https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9531ga/88/
Episode 5: King’s Game
I returned from the bathroom feeling both physically and mentally calm, yet when I reached the clubroom door, my hand hesitated.
I have a feeling that when I open this door, something is going to happen….
Maybe it’s just me being paranoid since this past week going into today has been a never-ending succession of yuri events, but….I’ve got this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s not something that should be ignored.
If they continue where we left off and up the explicitly, I’ll be in huge trouble….this isn’t the pretty, gentle yuri romance I imagined. It’s a grouping of perverted, lesbian eroticism.
Well, I guess a person trying to gather a bunch of girls into their own harem would be counted as a perverted lesbian as well.
I took an anxious breath in front of the clubroom’s door, the lively conversations from inside leaking out. I turned the handle.
“Welcome back vegetables!”1
“….I’m back vegetables?”
“You don’t need to copy the vegetables bit!”
“Then why’d you say it in the first place?”
Honoka gave me a weird greeting as I opened the door. She immediately got at showing me the bundle of disposable chopsticks she had in her hand and started waving them in the air.
“Hey Yu-Yu-chan! Let’s play the King’s Game!”
“King’s Game?”
“That’s right! Let’s have us a power struggle!”
“King of…..Games…..”
She was excitedly hopping around in place. Has she completely forgotten about her sexual harassment from earlier? I mean, that works for me, but the way her brain always jumps from one point to another makes it hard for me to keep up. And Yuzuriha, you should really be careful about calling yourself the ‘King of Games’. People are going to want to start duelling you.
But Honoka’s idea….playing the King’s Game. It’s that game where….uh….you pull the stick and then…..give orders? My memories a little fuzzy on the details.
“I’ve already assigned the numbers, so let’s do it!”
“The preparations are complete?”
“Oh yeah! It’s perfect!”
While I was gone, it looked like the girls had cleaned up the table, and now an assortment of tea, pocky, and potato chips were laid out across…..there was also a bag of gummies sitting in front of Honoka, but since they were just in front of her and nobody else, I’m guessing I shouldn’t touch them.
“I have only ever seen the King’s Game played in manga, so this will be exciting.”
“I’ve never played before either.”
Saki and Ranko got involved readily enough as well, even sounding motivated to play with everyone. Ok, sure. I really wanted to do some one on one bonding with the girls, but there’s nothing wrong with having fun with everyone instead.
♠
“Who’s the king?”
Following Honoka’s lead, everyone picked out one of the disposable chopsticks she was holding. I looked to see what number I pulled, but there wasn’t one there. The chopstick was blank save for a bit of green colored on the front.
My eyes turned curiously to Honoka, wondering if she had made some kind of mistake.
“……So who is supposed to be the king?”
“Heh? Red obviously!”
“Is it obvious, or is it because you’re holding the red stick?”
When I asked point blank like that, Honoka showed me the red disposable chopstick that was left in her hand.
“Everyone knows leaders always wear red! That’s why red means king!”
“Then you should say that before we’ve started pulling out the chopsticks. It sounds unfair doing it otherwise…..”
It is true that I can usually imagine a king wearing a red cape though.
“So from one to four, we have orange, green, blue, and purple?”
“Perfect, Ran-tan’s a genius!”
“Well yes”
“Don’t ‘well yes’ that…..”
But I can understand the order at least. It’s like organizing your colored pencils. I always have a hard time figuring out where I should put the pink and purple pencils though.
“Continue…..hurry…..”
Yuzuriha banged her hands on the desk, urging us to get going. She was more excited for the game than any of us.
“All right, Honoka’s the king…..go ahead and give your order.”
“Round one”
“A test run~”
“I’m up first!”
After accepting Saki and Ranko’s go ahead as well, Honoka closed her eyes and fell into silence. She thought deeply about what her order would be before opening them back up again.
“In that case, I Honoka-sama, shall bestow my orders on you fools. Slave number two!”
“That’s a queen, not a king. It’s different!”2
“Heheh! Nice tsukkomi Yu-chan.”
“T-Thanks….”
Honoka gave me a thumbs up while gesturing with her arm as if she were swinging a whip, so I responded without thinking.
That’s when Ranko raised her hand with a suggestion.
“Wouldn’t it be better to call people out by color rather than number?”
“Ah….I didn’t think of that….”
“How?”
It’s really hard to tell with this girl whether she’s acting silly on purpose or is simply legitimately being airheaded.
“Then let’s start over. From pink to black?”
“There is no pink or black!”
“Jordan, Jordan.3 You are going to be in trouble if you underestimate me.”
“I’m not underestimating anyone. There are plenty of examples I can think of with you being a fool….”
“Hmmmm—!? Are you calling me an idiot!?”
Honoka gave an exaggerated pout over what I muttered. Why is it that she is able to so often ignore what I’m usually saying, yet she keys right in during times like this….
“Hurry….!”
Thankfully for me, there was someone right next to her who was pouting for real. Our mascot Yuzurin was very excited to get this game started.
“We did go through all the trouble getting everything ready, so it would be best to get going.”
“Ugh….I got yelled at by Yuzurin….”
Only made to feel more guilty from Saki’s blunt reprimand, Honoka became dejected. That didn’t last long though as she bounced right back to her excitable self as if nothing had happened.
“All right, let’s go! My order is….”
She made a big show of waving her arm. Then she paused to look at me, and a big grin crossed her face…..?
“Green must kiss the king!”
- Another random pun. Okaeri nasai is a formal way to say welcome back. Honoka says Okaeri yasai = Welcome back vegetables instead.
- It’s an SM joke.
- This is a good time to point out that Honoka likes to say a bunch of random things. If Jordan is supposed to be a reference, I don’t know what it is, and I think she’s just saying it to be random.
Experimental Translations 