Year of the Bun [4] - Exquisite Taste

"Wait, wait. Why do I need to know how to play a game?" Midicus dug his heels in, forcing Shibani to listen to his question. "Oh! Well, I talked to Angora before, and she said that in order to get the matcha powder, we need to beat her in a game of our choice!" Midicus expected more to continue, squinting slightly at the other bun. "And what did she say happens if we lose?" Shibani paused. "Uhm, well..." Midicus' eyes seemed to glare directly through Shibani, causing the next words to be somewhat of a whimper. "She said that if we lose, whoever challenges her needs to work for her during Mochi Moon..." Midicus sighed. It made sense why Shibani wanted him to come along, after all Shibani really needed to help Dan, and Midicus had only mentioned possibly having plans with others for Mochi Moon. If anyone was going to be a lesser sacrifice in this case, it would be Midicus. "Alright, fine. We'll make a plan, and as long as you do everything you have to do, we'll get that matcha, am I clear?" Shibani nodded quickly. "Crystal! What do I need to do?"

The plan, overall, was complicated and simple in both regards. Finding the tools would be relatively easy, but having the plan work out was another thing entirely. Midicus obtained a chess board, the catch being that the pieces were all made of hard chocolate, white and dark respectively. He also obtained a few metallic items, ones where if they were banged together, it sounded almost like a machine being broken. The real trick of it would be the execution. Midicus would challenge Angora to a game of chess, and play normally, after getting to a point where pieces are easily captured, Shibani would use the metal objects to imitate the sound of one of the casino machines being broken. Hopefully, it would both be loud enough and convincing enough to make Angora think that an angry patron was trying to break her machines, and distract her enough to excuse herself from the table. Once she's gone, Midicus will proceed to move pieces as if he was still playing, and eat a good portion of Angora's pieces. Once Angora returns, she's at a major disadvantage and Midicus is guaranteed to win, winning the Matcha and saving both Shibani and his own evening. Shibani and Midicus knew the plan, all that was left was to put it into action.

Midicus walked up to Angora with his chocolatey chessboard in hand, smiling as he walked up to her. She smirked. "Chess, you don't really think a woman like me would lose at such a classic game, do you?" She laughed, but Midicus continued smiling. "I'm not saying that, I just know that it'll be a good challenge. Nothing wrong with fighting for a prize over a game of skill, right?" Another smug noise left the well-dressed bun. "Can't argue with that, little bun. Let's get the game started then, shall we?" Angora pulled aside a table, watching closely as Midicus set up the board and placed the pieces down. Despite being chocolate, the pieces looked completely accurate, it wouldn't be effective if they weren't. The light pieces were placed towards Angora, Midicus cheerfully speaking as he finished setting up the board. "Well, you know what they say about ladies first!" A scoff. "How polite of you Midicus, I might have to make you an employee for longer than just the Mochi Moon."

The game started, and moved as normal. Midicus and Angora were extremely well matched against each other, neither making moves that would be considered poor, even in the first few moves. Eventually though, their pieces started to collide, and Midicus made a small motion with his foot under the table. Right on cue, a crashing sound came from another side of the casino, followed by the sound of one of the slot machines. A very clever addition on Shibani's part, no doubt. Angora stood up slowly, turning to the sound and squinting through the crowd, only to hear the same sound yet again. She sighed, turning towards Midicus. "Pardon me, Midicus. It sounds like I need to deal with an unruly patron." The red bun smiled almost ear to ear. "Take your time, I'll be here." He promised.

The broken machine and unruly patron in question was nowhere to be found when Angora got to the location where she had heard the noise. She just huffed, returning to the chess board and continuing to play. The distraction had been significant enough to where she hadn't noticed the missing pawns, or the missing knight, or the missing rook. Midicus had cleaned up well, not leaving a crumb of chocolate anywhere on the table or on himself. As expected in the plan, the disadvantage caused Angora to be trapped in checkmate far sooner than she would have expected, if she had even expected to lose in the first place. Despite it, she still smiled. "Well, I suppose that's game. A deal is a deal, the matcha powder is yours." She handed the bowl of matcha to Midicus, who quickly packed up the game and left his own way, happy to see Shibani waiting for him outside of the casino. 

"Yes! We did it! One more ingredient down!" He cheered, before pulling up the list again. "Alright, just two more ingredients to go! I think that Hutch should have the black sesame seeds we need, he's got plenty to help train imps." Midicus nodded, handing the bowl over to Shibani and starting to walk off. "Alright, so the Imporium next, then?"  Shibani couldn't help but have his smile soften somehow even further, knowing that they were going somewhere that Midicus apparently actually wanted to go, looking for mochi ingredients or otherwise. "Mhm! Who knows, maybe you can say hi to some of the imps there while I ask about the seeds!" Midicus made a small muffled giggle just at the thought of it. He absolutely adored any time he had an excuse to play with the imps at the Imporium.