ludic

Chapter Seven

"Oh come on!" Kuramochi whines as Ryosuke defeats his character in the current video game they're playing.

Izanami looks over from the spot she's sitting on in Kuramochi's bed, raising an eyebrow. "Lost again?"

"Oh shut up!" This only makes Izanami laugh and Ryo snicker.

Currently Izanami was in Kuramochi and Masuko's room. Kuramochi was already going to play some video games with Ryo, but invited her as well since she had nothing too important to do. Masuko on the other hand was out, probably hanging out with a few of the other upperclassmen. Izanami had already played a few rounds, the results not exactly pretty, but she wasn't exactly a gamer. Sure, back home she played video games with her friends too, but still, she wasn't that good. If anything, she was better with board games.

It's not like she didn't have video game systems, because she did, she just always found entertainment outside of it more. Like sports. So while she enjoyed playing a few rounds here and there, she wasn't the best, but at least she had fun. Arcade games were another story though. So here she was instead sitting on Kuramochi's bed as she switched between reading a horror book Ryo lent her and watching the other two play.

"That's 3 to 2 now Kuramochi," Ryo chuckles, "That means you lost three of the five rounds we played."

"Did you get better at this game or something?!"

"Just got lucky today is all."

"Yeah, okay."

"Was beating me not enough? Didn't that raise your ego at all?" Izanami teases.

"Well that's different. You sucked at this game."

"Well excuse meeeee," Izanami huffs, "Next time let's play Monopoly and then we'll see who loses."

"No way! That game is too long!"

"Not if you know how to play correctly."

Ryo shakes his head at his two kohai bickering before someone knocks on the door, Kuramochi telling the person to come in. In walks Miyuki, whose grin only grows when he sees Izanami in the room as well.

"Little miss rule breaker here, huh?"

Izanami rolls her eyes, closing the book after putting a bookmark between the pages, "Oh yeah, 'cause I would break the rules my uncle would implement."

"Isn't it more like school rules?"

"That I could care less about honestly."

"Ryo-san, are you hearing this?"

Ryo sighs, turning to look at Miyuki, "She's allowed to be in here— according to Coach and Takashima-san. Coach's rules matter more since he's in charge of the baseball team and all."

"But still... her uncle doesn't mind that she's in the boy dorms and all?"

Izanami pouts, crossing her arms, "What are you trying to say about me Kaz? Think I'm up to no good or something?"

"She's literally just been chilling with us since I invited her in," Kuramochi says with a roll of his eyes, "Now either come in and close the door or get out."

"Fine," Miyuki pouts as he closes the door, taking a seat on the floor near Ryo and Kuramochi. "Your uncle really doesn't mind you being in a boy's room like this?"

"Please," Now Izanami rolls her eyes, "Did you miss all the information I said that I practically grew up around my dad's teams, which you know, consisted of all boys? That and my parents trust me. Well that and..." She laughs quietly, "A lot of the boys are terrified of my dad, mostly mom really, so they know to respect me and to not try anything funny. Still, I grew up with boys a lot, even dorming with some back home since our softball team was really close to the baseball team. That and I'm just a people person like I said. Fuck gender roles. I told you my best friend back home was Rai so that alone should tell you something."