Nii shudders. When he looks across the board again, he sees nothing but the blank face of the mechanical creature he built for an opponent. He relaxes. Of course it couldn't really be Koumyou. The golden-haired priest was long dead. Nii continues his game, putting any unsettling thoughts as far from his mind as he can get them.
Somewhere high above Nii, Koumyou Sanzo laughs, a low, musical sound. Ukoku sometimes forgets who he is really playing against, he thinks.
Koumyou sits at his own chessboard, but he sits at the white side whereas Ukoku always plays the black. Koumyou has his own pieces to play, but he is more inclined to let the game flow naturally. He does not manipulate his pieces the way Ukoku does, but instead allows their strengths to manifest of their own accord. He is interested in the comparisons Ukoku-or Nii, as he was now calling himself-has made, though, thinks of who his own pieces represent on earth.
He decides Sha Goyjo is the rook. While the rook may seem predictable, an opponent may be beaten by its geometric lines and far-reaching moves. The rook can also be overconfident, moving too far too fast, but its real strength shows when it is needed.
Son Goku, the heretical child, is a pawn. Koumyou smiles to himself. A pawn is thought of as nonthreatening, a sacrifice that can be used as the player wishes. But Koumyou knows this is not true of Goku. The thing about pawns many players forget is that when a pawn reaches the opposite end of the board it gains the powers of a queen, the most powerful piece in chess. Goku will undergo this same transformation, Koumyou knows. The child of earth does not yet realize his full potential.
Cho Hakkai is most like the knight. His movements seem erratic, random, out of character, and so a knight will use these moves to make certain the opponent never knows where it may land. Hakkai is both dangerous and interesting, but he hides it well. He will move in the same way as the knight until the black king finds himself in danger.
Genjyo Sanzo, once his own little Kouryuu, is a bishop. He refuses to take the straight lines, the easy way. Instead he chooses difficult, diagonal paths, making unpredictable turns and violent assaultsthat make surethe kinglies within his reach.
Koumyou thinks of his comparisons and smiles, the secret smile that drove Kouryuu absolutely mad whenever he received it instead of an answer. Koumyou realizes he has set no one to represent the king and queen. It is as if his side is incomplete, with nothing concrete to fight for and no trump card, no sure way of winning.
But does the Sanzo party really need either the cause or the card? Thinking back on all the games he's played, on all the times he's won, Koumyou knows that a rook, a pawn, a knight, and a bishop could be enough to win.
Koumyou plays the game, gently placing each of his four pieces around the black king in threatening positions. He smiles. Check.
Far below, on earth, Nii shivers.