Chapter 54: Interview (I)
It was after the eighth round of the tournament was over, and Sheva somehow found himself sitting in front of two sulking girls, seeing this atmosphere to be awkward and amusing. He just watched those two playing around with their chai tea, not even having the heart to drink it straight away. It seemed that their mood had plummeted since they left the hall.
"You know what?" He finally had enough, breaking the awkward silence around them. "I get why Anna is sulking right now, even though you shouldn’t be. You have just watched the chance of her winning the tournament slipping away, and I couldn’t blame you for getting depressed and forgetting about your WGM title. But Ia, why are you sulking too? I mean, you weren’t even like this after your draw that led me to the first place, right?"
"You won’t get it!" Claudia pouted hard, kicking the boy straight in the shin. Sheva winced, yet not daring to make any sound other than a small grunt. "Big Sis is just one point away! One point away!" She emphasized the last part twice to get her point across. "She is just one point away from first place, but when it matters the most, that scoundrel couldn’t even be counted on to hold the leader back! What a jerk!" She huffed, still fuming about her sister’s defeat.
Sheva could only snort at that, starting to understand the little girl’s logic here. For her, it didn’t matter how many games she won. Hell, the girl wouldn’t even bat her eyes if somehow, she managed to win the world chess championship. Her mood would only waver when her big sister was in trouble like this. Honestly, if the atmosphere wasn’t this depressing, he would’ve laughed at her for being a hardcore sis-con through and through.
"Honestly, you need to be a little bit more creative with your insult." IN the end, he still couldn’t help but make a comment. "Besides me and Bagas, Gerry Mandagi is the third person whom you labeled as a scoundrel, right? Is there any better nickname for us?"
Claudia narrowed her eyes immediately, sending a dangerous glare that was enough to send a shiver down Sheva’s spine. "Oh? You want a new nickname? Fine! How about a jerk? An idiot? A moron? A dunderhead? An imbecile? Do you want to pick one for you specially?"
"No, no, no need to be that harsh." Sheva grimaced unconsciously, not knowing that the girl could be that creative with her insult. ’I mean, Dunderhead? Really? Who does she think she is, fucking Severus Snape?’ He muttered inwardly.
"What?! Care to say it again?!"
"No! No! No!"
Anna let out a big snort, somehow feeling a little bit better after listening to their banter. However, before she could say anything, Bagas suddenly popped out of nowhere, having been looking for them for a while.
"Ah! Here you are!" The boy shouted, attracting attention. "Come here! There is a business coming!" He suddenly grabbed Sheva’s arm and dragged the boy to follow him blindly.
"Come? Come where?" Sheva stared at his best friend in confusion. "Care to explain first?"
"Oh, just trust me in this!" Bagas dragged him without giving the boy any time to hesitate. Before leaving, though, he turned to the two siblings who were still lost and added, "Why are you standing still like that? Come on, you are in too!" He waved his hand, inviting them both.
Anna and Claudia stared at each other for a moment, not feeling so sure about this. After all, unlike Sheva, their relationship with Bagas was pretty cordial, but not close enough for them to follow him around. It seemed that Bagas also noticed that too, as he added once again, "Don’t worry, Master Susanto and Master Irfan are there!"
That was enough to convince the two girls to follow him. Sheva himself was pretty helpless as his tiny body was dragged by Bagas’s massive arm. He glared at Claudia who still had time to snicker at him from behind, promising retribution later. Fortunately, they didn’t go that far. Hell, if anything, they went straight to a familiar place where they usually saw Bagas during the tournament, the commentary booth.
"Come on, let’s do a little interview in front of the camera!" Bagas grinned widely.
Hearing that, Sheva stopped walking abruptly, freezing on the spot as he stared at his best friend blankly. All of them also followed his action, staring at him concernedly. After a while, though, Sheva finally broke the silence here. "Are you fucking kidding me?! An interview?!" He widened his eyes in panic.
"Yeah, why not?" Bagas shrugged as if there was nothing wrong with his idea. "I mean, you are the winner of the U2000 section, Claudia has the chance of getting the second place, and Anna has basically secured her WGM title, becoming the youngest Indonesian player to earn that and beating the record of legendary Irene Kharisma Sukandar. As the PR of the club, this is definitely my field day, right?" He grinned.
The two girls also nodded in understanding, seemed to be experienced in this regard. However, the same couldn’t be said for Sheva who was bad at being under the spotlight. The thought of him having to speak in front of the camera was enough to make the boy hyperventilate.
"Hey, Shev, you okay?" Bagas slapped his cheek gently, trying to wake him up from his daydreaming. "You are sweating a lot here." He said concernedly. Hell, even Claudia, who always threw banter with him, also looked at him worriedly, not thinking of using this small episode as her ammunition to attack him.
"You know that I am not that good at talking in front of the camera, right?" Sheva hissed, still clenching his sweaty palm tightly.
Bagas blinked his eyes once, then twice, then repeated his action for a while before he finally let out a snort. "Mate, you are the champ here. You should hold your head high and brag in front of the camera, not cowering like this! Also, remember what I was talking about earlier in our room? About the importance of having good publicity?" Sheva could only nod begrudgingly, could see his friend’s point here. "Also, don’t think too much about the audience’s reaction. Just be yourself and give your honest answer. Honestly, you and Claudia would only be needed for one or two questions, and right after that, the focus would fall to Anna."
"Me?!" Anna widened her eyes in surprise, pointing her finger at herself. As for Claudia, the little girl huffed annoyedly when she was told that she wasn’t that needed for this interview.
"Well, yeah, unlike both Sheva and your little sister who only played in a low-rated tournament, you are different here. Let’s not talk about you not winning the tournament, but the fact that you earned your WGM title at your age itself is incredible. You will be in a lot of spotlights once we are back in Indonesia, so before that, I want to make sure that I have the exclusive right to interview you first."
Bagas explained his reasoning so well, making the two little girls dumbfounded, not expecting the boy to think that far. Sheva himself was not surprised. He knew that his friend had a screwed mind inside his head, and this was tame compared to how he usually was. Honestly, Sheva was still surprised that with his brilliant mind, Bagas was pretty terrible in chess and any other strategic game.
"So, what do you think?"