The timeline was as usual.
The perspective was from Glida.
The monsters played “Codenames.”
“Sounds fun, I want to try it too.”
Suddenly, Hunter said something like that, slithering around at my feet.
“Maito and the others look like they’re having fun.”
…Ah, I see. Hunter was looking out the window. Maito and the others were doing something. Probably playing one of those analog games they always do?
“Why don’t you join them?”
“Hmm… but Maito and the others look like they’re having fun. I don’t want to interrupt.”
Ketorami said that, but Hunter slithered back. Clever kid, really. Realizing he would be in the way if he joined them.
I don’t like kids, but if they’re smart, that’s different. If they know their place and act accordingly, I love that.
“So, want to play with me?”
That’s why I made such a suggestion.
“If we put our heads together here, we could play a game, right?”
“I see. Me, Glida, Hunter, and Marbello. With four of us, we can play.”
“Are you calling me?”
“Are you talking about headcount?”
“So, I count as three, right? Three heads, headcount-wise!”
As soon as Ketorami said that, Marbello came flying. He’s quite caring, probably looks after Hunter a lot.
“Idiot. You count as one. We can’t play a game like that.”
“Oh, really?”
“Each of our heads has independent thoughts, you know?”
“But there’s still shared information, right? Four is enough for a game. You’re not needed.”
“That’s so mean…”
“That’s so mean…”
“That’s so mean…”
…Well, yeah. With three perfectly synchronized heads, it wouldn’t be a fair game. They could conspire without any meetings. That’s not fair.
As Marbello looked dejected, Hunter timidly looked up at us.
“Will everyone play a game with me…?”
“Sure. Right, everyone?”
“Of course. If it were Ketorami’s request, I’d refuse, but Hunter is adorable. I’d do it for him.”
“Hey, what do you mean by that?”
“I definitely want to join! I’ve been curious about Maito-sama’s games!”
Alright, decision made. When everyone agreed to join, Hunter’s face lit up, and he wrapped around my leg.
“Thank you! I love you all!”
…See? This kid is really cute.
“So, a game for four. …Hmm, the ‘Werewolf’ game Maito and the others always play is a bit too difficult.”
So, we immediately started thinking about a game to play. It’s surprisingly tough, with just four.
“One Night Werewolf might work… no, that’s not good either.”
“Why not?”
When I asked, Ketorami laughed through his nose. It was irritating.
“Are you an idiot? That game requires secretly flipping and exchanging cards. We can’t do that.”
…Ah, I see. Why didn’t I realize that? Ketorami and Marbello are roughly the same size, but I’m much larger, and Hunter is quite small. What kind of cards would suit such a group? If we used larger cards, it would take Hunter forever to manipulate them. If we used smaller cards, Ketorami and Marbello would struggle. Me? I’m quite dexterous, so I wouldn’t mind either way.
“So, we need a game that doesn’t involve flipping or exchanging cards, or one where those actions are done openly.”
Well, that’s reasonable. So…
“Oh! I want to try that one!”
Hunter said energetically.
“Codenames!”
Codenames is a game where you have to figure out which cards to take from a set of 25, based on clues. The goal is to take all the cards your team needs before the other team. It’s a four-player game, and the cards are manipulated openly, so I could handle moving the cards for everyone if needed.
But… this game is played in teams of two…
“Everyone understands the rules, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen Maito and the others play.”
“I understand as well.”
“I don’t really understa…”
“You understand, right?”
“Yes! I understand!”
…I’ll explain the rules to Marbello later. For now, it seems we can start without any problems.
“So, how do we divide the teams? This game requires one person to take cards and the other to give hints to guide them to their team’s cards.”
“Yes! That’s right! So I will…”
I thought it would be Ketorami. Hunter is quite attached to Ketorami, and Ketorami likes to act like a big brother. Hunter seems to enjoy being the little brother. It’s cute and straightforward.
…Or so I thought.
“I’ll team up with Marbello!”
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
This was unexpected.
“Oh! Me? What an honor!”
“We will surely achieve victory!”
“I’m honored you chose me! Let’s do our best!”
“Wait, are you sure, Hunter?”
“Yes! It’s fine!”
…I thought Hunter would want to team up with Ketorami. I figured I could team up with Marbello and go along with it… but…
“Alright then, Ketorami, it’s a match!”
“Alright. If that’s the case, I’ll take you on.”
…So Hunter wanted to compete against Ketorami? But wouldn’t it make more sense to team up with me? Hunter knows that Ketorami and I don’t get along… Ah, is he trying to weaken us by pairing us together? No, he doesn’t seem like the type to think that far ahead…
“I want to play with Marbello for a change!”
“I’m delighted!”
“I love getting attention!”
“I get attached quickly when I’m fussed over!”
…Maybe Hunter just wanted to play with Marbello.
So, we started right away.
“Not using cards, but this will work, right?”
We laid out strings on the ground to create a 5×5 grid and wrote a word in each square. Normally, you’d choose 25 cards from a set, but we could set our own words for this game. We just needed to pick unrelated words.
“Alright, everyone suggest some words. I’ll write them down.”
“Got it! Friendship! Cloud! Sunset!”
“Gem. Cliff. Sea.”
“Flask! Doll! Knife!”
“Rainbow! Frying pan! Sword!”
“Chair! Window! Desert!”
“Wait a minute, Marbello, are you using all three of your heads?”
“Well, it’s fine. It’s quicker this way.”
I guess it’s okay. But it felt off.
So, the 25 words were: ‘Friendship, Cloud, Sunset, Gem, Cliff, Sea, Flask, Doll, Knife, Rainbow, Frying Pan, Sword, Chair, Window, Desert, Volcano, Dress, Sake, Egg, Meat, Pancake, Electricity, Shield, Water, Fish.’ These 25 words.
“Okay, I’ll be the one giving hints! Marbello will take the cards!”
“Understood!”
“Leave it to me!”
“We’ll do it perfectly!”
“Ah, it’s unfair to use all three heads, so just use one.”
“That’s so mean…”
“That’s so mean…”
“That’s so mean…”
Well, that’s how it goes.
“So, what about us? I don’t mind either way.”
“Then I’ll give the hints. I don’t like following your orders.”
“Fine. I don’t mind.”
So, Ketorami will give the hints, and I’ll take the words. Decided.
“Alright, let’s decide which cards to take and which not to!”
While Hunter and Ketorami went off to discuss, I thought about it.
Since it’s against Hunter, letting him win could be an option, but he wouldn’t be satisfied with that. So, I’ll go all out.
Teaming up with Ketorami and going all out is tough, though. Sigh.
“Um, Glida, just to confirm, the team going first needs to take 9 cards, and the second team 8 cards, right?”
“That’s right. Additionally, there are 7 cards that don’t affect the score, and 1 card that causes instant defeat if taken. A total of 25 cards.”
“And we can only give one-word hints. But we can say how many cards the hint relates to. The taker can take as many cards as they want in one turn, right?”
“Exactly. But of course, they can take just one card if they’re unsure. Even if the hint giver says ‘2 cards,’ they can take only one card and leave the other if they don’t understand the hint. Conversely, if they later understand the hint, they can take more cards even if the hint was ‘1 card.'”
“I see, I understand! …But in the end, this game tests how well the team understands and recognizes each other, right?”
…That’s right.
The essence of this game is to give a hint that covers multiple seemingly unrelated cards in one turn and decode that compressed information to take the correct cards.
Taking one card per turn won’t win the game. You have to aim to take multiple cards actively. But if you get too greedy, you might take the card that causes instant defeat. So, you can’t be too reckless. This dilemma is unique to this game.
If the team is perfectly in sync, they can pack the meaning for three cards into one word. Conversely, if they’re out of sync, even taking one card with a hint for one card is difficult.
…No matter how you look at it, this game seems disadvantageous for our team, right?
“Alright, the Ketorami and Glida team goes first! Let’s get started!”
So it began. Well, it’s fine. I’ll just do my best. It doesn’t matter if he performs poorly.
“…Okay, the first hint. ‘Things Maito uses.’ Two cards.”
Two cards. Fair enough.
“Let’s see, things Maito uses… first, a knife, right?”
“Yeah.”
One card down. Next…
“And, a flask.”
“What!?”
“Oh no, that’s my team’s card.”
What?
Did I just help the other team?
“You idiot! Glida! What are you thinking?”
“What!? What are you talking about? Things Maito uses, right? That kid uses a flask!”
“There was another card you should have taken first! Why don’t you think things through?”
What!? This guy! He has the nerve to say that to me? Saying I can’t think straight? I don’t want to hear that from a brainless battle maniac!
Complaining won’t help. Our team took one card, and I accidentally took one of the opponent’s cards. Now it’s Hunter’s team’s turn.
“Alright, my turn! ‘Suzumoto,’ one card! Playing it safe!”
Given that we’re going second and I took one of Hunter’s team’s cards, they can afford to play it safe and still win.
“Hmm, Suzumoto-sama, huh? …That means, this. ‘Sword’!”
“Correct!”
Well, that’s an obvious choice. Among the remaining cards: ‘Friendship, Cloud, Sunset, Gem, Cliff, Sea, Doll, Pan, Sword, Chair, Window, Desert, Volcano, Dress, Sake, Egg, Meat, Pancake, Electricity, Shield, Water, Fish,’ Suzumoto fits best with ‘Sword.’
“Now it’s our turn. Come on, Ketorami, hurry up and give the hint.”
“Shut up. I’m thinking of a hint even your simple mind can understand.”
Does he have to be sarcastic every time? He’s such a child.
“…’Cooking utensils.’ One card.”
“Oh, okay. So it’s the one we missed earlier.”
This one’s easy. There’s only one cooking utensil left, ‘Frying Pan.’ Ketorami’s expression says he expected me to get this right.
“Yay, you got it! So, next…”
“Wait a minute. I’ll go for one more.”
But I cut off Hunter and aimed for another card.
“…’Shield.’ How about that?”
Shield. Aiming for that single word, both Ketorami and Hunter widened their eyes.
“W-Wow… you got it right… How did you know? There wasn’t any hint.”
“Heh. It’s because you said ‘Suzumoto’ earlier.”
“Huh? Huh?”
“If ‘Shield’ was included, you would have said ‘Kadomi’ instead, right? You specifically said ‘Suzumoto’ because you didn’t want me to take the shield. Isn’t that right?”
When I explained, Hunter’s eyes sparkled, and his tail wagged. Oh my, how cute.
“Amazing! Amazing! That’s exactly right! Using even our team’s hints, that’s incredible!”
“Well, I’m quick-witted, you see.”
When I glanced at Ketorami and said that, Ketorami blatantly made an unhappy face, which was amusing.
“Hey, Glida. There was a possibility that the ‘shield’ was the card that meant ‘defeat if taken.'”
“Well, yeah? If we don’t take risks like this, we can’t win, right? You’re the one who’s chickening out, coward.”
“You little…!”
When Ketorami bared his fangs, Marbello intervened, and Ketorami calmed down. Really, people who lack composure are such a pain.
Then, it was Hunter’s turn again.
“Okay, my turn! …Um, let’s see. ‘Things Maito makes’! Three cards!”
Oh. He’s quite the gambler, isn’t he?
“Three cards, huh! But this is easy to understand!”
…Moreover, Marbello happily erased the words he had drawn on the ground.
“First, pancakes! They’re delicious, right!”
“Correct!”
“And then, dolls! Like Tokoyo and the others!”
“That’s right! One more!”
“Then this! Dresses! The clothes Maito makes are very beautiful!”
“Correct!”
They took three cards easily…
“Yay! Now we only have three cards left!”
…Hunter’s team had three cards left. On the other hand, since we went first and only took three cards, we had six cards left.
At this rate, we barely have any chance of winning, do we?
Games you can’t win are boring. Besides, I’m teamed up with someone who can’t even find losing fun.
Still, I’m not childish enough to throw the game, so I’ll play anyway.
“Next.”
“You understand, don’t you? There’s a possibility we could decide it in the next turn?”
If Hunter’s team took three cards in the next turn, we’d lose. Of course, taking three cards is quite difficult, but we still had six cards left. It’s frustrating. That means we need to successfully take three cards twice, which is also quite difficult, to win.
“I get it. Stop repeating yourself, it’s annoying.”
He really pisses me off. He’s so unappealing…
“‘That day.’ Four cards.”
“…Huh?”
“Don’t make me say it again. Four cards for ‘that day.'”
“Wait, ‘that day,’ what day…”
…I don’t understand. What is he talking about? What day is he referring to?
I looked at the ground.
The remaining words were ‘friendship, cloud, sunset, jewel, cliff, sea, rainbow, chair, window, desert, volcano, alcohol, egg, meat, electricity, water, fish.’ Seventeen cards in total. Four out of these? That’s quite absurd, isn’t it?
…But.
“‘That day,’ huh…”
I had a hunch. Unfortunately.
Basically, it’s the day I first met Ketorami, right?
“The sunset was beautiful.”
I took ‘sunset.’ Neither Ketorami, Hunter, nor Marbello said anything. That means it was correct.
“The cliff where you could see the sea.”
I took ‘sea’ and ‘cliff’ as well. These were correct too.
“And then…”
I looked at the remaining words one by one.
There were no ‘clouds.’ It was a clear day without a single cloud.
There were no ‘jewels’ either. No ‘rainbows,’ and since we were outdoors, there were no ‘chairs’ or ‘windows.’
It wasn’t a ‘desert’ or a ‘volcano,’ and there were no ‘alcohol,’ ‘eggs,’ or ‘meat.’ There was no ‘electricity,’ and since we were by the sea, there was ‘water’ and ‘fish,’ but… if only one of these two was the answer, there wasn’t any way to narrow it down. In that case, it was better to aim for three cards each and bet on the next chance rather than aiming for four cards here.
So…
“The last card I take is this.”
I stretched my leg to ‘friendship’ and pressed down on the word.
“Oh… it’s correct.”
“Oh, wow! As expected! Amazing! To take four cards at once!”
…It seemed I was right. Now we had two cards left. Hunter’s team had three cards left. Well, it’s a good match, isn’t it?
“Hmm… I’m betting too! ‘Hamburger steak’ for three cards!”
“H-Hamburger steak, you say!? Then, ‘meat,’ right, and then ‘egg’… um, um, and the last one is…”
Marbello hesitated as he stared at the words.
The remaining words were ‘cloud, jewel, rainbow, chair, window, desert, volcano, alcohol, battery, water, fish.’ Now, if we think of ‘hamburger steak’ from these…
“Fish! This is it!”
Marbello confidently placed his hand on the word ‘fish.’ And then.
“Oh.”
“Oops. You messed up, Marbello.”
Hunter looked disappointed, and Ketorami smirked.
“Too bad. ‘Fish’ was a landmine.”
“What!? So that means we lost!?”
“Y-Yes…”
“It wasn’t fish hamburger steak!? Then what was it!? What was the answer!?”
“It was ‘window’…”
“Why window!?”
“Remember, when Maito made hamburger steak, a ball bounced off the window, and Maito was surprised.”
“I don’t get it!”
…Oh, right. There was that time with the drama club, wasn’t there? When we had a meal with those kids, I remember the menu had hamburger steak and panna cotta. Maito couldn’t go outside because balls were flying around, so she stayed inside the whole time. It was a bit pitiful.
“I don’t get it! I don’t understand this at all!”
“I’m sorry… but if we didn’t take three cards here, we probably would have lost. Because what Ketorami had left were ‘rainbow’ and ‘cloud.’ If he gave a hint like ‘sky,’ it would be obvious, right?”
Hmm. If that’s how the remaining cards were, then we could have won in the next turn.
…Then, I realized something interesting.
“By the way, Ketorami. You used a cute word like ‘friendship.'”
“Hah. Don’t be stupid. I meant ‘cloud (kumo)’ when I gave that hint.”
“It was a cloudless day.”
“I meant you, ‘Kumo.'”
Ah, that’s true. I am Harigumo, after all. ‘Kumo’ means spider.
…But there’s no way that’s true. Because if I had really taken ‘cloud’ there, the remaining words would have been ‘rainbow’ and ‘friendship.’ I can’t think of a hint that could feasibly get both of those at once. If he said ‘beautiful things,’ we might mistake it for ‘jewel,’ and if he said ‘intangible things,’ we might mistake it for ‘electricity.’ Ketorami couldn’t come up with anything better than that.
So, Ketorami definitely included ‘friendship’ in ‘that day.’ He had quite the look on his face, though.
“Oh, it was fun! We lost, but it was still enjoyable! Ketorami and Glida, you were amazing!”
“Hunter! How did I do?”
“It was fun!”
“I wanted you to say I was amazing! But that’s okay!”
Well, it looks like Hunter was satisfied, and he even managed to get a promise of “let’s play again!” Ketorami, who felt good about the win, agreed, and Marbello was always agreeable anyway. Me? Of course, I agreed. Hunter is cute… and I’m feeling good too.
“Hey, Ketorami.”
“What is it?”
The game ended, the moon rose, and Maito and the others started having dinner. While we were eating our own meals, I decided to tease Ketorami a little.
“You know, I was happy.”
See? Someone without composure freezes up just from that. It’s amusing.
“I thought I was the only one who still remembered that kind of thing.”
“…What kind of wind is blowing this time?”
“Don’t be silly. Even I can be a bit honest sometimes. Unlike you.”
Ketorami made a half-hearted threatening gesture, but it seemed to throw him off balance when I acted like this. He looked sulky and turned away.
“…After all, it’s a tangled relationship.”
And then he says something like that. He’s not straightforward. Not straightforward, but not a bad guy either.
“Oh. That’s not a straightforward way to put it.”
“Hah. Neither of us likes playing the good friends game.”
“That’s true. Well, whatever.”
And that was the end of that conversation. We went back to eating, gnawing on the meat we had hunted, and that was it.
…Well, that’s how it is. This is more than enough.
What we have between us isn’t like what Maito and the others have—a strong, fragile, patched-up, beautiful thing. Theirs is something they’ve chosen and worked hard for, especially Maito, who had to give up many other things for it. There must have been many events that made it naturally exist there.
On the other hand, what Ketorami and I have is just something that remained connected because there was nothing else. We didn’t choose it; we just happened not to throw it away.
…But I had a reason not to throw it away. Probably. And Ketorami, too, must have had reasons not to want to discard it.
So, what we have is different from the ‘friendship’ that Maito and the others have. But, well… this isn’t bad either, right?
Yes. I can’t help but think that. Tonight, I’m in a particularly good mood.