red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lxv: a drastic change

"excuse me."

as takemitchy was passing the streets to head to school, he was stopped by a hooded figure slowly approaching him. they didn't reveal their face as they stopped right in front of takemitchy to block his path.

"can i help you?"

"do you know where the convenience store is?"

"it's a girl?" it was an assumption since the voice was a little distinct from a man's, but he didn't want to judge.

"oh, it's right over there!" he points to the direction of his school.

"thank you."

they walked past him and headed the opposite way from where he pointed at, leaving him confused as he stood there and watched them walk away.

"uhm, but the convenience store is over there..." he trailed off. "...that's the way to the hospital, did they even hear me?"

sighing, he shook the matter off his head and proceeded his walk to school. he's going to have a pretty good day with chifuyu and hakkai today, and there is no stopping him.

***

"iza~"

she pulled her hood off of her head, revealing her ashy grey hair that was choppily cut just below her chin. her black roots were beginning to show, though it only added more to her hair's design than ruining the dye. with a light smile, she slid the door open and walked inside the hospital room.

"hey, i found that game you told me about!"

the albino sitting by the window turned to face her, lilac hues landing on the vertical box in her hands rather than her face. in an instant, his irises turned to sparkles and he stood from the stool.

"you said they don't sell any here in japan."

"oh, i ordered it online." they both went to the foldable table that was neatly planted across the hospital bed. with stools already set across each other, they occupied both seats. she handed the box over to him. "you set it up. i don't know how to play it."

"i'll teach you. the rules are pretty simple, but strategy is what you need to win the game." he excitedly opened the box and took out the pieces along with the mat that serves as their game board. "what color do you want? black, or white?"

"does it matter what color i choose?"

"not really. we can play rock-paper-scissors to determine who goes first."

"alright, then. so i just have to...think like a general?"

izana stopped himself from dividing the mixed up pieces on the table, raising his head to deadpan. "i mean...that's kind of the point?" he sighed. "kazua-chan, i really wonder what manjiro sees in you."

"can you not?" kazua playfully glared back at him. "tsk, i wonder what that kakucho guy sees in you. not gonna lie, though, you two are cute."

at her sudden attack, a blush crept up izana's cheeks rapidly. he reached a hand over and bonked her head.

"hey!" kazua hissed, soothing her head with both hands as izana resumed to separate the pieces. he pushes the black pieces to her side after.

"alright, you can arrange your pieces on your side anywhere you want." he said. "the most important piece is the flag, and you need to either capture my own flag, or have your own flag cross over my territory to win the game. are you following?"

"yeah, so i have to protect my flag from you, too, right?"

"yep,"

"but, how do we place them?"

"the symbols have to face you and hide them from me. when our pieces clash, the lower rank will be defeated and the higher rank will get to advance."

"but if our pieces are turned away from each other, how will we know who's lower?"

"easy. you need an arbiter for that." izana answered her questions with ease. "the arbiter is a neutral player and is the only one allowed to see both our pieces. they get to decide who advances and who doesn't. of course, they will have to follow the rules."

kazua hummed, checking each piece one-by-one as she silently began to formulate her own strategy to play against izana. she's pretty sure that he's good at this. after all, it appeared as if this is his favorite board game.

he introduced it to her one time when she was visiting him after their weekly psychotherapy a few weeks ago. because it reminded him so much of the philippines, the country he lived in for a few years before he was permanently moved to japan, kazua decided that it might be a good change for him to bring something back from his childhood.

"well..." she glances at the empty chair on the other side of the table that was between them. "...where's our arbiter?"

izana's smile fell when he realized the predicament. "oh, we don't have one." he frowned. "ah, that's too bad. we can't play if we don't have one."

before he could start moping, kazua stood from her chair and walked to the door. she slid it open, peeked her head out, and waved someone over from outside.

"emi-neesan!"

"kazua-chan, keep your voice down."

"oh, sorry. are you busy right now?"

the nurse shook her head, claiming that she doesn't have any patients to check up on as of the moment. kazua was glad for her availability and motioned for the older to get inside the room.

before emi could comprehend what was happening, she was sat on the seat between the two with a pamphlet guide on her hands. "what is happening?"

"iza's teaching me how to play this game. be our arbiter for awhile."

"arbi—what?"