Chapter 49: Nerve-racking Mind Battle
NG Words Game.
The five great Honored, vying for the title of the smartest in the student council, fought all the way to the borders of Shuchiin, the enormous waterfall of brainpower eroding even the Grand Way.
On top of Sakurai Saki's head was the word [Nyan]; he glanced at the word [detective action] on top of Fujiwara Chika's head, then at the word [smirk] on Kaguya's head, the word [part-time work] on Shirogane Miyuki's head, and the word [Fujiwara-senpai] on Ishigami Yuu's head.
The keyword for the first round was handwritten by the players themselves. Therefore, they were all words the opponents often said.
Sakurai didn't even need to guess to know what Fujiwara Chika had written for him.
It was definitely [nyan]!
Chika: (๑>•̀๑) Ehe!
In NG words, if you can guess your own NG word, you can swap the card, but Sakurai Saki didn't dare swap.
Right now, he didn't even dare open his mouth, because this side effect of his was very hard to simply control.
In this dark forest, each person was a hunter lurking in the shadows; the moment one acted, they could easily be ambushed by others, triggering a chain reaction.
Sakurai Saki glanced at everyone's keywords.
Listening to their chatting, he began thinking about his target.
If he wanted Fujiwara Chika to be eliminated early, he just needed to bring up a topic she liked.
Then, there was only one answer...
But someone acted before him.
"Ah, lately there's been someone I really care about." Shirogane Miyuki said, "She's a girl I met at my part-time job..."
It appeared — the love topic!!!
A special attack aimed straight at Secretary Fujiwara!! As long as it was about love, it could trigger her special form — Love Detective Chika-chan!
( • ̀ω•́ )✧
The moment Fujiwara Chika heard that, she shot up and pointed her index finger: "President Shirogane, NG!!!"
Shinomiya Kaguya gave a slight smirk: "Secretary Fujiwara, you're NG too! You performed the designated criminal accusation action."
(¬‿¬)
Ishigami Yuu calmly said: "Fujiwara-senpai, you were too careless. And Shinomiya-senpai, you're NG too."
"Huh? Ishigami-kun, didn't you just say [Fujiwara-senpai]? Then you're NG too." Shinomiya Kaguya reminded.
After that.
The four of them simultaneously fell silent, then all took off the cards from their heads.
"..."
After swapping cards, everyone turned to look at the only one who hadn't been attacked — Sakurai Saki.
'Nyan?'
Shirogane Miyuki pondered; this was an extremely tricky keyword.
He had no idea about Sakurai Saki's superpower side effect today, so he felt the difficulty level was too high.
"Ah, that topic I mentioned earlier, actually the focus wasn't the girl, but what she does." President Shirogane smoothly continued the conversation.
In NG words, you can't just remain silent or do nothing; that kind of cheating behavior would make the game unplayable.
Glancing at the word [laugh out loud] on Shirogane Miyuki's head, Shinomiya Kaguya curiously asked: "What does she do?"
"She comes every day to the convenience store where I've been working part-time lately to buy pineapple buns, but for some reason, she's not very welcomed by dogs — every time she's chased by dogs. I always see her being chased by dogs right in front of the store." Shirogane Miyuki explained.
After speaking, he glanced at Shinomiya Kaguya's head — [make an animal sound].
This time, Shirogane Miyuki was aiming for a double kill!
( -_•)▄︻テحكـ━一💥
"Hmm, compared to dogs, I prefer cats." Shinomiya Kaguya casually said, "Cats are quieter, not as noisy as dogs."
She even added: "And cat sounds are also very cute."
"That's right, the 'nyan nyan~' sound is really super cute!" Fujiwara Chika, who had the card [blink frantically] on her head, agreed.
To make Sakurai Saki say "nyan," she was even willing to give up her own animal preferences.
Actually, she liked dogs more — she even had one at home, and every weekend she took it to the park for runs.
Oh right, that dog's name was Pes.
૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა
Ishigami Yuu glanced at everyone's NG (NG words), and he felt that this time he could wipe them all out.
The next second, Ishigami Yuu, with the keyword [tell a lame joke] on his head, began telling a story: "Speaking of pets, I've got a little story — anyone want to hear it?"
Looking up at him, no one refused.
Everyone: ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ ) go ahead Ishigami-kun!
Who would refuse a self-destruct move?
After all, it didn't affect them.
"Once upon a time, someone adopted a cat and wanted to give it a cool name. Someone said, name it Tiger — sounds fierce. Then someone else said, Dragon is even cooler, but a dragon can't fly without riding clouds, and clouds get blown away by the wind, and wind gets blocked by a door. Just as the owner was about to name the cat Door, his wife said, but if a door meets a mouse, it'll get gnawed. And mice are afraid of cats..."
He rattled off the story in one breath, "So, in the end, the cat was named [Cat]."
Fujiwara Chika blinked a few times, and after she processed it, burst out laughing.
ꉂ (≧ヮ≦)
This girl had absolutely no resistance to lame jokes.
Shinomiya Kaguya, however, didn't find it funny at all.
She frantically blinked at Fujiwara Chika to signal her, then opened her mouth: "Nyan?"
Fujiwara Chika wiped her eyes, understood her intention, and blinked wildly back, saying: "Nyan?"
Shirogane Miyuki glanced at the tops of the three's heads and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
These three… they all just got eliminated!!
Hahahahaha!!
"Everyone, you're all NG."
"President Shirogane, you're out too." Shinomiya Kaguya said.
"Eh? I'm out too?" Fujiwara Chika, looking confused, pulled the card off her head.
Then she glared at Kaguya, full of playful frustration.
She did it on purpose! That blinking at me earlier!
(｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!
Ishigami Yuu also took off his NG card.
…He had no more words left.
Shirogane Miyuki glanced at Sakurai Saki, still steady as a mountain, and also removed the card from his head.
"..." The four of them once again fell silent.
At this moment, Sakurai Saki opened his mouth, "Nyan? My keyword is 'Nyan'? Is that right, nyan?"
Fujiwara Chika immediately seized the opportunity, pointing at him: "Sakurai-kun, you didn't say beforehand that you had guessed your NG word, so you're out!"
Sakurai Saki didn't mind; he placed the card down.
A few minutes later.
Shirogane Miyuki and Shinomiya Kaguya lay slumped on the sofa, starting to question their very existence.
The first and second ranks of Shuchiin couldn't even beat the third rank — this made no scientific sense at all.
Ishigami Yuu once again picked up his gaming console, completely indifferent to winning or losing.
As long as it was fun, that was enough — or rather, as long as the senpai were happy, except for Fujiwara-senpai!
Fujiwara Chika, having gotten to hear a few more "Nyan" sounds, was still in high spirits and wasn't too upset.
"Secretary Fujiwara, that recording from earlier, can you delete it, nyan?"
Fujiwara Chika looked left and right, then suddenly jumped up.
"Ah~ Sakurai-kun, I need to swing by the Board Game Club for a bit, so, see you~!"
She slipped away so fast that Sakurai didn't even have time to chase after her — or rather, Sakurai Saki didn't really care much anyway.
After all, knowing Secretary Fujiwara's personality, she wouldn't spread it around recklessly.
Unfortunately, what he didn't know was——
Right while he was talking, Shinomiya Kaguya had also recorded that part.
'Send it to Hayasaka tonight~'
(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)
To soothe Ai-chan's lingering resentment, Shinomiya Kaguya was working very hard.