"You know what's better than video games? Nothing. But you know what's a great thing to do when you're bored? That's right! It's a nice, calm, totally non-chaotic game of UNO!"
"Go fish!" Okane said confidently, throwing down a red Uno Reverse card. Hiyori looked a bit confused at the sudden shift in the game we were playing.
"U-um, Okane, this is Uno," she corrected. Okane looked up with a blank look before it finally clicked to her. I guess this game didn't age well this far into the future; most board games are so obscure now–
"And you placed the wrong color. Gabriel played a blue eight, so you need a blue card to match," Hiyori pointed out, watching as the confused Okane finally put her two brain cells together to figure it out, taking a while to process what Hiyori just said.
"Haru, how about you go until she figures it out?" Hiyori said to me with a smile. I nodded and placed down a yellow eight.
"Wait, the colors don't match there," Okane muttered, even more confused by the game's rules.
"But the numbers match, so it's allowed," Hiyori tried to explain.
"This game is so confusing…" Okane crossed her arms, her eyes closed as she tried to figure it out.
"It really isn't…" Hiyori muttered.
"Maybe we should play another game," I suggested, seeing she wasn't going to understand anytime soon.
You might be wondering, why are gamers like us, and a girl like Hiyori, playing video games of all things when we could be playing a game like Grand Theft Auto 6? Well, we can't play Grand Theft Auto 6, not just because the game will never come out, but also because–
"The power went out–"
"Monopoly! A great game for friends and family!" I shouted, trying to hype the crowd as I found the game in my mom's stash.
"Your mom has a lot of old games," Gabriel commented, watching as I brought it out to the group.
"You should see the ones my great-great-granddad owned," I said, laughing softly to myself, everyone looking at me as if saying, "It can't be that bad."
"It's a game called chess–" I said, waiting for their reaction, and almost immediately they agreed with me.
"Chess?" Gabriel asked in confusion. Chess for people nowadays is like old anime such as Inuyasha or the original Pokémon. For those in modern times, you won't know of it unless you have that cool older member in your family to introduce you.
"So–" I shook the box to see if the pieces were still inside. "Shall we play?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, intrigued by the game I held so proudly in my hands. And with that, the game began.
"Gabriel, you landed on Okane's property; you need to give her money," I calmly explained.
"That makes no sense– why am I giving a criminal money?" he asked, confused by the concept.
"Hiyori, you need to collect $200–" She just looked at me confused, her head tilted to the side as she tried to figure out what I meant.
"But I didn't do anything," she murmured. I sighed heavily and pointed to the board.
"You passed Go, so now you need to collect $200."
"Also, Okane, stop color-coding the houses; you're going to lose them!" I rubbed my temples in annoyance, Okane looking up with furrowed eyebrows.
"But it's bothering me–"
"No, you cannot just borrow from the bank! You have no way of paying that money back; you're bankrupt, Gabriel–" I sighed. This game had been going on for 40 minutes and only one person was knocked out, that person being Gabriel.
"So… can I, like, commit tax evasion in this game?" Okane asked innocently, her hand raised as if she was waiting to be called on by a teacher.
I just facepalmed. I was tired, and this game was too long anyway, so let's try another?
"How about… Jeopardy?" Hiyori suggested with an optimistic smile.
"No–" We all agreed at once; there was no way we'd be playing that.
"Why?" she asked, a bit let down by our unanimous decline.
"Because you're way smarter than us!" Gabriel stated, and both of us nodded in the background, backing him up.
"How about Dn–"
"Haru, if you say DnD, I swear I'm gonna hit you–" Okane cut me off. Everyone gave me a stare that sent chills down my spine…
"One day… this game will be appreciated again…"
"When another pandemic happens, maybe–" she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, how about this game?" Gabriel held up a card game.
"That's so plain, though," Hiyori complained, and I honestly agreed.
"We need something more exciting... something where our imaginations become reality and the story of a certain someone can be tol–"
"Haru!" Okane snapped.
"Sorry–"
Eli went through more of mom's games and found something.
"How about this game?"
He held up a game called Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. The name alone got us raising our heads in intrigue.
So, this game was mostly about a murder in Hong Kong, as the name suggests, but the killer is someone among us, and we needed to find them. We handed out the special roles and started the game.
"Okay, so everyone close your eyes–" I said. I was the scientist, so I didn't have to do that.
"Okay… murderer, open your eyes…"
No one opened their eyes…
"Murderer!" I shouted, Okane jolting at the mention of her role.
"Sorry!" she opened her eyes, and everyone groaned.
"Let's try this again–" I said, handing out the special roles again. For the sake of simplicity, I gave myself the scientist role again.
"Everyone… close their eyes."
Everyone did just that, waiting for further instructions.
"Murderer, open your eyes–" I sighed, hoping it would go well this time.
Gabriel opened his eyes. I pointed to five means cards and five key evidence cards, which he picked from.
"Key evidence, metal wire means suffocation!" Okane pointed at Gabriel in old anime detective fashion. "The killer is Gabriel."
Gabriel sighed. "Ah, you got me."
Okane chuckled to herself. "Well, of course, I'm not just good looking and talented, you know."
"Good looking?" Gabriel asked.
"Talented?" Hiyori asked incredulously. "Hey!"
I smiled, relieved that we finally found a game to pass the time.
If I learned anything today, I think it would be great to unplug for a while and play with the people you hold close to you. You never know what might happen in the future.
"You guys wanna play again?"
"Yeah!" Everyone was excited for the next game.
I started to share the cards, and the fan in the living room started to spin…
"Power's back on!" And just like that, everyone went back to their rooms.
"Of course…" I shrugged and went scrolling on my phone.
Results for today's battle… everyone wins.
"Come on, Jerry!" I heard Okane plead into the phone next to me as I tried to do my assignments at my desk. We've been living together for just two weeks now, and it seemed that we've gotten rather close. I mean, she comes into my room uninvited, coming and going whenever and however she pleases–
"It's for work! How can I be a streamer if I can't even go to the live events!?" That said, she's a bit too loud sometimes–
"Hey, can you quiet down?" I asked, turning around to look at her with furrowed eyebrows, only to be met with a pillow to the face.
"Haru, hush– I'm trying to negotiate here–" she said in a quiet voice. I sighed as I picked up the pillow from the ground.
"You can negotiate in your own room–" I argued, tossing the pillow back at her, which she caught with her free hand and hugged it close to her chest.
"Shush, I said–" she murmured, going back to the phone.
I let out a soft groan and sunk back into my chair, looking over at my laptop to possibly drown her out with music–
"Huh– weird…" I muttered, my words causing Okane to look up with confusion and curiosity, her hand blocking the speaker of her phone.
"What's wrong?"
"Power went out again–" I groaned, my head buried in the desk from both annoyance and disappointment.