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Throughout his life, Okarun never really got the point of game night. I mean sure, playing strategic board games and card games was fun and all, but based off of the three or four game nights he had once in a blue moon in his family, he always ended up becoming the main target towards the end of the night and he’d be left waiting for what he thought were hours for someone to either win the game or give up halfway through. Of course, just when he’d be back in a new round, he’d get targeted again and lose once more.
Lose, wait, come back; that was the cyclical order he would go through. The mere thought of having to experience something like that again made him feel a sense of dread and agitation.
That was, until, he got an invitation to Momo’s place for game night in a group chat she had created; the only thing is that Jiji was in the group chat. Okarun still felt iffy about him. He seemed like a nice guy, but the suspiciously flirtatious comments and jokes he’d make towards momo, especially considering their history, was bothersome to him.
It wasn’t like Okarun could flat out tell Jiji to not show up, though, because 1. That would be insanely rude and unlike him and 2. Jiji had already replied with a, “OOOH YEAH!!! See you guys soon! >:D”
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As he knocked on the door, Okarun’s mind momentarily wondered to what kind of game they would play first. A strategy game? Maybe one based on luck? How about a puzzle game?
“Hey Okarun!! Come on in!” Momo greeted him, stepping to the side to let him inside her house. Having his thoughts interrupted, Okarun nodded with a smile and gladly entered. Not even a second later, his eardrums were harassed by Jiji’s loud voice. “HELLOOOOO OKARUUUUNNN,” he shouted before dashing over, “long time no see, eh? Eh???” They had seen each other at school just yesterday. Okarun laughed at his joke before playing along. “Yup, it’s definitely been a while!” Okarun agreed sarcastically.
Momo closed the door behind her and instantly went over to the living room, turning to the boys as they spoke. “Let’s start setting up,” she instructed, “can one of you help me get the table? My back is kinda hurting…”
She needed assistance! This was perfect for Okarun! He’d show just how polite and helpful he was again! Just as he was going to offer his assistance, he was cut off by Jiji. “I can, Momo!” He stated enthusiastically as he marched over to her in his animated nature. Momo smiled before giving further instructions. “Good! Now just carefully move it and slowly set it down there…”
While Okarun watched them, he couldn’t help but be reminded of his attempt to keep “dirt” from landing on Momo the last time they moved the table. The memory made him internally cringe, chastising his embarrassing action.
“Lemme go get the games we have now!” Momo announced as she began making her way to a closet in the house. With the table now set up, Jiji took at seat without hesitation. Okarun followed in his footsteps and sat across from him. “What games do you think Momo will have??” Jiji asked Okarun, tilting his head and tapping his chin with his pointer finger in an exaggerated manner. Okarun let out a hum before responding, “I’m not sure. Honestly, I’m not caught up to speed on the latest board games and card games and other stuff like that…” As Jiji drummed his fingers on the table, he nodded in understanding. “Well, I personally think she’s gonna have super fun games! Maybe stuff like Candy Laaaand, Go Fiiiish, probably even Exploding Kitteeeeenssss…”
The teenager’s predictions soon came to a halt when a pile of board games and cards games was placed down in front of them. “Here are the games I could find. Choose whichever one you like!” Momo offered. As she took a seat at the table, the two boys began to scrutinize the pile of games, trying to find something that looked interesting. Okarun soon found a familiar looking game: Uno. With a sense of familiarity, he reached out and grabbed it so he could take a closer look at the box. That’s when he realized something was different.
The box in question had one completely different aspect to it, and that was the fact this version of Uno followed with the phrase, “show ‘em no mercy.” His eyebrow raised in confusion before he decided to ask the two about it. “So, what’s up with this version of Uno?” He questioned them, turning the box around to face them.
Okarun was met with two very different reactions. “NO WAY, MOMO,” Jiji exclaimed, “YOU HAVE THAT VERSION OF UNO NOW?!?!” Momo hissed through her teeth and an irked expression contorted onto her face. “Yup, sure do,” she sighed, “my grandma bought it once at some store, and each and every time she’s played with anyone, she’s kicked their asses…” Momo practically shivered at the memories of Seiko destroying her, as well as others, in this version of uno with a smug grin.
Okarun looked between the two in pure confusion, reiterating, “what makes this Uno so different…?” Momo looked towards him as she took her own seat. “Basically, this version of Uno is unbelievably intense; while it still has regular Uno cards, there are new ones with crazy consequences,” she explained, “there’s cards that skip everyone, make players have to take ten cards if they can’t stack, and even one where a player needs to keep drawing from the draw pile until they pick up a certain color…”
These new additions sure seemed intimidating. Now Okarun knew why Momo reacted the way she did. He carefully placed the box down on the table, only for Jiji to swipe it not even a second later. He immediately started to shove the box in Momo’s face, begging, “Can we PLEEEASE play this?! I’ve always wanted tooooo!!!” Momo grumbled and snatched the box from his hands, yelling “ABSOLUTELY NOT!! This game is too insane!”
“Awwweeeee but I really wannaaaaaaa! You’re making me sad.” Jiji then pouted.
“OH PLEASE!! You’ll live if we play a different game!”
“BUT THATS NOT FAAAAIIRR!! The guests should have the first pick!!”
Okarun watched as they bickered back and forth, and after a while, they obviously started to make it a game; he didn’t wanna be bothered by it, but the jealousy he felt when watching them be like this always bubbled up inside of him. Luckily, after a minute, Momo finally gave up and grumbled a “fineeee” before taking the cards out of the box and shuffling them.
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With the draw pile shuffled and everyone’s cards in their hands, the game had officially begun.
Everything had started out just peachy; the only cards that would be placed down were number cards, reverse cards, skip cards…you get the idea. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long. Soon enough, Momo and Jiji were getting all of the crazy cards that involved picking up 6 cards from the draw pile, switching cards with other people, placing down all the cards in your hand of one color, and other extremely confusing rules. During this time, Okarun had been targeted once or twice, and he had ended up with around fifteen cards in his hands.
“Oh boy,” Momo chuckled as she glanced at Okarun’s hand, “did I ever mention that you’re out if you get over twenty five cards in your hand?” Okarun’s jaw practically dropped to the floor, and it resulted in Jiji erupting with laughter. “Good luck with all of that!” He giggled as he gestured towards Okarun’s cards. Great.
At this point, Okarun had begun to strategize each and every one of his moves, determined to not be the first one out. Thankfully, his plan worked better than he thought it would; he had gotten rid of over five cards, so he was farther from getting eliminated than before. Jiji and Momo, on the other hand, had gained many cards, but had also acquired some cards with deadly consequences. This resulted in an all out card war between the two, leaving Okarun with nothing to watch out for; while it was good for him gameplay wise, he once again couldn’t help but be bothered by how much attention they were giving each other.
“TAKE THAT!!!” Jiji slammed a card down onto the table, and it turned out to be a “draw-from-the-deck-until-you-get-your-chosen-color” card. Momo was the lucky recipient. “I hate you so much.” Momo said flatly, earning more laughter from Jiji and a cringe of sympathy from Okarun. With a heavy sigh, Momo simply stated, “red.” before she began to pick up cards from the draw pile; 24 cards later, she finally got a red card.
Momo, who was unbelievably pissed off, slowly looked up at Jiji. There was a five second period of silence before Jiji burst into laughter. “YOU ARE OOUUT!!” He announced while making exaggerated gestures. “YOU’RE SO MEEEAAANN!!” Momo threw her cards at him and yelled back, trying to hide a smirk.
Okarun laughed in response before comforting her jokingly, saying, “it’s alright, Miss Ayase. It’s not the end of the world.” Momo sighed heavily before turning to Jiji. “Well, I guess not, but I know that THIS GUY will never stop bringing up my horrible loss!” She feigned intense sadness as she pouted. “Awwww, you gonna cryyyy,” Jiji playfully teased, “well, too bad! You’re not gonna make me feel any sympathy! Even with such a cute face of yours making such a sad little expression!”
Okarun’s lighthearted smile immediately turned into a bewildered and mildly annoyed grimace. Cute?! Why was he calling her cute?! That’s really weird to say! And he shouldn’t be saying that! If anything, the person who should be saying that is Oka— nobody. No one.
As Okarun tried to ignore his confusingly annoyed thoughts, he looked down at his hand of cards and was greeted with a beautiful sight. A 10+ card.
“Hey, Jiji, guess what?!”
“Huh? What is it, Okaru—“
He slapped the card onto the table before Jiji could finish his sentence.
Jiji and Momo stared at the card for a second before processing it. “OOOOHHHHHH KARMA, BITCH!!!” Momo screamed, watching as Jiji’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “NONONO I DONT THINK THAT’S IT,” he blubbered as he desperately looked through his hand, “I definitely have a card I can stack on top of that!!!”
Jiji couldn’t have been more wrong. Out of the 16 cards he had, none of them were 10+ cards. He slowly placed his cards down in dismay.
“I’m out.” He uttered. With this information, the two others turned to each other with shocked expressions before Momo began celebrating. “Okarun that was friggin insane!!!” She praised before holding her hand out for a high five. “Thanks,” Okarun replied as he reciprocated the high five, “I was waiting for a while to use that card!”
As the two kept on talking about what specific strategies helped Okarun win, Jiji suddenly pointed to him before yelling, “I DECLARE A REMATCH!!!” While his tone obviously hinted towards a joking manner, Okarun made sure to return the favor.
“You’re on, Jiji!” He challenged before taking all of the cards, beginning to reshuffle them all.