7

“I guess I have no choice, I’ll help watch over Maruko-chan…” you said half heartedly.

“Wonderful! I’ll let Mrs. Hiroshi know.” Your mother turned and hurry go back to the front door, “Come on, she’s waiting!” she gestured you to hurry.

You quickly eat the rest of your bread and walked to the door. Your mom had already informed Mrs. Hiroshi by then.

“Oh thank you, thank you, Ezra-san! Now here, I’ll leave you with the house key, please watch over her for a while, I’ll be back as soon as possible!”

You smiled, “No worries, Sumire-san, I’ll take care of Maruko for you. I hope Kotake-san will get better soon.”

“Hontou ni arigato!”

“Doita shimasta.” you returned the gratitude and took both the house key and Maruko’s hand.

After she left, you went to her house with Maruko. “Hmm… it’s early, Maruko. What do you want to do?” you bend over and smiled to the little girl.

Maruko was a cute nine year old girl who was always there for as long as you remember. And with her silent and diligent sister which was quite the opposite of her, she’s closer to you than to her and looked up to you as an older sister.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you, Ezra… I know it’s boring to watch over me in a sunny day like this.”

You blinked twice, and laughed, “You still talk like an adult, don’t you, Maruko?”

“Hehe! How old are you, Ezra?”

“Mm! Good question. I am, in fact, 20 today!” ^^

“Is that mean today is your birthday??”

“Yup!”

Maruko grinned and laughed, “Awesome! Happy birthday!! Oh oh~ we should play *that* game! It’s so pretty I got it yesterday! I want to play with Grandpa but then Grandma went ill so I guess I’ll play with you!” You can barely heard her words as she dashed away upstairs to her room, apparently fetching the game she was talking about.

“Here!” she came running, holding a huge board game and grinning happily.

You took the board and examine it. It titled “Enchanted Forest” and looked a bit dark but most definitely pretty.




“How do you play this?” you asked. Maruko took over the board and open it. When unfolded, to your surprise it wasn’t a usual 2D board game, but 3D instead. Like a 3D wishes card or story book, you may say.

The board game changed into some kind of detailed map with regions mark and landscape. Also in your astonishment, it also have levels, like some hanging ‘islands’ that was connected by just a silver lining. A hell of a lining, it must be made of stainless steel to be able to hold that many islands. You counted there were four levels including the board.

“Where did you get this game?? It’s awesome!”

“I found it in the secret basement, it seems like it was there since forever.”

You laughed, “Secret basement?”

“Yeah, the basement of our basement. No one knows that place exists except for me.” she said proudly. “This is the second time I open this, but I never play it… Do you know how to play this?”

“Hmmm… let see…” you looked for the manual and started to read. “Mmm… It’s a game of Tale,” you explained, “There are territories on this map, the village of Men, the village of Beasts, and the village of Elves, they are constantly at war with one another. Far in the hidden forest somewhere in level 2, there was a village of the Fairies, and there are the Destined Twins who hold the key to the future of this world. One of the twin hold the path to the world peace and the other hold path to destruction because the Twin has the power to awaken the Legendary Dragon. Once the Dragon are summoned, it will be the End of all races. The highest level of this game,” you pointed to the only island on level fourth, “was the Dragon lair.”

“Sounds cool! And what is our objective?” Maruko stared in excitement.

“The Player must seek cooperation from the Three Nations to assist you finding the village of Fairies, and find the Twins and eliminate the one whom hold the Power to Summon. However, the tricky part is we don’t know which one of the Twins was the good or the bad one...”

Maruko blinked. “That’s a cool story but what are the rules? How’s the game play?”

You were thinking exactly the same thing. You scanned through the manual again, flipped it, and searched more, but you can’t find the game rules.

“Err… oh here, it’s the pieces!” you picked a tube which inside it you found 5 gold pieces, like the ones you used on chess, but smaller. You chose one randomly, so did Maruko.

“Should we... put this piece there?" Maruko pointed the area near the “Start” button on the side of the board.

You started the initiative to place your piece and Maruko followed. After you two placed your pieces, you press the start button.