Sep 12, 2024
Author's Commentary #90:
Time to talk about Chapter 90: A walk in the woods.
After all that just happened, it's nice that Mimoko is able to take a nice leisurely walk with Michiko in the woods. It also turns out that Michiko might become the next maestro and Mimoko her SPCM. Things are starting to look brighter... As if!
Turns out, Michiko was the mastermind behind this whole ordeal the entire time, and as such is the true main villain of Season 3. There were actually various hints both in the story and my commentaries that hinted at Michiko being the true mastermind. First, was the fact that in my commentaries, I never referred to Ai as the main villain of the arc. The closest I got to that was referring to how evil the "false maestro" was. However, since Ai was unknowingly under Michiko's control the entire time, Michiko herself could be considered the false maestro, or more appropriately, the puppet maestro. Second, if you saw both the SPCM artwork and the Desperado artwork, you might have noticed that one of the silhouetted figures in the Desperado artwork resembles Michiko. I actually debated introducing a whole new character with a similar look, just to further throw people off, but ultimately decided not to.
Another hint was her birthday. Back when I revealed her birthday was January 25th, I never elaborated why I chose that date for her. The reason being it might have spoiled her true nature as January 25th is opposite day. This was a hint that Michiko's true nature was the opposite of her friendly act.
Speaking of which, I was originally going to have Michiko be revealed to be an antagonist as early as her introduction. While the characters in the story wouldn't learn until this point, readers would be aware and privy to Michiko's internal dialogue. However, I decided against it, mainly because I wanted her being evil to surprise the readers too. This is why I changed course and began offering tiny hints to Michiko being the mastermind within the story. The obvious hint being the fact that Michiko is well-versed in chess terminology.
She takes great pride in the fact that she knows the names of every opening and gambit, and as such, it was quite suspicious when the other SPCMs who were said to not be the greatest when recalling the names of all the openings, are not only able to know them, but make a point of displaying that they know the names of each opening.
The second hint was Michiko going "bald". She was shown to be capable of putting bald caps on people, so naturally, she simply had all her proxies make her appear to be bald. However, since she couldn't hide her eyelashes, that ended up being the hint that she wasn't truly bald, as Ai not only requires her ladies to shave their heads and eyebrows, but also their eyelashes too. Even Tenju ended up losing her eyelashes after Michiko splashed depilatory cream on her face.
The final major hint was the DESPER. Not once, did Ai ever use her own DESPER, mainly because she never had one in the first place. Since she is not only unrated, but also not a WWCF member, she can't join the Desperado league or wield a DESPER. Since Michiko was the only SPCM that had a DESPER prior to the other SPCMs getting brainwashed, it was clear that she had her DESPER long before that and was thus a Desperado.
I did attempt to include some misdirects, notably the hooded woman. However, I will confirm that the hooded woman is simply another one of Michiko's proxies and not the true mastermind. In fact, she was one of the first people Michiko put under her control after receiving a DESPER, and before she met Ai, Michiko intended for the hooded woman to be the scapegoat for her maestro plan.
She never loved Ai in the first place, nor shared her desire for a harem, in fact she hated Ai's lustful demeanor, but tolerated it for the sake of the plan, but also because it could result in added humiliation for her fellow SPCMs.
The most nefarious part of her plan though was how she decided to deal with Mimoko. Rather than outright trying to kill her by beating her in a match, Michiko sought to break her mentally to the point where she'd come to rely on her, and thus unknowingly be manipulated by her. Had Mimoko become an SPCM, she would have been bound to said duty for the rest of her life, forfeiting her future as a chess player. Not only that, but the Ultima-master would be protected since it wouldn't self destruct if it was beaten by an SPCM. While Mimoko learned of Michiko's true nature, she's now in an even worse state than before. Had she challenged Michiko, she would have lost. Thus, it's up to Okisato to save the day and play Michiko in the true climax of the arc.
One final thing I'll mention is Raymond's skeleton key. While it wasn't shown off here, it has the power to forcibly activate a DESPER. In short, it can not only force a DESPER wielder to be forced into a chess match, but it will also fully recharge the DESPER. Even though Michiko's DESPER had recharged, she was planning on not activating it. The reason for that was to stall until the WWCF executive board would approve her status as maestro. However, since she didn't want Raymond to use his key, she decided to activate her DESPER and challenge Okisato. This is because the one wielding the key, is forced to play against the DESPER holder should they successfully activate their DESPER with their key. It also allows the key holder to dictate the conditions for the wager, and even choose the stage for the match. Since Michiko did not want to face Raymond as that would most certainly result in her demise, she opted to accept his other offer and challenged Okisato to a DESPER match. More will be explained about the key as the series goes on.
Speaking of the match, this next game is by far my favorite game in the entire series, so I hope you look forward to it.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
