Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Eight of Diamonds - Part Three

The spaces where a player was previously dropped remained open.

It was a detail Kurenai should have noticed, An too, but both of them overlooked such crucial information. It was a wonder how neither side had yet to make a move to those spaces up to this moment.

While it was plausible to change her strategy now, there were too many variables for Kurenai to feel comfortable enough. Her current plan would be the fastest way to win this game of chess while minimising loss on their side.

"Do you have a plan in mind?" An asked. She could tell that Kurenai already had a set path for the game, but it was thrown off.

Kurenai did not reply.

She closed her eyes once again, visualising the board in her head but this time, taking out the open spaces. There were several ways they could go about it, though a handful of them required moving An and it would be disadvantageous to move the King. No matter what she came up with, the current plan was the one to go.

"Hey," Kurenai called out to the young girl close to her. "Do you have a hairband?" Nodding, the girl snapped one off her wrist and was about to take a step from her space. "Don't move!" Kurenai shouted. "Do not take a step. Just throw it."

That could have been detrimental.

Catching the hairband, Kurenai bundled up her hair and tied it into a simple ponytail. She took in a deep breath, looking straight at the space she was aiming for. This was possibly the most reckless thing she would ever do.

"What are you- Kurenai!"

Ignoring An, she ran diagonally across the board before taking a leap when she came up to the two empty spaces in her way. She just about made it, catching onto the metal beam in between and pulled herself onto the desired space. With a touch on the player's shoulder, they were 'captured'.

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Kurenai looked over her shoulder to where An was, giving her a cheeky grin and a thumbs up.

Chuya Kurenai was a charming woman, no doubt.

Although they did not interact much until this game, An was starting to see why Hatter was so adamant to keep her at the Beach despite the militants' objections. Outwardly, Kurenai seemed to not care about other players beside herself. She played the game seemingly selfishly. On the inside, however, she had been strategising the entire game so that she could save as many of them as possible. At the same time, she understood that sacrifices had to be made and did not get hung up about teammates or opponents dying.

She was realistic, unlike many other players.

"God, this should have been a Clubs game. No one said anything about exercise," Kurenai muttered, just about loud enough for others to hear.

That one brave (yet stupid) move of hers shifted not only the game, but the mood of their team. Morale was down from the beginning from all the distrust, and everyone seemed skeptical following Kurenai's and An's instructions. Now, they were seeing hope.

Their opponents were now panicking.

"Let me help you out," Kurenai called out to the opposing team. "If you," she said, closest to her, "move here, you'd capture me. Only problem is, you'll have to jump three spaces. If I were you, I'd take the chances."

"Are you fucking crazy? Why are you telling them how to beat us?" the man on her team shouted. Kurenai let out a sigh, rolling her eyes as she looked in his direction. God, she would really like to shut him up somehow.

"Do it!"

This time, it was the other team's King shouting at his teammate.

"Jump! You can make it! Jump, and capture her! It's the only way we can win!"

Soon, the opposing team was encouraging that player to take the jump. The fear in his eyes was evident, however. It was the reason why she instigated the encouragement to begin with, she was betting that he did not have the guts to jump.

For another two minutes, his teammates kept pushing for him to jump. They were desperate, understandable. Ultimately, it would be his choice to make.

To Kurenai's surprise, he started running. She placed the wrong bet this time.

As he jumped, there was a split second where Kurenai's life literally flashed before her eyes. She survived drowning just to die here in a chess game because she got a little cocky. She would drop to her death too, yet another fear of hers. She would have preferred a laser to the head in all honesty.

But he did not make it.

Just inches away, the man came short and instead of capturing Kurenai, he fell straight through the space and dropped to his death.

Kurenai dropped too, sitting on the glass as her legs gave up.

That was much too risky to her liking.

Amongst the chaos of her jump and the opposing guy's, everyone failed to notice Kurenai's plan all along.

Chess was a complicated game, at least to someone who was a complete beginner like Kurenai. Even when An was explaining the basic rules, she only understood what she said but not the game. Simply knowing how the pieces move was not going to help her win the game. But An did say something that stuck with her.

"Oh, and one more thing. There's a rule called promotion. A pawn can be promoted to either bishop, knight, rook, or queen when you can get them to the opposing side."

"Hey, stop lounging around and get promoted, will you?"

Pointing at the man on her team, she signalled for him to move one space up, getting him up to the other end of the board and thus, a promotion.

PLAYER PROMOTION. PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NEW RANK

The man looked at Kurenai, and she stared back in disbelief. Was he seriously asking her what he should choose?

"Queen, you moron."

CONGRATULATIONS, PLAYER HAS BEEN PROMOTED TO QUEEN

After that promotion, the opponent's team was at a loss. According to Kurenai's plan, it did not matter what move they made next because it would be checkmate in just one more move.

CHECKMATEGAME OVER

With the announcement of checkmate, the floor opened up underneath the remaining members of the opposing team, dropping every one of them down below.

Kurenai was the first to get off the glass chessboard; she did not want to stand looking down five stories any longer than she had to.

An did not know if she should be impressed by her, or be frustrated. For someone with no experience in chess, she was playing extremely well. As a player in a life or death game, however, she was a little more than rash.

Getting their individual visa extended, and the playing card, Kurenai walked up to the man on her team. The one who had been complaining, doubting, and rude. She snatched the card from him with a smile that practically screamed 'I-want-to-kill-you-but-I-won't'.

"That's for being an asshole."