Recap / How I Met Your Mother (And How I Met Your Father) Bonding Arc Chapter Sixteen: A Chess Match with the Ultimate Affluent Progeny!

Bonding Arc Chapter Sixteen: A Chess Match with the Ultimate Affluent Progeny!

Original Release: April 22, 2020 (Fanfiction.net), April 23, 2020 (AO3)

Summary

Still reeling from his loss to Kyoko at the Smash Tournament in April, Byakuya challenges her to a chess match to prove his intellectual superiority. Will the Ultimate Affluent Progeny get his revenge against Kyoko for defeating him?

Tropes

• Call-Back: The reason that Byakuya challenges Kyoko to a game of chess is to get payback for her beating him in Class 78's Smash Bros. Melee tournament.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: While thinking about Byakuya's question on whether or not she's in love with Makoto, Kyoko thinks to herself that she might lose her friendship with him if she starts thinking that there could be something more.
• Love Is a Weakness: Noticing that Kyoko's mind isn't fully in the game due to her thinking about her classmates questioning a possible relationship between her and Makoto, Byakuya just says that those kinds of feelings are nothing more than a distraction.
  Byakuya: This is why I don’t bother with infantile matters like romance and friendship. Those who let it, they lose all sense of good judgment, becoming a slave to their emotions. This is why commoners like you and your boyfriend will be forever weak compared to the splendor of superior humans like myself.
• Smart People Play Chess: Byakuya and Kyoko are two of the smartest people in their class and the game they choose for their competition is chess.