By the start of January, news of Anasthese’s disappearance had reached everyone in the chess-playing community. Even those closest to her, who were pretty much used to her antics by now, stood taken aback at this sudden piece of information — Anasthese had pulled outrageous stunts before, but this one by far has to be the most unprecedented. Her phone was off the grid as well, leaving everyone clueless on how to proceed.

FIDE was at a complete loss following the news. The president immediately issued a full-blown search&rescue operation for her, along with a $100,000 bounty for anyone who can bring her back, tied up if need be. Some of her friends defended her saying she’s probably just running an errand for herself and will be back eventually (crossed fingers), but the higher-ups, too stressed and paranoid to actually hear any of that, upped the reward to $500,000 within just the first week.

This was not just a matter of principle. You see, even amongst the champions, Anasthese was special — irreplaceable, one could say... For the past few years, she’s been serving as FIDE’s official showgirl for drawing all their major event sponsors. Her natural, foreign charm attracts advertisers from all facets of the economy without effort. Like an actress or a celebrity, she draws crowds and funds faster in one day than the whole federation could solicit in a lifetime, her natural beauty, no doubt, the most fitting for the role of chess image (as opposed to blind, German bishie kid with airhead coach...) Losing her was like losing the proverbial golden goose.

Ah, what if she got sick of us always making her attend inaugurations and decided she’d quit for good?

Yeah, she did use to hate those, didn’t she?

What if she got bored of always winning and decided she’d switch to Shogi instead?

Thoughts like these worried the topbrass sick until the hairline on their foreheads started receeding. They were faintly aware of the shaky dynamics between her and Rei. What if she felt depressed at having let it all end at that? She…

…she didn’t kill herself, right?

The remote chance of that actually happening was enough to rally everyone in panic. All search personnel were dispatched, and the reward went up to a record-breaking $2,000,000. Anything anyone knew, no matter how small, FIDE would gladly open their pockets for any piece of information.

But the chess community was such a niche circle that nobody knew how to even start looking. She didn’t leave a note, she didn't leave anything; a fifteen-year-old girl with a wad of cash and perfectly working passport, she could be anywhere from Zimbabwe to the North Pole right now. Even if they put up pictures of Anasthese captioned "MISSING: Have you seen this girl?" and broadcast it over the internet, just how many people would actually recognize her? Not a lot...

And just as the gears for the 1st Great Anasthese Expedition were starting to move, so too, were the hands of fate binding Anastasia and Net. Fresh off the prefecture of Kanagawa, Anasthese takes her first step, into the would-be school of Rei’s secret, unknown rival.

.

Shintenkan High. Population of 1,200. Located on the southern strait of Tokyo.

Winter break had just ended, and the students who had completely forgotten to do their homework (and possibly rushed everything the night before), were drowsily plodding into the characterless, snow-covered entrance hall. Anasthese had never been to a school before. Her constant training as a professional made sure she never had time to pursue education. All she has is being home-schooled for the first few years of her life, and even then, it was only for very short periods of time.

So this is what it looks up close, she thought, hiding behind a bush on the opposite side of the road. It was a pretty big school, kind of like the old auditoriums FIDE used for elimination rounds. According to her research, today should be the second semester for Japan’s academic calendar, which means students are currently returning from a two-week Christmas winter vacation. She’d seen the internet photos in advance, but being sunk in a crowd of black hair was a far different feeling than what she expected. It made her feel like she was closed on all sides by poisonous mushrooms.

The day before, she had purchased a set of the school uniform for herself: a slightly-tight-around-the-chest-area blazer that she was wearing fervently, along with a plaid mini skirt, one she felt was oddly too short to be worn in public, let alone in winter. She also brought a shoulder bag to carry and filled it with a few weights so as to not look suspicious, but, as she didn’t know what kind of objects students took to school in the first place, she ended up filling it with an assortment of spying devices instead. Hidden cameras, radar trackers, GPS — if anyone found her with these items in possession, she’d have a hard time explaining.

She waited by the bushes, and watched carefully as students flooded the gate. Now seeing it up close, maybe she should’ve dyed her hair black as well, or worn a wig, atleast... There were certainly those who had colored hair like her, but did they sure stand out like a sore thumb. As she's not a formally registered student here, she can't afford to catch anyone's attention lest she wants this whole infiltration to fail.

Luckily, from what she’s observed, there doesn’t seem to be any other requirement to enter the premises other than "be in the uniform." The security guard stationed by the entrance wasn’t checking the ID cards, and in fact, he looked like he could doze off into his coffee mug any second. Anasthese took a deep breath, and plunged straight into the walking crowd.

The eleven-year-old Anasthese would always have faith in her disguises, but it was such a long time since she’s last done this, that she wasn’t sure she could pull it off this time. But while her resolve was dawdling, the procedure seemed to work itself out: all the students were just too busy to notice her. She nestled herself deeper within a herd of walking girls. Some were chatting about last night’s late-premiere drama. A pair was giggling frantically at the new HarutoXTouma ship that had just been made canon; they were saying a lot of complicated words Anasthese didn’t understand, like “yaoi” or “BL”. It made her head hurt, but nonetheless, Anasthese was inching ever closer to the gates thanks to the crowd. She could do it, she could pass off as a student here. She had imagined this to be a lot tougher in her head, but whatever. Her next objective now is to study the inner layout of this campus...

And just when she thought she had managed the first obstacle, a voice called out from behind.

“Hey! You over there!”

Anasthese froze in her tracks.

“Yeah, you, the one with the bright hair!”

No mistake, it was intended in her direction. Her body was so stiff she had to force herself to turn around. There, walking down the stone pavement towards her, was a girl with some sort of wooden weapon in her hand. She had long, bright green hair, fitted with a cute hairband that ended with a ribbon on the left arc. She wore a face of great authority, and from her demeanor, Anasthese could tell she was the type to have not many friends due to her bossiness. On the wrist band on her arm, shone the words in blood red: “Disciplinary Committee”.

Anasthese had a sinking feeling.

“Dyed hair is strictly prohibited in this school,” reprimanded the girl. “Didn’t you read the pamphlet at the opening ceremony?”

“Ah, no, this is my natural hair color,” explained Anasthese dodgily.

“Natural?” the girl repeated, raising a brow. She proceeded to scan Anasthese’s body and sniff her like some sort of animal.

Eeep!

Not only did that creep her out, people were starting to look. The longer Anasthese stayed here, the harder it will be to clean evidence later on.

“Hmmm… you’re not Japanese?” asked the girl.

“No, I’m Croatian,” she answered innocently, which was true. She was Croatian... Just not a student there...

Please let me go, she prayed under her breath. Please don’t call security on me.

The girl kept stroking her chin as she circled Anasthese’s stiff figure. Menacingly she would tap the ground with her wooden sword, as though deciding which of Anasthese’s sensitive areas would result in the most pain. “Yea, I’ve never seen you around here before,” she finally said, leaning down and observing her waist, “I’m gonna need your ID.”

Crap, I didn’t prepare this far.

“Oops! Sorry, I seem to have left it at home~ ahahaha,” pretended Anasthese. From the look on the girl’s narrowed eyes, she may as well have told her she was a goat.

“You’re not from here, are you...” she said very slowly. She did not need to repeat it to know every word reached Anasthese without misinterpretation.

“I— I am too a student here!!" she defended. "I have the uniform, have I not? What more proof do you want?”

“That’s a nice-looking bag you got there.”

“Why thank you.”

“Never seen that model before. Is it foreign?”

“Customized it myself,” said Anasthese proudly, “Made from the finest Vegetable Tan Leather and Royal Charmeuse.”

“Oh? And what does it do?”

“See, it looks and functions like an ordinary handbag this way~” explained Anasthese with the enthusiasm of a mall saleslady, “But if you unzip it here… Tada!! It doubles as an instant chessboard!! Pretty neat, huh?”

“...Chessboard?” said the girl, staring at the checkered insides. “What would you need that for?”

“So I can play chess, of course! Why else would it be here!?”

“Just carry a chessboard then.”

“Then I wouldn’t be able to sneak in here!!”

Anasthese realized her blunder just a bit too late. “Ah,” she twitched.

"—sneak? What are you... Hey, WAIT!”

Before the girl could say anything, Anasthese ran off screaming “Aaaah, I’m an idioooot!” at the top of her lungs.

“What was that all about?” muttered the girl after Anasthese rounded a corner and her voice died down, putting an end to their beautiful first encounter.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when she returned for a second attempt. A subsequent internet search revealed that school grounds are the most empty when classes are in session. Now looking back, maybe it wasn’t the best of ideas to sneak in together with everyone. In life, as in with chess, the best time to attack is when enemy defenses are down, and with everyone jacked up in the middle of class, Anasthese won’t have to worry about camouflaging herself anymore.

That said, now that grounds are completely deserted, she’d be easy to spot for anyone going to the toilet. She climbed up a weak part of the security fence, found herself in the middle of what looked like a tennis court, and tiptoed across the schoolyard, all the way into the eastwing building. This, much like the front gates, had quite the lax security.

She knew she had little room for error, but once inside, she couldn’t help but stare in awe at the various facilities inside the school building. Right after entering, the first thing that greeted her was a showroom of lockers lining the sides of the hallway. There’s so many of them, Anasthese thought, it’s almost as if they had one for each student. She didn’t know schools had libraries, a dining hall called the "cafeteria", an infirmary, and all these wonderful things that, put together, created a sort of miniature-version of society for the students. She wanted very much to stay and explore more, but had to resist in light of her original goal.

There was one thing Rei said that kept bugging her. "Net’s talent isn’t suited for professional play." Amane also seemed to agree with that sentiment. Chess isn’t like poker where amateurs can beat a pro with beginner’s luck. It’s always the better player who ends up winning. To say that anyone can beat Rei is such a huge claim, that Anasthese would believe nothing until she sees it with her own eyes. Therefore, the point of today’s excursion is the trial of Net’s abilities. It is Anasthese who shall judge, firsthand and for herself, whether his skill really lives up to the expectations, or is just one, elaborate joke.

After 30 minutes of aimless wandering, she stumbled upon the clubrooms on the fourth floor. A quick check of the club listings set her off for the farthest left wing, where Futenma’s Chess Club was to be located. She was in luck.

Not only was it there, but there were people inside, a good indicator that the Futenma Chess Club had not been disbanded. She rounded a corner and kept a lookout. If this “Net” guy really is as good as he’s cracked up to be, then he has to be part of the club, right? Otherwise, if on top of being a no name in the professional community, he’s not even part of this school’s chess club, then Anasthese had really lost all respect for him as a human being.

Anasthese waited. The afternoon light and chirping of birds bathed the long corridors. There were two figures visible inside. Their features were fuzzy and unrecognizable from the tinted glass, but Anasthese could make out the voices of two boys talking just on the other side.

Ugh, I can’t see anything at all.

She looked around for something she could use, maybe a really long stick to which she could clog the wiretap or earpiece she brought. It was a perfectly empty corridor, begging for only a rolling tumbleweed to complete the scene. Fire alarm... Fire extinguisher… nothing. Can she stay here on standby until one of them comes out, she wondered.

And just when Anasthese had steeled herself to wait however long necessary, out of the opposite end of the hallway — out of the flight of stairs she had just climbed minutes ago, with only a few hundred meters of empty hallway separating them, the green haired disciplinary committee member she had met that morning, ascended headfirst into view.

“Eh?”

She was a good 50 meters away at the opposite end of the corridor, but even at that distance, Anasthese could tell: that was definitely the wooden sword carrying girl. There was no mistaking that brightgreen hair and cute ribbon hairband that was so blaringly different from all the other black hairs in the crowd. And before Anasthese could wonder how come the disciplinary committee is the only one allowed to have colored hair and hair accessories, her reflexes kicked in and she jumped behind the nearest pillar.

Anasthese’s heart pounded. Her mouth was dry. She could hear the disciplinary girl walking at a brisk, impatient pace, almost as if there’s something troublesome she needs to take care of in that general direction. Anasthese was confident she hadn't been seen yet, but the closer the footsteps echoed, the more she started to doubt that.

Why is that b**** here again? Does she not know when to f*** off? The footsteps loomed ever closer. Why isn’t she even in class anyway?

Anasthese tucked her tummy in and stood as still as a statue, not even daring to breathe, the tip of her boots just barely fitting behind the protrusion of the column. The green-haired girl passed her without noticing, stopped by the chess club’s door, and all of a sudden, started banging on it as hard as she could with both hands.

“Crap, it’s Midori again!!!” screamed someone from the inside.

“Shhhh, pretend we’re not here…”

“I CAN HEAR YOU GUYS PERFECTLY FROM HERE, OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!”

Eh?

Anasthese stood in shock. Does this kind of thing happen normally in this school?

She used the opportunity to run off and hide into a more out-of-view corner. When there was still no response from inside the room, the girl called Midori took out a chain of keys from her back pocket and started reaching for a silver one.

*Click

The door was soon opened, and inside, Anasthese could see two boys who were not even in their school uniforms. One had a curt, light brown head of hair, with a boorish print bandana tied atop. He wore a loose orange t-shirt and brown, baggy cargo pants. He had a somewhat long face that fit well with his thin, gangly body. The other one was much shorter in comparison. He had extremely dark hair that was long enough to tie into a starting ponytail. He wore a black sports cap matched with an equally dark shirt, and his bangs covered a large part of his already barely visible face. The paleness of his skin made the black covering his body all the more pronounced. The both of them gave off this clearly delinquent look, amplified further by the playing cards scattered on the table, and the stack of coins that were clearly being wagered.

“Yo,” the bandana-wearing one greeted with a highfive. It was only met with crude silence.

“Forget her, it’s always her time of the month,” dismissed the black-haired one. “Got any pocket Aces?”

A nerve twitched in Midori’s temple. It seems her anger had blown long past the point of asking “Why aren’t you two in class.” She rolled up her sleeves, went inside, and after a series of loud, brash smacking in which a furor of protests and/or pleading ensued, the two were being dragged out by the ears, back into the open hallway and back into class.

“Ow! Hey, that’s my earring!!”

“I still have all my money in there, woman!! Atleast let me get it!”

And together, the resounding cries of “ow’s” and “it hurts” died out into the far distance. Anasthese made sure there was no one around, before heading over to the left open club door. The inside of it was like a storage room, filled with the widest, most random assortment of things Anasthese had seen. There were science anatomy displays, theatre props, some musical instruments and art materials, it looked more like a room for keeping unwanted stuff rather than one for club activities.

In the middle of the room sat a small square table, accompanied by folding chairs the two had been using prior to her arrival. It was just barely large enough for a highschooler to fit through. The table they used to gamble all that money was dusty; they reminded her of those local chess tournaments back in the day, held in crappy old hotels, and now that Anasthese had the thought, there was no chessboard to be found in that room. On the table were a set of playing cards, and some worn down poker chips scattered the floor. It made her sad; just from one glance, she could tell this room was not being used for chess. She grabbed one of the chairs, and sat down. And she waited.

She held no anger. She held no disappointment. Patiently, the second hand of the mis-aligned clock ticked like drying paint.

She waited.

She focused her thoughts on keeping her back poised and maintaining a steady breathing, occasionally listening to the class next door, once or twice reenacting some endgame puzzles in her head. She did not feel anything. She simply waited like she was in a tournament, as though her next opponent had simply run late and should enter that door any moment.

The hours dragged, the shadows lengthened. Before long, the room was submerged in a beautiful, orange sunset. It didn’t suit her, she thought. She really hated the sunset.

It was after the bell rang that she started hearing footsteps once more. Countless students were flooding the distant corridors, on their way down to the school grounds. A minute later, she was reached by a couple of resentful voices: the two who had originally left this room were now reaching their way back.

“So what if I get held back a year. It’s up to me what I do with my life, dammit!!”

“Sshhhh. If she hears you say that, she’ll give us five hours of detention again.”

“I don’t care. I’m not scared, of… any…”

The guy with a ponytail stood to a halt. Sitting there, in the middle of the room they had left open, was the figure of a woman he had never seen before.

“Good Afternoon,” curtseyed Anasthese. “I assume you’re part of the Chess Club?”

*Slam!

The guy retracted his steps and jammed the door shut. He was in too much shock to process what he just saw, or to even let go of the doorknob.

“Hey, what’s the hold up?” the other guy asked impatiently.

“Nothing, nothing,” he answered most casually, “I just thought, maybe we should call it a day. Been a tough one, you know? With Midori barking at us, and—”

*Bam! *Bam! *Bam!

“The hell was that??"

“How should I know,” the guy said, locking the door with a click, “Maybe the club room’s haunted, go ask the ghosts. (Let me out of here!!!)

"Hora, there’s one right now!” he smiled shakily.

“That sounds like a girl in there..." said the guy wearing a bandana. "Don’t tell me—?”

His eyes suddenly lit up. “We’re finally getting a recruit??”

*Bam! *Bam! *Bam!

“Dumbass, we haven’t had a recruit in ages. Wake up.”

*Bam! *Bam! *Bam!

“And ghosts are more believable, huh,” he asked dully. “I think you’re the one who needs to wake up.”

*Bam! *Bam! *Bam!

“Dude, let it go! No one wants to join this stinkin' club!! At best, what we have right now is just a straight up intruder—”

“I am not an intruder!” came Anasthese’s muffled voice from the other side.

“What do we do with her?” the bandana-wearing one asked.

“Dunno… Just leave her here? I mean, who cares if she can’t find a bathroom overnight and ends up peeing all over the clubroom.”

“Noooo~, don’t leave me here!! I don’t wanna have to pee all over this clubroom!!”

“And I wouldn’t want the club smelling like cat leak either, let her out...”

The ponytail guy opened the door.

Inside was an Anasthese beet red and steaming. “Well that was a fine how-do-you-do,” she said with shaking shoulders.

Now that they’ve seen with their own two eyes, it finally dawned on the them: there was a girl, waiting, in their clubroom, looking for them, for reasons other than to punish them. They huddled.

“Pssst. You know this chick?”

“No, I thought you knew her??”

“She’s not Midori’s friend, is she?”

“I’m not that skank’s friend!!” blurted out Anasthese.

The two eyed her for a while.

“Noice,” ponytail cap commented.

“You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her before...” the guy in a bandana pointed out. “Were you in a commercial once, Miss?”

“Hoho~” said Anasthese, sounding impressed and flattered. “You seem to be the sharper of the pair.”

She surveyed him, from his brown, unkempt hair down to the overgrown shirt and baggy jeans, wondering if this is the so-called "friend" Rei let win. He definitely has an aura to him; Anasthese would rate him at around 1800 ELO, possibly more. Though maybe it's too early to judge; there could still be other clubmembers waiting to arrive. His friend, the guy wearing a sports cap indoors, just strolled past them and took a seat by the table. Unlike the previous one, she smelled nothing from him. At best, he would be 1400; at worst, he doesn’t even know how to play chess.

“This is the Chess Club, correct?” she asked again.

“Yes,” the bandana guy nodded feverishly. “Though I’m sorry to say,” he continued with great restraint, “…that we're not taking new members at the moment,” he finished dejectedly.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she answered offhandedly, “I won’t be here long anyway, I’m just looking for someone.”

“Umm, who would that be exactly?”

“Someone who goes by Net.”

The both of them stopped. “He supposedly goes to this school. I assumed he would be part of the chess club here, but so far all I’ve seen here are you two.”

“That would be me,” the black-shirt-wearing guy answered from behind, raising his legs on the table. “What do you want?”

Anasthese stared down at him; he glared back.

“Huh…?”

Anasthese scanned him, unimpressed. “You?” she said in doubt, her eyes travelling down from his rudely worn indoors cap, to the inconspicuous black shirt; on his neck hung a set of soundmagic headphones that she presumed he was not averse to using in class. He looked like someone who’d do shady business in back alleys and has nothing but callous disregard for the rules.

Disappointment was welling up inside her with each second. “And here I was, expecting someone with a more juicy meat...” Anasthese sighed after a long silence.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Net.

“I was just expecting someone who looked like he could put up a fight, you know?” she said dismissively. “Someone who’d look more of a challenger. I mean, you’re both pathetic and not a smörgåsbord for the eyes, let’s get that right (hey!), but if I had to pick my poison, he definitely looks more like he could take on Rei...”

Net stopped at the mention of the name, and Anasthese knew. From that profound reaction alone, he was no doubt the person she’s looking for. Rei and Net hadn’t seen each other since Rei turned professional and Net was relegated to being an ordinary highschool student. There he sat, unsure what to say for a few moments.

“Who’re you?” he finally decided.

“You’ve heard the name,” she smiled, proudly, following a resplendent hair flip in the golden sunset. “Anastasia Therese Ezeline…

“Engrave that name into your tombstone, pheasant.”

A few seconds passed. Anasthese expected his world to be rocked, just at the mere mention of her name. A few layers of snow later, Net sank in thought.

“Sorry, am I supposed to know you or something?” he asked dully.

“Oi!!”

"What."

"You—!? You've never heard of me???" she asked, her world shattered.

"The hell's up with you? No."

“Anastasia. Anastasia...” the other guy kept muttering. “Now where have I heard that name before… Ezeline, Ezeline…” He kept repeating the name until comprehension slowly dawned on his face.

“AH!”

“Dude, don’t just yell out like that all of a sudden.”

“I– I just remembered where she’s from!!" he stuttered, pointing at her with a shaking arm. “Anastasia! She’s the current reigning Junior World Chess Champion!!”

“Woah,” he exclaimed, “I didn’t know you follow that nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense! She’s currently rated at 2850, and is a favorite to win the next championship by a landslide!! Oh man, this is a dream! Why is the Queen visiting such a lowly tavern at this hour??”

Net clearly couldn’t care for what his friend was saying. As per his code, anything that had to do with current events, he did not bother with. “Well, you heard him, Princess,” he said, sitting backwards on the chair. “What’s little miss Grand Champion doing way out here in the suburbs?”

Now it’s Anasthese’s turn to mince her words.

“…You don’t know? Rei is dead.”

Silence followed, broken first by the bandana guy’s words “Eh? If— If Anastasia is here, then that means… that... that Rei??”

“So I’ve heard,” said Net calmly. “Couldn’t be bothered to come to his funeral since it was all the way out in Germany.”

“One should still exert some token of condolence. You were his friend, weren’t you?”

“We’re not friends,” he said angrily, more to himself than anyone. “And you still haven’t explained why you’re here.”

“Why I’m... here?” Anasthese repeated blankly, as though what she heard was hardly a question. “There’s only one possible reason why I’d be here...”

She walked over to the table he was sitting on, and slammed her hand hard onto the surface. She leaned closer until their faces were only separated by a few inches of air, and from her pale, pink lips, he could see no sign of hesitation.

“I’ve come to take your head.”

Net gave her a glowering look. He and Rei hadn’t really gotten on good terms since they parted. This would be his first time in a long while meeting someone connected to Rei.

“Of course, I’m talking about chess,” she added with flavor. Net’s expression soured even more.

“Haah?? What makes you think I’d play some stranger I’ve never even met before?”

“What, scared already?”

“No, I’m just not as much of an idiot as you.”

Anasthese’s face twitched. Normally, people considered it the highest privilege to even be able to play with her. People would pay a fortune to be in his position right now: it was the highest honor an aspiring chess player could hope for. Yet, there he was, clearly uninterested in the offer. That was the first time Anasthese had met anyone like him.

I guess that only applies to people who appreciate the beauty of chess, she sighed internally. Even if you hire the best orchestra in the world, to a homeless drug addict that knows nothing about music, all that sounds like is pretentious noise.

“Anoo~,” the other guy joined in. “Please pardon the disrespect, he doesn’t know what he’s saying. Let me just say, I am a huge fan of your work, ummm, Your Highness…”

He took a huge low bow that would put those in the neighboring Butler Cafe to shame.

Anasthese had an idea.

“Why, thank you for the ever-abiding support,” she said sweetly. “May I know your name, self-proclaimed fan?”

“Umm, Mukuro.”

“Pleased to meet you then, Muku–chan. Just call me Anasthese~”

Mukuro looked like every day of his life will be his birthday.

“This girl could be a fake, you know,” Net informed him.

And with that, Anasthese just found her opening. “How ‘bout you and I play a match then, Mukkun?”

“Eh?”

His eyes lit with excitement. “R– R–R–.. Really? I– It would be okay t– t– t– to play a match with you? Right now??”

“By all means,” she replied serenely. “I don’t see any issues. If doubting my authenticity is the problem, then it's only proper I show you some hard proof. If I beat you, that means I’m the real deal, okay?”

“I would be honoured,” Mukuro bowed. As for Net on the other hand…

“Pff, I’m still not gonna play you no matter how this turns out, so up yours!”

“Oh, I wonder about that,” said Anasthese confidently. “I’ll have your mind changed after one game.”

Net shot her a contemptive look.

And so, the challenge was agreed upon. They were to play a five-minute blitz game, street rules (clock move instead of touch move, okay to take the King). Anasthese was about to present her custom chessboard briefcase, when Mukuro said he’ll take the club chess set out. It was a very old and rundown chessboard; Mukuro had to dig it out from the deepest parts of the rummage, but he was so excited about the game that he got it out in a minute. It had probably been a year since it was last taken out, perhaps even more; Mukuro had to blow extensive amounts of dust off its greying surface.

Despite this, she could tell that throughout its life, it had been used extensively. When Mukuro opened the board, out spilled the most worn down wooden chess pieces Anasthese had seen in her career. There were huge chunks missing, the Black King’s cross is barely hanging by a splinter, and two of the white pawns were clearly salvaged from a different chess set.

Whenever Anasthese played, she was always presented with the most brand new, state-of-the-art equipment. This was only proper protocol for someone like her. It had been a long time since she last saw a chessboard this battered; in it, she could really feel the long history of the Futenma Shintenkan Chess Club, the losing battle against recruiting members, the fun times and the rivalries spent enjoying over that board, the conflicts, the strifes, the bickering when one loses haphazardly, and the reconciliation when they’re about to even the score on someone.

"Really," Anasthese found herself smiling.

And so, out of respect, Anasthese closed her eyes, and kept her bag to herself.