Golden Festival Day 24
Kagura burst into the living room like a meteor of pure chaos: "GAME NIGHT!!"
Chifuyu nearly fell off the couch. Iris jolted so hard her hoodie string flew into her mouth. Diego, who had been doing push-ups, froze mid-rep. Shinatsu closed her eyes in resignation. Ariel dropped the donut she'd been sneaking from the pantry.
Yuji, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow: "…Again?"
Kagura: "Yes again! Odd Jobs Rule #7: A house that does not play together decays together."
Shinatsu: "I didn't know we had rules."
Nicholas: "So, what are we playing?"
Kagura slammed a stack of boxes on the table—so many board games, some still wrapped, some dusty, all equally suspicious: "Everything."
Chifuyu stood and stretched: "Alright, let's do it. Someone play music."
Beatrice put on a playlist of serene piano tunes through the speakers.
Caesar: "Wrong kind."
Beatrice switched to intense battle shounen OSTs at full volume.
Kagura: "That's more like it."
Ariel kicked her feet excitedly: "I'm going to win!"
Yuji: "We'll see about that."
Iris: "I wanna win a game this time..."
Diego: "There must always be a loser, young Iris."
Chifuyu: "Diego's right. No celebrating second place for anyone this time. There's only victors, and those who stand at the victor's mercy."
Ariel: "Those are fighting words, Chifuyu."
Yuji: "That it is, hope your ready for a pummeling."
Kagura: "Let's get this show on the road."
The table was set. Snacks were placed. Drinks filled.
Game night had begun.
The first game: Kings of Kingdoms, a strategy card game where players built armies, sabotaged others, and tried to conquer the board. Kagura shuffled with suspicious enthusiasm and passed out cards.
Chifuyu squinted: "You're smiling too much."
Kagura: "It's called confidence, Chifuyu."
Chifuyu: "Hm."
Shinatsu whispered: "Keep an eye on her."
The game started.
Ariel: "Ah! I conquered a village!"
Diego: "I got a dragon!"
Nicholas: "Strategically, this game is all probability and—"
Kagura slapped down a card that somehow destroyed three players' armies, conquered half the board, revived her dead units, and gave her a bonus card that she somehow always had.
Diego: "How… did you—?"
Kagura flipped her hair proudly: "Skill."
Yuji narrowed his eyes: "Mm-hmm."
Beatrice placed her cards down: "I was under the impression this game did not allow multi-stage actions."
Nicholas: "It doesn't."
Ariel: "Kagura's too good!"
Kagura grinned wider. The round ended with her complete domination.
Diego whispered: "Dude. She definitely sold her soul to win that."
The second game: Castle of Lies was a board game built on one simple premise:
Trust no one.
Naturally, this made it the single worst possible game for Odd Jobs to play. The board itself was ornate—miniature towers, hidden compartments, cards full of lies, alliances, betrayals, and the promise that someone at the table would walk away hated. The rulebook was thick, smug, and written with the confidence of someone who had ruined friendships before.
Caesar: "This game sounds fun."
Kagura smiled sweetly from across the table. Too sweetly.
Iris clutched her cards like they might bite her: "I-I don't like games where people lie…"
Diego: "They're the most fun.
Shinatsu read the rules once, twice, then closed the book: "This is a terrible idea."
Beatrice sipped tea, unfazed: "I'm curious how long it will take before someone cheats."
Shinatsu: "Keep your eyes on Kagurazl
Kagura gasped, placing a hand on her chest: "Excuse me? I am a paragon of fairness."
The game began.
At first, Kagura played normally.
Too normally.
She rolled average numbers.
Made reasonable alliances.
Lost a round.
Even groaned when a plan failed.
Yuji noticed immediately.
He leaned forward slightly, elbows on the table, eyes locked on Kagura like a hawk who had just spotted a suspicious mouse pretending to be a rock.
He watched her blinks, breathing, hands, smile. It was all suspicious.
Chifuyu: "Oooh, I'm the Duke this round! What does that do again?"
Diego: "It lets you betray someone twice."
Chifuyu: "I see."
The round but the midpoint, and Chifuyu made his move. He stared at his cards, nodded once like a man making a noble decision, then calmly slid the Betrayal Seal onto the board.
Chifuyu: "I activate the Betrayal Seal."
Ariel blinked: "Chifuyu?"
Caesar frowned: "You said you wouldn't use them."
Chifuyu: "No hard feelings
The seal lit up.
Ariel's castle token flipped. Caesar's influence markers vanished.
Ariel slowly turned her head toward Chifuyu: "…You sold me out."
Chifuyu: "Welcome to the game, kid."
Caesar stared at the board, then at Chifuyu: "You dismantled our alliance in one move."
Chifuyu: "We live in a cruel world."
Ariel leaned back, eyes glowing faintly: "Interesting. I see how it is."
Caesar: "I will remember this."
Iris: "This game is evil…"
Ariel: "Sleep with one eye open, master."
Chifuyu: "Eh?"
Towards the late game, Kagura began winning.
Slowly.
Quietly.
One clever move here. One perfectly timed bluff there. A miraculous roll that saved her at the exact right moment.
Yuji's eyes sharpened. He noticed patterns.
She always rolled just enough.
Never too high.
Never too low.
Always convenient.
Yuji crossed his arms.
By the end, Kagura was unstoppable. She controlled half the board. Had influence tokens everywhere. And somehow had convinced Diego, Nicholas, and Iris that she was their ally.
Chifuyu stared at the board, horrified: "Wait, when did you take my castle?"
Kagura smiled gently: "Oh, you gave it to me three turns ago."
Chifuyu: "What?!"
Yuji: "No he didn't."
The table went silent.
Kagura: "Excuse me?"
Yuji stood slowly. He walked around the table, stopping behind Kagura's chair: "You've been playing too clean," he said. "No emotional tells. No missteps. That's not you."
Kagura laughed nervously: "Wow, you're really overthinking—"
Yuji reached down and picked up the dice. They felt heavier. He rolled them in his palm once. Then one more time. Yuji dropped them on the table: "Loaded dice."
Iris's eyes widened: "…No."
Diego: "No way."
Shinatsu pinched the bridge of her nose: "Kagura..."
Beatrice: "Color me surprised."
Caesar: "I knew something was off."
Ariel: "What's a loaded dice?"
Nicholas: "It's a rigged dice that gives her the rolls she wants."
Chifuyu slammed both hands on the table so hard the board pieces jumped: "KAGURA."
She flinched.
Chifuyu: "WHAT HAPPENED TO SHAME?" He thundered. "DOES YOUR SOUL NOT CARRY A SINGLE OUNCE OF INTEGRITY?!"
The room erupted.
"BOOOOOOOO!"
Diego: "SHAME!"
Chifuyu: "DISQUALIFIED!"
Ariel: "TAKE HER TOKENS!"
Nicholas stood up dramatically: "I believed in you."
Iris: "How could you, Kagura?"
Kagura: "It's a game of deception! You can't blame me!"
Yuji: "Using illegal dice is not in the rules."
Kagura: "Sometimes in life, we have to live by the rules we think are right."
Beatrice: "She has no regret."
Chifuyu: "Send her to the guillotine!"
The verdict was unanimous.
Kagura was stripped of all her influence tokens, several turns, and her dignity. She was booed until she sank into her chair.
Yuji reclaimed the dice and placed them in a drawer: "These are confiscated."
Kagura reached out: "Wait—!"
Yuji: "Forever."
After Kagura's crimes were exposed, the entire group looked at her like hawks.
Every time she reached for the cards: "KAGURA WHAT'S IN YOUR HAND?"
Every time her fingers twitched: "KAGURA PUT THE EXTRA CARD DOWN."
Every time she tried to smile: "THAT'S A GUILTY SMILE."
Kagura clutched her chest: "I am being persecuted."
Shinatsu: "You deserve it."
Chifuyu: "Repent."
Diego: "Repent more."
Ariel: "Cheating is bad!"
Iris: "Yeah… bad."
Caesar: "If you cheat again, you're stuck on doing chores solo for the rest of the year!"
Kagura: "No, please! Anything but that."
Beatrice sipped her tea: "Actions have consequences."
Nicholas laughed as he shuffled the next game deck: "Congratulations, Kagura. You're now on the most wanted list."
The next game was Uno.
The deadliest of all games.
Chifuyu flexed his fingers. Diego cracked his neck. Yuji smirked. Ariel hummed happily. Shinatsu stared dead ahead like she was entering battle. Iris fiddled with her fingers nervously. Beatrice arranged her cards with graceful precision. Nicholas prayed silently. Caesar fixed his glasses.
The game began.
Things were smooth and slow at first, but all it took was one draw four to be placed to ramp up the momentum.
Kagura slammed her card on the table: "DRAW 4!"
Beatrice: "How naive, I have a draw 4 as well."
Ariel: "So do I!"
Diego: "I as well!"
Iris: "EEHHHH?!"
Chifuyu: "Born unlucky, go ahead and take 16 cards, Iris."
Iris: "Please double my suffering and give it to Kagura…"
Kagura: "Huh?"
Diego threw down a reverse card. Chifuyu slammed another. Ariel added +2s onto a doomed pile. Caesar was always on Uno but never managed to win. Beatrice won two rounds in a row. Yuji punished Kagura at every opportunity by skipping her or making her draw cards.
By the end, everyone was laughing, angry at the results, but still laughing.
Except Kagura. She was dying inside.
Chifuyu looked around with smug triumph: "Well well well. Guess who has the most wins tonight?"
Nicholas counted the score sheet:
"Chifuyu: seven wins."
"Yuji: five."
"Beatrice: five."
"Diego: three."
"Ariel: two."
"Nicholas: two."
"Iris: one."
"Caesar: one."
"Shinatsu: four."
"And the last place is…"
Nicholas slowly turned the sheet toward Kagura.
"Kagura: zero."
Kagura collapsed: "Nooooooooo!!"
Chifuyu shook his arms and his butt, taunting Kagura while singing a tune: "Cheaters lose and the best players win. Try to cheat and you're banned from ever playing again."
Caesar: "Nice rhyme."
Diego patted Kagura's shoulder: "You brought this on yourself."
Shinatsu: "Next time, we're having a penalty."