Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All rights to respective owners.

A/N: Second chapter is a go! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and followed! I really had no hope in this fic but some of you amazing people out there really made me more confident in posting a new chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always review and tell me what you guys think! Thank you again for following my journey into my first troupe fic!

And sorry if the "the next day..." thing gets old, I just figured it would be funny lol

Chapter Two

The next day...

She felt insane, just watching the damn chess board from across the room. Her eyes never leaving it, even as her bubbly blonde friend babbled on to her. She couldn't look away from it for one second, in fear of something else changing on the board without her knowledge.

Maybe some passerby just knocked into the table by accident, causing the black chess piece to move but it was dead in the center of the square. It was done on purpose. It had too, she kn-

"USGAI!"

"What?!" The table jostled, along with their hot beverages, as the determined blonde was ripped away from her mind. "Did I miss an important wedding detail?"

"Well if you did, you wouldn't have noticed anyway!"

Usagi sighed and closed her eyes in shame, bowing her golden head. "I'm sorry Minako, I was just…" In a discreet action, she glanced at the chessboard again.

Noticing the direction of her friend's sight though, the red-ribboned blonde sighed and slammed her head into her hand. "Not this again…"

And that's all it took. "Minako I'm telling you someone-"

"-hit the edge of that dusty old table and a chess piece moved," Minako cut in, "We've been over this!"

"No we haven't! You just told me I'm looking too much into it and moved on! You've been over this, I haven't! I'm still…...under it!"

"Usagi…"

"Minako I'm just saying maybe someone saw me move a piece and decided to move one too, like maybe they want to begin a game or something? Maybe it's a guy and he's trying to be cute?! I don't know!"

"Usa, honey. See, this is why you should stop reading shoujo manga, you're going too far with simple coincidences and making it into some big, star-crossed romance adventure! They're getting old."

"I don't do that!"

"Yes you do!"

Usagi crossed her arms against her chest, a challenging glint in her eyes, "Name one time besides now."

"Well let's start our journey in middle school shall we?," Minako rose a hand, eyes to the ceiling in deep thought. "There was that one time in the second year when you believed that Akio Tuki had given you a love letter and you tried to kiss him but in reality it was just his homework that he wanted you to do. Then it was thinking that the captain of the boys volleyball team was checking you out but in reality, it was because a roll of toilet paper was stuck to your shoe. Then it was your obsession with that one anime superhero who you believed was real, then it was when you wore that one white sundress but it was a rainy day and every single guy was looking at you and you thought it was because you looked pretty, and then there was that time when you took that 2 hour bus to Hiroshima to talk to your pen pal, your supposedly true love, who turned out to be a 90-year-old woman looking for a friend to talk to, and-

"I GET IT!"

Minako had already risen five slender fingers in the air with Usagi baring her teeth and digging her nails into the oak table, fire spitting out of her eyes. The fashionable twenty-three year old sighed and gave the red faced blonde a withering look, "Oh come on, I didn't even get to high school yet Usa! Like that one time you thought Yukon gave you a balloon wrapper but it was actually a condom-"

"Okay, okay, okay! So I'm a little bit of a hopeless romantic-"

"A little?"

"-ANYWAY! I can feel it in my gut that there's something up with this time!"

"What's different?! Because now that you're distracted with this wild duck chase-"

"Goose chase Minako."

"Whatever flying water bird chase, now that you're distracted with this, you're going to fail Grad school! Usagi you need to focus, you told all of us how important this year was for you and we want you to pass!"

The pig-tailed blonde threw her hands in the air. "And I will pass!"

"Not if you don't stop believing in freaking fate! Usa this isn't some romcom American movie where you find your soulmate at a coffee shop! This is just like that time you thought you were a reincarnated royal princess because of some loopy dreams you had when you were a teenager!"

"To be fair they felt really real and there was the prince-"

"Again with the stupid charming prince with the dreamiest blue eyes," Minako rolled her eyes. "Just explain to me why you think in the slightest that this is something worth it."

Usagi sighed, fixing her unwaveable gaze at the rigid woman. "Minako, I've been going to this shop for years and not once have I seen a chess piece move, even if someone bumped into it. It hasn't moved until I moved one, the next day boom! Another one also moved! Coincidence I think bull!"

"Usagi-"

"Whatever happened to the goddess of love, boy-crazy Minako?!"

The blonde across from her flashed her left hand, the giant diamond on the fourth finger glistening in the sunshine. "She got engaged! That's what happened."

Usagi raised her hand to signify defeat, "Okay, okay I get it. You grew up but just hear me out, really?"

With reluctance, Minako let her hand fall limp and nodded for her to continue, a bored frown on her glossed lips.

"Okay, my plan is to move another chess piece and see if the next day, another one moves again," the blue-eyed woman explained. "It'll prove someone is moving them with me. There's no way that another opposite chess piece is going to move again because it was knocked into, too big of a coincidence in my opinion."

"Okay then-," Minako paused as her eyes grew wide, shock laced with anger filling the indigo pools. "Wait, wait, wait….you want me to get involved don't you? This is why you invited me to come here last night, so you can rope me into whatever scheme that's brewing in your head?! You want an accomplice!"

Usagi's eyes grew panicked and darted in all places but she simple answered, "Yes?"

To her disbelief, the fashion designer exhaled deeply, nearly collapsing onto the table. Did her friend just have a stroke or a heart attack? 'Oh no way you can heart attacks in your 20s...I would have had one by now.'

"Oh Usagi I'm in!"

There's no way she heard right. Was her coffee spiked? "You're….what?"

"I'm in sister!" Minako squealed. "I mean am I really a good friend if I let you do this alone. No matter how crazy you are, you're still like my sister and sisters stay together so I'm up for it I guess."

A huge weight lifted off Usagi's shoulders and she grasped her friend's hand. "Thank you Mina! I knew I could count on you in the end!"

"Yea! I've been dying to do something like this anyway, get back to my roots and stuff, do something fun! I mean you're probably completely delusional with this but what if your mystery chess lover-boy is real! Imagine the stories I could tell your beautiful future children!"

All too quickly Usagi felt like she was asking the wrong friend for help, especially since she could literally see stars and hearts forming in her spaced out friend's eyes, not to mention the possible names for those future children. She needed love goddess Minako in this situation but it doesn't mean that this go-lucky side of Minako was her absolute favorite. "Umm okay thanks Mina but we'll see how it goes first, see if my theory works."

The blonde snapped out of her trance, an incredulous look on her lit face. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Go move the chess piece silly!"

Just barely grabbing her purse, Usagi was already being dragged towards the chess table by a frantic Minako. Stopping in front of the still dusty board game, the blonde took a breath and flicked out a painted finger to push one of the white pieces to a new spot, one of her knights again.

Apparently her suppose-opponent also moved a knight as their first move. Will another piece move or is this all apart of the grad student's stressed out mind?

Deciding it was better to have low expectations, she went on shopping at stores with Minako for the rest of the day, thinking that it was just her imagination that saw the chess piece moved. It was all in her head, nothing else. Right?

The next day…

"Okay…."

"Yea…."

Minako sucked in her upper lip as they both stared at the chess board. "So…..maybe you are onto something."

Another piece was moved.

The next day…

"Alright someone's playing against you," the bubbly blonde finally admitted, sipping at her hot coffee, "Question is, who the hell is it?"

Yesterday, before leaving the shop, Usagi had once again moved one of her white chess pieces to see if the pattern would continue. Sure enough, the two blondes entered the coffee house to see another black knight moved to a different square.

"I don't know! No one ever gives me the eye in here except for college freshmen boys," Usagi glanced around the establishment, spotting a few of the hormonal male bodies, "I'm pretty sure they aren't all that educated at chess though. A girl's bra, though, I'm sure they can excel at."

"Okay, okay," Minako contemplated their options, taking another swig of her mixed drink and bounced her leg, "Well our best plan is to catch your mystery person in the act."

Usagi blinked, imagining with amusement a General-dressed Minako shining a bright light on anyone who goes near the gameboard. "How are we supposed to do that exactly?"

"Easy," the blonde leaned back in her metal chair with a satisfied grin, "Today we're going to stay at this shop until it closes. If your opponent doesn't show up, then in the morning, we're coming straight here when it opens and wait for your mystery person again."

Usagi opened her mouth but closed it as the plan fully set in her mind and she looked back up to her friend as if she just figured out time travel, "That's actually genius!"

"I know, I know," Minako cooed with a smug look of delight, a small coffee mustache appearing on her upper lip, "You can thank me later."

Propping her head up, Usagi again found herself staring at the table from across the room. She wouldn't deny that her heart thumped harder for some reason, something about all this making her giddy and jumpy inside. Conspiracy theories spiraled in her mind, thinking to any suspects that might be playing this little game with her. But no one realistic materialized much to her frustration. "So what, we just sit here and watch the chess board?"

"Yea," Minako answered, taking another sip of her cup. "What time is it now?"

She flashed her apple watch. "Three o'clock."

Minako quirked her mouth to the side. "What time does the shop close?"

"Ten o'clock."

Minako nodded her head, lips jutting out into a pout now. "Well, it's going to be a long day."

So, with numerous looks and whispers from employees, the two blonde customers situated themselves to their seats, ever so often getting up to order another coffee, bagel, or brownie. People up and left, passing them, and other people came and ordered, and then they too left but the blonde table stayed, determined to solve the little mystery of the moving chess pieces.

"Consider me more of a summer or winter Usa?"

Usagi picked her head up from the table to bring sleepy eyes to her friend's bright indigo ones, spotting a trendy magazine resting on her polished hand and a black pen poised at the corner of her glossed mouth. "Minako….enough with the Cosmo quizzes."

Said blonde furrowed her perfect eyebrows at the slouched figure. "Grumpy much? No wonder you got a five out of ten in 'How Good in Bed Are You?' You have no patience for anything."

Squinting her bloodshot eyes, Usagi let her head slam into the wood table again, feeling the smooth cool surface against her flamed cheek. How much longer can she stand like this? Was it really worth it? Who was the other player? Was it a he or she? What if it was a guy who had the hots for her? What if the guy was an 80-year-old man who just wanted to have some fun? God what if-

"Umm ladies," came a timid but baritone voice. Usagi didn't even flinch from her position; it was the barista guy who usually takes her order in the morning, his voice had been something she had become accustomed too since his deep, loud calling of her name could always make its way to her ears during rush hour. "I have to close so I'm afraid you have to leave."

This, however, made her eyelids fly open and neck almost getting whiplash as her head shot up to meet Minako's wide eyes too.

It was finally ten!

Both shades of blue darted to the chess board, both relieved, and disappointed, to see no new changes done to the miniature pieces. So Usagi's opponent had not come in today, that meaning they move the pieces in the early morning, when the shop opens.

With an exhausted sigh, Usagi already knew it was going to be a rough day tomorrow. The coffee shop opened at 5:30 a.m., thus she had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to make it to the shop before all the early commuters, her mystery player included.

Someone cleared their throat, bringing her attention back to the barista, who was fidgeting nervously, pushing his wire trim glasses further up his straight nose. "I-I'm really sorry Miss but I really do have to close up the shop-"

"Oh yes, yes, we're so sorry," meeting Minako's eyes, Usagi cocked her head to the front doors, "Come on Minako."

With a few more apologies towards the young man, the two left the already darkened shop to fresh cool night air. "This sucks."

Minako let an eyebrow shoot up to her friend as they walked down the street, heels clicking against pavement, "What are you talking about? I mean we're probably going to see your chess boy tomorrow morni- ohhhhh."

"Yeaaaa," Usagi drawled on, the sensation of an yawn creeping up on her. "Meet me in the lobby of my apartment?"

"5:15?"

"Yup."

"Beautiful," Minako deadpanned. "Just beautiful."

Did you know that 7% of young adults are morning people?

Well, two blue-eyed blondes of Azabu-Juban Tokyo were not in that percentage sadly.

"USAGI COME ON PICK UP THE DAMN PACE! IT'S ALREADY SEVEN!"

The red-faced blonde looked up to see her gorgeous friend running in freaking heels with no real issue while she had tripped, fallen, stumbled…...in regular running shoes. Life was cruel and unfair. And so were glitchy alarm clocks.

Misshapen buns, mismatched clothes, morning breath and all was the current appearance of Usagi Tsukino but nothing mattered to her other than getting to the coffee shop before her chess opponent, even if her last centimeter of dignity would be stabbed and burned!

It was as if something inside of her was screaming at her to figure out who it was, she needed to know, her lifelong trait of being too curious was now at its wits end. Especially such things as this, things that included mystery, were so addictive to her, the numerous crime shows on her Netflix account being evidence. She was searching for something. 'Someone.'

So with renewed motivation, Usagi passed a huffing and puffing Minako, body slamming into the wooden double doors of the coffee shop, nearly falling onto the polished floor. With no grace or remote elegance, she was able to elbow through the long line, coming out on the other side to see the fateful table.

Her heart dropped to the floor.

Another piece was moved.

She had missed them again.

The next morning….

Wiping away at the last of the stains on the marble counter, and taking a wary glance at the clock hands, the man reluctantly pulled at his array of keys, trudging to the double doors and sticking the thick key into the lock.

He turned the handle, barely opening it-

"YAHTZEE!"

Both screaming a warrior cry, the two-pajama dressed blondes tumbled through in a flurry of tangled blonde strands and pale skin. Usagi came down on Minako, who was seeing stars and her cat Artemis spinning around at the moment, and scrambled to get upright.

She was finally right on time, here before anyone else, and would finally see who…..in…..the hell?

Usagi stared in awe through her strings of unraveled hair, clutching at the fuzzy kitten blanket she had accidentally taken with her, and felt the familiar descend of her shriveled up heart as she gazed at the wooden game board. The background sounds of the shop opener helping up a delusional Minako, who was gurgling on about marrying Leonardo Dicaprio, all disappeared as her eyelids felt heavy along with her slumped shoulders, being weighed down by utter disappointment.

Another….piece…...was moved.

The next day...

"Order up!"

Usagi traced the neat handwriting of her name on the foam cup, mind wandering to the miserable test she just took with the insufferable Professor Shiro. She probably failed, as always, but all her studying time last night was occupied by a stupid, dusty game at a trendy coffee shop.

Eyes again sliding to the chess board on the opposite side of the dining room, her heart again thumped at the moved piece of today. It was a mere rook, a very lowly chess pawn to use that wasn't much of importance to the game itself. She too, yesterday, had moved one of the white rooks so whoever it was must have followed suit with their black chess pieces

Why was this on her mind so much? Was she so desperate, so bored with her life, to believe that a little mystery of who she was playing would become a huge adventure of the heart.

She cocked an eyebrow at her love-sick thought. 'Minako was right, I do read too much Shoujo Manga.'

Fiddling with the loose thread of her white sweater, Usagi attempted to focus on her reading for her poetry class (and here she thought poetry was going to be a breeze….until the professor gave out a six-inch literature book that might as well have been written in Swedish to her). She needed to focus on getting her Masters degree, getting her life together, not some idiotic, foolish, imaginary, quest of discovering her long-lost chess-

The pig-tailed blonde had already slammed shut her thick textbook and made a beeline to the lone table across from her, hot pink heels clacking. This all was so exciting to her, having a secret someone playing a game of chess with her. It was insane to think but it was so exciting and she didn't care if it was stupid or crazy because it was something that got her away from the ridiculous stress of her life.

Made her hope for something again.

She was already reaching for one of her adjusted knights but then a flash of white caught her sight.

Blue orbs of raw emotion widened as the folded piece of white, lined paper poked out of the wooden container that would normally hold captured royal pawns of either opponent. It was purposely positioned to be coming out of the compartment, obviously wanting to catch attention.

Out of instinct, Usagi whipped her head around to see if any eyes met hers in anyway, but not a single, visible person was in sight of her. Turning back to the situation at hand, she took a leap of faith and plucked out the folded paper, opening and smoothing it out to see the clear and immaculate kanji of someone, her someone, in thin black ink on the blue lines. And she nearly lost her breath, a new flock of butterflies were created in her stomach along with her heart swelling and doing somersaults in her chest.

"I heard from a little birdie that you're looking for me? Your move."

WELL GUYS!? What did you think?! Thank you again to everyone that has reviewed, faved, or followed, it really means the world to me because I didn't really have much confidence in this mystery fic of mine. SO THANK YOU! I hope I got your wheels turning and that maybe the mystery deepens with who Usagi is playing with (okay well we all know who but who?) Please tell me what you thought, I always love hearing everyone's thoughts! :D