Despite her normally calm demeanor, Naoto wasn't shy about her status this game. Fortunately, she remembered to conceal her number from the starlet's prying eyes. It wasn't hard to figure out who was Queen this time, even before Rise jumped out of her seat and flashed a red dot. The girls knew they were in trouble now. Yukiko and Rise knew the mechanics of this game best, but the former was more likely to play a tamer game, unless she got drunk (placebo or otherwise). And the glint in Rise's eyes only confirmed their fears: Rise wouldn't be as merciful as Naoto.
"I got this!" she said. "Just give me a minute."
She gave the room a quick glance, looking for the box she needed for the order. Nanako and Yukiko had it earlier, and they couldn't have been done with it - the Amagis bought one of those big boxes that could feed a family of six, no way those two could have finished it off already. The trick now was figuring out what they did with it. The five of them cleared some space for the game, so it was just a matter of...
"Ah-ha!" Rise called. Now she could call her order. Explain it, she reminded herself. Explain the whole thing first, then call two numbers.
Presenting the box, she continued, "All righty! I'm ordering two of you to play The Pocky Game!"
Three faces quickly fell, while Nanako cocked her head. She loved the chocolate-covered bread sticks known as Pocky, especially when her dad made her a cup of coffee, but she'd never heard of a game using them. How would it even work? Is it like an eating contest?
Stuttering and stammering, Yukiko managed to give Nanako a brief explanation, one that flustered the young girl a bit, but also got her excited. Two players take one Pocky, and bite an end. The pair continue eating small bites of the stick until either one of them flinches. Naturally, should no one flinch, the duo wind up kissing. The person who flinches loses, while a kiss means it's a draw, or they could continue the game until someone does flinch. It's simple, occasionally short, and a standard for The King's Game, especially in one of those boxed versions with suggestion cards or as a penalty game.
Now it was an adult game, Nanako thought, even if I did bring up that puppy movie from America.
"There's just two little things to add," Rise continued. "We wouldn't want anyone to cheat the Queen.
"First, I'll do the draw rule, but the kiss has to be held for three seconds to be a draw. I think Naoto-kun has a good watch for the job. And second, whoever flinches first has to...tell us how much she's done with a guy. We get to ask questions, and if we can tell you lied you do another penalty game."
The other three high school girls quickly turned several shades of red, though they weren't entirely sure of the main cause. The Pocky Game would have been embarrassing enough if it had been called during the class trip with the boys around. Knowing up front that they were going to be playing another girl only intensified the feelings, even though this was a more private setting with a smaller audience. However, was an empty act somewhat forced upon them really as bad as revealing something they did freely? Would attempting to lie be worth the risk of a worse penalty? And choosing to skip the task meant losing a precious article of clothing very early in the game, revealing a small weakness and risking major exposure later in the game, when the orders got more distressing. The only ones not even slightly bothered by this situation were the immunized Rise and the eager Nanako.
"Now then," Rise called, piercing through the silence of her peers, "numbers. How about...2 and 4!"
Two groans echoed across the room together, blocking out Naoto's sigh and Nanako's tiny cry. Before the room grew quiet again, the glint returned to Rise's eyes and the competitors blushed even deeper. Even Naoto was a little curious about this pairing. They were the only two who didn't address each other with honorifics, the closest pair in the bunch. There was always some wonder about just how comfortable they were with each other. It was definitely rooted in the perverted part of her mind, but that didn't stop the detective from pondering this like any other case. And that was even before she sat down with Teddie at Junes.
"Woo-hoo!" Rise called. "The princess finally scores a prince! Too bad it's the sadist!"
"H-How..." the duo replied. Both of them faced the red head, trying to find an answer to this conundrum. All the while, Nanako was trying to figure out why Naoto was suppressing her laughter.
Naoto asked, "Teddie tell you, too?"
"Yosuke-kun," Rise answered.
While their underclassmen shared in a joke that excluded Nanako, the two players felt their faces contort. They stayed the color of Yukiko's cardigan, but the downward gaze shifted forward, following the course of the daggers in their eyes. A soft grinding came from Yukiko's mouth, while Chie could feel her body trying to shift into a fighting stance. The look they exchanged said it all: kill the bear, then the pervert.
"So are you two going to play?" Nanako asked, snapping the pair back into the game and returning both faces to their previous state.
"I-I'm in," Chie answers.
"Too early to strip," Yukiko mumbles.
Silence filled the air, awaiting the coming sight, and the possible confession, or better. The two best friends rose and stood face to face in the center of the gathering,trying not to look at each other. Naoto crossed to Rise's side, knowing her watch and status as a neutral party would be crucial for her senpai. Nanako slid over a few step, hoping to find a spot to see the whole show. Last to move was Rise, who slowly drew the Pocky, hoping the added tension would make one of them flinch. It wasn't long before the biscuit's tips were resting between two rows of teeth, and slowly began to vanish with each light crunch.
The small bites they took did make it easier for both of them to control their treat, but it also prolonged their torture. They were hoping the other would cave under this pressure, but all they could focus on was their own racing heart, trying to remember it wasn't that kind of doki doki. And the heat on their faces was purely out of embarrassment, and the trembles were fear-induced. They were even trying to convince themselves that they need to speed up, just to be done with it, but all their only responses were harder shakes. Yukiko and Chie both made the same mistake, and Rise was loving every minute of it, especially once they realized the other problem in their method.
They were so busy thinking about what was going to happen, neither girl noticed how close they had become until they began fighting for the last piece. Instinctively, they both looked forward, eye to eye for the first time since they started. The pair blushed even harder, hoping no one saw their little accident. Letting anyone know they locked lips was horrible, but they'd die if anyone found out they gave each other tongue.
Chie and Yukiko both realized they'd come too far to back out now. Instead of pulling away before the longest three seconds of their lives had past, they slowly exhaled a breath neither knew they were holding. It helped them relax even in the face of this humiliation, but it also turned Rise's restrained chuckles into a full Yukiko-style laugh attack; in Rise's eyes, it looked like they were coming to embrace the embracer.
"T-Time!" Naoto called through a flustered smile.
Both girls quickly broke the kiss and stomped off to their seats, not even raising their heads to face their friends. They both tossed their stick into the cup, hoping to avoid the coming taunts, but to no avail. And it was even worse than they expected.
"So," Rise asked grinning, "how was your first french with a girl?"
While Chie chose to bury her head in her knees, Yukiko shot the starlet a sinister look and mumbled, "Shut up and shuffle!"
Even though Rise took the heat off of her, the detective was still a little nervous. She couldn't admit it aloud, ever, but she got a little caught up in her friends' predicament. While it was a little fun to watch them squirm and a clear sign she might be able to strip Rise quickly, it also meant she wasn't watching the time. She was hoping her friends wouldn't know that the three second time limit was over about six seconds prior to their separation. So long as they didn't know any better, the night wouldn't be too rough.
Rise pierced through the silence, both by speaking and by slamming down the cup. "All right, let's go again!"
Chie Satonaka -
Clothing: Slippers, socks, green jacket, sailor tie, skirt, blouse, sports bra, panties
Yukiko Amagi -
Clothing: Slippers, sailor tie, red cardigan, skirt, tanktop, black nylons, lace bra, lace panties
Rise Kujikawa -
Clothing: Slippers, stockings, sailor tie, school jacket, skirt, blouse, bra, thong
Naoto Shirogane -
Clothing: Hat, slippers, socks, school coat, pants, button up shirt, bra, panties
Nanako Dojima -
Clothing: Slippers, socks, dress, sweater, panties
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