My imaginary friend is way too lucky.

  Which leaves me with no other choice but to use underhanded means.

  There is simply too much riding on this game, I can’t afford to lose.

  I throw the dice as her proxy and prepare for my first nefarious plan.

  Her train slides across the board under my guidance and is set to pass right past my hotel without stopping.

  Well, not if I can help it, if I can’t get customers to stay in that place I might as well get some insurance money.

  Anything is better than going bankrupt, and all I have to do is stage it as an accident..

  With a slight twitch of my finger, the train drives straight into the building and it collapses helplessly.

  The miniature train topples on its side as well.

  My first plan is a success, I’ll get the insurance money instead of this empty hotel and she might lose a few turns due to repairs.

  “What did you do that for?”

  “I-insurance.”

  “Okay, I’m not interested in buying that land so fix the hotel and play your turn.”

  As usual when we play games, Ami refuses to break character.

  Like a true tycoon, she simply brushes off the horrific deaths of those involved in the incident and thinks of nothing but profit.

  No vigil or prayer or even a small donation fund for me to embezzle from.

  Truly a cold hearted corporate mastermind.

  I return the little hotel back into place and roll the dice, which directs me to the prison.

  My perfect plan failed, how could this be?

  I can’t believe I have already been caught, crime really doesn't pay.

  “Nice, now I can build a hotel here.”

  Great, while I’m dealing with the consequence of my insurance fraud, she is continuing to build her assets and abusing her abnormal luck.

  I have no place left in the outside world, let me stay in this cell forever.

  “Argh, how much do I owe you?”

  She actually landed on one of my hotels, I can finally get some money!

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  I don’t think such a miracle will repeat itself in this game, so I should add a few zeros to the bill this time.

  Hmmm, thirty-five million sounds about right, it will give me decent room to haggle.

  I’ll just reach over and grab the money real quick.

  “You know the rules, you can’t take the money without telling me the price properly.”

  It’s perfectly possible to play this game without me saying a single word, but of course she wouldn’t have that.

  I have gotten a bit better at talking to her thanks to all these games we’ve been playing and the rules she keeps adding to them, but right now it would be super embarrassing to say thirty-five million out loud.

  Let me cheat in silence, it’s not a lot to ask for.

  Maybe I should just give up on padding the bill, if only we hadn’t made that bet.

  The war over my vocal cords ended with her obvious victory, and now the war over my stomach has started to take shape.

  Honestly, cooking for myself, where does she even get such horrifying ideas from?

  Well, maybe I should go with a more reasonable number instead so she is less likely to object.

  “M-million.”

  “That will definitely end the game, if you want to stop playing we can just call this my win and do something else.”

  You are supposed to haggle so we could meet in the middle.

  Well, that would have ended the game anyway so her response would have probably been the same.

  I’ll just take the three-hundred and fifty she owes me and prepare for my next insidious plan.

  My prison sentence ends and the outside world looks as hostile as ever.

  I miss my comfy cell, can’t I be a shut-in in the game as well?

  The dice rolls across the board and the money I miraculously earned returns straight to her imaginary clutches.

  “Can I buy this land?”

  I want to say no, because that will be disastrous for me.

  But in the interest of resting my vocal cords while the rules permit, I reluctantly allow it.

  I search for the right card in the deck, take the necessary funds from her side of the board, and sneakily take out the top hat piece from inside the box.

  The preparations for my last plan are complete, and Ami is none the wiser.

  The dice fly high in the air, but my little ship starts moving without waiting for their instruction.

  Ami’s train, now wearing the top hat, rotates in place and awaits the arrival of its beautiful partner.

  That’s right, they are eloping. you may now kiss the bride.

  With the ship and the train now married I take all my assets and move next to Ami.

  “What are you doing now?”

  “M-married.”

  “The ship and the train got married?”

  Exactly, and no prenup either, this game is a tie.

  “Alright, this hotel has a really nice restaurant, we need to roll a six to give them a nice wedding so roll the dice Mai.”

  I was under the impression that my whole marriage plan would end the game but it seems I was wrong.

  The dice land on a five and a three, leading the newlyweds to a much more expensive hotel down the road.

  “Love is a relentless emotion, regardless of gender, race, machinery, or preferred fuel source, it still finds a way to bloom in this happy couple. Even if one of you belongs on the rails and the other on the waves, I wish for you that your love will never relent and that you will find happiness.”

  Ami finishes her speech and looks annoyed at the lack of applause, but in my opinion it just wasn’t that moving.

  I skip my turn with the imaginary microphone, and We send the happy couple on their honeymoon in front of a computer screen showing random views from around the world.

  Our bet remains unsettled, but everyone seems happy with the ending so It’s probably fine this way.