After the lessons, as n.o.buki was packing up his textbooks and notes, he said to Chiemi,

"Let's go!"

"Right! I haven't gone to your place for some time now. I'm really looking forward to it."

When they got to the door, n.o.buaki bowed deeply and welcomed Chiemi like a housekeeper.

"Welcome to my humble abode, princess."

"Hey! That's rude! I've been here a lot of times already. There's no need to do this anymore."

"Hey, Chiemi, long time no see! Are you coming to play today?" n.o.buaki's mum asked.

"Long time no see, Ma'am. Yeah, I'm coming over to play."

"Do you want me to bring your dinner to n.o.buaki's room?"

"Eh? Wouldn't that be too troublesome?"

Having heard what n.o.buaki's mum had said, Chiemi rubbed her hands joyfully.

"No it wouldn't be troublesome! I will bring it up in a bit."

"Thanks, ma'am!"

The two of them talked while n.o.buaki took off his shoes.

"Ah, Chiemi, it's wonderful that you can stay over tonight."

"Is it?! It's gratifying to hear you say so."

n.o.buaki and Chiemi kept playing video games till dinner. After dinner, they did a bit of their homework and slipped into their sleeping bags. At that moment, both of their cell phones began to ring.

n.o.buaki poked his head out of the blanket and looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was midnight. He turned to look at Chiemi and his eyes met hers.

"Is it the King's message again?"

"I'm afraid so..."

"Do we still have to play? This is such a stupid game! What is it this time?!"

He crawled out of the sleeping bag and took a look at the message on his phone.

"Is this for real?"

n.o.buaki's eyes met Chiemi's again.

"Hideki is chosen again. But this time, Hideki..."

"-will be delighted, right?"

"Yeah... Although Satomi isn't beautiful, but she sure is cute, right?"

"Yes, she's cute."

n.o.buaki lay on his sleeping blanket and read the message again.

"Hideki will be happy to follow the command—this must be the King's plan to make us continue playing the game!"

"But isn't it bad for Satomi?"

n.o.buaki sat up and declared.

"This is the end of the game. No more King's games tomorrow! What happened to Yuuko yesterday won't happen again."

"Yeah! I agree."

The next day, the two of them arrived at school a bit earlier than usual. When they arrived at the cla.s.sroom, Hideki was already sitting on the teacher's desk as if waiting for his cla.s.smates' arrival.

When he saw them coming in, he waved to them.

"Good morning!" Hideki welcomed them with a smile; a smile that betrayed his underlying intention.

"Why did you come to school so early today?"

Hideki grinned.

"Because I'm so motivated today! The command today is for me to [touch Satomi's breast]! I didn't really want to play this game actually, but I can't disobey the King's command. So there!"

Seeing him in such high spirits, n.o.buaki was startled.

"Isn't this too going too far? The King's Game already scared Yuuko to tears yesterday."

"What!? Yesterday was a nightmare for me! But tonight I'll sleep well."

Listening to his exhilarated tone, n.o.buaki could not help but feel a bit sad and sighed.

"Say, when will the King's Game end?"

"When the King stops sending messages!"

"Are you nuts? Just stop playing. I thought that it was funny at first, but, when I saw Yuuko yesterday..."

"Who cares!"

"Cut the c.r.a.p! What if you received a command that made you scared? What would you do then?"

"We'll see then!"

Their cla.s.smates came in one by one while they were talking.

"You're so stubborn! You breast-maniac!"

"Yeah I am. So what?"

There was no way n.o.buaki could persuade him otherwise.

"When will Satomi come?"

"Oh dear. You're helpless. Satomi might as well skip the whole day."

The other cla.s.smates seemed to be looking forward to the King's Game today.

Hideki shouted in the cla.s.sroom.

"The King's command is absolute!"

Speechless, n.o.buaki said nothing and returned to his seat to wait for Satomi.

10 minutes pa.s.sed and she had not shown up. It was already time for the morning a.s.sembly.

The teacher entered the cla.s.sroom and stood before the desk, saying, "Is.h.i.+ Satomi is sick today. She will be absent so that she can recuperate at home."

Hideki kicked away his chair and stood up abruptly.

"Don't play with me! She must be pretending to be sick!"

Annoyed by the outburst, the teacher sternly reprimanded him, "What are you doing?! Sit down and be quiet!"

Hideki fixed his chair, and at his wit's end, sat on it unwillingly.

"I'm sorry. Is this all right..."

After the morning a.s.sembly, Mami ran to his side and with his voice dripping with sarcasm, said, "That's too bad! You were so excited for today that you came to school early! Did Satomi escape your grasp? I think she must hate you. No girl would ever let you touch her b.r.e.a.s.t.s!"

"Mind your own business!"

Meanwhile, n.o.buaki was whispering to Chiemi.

"Do you think Satomi pretended to be sick?"

"Definitely! She wouldn't want to be touched by that guy. Poor girl."

Nothing special happened that day.

Normally, the Ousama Game (Kings Game) is played by five to six friends. Now n.o.buaki's entire cla.s.s, consisting of 32 people, is in the game, which is a bit too many players.

Back home, n.o.buaki went into his room and sprawled on the blankets for a while.

"Fuuu~ I'm so tired today."

Having thought of something, he quickly got up to retrieve his phone from his school bag. He quick checked for new messages and then he phoned Hideki.

"Hideki? h.e.l.lo?"

A lot of noise was on the other side of the phone so he could not hear what Hideki was saying.

"What...do you...want?"

"Hey! Did you run off to play Pac.h.i.n.ko[1]? I can hear the sounds of shuffling tiles[2]. Highschoolers shouldn't go play Pac.h.i.n.ko, you idiot! I'm hanging up!"

n.o.buaki turned off his phone and threw it on top of his blanket. Because he didn't receive the [obedience confirmed] message, he wanted to ask Hideki whether he had followed the command or not. He could not imagine that Hideki had already gone nuts and ignored it completely. Forget it—he thought—I don't care anymore.

After some time, he opened his eyes and stared at the clock—it was already 11:30 p.m.

"Dammit! I've slept too long! Why didn't mum wake me up?"

Midnight would arrive in 10 minutes. Would the King still send a message now? He took out his phone.

[1 Message]

"Mmm? Who sent it? The King's message should be sent at midnight at 00:00."

He opened the message to take a look.

"What? What is 5 minutes left? Does it mean that today will end in five minutes?"

He lay on the blanket, holding his phone and staring at its screen.

Then another message came.

Huh? This is the first time I'd seen this message, n.o.buaki thought back. In the messages the King sent before, the King mentioned that [the King's command must be done within 24 hours], so would this be... a countdown timer?

He wanted to look at what was written in yesterday's message, but before he could press the b.u.t.ton, he received another message.

"What's going on? What's this message about?! The punishment for Hideki and Satomi is to be 'hung by the neck'? What does this mean?"