------Five Days Passed--------
I wasn't going out as usual but, with my mother watching me, her gaze full of worry. I didn't want her to keep looking at me like that, so I finally went outside. Just like last time instead of joining the others, I stayed back, hidden behind a tree, watching them play.
*What am I even doing here?*
Suddenly, a voice cut through my thoughts. "What are you doing here?!"
*Holy sh—* That startled me, but I didn't react as usual. I turned to see Aria, leaning in close, her face inches from mine.
"N-nothing," I managed.
She followed my gaze to the other kids. "Do they bully you?"
"What? No."
She made a doubtful noise, her eyes narrowing. "Did you fight with them?"
"No?"
"Then why aren't you playing?"
I looked away, avoiding her gaze. She smirked, clearly enjoying this.
"Wait… are you shy?" She said it like a tease, but my reaction must've given me away. "Oh, you are! That's actually adorable." She reached up and ruffled my hair, making me feel embarrassed.
Pointing to herself, she asked, "Do you want to play with me?"
Playing... Being in the body of a child makes this offer appealing, and with the memories I have from being a child, playing shouldn't feel too strange, right?
"What are we going to play?" I asked.
With a smug grin, she turned her back and said, "Don't worry about that and follow your big sister."
"My big sister?" I asked.
She nodded and made a sound like she was saying "yes," then added, "Since I'm older than you, I should be your big sister, right?"
"I mean, I-I guess so?"
Aria paused and grinned at me. "Come on, say it—'big sister!'"
Is she really serious about this? I mean, she's just a kid trying to teach someone younger. It's kind of nice. If it makes her happy, I guess it's okay.
I hesitated, feeling a little embarrassed. "B-big sister," I stammered.
Her smile brightened, and she looked pleased. "See? That wasn't so hard!"
She led me toward a big tree. "Let's climb it!"
I stared at her, then at the tree. "What? Are you a monkey?" I said without thinking.
I could tell from her attitude that she was angry with me. She looked at me and said, "If you weren't little, I'd really beat you up, but you shouldn't say things like that to grown-ups, okay?"
Grown-ups? Haha, that was adorable.
Then, without missing a beat, she started climbing. "What are you waiting for?" she called down to me.
"Is it really safe?" I asked, looking up at the branches.
"Of course not!" she said, grinning. "But it's fun!"
It's not surprising you got stuck in the tree that night... I guess there's no harm in trying.
I tried to reach for the tree's branches and protrusions like she did, but my limbs were too short, so I wasn't very graceful.
After falling a few times, she climbed down from the top of the tree and asked me, ''You really are a baby; you can't even do this.''
Her energetic and cheerful personality lifted my mood, but it was starting to get a little annoying.
''Is there a game you can play?'' she asked me.
I thought for a moment and remembered there was a pirate movie I really loved. I couldn't remember the name of the movie, but I was very impressed by the scene where they played this game. Then I said, "Let's play Liar's Dice!"
"What's that?" Aria asked, tilting her head.
"I'll explain it, listen carefully, okay?"
She nodded, and I explained.
"You start with six dice and a cup. Each player rolls their dice but keeps them hidden from everyone else. Then, starting with the first player, you make a claim about how many dice of a certain number are showing. For example, you might say, 'I have three fours.'
But here's the trick—you can lie! You don't have to say the truth about what you rolled. The next player can either believe you and go along with your claim, or they can call you a liar. If someone calls you a liar, everyone reveals their dice. If you were lying, you lose one die. If you were telling the truth, the person who called you a liar loses a die.
We can play 5 rounds and if you win 3 out of it, you are the winner"
"What's dice?" she asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
I was a bit annoyed. Are you really asking this after all that explanation? Anyway...
"They're little cubes with numbers or dots on them. You roll them to see what you get," I explained. I looked around for something to make one.
I spotted some small pebbles on the ground. I picked one up and showed it to her. "I can try to make one with these. I'll need a few more and maybe some mud to hold them together."
After I gathered everything I needed.
I looked at the pebble in my hand, trying to imagine how to shape it into a die.
"What are you trying to do?" Aria asked, her eyes curious.
"I'm… trying to make a die that you asked me about. It's this small cube with dots on each side, from one to six, for a game I wanted to show you."
She smirked. "Is it something like this?"
With a flick of her hand, the ground stirred, and a small cube of dirt rose up, perfectly shaped with dots on each side. She held it out to me, looking proud.
"What on earth? Black sorcery is this?!" I exclaimed, staring at the floating die.
"What?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"It was magic right?! I didn't know you could use magic!"
"Of course I can! I told you I'm a big sister, after all."
I took the die from her, amazed. *Wait, can I use magic too?*
"Can you teach me how to do that?" I asked with excitement.
She crossed her arms, a playful pout forming on her lips. "I thought we were gonna play your game."
"What about after the game?"
For the first time in a long time, something caught my interest, and I was talking without much thinking.
Aria smirked, a glint of cockiness in her eyes. "It's gonna be hard, but since I'm the teacher, I guess I can show you a few tricks."
"Awesome! Let's play then!" I said. So I could learn magic...
I handed Aria the die she'd made and said, "We'll need eleven more of these for the game." She didn't even hesitate, just held out her hand and let the ground reshape itself into a perfect set of twelve dice. Six for each of us. Then I said, "Wait here—I'll get us two cups."
"Where are you going?" she asked, looking at me like I was an idiot.
"Uh… to get the cups?"
She smirked, and with a small flick of her fingers, two perfect, round cups of hardened earth formed in front of us.
Magic… is kinda cheating. She even created a little table and sat across to me, and after I explain how to play all over again, we started to play.
For our first round, we each shook our cups, the dice rattling inside. After a quick peek at mine, I had three 3's, two 5's, and a single 1. Keeping my expression neutral, I decided to bluff right out of the gate.
"I have… two 6's," I said, barely a hint of emotion in my voice.
Aria gave me a suspicious look, then checked her own dice. She glanced back at me with a confident smirk. "I've got two 6's, too," she claimed, then added, "Four 6's total."
She seemed pretty certain, but I knew better. "Lie," I said flatly.
Her eyes widened as we both lifted our cups. There weren't any 6's under mine. She looked at me, jaw dropping. "But you… didn't have any 6's?!"
I gave a slight smile. "That's the point—deceiving the other player."
Her brows furrowed as she grumbled, "Fine, whatever. Let's go again."
---
For the second game, we shuffled our cups again. I took a look: two 4's, two 1's, and a 3. This time, I kept things simple and decided to tell the truth.
"I have two 4's," I said, but this time, I let a small smirk slip, just to throw her off.
Aria narrowed her eyes, clearly thinking I was bluffing again. "Lie," she said confidently.
We lifted our cups, and her face fell as she realized I was actually telling the truth this time. She groaned, smacking a hand to her forehead.
"That's two games," I said, grinning a bit. "You're not very good at this, are you?"
---
We played three more rounds after that. Each time, I kept my expression carefully blank, my tone steady. She kept falling for it, unable to figure out whether I was bluffing or not. By the end of the fifth round, I was up five games to zero.
She glared at me, frustration clear on her face. "You… you're a big liar, Lio! You know that?"
I shrugged, trying not to laugh. "Thanks for the compliment."
I caught a glint in her eyes, tiny tears welling up from the sheer frustration. She looked ready to explode.
"It's not a compliment, you trash!" she snapped, giving me a shove that had a surprising amount of force behind it. "You're just… impossible!"
I hesitated, a bit thrown off by her reaction. I mean, I was having fun, it was literally like deceiving a child but... *Maybe I pushed her a little too far…*
"Uh… maybe we should stop playing?" I offered, unsure if she was about to burst into tears or start hitting me. *Yeah, probably best to quit while I'm still in one piece.*
But Aria crossed her arms and shook her head. "No way! One more game!"
She kept insisting, until I finally sighed and said, "Fine. Losers go first."
Her glare sharpened, determination in her eyes. "Oh, I'll show you who the loser is." She shook her cup dramatically, building suspense, then looked me dead in the eyes.
I feel like, I should lose on purpose.
----
I checked my cup, counting my dice. Three 3's, two 2's, and a 6. Not bad. I looked at Aria to hear her claim.
"Six 3's!" she said confidently.
"Huh?! If there were 4 players, playing right now, I wouldn't risk to call, but six 3's? among two people... Yeah, I have three of them, but guessing that in the first round is almost impossible!
Wait a minute... I had to lose on purpose, ahh, but I don't want to lose to such a silly bluff.
Even though I was scared, I said, 'Lie.'
She laughed as if she already knew she had won the game, then revealed her dice. She really had exactly three 3's.
What can I say? Amateur luck. Anyway, to be honest, it relieved me that she won.
"Wow, sis, you really played great!" I said.
She looked at me proudly, then glanced away, saying, "Hmph, of course I played great; I just needed to warm up!"
Her mood seemed a bit better, so I asked, "Can we learn magic now, then?"
She slammed the table and said, "No! Not until I win!"
Huh? She just won, crazy girl! "But you already won, sis," I said.
"No, you've won five times, and we're not doing anything else until I win six times!" she declared.
Crap... If I had known she was this competitive, I wouldn't have suggested this game. Anyway, if I lose quickly on purpose, it shouldn't be a problem.
Pointing at her, I said defiantly, "But promise me you'll teach me magic afterward."
She gave me a sidelong glance and smiled, saying, "Oh, looks like our little baby isn't shy with me anymore."
What?.. I really got into the game and relaxed. My cheeks turned slightly red, and I said, "Is that a bad thing?"
"No, let's start the next round," she replied, shaking her dice.
I was glad she didn't question me further. I shook my dice, and we began the next round.
---
I had three 2's, one 4, one 6, and one 1. To tease me, she said, "Losers first!"
??? I was thinking of losing on purpose, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Let's play seriously; I can learn magic tomorrow.
"Four 2's," I said, taking a bit of a risk, but a voice inside me said she at least has one 1.
She smiled and said, "Four 5's."
Raising the number instead of the amount... but luck against you sis; I have no 5's, and I'm guessing she has only three 5's.
I called, "Lie" and we both revealed our dice. She had one 2, four 5's, and one 6... If she had said "lie," I would have won, but instead, she didn't take the risk and claimed four 5's instead...
Hmm, she's learned to play a bit, but she had a lucky hand.
-----
We played three more rounds, and despite playing seriously in all of them, I lost... it felt like I had no chance from start to finish. It was as if she knew exactly what numbers all the dice had rolled...
So I asked, "Hey sis, perhaps are you cheating?"
She flinched while happily shaking the dice for her win and said, "What?! Of course not! How could you doubt your big sis?" and of course, while saying this, she was avoiding my gaze.
It's clear she's lying, but I have no proof... How could you even cheat in a game like this?
----
At that moment, we had just rolled the dice and slammed them on the table, but I still hadn't opened my cup and was thinking.
If I assume she really knows all the dice, do I have any chance of winning? Hmm, the only way is to guess the highest total number and how many, in the first round. At least since I'm the first player, I have a small chance.
She stretched and said, "Why are you thinking so much? You're going to lose anyway," and smirked.
Ahh, it's really annoying! I'm being teased by a cheater... Anyway, let's see what we have.
Really?!, there was one of each number, you must be joking! The game really relies on me guessing what she has.
Ahh, why am I so tense over a simple game? Let's just guess a random number, I said "4 fours."
Her smug smile suddenly turned to surprise. Haha, it seems I got it right.
Then she said, "5 fours," So I immediately called it, "Lie!"
We both lifted our cups and...
"What!? How could I not have known? Why were you surprised then?"
With a smug grin, she said, "I thought the whole point of the game was to trick your opponent," and laughed, rolling on the floor.
"One round..." I mumbled.
Wiping away tears of laughter, she asked, "Huh, did you say something?"
"Let's play one more round!" I said.
"No way," she replied quickly.
Even though I lost against a cheater, this loss stung a bit, so I couldn't hold back my tears.
"Huh, are you crying?" As she asked she started, coming closer to me.
If she hadn't asked, I wouldn't have cried out loud, but once she did, my tears turned into a noisy sob.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, let's play one more round," she said, trying to calm me down while also patting my head.
Maybe it was because I was in a child's body, but it took me a while to calm down. After that, we played one more round and I won.
But for some reason, it wasn't a satisfying victory at all, because I felt like that she lost on purpose. The score was 6-6; instead of suggesting one more game, she said, "It's getting dark, let's call it a day."
I looked around, and it was indeed sunset. "Okay," I said.
Time really, had passed so quickly outside for the first time...
Instead of parting ways, she accompanied me home, and my mom seemed happy to see us together.
---