Chapter 7

We were in the middle of an online study session. We had some homework we needed to deal with, and three heads were, in theory, better than one. It had been an entire hour since we began, and one of our heads had been drained.

“I’m tired…” Nadia murmured. It must be extra heavy for someone as busy as her. “I’m surprised you can survive this, Carol.”

“I put in the effort, Nadia.”

“Yeah… Let’s take a break!” Nadia suggested, her voice stronger than usual. Maybe she really wanted this break.

“I’m fine with that.” Carol agreed.

“Alright, we’ll take a break, then.”

Exhaustion had already begun to affect me. I wouldn't want to collapse because of studying. That would make my parents extra worried.

“Let’s play a game!” Nadia suggested.

“What game?”

We couldn’t play something too complicated, as we still needed to study. Not like we could spend the rest of the night just playing.

Nadia pondered for a while before suggesting, “Truth or dare.”

“Can we even do a dare?” Carol asked. She had a point. We were on a call. We couldn’t see each other. We had no way of confirming whether or not the other side did the dare.

“So, it’s just the truth, then?”

“I can do that.”

“How do we decide who goes first?”

“Let’s play hangman, but in English for an extra challenge. The punishment is that whoever loses has to answer.”

“... Wouldn’t there be two losers, then?”

There would be two people who needed to answer. If one of them got it right, they both got it right, same with when one got it wrong.

“How about each having three guesses, and you’re not allowed to discuss. The one who guesses first would be the winner. If both couldn’t guess, then the one choosing the word would lose.”

“I see…”

In other words, the chooser couldn’t choose obscure words used once in a lifetime, while the players must answer as fast as they can. The one who goes first would be able to answer first, but the one who goes after has the advantage of more letters on the board.

“Alright, let’s just do it. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Right, we wouldn't want this game to go on forever.

“Alright, alright. I’ll go first.”

She sent in her first word through the associated chat. It contained seven spaces.

“You want to go first?” Carol asked.

“... Alright.”

“Oh, if you get your guess wrong, you immediately lose.”

I guess that way, we wouldn’t just say every single word that came to our mind. Carol would now have the advantage of seeing my letters, so I needed to guess the answer before she could conclude. I decided with vowels.

“A.”

Nadia updated the word based on my answer.

_ _ A _ _ _ _

That wasn’t too helpful.

“E.”

_ E A _ _ E _

“... O.”

“No O.”

“Are there any other vowels?”

“Can’t answer that.”

“Right… R?”

I wasn’t sure why she chose R, but maybe because the word ‘right’ started with one. She did manage to get the letter right.

_ E A _ _ E R

A lot of different words entered my mind, but I quickly narrowed it down based on the words I already knew.

“Teacher… Wa-”

“Bingo. You’re right, Harto.”

I had accidentally blurted out the answer, but I was lucky I got it right.

“Time for your question, Carol.” Nadia giggled.

“Wait, I have to answer two questions?”

“Of course! How about you go first, Harto?”

A game of truth. I wonder what I could ask… I didn’t want to pry into her private life too much, but at the same time, this was a chance to know secrets she didn’t normally share. Well, I guess she could just lie. In the end, this is a game. We didn’t bring a metal detector with us.

“Is there anything you’re scared about?”

“For me… Well… I guess I’m scared of ghosts.”

“That’s surprisingly… unique…”

“Un- Unique? What kind of person isn’t scared of ghosts?”

“I’m not,” Nadia answered casually. “I wanted to meet one, if I can.”

“What… What are you scared of, then?”

“Fire.”

That was unexpected.

“I guess I’m scared about being burned alive.”

Really unexpected.

“As for my question… Do you actually like matcha?”

That seemed a bit… out of nowhere. I didn’t remember Carol being a matcha fan, though.

“That depends. I like real matcha, but a lot of matcha is just sweetened flavors. I hate those fake ones.”

“That’s fair.”

“Do you want to go next, Harto?”

“Sure.”

I picked a word. I thought about doing something obvious. Maybe they wouldn’t notice.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“... O.” Carol went first. Maybe she didn’t want to lose again.

_ _ O _ O _ _ _ _ _

“I.”

“No, I.”

“A.”

_ _ O _ O _ _ A _ _

“... What? M?”

“No M.”

“Dang, two letters missed.”

“H.”

_ H O _ O _ _ A _ H

That was when I realized I had made a mistake. I didn’t put in a space for the last letter.

“... If this is what I think it is… then P.”

“... Did you try to write photography but forgot a space for the Y?”

They got me.

“Yeah…”

“Well… you’re the one that has to answer, then.”

I waited for their questions.

“What is your biggest regret in life?”

“Isn’t that a bit deep?” Even Nadia sounded surprised.

“I… can’t remember any, honestly.”

I had moments when I wished I had picked something different, but they were all minor things. Nothing as major as my biggest regret. I guess I regretted uploading that manga... Yet, at the same time, would I be here with Nadia today had I not?

“I mean… even if I regret something, not like I can change anything about it.”

“That’s such a cop-out.”

“Fine, I regret trusting Ian’s game recommendation once.”

Ian begged me to play it. I tried, but I didn’t like it. I kind of get why Ian liked it so much, though, but not a game for me.

“Have you ever wondered what if you’re an idol?” Nadia asked. That one is very random.

“Of course not.”

It was finally Carol’s turn.

_ _ _ _

“A short one, huh? If this one has an O as well, it’ll be funny.”

_ _ _ O

“... A?”

“Nope.”

“E?”

_ E _ O

I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to answer just yet. I decided to put in my suspected third letter. That way, Nadia wouldn’t immediately guess.

“R.”

_ E R O

“You must really like those hero stories, huh? Carol?”

“It’s a bit too obvious, isn’t it?”

“Kinda?”

Guess I lost again. Had I known, I would have guessed immediately.

“So, what are your questions?”

Nadia started first. “If you can change one thing about our school, what would you change?”

“I would have made a larger gate, honestly.”

Our school had a small gate, at least compared to its student numbers, and it could get crowded during the start and the end of the school day.

“Oh, and maybe a larger field.”

“That’s honestly not what I expected,” Nadia commented. “How about you, Carol?”

“... What kind of girl do you like?”

“Right! I want to know that too!” Nadia said in excitement. Guess girls their age have a lot of interest in these topics.

“If I have to say… I honestly don’t have any preference.”

“Really?”

“I think I’m the kind of guy that likes someone because I like them, not because they have a certain personality type.”

Even now, Carol and Nadia had very different personalities, but that wouldn’t make me pick one or the other. Although I guess, unlike friendship, a romantic relationship only allows me to pick one.

“I- I see…”

“Sorry for the disappointing answer. You can ask something else if you want.”

“No, that was enough for me. Thank you.”

After that, we resumed our study.