"I'll participate as well."
"Great!" Black Rabbit gave a pleased smile at Soma's response. "Let this game begin!"
A flash of light revealed an unfurled scroll that slowly descended into Black Rabbit's hands.
"What's that?"
"This is a Geas Roll. It's a contract for participating in Games." She handed the paper over to Izayoi who held it so the other three could see its contents. "It contains rules and conditions for victory in the Game."
Soma quickly read through the Geas Roll. This game was called 'Recruiting'. To win this game you would need to draw a face card from off the table; only one draw per person.
"Ok, I got it. But first, let me see the cards." Black Rabbit agreed to Izayoi's request and the other children followed suite.
The first one to finish was Soma. It took him seconds to identify what face cards were and that's all the information he needed. Asuka and Yo appeared to be marking cards, while Izayoi thoroughly inspected a couple that he grabbed. Soma assumed the blond was suspicious because how simple the game was. He would share the opinion, but as things stand, Black Rabbit has little to gain by tricking them.
"Soma-san," The boy in question turned his head towards the speaker. "Are you finished?" Black Rabbit gestured towards the table. He nodded in reply. A few minutes later all the children had finished. They stood around the table as Black Rabbit put the cards down again. "Who would like to be first?"
Izayoi glanced at the others and said, "I'll go first." He stepped forward and scanned the cards. "Thanks for the invigorating speech earlier." A nervous smile and babble akin to appreciation escaped Black Rabbit's mouth. This made Izayoi's innate smirk grow even further. "I choose... This one." His palm slammed the table launching cards into the air. Some fluttered down to the ground while most returned to the table. With the front side up. Soma, Yo, and Asuka picked from the now revealed face cards, ignoring the flabbergasted rabbit.
"H-hold on a second! That was-"
"They didn't break any rules. Draw a face card from the table. One draw per person."
"Yes, but..." Her ears twitched once, twice, thrice. Black Rabbit's posture drooped in defeat. "The Garden's hub has approved. Asuka-san, Yo-san, and Soma-san are victorious." The two girls shared a congratulatory high five. "B-but you haven't won yet, Izayoi-san!"
He laughed, "Oi, just who do you think I am?" The boy flipped the card trapped beneath his hand. It was a black king.
"H-how?!"
"I memorized them." The blond's matter-o-fact statement did little to help the rabbit. "I memorized the position of every single card." To emphasize his point, Izayoi listed card names and revealed said cards in order. Black Rabbit's response consisted of an utterly shocked expression paired with some sort of choking noise.
"Not bad," A hint of approval could be heard in Asuka's voice, "But, you put my plan to waste." Yo nodded to backup Asuka's statement.
After a brief apology Izayoi turned back to the rabbit. "Hey, Black Rabbit," His call was able to pull her from her apparent self-loathing.
"Y-yes?"
"You'll do one thing I say, right?"
"I-I said, nothing sexual!" Black Rabbit took a step back and covered herself with an arm, only pushing 'them' up higher.
Izayoi sighed, "As much as I'm tempted to do so, I just want you to answer one question."
Her ears twitched."A-and that would be?"
"Is this world..." He paused to find the best word to use. "Exciting?"
A moment in silence went by before a small smile surfaced. "Yes," Answered Black Rabbit calmly, "Only beings superior to ordinary humans can participate in Gift Games. I can assure you that the Garden is more exciting than the human world!"
With Izayoi being satisfied, Black Rabbit lead the group on a path through the forest to an enormous structure. The children had first seen it when they were falling from the sky, but even from hundreds of meters off the ground they couldn't have see more than halfway to the other side. When they got close to the entrance, Black Rabbit called and waved to a young boy sitting on a rock just outside the gate.
"Jin-bocchan! I've brought new people!" The curly haired boy looked up and smiled at the approaching group.
"Welcome back Black Rabbit. Those three are the new members?"
"Yes! These-" Black Rabbit stopped and looked back to the children confused. "Huh? Three? Where's Izayoi-san?"
"Izayoi-kun? He said 'I'm gonna see the edge of the world and be right back' then ran off in that direction." Asuka pointed back into the forest.
"...Eh? Why didn't you stop him!?"
"Because he said 'Don't stop me'."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"He said 'Don't tell Black Rabbit'."
"That's a lie. It must be a lie. You just didn't want to bother, didn't you!"
Both Asuka and Yo gave a brief and blunt 'yes', causing Black Rabbit to fall to her knees. Only an hour ago she was excitedly awaiting the new members, but now...
Soma, who had been silently watching their exchange, noticed that the 'Jin' boy's face paled when Asuka indicated which direction Izayoi went. "Is there danger in that direction?"
"Y-yes!" Stuttered Jin, after realizing Soma was talking to him. "Many Mythical Beasts use the Edge of the World for the sake of Gift Games."
"Mythical Beasts?" Asked Asuka, she never heard the term before.
"Yes, Mythical Beast is a term used for beasts that posses special gifts. In particular, near the Edge of the World there are some with powerful Gifts. Once you meet them, no human can hope oppose them! Black Rabbit, if he gets tricked into a Gift Game..."
"I know." Black Rabbit lifted herself off the ground, determination in her eyes. "Jin-bocchan, please show these three around until I get back." Her dark hair flushed into a light pink surprising the three new comers . Soma tried to say 'wait' but before he could she lept towards the Edge of the World leaving a dent in the road.
"Rabbits are quite fast in the Little Garden."
"Rabbits are called the Highborn of Little Garden." explained Jin, "She is strong, possessing numerous gifts and special authorities due to her heritage. As long as she doesn't run into any especially powerful Mythical Beasts, she should be f- Hey, where are you going?!"
The last part was directed at Soma who'd started to move away in the direction Black Rabbit went. Luckily for Jin, Soma paused to answer his question.
"I'm stopping Black Rabbit."
"Wha...!?"
"Are you sure you can?" Asked Yo. Soma nodded, replied with a 'yes' and dashed towards the trees. He vanished from their sight as fast as Black Rabbit had, leaving a streak of blue behind him.
Jin was left speechless in awe of Soma's speed. Humans capable of matching Black Rabbit were few and far between. If the other children were like him, thought the young leader, maybe it will be possible to achieve his goals.
"Well, as Black Rabbit said, are you going to show us around?"
"Em, ah, yes." He stuttered to the apparently unfazed Asuka. Jin lightly cleared his throat before introducing himself, "I am Jin Russel, the leader if this community. I became 11 years old recently and am still very inexperienced. Lets get along from now on. Your names are?"
"I am Kudou Asuka, and the one holding the cat is,"
"Kasukabe Yo."
With the introductions finished, Jin led the two children into the Little Garden.
Author's Notes
This should have been out at least a month ago... but it wasn't. I was going to type a fair bit further into the story but after a whopping pace of a sentence or two per week it just wasn't worth it. My schedule as of late has consisted of way to many social encounters including camping, college stuff, sleepovers, and even... even sports. Not only that, my free time has been dominated by Skyrim and Overwatch which we all know is SUPER important...
Now story related things! So I took the time to read further into Mondaiji (Yeah, I haven't read through it yet. Don't even have access to all of it but, I'm working on it.) and found that some of the changes I planned to make do very bad things to the plot. As a result, I won't type past Argol until I can rework my plans. Technically I could go on with what I have but, the probability of an immovable object appearing is high and unfortunately, I'm not an unstoppable force so it wouldn't even be a good experiment. Also, don't be surprised If I rework/retype/reorganize what I've already posted because I've found it to be less than satisfactory.
In other news type things, I am probably going to start up a new fic in the near future about Sword Art Online. By 'new' I mean something I've worked on over the past couple years and by 'near future' I mean within the next six months...
~Bai!