Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 31 - Chapter 2

Episode 2: The Boredom Games: Four Match Showdown?

One pleasant autumn Sunday, Harumi had plans to go out with her parents. Unfortunately, however, one of her father’s colleagues was in an accident and ended up in the hospital. Her father was then called to fill in at work in his stead, so the Sakuraba family had to take a raincheck on their playdate, leaving Harumi with some free time to herself. Her family plans had fallen through so last minute that it was too late to politely invite anyone else out. So instead, Harumi casually set out for room 106 to see if anyone was around. Even if they weren’t, she thought, the trip there and back would be more fun than just lazing about at home.

“Why hello, Sakuraba-san.”

When she arrived at room 106, Maki gave her a warm greeting from the tea table in the inner room. Harumi walked in and sat down opposite Maki as she greeted her warmly in return.

“Hello there, Maki-san. Teehee...”

“What is it?”

“Honestly, I was hoping someone might be home if I stopped by. I can’t believe my luck.”

“I see.”

Maki was puzzled by Harumi’s giggle at first, but her explanation made perfect sense. She just had one more question...

“That’s right, Sakuraba-san. Weren’t you supposed to go out with your family today?”

“I was... But unfortunately my father was unexpectedly called in to work.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Truth be told, though, something similar happened here. Heehee...”

Maki couldn’t help giggling, meaning it was now Harumi’s turn to ask the questions.

“Oh?”

“You see, I had plans to go out shopping with Yurika this afternoon, but she forgot that she had a council meeting today.”

“So now you’re here doing homework by your lonesome?”

“I guess I was hoping someone might stop by.”

“Teehee...”

“Heehee...”

Harumi had been hoping someone would be home, and Maki had been hoping someone might stop by. Crossing paths was a serendipitous encounter for both of them.

Harumi offered to help, but Maki continued working on her homework for a while. Without any specific plans, taking care of her studies seemed like the prudent thing to do. Maki was an excellent student, however, and Harumi was an excellent tutor. It didn’t take long at all for them to finish Maki’s homework, so they were now relaxing and enjoying a cup of tea together.

“Thank you, Sakuraba-san. You were a big help.”

“I don’t feel like I did much.”

“I don’t get stumped often, so it was a great comfort to know you’d be there for me when I needed it.”

“You’re very kind, Maki-san. I’m glad I could be of help.”

It was pleasant to get Maki’s homework out of the way, but now that they were done with it, the girls didn’t have anything in particular to do. Really, they were just enjoying some tea and chatting as a way to pass the time.

“Is there anything you struggle with, Sakuraba-san?” Maki asked Harumi after taking a sip.

Harumi gave off the impression she was good at just about everything, so Maki was curious if there was anything that stumped her too.

“Anything involving exercise.”

“That’s just an issue of stamina. I know you’re really quite flexible and strong.”

Harumi was indeed quite lithe, but because of her health, she had very little endurance. It sort of gave the false impression that she wasn’t very athletic, but the truth was that her reflexes, dexterity, and reaction time were all above average. Maki hardly considered that a weakness.

“Then...”

Half-eaten rice cracker in hand, Harumi paused to ponder the question. In regards to what she was bad at, several things besides exercise came to mind.

Let’s see... I’m bad at being a bad girl, but that’s not really what she’s asking about. I still don’t have an intense relationship with Satomi-kun... but that’s not really it either. Then... Ah, I know!

Out of everything that went through her head, one point in particular stood out. Seizing on it, Harumi wrapped her left hand around her right hand holding a rice cracker and smiled.

“I’m bad at games!” she declared.

“At games?” Maki asked questioningly as she tossed a glance towards the TV.

Set up beneath it was the old game console that Theia and Koutarou loved so much.

“No, not video games. I mean the kind you all play together. I never stand a chance at those...”

Harumi meant she was bad at board and card games. She adored them because they were such a good way to have fun with all her friends, but she was hopelessly bad at them, mostly because of her lack of experience with them. Before she’d met Koutarou and the others, she didn’t have many friends she could play games like that with.

“I get that...” Maki said with a bitter smile.

Maki was actually quite bad at board games for much the same reason. Most of the games Koutarou and the others played weren’t even available in Folsaria, Maki’s homeland.

“Do you want to win more, Sakuraba-san?”

“Rather than winning... It just seems like it’s boring for everyone when I lose all the time.”

“So it’s not about winning and losing... Now that you’ve said it, I feel the same way.”

Harumi and Maki didn’t care about winning; they just wanted everyone to have fun. And since one-sided games were boring, they were worried that their perpetually poor performances were affecting everyone’s enjoyment of the games they played.

“Maki-san, why don’t we practice some?”

“Practice?”

“Yes! I was thinking we could play some games together to try and get better at them!”

“What a wonderful idea!”

If Harumi and Maki both suffered for lack of experience, the simplest solution was clearly getting the experience they needed.

To begin, Maki and Harumi picked out a card game. Specifically, they chose one that said it was good for beginners on the packaging. Neither of the girls were ambitious enough to jump in to something complicated right off the bat.

“It says to sort the cards into an item pile and an event pile.”

“...Done!”

Maki read the instructions out loud while Harumi went about sorting and placing the cards as indicated. That was their plan for setting up the game together.

“Next it says to deal five cards to each player from the item pile—that will be our starting hand.”

“Five each? Okay. Three, four, five... Done!”

“Next, play rock, paper, scissors to determine turn order. On your turn, draw a card from the event pile and use the items in your hand to solve it. Earn points based on your success. At the end of your turn, draw item cards to replenish your hand.”

“It doesn’t sound too hard. Let’s give it a try.”

“Rock, paper...”

“Scissors!”

The card game they’d picked out was a horror-themed one that imagined the players stuck in a haunted mansion. The event cards represented the difficulties they faced while trying to escape.

“I’ll start,” said Maki, the victor of their rock, paper, scissors match.

“Good luck!” cheered Harumi.

“Okay, here I go...”

Maki reached out, drew a card from the event pile, and laid it on the table face up. Pictured on the card was a bunch of wooden furniture.

“Let’s see... ‘The furniture around you floats up in the air and attacks!’”

“So you have to survive with the cards in your hand, right? Do you have anything that can help you?”

“I have this big wrench. I think I should be able to protect myself with that.”

“I think so too.”

There were no clear rules for deciding which items worked for which events. A player could “survive” as long as they were clever—the real trick to the game was convincing the other players that you had a valid item to save yourself. In this particular case, Harumi didn’t have any trouble believing that Maki could protect herself from a flying chair with a wrench. Thus, Maki got points for the event.

“It’s your turn now, Sakuraba-san.”

“All right... Here I go!” Harumi boldly declared as she drew an event card. “It looks like an earthquake. ‘The entire house starts shaking, and you’re in danger of falling down the stairs!’”

“That sounds like a tricky one.”

“I don’t have any good cards for this...”

“Then why not try something you do have?”

“All right, then... How about this?”

Unfortunately, Harumi didn’t have any particularly helpful cards for the situation, so she decided to stake her bet on a long shot.

“A pot?”

“Well, I was thinking I could at least protect my head this way. Ahaha...”

The item card Harumi played pictured a large kitchen pot—the kind you’d see in restaurant kitchens. It was certainly large enough to protect her head, but the idea was so silly that Harumi couldn’t help laughing at herself.

“Hmm... I don’t think that’s such a bad idea.”

Maki didn’t think it was as farfetched as Harumi did. As a warrior, she knew the value of a helmet. Keeping your head protected was important, after all.

“You think so?”

“I do. I definitely think you’d survive that way.”

“Well, if you say so... I suppose that’s the nature of the game.”

“Yes, I think I’m starting to get it now.”

A player didn’t have to have the perfect item card to survive; they just had to have one that would conceivably work. More importantly, they had to have one that was convincing. They player could essentially ad lib their way through just about any situation. And now that the girls understood the real aim of they game, they slowly worked their way through it.

Though things started off somewhat trepidatiously, the game proceeded smoothly after the first couple of turns. All in all, it took the girls about fifteen minutes to wrap up the round—almost exactly as the packaging had promised.

“I see... So you’re supposed to hold on to an item card to get you through the exit at the end.”

Maki had been the one to make it out of the mansion. The exit itself was possessed by a ghost and wouldn’t open without some kind of magical tool. Maki just so happened to have a crystal ball on hand, and used that to make her escape.

“Okay, let’s add up the points.”

Harumi peeked at the manual, reading up on how to calculate the points. In short, players were awarded one point for each event card they “survived” and three points for successfully escaping at the end of the game. The winner would be determined by the total number of points, so overall performance in the game was essential to victory.

“I’m holding nineteen event cards, so I think that’s it for me... Nineteen points.”

“I have fifteen cards and I managed to make it out, which is worth three points, so... Aw, I was so close. That’s eighteen points for me.”

Maki had been the one to escape, but victory was Harumi’s in the end. Luck of the draw had been on her side.

“Congratulations, Sakuraba-san.”

“Thank you, but... hmm...”

“What’s the matter?”

“It just doesn’t seem like the exit card is worth enough points. I mean, normal cards are worth one, so it feels like making it out alive should be worth more than two bonus points. It’s still an event, after all. Those three points in total wouldn’t be enough to turn things around at the end of the game.”

“You might be right about that...”

With almost twenty points at the end of the game, it was true two or three extra points wouldn’t make much of a difference in the results. The real problem, however, was that players weren’t meant to have that many points. Harumi and Maki had been far more lenient with each other’s plays than the game designers had expected, leaving them both with more than double the intended scores.

“Don’t you think the exit should be worth five points, Maki-san?”

“Well, we know the rules now, so why don’t we go with that next time?”

Not realizing the actual problem, however, Harumi and Maki simply adjusted the rules as they prepared for the next round.

The girls ended up playing the game three times. Since the rounds were short, only about ten minutes apiece, it took multiple hands for them to get their fill of the game. At the end of three rounds, Harumi was declared the victor. She’d taken the first hand, and after that she and Maki had each won a round, leaving the final score 2:1.

“People who have played this game before have an advantage, don’t they?” Harumi wondered aloud as she cleaned up the cards.

Maki was in the middle of rummaging through the wardrobe for more games. As the loser, she was responsible for picking out the next one.

“I think so,” she replied. “Knowing the range of items available would certainly give you the upper hand.”

“So now we’ll be in the know the next time we play.”

“Teehee... Let’s keep at it.”

Maki continued chatting away with Harumi as she pilfered the wardrobe, but before long, she turned to Harumi with a game in hand.

“Let’s play this one.”

Maki was smiling, but it was a much bigger and brighter smile than usual. It was a sign she was enjoying herself, which was in turn a sign she was getting closer with Harumi. The game she’d picked out for them to play next came in a large box, which Harumi eyed curiously.

“What kind of game is it?”

“It’s a competitive game where players split up into phantom thieves and detectives.”

“So you’re either being chased or doing the chasing?”

“Perhaps. The rules do seem a bit like a game of tag.”

Maki had chosen a board game this time. The premise was a cat-and-mouse scenario between a phantom thief making heists all over Tokyo and a hotshot detective trying to stop them. The thief would win if they managed to get their hands on a certain amount of treasure, and the detective would win if they caught the thief before then. The detective’s goal was to box the thief in on the board using roadblocks and other obstructions, which the thief could escape via helicopter. It was an older game, but the rich variety of strategy players could use in their intense showdown made it quite popular even among gamers today.

“Maki-san, which role would you prefer?”

“Hmm... Of the two, phantom thief.”

As a former agent of evil, Maki related more with the phantom thief. She was also unfamiliar with detective work, so the idea of playing the thief appealed to her strengths more.

“Then I’ll be the detective.”

That left Harumi playing the detective, which was actually her first choice to begin with. Quite the opposite of Maki, she had a hard time imagining herself as a criminal and thusly related more to the detective in the story.

“Now,” Harumi said as she glanced over the instructions, “we decide our starting points by each drawing a card.”

“I’ll draw one... Then you draw four, Sakuraba-san. One for you, and one for each of your subordinates.”

“So it’s functionally four against one? That seems unfair...”

“The phantom thief can move faster than the detectives, so you’ll need at least four people to catch me.”

“I see... That makes sense.”

The two girls reviewed the rules as they set up the game. They spread the board out and arranged the pieces and cards. It was certainly more complex than the card game they’d been playing previously, but the detailed instructions helped walk them through it all. Fortunately, both Harumi and Maki were the type to thoroughly read the manual.

“I think this should do it,” Harumi said with a nod.

Once everything was set up, she looked the instructions over one last time. Everything seemed to be in order, meaning it was finally time to play.

“Now I just need this,” said Maki as she reached for something similar to a sun visor.

Once she put it on her head, both girls burst out laughing.

“Ahaha, what’s that?”

“Heehee... It’s supposed to hide where I’m looking.”

“Ah, I see. The game would end pretty quickly if you could tell what the phantom thief was eyeing, after all.”

The visor was meant to help the phantom thief player who, instead of placing a piece on the board, tracked their movements on a notepad. That was to keep their location secret, but if the detective players could see where the phantom thief was looking on the board, that would give the secret away all the same. The visor was meant to prevent that.

“I don’t mind looking away on your turn,” offered Harumi.

“That’s not necessary. It’s fun wearing this, anyway,” replied Maki.

Maki didn’t think Harumi would try and figure out her location by watching where she was looking in the first place, but decided to follow the rules and wear the visor nonetheless. It would be good practice for playing against other people and, moreover, it was funny.

“Doesn’t it look good on me? Teehee...”

“N-No comment, heehee...”

With the two girls giggling over the visor, they certainly didn’t seem like a phantom thief and detective. The mood said this was all fun and games to them, which was quite natural considering neither one of them was really competitive. Things would be different with Theia and Sanae around.

“Now let’s begin.”

“I’ll do my best to escape.”

“And I’ll do my best to catch you.”

After exchanging one last smile, the two girls looked down at the game board seriously. Though neither one of them was playing to win outright, they wanted to do their best and learn from each other. And so began Harumi and Maki’s second game battle.

In the early stages of the game, neither Maki nor Harumi had a good grasp of the rules. They played around experimentally, wading through learning the game... But everything changed when Maki drew a particular event card.

“‘An ally has betrayed you! You lose one treasure and your location has been reported to the police. Tell the detectives where you are.’ What?!”

While Maki, as the phantom thief, didn’t have a piece on the board, she still had a location. It was simply kept secret from the detectives, which was simulated by Maki tracking her moves privately on a notepad. Harumi, the detective, only knew where Maki was after she struck a place. Her objective was to try and predict where Maki would show up next based on the board and Maki’s previous moves.

As such, an ally betraying Maki seriously jeopardized her stake in the game. If Harumi knew where she was, that might tell her where she was going next. She’d have to be careful.

“So, Maki-san, where are you?”

“Here.”

Maki abhorred dishonesty and loathed breaking rules she’d decided to follow. So, though reluctantly, she honestly revealed her location to Harumi.

“Oh, that’s not at all where I thought you were.”

“I was intentionally trying to move in ways I wouldn’t normally.”

“Ahaha, I see.”

Maki wasn’t anywhere near where Harumi had anticipated, so she wasn’t currently surrounded. The situation wasn’t nearly as bad for her as it could have been, which was something of a relief. But Maki’s shoulders still drooped in disappointment.

“What terrible luck...” she sighed.

“That’s too bad, Maki-san.”

Harumi honestly felt for her. Though her job was to apprehend Maki, she felt badly seeing her friend so down and cast a sympathetic look her way. Was Maki feeling sad about losing treasure, or was she worried for her long-term prospects? Harumi couldn’t help wondering as she watched over her.

“I don’t mind having my location exposed or losing some treasure... But I could never forgive a traitor that sold me out like that.”

“I know what you mean. How could you accept someone who only thinks about themselves? There’s honor even among thieves, you know.”

As it turned out, Maki was frustrated for a different reason altogether. Harumi understood, however. She couldn’t even imagine betraying Maki or Koutarou for her own gain. Just the thought of it broke her heart.

“I know, Maki-san! I’ll call off my search for a couple of turns so you can find the traitor.”

That was Harumi’s suggested solution. As an agent of justice and good, she also hated the idea that someone had betrayed Maki.

“What? Are you really okay with that?”

Maki’s eyes opened wide in surprise upon hearing Harumi’s offer. It was unthinkable to her that someone would make such a selfless play.

“Even if this is only a game, there are some things I just can’t abide. In return, please return to your original position when you’re done.”

“Sakuraba-san...”

“Wasn’t the point of playing to enjoy ourselves? So let’s have fun with it! Besides, this is a duel between the phantom thief and the detective. Traitors shouldn’t be butting in.”

“Yeah, you’re right! Thank you, Sakuraba-san. I’ll take care of this quickly.”

Harumi’s generosity left a deep impression on Maki. If she’d ever been in doubt before, she was now sure that Harumi was no ordinary person. In a sense, it could be said that Harumi won right then and there. But the game continued between the detective who trusted everyone and the phantom thief with a strong sense of justice.

Ultimately, Maki came out on top. Ignoring several event cards left Harumi at a disadvantage. Maki returned to her original location as promised, but by then Harumi was too far behind to make a comeback. So even though Maki won, Harumi had walked the nobler road. In the end, Maki felt like the game truly belonged to her.

“She’s not quite the same as Satomi-kun, but she’s just as wonderful...”

“Hmm? What was that?”

“O-Oh, nothing. I was just saying that the game was complex, but it was fun.”

“I agree. It was complicated enough that we should practice it some more sometime.”

“Yeah.”

Once they’d cleaned up the board game, they took a load off with a second round of tea. After all the thinking and strategizing they’d done, it was a welcome break. As they carefreely chatted away, the mental exhaustion they’d built up slowly faded away.

“Would you like to keep training after this, Maki-san?”

“Since Satomi-kun and the others aren’t back yet, I would love to.”

Maki readily agreed, eager to spend more time with Harumi. She’d liked Harumi from the start, but their gaming session today had only brought them closer together. Harumi didn’t lie. She was earnest, thoughtful, and righteous—everything Maki thought an ideal woman should be.

“Okay, then I’ll pick the next game.”

“Be my guest.”

Unaware of Maki’s growing affection for her, Harumi tottered off to the wardrobe. She too was eager to spend more time with Maki. She thought it was incredibly sweet that she’d agreed to spend the afternoon playing games with her, and she was thoroughly enjoying their time together. She hoped it would last as long as possible.

“Okay, I’ve decided! I’d like to play this one!”

“Which one is that?”

“Well, you see...”

Right now, the girls were tied with one win each. The outcome of the day’s training was uncertain, but neither of them really cared about that. They just wanted to continue having fun with each other.

The game Harumi chose was a board game called “Landshark Paradise.” It had been the focus of game night plenty of times in room 106, but because Maki and Harumi weren’t part of the Corona House crew originally, they had less experience with it than the others. Thanks to that, someone usually won the game before Harumi felt like she’d gotten the hang of things. That’s why she picked it out now—she wanted a chance to play it at her own pace with Maki and thoroughly learn the rules.

“So you don’t actually landshark? I see...” mused Harumi.

“I think the game is simply called that because that’s what it feels like when everyone is trying to buy up all the properties.”

“I see, I see. Then let’s make it fun by turning this into a competition between honest companies.”

“I agree. That would be much more fun.”

Though Harumi wanted to play the game, neither she nor Maki were cut out for the landsharking the name of the game implied. Fortunately, however, gameplay didn’t actually require anything underhanded. As such, the girls decided they’d be more comfortable playing the game if they agreed to be mutually above-board.

“We already know the gist of this game, so why don’t we dive right in, Maki-san?”

“Sounds good to me. Here are the dice, Sakuraba-san.”

“Thank you. Now... here I go!”

Since they’d played the game several times before, the girls already had a grasp of the rules and the general flow of the game. What they really wanted to focus on were specifics and strategy. They wanted to play a round with each other to get to know the game better.

“I got a two and a three, so I’ll move five spaces.”

“Let’s see, that lands you on... the Izumino Shopping Street toy store. The deed is one million yen.”

The game used two dice to move players around a circular board with no real endpoint. Instead of reaching a particular space, the objective was to move around the board and buy up properties. Players started the game with 20 million yen in play money, so Harumi could easily afford the first property she landed on.

“Well, why don’t I buy it then?”

“All right, let me get you your change.”

Harumi traded Maki some of the fake bills for a card representing the deed to the toy store, which included information on how much she could charge other players who landed on the space.

“In order for the toy store to pay for itself, you’ll have to land on it five times, Maki-san. It sounds like this game is going to take a while...”

“Really? I remember Yurika going bankrupt after landing on this very same space before.”

“Now that you mention it, I think there are rules about increasing the fees...”

Deed in hand, Harumi began scanning the manual. It wasn’t particularly thick, so she quickly found the information she needed.

“Here it is... Apparently if you buy all of the shops on the same shopping street, the properties can expand and the fee gets exponentially higher. Maybe that’s why it bankrupted Yurika-san.”

“Ah, I see. So that’s what the little houses on the properties represent.”

Once a single player owned all the properties on a particular shopping street, they could begin building to expand. As the properties expanded, they became more expensive for other players to land on. The key to ending the game quickly was to buy as many properties and expand as quickly as possible to bankrupt the other players.

“Which means... we should buy anything we can get our hands on and then trade, Maki-san.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Now that I think about it, people were trading deeds when we were playing with everyone too. They must have been trying to secure their shopping streets.”

After taking a few turns and a closer look at the manual, the girls were able to clear up most of the details they’d been vague on before. From there, they began playing more seriously and took turns rolling the dice.

About thirty minutes into the game, they’d successfully bought up half of the properties on the board.

“At this stage, it gets hard to land on the shops that haven’t already been bought,” Maki observed.

And it was true. With half of the properties already purchased, it was twice as unlikely to land on a space that was still for sale—and the odds would only get worse from here on out.

“I’m sure landing on the last one will be a tricky task, Maki-san.”

“I bet it will be, heehee... Now, wish me luck! Hup!”

With an adorable shout, Maki rolled the dice. If any boys had been around to hear it, they might have fallen for her right then and there. It was a rare sign that Maki had let her guard down. She was completely comfortable around Harumi, and it showed.

Roll, roll, roll... D-Ding!

The dice she’d rolled went all the way across the table and didn’t stop until they hit a cup. The dice read one and two, so Maki casually moved her space forward three spaces.

“One, two, three... Sakuraba-san, please hand me an event card.”

“Okay, here you go.”

“Let’s see... ‘You got on the wrong train. Move to the closest station.’”

“The closest one is behind you... That’s too bad.”

Rather than a property, Maki had landed on event space. That signaled to draw a random event card, which just so happened to send Maki to the train station five spaces behind her. The game awarded players money when they completed a lap around the board based on how many shops they owned. And unfortunately, Maki got sent backward just before crossing the line.

“Worse yet, it’s a station you own, Sakuraba-san.”

“Oh, is it?”

“Yes. Now what do I do? I don’t have enough money to pay you.”

Maki was now in dire straits. Since she and Harumi had been focusing on buying up properties, she’d already spent most of her money. She didn’t have enough left on hand to cover the fee for the station. Upon realizing the trouble she was in, Maki’s shoulders drooped.

“It’s okay, Maki-san.”

“What?”

“I’ll buy one of your shops. Whenever you get the money, you can buy it back from me.”

There, Harumi extended Maki a helping hand. Players were allowed to do business amongst themselves as they pleased, so Harumi offered to buy Maki out.

“...Are you sure?”

“Heehee... We’re only just starting to have fun, so let’s keep it going.”

Anyone might have offered to buy a property off Maki to help her out, but there were very few Harumis in the world. Nothing in the rules said she had to let Maki buy the property back when she was ready. In fact, keeping it from her would be more advantageous. But Harumi had an innocent smile on her face. She was simply enjoying the game in her own way.

“Then I’ll take you up on your offer, Sakuraba-san...”

“Here’s your two million.”

Maki handed a shop deed over to Harumi with a smile and then used the money she made to pay Harumi’s station fee. Now all Maki had to do was cross the starting line again and make the money to retake her shop.

“All right, now it’s my turn.”

“Good luck... Oh, and here are the dice.”

“Thank you, Maki-san.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Maki would be skeptical about ever getting her shop back. But she knew a windfall was ahead and that Harumi was good for her word. If nothing else, she was certain right now that they’d get to enjoy their game for a little while longer.

The turning point in the game was Maki’s close encounter with bankruptcy at the station. After that, both girls did what they could to help the other out and keep them out of financial difficulty.

“Maki-san, why don’t we go around the board a few more times to build up some capital before we expand?”

“That would make things go more smoothly.”

They mutually agreed to hold off on expansions and build up cash before continuing. There were, of course, some unexpected hardships thanks to the random event cards, but they worked together to overcome and amass funds.

“Sakuraba-san, the bank is running out of 50 million bills.”

“Maybe it’s about time to expand our shopping streets then?”

Slowly but surely, as the bank was beginning to run dry, Harumi and Maki agreed to begin expanding. But even then, they were cautious. They’d move slowly so as not to put too much of a damper on their cash flows. And so, with Harumi and Maki financing each other, they slowly moved into expansion on an unprecedented scale. Before the girls knew it, they’d reached an almost unthinkable situation in Landshark Paradise— every property on the board had been expanded to the max. This, however, brought about an unexpected hardship of its own.

“Oh no, Maki-san...”

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s no more money left in the bank.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Not a single bill. We won’t be able to make any more money when we cross the start now.”

At this point in the game, all of the money in the bank had been distributed to Harumi and Maki. Harumi took the very last bill when she crossed the start, but it only amounted to half of what she was owed. There was simply nothing left. This was, of course, because Harumi and Maki’s total assets far exceeded anything the game designers ever had in mind.

“What does this mean?” Maki asked, stumped about what to do next.

“I think,” Harumi replied pensively, “that it means that you and I overcame the nightmare that is commercialism.”

“How wonderful... I guess that means we won.”

“I think so too. We did a great job!”

Landshark Paradise typically ended with one wealthy landshark and all the other players bankrupted. Harumi and Maki, however, had refused to throw each other under the bus for the sake of their own personal gain. Instead, they’d chosen to work and prosper together. This was the result—effectively, they’d broken the game. In a sense, that could be considered winning.

“What a lovely game,” Harumi cooed.

“I agree. The person who designed it must have been very kind-hearted,” followed Maki.

“I think so too. I hope we can find more cooperative games like this.”

“Oh, Sakuraba-san, this one sounds like it might fit the bill.”

Since Harumi and Maki agreed they both had won Landshark Paradise, their overall scores were now matched at 2:2 and their friendly competition carried over into the next game.

The fourth game the girls chose was a board game set in a fantasy world. Players could play as either warriors or mages as they explored a dark cave, which was filled to the brim with monsters and traps. The goal of the game was to collect the treasure hidden in the cave and make it out alive. Each piece of loot had an associated point value, and the person with the most points at the end was declared the winner.

“I think... I’ll pick this one. She looks strong.”

From the army of small figurines in the box, Maki selected a female character in a rather revealing outfit. It would be the piece she used during the game.

“Teehee! She looks a little like you, Maki-san.”

“I would never wear that outfit.”

“That’s not what I meant... If it were painted, I’m sure it would be in your colors.”

“Yeah, maybe so.”

Maki had picked a female ninja. If the metallic figurines the game used had come painted, Harumi was sure she’d be dressed in something fitting for a ninja like dark blue or black. Maki’s personal favorite color, indigo, was also a likely candidate.

“Now, which one should I pick? Oh, this one’s pretty cute.”

Harumi took a moment to pick out her own character. Rather than deciding based on functionality, she selected a figurine purely based on appearance—a woman wearing a robe and holding a bishop’s staff. Despite her modest outfit, the statuette was still quite feminine. It was almost like it had been made for Harumi.

“That’s the priestess,” explained Maki.

“I see. That must be why she’s dressed so modestly.”

“Ahaha! That’s so like you, Sakuraba-san.”

“I can’t deny it, teehee...”

Maki’s character was a female ninja, a warrior who specialized in stealthy combat and ninja arts. Harumi’s was a priestess, a mage that excelled in healing and defense, and wielded a holy power effective against the undead. In the end, they’d both chosen characters that were quite like themselves. With that decided, it would ordinarily be time for the game to begin—but the girls then began selecting a third piece.

“Maki-san, if you were to choose another character, what would you pick?”

“Well... we already have a scout and a medic, so I think a strong warrior would be a good choice.”

“So one of these tough-looking characters?”

The game was designed for a maximum party of six. It was possible to play with only two people, but the manual warned that the difficulty would be quite high. To counteract that, Harumi and Maki had decided to have a third “player” with them. One they’d pick out and move together.

The piece they ended up choosing was a male warrior equipped with a large sword and thick armor. They’d picked him because their characters were comparably lightly equipped. He was also featured on the box art for the game, so they were hoping he’d be strong.

“He did it, Maki-san!!”

“I knew a character in the official art would be strong.”

“Heehee, you were right.”

Their warrior cut a path through the cave while they supported him from behind. Normally the players of the game would split up to go about their own business, only banding together when particularly powerful foes appeared. But since Harumi and Maki were moving the third piece on the board by committee, they’d inadvertently ended up working together anyway. As such, they divided the treasure they gained as a group among them equally. At this rate, they were setting themselves up to end the game in another draw, but neither of them was particularly concerned about that. They were too busy having fun adventuring through the cave together, defeating monsters left and right in the name of love and justice.

“Wow, Sakuraba-san! That dragon had five treasure cards on it!”

“How will we divide five cards amongst the three of us?”

“Why don’t we take a look at them and see?”

“Yes, let’s.”

The dragon that their warrior had just slain was carrying five treasures, each represented by a different card. Treasures were typically gold or gems, but they could also be magical weapons or other tools to strengthen a character. As such, certain items were worthless to certain classes or playstyles. Players working together would often discuss loot to make sure equipment was distributed equitably. So, depending on the nature of the five items they’d just acquired, Harumi and Maki would hand them out accordingly.

“Restorative medicine... I think you should have this, Maki-san.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have healing magic and our warrior is rather tough, so I think he’ll be fine with just my support.”

“All right, then I’ll take the medicine.”

“Next is...”

When Harumi flipped the second treasure card, she practically froze in place. Confused by this reaction, Maki peered at her face with a worried expression.

“Sakuraba-san?” she asked.

But there was no reply. Harumi simply stared silently at the card on the table. Not knowing what else to do, Maki glanced down at the card as well. When she saw it, she too froze a little.

“Ah...”

Maki knew exactly what was going through Harumi’s mind, because the same thing was going through hers too.

“It’s... a suit of armor...” she muttered in a daze.

“Beautiful blue armor...” Harumi muttered in kind.

Indeed, the treasure card Harumi had flipped was of an ornate suit of blue armor, but the girls’ eyes were really transfixed on something beyond just the card. This would open up a whole new game in front of them.

“Why don’t we give our knight this armor?”

“I agree. Knights should be properly armored, after all.”

Without even realizing it, they instantly went from calling their third piece “our warrior” to “our knight.” And as powerful an item as the armor was, neither one of them hesitated to give it to him. It would actually go a long way to increasing survivability for either of their lightly-armored units, but that kind of logic didn’t matter to them right now.

“Sakuraba-san, what about this enhancement jewel?”

“Let’s use it to power up our knight’s sword.”

“Then what about this protective charm?”

“I don’t need it.”

“I can’t use it either, so let’s give it to our knight too.”

“Why don’t we just give him everything we don’t need?”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

This ended up being the turning point in Harumi and Maki’s adventure. Once their warrior became a knight in blue armor, their priorities shifted to protecting and enhancing him. As such, by the end of the game, the knight that monopolized all of the loot they earned was insanely powerful. Harumi and Maki’s characters had long fallen behind him, but they hardly cared. They were more than happy to see their knight succeed.

Outfitted to the nines, Harumi and Maki’s knight reached the darkest depths of the cave with their support. As new players to the game, however, they didn’t manage their other resources well and ended up running out of turns before successfully being able to beat the final boss.

“I can’t accept this outcome... Let’s try again, Sakuraba-san.”

“I can’t either. Let’s give it another try!”

Neither one of them was pleased with the results of their playthrough, so they immediately set the game up to play again. They were surprisingly bent on winning now.

“There’s no way our knight would lose,” Maki declared.

Currently, she was staring fixedly at the section of the game board representing the depths of the cave. She ran several simulations in her head trying to devise how they could play again and have their knight come out victorious.

“Let’s use whatever it takes to defeat the evil sorcerer!” Harumi declared.

She was equally zealous about seeing their knight victorious, though in her case, she was focusing on the flaws in her own performance and trying to figure out how she could do better in the future.

“Maybe we should be a little more reckless and take some more risks,” Maki suggested.

“I think that would work so long as we band together to protect Satomi-kun,” Harumi replied.

Though their personalities and approaches were different, their goal was ultimately the same. Rather than winning on their own, all they wanted was for their knight to defeat the evil sorcerer. That was all that mattered to them now.

“What about our characters, Sakuraba-san?”

“Why don’t we stick with the same ones as last time? We were so close.”

“But wouldn’t two priestesses be able to protect Satomi-kun even better?”

“I think we should try again as we were. And if that still doesn’t work, we can try with two priestesses.”

“Are we going until we win?”

“Aren’t we?”

“You’re absolutely right. Let’s keep going!”

And so the girls ended up playing the fourth game again and again as the hours ticked by. Since they were still learning, it took them until their third try to actually accomplish their objective. But at that point, a most unexpected result had come about. In the final match of Harumi and Maki’s gaming session, somehow Koutarou—who wasn’t even present—became the victor.