Here's another one! The next one may take a while before it's up but making one with Iwanako is hard
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SMUG
With an angry motion, Shicchan moves her horse, takes Hicchan’s bishop and crosses her arms, glaring at him. Hicchan’s expression doesn’t falter; his small smile refuses to waver. I know I’m not very good at reading people, but he looks quite smug. Which makes no sense seeing as he’s losing.
That’s probably why Shicchan’s angry. He’s losing, but he looks like he isn’t, and that makes Shicchan angry; she doesn’t know what going on. It almost seems like Hicchan’s trying to provoke her, but that’s not his style. That’s why Shicchan’s angry, because Hicchan’s smiling and he shouldn’t be.
Or maybe she’s angry because Hicchan isn’t playing aggressively, merely reacting to her moves. Shicchan hates it when Hicchan does that. Something about wasting his potential, she said. Shicchan likes Hicchan a lot, but she hates it when he just rolls with the punches because she says she’ll never, ever be interested in someone who just doesn’t fight back, but she’s always interested in Hicchan, so he must always fight back. It’s complicated.
Hicchan makes his move after a few minutes have passed and he’s still smiling. In contrast, Shicchan moves pieces almost immediately. I can tell she’s growing impatient and frustrated with Hicchan’s slow moves and perpetual smile.
“You better start attacking or I’ll crush you. Again.”
That’s what Shicchan signs, and I say it out loud, even though Hicchan can now understand her. He’s still pretty new, so it’s better to make sure the message is delivered.
He says nothing and continues to smile, moving another piece veeeeery slowly. I think he’s doing it on purpose. He once told me that he liked Shicchan’s face when she’s angry. He said it’s very cute. I agreed, but I didn’t tell Shicchan that. Hicchan said it was a secret.
Shicchan moves again, taking one of Hicchan’s towers. For the first time in the whole game, Hicchan moves without hesitation. He moved his remaining bishop while Shicchan’s hand was still hovering over the board. After he moves, he lays back, stretches, and he puts his hands on the back of his head. I’m sure now, he definitely looks smug. And very satisfied. He signs slowly.
“You sometimes have to get punched before you can hit back harder, Shizune. Check.”
Shicchan frowns and goes to move a piece, but her hand freezes. Scowling she moves for another. And then another. With each hand movement, Hicchan looks more and more satisfied. I suddenly realize. Shicchan can’t move a single piece. Hicchan said check, but he lied. He only wanted Shicchan to try and move her pieces. He told me once that, along with her angry face, he just loves the face Shicchan makes in these situations.
“Say it, Shizune.”
I remember that we always underestimate Hicchan. He’s a lot smarter than he looks, but we usually forget that because he’s happy letting us do whatever we want. I (and sometimes Shicchan) always forget he can actually beat Shicchan when he puts his mind on it.
“Say it, Shizune.”
He repeats the signs and his smile is enormous now. He must be enjoying this immensely. Shicchan’s face conveys a strange mix of emotions. She looks angry, surprised and maybe a little satisfied.
“You promised.”
Shicchan raises her hands slightly and begins to move them, her face so very red. She’s very embarrassed, even more so because Hicchan looks very, very happy with her reaction.
“You win.”
As Hicchan’s smile grows and Shicchan squirms in her seat because of his thoroughly amused face, I remember every time Hicchan’s beaten her. Tonight I’ll hear strange growls and moans coming from Shicchan’s room, because Shicchan likes Hicchan a lot, but she likes him the most when he’s smart and combative and victorious and she likes to use that image. I can’t help myself.
“WAHAHAHA~!”
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First of all, I know most of the named pieces are wrong. I did it to show that Misha doesn't really know much about chess, thus naming the pieces for their appearance. Also, yes. I think Shizune is the kind to get off on 'victory Hisao'. As always, thanks a lot to ChaoticGrowth for proofreading this and to whoever read it!