Despite the rather impromptu nature of it, this slumber party did have a fair bit of thought behind it. The inn's staff made sure the onsen was clean and stocked up on snacks, Nanako had volunteered to make breakfast for everyone to pay them back for the meal they made during the cooking contest - had it been anyone but Nanako saying this, the three ladies that might burn water would have insisted on a different breakfast - and Yukiko brought out every board game and movie the inn contained, though that didn't stop the others from bringing their own. At present, the girls had taken their baths, and with breakfast and the end of the party hours away, the girls were left only with recreation. Chie had managed to force them all to sit through Trial of the Dragon while they all snacked, but afterwards she was a bundle of energy, attempting to act out her favorite scenes as well as wear on her teammate's patience. It suddenly seemed that only Chie's movies would be played tonight, and that Chie wouldn't stand for anything else.
Rise had half a mind to let Chie tire out and mess with her while she was sleeping, but Naoto's coercion was enough to retire that idea and go with another one, one that she hoped would make Naoto wish they humiliated her while she rested. After making Naoto and Yukiko agree to back her up no matter what she came up with, so long as it met Naoto's condition of it being a game, Rise dashed out of the room, and returned holding her arms behind her back.
"Chie!" Rise called over the loud kiai. "How about using that energy on a game with the rest of us instead of the movie's villains?"
The proposition wasn't enough to stop Chie from bouncing on her toes, but it did stop a punch that may have very well knocked over a lamp.
"What game were you thinking about?" Nanako asked.
Naoto spoke up, "It would most likely be something physically demanding if the intention is to debilitate the spirited fighter."
"No way," Yukiko added. "To knock Chie out, it needs to be a thinking game."
With a smile, Rise announced, "It's a little of both and more, actually." Rise brought her arms around to her front and revealed a box that all of her friends recognized instantly.
"Twister?" Naoto asked. "That may enervate her, but I don't see much thought in the game of Twister. And what 'more' could there be? The game itself is already fairly straightforward."
Indeed, the game is very simple. A white mat dotted with circles of green, yellow, blue, and red in rows (in this order for the Amagis' copy of it, and they were columns of six circles per color) and a spinner were all that came in the box. The pieces that moved along the board were the players themselves, and the spinner told the players where to put either a hand or a foot. Anyone that fell or placed themselves on the wrong color, on the wrong limb, or both, was declared the loser. Many players go in turns, where each spin applies only to a single player, while others have everyone move at once.
What Naoto and Yukiko found most interesting about this choice of game was Rise's plan. These home versions usually had enough room for only four players, but Rise implied all five of them would be playing.
"There's a couple twists to this Twister," Rise continued. "First, since there's five of us, one of us will be the spinner instead of a player and we don't need the spinner in the box. If you're the spinner, you're going to try to make the moves impossible and uncomfortable to make the players fall. Like, if it's Chie's turn and she had her left hand on yellow and her right hand on blue, I could call 'Left foot red' to contort her and hope she falls over. The spinner could use the real spinner if she wants, but she doesn't have to. We'll go for 10 turns each and we each go separately, so that's 40 calls for the spinner in a full game. If all four players last the full game, the spinner loses. If anyone falls before that, that person loses. Also, if a loser lands on someone else and that person falls as a result, that doesn't count as losing.
"And the second difference..." Rise trailed off to form her mouth into a grin. Chie and Nanako recognized the intimidation on the singer's face, but only Naoto and Yukiko felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs. "We play Strip Twister. Every time someone loses, that person takes something off."
"Wha-What?" Only now did Chie stop bouncing, so the redness that suddenly filled her face after the fact couldn't have been a result of the exertion. "'Strip'?"
Chie's face wasn't the only one that turned red. Even little Nanako was noticeably flushed. Sure, they washed each other's backs and shared an onsen, but that's totally different. Their bodies were turned away and the water hid them from the neck down during the bath, plus their scrubbing efforts served as distractions. This was total exposure, close contact rubbing, and included moments of holding still. Sure, Rise was bold enough to show them a dead-man float, but this is an idol who's been shown in skimpy bikinis and even had her shadow flash her teammates (though Shadow Rise may have changed into her colorful form before anyone other than Rise saw either nipple - and that could have only been in Rise's mind, she did pass out in the middle of the transformation). How were the others supposed to suddenly gain the courage to keep up with her?
Chie continued, "I-I don't know about this. How about we watch another movie?"
"Yeah, a movie," Nanako added.
After dawning a dark, intimidating glint, Rise says, "Let's put it to a vote."
The look in Rise's eyes was mostly unnoticed by Nanako and Chie, but Naoto and Yukiko got the message loud and clear: keep your promise and vote for Strip Twister. While Yukiko was the type to never break her promise, Naoto wasn't above reneging for such a case. However, she figured she could later turn this back on Rise in someway - players could work to sabotage each other after all, and some say turnabout is fair play. The result was Chie and Nanako stared in awe when three hands shot up to vote for Strip Twister, though they raised no objections to the very weak excuses offered by Yukiko and Naoto to justify their votes.
"How will we decide the spinner and the order of the players?" Naoto asks.
Chie adds, "And socks count as two items, right?"
"NO!" Yukiko yelled. "I'm wearing nylons, my socks are one item by design!"
"That's your problem," Rise adds while setting up the mat. "Besides, weren't you watching during our bath? Nanako has less clothes than us. She needs a little boost."
"But that gives all of you more clothes as well! That's hardly an advantage!"
"I don't mind socks being one item," Nanako said. Her voice said that anyway, her eyes made it clear she wanted her socks to be two items. It was more than enough to guilt Yukiko into abandoning her claims, though only since she knew Nanako wouldn't do that specifically for that reason. She hoped. Regardless, Yukiko took the handicap.
Rise concluded, "And for our positions, I prepared these." Remaining in the box was a cup holding five chopsticks, calling back the school trip for Naoto and Chie, the only two with a memory of The King's Game. Certain guests had taught Yukiko the game when Yukiko needed to serve them, and her toes instinctively curled at the sight of those chopsticks, which caused her to recall what Chie told her about that night in Tatsumi Port Island. The four older girls quickly figured out how they were deciding each person's role. However, since Nanako didn't come with them she needed an explanation.
Each girl draws a chopstick out of the cup, and then look at the previously hidden bottom of the sticks to learn their position. Four of the sticks have a number on them (1, 2, 3, and 4, obviously), and the ones drawing these sticks are the players, and their playing order is decided by their number. The fifth stick had a red mark at the end, that chopstick signified the spinner. Since this wasn't The King's Game, they no longer needed to be quick or conceal their numbers.
"That approach seems fair to me," Naoto noted.
"Then let's get to it!" Rise called.
Rise placed the cup on the couch the spinner could relax on and called the girls to draw. Before looking down at her own chopstick, Chie happened to observe that Yukiko's had a 2 on it. Rise was also happy to announce that she was Number 3, leaving high odds Chie would make it out of this first game with all of clothes on. And even if she wasn't the spinner, she figured she could handle any pose they threw at her - that kung fu does make one rather flexible.
Chie Satonaka-
Clothing: socks, green jacket, sailor tie, skirt, blouse, sports bra, panties
What's Chie's position?
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