The room was tense, the warm air stifling, the silence oppressive. Two tactical minds had their gazes keenly fixed on the chequered battlefield before them. Stratagem after stratagem, tactic after tactic, each to fool and conquer the opponent was used or foiled. Sona had 8 of her black pieces left. Her Rooks, one Bishop, one Knight and four Pawns had been removed. Haru had 10 of his white pieces. He'd lost both of his Knights, a Rook, a Bishop and two Pawns.
So far the match had been going somewhat poorly for Sona. In fact, she could confidently say that he'd been her most challenging opponent yet, with Rias being a close second. She'd found Haru's play style odd as he'd used his more valuable pieces as soon as he could, not batting an eye when he'd lost them. To many, they would seem like amateurish mistakes but she'd realised all too late that she'd left herself wide open to his Pawns, which were responsible for taking out her Rooks, a Knight and three Pawns.
She sat in contemplative silence as she carefully considered her moves. Her peerage looked on in deathly silence as they watched their King strain her mind to find openings and valid, effective moves. She found none. Haru had the board on lock down, so no matter where she went, she'd lose a piece either way.
"I've seen Warhammer players with less of a poker face than you. Seriously, you should be a gambler." Haru said with a smirk. She ignored him, focused solely on making a wise move. Haru however, was slowly falling asleep in his chair. He knew that sooner or later his tiredness was going to make him go face first into the chess board or make a stupid mistake. His eyes felt heavy. Really, really heavy.
Yup, I can't stay awake. Fuck it. Haru thought as he let sleep take him and his face meet the chess board, scattering the pieces and startling Sona. Her peerage didn't know what to make of it as they hadn't quite expected that.
"So I guess by default, you win." Tsubaki said. Sona only shook her head, a look of great dissatisfaction upon her face.
"No. I won't win by technicality or...whatever this is." She said, gesturing to the slumped Hakuryuukou. "Besides, he would've won anyway."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked, shocked that Sona would say such a thing. Pushing up her glasses Sona began.
"If you looked carefully, he used up his more, let's say, higher tier pieces as his first offensive. By doing that, he'd lured me into believing that if I could have eliminated them, his Pawns would be useless by the time I'd got to his side of the board. I was wrong. He'd opened up clear paths for his Pawns, and placed them in such a way that after I'd gotten rid of his first pieces, he'd already had the board locked down to his advantage. He'd have carried on, rendering my moves useless until checkmate." Sona surmised.
Tsubaki was quite surprised. She knew Haru was a slacker in class, always sleeping and messing with teachers in ways that were in some cases nothing short of comedic genius. But he was witty and sharp. It was only now that she saw his wit extended to a formidable tactical mind capable of really intuitive and dominating stratagems. It seemed that he was really more than he was letting on.
"In any case, he really does seem like he could be quite the asset to us. With a strong tactical mind like his, rating games will be a lot easier. With him around, you could focus on your own defences while he handles issuing commands. It's really a chance we shouldn't pass up." Tsubaki said, quite impressed.
"I don't disagree with you but it seems Rias is quite keen to make use of him simply for the fact he has Divine Dividing. If she did manage to sway him, she'd be nearly unstoppable with both Red and White on her side. However, I doubt Haru would make it so easy to recruit him. He'd most likely try to toy with us in the process." Sona replied. "Plus he seems rather proud of the things he can do without being a Devil."
Tsubaki gave her King a knowing look. "You don't want to take that away from him." Sona nodded silently. She knew deep down she'd feel the exact same way if she were a human capable of incredible things without the aid of being another entity entirely. The sense of pride that would come with being human, yet able to reach heights others can only dream of, some Devils included.
"I think we should leave it in his hands. It's his humanity we're talking about, and that's something no human should lose without consent." Sona said. Suddenly Haru burst out laughing. He looked up, wiping a tear out of his eyes as he struggled to contain the giggles. Sona and Tsubaki looked at him like he'd just murdered someone.
"Sorry, I heard all that and, while sweet, was just a little bit cringy. Still though you've got a point, I would make the 12 labours of Hercules look easy compared to what it would take to make me a Devil." Haru said with a grin.
"You weren't even conscious!" Tsubaki yelled, making Haru grin wider.
"I'm a talented guy, what can I say?" he replied.
"Arrogant as well it seems." Sona huffed with a roll of her eyes. An idea struck Haru and his grin went from humoured to pure evil.
"Oh by the way Sona, I was speaking to Serafall not too long ago and she was talking about how she wanted to see her dear wittle sister so very much." Haru said, sounding cutsie at the end of it. Sona gained a panicked look as he mentioned her older sister. She had no idea Haru would know her, and given his way of thinking, he'd monopolise that little fact both for fun and when he needed too.
"How do you know my sister!?" Sona exclaimed, losing her composure. Haru just smiled at her.
"Now that would be telling now wouldn't it? Let's just say I've spent a good deal of time in the underworld, Sona Sitri." Haru replied, emphasizing her last name.
"So I'd be right in guessing you've had contact with the Pillars then, including my clan?" Sona asked as she regained her composure.
"Yup. Nice bunch for the most part. You ever played chess with Ajuka? Trust me, if you ever do, you need to mention how I beat him and rub it in. Some of the funniest shit ever I swear!" Haru said as he erupted into laughter again. Sona and Tsubaki kept being shocked and surprised by the amount of information he was letting out. One thing was for sure, and that was that this guy was weird. Weird and just flat out crazy.