Kamo passively glared at him, holding a near challenging eye contact.
The man was lean, middle-aged, too smooth for someone who should've been working a place like this. His eyes lingered a little long. He didn't return the hostility. Kamo didn't exactly want to play, but he understood this was the type of man to not take no for an answer. And the last thing Kamo wanted to do was cause a scene.
He motioned to the board. "Fast game. You're silver."
Kamo didn't speak but he sat. This is exactly the kind of moves that made him hate the Inner Circle—soft challenges disguised as friendliness.
"Name's Planko," the man said. "Sink the ship or kill the captain. That's the whole game."
After briefly explaining the rules, he reset the board and tapped the outer edge twice. Casual, but rhythmic — like it meant something. Then he moved his first piece.
Kamo responded without hesitation. Advanced a swashbuckler straight up the right lane.
"Bold," the man said, smiling. "Newer players usually turtle."
Kamo said nothing. The man responded to the move — pushed his own swashbuckler to reside next to Kamo's in the center.
"You said the First Mate can go 1 way in a direction, then 3 in another?"
The bald man simply nodded as Kamo did exactly that, moving his First Mate directly behind the progressed Swashbuckler.
He replied by sending his own First across the ropes, granting double movement, and making the first capture of the match taking out Kamo's Cabin
Kamo knew he would try and take out his full crew, the man was confident that he was better. But kamo was a fast enough learner, his own first mate was 1 move outside the opposing swashbuckler, and guarded by his own cannon. Kamo wanted the game to end already. He pressed his swashbuckler all the way into the the bald mans opposing piece. Capturing and forcing him to use his cannon to take out the over pursuing piece.
The man's smile stiffened.
Both sides now had blood on the field. The center was open.
"You don't protect your crew very well," he muttered.
Kamo didn't respond. Simply used his next turn — his first mate diagonally once forward and away, and then three blocks the opposite direction to kill the bald man's Captain.
The man blinked. "Wait—"
"No duel," Kamo said flatly. "Your First Mate's out of position."
The table was quiet. The arcade in the corner buzzed.
The man leaned back, smile gone. "I thought you didn't know how to play."
"How well do I have to know it? Kill the captain, not that hard" Kamo replied in annoyance. Very few things did Kamo think about other than battle. So to try and test him in a battle simulation was stupid enough on its own.
Fūre stepped out from the backroom at the perfect moment, bags in hand. "That was fast."
Looking at the scene of the man's confused face, Fure held back a laugh.
But he still smirked. "Take these. Let's go."
They left the shop without looking back.
Only once they'd crossed into the quiet street again did Kamo felt back at peace.
They had already passed through the checkpoint. No signs of suspicion forced any extra unease on the duo.
Fūre walked a few paces ahead, bags slung loose, cloak shifting with the breeze.
Kamo, per usual, was silent but he'd been visibly lost in thought.
"I thought about what you said."
Fūre didn't turn — but he listened.
"I already planned to go woth your initial plan. So i was gonna get stronger, hopefully by grinding it out. Pushing limits until they moved. But… I think that only gets you so far. The real growth happens when you're forced to catch up by being outmatched."
He adjusted his grip on one of the bags. "I'm not here to challenge your plan. I wouldn't."
Kamo stopped talking as they passed through the checkpoint as if to go through Sector 5. He resumed after going around the checkpoint and they began to sneak back up the mountain base.
"But I've been thinking… we don't need to wipe out everyone at the ceremony. Just one. Wouldn't that be enough to shake em'? There's no defense protocol in the world that accounts for one of their heads getting taken off in public. Doesn't matter how many more they've got. Losing one —permanently— ruins the perception of control."
A beat of quiet. Then Fūre glanced back—not to judge, but to confirm.
He gave the smallest nod. "That's the thought I hoped you'd come to," he said flatly. "But I'm glad to see your gears turning."
A moment of silence stretched between them as they climbed. Kamo nodded reverently.
"We'll need a few more," Fure said. "Your game should've shown you—you don't get to the captain without a few bodies in between. Sacrificial distractions."
Kamo nodded. Had anyone else said it he'd have been confused on how he even knew that, but Kamo was fairly confident that Fure could've told him every move he made, and likely recalled it better than himself.
"But not Ren or Sora," Fūre added, matter-of-fact. "Their background would make them stand out, if they died and got IDed we would likely have even more issues on our hands. More importantly, losing them would hurt us more than most others. We can replace the rest if it comes to that."
There was no sentiment in it, and this was the way Kamo was taught to process things.
"Ten, maybe twelve. They just have to be loud enough to seem like normal boldness."
Kamo made a mental note of the plan while struggling to grab hold of a ledge. The strain forced even more of his usual silence on him.
The hike up the mountain was harder than down. But not for the obvious reasons. While Kamo's physical state made him weak—his current blood flow was minimal, which caused him to lose breath easily—he expected that. The main issue was the terrain itself.