I Became a Demon Who Can Never Be Headpatted in the Academy?!

There are various mini-games in Legend of Academy.

The card game I’m about to play is one of those mini-games.

“Wow… I didn’t know there was a game like this.”

“To know this game, Murmur-nim is amazing as expected!”

“I’ve played it with Pearl before… but I don’t remember the rules at all.”

Nikea’s maid, Liora, thankfully brought the exact game I had asked her to bring.

I was a little embarrassed to see a box with cuter and softer drawings than I remembered, but it didn’t matter because the rules of the game were the same.

“Today, Nikea, me, Sitri, and Esme… the four of us will play this game.”

“Can you explain the rules? Murmur?”

“Yeah, it’s simple. This game is about four friends working together to make a dessert.”

I reached for a deck of cards that seemed to be about 50 cards and pulled out one card to show.

The card, which had a rather cute dessert shop drawn on the back, had a strawberry drawn on the front. The number 3 was written above the strawberry.

“See? The strawberry and the number above the strawberry.”

“The strawberry looks so cute and delicious.”

“This number is the score. Once per round, we can put out one card from the cards we have… like this, face down.”

“Ah, I remember now! Murmur! After putting them face down, we mix everyone’s cards well, then shout one, two, three, and flip them over and add up the numbers on the cards, that’s the game.”

Esme said with a smile.

“That’s right. Just like Esme said. Like this… if there are 4 cards, a dessert with strawberry, whipped cream, bread, and grapes is completed.”

“Hehe, it’s fun to imagine what kind of dessert it will be. It’s easier than I thought?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the end of the rules. Since it’s a game, we have to decide the winner and loser.”

I showed a card from the deck with a very evil-looking mushroom drawn on it.

“Unfortunately, there are ingredients in this game’s cards that can’t be used as desserts and reduce points.”

“Ugh… I hate even imagining a cake with mushrooms in it.”

“Is there a reason why these cards exist?”

“Yeah, we have to play one card every round. And at the end of the game, we have to calculate our individual scores by subtracting the minus point cards each of us has from the points of the dessert we made.”

“Ah, so we’re deciding the first and last place based on those scores?”

That’s right.

To win in this soft and cute game called ‘Let’s Become the Best Dessert Shop~!’, you need to know how to properly play the minus cards in your hand.

“Yeah, that’s right. And finally… um… this might be a little difficult.”

“I played this game when I was a kid. It can’t be that hard, right?”

Esme snorted. I don’t think Pearl told her this rule back then?

“When you start the game, you see these uniquely shaped cards? I’ll give one to each of you.”

“It says ‘Patissier’? Hehe, there’s a super cute kid drawn on it.”

“The card I received has a witch with a strange nose drawn on it.”

“That’s right. The Patissier is the role that plays the game as I told you. And the witch is a little different. The witch votes before calculating everyone’s scores at the end of the game? If you’re not pointed out as the ‘Witch’, you win the game.”

Nikea naturally started touching my hand and started thinking.

She does skinship so subtly.

“So we make desserts by playing cards each round… and after the game ends, the person with the highest score wins, but to really win, we have to guess who the witch was?”

“Yeah, but there might not be a witch. It’s important, so you have to remember that.”

“Oh my, how can there not be a witch?”

“Yeah, a card is always left over when mixing the cards at the start of the game.”

I skillfully shuffled the cards and gave one to everyone.

Fortunately, I was a Patissier.

“Everyone understand?”

“Yes, it’s an easier and not difficult game than I thought.”

“Hehe, it’s a game where I can just throw out the weird ingredients in my hand!”

“… Is it a game to make pretty desserts?”

Esme, if you play the game like that, you’ll be suspected of being a witch!

“Then… shall we start?”

I took out cards from the deck and dealt 5 cards to everyone.

“You’ll get another card each time a round ends, so you have to think carefully.”

I put down the cute grape card I was holding. It’s a 2-point card.

“Okay. I’ll go with this card.”

After confirming that everyone had put down one card, I mixed the 4 cards back and forth, then flipped them over to show everyone the front.

I hope a cute dessert is completed.

“Grapes, whipped cream… a bug, a rotten apple.”

“Ugh… this can never be a dessert.”

“But surprisingly… the picture of the rotten apple is quite cute.”

The first round’s dessert was a complete failure. The bug card is a ‘minus 5 points’ card, so there’s no need to even calculate it.

“I’ll deal the cards again.”

“Let’s make a cute dessert this time. We’ll all end up with minus points if we keep this up.”

“There might be someone who’s just going to play all the minus cards out of spite.”

At Sitri’s words, Nikea gave a subtle smile.

“Let’s all~ work together to make a cute dessert~♬”

Esme suddenly started humming a tune.

Ah, I didn’t tell her that song on purpose because I didn’t want to sing it.

“Esme. What song is that?”

“When I played the game with Pearl, we sang a song after everyone played their cards… before revealing the front.”

“Should we sing it too?”

N-no, I don’t want to…

“For this round…”

Sitri smiled brightly and grabbed my left arm, shaking it gently.

“Let’s all~ work together to make a cute dessert~♬”

Esme ended up singing the song.

I had no choice but to pretend to lip-sync along.

“This dessert is… strawberry, banana, kiwi… mushroom.”

“There’s another strange ingredient in it.”

“Still, there are quite a few fruits in it, so it doesn’t seem too bad.”

“Is it even possible… to not have strange ingredients in it?”

The second dessert looked decent enough. Strawberry is 5 points, banana is 4 points, kiwi is 3 points… mushroom is minus 2 points. It’s a 10-point dessert.

“I’ll play a strawberry this time.”

Nikea said with a smile, placing her card face down.

“Oh? Is it okay to say that? Murmur?”

“Yeah, it’s not against the rules.”

It’s started. Nikea seems eager to catch the witch quickly.

“Okay, then I’ll play the cutest card I have.”

“You’re being very vague, Sitri.”

“Hehe, it’s important to always hide your hand!”

Sitri said with a smile, then glanced at the instructions.

Could it be… she’s ‘counting’?

She’s counting the total number of strawberries in this game, or the total number of bananas?

“It seems like a delicious dessert will be made this time!”

Is Esme the only one who is genuinely enjoying this game in a soft and cute way?

“Let’s all~ work together to make a cute dessert~♬”

Esme even sang the song again with a bright smile. This time, Nikea and Sitri sang along, so I had no choice but to sing too.

“This dessert is… strawberry, whipped cream… rotten apple, mud cookie.”

“The mud cookie is a 0-point card?”

“Sitri… you played the rotten apple, didn’t you?”

Nikea said with a smile, but Sitri shook her head from side to side.

“I played the whipped cream this time.”

“But you said the rotten apple was cute earlier?”

“But the whipped cream is cute too? Look. It looks like the spirits Murmur-nim summons.”

“Oh… um. It is cute.”

Nikea made an embarrassed expression and coughed, covering her mouth with a fist.

“Anyway… I’ll play a banana this time.”

Nikea said again, putting down a card.

Since this is the last round, the other kids’ eyes were also strangely serious.

“I’ll play a kiwi! I’ll put down a kiwi!”

As soon as everyone put down their cards, Esme started humming again.

“Let’s all~ work together to make a cute dessert~♬”

“This dessert is… banana, banana, banana… mushroom.”

“Wow, if you actually made it, it might be a little hard to tell them apart.”

“… … Are you talking about the bananas and the mushroom?”

Sitri looked at Esme with disbelief.

Well, they might look similar in a way, since they’re both white.

“Okay… the last round is over. Now, let’s vote for who the witch is. You can abstain if you think there isn’t a witch.”

“How is the result of the vote determined? Is it just whoever gets the most votes?”

I nodded at Nikea’s words.

“Okay. Then I’ll point out Sitri as the witch.”

“… I can feel a blatant sense of ill will.”

“No, it’s a logical judgment.”

“Oh, then would you tell us?”

Esme’s eyes sparkled.

“When you said you’d play a cute card, a rotten apple came out, right?”

“But I already said it was whipped cream.”

“And, Esme once said what card she would put down, but Sitri was vague.”

“Murmur-nim didn’t say anything at all, are you making assumptions based on that?”

Nikea coughed.

“Because Murmur is cute…”

“Haaa?! Murmur-nim is cute and cool!”

“N-no, I’m just joking. Murmur was half-busy playing the game.”

“Hmph… My esteemed Princess Nikea, I am not the witch.”

Sitri made a pretty nasal sound and smiled.

“I’ll abstain.”

“You’re… quite clever. Sitri.”

Sitri clung to my arm and winked.

“It’s as you thought.”

“Huh? You have a thought? About abstaining?”

“If I pointed out someone as the witch in this situation, what would happen? I’d be likely to get revenge and receive a vote, making it two votes.”

She’s so cold and calculating in this kind of situation.

“Murmur will abstain too.”

“Hmm, then I’ll point out Sitri as the witch, just like Nikea said!”

In the end, Sitri was pointed out as the witch as Nikea wanted.

“Hmm, hmmm! Okay. So what happens now?”

“Sitri just has to flip over her role card and show us.”

Sitri flipped over her card while still clinging to my arm.

“Huh…?”

Nikea was taken aback when she saw that Sitri’s card was ‘Patissier’.

“I told the truth from the beginning?”

“Then who… who is the witch?”

Nikea was surprised and flipped over her card. Of course, Nikea was a Patissier. I was a Patissier too.

“Oh? It seems like everyone is a Patissier?”

Even when Esme flipped over her card, there was no witch.

“There… wasn’t… a witch?”

Nikea looked like she couldn’t believe it.

“That can’t be, right? Minus cards kept coming out during the game.”

“It’s a game where you have to get rid of as many minus cards as possible to win the final score calculation.”

“Still… still… C-Sitri, I’m sorry. I’ll check one more time.”

Nikea flipped over the hand Sitri had placed on the table and her eyes widened even more.

“Y-you! You said that, but w-what is this?”

Sitri’s hand was full of minus cards. You could say she didn’t play any of them even once, right?

“O~hohoho! I, Sitri, had 3 minus cards from the first round!”

“But to win…”

“The number of minus cards that can appear in this game is fixed.”

She really was counting…

“Even with a little calculation, my chances of winning were zero. So I decided that I should hold on to them as much as possible for Murmur-nim!”

“Ahaha… Princess Nikea, I’m sorry. It was me, me who played the minus cards each round.”

Esme smiled awkwardly and showed her hand, which didn’t have a single minus card.

“Oh my…”

Nikea, with a surprised expression, covered her mouth with her hand.

“There was no witch from the beginning… and Esme just kept playing the minus cards to purely win the game?”

“That’s right, Nikea.”

Nikea blinked her eyes and looked at me, giving me a pretty smile.

“O-okay. I’ll admit that I had some prejudice. So…”

“One more round~♬”

“One more round~♬”

Esme shouted with a bright smile, and Sitri nodded in agreement.

“O-one more round, please! Everyone!”

* * *

“Hoo…”

Nikea took a sip of her peach black tea, which still had a hint of coolness, with a satisfied expression.

Spending time playing games with friends was more enjoyable than she had imagined. Nikea was so satisfied with today’s game that she wasn’t even afraid of the piles of documents left on her desk.

“Just like Murmur said… I really feel like we’ve become closer.”

“Did you have a pleasant time?”

“Yes, Liora. It was really fun. Murmur was cute, and…”

Nikea nodded and put down her teacup, looking at Liora. She had a good time, but unlike her wish, Nikea Hollimpia was a ‘Princess’ while being a student.

There are things she has to do.

“… How are the people from the Crimson Nexus Trading Company? Did they arrive at the Academy as scheduled?”

“Yes, they did. They are probably waiting for you now, Princess.”

“Thank you for arranging the meeting, Liora.”

There was one fact that Murmur, who simply wanted Nikea and Sitri to get along, did not know.

The small, cute, and soft game that Murmur brought today had slightly changed Nikea’s destiny.

“Although it’s a bit late, I’ll proceed to check if she is a changeling or not as scheduled.”