Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 407: The Morning Before the Game!

The next morning, all the Indonesian players left the room pretty late, only 45 minutes before the game started. They hadn’t even had any breakfast yet, so the situation was a bit chaotic. Well, not all of them, per se, only Sheva and Anna. And no, they didn’t do anything indecent last night. They didn’t even sleep in the same room, for God’s sake! This was all because they were too anxious about today’s game, making it hard for the two teenagers to sleep at night.

"How could you neglect your sleep like that, Anna?!" Medina spoke with a tone full of dissatisfaction. "When your parents are back from their trip, I will make sure to tell them this!" She shouted, threatening the younger girl.

"N—No! Please, don’t do that, Sister!" Anna pleaded while also changing to a more formal shirt. "This is just an accident! They don’t need to know about my clumsiness!"

Speaking of her parents, yeah, they were still enjoying their holiday in this city. No one knew what they were doing, but based on their Instagram story, it seemed that the old couple really knew how to enjoy their lives. Hell, Sheva himself was envious when he saw them goofing around this city, inwardly thinking about whether he could do that or not after the tournament was over.

"Urgh... Sister Medina, this is not really a big deal, right?" Sheva groaned, yawning big with a headache throbbing in his brain. He himself hadn’t even taken a bath yet, making Medina’s temper flare once again.

"Not a big deal, my ass! Also, why are you still here?! Go back to your room and take a quick shower!" She scolded the boy mercilessly. Then, her gaze turned to Bagas, and the sharpness in her eyes was enough to make the fat boy wilt instantly. "You! You are responsible for your best friend! Make sure he is ready in the next five minutes, okay?!"

"Y—Yes, Ma’am!" Bagas stuttered, giving a military salute.

Laysa, Claudia, and Sarah just giggled silently, trying their best to hold back their laughter so as not draw Medina’s wrath upon them. This little episode, at least, was able to lift the mood in the team, as everyone felt quite at ease after having breakfast. Even Anna herself, the one whose spirit was the lowest and whose bag under her eyes was deepest, was still able to smile and laugh at their antics.

As they were about to go to the venue, though, Sheva waved at Anna, asking her to talk alone.

"What’s wrong, Shev?" Anna asked curiously.

"Uh... Well..." Sheva rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Before this, he thought of a lot of words to say here, but the moment he was in front of the girl, all of them seemed to get stuck in his throat, unable to get out. "Just... Do your best, okay?" He said it lamely.

"Pfft!" Anna couldn’t hold back anymore, and a melodious laughter escaped from her lips. "Sheva, for your brilliant mind, you sure are pretty awkward, huh?" Her lips quivering, not wanting to embarrass the boy more, but still wanting to laugh at this situation.

Sheva himself blushed a little, not knowing what to say here. However, before he could even defend himself, the girl suddenly approached him, giving the boy a small hug that froze him immediately.

"A—A—Ah... W—What... I... What is..." His brain crashed, stopping to work abruptly at the hug.

"Ssh... Don’t say anything..." Anna hushed, still burying her face in his chest. For a moment, time seemed to freeze, with Sheva acting like a robot that lost its battery. In the end, Anna finally took a deep breath, releasing the hug before giving him a small, genuine smile as if all of her burden was lifted in that moment. "You are a good guy, Sheva. Thank you."

A good guy card +1!

In the end, Sheva failed to recover quickly from that hug attack, being in a daze for the rest of the journey to the venue. Everyone looked at him worriedly, but the small wink that Anna gave was enough to reassure them that he was alright. That didn’t mean they would let it go, of course. They promised themselves that after the round was over, they would dig this matter out of the two teenagers until they found out what happened earlier. However, for now, they all had a game to face, so they didn’t want to get distracted too much here.

Sheva himself was like a walking corpse here. He just moved like a robot, going to where the program guided him. The boy only managed to snap out of this state the moment he sat on the chair, when he could see the determination in his opponent’s eyes.

"You okay?" Pragg asked him shortly.

"Ah... Ah! Don’t worry, I am okay. Sorry for ignoring you." Sheva smiled awkwardly. Inwardly, he cursed everyone on the team for not snapping him the hell out of his mind earlier. "Uh... How about you?" He offered a handshake awkwardly.

Pragg didn’t accept it immediately, staring at the boy with a strange gaze. In the end, though, he just nodded slowly before saying, "Not bad... I think I am ready to get a full point today." The tone was full of confidence, enough to spark Sheva’s fighting spirit.

"Oh, is that so?" Sheva asked provokingly. The small episode earlier had already been forgotten in his mind, as he was ready to fight again. "It is such a weird coincidence, because I am also ready to win."

Hearing this, a relieved sigh escaped from Pragg, followed by a huge smile on his face. "I thought for a moment that you were not in good shape, but this is what I am waiting for! Don’t cry to your sister after I beat you, okay?"

"Bah! That should be my line, right?" Sheva retorted.

Their rivalry sparked once again as the banter flew. It was quite strange, honestly, to consider this as a rivalry. After all, their rating gap was more than 150, which was a big tell about the quality difference between those two. However, Pragg himself didn’t think too much about Sheva’s low rating. He knew the boy in front of him had the quality needed to stand against him, and that was the most important thing here.

Ten minutes later, the alarm finally rang, starting all the games in the venue simultaneously. Right at the same time, they both shook hands once again, shouting, "Let’s have a good game!" And that was the beginning of such a legendary rivalry between them.