After eating their fill, everyone leaned back in their chairs with full bellies.
No one wanted to move — they had eaten far too much.
However, someone had to clean up the mess on the dining table. They couldn’t just leave it looking untidy.
"Hey, Megumin, it’s your turn to do the dishes, right?"
"Nooo, I absolutely refuse!" Megumin shook her head vigorously, "Kazuma, you should do it! At least I helped Darkness with the cooking. You’ve just been sitting around doing nothing, so it should be your turn!"
"What nonsense! You were just sneaking bites of food in the kitchen under the pretense of taste-testing!" Kazuma mercilessly exposed her lie, "Besides, I did it yesterday and the day before, so today is definitely your turn!"
"Ughh!" Megumin was clearly displeased but still wobbled to her feet.
However, when she saw Yunyun slumped in the chair across from her, she suddenly hatched a devious plan.
"Want to have a duel with me?"
"Eh?" The word "duel" immediately caught Yunyun’s attention.
Ever since arriving in Axel and first meeting Megumin, she had always wanted to duel and defeat her to prove she was worthy of becoming the next Crimson Demon Clan Chief.
Hearing there was a chance for a duel, she naturally wouldn’t let it pass.
"A duel? What kind of duel?"
"Well... we just finished dinner, but no one has cleaned the table or washed the dishes... So, let’s make that the stakes." Megumin’s lips curled into a smile, pleased that her plan was working, "We’ll decide the winner with rock-paper-scissors. If Yunyun wins, I’ll wash the dishes, but if I win, Yunyun does them... How does that sound?"
The clever scheme was working perfectly.
It was originally her job anyway, and now she was using it to bait Yunyun into a trap. She couldn’t lose either way.
Before Kazuma could warn Yunyun about the trap, she had already agreed without thinking.
"Great! Best two out of three, okay?"
"Let’s do this, I’m ready!"
The two Crimson Demon girls faced each other, their eyes burning with the desire for victory.
"I will definitely win!"
They were getting serious!
"Yunyun, I’ve been winning with little tricks all this time, but that was just to deceive you."
"You know, Yunyun, I only know one spell and I’m terrible at physical skills, but there’s one thing I’m absolutely unbeatable at."
"That’s right! Rock-paper-scissors!"
Megumin’s voice rose triumphantly, making Yunyun instinctively panic.
"Yunyun, we’ve played rock-paper-scissors hundreds of times, and I’ve never lost! You remember that, don’t you?"
"Urk." Yunyun unconsciously swallowed.
She had been too impulsive earlier. Thinking about it carefully, she realized she had never won against Megumin at rock-paper-scissors.
Before Megumin could make her move, Yunyun was already losing her composure.
"Come on, Yunyun! Let me finish you off quickly, just like always!"
"I’m going to throw scissors!"
"T-then I’ll throw... paper!"
Megumin, taking advantage of Yunyun’s confusion, quickly threw out her hand before the girl could react—
Even though Megumin had announced her move first, Yunyun still fell for it, instinctively throwing paper when she saw the scissors... She lost.
The two girls’ expressions were complete opposites — Megumin’s triumphant grin against Yunyun’s frustrated face.
"One more time!" After a brief moment to collect herself, Yunyun challenged again, refusing to give up.
It was best two out of three — she still had a chance!
"No matter how many times you try, I, the rock-paper-scissors master, will never lose! Train for another hundred years if you want to beat me!"
"C-come on! This time I won’t lose!"
"Then I’ll throw paper!"
"Then I’ll throw scissors!"
Rock, paper, scissors...
Yunyun was distracted by Megumin’s sudden exclamation and pointing finger behind her, instinctively turning to look.
But her hand had already committed to throwing rock, and she couldn’t take it back...
This time Megumin had deliberately thrown late, waiting until after Yunyun’s move to secure another victory with her tricks!
Though this victory was, how should we put it... completely underhanded!
Not just Kazuma, but even Aqua and Darkness couldn’t stand watching anymore. For all Megumin’s talk about playing fair, she had used tricks to win both rounds against Yunyun.
Everyone’s expressions soured.
"T-this time... this time doesn’t count!" Yunyun loudly protested. "Megumin keeps interfering with me — this round shouldn’t count!"
"No, you lost, Yunyun." There was no way Megumin would give up her advantage now, not even if Adam asked her to.
She had Yunyun right where she wanted her.
"What a shame, Yunyun, but I won again."
Yunyun’s dejected appearance made everyone who knew what had happened feel strong sympathy for the poor girl who had been completely outmaneuvered by Megumin.
"Well then, I’ll leave it to you, Yunyun."
"Y-yes..." Seeing Megumin slouch lazily back in her chair, Yunyun sighed resignedly and stood up, beginning to clear the table efficiently.
Another failed challenge left her feeling dejected. She trudged toward the kitchen with the plates, her gloomy figure reflected in the eyes of those still seated.
"Hey, that was too much, Megumin!"
"Honestly, even I think that was too far."
The party members condemned the chuunibyou girl who sat gloating in her victory.
Winning through such underhanded means was truly disgraceful. Especially doing this in front of everyone to bully the team’s newest member—even though they were "lifelong rivals," her method of winning was just too dirty!
But to everyone’s surprise, Megumin didn’t try to defend herself. Instead, she pulled something from her pocket and began writing in front of everyone.
Looking closely, it appeared to be a notebook. Though not very big, it was filled with dense writing. Using his enhanced vision, Adam could see dates and various marks on its pages.
Megumin turned to a new page, wrote down today’s date, and drew a circle.
"Another victory today!" She declared triumphantly.
Hey, that was going too far!
The party members voiced even stronger condemnation.
In the end, the farce concluded with everyone helping to clean up. Megumin, who had won through trickery, felt all her earlier effort had been wasted and grew quite unhappy.
But given how underhanded she had been, nobody felt inclined to comfort her.
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Enjoy reading on NovelHub - your free online novel platform... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that’s less than your daily meme budget), get extra Chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)!
That’s it and happy reading! (-‿◦)