Match 18764 Subaru Natsuki vs. Blank

[IKA]

“Check,” the 17-year-old Subaru excitedly screams, pointing at the 11-year-old Shiro standing on the opposing side of the giant holographic chess board.  
 
“Make that “checkmate,” the rather emotionless girl says demanding her queen to take the knight who had placed her King in imminent danger. Subaru could only watch in horror as the black Queen walked over to his knight and politely removed his head from his body. As the knight’s holographic body fell to his knees, so too did Subaru, except unlike the Knight, his fate was very much real. His skin began to slowly turn an ashen gray, and his blood began to boil. His sight began to fill with a red hue, as pain filled his body. But that wasn’t even the worst part for his dear... 
 
Moments “earlier” ... 
 
Subaru stands on one side of the board, lifelessly staring at the wall opposite to him. Across from him stood a young girl 6 years his junior looking as if she just wants to get this game over with so she can go on with her day. Next to her is her older 18-year-old brother Sora, both looking like they just rolled out of bed. This is it; Subaru knew what he had to do – he points at the young lady with white hair and ruby red eyes, I choose her. He thought to himself that it would be easier for him to beat the child than the older brother in a game of chess. “I... I choose her.”. How many times has he played this game already? They had no idea about the suffering that would befall Subaru if he lost the game, and they had no intention of losing anyway. Losing a game was akin to losing their lives in their minds. The bet was simple enough All Subaru had to do was beat one of them in a single game of chess, he even got to choose which one he faced, and which side of the board he got to use. “I’m going to start,” Subaru declared that board appeared before them with the White pieces in front of him and the Black pieces in front of his opponent. Subaru points his finger toward the pawn on F-2 and the game began, it took only 12 moves for Shiro to place Subaru into checkmate.  
 
“Too easy,” Shiro declares before moving exeunt. The curtains fall between the two opposing sides. Subaru scratches his head nervously laughing out of embarrassment of losing to a child, he lowers his head, before turning back to see his precious Emilia who having been tied to a pole was lit ablaze before him. Out of reach and out of time Subaru declares that he will save her. His skin began to turn an ashen gray and his blood began to boil. He’s already perished from this fate countless times, but despite this, the pain never ceases, as though his mind has experienced it, it was technically his body's first time feeling it. Subaru reaches out to Emilia, his mind so scrambled that he can’t even be bothered to scream from the pain anymore as he fades to dust. 
 
As was always the case, Subaru is suddenly reset staring lifelessly at the wall opposite to him, forced to choose between either Sora or Shiro to face in a “simple game of chess”. He can’t even tell them what’s happening to him, or this reset would end abruptly end then and there, the Witch clutching his heart and crushing it like a grape in the palm of her unseen hands. Subaru takes a second to compose himself, trying to think of every possible tactic he had to win this game and save Emilia and himself. In a game of chess, the white side goes first and thus has around a 54% chance of winning the game should everything go exactly as planned, the middle 8 squares demand attention as controlling them gives you a slight competitive edge in the direction of the game. The girl is the obvious choice to face, but despite her cute youthfulness, her wit is even sharper than the deadliest blade, easily able to cut down his moves. He seems to get further if he challenges the brother, but only slightly so, ever the strategist it just seems like Sora delays defeating Subaru, just out of curiosity before getting bored of his lackluster opponent and ending the game aggressively. Neither of his choices seems to be an actual advantage to him. He again chooses Shiro, after all, if he keeps playing against the same person eventually, he has to win. Right? He just has to remember what piece they move and learn to counter. Yet so far, this plan seems like nothing more than a minor annoyance to them before quickly putting him in checkmate once more. 
 
“Love me” the voice plays in Subaru’s mind, the witch who has put him in this situation. “Love me, love me, love me.” The voice becomes louder as he quickly snaps out of it and points to the Pawn on F-2 to begin his usual run. As the game quickly comes to an end just 13 moves in, the voice changes. “Love them, love them, love them.” He knows that she’s not actually speaking those words to him, but now more than ever, he desperately wants to give up and accept her warm embrace. He doesn’t even remember what brought him to this game at this point, but if, no... when he wins, he will make whoever is doing this to him pay. 
 
Again, he resets... 
 
----- To put it simply ---- 
 
Subaru vs. Blank in a “simple game of chess”. 
 
Subaru has unlimited tries to win, and only he will remember the previous games, though every time he loses, he painfully perishes and his psyche takes another hit.  
 
He only knows he has no choice but to play the game, and that if he loses, he dies, and so too does his precious Emilia. The only way out of the loop is seemingly to win the game.  

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Subaru Natsuki
Official Site: Crunchyroll Links: Wikipedia

Blank
Read more about Blank at Wikipedia
Official Site: Mad House Links: Wikipedia

[Boratz]

Great job, IKA! 

[leroypowell3]

Typical deal for Subaru. Seems like he would eventually get a win in though.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.70 - leroypowell3
4.50 - zoozoo_the_gargoyle
4.80 - Boratz
5.00 - Michael Lovecraft
5.00 - StormChaser

FPA Calculation:
5 Total Votes cast
24.00 Total Combined Score
24.00 / 5 = 4.80 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Subaru Natsuki: 1
Blank: 4

[broadwaybeyonder]

Welp, looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again.  

Congratulations, @IKA.  Good luck in the finals.  

[IKA]

Poor Subaru will be trapped in this hell forever.

[DSkillz]

This appears to be an interesting match-up, IKA. Wish I knew more about 『　　』and anything about Sabaru to have voted on and rated it before the match ended, though. 

On 1/3/2023 at 10:15 PM, Callisto said:

4.50 - zoozoo_the_gargoyle

Heh, who was zoozoo??

[IKA]

1 hour ago, DSkillz said:

This appears to be an interesting match-up, IKA. Wish I knew more about 『　　』and anything about Sabaru to have voted on and rated it before the match ended, though. 

Heh, who was zoozoo??

I assume it was someone is new and switched their name after voting, I don't have a Zoozoo-the-gargoyle listed as a member

[broadwaybeyonder]

4 hours ago, IKA said:

I assume it was someone is new and switched their name after voting, I don't have a Zoozoo-the-gargoyle listed as a member

I DEMAND ANOTHER ROUND OF VOTING!  XD

[IKA]

1 hour ago, broadwaybeyonder said:

I DEMAND ANOTHER ROUND OF VOTING!  XD

If it makes yiu feel better, If he hadn't voted my average would have been even higher because he gave me the lowest score. 

[broadwaybeyonder]

2 minutes ago, IKA said:

If it makes yiu feel better, If he hadn't voted my average would have been even higher because he gave me the lowest score. 

I know.  Doesn't make me feel better but I know. XD