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「Now then, let’s form a circle.」

Following Hadzuki’s words, everyone moved. And as we got into position, I realized it. I don’t know if the others noticed it too, but Minadzuki and Rin probably do.

「I’ll distribute the cards now」

For confirmation, I glanced at Hadzuki and Aya and they f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g grinned. In that case, then why don’t I go with their plan too? In old maid, when people coordinate, the targeted player is sure to lose.

「First.」

The first to finish was Rin. Next, Minadzuki, then Kotori. The ones left are the two upperclassmen who are intentionally staying in the game, as well as me and Nagatsuki. I have a bad feeling about this. There’s a possibility that I might be their target.

「Your turn, Kotone.」

Anyways, I can’t trust them but I’ll just continue on. Having the person who decided on the punishment take the punishment is too absurd to be the plan. Literally putting the cart before the horse.

「Last one. I’m finally out.」

Was I just unlucky? All I know is that this game is definitely rigged. Those who know it will win. Nagatsuki didn’t understand this.

「So it’s only me and you left.」
「Strange. This isn’t how it should’ve…」

Nope, it was already settled from the start. You’re so focused on your front that you’ve neglected your back, Nagatsuki. Seems like he still hasn’t noticed that Hadzuki knows his hand. I got a bit paranoid about staying so late in the game despite knowing that it’s fixed.

「There, game over. Nagatsuki gets the punishment.」
「I lost…..」

Just as god intended. Now then, what should it be? I’ll refrain from going overboard. The party just started, so nothing that’ll cause friction. Lastly, it has to be interesting.

「Alright then, dash to the convenience store.」

Hearing my words, the two upperclassmen were amused while the others didn’t seem to understand it much. Is an explanation necessary? It’s exactly as it sounds, though.

「You just have to buy what everyone else wants. But since it’s not interesting enough, you have to sprint at full speed. 」
「Making me a gopher, huh.」
「Now everyone, say whatever you want. Nagatsuki, make sure to take notes.」
「Then I’ll have black tea, please」
「Potato chips.」
「Hmm, karaage, I guess?」

Kotori, Rin, and Minadzuki asked for normal stuff. That’s fine too, but let’s bring out a bit of creativity.

「I want a refreshing drink.」
「For me, some interesting food.」
「An embarrassing printed product!」

Those who realized what to do went abstract as such. Mine and Hadzuki’s are still cute. The nastiest one is Aya’s. Well, at our age, we can’t buy R-18 books yet.

「C-could you be a bit more specific?」
「We’re leaving it to your sensibilities. Well then, I’ll give the go sign, so…」

It’d be an issue if someone suddenly runs out. So I’ll at least inform them about what little I can say. Now then, who should I call? I’ve been calling Akira a lot recently, so I’ll go with Kyousuke.

『Oi, this call. What’s this about?』
「We will commence the loser’s punishment right now. Please have the assigned bodyguards be ready.」

I’m only informing them, so no conversing. I’ll only say necessary information but I don’t intend to listen to questions or requests.

「The contestant is Nagatsuki. Punishment, dash to the convenience store. I will give the go sign, so I leave the personnel selection up to you.」
『Wait a minute! S̲h̲i̲t̲, she’s ignoring me. Supervisor!』

He’s pretty flustered. An unforeseen event is happening, so it can’t be helped. They might say “who am I to say that when you’re the mastermind”, but it’s part of the programme. While we might be the main participants of the after-party, let’s have the security people join as well.

「Now then, counting starts. 5, 4,-」
『Eh, me!? What about the others!?』
「- 3, 2, 1, GO!」
「『Damn it!』」

The two voices synchronize. Still, he’s running diligently, so I wonder if the bodyguard people can catch up to him. Nagatsuki is pretty high spec himself, after all, despite his lacking.

「Nonetheless, I feel bad for Mr. Nagatsuki. He was clearly being targeted. I’m glad it wasn’t me, though.」
「When big sis Aya, Sister Kotone, and Mr. Hadzuki teams up, no one can win against them.」
「What do you mean by that?」

It seems like only Kotori is out of the loop, so I guess it’s time to reveal the secret. It was a completely unplanned improv, but as expected of Nagatsuki. He got tricked without any second thought.

「We simply pointed at our cards with our eyes. The three of us. Moreover, for the last portion, Aya was behind Nagatsuki telling us which card to get with her eyes.」
「Isn’t that cheating?」
「It’s absolutely cheating, so don’t imitate us. A fight could break out if you get discovered.」

By the way, in my old life all of us in my friend group once ganged up on Shinpachi for cheating. It was pretty pitiful. The punishment for the loser was also awful, if I remember right. It was the result of everyone doing everything to avoid it.

「No cheating in the next game. Even Nagatsuki should notice by the second time around.」
「Eh~, personally I’d prefer that we keep puppeting him without him ever noticing.」
「Agreed. Mr. Nagatsuki should be the only victim-in-charge.」

You’re really betraying your senior like it’s natural, huh. Still, it won’t be interesting if only one person ever gets punished. For punishment games, charm in it is how everyone gets a turn.

「Come to think of it, how far is the convenience store from here?」
「About five minutes when walking, so as long as Nagatsuki doesn’t get stuck on what to buy, he should be back soon.」

I answered so to Aya, but there’s no way someone as earnest and diligent as Nagatsuki won’t get stuck on deciding. While Kotori and the juniors’ specific items don’t need any thinking, the issue is the ones the three of us asked for.

「Your requests were pretty vague, was that alright?」
「The choice of what to buy is entirely up to him, which makes for easy joking. If it was me, I’d buy something that no one would buy or drink.」
「Right? I wonder what kind of book he’ll buy for me. I’d be upset if it’s just the usual lewd ones, though.」
「I’m fine even with spicy stuff. Those of course, the one who bought it will be the one to eat it.」

While the three of us are enjoying ourselves, Kotori and the juniors have a wry smile. Still, you occasionally get surprisingly good ones when it comes to drinks. So there’s the excitement of discovering something new, but also the problem of there being too many landmines. Nonetheless, Aya’s request is something that even I’d have to think about.

「Now then, let’s decide on the next game before he arrives. We have a lot of games to play with, after all.」
「There’s so many it’s hard to choose. Hmm, I guess we’ll do a board game. Like Sugoroku or Game of Life (Monopoly).」

While it might seem that we went full throttle from the start, I believe this is only the beginning. The seniors and I are already in a constantly excitable state, but the juniors have yet to adapt. And seriously, we don’t have a stopper, is this going to be alright?