A/N: Woah what's this!? A chapter so soon!? Nah… This is an extra chapter, still canon though, treat this as a sorry for all the time I took to make Chapter 6

November 1, 49 - Patch, Rose's Household

Arcene sneezes one more time as she covers her nose with her hand before she adopts a very exasperated look

'Ggggrrrr….' She mentally growls at herself to express her annoyance, but despite that, she did not move her physical expression at all because it already shows her annoyance quite well already

Currently right now, she's all alone in the house for now, her parents with Summer went to the Amity Arena to watch the ongoing tournament, originally she would be with them –much to her dislike– but then, she got sick and you can't really enter the Amity Arena while being sick, it doesn't matter if it's just a common cold, you still can't enter

After all, the Amity Arena will be jam-pack with people and the security of Amity Arena does not take even the slightest risk of your "common cold" actually being an extremely contagious virus that just has the symptoms of a common cold and that virus spread among the crowds, not that is a nightmare

Or so what Arcene thinks at least, she hasn't personally heard why they forbid any person with any kind of symptoms of sickness, but it make sense really, when your whole species are in constant danger because of Grimm, it's kinda hard to risk any epidemic or worse, a pandemic, just looking at a few examples back in her previous world is enough to make her think that

Of course, Arcene's parents knew that too and almost on the spot decided to not go, but of course

Arcene didn't want to let this opportunity pass by and started convincing them that it'll be a waste of money if they decided to waste the tickets to the Amity Arena like that and Arcene also knows that getting those tickets was not only quite expensive, it's also not easy to get too, we're talking about a festival that the whole world goes to, you think that'll be easy to get into? Of course not, so she used that too to try and convince them

And her attempts actually got them thinking (now that's a surprise actually for Arcene) and her parents eventually decided to go if someone was willing to look after Arcene for the time that they were gone

Now that actually dashed Arcene's hope, but fate being a trickster they are, literally the first call they make and the person agreed with the reason of 'not having anything to do anyways', a good thing that the person who agreed at babysitting was someone Arcene actually knows

It was Ms. Hoshi, the librarian… Okay, for some reason that sounds like a boss name but anyways, she was the person who… who…

'Aaaaaarrrrrggghhh… What the heck is a good translation for 'Hatid'!? Transport!? Fricking language barrier…' Arcene thought to herself in annoyance as she sighs quietly, though the 'quietly' part is more or less by instinct by now

Anyways, Ms. Hoshi, Arcene knows her and her own family knows her and also the Feng Family knows her before they moved to Mistral earlier this year (or was it last year?), let's leave it at that

But for the time being, Ms. Hoshi is not here and the rest of the family already left, so she has the whole house all by herself for now

'Wooooohoooo.' Arcene mentally celebrates, that might be a little childish of her but who could blame her? The last time she remembers a whole day without any annoyance bugging her every now was her fricking past life, that says a lot really because her past life is also full of annoyance too but at least her past life has some breaks every now and then

And what is she gonna do with this free time…? Well, that's the thing, nothing, nothing she could think of except using her phone-scroll

And so she did

*Timeskip*

Arcene sat down on the chair on the living after checking the whole house for the 2nd time

It's been… Half an hour or so and she's getting a bit paranoid for unknown reasons, but she knows full well that this is just her mind playing tricks on her, not the first time this has happened and definitely will not be the last time this will happen

And then, she suddenly had a coughing fit that just so happens to be more severe than normal before a woman with dark blue– almost black hair and amethyst eyes with her hair covering her right eye while she's wearing glasses, anyways, that woman came into the room with almost no sound at all

"Are you ok?" The woman asked to Arcene with a slightly worried tone but is over monotonous

"Y-Yeah…" Arcene answered with her voice slightly croaked (if that's the right word) from the coughing fit

The woman looked at Arcene for a few moments, as if contemplating before she turned around and closed the door (she actually closed the door and didn't leave it open! A surprise really!)

Arcene looks at the door for a bit 'When the heck did Ms. Hoshi arrived? Better yet, how did she go unnoticed by me? I literally checked the whole house! Twice even!'

But, Arcene knows that she wouldn't really be getting an answer just by trying to think about it, the only way to get the answer that she currently wants is by asking the source itself, and that's Ms. Hoshi

But what is she gonna say? "Hey, how and when did you arrive? I checked the whole house twice and didn't see you anywhere."

That would reveal her insecurity, because who the heck checks the house twice in less than half an hour? No one, no one that she knows of at least, and being direct is not part of Arcene's vocabulary so she'll get her answer the way she does best, it's by bringing up the topic and try to manipulate the conversation into making Ms. Hoshi herself say it without Arcene asking it

But really, that seems to be more complicated that the energy it might consume is more than the energy she currently has, don't forget that she's still currently sick, meaning she has much less energy than the already low energy she normally has on a normal day

Or in other words, she's too lazy to do that, and really, the risk outweighs the gain, at least for her it does so she ain't gonna risk it

Arcene looks at her scroll, I guess she has nothing better to do now again

And then suddenly, the door to her and Summer's room opens up, revealing the woman –Ms. Hoshi holding a… Chess board

'Wait, so chess exists here? Or is that checkers? Hope it's the former.' Arcene thought to herself, she was a chess player in the meaning that she knows how to play and does play chess, but she's not really good at it or so she personally believes

Ms. Hoshi opened up the chess board (?) to reveal the chess pieces (Yehey I guess) and she somehow managed to take all of them in her hand while flipping the board right side up using her feet, it was a bit of a surreal sight from the librarian but she managed I guess

"Do you want to play chess?" Ms. Hoshi asked Arcene

'Yes I do but is that even a question? You're already preparing the chess board you know, and also, how does she know that I know how to play chess? Or maybe she doesn't and assumes that if I don't know that she'll teach me how to play chess, but if I do then… Then we'll play against each other I guess?' Arcene thought to herself as she tries to make sense of Ms. Hoshi's thought process but outwardly, she nods quietly

"Do you know how to play chess?" Ms. Hoshi asks which kinda confirms Arcene's assumption but anyways, Arcene nods in response

'Oh wait… What if the information that I know how to play chess circle back to either or both of my parents? They definitely didn't taught me how to play it so they're gonna ask questions on how I know it…' Arcene thought to herself as she realizes the possible consequences that her prior decision might make but it was a bit too late, she already nodded and there's nothing she could do but cross the bridge when she gets there

"Do you want to play as White or Black?" Ms. Hoshi asked Arcene

"Either works." Arcene answered and Ms. Hoshi nodded as Ms.Hoshi started putting the pieces into their places

Arcene saw that Ms. Hoshi was putting the white pieces on her side, so she helped her out 'Well, I guess I'm white.'

After a while, the chess board is now fully prepared and Ms. Hoshi nodded at Arcene, indicating that she's ready

Arcene moves her pawn, e2 to e4, classic King's Pawn

Ms. Hoshi responded with her pawn, e7 to e5, an Open Game

Arcene moved her g1 Knight to f3, threatening the defenceless e5 pawn of black

But Ms. Hoshi ignored that and moved with her g8 Knight to f6, also threatening white pawn in e4

'Huh….' Arcene thought to herself as she looked intently at the board, Ms. Hoshi was giving up a free pawn… I guess she'll take the trade, Nf3 to Nxe5, the black pawn is down

Ms. Hoshi responded in kind, Nf6 to Nxe4, the white pawn is down

Arcene decided to attack the nearby black knight, Queen to f3, she's planning something, one more move and it's checkmate

Well… Unless Ms. Hoshi moves with e4 Knight to g5… which is exactly what she did, not only is she defending f7, Arcene's target for checkmate, she's also attacking her Queen on f3, though she expected as much, not even a beginner would make a move that will make you lose when you're planning to win

Qf3 to Qe3 (White), threatening a check if Arcene moved the knight out while simultaneously attacking the knight on g5

Of course, Ms. Hoshi saw the check so she moved her f8 Bishop to e7, blocking it before it could even commence

Qe3 to Qe2 (White) for some reason

O-O, Black castled on Kingside

Pawn d2 to d4 (White), protecting the Knight on the center

e7 Bishop to f6, attacking the white knight on e5

Arcene decided another trade, a trade of Knights, Queen to h5, attacking Black's g5 while simultaneously preparing for another checkmate that she's planning

d7 Black Pawn to d6, adding an attacker to the center white knight

But Arcene ignores that and moves Bishop to e3

Of course, Ms. Hoshi saw that checkmate and blocks it with her pawn to g6 while simultaneously threatening the white queen on h5

Still wanting for her Queen to be on the attack, Arcene moves it to h6

Of course, now that the immediate threat died down, Ms. Hoshi took the center knight with her pawn, Pxe5

Arcene took back with pawn to xe5 while also threatening the Bishop on f6

Ms. Hoshi moved her rook to e8, pinning the pawn on e5

'... Of course this will be a tough fight, what else was I expecting?' Arcene thought to herself '... I guess I should prepare myself for a loss.'

*Timeskip* (because the Author is lazy, whole game is in the bottom)

'Yep… I lost this game.' Arcene thought to herself as Ms. Hoshi moves her a8 Rook to e8, pinning her last knight, her last official on e4

Arcene moved her King, e2 to f2, avoiding the check

Rook takes Knight, Re8 to Rxe4

Arcene moves her king to g2, because why not?

Rook to e2, check

'And here comes my last move.' Arcene thought to herself as she move her king to f1

And then, Queen to e1, checkmate

Arcene chuckles a bit 'Hehe… I'm so stupid.'

But, her chuckle became a bit of a catalyst for another bout of coughs

"You shouldn't talk… Or make any noise from your mouth while in that condition." Ms. Hoshi advised Arcene and she nods in response to that

'No shit sherlock.' Arcene thought to herself but kept quiet outwardly

"Do you want to play another game?" Ms. Hoshi asked Arcene

'Hm… I guess I got nothing better to do anyways, and besides, this is a bit of an exercise for me too.' Arcene thought to herself as she nods to Ms. Hoshi's question

'Guess it's time for my losing streak.' Arcene thought to herself

*Another Timeskip*

And true to Arcene's thought, the matches after that were mostly losses for her… Keyword: mostly

By some heavenly miracle, she won a game, it's just one game, but she won nonetheless

But Ms. Hoshi was still way out of her league, after all, the score is 8-1 right now

'Natambakan ako…[1]' Arcene thought to herself

But really, she expected nothing else than that, the last time she played chess was in her past life… Which was… 2 years? 1 and a half? She can't remember anymore, but her point still stands, though, it ain't the first time she had 2+ years of hiatus in chess

But anyways, it was still very much a loss for her, but even though it was infuriating and angry at herself for not seeing certain things until it was too late, it was still entertaining and sometimes, a bit amusing

But there's a point where even losing just gets tiring

Ms. Hoshi is fixing up the board the board once again but Arcene merely shakes her head

"You don't want another one?" Ms Hoshi asked Arcene with her tone slightly (Arcene thinks at least) tinge with disappointment

Arcene merely shakes her head in response to Ms. Hoshi's question before she felt a hand on top of her head

'... … … Oh come on.' Arcene thought to herself as she knew what's happening to her, she's getting head patted, the fact that she's on the receiving end feels a little bit weird but she doesn't complain about it

"Don't worry, you're still young and have many opportunities to learn and grow, losing these games is just one of them and you could grow more and learn from your mistakes, or better yet, learn from other's." Ms. Hoshi said… Or rather, gave a life lesson speech

'Yeah, I already learn from other's mistakes many times in the past and I very much know that I have many opportunities to learn since it's my second shot at life, so not only do I already know what you're saying, I already am doing it, but duly noted.' Arcene thought to herself but outwardly, she nods in acknowledgement

Ms. Hoshi stands up from her seat with the chess board (Wait… since when did she fix that!? And how fast did she do that!?), but just as when she reached the door, she said "I'll be making a light meal, I'll call you down later."

Ms. Hoshi opens the door and walks out of the room before closing the door once again

'And back to using my phone I guess…' Arcene thought to herself

Her job is no easy task, but she'll do what she needs to do

But first, she'll make something she's sure Arcene will quite like, a very special dish that she still remembers despite the decades behind her

*Timeskip* (I've been doing that a lot in this chapter huh?)

"Arcene, the food's ready." Ms. Hoshi said as she opens the door to the room

Arcene nods in acknowledgement as she saves the game she's playing 'There's a reason why I've stopped playing online games way back in my last life, I did that so that my gaming session wouldn't be interrupted in a crucial time, you can't really save or pause in an online match.'

She stands up and followed Ms. Hoshi downstairs, but when she was on the stairs… She started smelling something… Awfully familiar

'No way… No goddamn way…' Arcene thought to herself as she vaguely recognizes the smell but she kept her composure

Just as she suspected, it was a dish that she was familiar with but it's also a dish that she 100% expected to never see again unless she makes it herself

It was a dish from Classic Filipino Cuisine, the Champorado (Not to be confused with the Mexican Champurrado)

Arcene beelined for the place where they put their bowls while also taking a spoon with her on the way

But for a moment, it is for her thinking that is it appropriate to eat in her current condition, i.e. her sickness, but this is a golden opportunity, an opportunity that may never come again for a few decades, might as well eh?

Arianell opens up the door to their house, as expected, it was deadly quiet but she's not worried

Because that is exactly what would happen to a house if the only people inside it were the quiet ones

She opens up the door to reveal no one is there, Arianell's not really surprised at this

Summer passed by Arianell, quickly entering the house and immediately beelined upstairs, there's only really one person she'd be looking for and that one person could be only be located in one place: Their room

But anyways, Arianell enters the house too, and then she stretches her hands 'Ahhh… If only Net was here.'

Garnet by some unfortunate circumstance, was called by Jade for an emergency mission just earlier, she was not privy to the details but that's just how their job is, the only thing she could do is hope for the best

And then Arianell noticed someone walking down the stairs, it was Hoshi Miran, a close friend of hers and a librarian

Though… Despite her occupation, she's an enigmatic one, there's something… Just something always around her, like an aura of death or something like that

It's a little bit poetic and exaggerated but it gets the point across, or so Arianell thinks at least

"Is Arcene okay?" Arianell asked Hoshi with no small amount of worry in her voice

"She's fine, besides, her sickness would go away eventually." Hoshi answered but Arianell continued to stare at her, waiting for her to continue, Hoshi merely pressed her fingers on her nose and sigh and said "Are you really asking that kind of question about Arcene? She's a good girl, she didn't misbehave."

"Most of the time yeah…" Arianell said "But I guess you're right."

"And besides, she's sick, she wouldn't be able to do anything serious." Hoshi added

"You never know." Arianell said "But she didn't really cause you any kind of trouble?"

"If winning a game of chess against me is considered 'trouble', then yes." Hoshi said with a monotonous tone, but her words imply she's joking Arianell got that without any trouble, because she's giggling

"Yeah yeah, I get it, I'll stop." Arianell said "How's she now?"

"Playing against Summer in a game of chess, oh the poor girl." Hoshi answered

"And you're gonna leave without the board?" Arianell asked Hoshi "Seems a bit weird for you to just leave your invention behind."

"I'll be leaving it in safe hands." Hoshi responded "And besides, I'll just be taking it tomorrow anyways, you could drop it by my house or I go to yours, either way works for me."

"Hm… Guess so." Arianell said

"Anyways, I'll be going, Ria." Hoshi said to Arianell as she waves her backhand behind her and to Arianell

Arianell chuckles a bit before closing the door to their house

[1]: "Natambakan ako." roughly translates to… Well, "The score was piled against me." and that could only be applied in the context of scores

The root word of "Natambakan'' is "tambak" which roughly means "pile" and "ako" translates to "me/I"

A/N: This'll be a nightmare to bold because typographical emphasis like bold, italic, and underline doesn't carry over from Google Docs to Wattpad or FFnet or ScribbleHub… But it does from either one of those sites to another one of the aforementioned sites…

Chess Game: Arcene Vs Hoshi (Chess), yes, that's a link

The ones on bold are the black's moves (Note: Moves with "+" means the King is on check, with "#" means with checkmate, "x" means an opponent piece is taken with that move and O-O means castling on Kingside)
Start-Timeskip:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. Nxe5 Nxe4
4. Qf3 Ng5
5. Qe3 Be7
6. Qe2 O-O
7. d4 Bf6
8. Qh5 d6
9. Bd3 g6
10. Qh6 dxe5
11. dxe5 Re8

What's on the Timeskip:
12: O-O Rxe5
13. f4 Nh3+
14. gxh3 Rh5
15. Qxh5 gxh5
16. f5 Qd4+
17. Kg2 Bd7
18. c3 Bc6+
19. Rf3 Bxf3+
20. Kxf3 Qxd3+
21. Kg2 Qe2+
22. Kg1 Qe1+
23. Kg2 Qxc1
24. b4 Qb2+
25. Kf3 Qxa1
26. Nd2 Qxc3+
27. Ke2 Nc6

Pro Timeskip-End:
28. Ne4 Re8
29. Kf2 Rxe4
30. Kg2 Re2+
31. Kf1 Qe1#

You may have noticed, move 12-18 are in italic, that is not an accident, I italicized it because when I was copy pasting the moves I used into my notepad, I did not noticed that I skip moves 12-18 and by the time I realized it, I already reloaded the site I was using…

It took a while (and I mean, a few hours) before I eventually found the most likely moves I used on moves 12-18, and it's already written right there

Date of Publish: December 23, 2022 (GMT+8)