Toki Suzuki stared out the window of his classroom letting out a heavy sigh. It was just another unexciting day at River Park Academy in the bustling city of Chicago, Illinois. In the seat next to him sat his friend Stewart Young attentively listening to the last couple minutes of their math lecture before lunch break. In front of him sat, or rather slept, the student Noah Park with his head face down and drool on his desk.
"Jeez… get me out of here already," Toki thought. It was just after winter break of Toki's freshmen year at River Park as the winds of the windy city blew fiercely across of town. The time of year when the initial excitement of entering high school had worn off and the reality of 5 more months of tedious homework assignments and soul numbing exams began to sink in.
**Ding Ding Ding Ding**
"Finally," Toki thought as he quickly packed his books preparing to exit.
"Don't run in the hallways!" Toki's middle aged teacher screamed as the students began to file out of the room, "And write down the homework assignment."
Toki however, had every bit of intent to ignore his teacher. He gave a glance at Stewart who gave him a nod back. The two had a mutual agreement, Stewart would stay behind and write down the homework for Toki, and Toki would bolt for the lunch room buying lunch for both of them. He intended to make it there before the lines to buy burgers were too long. If they ran out, the only secondary option available were plain ham sandwiches, the kind with only lettuce and light mayo as toppings that would make Subway sandwiches look like gourmet cuisine.
Before the bell even finished ringing, Toki was already 1 foot out the door. Sure, he may get in trouble if one of the teachers bothered to stop him. But that was a gambit he was willing to take.
"I can taste those patties already" Toki thought as he swerved his way through the halls.
"Just one more corner and then those burgers are mine!"
As he turned the last corner however, it was not burgers he would have his face full of that day.
**Boinggg**
Toki felt something firm and round contacting his face, something with a bit of texture. As he looked up, he saw the face briefly of an oriental woman a good head taller than him with long black hair. The momentum of crashing into her well-endowed breasts created a case study of Newton's 3rd law as they both fell down onto the ground landing on their bottoms.
"Oww…" Toki said gathering himself, "Are you al…"
His jaw dropped before he could finish his sentence. In front of him on the ground sat the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She wore a red top and pink skirt that from Toki's angle, he could almost see under. Her body was fully grown with curves in all the right spots. Her slightly tanned skin, evenly shaped facial features, and lush eyebrows left Toki completely flustered and speechless. Truly, he had thought he had stumbled upon a goddess.
"Hey, watch it freshmen!"
Toki looked up next to the girl to see a woman of European background glaring at him. She had ginger hair, thick glasses, and wore an oversized grey sweatshirt with blue jeans. Her glare seemed to be one of extreme annoyance as she helped the other girl off the ground.
As the first girl got up, she glanced at Toki who felt even more flustered as he noticed that by accidentally running into the girl's chest, he had undone a couple of the buttons on her top and her cleavage leaked out a bit. Being fully now in puberty, Toki felt his pants tighten.
Upon seeing Toki's embarrassed expression, the girl slyly smiled at Toki and gave him a wink.
"Ughh… boys are so dumb," her friend said. She might as well have not been there at all from Toki's perspective though as he was making his best attempts to hide the expansion of his crotch area.
The first girl, sensing Toki's inability to speak, continued to smile slyly as she went up to Toki placing a finger under his chin gently stroking it.
"You're kind of cute," She said in a seductive tone with a bit of her tongue out. Toki could feel his blood pressure rising as blood began going up his nose and other places.
"Eve please…" the girl next to her groaned. Just then, another voice spoke.
"There you are Toki! Did you get the…"
"Stewart?"
The ginger girl looked at Toki's friend who just arrived at the scene.
"Oh hey Marcy," Stewart said giving her a wave, "Did you like the tomatoes my mom sent?"
Everyone stared at Marcy, who gave out a sigh,
"We don't know each other here Stewart," She said, "But yes… they were good."
"Ahhh good, we'll bring more over tomorrow then!"
"Ughhh… like I said, I don't know you here." Marcy said in a grumpy voice. As she did, she grabbed her friend pulling her away.
"Come on Eve, we're going to be late again."
As the two began leaving, Eve turned around to look at Toki one last time giving him a seductive look and a wave.
"See you around," she said winking.
"Ughhh… must you flirt with every boy?"
As the two girls exited the scene, Toki got up from the ground still dazed from what happened.
"Toki?"
"Angels do exist."
"Toki?"
Eve, is that her name?"
"Oi… Toki"
Toki finally broke from his daze when Stewart began clapping his hands in front of his face.
"Huh? Oh Stewart, Hi!"
"Hi my ass, did you get the burgers?"
"Come again?"
"The burgers Toki, the reason you left early?"
"Burgers… burgers… oh crap the burgers!"
And as Toki finally remembered his actual objective, his face fell as he saw at the end of the hall the long line already formed in the cafeteria.
"The ginger's named Marcy Smith," Stewart said taking a bite of his sandwich. "She's my neighbor, so I've known her a while."
"I see," Toki said taking a bite of his own sandwich, "Why's she such a bitch?"
"Harsh…" Stewart replied, "But yeah she's always been like that. She used to have a crush on my brother before he graduated."
"He reject her?"
Stewart nodded.
"He was leaving for college so it would have never worked out."
"Figures," Toki replied, "Who was the goddess next to her?"
Stewart looked at him puzzled.
"Goddess?"
"You saw her too didn't you?" Toki continued, "Marcy's friend, the perfect 10, with a nice body and face, the one I want to have kids with one…"
"Okay TMI," Stewart interrupted, "That's Evelyn Hann."
"Evelyn Hann," Toki replied as stars formed in his eyes and he began to drool, "My future wife."
"Jesus bro…" Stewart said distancing himself, "I'd stay away from her personally."
"Huh? Why's that?"
"My brother said she's like a siren. She likes to lure guys in to do her bidding. He says she always has at least 4 guys wrapped around her finger, of all grades."
"Is she really that dangerous?"
Stewart nodded.
"There's a legendary challenge called the Evelyn Hann challenge. Complete it and you win a date with her. Lose however…"
"How do I sign up?"
"I didn't even say what the challenge was yet… or what happens if you lose."
"I don't care, how do I sign up?"
Stewart sighed, "Looks like she's claimed another victim."
"How do I sign up?" Toki repeated leaning close to Stewart, eyes filled with anticipation. Stewart pushed him back before responding.
"Well you see, she's a part of a certain club."
"209," Toki read aloud before entering that very room.
"Chess club?" He asked Stewart while still at lunch. "Isn't that for… I don't know… nerds?"
"Maybe man, but that's still the challenge. Beat Evelyn in a game of chess and win a date with her."
"How hard could it be?" Toki thought before entering the room Stewart had told him the club was in. Back in elementary school, he had played a good amount of chess where he was better than most of his peers before thinking himself too cool for the game. Still, coolness was an afterthought in the quest for love. Never one to be shy in such situations, Toki burst into the club room.
"Evelyn Hann, I've come to win your heart!"
"…"
"…"
The whole room went silent as most of the students had boards set up and were in the middle of games. Their attention all turned to the weirdo who came in yelling.
"Well… that's certainly one way to introduce yourself," A blonde male student with thick glasses and beret said.
"A challenge of love," another male student said. He was wearing a floral designed button up and well stylized hair. "How most… Romantic!"
"What… what the hell are you doing here?"
Toki turned to his left to see a ginger girl in the middle of a game with a plainly dressed brunette guy with a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Huh? Oh it's the bitch from earlier," Toki said turning to Marcy.
"What the… what did you call me!?" Marcy replied angrily. "I can get you suspended you know! Expelled even if…"
"Did you say win my heart?"
Toki's heart skipped a beat as he heard the seductive voice of the girl he had come to see. Standing up at the very back of the room was the perfectly proportioned girl of Toki's dreams. She gave a small chuckle and sly smile upon seeing the freshman. She sat at a table with a chess board and a skinny dark, curly haired student wearing a blue polo t-shirt across from her.
"Ye… Yes!" Toki replied flustered again. Despite usually being a bold young man, in the sight of Evelyn, like many men before him, Toki couldn't help but become a stuttering mess. Upon seeing this, Evelyn licked her lips getting up from her seat to approach Toki.
"Wait… what about our game?" the dark haired man next to her asked. "We're not finished here. Your knights trapped! How convenient Evelyn for you to leave right when I can beat you and claim first board!"
Evelyn turned back briefly. She blinked a couple of times exchanging glances at both the board and the man who had been sitting across from her.
"Knight a6," she spoke moving her knight from the back row.
"Okay… King a8, now what, your knight's trapped."
"Queen b8."
"…"
"…"
"I take with Roo…"
"Knight f2" Evelyn said once again moving her Knight. The small group of people around Evelyn gasped and applauded upon seeing the wonderful smothered mate on the board.
Smoothered image: https://imgur.com/a/Wudi3Gg
"Maybe next time Bobby," She said to her opponent giving him a pat on the head. Bobby's face at this point like Toki's had turned flush red not from embarrassment but instead from rage as it appeared at any moment he was ready to flip the board over.
"One… one more, I'm not done yet! I can't accept this. I…"
But at this point, Evelyn and the rest of the room were ignoring Bobby's pleas as Evelyn made her way to stand in front of Toki.
"You want to win a date, with me?" She asked looking down at Toki. Toki gulped looking up at Evelyn's dark eyelashes. His knees were weak as he struggled to formulate words.
"Ye… Yes," He managed to mutter. "I heard… if I can beat you in a game of chess…"
"Oh give me a break…" Marcy interrupted going to stand between them. "Eve we don't have time for this. There's a tournament to prepare for. Where's Ms. Everstone? We still need to make arrangements for the busses and fill out forms to register everyone and…"
Evelyn placed her index finger in front of Marcy's face to interrupt her rant. She then turned back to Toki who hunched down a bit embarrassed.
"Seems like we just found the perfect solution for that then don't you think Marcy? We could use an errand boy."
"What? Errand boy? Yes that would be nice but…" Marcy looked at Toki as the realization of what Evelyn was getting at hit. She sighed upon coming to the conclusion.
"Just make it quick, I'm sure he can carry our boards during the tournaments at least."
"Er…errand boy?" Toki repeated puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"Ohh… you don't take me as an easy girl do you cutie?" Evelyn asked placing her finger under Toki's chin again and fluttering her eyes at him.
"Wha… what? An angel like you? Of… of course not!" Toki said panicking, "I just heard of this challenge from Stewart, the Evelyn Hann challenge and…"
"That idiot mention what happens if you lose?" Marcy asked.
"What happens if I lose?" Toki repeated trying to recall his conversation with Stewart. It appeared he had drowned out those details however in his blind conquest for love.
"As cute as you are I can't just give anyone a chance for a date." Evelyn said, "If you win, we'll do anything you want for a day."
"An... anything?"
"Absolutely anything," Evelyn said giving Toki a wink causing him to turn red again.
"Oh god…" Marcy said rolling her eyes.
"But if you lose… well… then you'll have to be our errand boy. I can trust a strong reliable man like you to keep a promise like that can't I?" Evelyn asked leaning closer to Toki.
"Of… of course, I'd never go back on my word!" Toki panic shouted not even looking at Evelyn. "If I lose I'll gladly be your errand boy!"
"Good…" Evelyn said patting Toki's head as well. She then went up to whisper something in his ear.
"Or if you prefer a better term… my slave."
"Yes mistress…" Toki said instinctively, "Can… can we start playing?"
Evelyn distanced herself away from him and began walking to another a corner of the room.
"Oh, did your friend say you'd be playing me? Oh no no… there's no need for that. You'll be far more useful to us if you can beat one of our ranked boards. Oh Noahhh!"
"No… Noah?" Toki thought, "No way… that couldn't be…"
"Huh?!?!?! Is it time to go home already?"
As Evelyn made her way to the other side of the room she began to violently shake a student that appeared to have been sleeping and drooling on the desk. Upon further inspection, to Toki's great surprise, still half-sleep sat the slacker from his math class, Noah Park. The even bigger surprise however, was what happened next.
"Fucking… get up slob," Evelyn shouted her expression suddenly changing as she delivered a swift kick to Noah's back knocking him onto the ground.
"What the…" Toki thought, "Why can't that be me?"
"Ow…" Noah said rubbing his back as he slowly got up from the ground. "What was that for sis?"
"Si… sis!?!?" Toki repeated in complete shock.
"Huh… oh Toki what's up?" Noah said turning to Toki and smiling at him, "wait… what are you doing here?"
"Ev… Evelyn's your sister?" Toki asked ignoring Noah's question.
"Huh?" Noah said turning back at Evelyn who was still staring at him in annoyance, "Yeah…she's my half-sister actually. Anyways, that didn't answer my question, you play chess Toki?"
At the response, Toki kneeled down in front of Noah.
"I am here Noah… on a quest of love. Please dear friend, may I have your blessing, as I am here, to complete the Evelyn Hann challenge, and win a date with the angel that is your dear sister."
"…"
"…"
"Huh…"
After a brief moment of an awkward stare, Noah suddenly burst out in laughter.
"You been watching too much anime bro? You know she wears fake lashes and pounds of makeup right? Real KPOP wannabe. There's like 10 BTS posters in her room. Jeez man, if you knew how many times I hear her scream over random fanca…"
"HE DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT" Evelyn shouted delivering a swift punch at Noah's face knocking him back onto the ground.
"oooooooooooo" the other students in the room collective said upon seeing the clean hit.
"Oww… what was that for sis?" Noah asked rubbing his face.
"Some of us actually put effort into things," Evelyn replied giving Noah a dirty look. "You best put some effort in if you ever want to make it past 8th board."
"Hey I put in effort!" Noah said back, "I spent all night yesterday putting in effort!"
"A 250 bullet game binger is not putting in effort for classical chess…" Evelyn sighed.
"It so is! It helps with intuition!"
"Intuition my ass," Evelyn said face palming. As she noticed Toki and the rest of the club staring at her, she cleared her throat and returned to her normal smiling expression.
"Anyways, Toki cutie, Noah, our 8th board, will be your challenger for…"
"Eww… did you just call him cutie?" Noah interrupted cringing, "What, you start using that term after a V.live yesterday or.."
Before he could finish his sentence, another fist contacted Noah's face as he once again fell onto the ground.
"ooooooooo" the students in the club once again collectively said in unison.
"Bobby, can you set up a board for the two of them please?" Evelynn asked. "I'll rematch you again if you do."
"Hmmphh…" He replied, "Fine, but this time I play white! And if I win I'm making a request to play first board."
"Of course of course…" Evelyn said ignoring the fact he had just played white in the last game as well.
"Why me…" Noah said getting up from the ground "can't one of the higher boards…
"Shut up Noah, you're playing him and winning or I'm turning off the router the next time you play league of legends."
"You're the devil!"
But as Evelyn continued to look at him with annoyance, Noah sighed and obliged going to sit down at the table of the board Bobby had set up for the 2 of them.
Toki quickly took his seat as well opposite of Noah. A crowd began gathering around the two of them in anticipation to see the skills of the newcomer who so boldly entered the class and challenged their first board.
"Oh shit…" Toki thought, "I didn't expect so many spectators. At least it's Noah, that slacker always needs help with math homework. How hard could this be?"
As he looked up at his opponent, Noah grabbed two of the pawns, one white, and one black, and mixed them up behind his back before holding them out in closed fists in front of Toki. Toki had remembered doing this in elementary school so he quickly pointed at the right first. At this motion, a few whispers could be heard from the crowd and Noah raised an eyebrow.
"You play before bro?"
"Yeah of course!" Toki said, "I was the best back at my old school."
"Is that so?" Noah replied. Whispers continued to echo from the crowd. "Well, let's see what ya got then, you're white."
He placed the pawns back to their original positions. The two had coincidentally already been at the correct seats. A cold sweat dripped down Toki's neck as he prepared to make his first move.
"Alright... I can do this I can do this." He thought, "Just need to remember how I crushed those scrubs in elementary school. That should still work."
He reached for his pawn and moved it to the e4 square.
More whispers could be heard from the crowd. Appearing to seemingly mimic his opening, Noah moved his own pawn to the center to e5.
"Does… does he actually know openings?" Marcy thought as she observed the game, "these next moves should tell us a lot about his power level. The Italian game? Bishop's opening? King's gambit? Rui Lopez? If he plays any of these, then Noah may have trouble…"
"…"
"…"
The crowd groaned upon seeing the next move and a few amongst them began cracking up
"This… this opening" Marcy thought.
Wayward Queen 1: https://imgur.com/a/IPNOkoW
Queen h5 was the move Toki had chosen, the wayward queen.
"He's an idiot after all…"
At the sight however, Evelyn chuckled and got up from her seat to go behind Toki and rub his shoulders.
"Myyyy what a brave man. You're bringing your powerful queen out this early?"
"Ohhh uhhh of course of course!" Toki replied, "Everyone needs a strong queen in chess and in life!"
"That queen's like you whenever you need an excuse from me to ditch a dat…"
Noah couldn't complete his sentence as Evelyn stepped on his foot from under the table.
"Ow…owwww," Noah said holding his foot and reaching for his knight. He placed it on c6 defending against Toki's queen attack on his central pawn
Wayward Queen 2: https://imgur.com/a/2Ddm967
"Shit… he saw through my attack." Toki thought. "In that case… I'll have to use my other trick and end this game fast."
He began reaching for his bishop.
"…"
"…"
"He's… he's going for scholar's mate." Marcy thought face palming. At this point, the whole club was bursting out in laughter at the scene.
"Why are they laughing?" Toki thought, "Is it because the mate is unstoppable? Yes… that must be it. He really shouldn't have played e5 to counter…"
Noah quickly grabbed his own queen moving it to f6 stopping the mating attack.
Wayward Queen 3: https://imgur.com/a/4lj1IDr
"Crap!" Toki thought. Noah had managed to neutralize this attack as well. What was he to do now? This was as far as Toki's elementary school chess skills had gotten him. He looked at everyone staring at him and at Noah who seemed like he was ready to fall asleep at any moment. A cold sweat ran down his neck as he examined the board again.
"Alright focus focus, the objective is checkmate, just focus on that." Toki thought. Still, from here it would be a great uphill battle. If he was going to win today, he was going to have to actually use his brain.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Not… not yet!" Toki said as he moved his King to the h8 square.
"Toki…that's your name right?" the student with a beret and jeans asked.
"It's Toki Suzuki! And Toki Suzuki never gives up! Even if…"
"Toki… there are 8 Queens on the board."
"Checkmate," Noah said promoting his final pawn to a queen as well. As Toki looked down at the board, his face went pale. Noah was right, his King was out of moves, and it was checkmate… with 8 queens, 2 rooks, and 3 bishops on the board for Noah and only a King for Toki.
"Ahh… did you lose?" Evelyn asked getting up from her board to examine Noah and Toki's, "That's too bad, Bobby here is just about to lose as well."
"Not yet!" Bobby shouted from the other side of the room, "I still have King f1 to ho…"
"Bishop h3 is mate."
"…"
"…"
"fuck"
"Well that's okay, despite him being a lazy pathetic loser at everything else, Noah's decent at chess."
"Jeez thanks sis…" Noah groaned as he began resetting the board.
"Still… you know what this means don't you?" Evelyn said staring down at Toki who gulped.
"Hey what the hell are you kids doing? Get out of here."
The club was interrupted as suddenly an elderly man appeared at the entrance of the door. It appeared to be the school janitor.
"Sorry Mr. Brown!" Marcy said quickly going up to the janitor and apologizing. "Ms. Everstone wasn't here so we weren't sure…"
"I don't care…" the janitor grumbled, "get the hell out!"
At the elderly man's booming voice, the chess club members all quickly packed up their sets and began scurrying out the door. As they did, Evelyn turned to Toki one last time to whisper something in his ear.
"See you tomorrow… slave,"
"Ye… yes mistress."