The wind flew softly above ground, but Shuhi and Utaro had already reached their destination. They stood before an old ramen stall, shutters half-closed and rusted with time. To any other common people, it was a forgotten corner of the city. But to those who knew better, it was an entrance. Utaro knocked twice, then once, then twice again, like a secret rhythm of the streets.
The vendor gave a slight nod, then stepped aside. Beneath the counter, a steel trapdoor opened up, revealing a staircase going underground. A yellow bulb flickered faintly at the bottom.
"Ladies first," Utaro said, smirking.
Shuhi rolled her eyes. "If I fall, I'm telling you, I'm gonna dragging you down with me."
At the bottom, the air was filled with smoke, the smell of sweat, alcohol could be sensed. Neon lights were glowing from behind a steel-reinforced wooden door. A sign above read: "Yoru no Kage" – Shadows of the Night.
They entered.
The underground bar was a maze of shadows and silhouettes. People sitting idly across cracked leather seats, others leaned against graffiti designed walls sipping on poisoned dreams. A bartender stood behind the counter like a stone statue, looked like he was rubbing the same wine glass with a handkerchief over and over again.
"Names?" The bartender asked.
"Mizuki and Renji," Utaro answered.
Obviously they had to give a fake name to hide their identity.
The bartender wrote it down on a register that looked older than the bar itself. "Seems like new faces to me. What? Trouble or curiosity?"
"Maybe both," Shuhi said.
Utaro leaned forward. "We're looking for information. The case from last week. The girl who vanished near this district."
The bartender's hands paused. He flicked his eyes up for a second before returning to the glass.
"Haven't seen anything. No one here saw anything. We don't deal with ghosts."
Utaro understood this was a code and had a negative meaning.
Translation: drop it or disappear.
Utaro gave a smile saying, "Thanks anyway."
They moved on, looking at booths filled with whispered deals and laughter that didn't reach the eyes. Toward the back of the bar, past the broken jukebox and under a busted ceiling fan, was a circular table surrounded by men who looked like have been clawed their way out of a bad noir film.
One man had a beard so long it touched the table, braided into three rough strands. Another had tattoos crawling up his neck, kanji symbols that meant death, fire, or both. Another one wore sunglasses indoors, despite the dim lighting. His fingers were adorned with rings made from silver and gold
They were playing poker but not for money.
A row of half-empty booze bottles lined the center of the table.
"Loser will drink. Winner will decide who drinks next." one of them shouted.
Utaro approached first. "Evening. Mind if we interrupt?"
The bearded one up at Utaro. "What's it? If you're selling something, just go away."
"We're looking for answers. About the missing girl. I thought some fine gentlemen like yourselves might've heard something."
They all laughed. The tattooed one slammed a bottle on the table.
"Gentlemen? You think you can just blabber here and poke around like cops without a badge? Kid, this isn't a library."
Shuhi stepped forward, her voice calm. "Then let's make it fun."
Their eyes turned to her.
She pulled out a small foldable board and set it on the table. Eight by eight squares. Black and white.
"We will play Dice Chess," she said, placing a single die in the middle. "Rules are simple. You roll a die. Whatever number you get, that's the piece you move. One for pawn, two for knight, and so on. Checkmate the opponent's king to win. If you don't have that piece alive, you skip your turn."
Tattoo-neck raised a brow. "And what do we get?"
"If I win, you all tell us everything you know. Every rumor, everything." Shuhi said with a narrowed down sharp voice.
Beard-man laughed. "And if you lose?"
Utaro sighed. "I give you 70,000 yen in cash."
The offer shut them all up.
The tattooed man looked at his crew. They exchanged nods. 20,000 yen was a big deal for them. Their greed couldn't let them escape.
"Deal. Let's roll, little girl."
The pieces were set. Shuhi took black. The tattooed man took white. Time to roll the dice. At first, it was clumsy. The dice dictated the pace. He rolled a two thus moved knight to c3. She got one thus moved a pawn to e5, taking control of the center.
They laughed. "It's a kid's game. Pure luck."
Shuhi gave a little smile.
He rolled a six. But the king couldn't move anywhere so he skipped his turn. Shuhi got one so she moved pawn to d4. Next turn they both got four which is rook but their rook is locked in the corner so they had to skip their chance.
The man got one so he moved d4. Shuhi got four but she had to skip because her rook was still locked. Now white's d4 pawn was attacking black's e5 pawn. If the man gets one then it will be his first capture. But he got a two so he moved knight to f3.
The game continued like this.
But later on, something seemed to be not right. Almost half the board became empty. And yet, she always seemed to have the right piece when needed. Her rolls never seemed lucky but always convenient.
She rolled a six. King. She moved it one step forward. Basically performing a double boncloud.
"Who does that?" The man said.
She used the king as a bait to lure the knight. She even allowed the knight to do a fork.
Then her knight struck. It had been hiding, forgotten, in the corner. Now it jumped right into check.
Tattoo-neck frowned. "Hold up..."
She rolled a four. Rook. Her h file rook swept to the a file.
He rolled a five but the queen was already traded off. So he had to skip his turn.
"Tch...My poor luck." The man said.
Shuhi said nothing.
She rolled again. Three. Bishop.
With smooth fingers, she moved it diagonally.
"Huh fools. You don't get it, do you?"
she thought softly.
"This isn't chess with dice. This is a war of probability disguised as fun. I'm not playing the board. I'm playing the dice and your pieces."
Utaro leaned in, watching the gamblers sweat.
The game continued onward. At a moment she got one. Pawn.
She pushed forward, promoting to a queen.
He rolled two. Knight.
But knights were traded off or he could remember he lost a knight.
She rolled five.
Queen.
It was over.
"Checkmate," she said, her voice soft and brutal.
If the skipped turns are not included, the entire game is:
white(Nc3), black(e5), black(d5), white(d4), white(Nf3), black(Nc6), white(Be3), black(e4), white(Rb1), black(Qf6), white(a3), black(Qf5), white(Kd2), black(Qg4), white(Qc1), black(exf3), white(Bf4), black(Bf5), white(Qe1), black(Qxf4+), white(Kd1), black(Be7), black(Kd2), white(Ra1), black(Kd6), white(Nb5+), black(Kd7), white(Rb1), black(Bg5), white(Bd3), black(Ke8), white(Nxc7+), black(d8), white(Nxa8), white(Bxf5), black(Nxd4), white(Qc3), black(Nxf3), white(Ra1), white(Rb1), black(d4), white(Ke2), black(Qe5+), white(Be4), black(Bh6), white(Qxf3), black(Qxb5+), white(Bd3), black(Kc8), white(h3), black(Qc5+), white(Qe4), black(Qxe4+), white(Bxe4), black(Nf6), black(Qh2#).
Silence. Then Beard-man whispered, "...She planned that whole thing."
Sunglasses guy added. "She rigged the game."
Shuhi stood. "No. I just understood it better."
Utaro crossed his arms. "So. The deal?"
The tattooed man leaned back, defeated. "Alright, alright... You didn't hear this from us. But word is, a man wearing black coat once entered. He played pocker with one of my friend. He suddenly said out about something called the 4 loop case."
"The 4 loop case?" Utaro muttered.
After some discussion Utaro gathered enough info about the case while Shuhi drank a lemon soda.
Shuhi folded her board. Her voice calm: "That's all we need."
As they walked out, Utaro nudged her. "That was insane. You made a bar full of crooks look like schoolkids."
She smiled. "I didn't beat them with dice. I beat them with thinking."
"Now what does that mean?" Utaro asked.
"The game at first glance seem like a luck based game but it's not. Remember at the opening, that guy couldn't play a single good move?" Shuhi asked explaining.
"Oh yes"
"My plan was to create a situation where every roll I get will be useful and every roll he get will be bad. So First I somehow managed to control the center. From that position, my king, queen, knight, bishop and pawns were open. Oh and forget about rooks. They were trapped in the corners. So my so called mobility was 5/6. On the other hand only his king, queen and knight and pawns were able to move. So his mobility was 2/3. That means in the every 3 turns, he would have to skip one which was my time to develop. You see the advantage?"
"Oh it's very nicely done."
"My plan in the middlegame was simple. I just held my advantage, quickly developed my pieces and attacked on the king. The guy got a hard time defending his own king. Forget about attacking mine. And when it was almost the time for endgame I pulled over my ultimate plan. Though he had 2 points of materials more than me, it didn't help him."
"Right. It seemed like he had to skip almost every turn. How is that?" Utaro asked curiously.
"you see I managed to trade off his two pairs of knights with my knight and bishop. And other pieces were traded off. I had king, a knight, a bishop, a rook and some pawns. That means my mobility was 5/6. He had king, a bishop, rooks and some pawns. That means his mobility was 2/3. It was the same as the opening. That's why I had more turns than him. By clearing specific ranks, I turned his high rolls into dead turns"
"So you purposefully traded off the pieces in a way that you had a piece of every pair at the end which increased your mobility thus you won." Utaro said.
"That's right."
"Oh the king move was not useful always so the chances were lower at all sides.
Then she looked back at the gamblers. They still sat there, stunned. A battlefield of glass bottles and lost pride.
"Oh forget about it. What about our info?" Shuhi asked.
"I got to know something new. We need to discuss." Utaro said.
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International