A lake… it was a beautiful lake.
The clean waters of the lake glittered a beautiful blue under the sun. Fish of all kinds swam in lazy circles beneath the clear blue water.
Seiji realized that he was sitting at the edge of the lake, with a fishing pole in his hands. The fishing pole currently had its line cast out far into the waters, and bait was connected to it.
"This is…" Seiji was astonished for mere moments before he was overcome by a sudden urge.
'I'm currently fishing. I absolutely have to succeed in catching a fish. I'll fail if I don't catch anything.'
'Wait, why am I thinking like this?' Seiji was suspicious of his unnatural state of mind.
He felt that this was very strange, and he wanted to stand up and check out the situation, but… he couldn't move!
He was unable to stand, he couldn't let go of the fishing pole, and he couldn't even turn his head. Some invisible force was preventing him from doing so.
Suddenly, the fishing line jerked, and a force pulled upon the pole.
'I've hooked a fish! I have to catch it,' the voice in his head urged.
Seiji reflexively tightened his grip on the fishing pole and attempted to pull the fish in.
However, this fish struggled mightily with much power. It tugged the fishing pole around and around as it swam back and forth speedily.
'Damn it! What the hell type of fish is this!? It's way too strong!'
Seiji gritted his teeth, and his knuckles paled as he clenched the fishing pole. If it were not for his efforts, the fishing pole would have long since fallen into the lake.
The stalemate with the fish continued for a while. Seiji was vividly aware of his sore, throbbing arms.
Suddenly, the force tugging on the fishing line weakened.
Seiji instinctively realized that this was a chance, so he used all his remaining energy to viciously pull up the fishing pole!
*Splash!!*
A large, strange fish that resembled some type of carp was tugged out of the lake, spraying water everywhere.
He had successfully caught the fish. The scenery around Seiji began to change once again.
The moment that Seiji put down his player piece on the board, Shika immediately cast Astral Vision as she noticed something had happened.
She saw an extremely complex spell formation floating above the game board, glowing gold-red. It tangled itself around Seiji's player piece and engulfed his entire body with its glow!
"Brother!" Shika shouted in surprise and fear.
Before she even finished speaking, the gold-red glow tangled itself around everyone else's player pieces as well and flashed blindingly.
After she was hit by the light, Shika saw a different scene from the living room she was just in.
She saw Seiji wearing a fisherman's hat and rain cape. He was sitting by the lake with a fishing pole in his hands!
She wanted to call out to him, but discovered that she was unable to make a sound or even move her body. She was only able to watch.
She witnessed the entire process of Seiji catching his fish.
After he succeeded in catching that large, strange fish, the scene in front of her changed again. She returned to her own living room.
Seiji also discovered that he had returned to his living room, still sitting by the kotatsu's side.
'What just happened?' Just as he was thinking this, he noticed how everyone else was looking at him with strange expressions.
"Brother… were you fishing just now?" Shika asked.
Seiji blinked in realization. "Yes… I was just fishing by the lake and caught a large, strange fish… how did you know?"
"I saw you," Shika said.
"Me too," Kaede added.
"Same for me," Mika said.
"I saw it as well," Reo chimed in. "Brother Harano caught a really large fish."
Seiji was astonished to hear all this. "All of you saw this… it wasn't just a hallucination?"
"It's because of this board game," Shika explained.
Seiji cast [Astral Vision] and also saw the spell formation glowing brightly.
"This board game… just what exactly could it be?" he wondered aloud.
At this moment, Mika raised her hand and was about to toss the dice.
"Stop! Don't toss the dice!!" Seiji hurriedly moved to stop her.
Mika suddenly regained her senses, but her hands shook, and she accidentally dropped her die, which rolled and revealed a three.
She instantly picked up her player piece.
"Don't move your piece!"
Seiji wanted to block her with his hand, but he discovered that he was unable to move his body. It was the exact same as when he was by the lakeside just now… in that fantastical place. He was being restricted by something.
"I… I didn't want to move it…" Mika said, her hand still moving. She placed her player piece on the third space, which had a picture of a woman dancing.
The next instant, Mika's eyes went blank. Immediately after, Seiji and the others saw another fantastical scene.
They witnessed Mika, dressed in extravagant clothing, standing on a stage. She began dancing clumsily to some beautiful music!
Seiji wanted to say something, but he was unable to do so. He also couldn't move and could only watch this entire scene in silence.
He now understood that everyone else had experienced the exact same thing while he had been fishing.
The pigtailed girl on the stage was obviously embarrassed. Her face was reddening, and her movements kept getting slower. She was obviously falling behind the music.
'For her to dance so poorly… wouldn't this likely be counted as a "failure?" I succeeded earlier in fishing and returned to reality without any mishaps. But… what if there's a "failure!?"' Seiji wondered to himself.
Suddenly, Mika tripped and fell over, ending her dance.
The scene faded and everyone returned to Seiji's living room.
"Mika! Are you alright?" Seiji asked.
"I… I'm fine," Mika answered. Her hand automatically reached out and moved her player piece back to the starting point. "If I fail, I have to go back… that's what it said."
"It?"
"There was… some sort of voice in my mind… that forced me to do those actions…"
Seiji nodded in understanding. He had heard something similar earlier as well.
"Do you feel any discomfort?" he asked.
"No… I didn't feel any pain at all when I tripped just now, either," Mika replied.
The only consequence of "failing" was moving backward—there were no negative side effects…or so it seemed for now.
Was this only a simple game?
A board game enchanted with Spiritual Power, one that could even help people to see fantastical illusions!?
Seiji felt like he had seen such a storyline in some anime or manga before, but he couldn't remember the specific one. He also recalled a movie he'd seen before called Jumanji, which also caused incidents to occur upon tossing the dice. However, the incidents from that story were incredibly serious and dangerous.
'By the way, why was Miss Landlord able to bring out something like this!? Or should I say, why did Mika's father leave something like this behind? Her father… could the already deceased Ueharsan have been… a Spiritual Ability user!?'
A series of questions flashed through Seiji's mind.
The Uehara family who he had always thought of as normal was suddenly surrounded by an air of mystery.
Thinking more about this topic… why did Sakursan contact Mika in the first place? Was that powerful demon truly just doing it for her personal amusement? Or was there some hidden connection?
No matter what, it wasn't an appropriate time to consider this. The game had not yet ended!
Kaede was next up.
"I… what should I do?" The blonde teacher picked up her die and felt a mysterious urge to toss it. However, she forced herself to do nothing and waited for a reply.
Thanks to her family upbringing, the mafia family daughter didn't panic in such an abnormal situation and was able to keep calm.
Seiji looked towards Shika. Shika shook her head slightly, indicating that she was unable to dispel this spell formation.
Should they continue playing this game obediently or forcefully resist it?
Seiji quickly considered the options and came to a decision.
"Toss your die, and let's keep playing," he said clearly so that everyone could hear. "For now it seems that playing this game won't harm us in any way, but we don't know what may happen if we try to forcefully oppose it. That might even get us injured, so let's just continue for the time being."
Kaede nodded before throwing out the die in her hand.
It landed on six.
The sixth space had a picture of… a beautiful woman entering a bath!
Seiji, Kaede, Mika, and Shika's expressions all froze over.
Then, the blonde teacher picked up her player piece.
"Wait a moment! Juumonji-sensei, that's…" Mika interrupted.
"I know," Kaede said softly, her eyes glowing as she glanced at Seiji, "it's fine… if it's Harano-kun…"
This glance was unbearably alluring.