Special Episode: The Pepero Game
"Today we're playing the Pepero Game."
I was stitching the head back onto a dinosaur plushie in the Demon King's stead when I startled and turned to look at her.
...Did I hear that wrong?
The Pepero Game. A sticky, sleazy little game my trashy upperclassmen—the ones always flicking their tongues around—had once taught me. The rules went like this:
1. Pair up in twos.
2. One person holds the end of a Pepero in their mouth.
3. The other bites the Pepero shorter and shorter, making it as short as possible.
4. Each team submits their leftover stick. The team with the shortest Pepero wins.
...There was no way.
Whatever the Demon King meant by "Pepero Game" had to be different from the one I knew. For all I knew, her Pepero might not even be that Pepero.
The Demon King slipped a stick from her pocket.
Th-that's...!
There was no mistaking it. A thin, long chocolate biscuit from a red rectangular box. Lotte Pepero.
"Hehe. This is super rare. I stashed it in the treasure vault just for today."
...Okay. S-sure, it could actually be real Pepero. We'd had Ssang Ssang Bars, so why wouldn't there be Pepero?
Still, the game itself had to be different from the Pepero Game I knew...
"Ahn."
The Demon King tucked the Pepero right into the center of her pale pink lips.
Fuck!
Rage surged up in me like someone had splattered ink across a snow-white blanket.
Which fucking bastard...!!
Who was it? Who the hell taught this vulgar game to the innocent Demon King? Unforgivable. I sincerely hoped they met a miserable end from diabetes and caffeine addiction.
"Look at this."
The Demon King, the end of the Pepero still clenched between her lips, shot me a lingering look as she spoke.
Then she launched it from her mouth with a sharp pew! It streaked through the air like an arrow and slammed into a target drawn on the wall in white crayon. Dead center. A perfect gold.
"Wow! Ten points! See that? Heheh. I made this game all by myself, you know? The closer you hit to the center of that circle, the more points you... huh? Why's your face like that?"
"...It's nothing."