This was a story before chapter 1. Only four people appeared.
They were playing “What’s the Incident?”.
The perspective was from Tsuge.
“First, let’s go to the home improvement store!”
“Then, I’ll follow Maito-san.”
“That answer doesn’t make it a game.”
“Is that so? Then… for now, shall we change into long sleeves and long pants?”
“To be honest, I was also thinking about the home improvement store.”
“Everyone loves the home improvement store! I love it too!”
“Well, in that case, we should first get a means of transportation.”
“…Hey, Hagasaki-kun. Does that mean you’re talking about a bicycle?”
“A car. It’s allowed, given the situation.”
…And so. After such a conversation, we asked.
“Well, this concludes the first turn. Suzumoto, your answer, please.”
Suzumoto smiled and answered.
“A zombie virus is spreading.”
“I hate this… I’m tired of it…”
“Move your hands. It won’t end otherwise.”
“Why are we doing this… Ugh…”
That day, we were doing incomprehensible things.
“Well, indeed, it’s strange why we’re making paper flowers.”
Yes. Using colorful thin paper called ‘hanagami,’ we were tirelessly making paper flowers.
“It can’t be helped if we’re told it’s the responsibility of the chemistry club.”
“Why didn’t you tell us yesterday! If it were yesterday, everyone would have been here! The deadline wasn’t just one day!”
“The chemistry club was forgotten, so it couldn’t be helped.”
“If they forgot we existed, I wish they had also forgotten to assign us work.”
…This time, we were performing this task under the orders of the student council.
The day after tomorrow is the celebration for the seniors who are graduating. At our school, since the event is student-led, the student council generally handles the operations…
Well, the problem was that the student council distributed various tasks to the different clubs. While it’s convenient for the event to be student-led, not many clubs meet every day, and some clubs rarely have their full members present.
And the task assigned to us was making these flowers. It’s apparently for decorating the gymnasium. The fact that they assigned this task one day before the deadline, on a non-club day, and considering the nature of the task, well, it feels like an intentional inconvenience.
Well, somehow, we managed to gather four members, so I guess it’s a small blessing in disguise.
“Maito, you’re fast.”
“Well, yeah, sorry, but I’m more skilled than you guys.”
Maito-san, while complaining, was making flowers at about 1.5 times our speed and tossing them into the cardboard box. I might get scolded for saying it’s because she’s a girl, but she’s definitely more adept than us.
“Suzumoto, you’re surprisingly bad at this kind of work.”
“Shut up.”
Suzumoto is unexpectedly bad at this kind of task. His fingers are cautiously peeling off each piece of thin paper to avoid tearing it, which makes the process slower.
“…Damn it.”
After finishing one flower and tossing it into the cardboard box, Suzumoto took a new piece of flower paper and suddenly said,
“Since we’re stuck here, let’s do something we can do even with our hands full.”
“Like a Suzumoto embarrassing stories session? Okay, let’s do it.”
“Are you declaring you’re willing to share your embarrassing stories too? Fine, Maito, you start.”
“Yeah, then let’s play ‘What’s the Incident?’ Let’s do that, let’s do that, dicotyledons.”
“What is that?”
…And so.
Thus, we decided to play this game.
The rules aren’t that difficult.
First, choose one person to be the responder. Then the remaining participants decide on an ‘incident.’
Each participant then states what they would do if that incident happened.
Each person says one thing, then it’s the responder’s turn. The responder has to guess what the ‘incident’ is.
…If we were serious about winning and losing, we could use a points system, but since this is just to pass the time, we simply enjoyed the successes and failures together.
So, back to the beginning.
“The key person is Hagasaki-kun. It goes without saying.”
“Well, unless it’s something extreme, Hagasaki-kun driving off in a stolen car isn’t going to happen, right?”
“By the way, are you confident in your driving skills?”
“I’ll manage somehow, if it’s an automatic.”
Well, Hagasaki-san can probably handle it somehow.
“Also, the long sleeves and long pants were good. That made me think it was a zombie scenario.”
“Actually, can long sleeves really protect against zombies?”
“Since there are no real zombies, we can’t say for sure.”
“The home improvement store is a classic.”
“Plus, it’s romantic.”
“Yeah, true.”
“I understand that.”
“And it’s practical too.”
After finishing one game, we moved on to the next one with just a brief discussion.
The next responder was Hagasaki-san.
“Uh… well, I… um…”
“Hey, could you hurry up a bit?”
Suzumoto has been hesitating for a few minutes now.
“Uh… then, let’s just go to an aquarium or something.”
And this is what he said.
“What? I already have a pretty good idea.”
And, well, that’s how it went.
“I’ll say something too. I’d go to the movie theater or the library.”
“I’d like to stay home and play Smash Bros together.”
Hagasaki-san looked exasperated, but let’s hear the answer anyway.
“Okay, Hagasaki-san. Your answer, please.”
“Too obvious. It’s ‘I got a boyfriend/girlfriend, so I’m going on a date,’ right?”
“Correct!”
…Well, Suzumoto was the decisive factor. Long thinking is more eloquent than clumsy words.
“Seriously, you took that long to think, and then it’s the aquarium?”
“Is that bad?”
“I’m not saying it’s bad. But you could have said something more interesting with all that thinking time.”
“Sorry for the boring answer.”
“But isn’t the aquarium nice? There are jellyfish and stuff.”
“Why jellyfish?”
Well, it was a typical Suzumoto answer. In that sense, it was interesting enough.
Personally, I think Suzumoto suits being with quiet people in quiet places.
“You’re quite reserved, aren’t you, President?”
“Ah, yes. I think it’s nice to share the appreciation of the same work.”
“That’s certainly not bad.”
“Maybe exchanging favorite books would be good too.”
“It’d be a disaster if your tastes were completely opposite.”
“I can’t imagine being in a relationship with someone whose tastes are completely opposite to mine.”
I feel like my answer lacks excitement, but Maito-san and Suzumoto nodded in a way that suggested they somewhat understood, so I’ll take it as a good sign.
“What about Maito’s?”
“If I were to date someone, I’d want them to be better at Smash Bros than me.”
“That’s almost everyone. Last time we played within the club, you and Kariya were fighting for last place.”
“Sure, I’m still inexperienced! But! If I get a boyfriend, I will become stronger so as not to embarrass him! Actually, even if I don’t get a boyfriend, I will become stronger! Strong enough to beat all of you!”
“Even if you get a boyfriend, I don’t think he would want that.”
“Isn’t it fine? If Maito-san gets stronger and her boyfriend is happy about it, they can be together.”
Maito-san is perfectly herself, which is great. Please stay that way.
Now, for the next game. The responder is Maito-san.
“…Then, first, prepare a regular saucepan and fill it with water.”
“Not the ingredients, huh.”
“That’s unfair, Hagasaki-kun. You should at least include something else.”
“Huh? Is just water not okay?”
“It’s enough without adding anything. It’s just that, given the nature of the game, having only water in the pot is a bit odd.”
“Annoying. Then why did you suggest this topic in the first place? It’s impossible for us.”
…At this point, Maito-san already looked bewildered. Well, that’s understandable. Honestly, we didn’t know what we were doing either.
“Is it my turn next? Uh… light the stove with the pot on it.”
“What?”
“Huh? No, you light it, right? …Well, I know there are tasks that should be done before that. But lighting the stove isn’t technically wrong, right? Is it?”
“Well… then I’ll put out the fire that Suzumoto-san just lit.”
“What?”
“Why did you put it out?”
“Because starting with water is basic.”
“Is it really!?”
…And so. After going around once.
“Okay, Maito-san. What’s your answer?”
“Um, you guys just put water in a pot, lit the stove, and then put it out! I have no idea what this is!”
Exactly.
“…Hey, President. Why did you choose this topic? It’s clearly not suitable for us.”
“Really? I thought it was a good question with just the right amount of misdirection.”
“Sorry, President. Maybe normally it is, but Hagasaki-kun and I don’t have much knowledge about that.”
“Could you at least make it simpler?”
“Even so, I thought Maito-san might figure it out. I wanted to see Maito-san’s limits.”
“Come on, that’s asking too much of us and Maito.”
“If you wanted her to guess, there were things to do before putting out the stove fire.”
Maito-san, listening to our conversation, thought hard with a difficult expression.
…And then.
“…The answer is ‘making nikujaga’.”
“…How did you know?”
Suzumoto and Hagasaki-san looked stunned. Honestly, I, who came up with the question, didn’t think it could be guessed just from the conversation we had.
“First of all, when you said a pot, I thought of cooking. Since water was added, it was probably boiling or simmering. And when you said ‘from the water,’ I knew it involved root vegetables.”
Ah, she figured it out that far. I said that half as a hint.
“I imagined it could be curry or stew, but President mentioned ‘including misdirection,’ so I thought it was a twist on that. Then I remembered what Hagasaki-kun and Suzumoto said earlier… ‘It would have been better to add something,’ meaning broth, probably kombu.”
“…That’s impressive.”
“If you’re using broth, it’s Japanese cuisine. And the only thing that could be misdirection and have almost the same ingredients as curry or stew is nikujaga.”
Maito-san’s limits were further than I imagined. I can only say, well done.
“It’s amazing you figured it out.”
“Half of it was a lucky guess. I wasn’t sure if ‘something to add’ was broth or salt until the end. I also relied on President’s question tendencies.”
“I see, you read me.”
I remembered a conversation I had with Maito-san about the origins of beef stew.
Maybe she used that as a clue.
“And Suzumoto and Hagasaki-kun being puzzled was also a clue. If it were curry, they would have proceeded more boldly.”
“Are you mocking us?”
“I’m not mocking you, but at least you could have mentioned peeling carrots or something!”
…Well, in this field, we can’t help but feel mocked.
Alright. Now, I’m the last responder. Watching the three of them whispering and discussing while I kept making paper flowers for three minutes, the game started.
“Hmm, first, I think I would check the situation. Look around and see if everyone is there.”
“Then I’ll get some food? At least if we have water, we’ll manage somehow.”
“Then I’ll go get some weapons, just in case. You never know what might attack us.”
“Searching for weapons is kind of romantic…”
“You always carry a box cutter, don’t you?”
“A box cutter isn’t enough. As a weapon, it’s less than a wooden stick.”
…So, everyone has spoken once.
What scenario are we imagining here?
An unsecured situation… It sounds like we’re in survival mode.
The need for weapons is intriguing. Does that mean there’s danger? But despite that, Maito-san is checking the surroundings first, and Hagasaki-san is concerned about food and water.
So, it’s not an immediate crisis, and the surroundings are unknown. Yet, they clearly expect an enemy they haven’t seen…?
“…I give up.”
In the end, I raised the white flag. I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory answer no matter how much I thought about it.
“This was tough for President, huh?”
“I figured as much.”
“By the way, the answer is ‘going to another world’.”
Hearing the answer, I sort of understood, but not entirely.
“Even if it’s another world, there are various kinds, right? Like worlds where computers rule or humans are extinct.”
“So, for President, another world means a dystopia…?”
“Talking to President about this feels like cultural exchange sometimes…”
…I’m not very familiar with this kind of topic, so I often don’t understand things others take for granted. This seems to be another one of those times.
“Well, this question was tough for you.”
“I also wanted to see President’s limits… grrr.”
“I’m sorry, it seems my limits have been reached.”
I felt bad for disappointing Maito-san, but there’s nothing I can do about things outside my knowledge.
“Should I maybe study up on this a bit?”
“I don’t think it’s something you need to study.”
“You don’t have to force yourself to do something that doesn’t suit you.”
“Yeah. You’re fine just the way you are. Actually, you being just the way you are is the best. Please stay that way.”
Well, since everyone said that, I should probably not worry too much. Besides, overthinking isn’t really my style.
…That said, I’ll probably end up looking into it a bit later. I know myself best.
After a few more games, we finally completed the required amount of paper flowers.
“Phew, it’s done…”
The two cardboard boxes filled to the brim with paper flowers looked quite a sight. It was even more unusual to see them in the chemistry lab.
“Good job. It took quite a bit of time, didn’t it?”
The clock had moved forward quite a bit. Given that it was just the four of us working, we probably did pretty well.
“Wasn’t it because we were playing games while working?”
“But it was fun, right? Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it was.”
While playing the game might have made us a bit lax, it wasn’t a mentally taxing game, and it served well as a distraction while we worked.
In the end, combining the game with making paper flowers made the task less tedious.
“Alright, let’s carry these to the gym. Hagasaki-kun, give me a hand.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Wait, can the two of you handle it? Isn’t it heavy? Are you sure?”
“What do you think I am? It’s just paper, you know?”
“Well, it’s bulky, but the two of us can manage. Maito and President can tidy up here.”
…With that, Suzumoto and Hagasaki-kun took the boxes and left.
However.
“Maito-san, what do you think?”
“They’ll definitely blow away.”
“Exactly.”
After quickly putting away the stapler and empty plastic bags, we also left the lab.
“The wind created by walking! And the long corridor to the gymnasium that’s windy even without walking! I do not believe they can transport all the flowers without any of them being blown away!”
“I agree.”
As we walked down the corridor, we could already hear Hagasaki-san’s frustrated voice from ahead, “Another one fell off!” Our prediction was spot on.
“Shall we pick up the fallen flowers as we go?”
“Let’s see who can pick up more, President!”
“Challenge accepted.”
No sooner had I spoken than Maito-san dashed off, clearly enjoying herself.
…Picking up fallen paper flowers, a tedious task, could become quite enjoyable if approached as a game.
In this world, there are many troublesome incidents, but if you have players who can turn those into games, you’ll never be bored.
…I’ve really joined a good club.