May 20, 20XX

  8:07 AM

  We were seated at our respective seats.

  What happened yesterday? What was that pitiful dispy? Was it my fault? Was it our fault?

  I shake my head out of frustration and sp my cheeks to convince myself.

  No! It isn’t! All those clues… Those subtle jabs at me. I’m sure of it. This is another trial given by the Author.

  I sigh.

  This was obvious from the beginning. Why did I not expect such?

  Although I wasn’t listening, I stare at the current subject teacher expining Venn diagrams.

  What should I do?

  Continuously tapping my head, I suddenly had an idea.

  Hold on. What is the Author trying to show here? The boys only have comedy while girls have comedy and moe. Of course, it is obvious that if I make the two groups fight with such standings, obviously, the boys are inevitably going to lose. So all I have to do is to set a game in which we do not fight against with such unfair odds.

  I bang my desk from euphoria.

  I am such a genius! Although, all that leaves is the question of what game or challenge will provide us with a winning victory against the girls. Unfortunately, I ck the information on the girls to truly determine what should be a winning challenge.

  I smirk.

  We don’t have to win immediately. I can lose now, gain information, and make a comeback ter. That’s right, it’s best out of 5. I should discuss what type of challenge to pick with my comrades ter.

  …

  ..

  .

  12:00 NN, Lunchtime

  Ring. Ring.

  The school bell rings.

  I take action instantly and stand up then approach Masaru. He turns his attention to me.

  “What is it, Kibe?”

  “Let’s discuss the challenge we will give to the girls in the cafeteria.”

  “Why can’t we discuss it on the rooftop?”

  “The rooftop is what we’re fighting for. We can’t exactly just come up there like it’s ours for the time being. They might hit us with penalties otherwise.”

  Besides, I’m already pnning to py things dirty. Author knows whether or not I’m doing nasty things. Best to keep my hands clean before the actual event. I know he’s going to give me karma if I get too dirty.

  He groans.

  “I guess, it’s only right.”

  “Come on, I’ll invite the others,” I insist.

  Masaru rises from his seat and departs. Following with what my promise, I invite the others with me to the cafeteria telling them the same thing.

  …

  ..

  .

  We settle around a rectangur table.

  Madoka prepares his lunch box and opens it. However, it wasn’t the appropriate time to eat so I sp his hand to mind his manners.

  “BUT IT’S LUNCH!!!” Madoka yells.

  “Tsk. Tsk. It may look like lunch, but that is its outward design. Right now, is the time to prepare our comeback, so no eating until we settle on it,” I tell him.

  “So what kind of challenge do we give the girls?” Masaru questions, “Any suggestions?”

  Takashi raises his hand.

  “Yes?” Masaru queries.

  “A dark joke competition,” Takashi suggests.

  “Rejected. Only you can do those types of jokes, Takashi. Any more suggestions?”

  “A running competition?” Katsuro insists.

  “Are any of us athletes?” I ask.

  There was utter silence. Clearly, if there was any one of us that was an athlete, they wouldn’t be here in the first pce.

  “But are any of the other girls, athletes?” Katsuro prepares as a counterargument.

  “Doesn’t matter when the lot of you are shut-ins.”

  Including me. In anime, it doesn’t matter how healthy you are or how much grass you touched. If you are a shut-in as a characteristic, you will have less stamina, just because 10 minutes of sitting eliminates an hour of jogging. Anime logic at its finest. I find it highly unlikely for the girls to have a shut-in, I mean characteristic wise anyway.

  “More suggestions?” I question.

  Masaru speaks out, “Ah! I got one. How about Snakes & Ladders?”

  A game of chance? This early in the challenge?

  “Are there any other suggestions?”

  “Don’t Snakes & Ladders like… rely almost entirely on the dice? Doesn’t that mean we’re just gonna stare our asses off as chance decides our fate?” Madoka retorts.

  “While I agree with your take, it’s precisely because that it is chance-based, almost entirely so.”

  Yeah, now that I think about it chance-based games might be the way to go. Eliminates almost every ounce of skill that has to do with the challenge.

  “What does that mean?”

  “What I’m saying is… we’re pretty much underhanded in almost every other way. I’d say we have a better chance winning on chance-based compared to games that rely on skill or talent. So… anymore suggestions?”

  They try to conjure up a better challenge, but fail to do so.

  If only I could open our stats right now… Initially being the sole mob character of this world, my luck probably isn’t so high. But then there’s not much moe has a py here. People would pay to see crying girls rather than crying boys because it’s cute, so I have to say we might have the upper hand here. Audience probably has a hand here.

  “Alright, let’s go with Snakes & Ladders,” I state.

  If only this was a System type of story… I could abuse the hell out of that system.

  1:00 PM

  Ring. Ring.

  The school bell rings.

  How… Wh-What is the concept of time in the Slice-of-Life world?!

  Grrr. Grrr.

  Our stomachs grumble loudly.

  “So… anyone up for another eating competition?” I ask.

  They all raise their hands.

  …

  ..

  .

  4:00 PM, After School

  We meet up in front of the gates once more.

  “Uh, why do we have to keep meeting in front of the gates when we go to the same css?” Masaru asks.

  “I have to agree on this one, Ran-chan, why can’t we just go to our cssroom?” Mari queries.

  Ran thought deeply and gives us her honest reply.

  “For dramatic effect!”

  We all face palm at this moment.

  Note: That’s my girl!

  “So, you boys find the appropriate challenge this time around?” Rin asks.

  “Oh yes, we did,” Madoka answers.

  “We chose Snake & Ladders,” Masaru responds.

  “Mmm, honestly I expected something more exhirating,” Mari comments.

  “Wh-Where do we get the materials?” Yuka asks timidly.

  “Easy. We break in to one of the clubs and merely borrow a set of the board game,” I answer.

  Katsuro touches my shoulders.

  “That… is a splendid idea!”

  “NO, IT IS NOT! WHAT IF WE GET CAUGHT?!” Mari grunts.

  That’s your concern? Not so morally inclined now, are we?

  “Don’t worry, you can put your trust in us,” I boast.

  …

  ..

  .

  We were inside the Game Club’s room and true to its name, the room is filled to the brim by board games. I search one by one.

  Shogi, no. Chess, no. Checkers, no. Deck of cards, no. Ah!

  I find the Snake & Ladders board and snatch it from the pile.

  “There we go!”

  I show it to them.

  “Let’s bring it back to the cssroom, we’ll py there.”

  …

  ..

  .

  We head back to our cssroom. I sit on my chair and they gather around me. They bring the nearby chairs near mine to sit down.

  I open the board and it was the standard set-up along with 1 die, and 9 pawn-like pieces with the colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, bck, and white.

  My brows were brought together in confusion to the number of pieces.

  Aren’t there supposed to be only 4? How are there miraculously 9 pieces?

  I shake my head.

  Don’t let it get to your head. You know who’s responsible for this.

  “Come on guys and er… gals? Pick your color,” I tell them.

  The colors were chosen as followed:

  Masaru got red. Madoka got orange. Katsuro wanted to be the die, but we reject that notion, so he got yellow. Takashi got green. Mari got blue. Rin got indigo. Ran got violet. Yuka got white. I got bck, unsurprisingly, the symbol of bad luck.

  “Anyway, do we decide who wins by this challenge?” Mari questions.

  “Hmm, good point,” Masaru responds.

  “H-How about wh-when one of us wins, we calcute the final standings, and then average them out?” Yuka insists.

  “That’s our little cupcake!” Ran says as she rubs her hair, “What do you all say?”

  We all nod in agreement.

  “How will the order of turns be decided?” Rin asks.

  “By the order of the rainbow, then bck and white!” I suggest.

  “You cheat, that would make it so most of the boys are first,” Mari answers.

  Worth a shot.

  “How about we alternate boys and girls?” Takashi suggests.

  “That is fair,” Rin answers.

  Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy. Eh, it’s banced all right.

  “I’ll do the honor of speeding up the process of choosing so I’ll assign the order in which we will go.”

  The order was as followed: Katsuro, Ran, Madoka, Yuka, Masaru, Rin, Takashi, Mari, Me.

  …

  ..

  .

  Turn 1

  Katsuro immediately grabs the die. He rolled it on the board. He got a 1.

  “Lucky!”

  He pces the yellow piece on Tile 1 and there were dders that led him to Tile 38.

  Ran takes the die. She rols it on the board and got a 6.

  “Good enough.”

  She pces the violet piece on Tile 6.

  Madoka grasps the die and did the same as those before him. He got a 4.

  He pces the orange piece on Tile 4 and there were dders that led him to Tile 14.

  It was Yuka’s turn and she rolls the die. She got a 4.

  “Haughhh…”

  Her results were the same as Madoka and she scooches aside his piece so both could fit in the same tile.

  It was Masaru’s turn and he rolls the die. He got a 5, so he pces the red piece on the corresponding tile.

  Rin got a 5, so the indigo piece was there.

  Takashi got a 4, so he pces the violet piece on 14 since there were dders.

  Mari got a 6, so she pces the blue piece there.

  Finally, it was my turn.

  I grab the die from her and I roll it on the board. It fell off the board and onto the ground, because of course, it did. I came to grab it and saw the number on the top of the die. It read 2.

  I take the die with me and gnce at the board where I was supposed to be. It was just a 2, no dders.

  I groan.

  This is gonna be a long game, isn’t it?

  Final Standings: Katsuro - 38, Takashi, Madoka, and Yuka - 14, Mari and Ran - 6, Masaru and Rin - 5, Me - 2.

  END OF EPISODE 22