From Sailor Moon Flash!
| Featuring: | Oki, Tsurian, Kia |
| IC Date: | September 2002 |
| Status: | Completed |
| Summary: | Mokushi Oki never loses at chess, unless of course her opponent cheats like a dog. |
Mokushi Oki was greatly disappointed. She selected a pawn without much apparent thought and neatly slid it into place, entrapping her opponent's white bishop in a slow noose.
She had expected Yoshinaga to be not-terrible at chess, and this had been borne out; she had in fact expected Yoshinaga to be almost worthy of facing her at chess, which had not come to pass, and Oki was, to put it mildly, ruffled. She wouldn't go so far as to say that she'd expected this match to take longer than ten minutes, if that, but she had at least sat down at the table with the pleasurable assurance of five minutes well spent crushing someone.
"It is your move, Yoshinaga-san," she said, and removed her hand from her piece.
"Yeah, yeah," Yoshinaga dismissed. She leaned back in her chair, and glanced around the park. (Oki had, with great strategy aforethought, made sure to choose a table well away from where Shunran and his fellow juvenile delinquents were tossing around a Frisbee while ogling skaters.)
"So, tell me, Mokushi," Yoshinaga said, barely glancing at the pieces. "What if, when I win this game, you agree to setting Boss's tax records straight again so's I don't have to move heaven and earth to let him keep his house?"
Oki's brow cleared very slightly as a mental piece slotted into place. Oh, so that's what this was about. "I would consider that only fair," she granted. It would be fair, too; if Yoshinaga could pull off the miracle of winning at this juncture, Oki would owe her the commensurate miracle of undoing her masterpiece of 'editing' the governmental files on one Amakusa Kenrou's income-tax preparations. She had been quite proud of that one. Pun at her, would he?
"Super," Yoshinaga said. "That puts my mind at ease." She slouched lower in her chair, and made no move to grab a chesspiece. Oki was conscious of a slight irritation. Her concessions deserved more respect than this, but then again, what could one expect from someone who voluntarily associated with Amakusa and chose to dye (what remained of) her hair a shade of brilliant Day-Glo orange.
"Ah, there she is," Yoshinaga said, and straightened up. "Oi, Kia-chan! Over here!"
Oki snapped around in her seat, and felt a warming glow touch her soul as Kia-chan hurried over, a sweet smile on her face.
"Oki-chan, Tsurian-sempai!"
"Hello, Kia-chan," Oki said, and nobly refrained from pointing out to Yoshinaga that, had Yoshinaga made her move on time, Oki might now be finished with this game and be prepared to devote all of her attention to Kia-chan, as was only right.
"Hello," Kia-chan said enthusiastically. "I came over as soon as I got your message, Tsurian-sempai, I'm so glad you invited me to come see you win your very first game of chess! That's wonderful!"
Oki stared at Yoshinaga.
Yoshinaga shrugged very slightly. "I do work for Boss," she said, half-apologetically. "You pick up a few things, here and there."
Kia-chan's smile was radiant. In the face of it, Oki could do nothing but what she did next: topple her king and stand to bow fractionally to Yoshinaga. "I will see what I can do about those files before the close of the business day," she said, clipped.
"Hey, thanks for the game," Yoshinaga said, picking up her hat and coat. "Thanks for stopping by, Kia-chan, and here's that folio-page Boss wanted you to have."
Oki would have withered her with a look, but Kia-chan's smile made such things unnecessary, at least for right now, and really, Oki reflected, as she gladly put out her hand for Kia's offered handclasp, at least it was good to know that her opponents feared her strategies so deeply that the only possible way they could prevail was to pull out the ultimate weapon.
