"Can I make a case first?" Medina suddenly raised her hand, wanting to speak out her mind here.

"Please, by all means." Master Susanto nodded politely at the woman. Even though he was surprised since Medina didn't really join the discussion other than keeping the teens in line, the man still valued her opinion. She was the third-most experienced player in this room besides him and Irene, so he hoped that the woman would speak more here.

"Well, Sheva cannot be out of the men's team." Medina suddenly made a bold statement, startling everyone at this table. "I don't care how you lot are going to rotate the players for the next round, but Sheva has to stay." Her eyes were resolute, showing that she would fight for this case to the death.

"… Well, I don't mind agreeing with your suggestion, but can you tell me why?" Irene asked curiously. Out of everyone else, she was probably the closest person to Medina here, and Irene had never seen her so passionate about someone, let alone a boy far younger than her. If she didn't know better, Irene would think that Medina had a crush on Sheva here.

Hell, she wasn't the only one who was surprised by Medina's aggressive suggestion. If anything, Sheva was definitely the one who couldn't believe his ears right now. The boy even turned at Bagas questioningly, wondering whether this was true or just his hallucination.

"I don't think that this should be a question here," Medina said firmly. "He is probably the one with the greatest streak among us here. I mean, when was the last time you saw him losing a game? And what I mean by that is in an official game, not during our usual blitz to train. Hell, he even swept the entire Biel Open Section without losing a single game!"

"Well, my last defeat is against Gukesh in Reykjavik, for your information," Sheva muttered, still remembering clearly the defeat that day.

"Thank you for that, Sheva." Medina suddenly replied, startling the boy instantly. He didn't expect that his murmur would be loud enough for the woman to hear that. "You see, his last defeat was two months ago! He is about twenty games undefeated right now! Do you really think that putting him, who is still on fire, on the bench while playing against such a difficult opponent like Poland will make sense?"

"Well… If you say it like that…"

"Also, during that streak, he also played against some amazing grandmasters and won! Remember that German GM? What is his name? Niclas… Niclas…" She pondered with a frown, trying to recall Sheva's opponent in Biel.

"Niclas Huschenbeth?" Sheva chirped, letting Medina cook here.

"Yes! That! Thank you, Sheva!" The woman clapped her hands pretty loudly, startling everyone else here. "Niclas Huschenbeth, Kiril Alekseenko, also, I remember Idani Pouya during the Reykjavik tournament, and maybe some more grandmasters that I forgot about. He has beaten so many great players during his streak that it is impossible to ignore! If he sat on the bench against Poland, we would be a laughing stock on the Internet!"

"…"

Silence descended on the table here as everyone was too dumbfounded at Medina's unexpected speech. Sheva had the most exaggerated expression here, with his jaw dropping a few inches comically. If anyone saw that, they would be worried about whether his jaw was broken or not, especially since it took a while for Sheva to shut his mouth up.

Never, even in his wildest dreams, did the boy think Medina would push him so much like this. While yeah, they were pretty close after their escapade in Biel, but this seemed a little bit over the top here.

"Oh, well… Since Medina has already made her case, does anyone want to refute that?" Irene finally broke the silence, acting as the moderator here. Seeing that no one spoke, she assumed that all of them agreed with her thought, so she continued, "If Sheva is in, then who is going to be on the bench?"

Yeah, that was the question here. There was no way that Master Susanto would be out of the matchup, not when the matchup was this tough. Even though there was a big chance that the man would lose, his presence would be needed to calm down the youngsters around him, so he had to be there. Novendra was also determined to play after having to sit down in the last round, so it was either Taher or Arfan.

"He can replace me." Suddenly, Arfan volunteered out of nowhere, startling everyone else here. "Brother Taher has a great momentum after the win earlier, so logically, it should be me, right?"

"Then, wait for the next round, and you can replace me the next day," Sheva added quickly. "I mean, before Sister Medina made her case on me, I had already planned to back down. But since she has already said a lot of things about why I should do this, I cannot really refuse that, right? Also, I want to add my case here. Ia has to play tomorrow, either to replace Sister Medina or Anna."

"Me?!" This time, it was Claudia who was surprised. After all, she had been pretty hostile toward the boy since they were here, so the girl didn't expect him to be kind and recommend her like this.

"Yes, you, and not only for tomorrow, but also for the day after that." Sheva nodded in confirmation. "You might all forget about this, but me, Sister Medina, and Anna have just done a high-level tournament in Biel. While we might not show any stress or exhaustion, we have been fighting on the chessboard for more than three weeks. The stress level here is too great, and we need at least one day to unwind. So, I think we can arrange a day off for three of us."

"That makes sense." Medina nodded in understanding. "Then, let me have the first rest tomorrow. Anna, you can have a day off the day after that." When everyone didn't pay attention, she also didn't forget to send a subtle wink to Anna, which made the girl blush instantly. This was Medina's attempt to get Sheva and Anna to have the same day off, and while the girl appreciated it, that didn't mean she enjoyed the teasing.

They chatted for a while, discussing this matter until it was pretty late. In the end, the decision finally stood, and before they left the restaurant, Master Susanto announced it out loud.

"So, for tomorrow, we are going to have me, Novendra, Taher, and Sheva for the men's team, while Irene, Anna, Laysa, and Claudia will be representing the women's team. Any question here?" Seeing all of them shake their heads, he continued, "No? Well, then, let's end this meeting now. We will have a tough day awaiting tomorrow, so don't stay up too late, okay?!"

"Yes, Sir!"

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