…Yes! Just as Suzumoto and I scored points, let me explain! Right now, we are playing ‘Telepathy’!
It all started when we were waiting for food and talking about who we would team up with if we played analog games in pairs. Well, everyone agreed on ‘Hagasaki or President for Werewolf,’ ‘Toriumi or Kadomi for reading people games,’ ‘Suzumoto or Katori for long-thinking games,’ ‘Hariu (that’s me!) for quick response games,’ ‘Maito for trivia games,’ and ‘Kariya for silly games.’
…Up to that point, it was fine.
Then, Toriumi started saying,
“But, well, if we say ‘form pairs,’ one person will be left out with this group.”
Such a cruel thing to say!
“Alright, let’s start the game.”
“Cruel! President is super cruel!”
“Don’t worry. The possibility of ‘four pairs being formed and one person left out’ in this game is extremely low.”
President’s response to Toriumi’s statement! The game is fine, but wasn’t there something else we could do!?
So, we started the game. The game we’re playing is called ‘Telepathy’ or ‘Gemini.’
“Alright, let me explain the rules. The leader gives a topic. Everyone writes down a word associated with the topic. If ‘two people’ write the same word, those two get points. If it’s just one person, no points; if it’s three or more, no points either. That’s it!”
“It’s great that you only need paper and pen.”
“We have paper!”
“We have pens too!”
So, we started the game in a super casual manner, but is this really okay?
“By the way, the time limit is until the meat in the oven is done. When it’s done, the game ends, and we eat.”
…Well, fine. It’s a game to pass the time while waiting for food… No, not fine! The smell from the oven is incredibly delicious! I’m starving! So hungry! I can’t focus on the game, but it takes time for the meat to be done, so this is torture! What is this!?
So, the game began. Strangely, once the game starts, hunger becomes less important. Haha.
“…So, for the topic ‘summer,’ two people wrote ‘watermelon,’ three people wrote ‘sea,’ one person wrote ‘air conditioner,’ one person wrote ‘summer vacation,’ one person wrote ‘sun,’ and one person wrote ‘irresistible mermaid legs.’ …It varied more than expected.”
“If you’re too afraid of having three or more people match, you won’t score at all.”
“If you don’t take the risk of getting hurt, you’ll end up alone!”
“Just like human relationships!”
Maito and Toriumi are summing it up nicely, but well, yeah, something like that.
Surprisingly, one word associated with a topic doesn’t often match with others. Yeah.
…Hmm, I need to write something more likely that everyone else would write.
“Alright, the next topic is ‘maid.'”
“Maito. Maito. Hey, wait.”
“It’s ‘maid.'”
“Hey, someone bring Maito back to her senses!”
“No, no, no! I’m sane! I’m totally sane!”
Maito is asserting her sanity, but in my head, the saying “A mad person can’t realize they’re mad” is bouncing around. Haha. …Well, it feels like this applies to almost everyone in this group.
“When you hear ‘maid,’ what do you guys think of?”
“Well… ah.”
Maito smiled slyly at Hagasaki’s hesitant, reluctant expression.
“You can imagine me if you want! But if you’re simply told ‘maid,’ there should be other things you can think of! Associating it with me is fine! Predicting that everyone will avoid me and taking a different route is also fine! This is a brilliant topic that provokes advanced mind-reading!”
Ah, I see.
When there’s an obvious answer, it’s fun to either focus on it or avoid it. Yeah.
There are mind games with other topics too, but with a topic like this, there’s an ‘obviously focal word’ that everyone sees, so it makes the clash more predictable.
“Alright, let’s go! Open!”
And the results!
…
“Okay, ‘cafe’ got 2 votes. Congrats to Toriumi and Kadomi.”
“Yay!”
“Yay!”
First, the two who successfully avoided the obvious pitfall and met up. Yeah, I get it.
“Next, President wrote ‘Maito’ and I wrote ‘me,’ so that counts as the same, right?”
“I think so. Points for me and Maito.”
Next, the two who stepped on the obvious landmine and survived. Well, these two are the craziest in the group, so it makes sense.
“Continuing, Katori wrote ‘Tokoyo’ and Kariya wrote ‘Tokoyo-chan,’ so they get points. …We got quite a few pairs this time.”
Unexpectedly, the third pair was formed. Isn’t this statistically amazing?
“I predicted Katori would write ‘Tokoyo-chan’ and wrote it myself!”
“Oh, so you read the person. Yeah, if you know exactly what someone will write, that works too.”
It’s surprising that Kariya succeeded in reading someone. Right?
“And finally, Suzumoto who wrote ‘apron,’ Hariu who wrote ‘cooking,’ and Hagasaki who wrote ‘weak’ get no points. By the way, Hagasaki.”
“What?”
“This game isn’t about insulting the topic, you know?”
“Huh? Who said it was about you?”
“Wow, Hagasaki is saying things like a grade-schooler!”
…Hagasaki overthought it, and Suzumoto and I went too safe. This is tough!
“Next topic is ‘a number from 1 to 10.'”
“Is that kind of topic allowed?”
“I guess it’s fine. It could vary a lot or it could match. It might be tricky because it’s unpredictable.”
But, well, isn’t this the ultimate in mind reading? For me, it is!
“Results are in… surprising.”
“Yeah. Right?”
“Suzumoto, Hariu, Maito, and Toriumi wrote ‘0’ and get no points. Why did you choose 0?”
“Just felt like it.”
“Because I thought Suzumoto would write it!”
“Because Suzumoto was likely to write it.”
“Yeah, because Suzumoto seemed like he’d write it.”
We tried reading Suzumoto, but it didn’t work! Everyone focused solely on Suzumoto! This is tough!
“So, Kadomi and Katori, who wrote ‘3,’ get points. Hagasaki, who wrote ‘2,’ Kariya, who wrote ‘8,’ and I, who wrote ‘9,’ get no points.”
Hmm, I wanted to score here. I need to consider both ‘the people others might read’ and ‘the ones only I might read.’
“Okay, next topic: ‘Cute outfits for girls.'”
“What?”
“‘Cute outfits for girls.'”
“…What?”
Everyone’s ears were in disbelief, but Toriumi stayed calm. Haha.
“Well, we all pretty much know each other’s tastes, right? So, I thought it might be interesting?”
“Is this a witch hunt?”
“Everyone here is a witch. Everyone’s being hunted. Everyone is a target.”
“So it’s just a mutual killing.”
…Yeah, well, it’s fine to do something like this once in a while. Haha.
“Alright, results time. First, Kadomi and I, who wrote ‘blazer,’ get points!”
“…Yeah.”
“Kadomi, you mentioned it before.”
Well, this one was easy to understand, so I avoided it this time. Toriumi thought others would avoid it and targeted it. Impressive.
“Next, President and Suzumoto, who wrote ‘thick clothes,’ get points.”
“You aimed for me.”
“Yeah. And I didn’t lie to myself.”
These two are secretly perverted. Haha.
“I didn’t expect Hagasaki and Hariu to score with ‘yukata.'”
“I thought someone would write it.”
“I thought Suzumoto or Maito would write it.”
We paired up with completely unexpected choices. Haha. Well, that happens. Lucky.
“…So, Maito wrote ‘cheongsam.'”
“I couldn’t lie to myself. I knew no one else would write it, but I chose this path anyway. No regrets.”
“Kariya wrote ‘white dress.'”
“Add a straw hat to it!”
“Katori wrote ‘glasses.'”
“Why didn’t anyone else write this!? It’s weird!”
Seeing Katori pounding the desk with his fists made me laugh. Haha.
“Wait, are glasses clothing?”
“Ah, targeting Katori was an option too.”
“It’s too obvious to target, though.”
Right. Well, this topic had more active mind games than ‘maid.’
Topics where we all know the answers have their own charm.
“Okay, next topic. The topic is ‘school teacher.'”
Next, it was my turn to be the topic giver, so I chose something that might bring back some fond memories.
“A school teacher, huh. …Come to think of it, I’ve almost forgotten everything we learned in class. When we return to our world, will we be able to live properly?”
“Yeah… I’ve also forgotten what integrals are.”
“Maito, do you use 2B?”
“Even if I don’t use it, I should still study for the exams. Better to be prepared than not.”
“I don’t feel like I can read English anymore… I wish I had a ‘translation’ skill.”
…Somehow, we started reminiscing about not-so-fun memories!
I gathered myself and started the game. We opened the results.
And then…
“…No way.”
“Yay, we’re all best friends!”
“I tried to think outside the box…”
“Well… these things happen. Right?”
…All nine of us wrote “Mr. Hibiki.” Yeah.
“I wonder how Mr. Hibiki is doing.”
“If Mr. Hibiki were here, I’d be confident in feeding him a lot…”
“Yeah, that teacher sure can eat…”
“And laughs a lot.”
“Frequently goes missing.”
“His presence is funny.”
“His classes are interesting.”
“He’s a good singer.”
“Can cook well.”
“He’s tall.”
“And he weighs a lot.”
…Well, we started saying things that were both compliments and criticisms, but it just shows how important Mr. Hibiki is to us!
Ah… I’m feeling a bit homesick, or maybe school-sick, or teacher-sick…
After playing for a little longer, the meat was ready, and it was time to eat. It’s strange, but when a big chunk of meat is right in front of you, you suddenly feel hungry. Even though I wasn’t hungry while we were playing the game. Haha.
“When you roast a big piece of meat slowly in the oven, it’s juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. It’s a luxury that’s hard to experience in Japan, where thinly sliced meat is more common…”
“…I bet Mr. Hibiki could eat this whole chunk by himself.”
“No way, that’s impossible.”
“Actually. The average human stomach capacity is about 2 liters, and this meat looks to be about that volume. If it physically fits, I bet Mr. Hibiki could eat it.”
“How many grams is 2 liters of meat…?”
“About 2100 grams or so… If it has less fat, it would be heavier, but fattier meat is harder to eat.”
“If someone ate that much meat alone, they’d be a monster.”
Mr. Hibiki isn’t here, but if he were, he’d probably laugh and say, ‘You guys are so rude.’
…When we return to our world, I want to play this game with Mr. Hibiki and everyone else. Yeah.
T/N: We finally got a name for the chemistry club advisor! Yaayyy!
