"Are you okay?"
He looked at me. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to mess around anymore." I sighed. "Why are you acting strange this afternoon?" I finally found the courage to open up to him.
"Huh?" he is in disbelief. Maybe he wasn't expecting that question from me.
"Y-You were kind of different."
He paused for a while. "You're right. Ask me about what's bothering you." He looked at me. He is waiting to ask him another question.
"Before the game started, you didn't talk to me. You were too serious and stuck. You didn't talk to others as well or even to your teammates. You seem you haven't had physical pain during the two-minute game. You shot the ball even if we were about to lose the game, but it caused someone to be in pain. You're not too puzzled by the weird things that happened in the game. And… Sixth cried. She looked at-"
"She's mad at me." He finished my sentence as if he already knew what was going on in my head. I nodded.
He averted his gaze from me and looked into the distance.
"I was also a victim during the two-minute game, with a stiff neck. I just pretended not to be hurt and stayed focused. When I was playing, I talked rarely. I was using my head to think of the circumstances and the next player who would be in pain. I quietly listened to my teammates' strategy, that's why, even though I'm not good at playing basketball, I managed to play. I'm not surprised by the unforeseen events because I already predicted some of them. It was a solemn game, so I must take it seriously. As for why I shot the ball for the last fifteen seconds?" He stared at me. "I did it to win the game."
***
Aeith, Twentieth, Forzen, and Sixzen, and I were assigned to cook.
"Is Sixth okay?" Forzen asked Twentieth worriedly while frying. Sixth is also a close friend of Twentieth.
"She's been sleeping for a while. I made her stay and told her to come down later for dinner." Twentieth answered.
"Aren't we girls going to play tomorrow?" Aeith asked while washing the vegetables.
"Yeah, I wonder what it will be," Sixzen replied with curiosity in her mind.
Aeith added. "Oh sh*t! I might die this time when our game starts."
A moment of silence filled the kitchen. Sixzen glared at Aeith.
"Yikes, my bad," Aeith was saying it as a form of a joke, but there's no room for jokes right now.
"What about me, who knows no sports because I prefer reading books?" Forzen changed the topic a bit. She is helping Aeith with the vegetables.
"Me too," Twentieth agreed.
I'm glad because I get to know them better. I also get a chance to talk to Aiezen and Sectwen. The only two girls who feel distant for me. Aeizen is quiet and doesn't socialize a lot, but she is a good person. Sectwen can be straightforward in saying her feelings, whether it is good or bad stuff, but I can sense that she is a sweet person.
We ate dinner afterward. The joy of feeling that even though I can't remember who my family is, I have a bigger family here.
"Let's eat!" Ninezen declared excitedly.
After we prayed, everyone ate. Everyone is tired not only physically but also of our emotions. I watched Sixth leave the dining table early. I hope she will be okay. We were getting done eating, and some had already left the dining area. Our chairs in the dining area have an engraved number corresponding to the assigned chairs according to our number names. We wondered why we had to sit in a proper position by ordinal number, but we just did it. On the right side of the table are the boys, on the left are the girls. I am facing First as we eat. He was just seriously eating his food and silently left after eating. I still think about what he told me earlier in the music room.
He took the last shot even though we would still lose. How does he make sure we win by what he did? Why is he so confident that we will win? Author will reveal the result tomorrow, probably at the same time as which team will win the next game.
***
After eating, I took a shower and put on sleepwear. I saw First playing chess with Third. Of all the boys here, he is closest to Third, probably because they think the same way. Glad to see that he interacts with others. We routinely do what we do here in the castle since we're trapped. There is nothing new except for Author's gimmicks.
When else can we get out of here? I would rather live a normal life than live in this grand castle confined. I can't imagine myself being quarantined for the rest of my life because a lot of strange things happen in this world.
"Hey, let's play. Join us!" I saw Ninezen waving at me, so I went close to him.
Ninezen, Seventh, and Tenth are playing board games. They are missing one player, so I joined as well. It's fun because the board games here are out of this world.
The Scrabble in which it automatically shuffles and there is no need to flip letters because it will be blank. The board has a magnet that even if you touch or flip the letters, it will not be easily removed from its place. There is a small digital scoreboard in each corner of the board.
In chess, you don't need a hand to move chess pieces. You just need to speak where you want to place a chess piece by coordinate. The colors of chess pieces per player vary. It can be transparent, translucent, neon, and more.
Snakes and ladders, stairs, and snakes are in 3d and look like real-life snakes. The circle used as a marker is not just a simple circle, but a cartoon-style face of the player. There are sound effects and digital scoring.
Monopoly, 3D-like image. Touchboard with sound effects. Unlike the ordinary monopoly board game that is in top view, here you can see on the board the infrastructure, business, and more, from different angles and perspectives.
Cards, the characters on the cards are also 3D with real-life-looking people. They move in a repetitive motion if you move the card you're holding.
Shogi, similar to chess, you just have to speak to make each piece move. The written Japanese/Chinese characters are glowing in the dark so you can play even in a dim area.
Tower of Hanoi, is made of steel but lightweight, probably made of titanium-like material.
There are also dominoes, mahjong, word hunt, checkers, sci-checkers, and many more.
We're just like that all the time. Eat, bathe, sleep, have fun. Some complain because there is no internet or any gadgets here. But my favorite thing about this castle of all is the art room and library. If you go to the library, it just seems ordinary, but the books are magical. If you want to read something and if you know the title and if you are lazy to look for it on the shelves, you can just mention the title in the air and the book you are looking for will fall to the floor.
Although not hardbound and without a plastic cover, the cover has no creases. It is also dustproof and waterproof.
"Ah, I won!" Tenth, the girl with a double hair bun won this match.
"Another," challenged by Seventh because he couldn't accept defeat.
I was second in the ranking. Not that bad. I became drowsy after playing a couple of matches. I stood up and stretched. There are only a few of us here in the living area. Others are already asleep because I think it is midnight.
"Where are you going?" Ninezen asked me.
"Room. I'm sleepy"
"Good night" – Seventh
"Sweet dreams!" – Tenth
"Don't forget to sleep," I reminded to them because these two might deprive themselves of sleeping.
I turned around and said bye. I went up. I lay down and hugged my soft, white pillow.
Playing these games might be a good distraction for a moment. Unlike the board games we play for fun, the game we will play tomorrow is not a fun one, but a gamble in which our lives are at stake.