Chapter 36: Let's Play a Game
The place to rest at night was a small wooden cabin.
In the sparsely populated mountains, a cabin in the woods, with air not heavily polluted by industry, and when you look up, the sky is dotted with starlight.
For people living in the city, this kind of experience might give the illusion of being close to nature.
Yes, illusion.
Because we tend to think that the more artificial things there are, the further we are from nature, and the fewer there are, the closer we are to nature—this is, of course, an illusion.
If one were to judge the naturalness of a place based on the number of artificial elements, then one should head into the heart of Africa, or the primeval forests of Siberia.
Only then can it be truly called being close to nature.
In fact, Yomi has training camps in many of these pristine areas.
At least among the people from Yomi present here, probably only Hikigaya, who joined just half a year ago and has always trained in Japan, hasn't been to such a training camp.
Even so, he had been thrown by the Demon God Fist into the Aokigahara at the foot of Mt. Fuji—that infamous suicide forest.
Hikigaya still remembers it clearly: the forest was thick with trees, their crowns growing wildly, blocking out the sun so only scant rays could pierce through the leaves to the forest floor. The outer areas were manageable, but once you went deeper, it was a dim, twilight world, and at night you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.
There, it was impossible to navigate by normal means—compasses didn't work. It was a place truly inaccessible to human civilization, a paradise for wild animals. Birds, insects, fish, and beasts filled every corner of that forest. Only real tough guys and hardcore women could sleep there using the sky as their blanket and the ground as their bed.
Compared to that, Chiba Village seemed no different from a bustling city in Hikigaya's eyes. Here, there were all sorts of equipment and supplies. You didn't need to identify which plants were poisonous, didn't have to wrestle beasts for meat, nor did you have to wake up at night to teach overly mischievous bugs crawling over you a lesson—those bugs were seriously huge, they must've been eating well!
And those mosquitoes... By the time he finally managed to crawl out of Aokigahara, he had practically gained a whole size. Would he say that? If he hadn't unlocked the Herbalism skill from the Demon God Fist, he probably would've died. Those damn mosquitoes were all poisonous!
But most importantly, he didn't have to talk to himself like an idiot just to stave off loneliness. Right now, there were more than a dozen people in this little wooden cabin.
So in Hikigaya's eyes, this place really wasn't much different from downtown.
When he walked into the cabin, several people were already inside.
The Hayama group, the cold fridge girl Yukinoshita, the soft dumpling-like girl who seemed to get along with everyone, the almost-thirty unmarried teacher who couldn't get married, the overly energetic Komachi, and the two idiot members of the Ryōzanpaku group—everyone was here.
Basically, everyone except Hikigaya and the Yomi disciples was already here...
"Big bro! Big bro!" Komachi came bouncing over.
"It's late, go to sleep," Hikigaya said with a stern face, reaching out to use his patented head-rub technique, forcibly turning Komachi's hairstyle into a bird's nest.
This little sister, though adorable, completely lacked any sense of shame when she spoke and always said a bunch of nonsense.
It was headache-inducing to listen to.
"No way! Big bro, you're so mean!"
Komachi screamed, escaping from Hikigaya's grasp and running off angrily.
As the saying goes, "Heads can roll, blood can flow, but the hairstyle must stay flawless..."
But Hikigaya's goal was achieved.
He and the Yomi disciples moved to the empty area and started laying out their bedding. However...
Rachel Stanley, this girl...
After all, with both boys and girls in the same room, according to the unspoken rules, boys sleep on one side and girls on the other, right? So what the heck is a girl doing laying her bed in the middle of a bunch of guys? And right next to him too—one roll of her foot and she'd be snuggled up to him!
The room suddenly fell silent, and a group of students stared in stunned silence at the scene.
"Um..."
The dumpling girl timidly raised her hand—why are you raising your hand?
"Rachel... classmate?"
"Hm?" Rachel Stanley turned her head with a puzzled look.
"We... saved a spot for you."
The dumpling girl finally managed to squeeze out a sentence after holding it in for so long—poor girl.
"Thank you, but I'm fine sleeping next to Lord Hachiman."
"Eh!?"
Not just the dumpling girl, but all the girls exclaimed together.
Yeah, all the girls—so that female teacher doesn't count.
"Well well, you've got some skills, Hikigaya," the teacher sneered, her eyes glinting like she was looking at a class enemy. "Haven't seen you in a while, and you've already grown into a womanizing scumbag. Excellent progress."
Don't cry, you idiot! You're an adult, can't you use a bit of judgment?
"Wait! Rachel and that shut-in guy are that kind of relationship!?" Miura shouted like she'd discovered a new continent.
"I knew it! Brother went on a date today, didn't he!? Komachi will have to see him in a new light now!"
Komachi's gossip-fueled fire was practically shooting out of her eyes!
"I thought he was just a big boss type, but turns out he's a ladies' man? And with such high quality too!"
The glasses girl even let out a wail—wait, why a wail!?
What the heck is with the "ladies' man" label? And why are you drooling!?
"So you've finally set foot on the criminal path, Crime-kun." Yukinoshita looked the most normal in appearance, but what she said was the most abnormal.
Hikigaya felt like he was going to lose his mind...
At this point, he really would rather crawl back into Aokigahara.
The only ones not caught up in the chaos were the idiots from Ryōzanpaku and Hayama and Tobe.
The former knew the truth, and the latter...
That encouraging and envious smile on Tobe's face made Hikigaya want to punch someone.
"Well now, everyone calm down," Hayama spoke up—this guy seemed especially good at handling situations like this.
Yeah, calming down is necessary. Everyone go eat a pile of crap and calm down!
He shot Hayama a "well done" look.
But soon, Hikigaya realized he was dead wrong...
"How about we all play a game?" Hayama pulled out a deck of cards and said, "How about the King's Game?"
The King's Game...
This turn of events feels wrong, doesn't it?
"I wanna play! I wanna play!" Komachi shouted, raising both hands in agreement—and looked like she was ready to raise her feet too.
"Why are we playing this kind of thing?" Yukinoshita objected. "This is really childish."
"Huh? Who are you calling childish?" Miura snapped back. "What's wrong with Hayama's suggestion?"
So that's how it is—it wasn't really about the game, it was to spark a catfight between the two girls and divert everyone's attention.
Tsk tsk, what a scary man.
Hikigaya couldn't help but nod, and then he heard...
"Looks like Hikigaya-kun agrees too. Alright then, let's begin."
You! wait just a damn minute!!