Her first name, 姫媛, means "noblewoman", which is certainly what she is considering she's the prefectural governor's daughter. Speaking of which, her mother's name, 志歩, means "ambition" and "walk". As for their last name, 背川, it means "betray" and "river".

Both also share the same birthday of February 21st. I initially wanted them to have the same birthday as Shiho Manabe, but since she doesn't have one listed, I instead went with the day that Season 3 episode 8 of the Classroom of the elite anime aired.

Originally, I had bigger plans for Shion, but for now, she'll just be more of a minor antagonist.

Speaking of Shiho Manabe, the blue-haired girl, is named Mami Manabe in reference to both her and Mami Nanami from Rent a girlfriend. 曲直部 万美 (Manabe Mami) is how her name is spelled in kanji. Her first name, 万美, means "ten thousand" and "beautiful". Her last name, 曲直部, can translate to "wrong or unjust", "honest", and "group".

Her birthday is May 2nd, which is the same as Hiro Sewaga's from A couple of cuckoos.

She is actually one of the school's top shogi players and is also the daughter of an influential politician.

The final bully, Kigyoku Gyakui, doesn't actually draw her name from anime characters I hate. 逆井 嬉玉 (Gyakui Kigyoku) is how her name is spelled in kanji. Her first name, 嬉玉, can translate to "happiness" and "ball", which is a nod to her status as the top striker of the soccer team. Her last name, 逆井, can mean "to oppose" and "water hole".
(If I made any mistake with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is January 23rd, which is the same as Kikyō Kushida's from Classroom of the elite.

Like the other members of the trio, she'll likely just be a minor antagonist for now.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #24:

Time to discuss Chapter 24: Hagemi's first match.
Originally, this wasn't going to exist, but I felt that I needed to flesh out more of why Gyro feared Hagemi so I decided to write this chapter. It ended up working in the end, though I'll elaborate more on that in a future commentary.

First off, some more info on Hagemi. Hagemi comes from a rich family, but ran away from home after her father tried to force her into a relationship with the son of an influential politician. She was only 16 at the time, and had never played chess prior. After meeting and impressing Redfield, she quickly became an overnight star in the chess world, but in the process, upstaged Kuon. At the time, Kuon was a 9-year old chess prodigy whom was going to be the next big star, until Hagemi came out of nowhere and not only upstaged her, but became Redfield's favorite chess player. As such, Kuon developed a rivalry with Hagemi and views her with hostility. Hagemi however, initially viewed her as a little sister, but began seeing her in a bit more of a romantic light once she became an adult. Hagemi's also close with Mimoko's mother as well as various other mothers in the neighborhood. She's actually very sociable and nice, though can become terrifying when she's angry.

One final topic I'll touch on are Inojin and Cypress. First off, both ended up having sex with Gyro as a punishment for Gyro's loss. The incident ended up causing Cypress to have mild, but not romantic affection for Gyro. The incident is also one of the big reasons he made it his creed not to underestimate women.

Finally, let's briefly give Inojin his bio since this will likely be the last time we see him in the story.
In kanji, his name is 伊之助 猪仁 (Inosuke Inojin). 猪仁 can mean "boar" and "humanity", while 伊之助 is actually the same as Inosuke Hashibira's name from Kimetsu no yaiba and translates to "Italy", "to reach" , and "a nickname". There really isn't much significance behind his name. I just liked how it sounded.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

His birthday is April 21st and his favorite piece is the knight. The reason for that is because he views himself as a good-looking guy on a horse. Unlike a knight though, he's not chivalrous in the slightest.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #23:

Time to discuss Chapter 23: A prodigy in the making.
This chapter gives us the first proper look at Okisato and Mimoko going all out. It also illustrates that just like in the real world, blunders are more prone to occur the faster the playing speed is.

Now let's discuss the chess club. They've expanded their roster from 5 members to 10. However, only 8 of them will really be getting the spotlight in the story.

As for the other two, their names are Zago-kun (座吾) and Azanira-chan (畔蒜 ).
座吾 translates to "seat" and "myself" while 畔蒜 translates to "shore" and "perennial plant of the lily family".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

As for why they only have surnames, both were made with the intention that if this novel ever got a video game adaptation, they'd be the player characters. As a result, their first names would be chosen by the player.

Azenira and Zago won't have a major role in the novel, but they will both have some cameos. And as for how things would work out plot-wise if the novel ever did get a video game adaptation, they'd essentially follow Okisato around and replace Numakawa in arcs that he's present in since Numakawa contributes the least to the story.

Though going more into a potential video game adaptation, you would still be able to play as characters like Okisato for story battles. Speaking of which, I'd also make sure all the story matches (Okisato vs Inoji, Iori vs Cypress, Yuusuke vs Zanni, the bughouse game, etc) have secret cut-scenes and dialogue if you play the games EXACTLY like they are in the story. This would only be a feature of story mode though.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #22:

This time, we're discussing Chapter 22: WWCF cards.
The primary purpose of this chapter was to talk about the WWCF cards. Since this was written before I rewrote some of the earlier chapters, this was originally going to be the giant info dump chapter on the WWCF cards. However, all this chapter really ended up doing was revealing that they can allow their holders to earn money from winning battles. Part of my mentality for doing that is that if this novel were to ever get a video game adaptation, the banking feature would essentially function similar to how you get money from winning battles in Pokemon games.

I also thought it would be better to gradually reveal some of the features of the WWCF cards rather than dump everything all at once, so look forward to more reveals about the card's features in future chapters.

Finally, let's discuss Syouma Numakawa. 沼川 將誠 (Numakawa Syouma) is how his name is written in kanji. 將誠 means "to almost be" and "fact", which is fitting since he's part of the science club.
沼川 on the other hand, translates to "swamp river".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

His birthday is June 13th, which he shares with Lorenz Hellman Gloucester from Fire Emblem three houses.

Like Maida, he feels the queen is the most versatile piece on the board.

He's actually skilled at programming, but also very arrogant. Funnily enough, the greatest influence for his character is actually Lorenz Hellman Gloucester from Fire emblem three houses.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 16, 2024

Author's Commentary #5:

It's time to discuss Chapter 5: Blackmail.
I'm sure you're getting tired of me saying this, but once again, very minimal differences between this and the original. I promise you though, once we reach chapter 7, then things will be different from the original.

Now let's discuss the chapter. Takeda's dead. The whole point of his character was to be a completely irredeemable scumbag that Rika would kill. Unfortunately for Rika, Dastard recorded her committing the act.

It was actually at this point that I decided to expand the series. Originally, it was just going to end with Takeda dying and Rika returning to the restaurant, but since I decided to write more, I had Dastard show up to extend the plot.

I know I mentioned earlier that things will shake up starting at chapter 7, but chapter 6 will make it clear why the shake up occurred. As for Dastard's motives, and what Rika will have to do as his partner, that will be explained soon.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #20:

It's time to discuss Chapter 20: Feline fanatic.
First thing's first, Kuon was originally supposed to be a much larger antagonist, but I couldn't think of what to do with her, so I relegated her to that of a minor one. As such, this chapter originally served to build her up as a messed up villain, but since I decided to change course, I ended up rewriting Kuon to make her more of a scientist.

南谷 九怨 (Nanya Kuon) is how her name is spelled in kanji. Her first name, 九怨, translates to "nine" and "resentment", which is fitting for her character. Her last name, 南谷, means "South" and "ravine". It also has "nya" in it which is why I chose it.

Her birthday is August 8th, which is International cat day. As for why she prefers catgirls over cats, that will eventually be explained in the story.

Her favorite piece is the queen, mainly because she herself believes she is the queen of chess. She was actually a child prodigy, but ended up getting upstaged when her eventual rival and world's highest rated female player entered the scene. As for who that woman is, that will be revealed soon.

I'll also talk a bit about Nyogaku Nakano. Like Kuon, I originally planned for her to have a larger role, but for now she'll be a minor character.

中埜 如岳 (Nakano Nyogaku) is how her name is written in kanji. Her first name,
如岳 means "similar to" and "peak". Her last name, 中埜 means "inside" and "field". It is an obvious nod to the the Nakano quintuplets from the Quintessential quintuplets. Though funnily enough, the character that largely inspired Nyogaku was actually Sahara Wakasa from Mato seihei no slave.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is December 4th. I originally wanted to make her birthday the same as Sahara's but decided to go with something a bit more creative as Sahara debuted in the 12th chapter of the manga and the 4th episode of the anime.

As for her favorite piece, it's the bishop. Why? Because she likes how they go whoosh on the diagonals.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #19:

Time to discuss Chapter 19: A woman of science.
First off, let's briefly touch on the now bald catgirl, Nyoan. One thing I've always wondered about catgirls is if they have two sets of ears. That's why I decided to answer that question and found out... They do indeed have both human and cat ears, or at least Nyoan does. Even though she was subjected to a full-head wax, her hair has a small chance of growing back naturally. However, since Okisato simply made her punishment "losing all her hair and fur", she could challenge someone to a DESPER battle and have her prize for winning be her hair and fur growing back. Of course, Nyoan is probably not smart enough to think of that herself.

Now let's move on to Okisato's 27-year old teacher, Mayana Maida. She's a woman of science and is highly intelligent. She draws heavy inspiration from Sae Chabashira from Classroom of the elite.

毎田 万夜奈 is how her name is spelled in kanji. Her first name, 万夜奈, can translate to "ten thousand", "night", and "fruit tree". Her last name, 毎田, means "always" and "rice field".
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is March 14th which is shared with Albert Einstein, one of the most famous scientists of all time. Believe it or not, Einstein did play chess from time to time so this can technically count as a chess related birthday as well.

Even though she's just now picking up chess, she's determined that the queen is by far one of the more useful pieces on the board, and thus that could be considered her favorite piece, which is a bit ironic considering she was trapped in one, but it could also be argued that the incident gave her an up close look at how useful the queen is.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #18:

Time to discuss Chapter 18: Pawn and two moves odds.
First off, let's discuss odds chess. Odds are a form of handicaps players might implement to make games more interesting and/or give weaker players a better chance of beating them. The odds used for this chapter, pawn and two moves, means white gets to start by making two moves in a row and black is down their f-pawn. As for why it's always the f-pawn, removing any other pawn can actually give the player an advantage by opening up a file for a rook if it's the a- pawn or h-pawn, the diagonals for the bishop if it's the b-pawn or g-pawn, the diagonals for the queen if its the c-pawn or e-pawn (though Two pawns odds removes the c-pawn in addition to the f-pawn), and removing the d-pawn opens the file for the queen and a diagonal for a bishop. Removing the f-pawn offers no such advantage and instead leaves the king vulnerable to an attack diagonally, which is exactly what happened in this game.
or the queen and/or a diagonal for a bishop and queen.

As for the DESPER, it factors in how disadvantaged the player with the odds is, and lessens the severity of the punishment accordingly. Had Nyoan implemented queen and move odds, Okisato wouldn't have died if he lost. However, the punishment for the player that isn't handicapped are never lessened regardless of the odds implemented.

Odds can only be triggered if the one activating the DESPER, or the person the DESPER holder activated their DESPER for, is rated 1000 points lower than their opponent. This means that DESPER holders that are higher-rated than their opponent can't implement odds both for their opponent, or themself. Naturally, the higher-rated opponent can simply refuse to participate which would deactivate the DESPER for the day.

Now onto the game itself. This was very fun to write mainly due to the fact that Okisato also had to avoid losing his queen to prevent Maida from dying. The concept of trapping people in pieces is a relatively new discovery for the Desperado league, with only Nyoan and a few others being aware of it. However, in order to force someone to be trapped in a piece, the victim must be rated 500 points lower than the one who activates the DESPER, and can only be placed within a piece if they are restrained beforehand and if the the Desperado playing is rated the same as or lower than their opponent.

Getting back to the game, Nyoan was completely outwitted by Okisato. She did try to attack Maida a couple of times, but since Maida was in a queen, Okisato could defend her much easier than if she was in a pawn.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #17:

This time, we're discussing Chapter 17: Stalker.
And what better topic to discuss than the stalker herself, Nyoan Nyakuoji, nya. First off, she ends her sentences with "nya". Second, she gained her cat ears and cat tail, which are both real, thanks to the DESPER.

若王子 如杏 (Nyakuoji Nyoan) is how her name is spelled in kanji. Her first name, 如杏, can mean "similar to" and "apricot" as well as "inferior". Her last name,
若王子, can translate to "immature", "monarch", and "junior". I mainly chose Nyakuoji as her last name due to it having "nya" in it. The school Nyoan mentioned she was from, Mimineko gakuin, is also a pun on the word, nekomimi which means cat ears.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).

Her birthday is February 22nd. The reason for that is that it's Japan's cat day and can be read as an abbreviation for "nyan nyan nyan".

Her favorite piece is the knight since like a cat, since it's movement is the closest to resembling that of a cat's. She's also one of the few characters to have some meaning behind her rating. Originally, it was 800, but I increased it to 900 to make reference to the fact that cat's are said to have "9 lives". The buff also makes her slightly more intimidating, but unlike Gyro, the buff was more so to make the cat reference rather than make her more intimidating.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #16:

It's time to discuss Chapter 16: Oni-tiger.
First off, I will confirm that both Nagi and Mami are truly dead. I will also confirm that Shion contacted Gyro following the game and agreed to grant him an audience with her mother, the prefectural governor.

The chapter also offered a bit more insight into Okisato's character, however, I won't discuss any further information beyond what was revealed in this chapter. Though I will say that his physical strength is on another level. This is once again a reference to Kiyotaka Ayanokoji from Classroom of the elite. His strength is also why he's known as the oni-tiger, and what led to him adopting the nickname.

One final thing I'll mention is regarding Inferno's den. It's basically a hot spot for underground chess matches which is why Gyro sent Zanni there to level up. Now Zanni has a rating over 2000 and is far more formidable. Not to mention, he's got his sights set on Yuusuke.

Speaking of which, Yuusuke's mother, Hagemi, has now made her debut. Though we'll talk more about her later. All I'll say for now is that you don't want to get in a fight with her.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 15, 2024

Author's Commentary #4:

Time to talk about Chapter 4: Time for dessert.
Not too many differences between this and the original. When I first started writing this chapter, I felt I needed to use the Makihara mini-arc to introduce everyone to the cook-offs. Obviously, they're not as epic as the shokugekis from Shokugeki no Soma, but I tried my best.

Now onto the funnel cake. Why did I have it be a funnel cake that wins it all? Well, 1st I just wanted to pay homage to the funnel cake. Second, and more significantly, I wanted to highlight that in this series, the better crafted meal won't always beat out the more delicious meal. Rika knew beforehand that Masaru really enjoys funnel cakes, not to mention she made sure to have it taste more distinct from her opponents in order to win over Itsuki's taste buds and possibly Makihara's.

To go more into detail on why Itsuki liked the funnel cake so much, it was due to it being a new tasty experience for her as the desserts Takeda and Helga made are part of the Makihara approved desserts menu, thus she's ate so much of those, the taste doesn't impact her the same, even though they're well made. This will be a key theme going forward.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Apr 14, 2024

Author's Commentary #15:

It's time to talk about Chapter 15: Bughouse brawl.
The bughouse game against the shogi club was actually one of the first major events I had planned for the story. It was originally goin to take place before the Cypress and Zanni confrontation, but I felt jumping in the bughouse before the confrontation wouldn't flow as well, so I pushed it back, which ended up working out real well. Another reason I wanted to do a bughouse game was because I wanted to have the punishment for the losers be getting zapped with a giant bug zapper. For some reason, I always think of a giant bug zapper whenever I hear the term "bughouse", thus I felt it was fitting to have the room turn into a giant bug zapper and for the losers to be electrocuted to death.

Now let's discuss what bughouse is. Bughouse a two player variation of chess that allows you to use pieces captured by your teammate. You are allowed to drop a piece that can check or mate, and unlike in shogi you can drop a pawn on the same file that contains a pawn of the same color, and drop a pawn to checkmate. You can't however, drop a pawn on the 1st or 8th ranks. Conversing with your teammate is also permitted, making this more of a strategy game.

The game itself was by far one of the harder ones I had to write as I essentially had to create everything from scratch and get the piece drops right. However, the effort was worth it. This is by far one of my favorite games in the series.

Despite that, I doubt I'll ever do a bughouse game again, but I might consider doing a Crazyhouse game, which is a single player variant of Bughouse, in the future.

That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.

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