I Won't Stop the Trials Until You Get a Punishment Game!

After the slope came challenges like a Tarzan rope, a rock climbing wall, and one where a wall with a pose-shaped hole approached you. But Leona breezed through them all with enthusiasm.

And now, Leona and the others were faced with a challenge of a different nature.

"Hyaah! I-it moved!? Wh-what's even inside this!? It's alive, isn't it!?"

"Ah, the rule says we can't tell you the answer. Do your best, Michiru!"

"Not even a hint? Uuu, so frustrating!"

Michiru nervously thrust her hand into the box whose contents she couldn't see. One side of the box was glass, so Leona and Suira, sitting across from it, could see inside. Well, it was your typical guess-the-contents game.

By the way, there was a mandarin orange inside. Did it move, or did it just roll around? This sort of thing was pretty standard.

"A frog, it's a frog!"

"Whoops, too bad, wrong! The correct answer was 'mandarin orange'!"

"Ehhh, no way! But it moved!"

"Now for the punishment game. Come on in."

With that, a Golem entered the room. It was pointlessly dressed in full-body black tights and held a paper fan slapstick.

The Golem stood beside Michiru and raised the slapstick high.

"E-eh, wai… who are you!? … Ow!"

Then, with a satisfying smack, it whacked Michiru on the head.

The sound was loud, but there wasn't really any damage worth mentioning. She just got a bit startled and wobbled.

After hitting Michiru, the Golem withdrew.

"Alright, here's your consolation candy. Next challenger, step right up."

"Yaaay, candy! Om nom."

"Ah, I'll go next then, Leona-sama."

When Suira was ready, the contents of the box changed. This time, it was a pear.

Suira felt around inside. Having seen how Michiru struggled earlier, she probably figured that hesitating wouldn't help. This was far more efficient than touching things timidly; it was the correct approach.

"I've got it. It's a pear."

"Amazing, correct! Boom boom pah pah! Oh, here's the pear as your prize."

"Isn't that just what was inside?"

And so, Suira got the correct answer without much fanfare. And now it was finally Leona's turn.

Naturally, since it was Leona, I'd prepared something special for her.

"Finally my turn! … Now, what could it be?"

Leona smoothly slid her hand through the hole in the side of the box. At that timing, I made the contents visible to the two spectators.

"Eh, wait, is that okay?"

"W-wow… um, we can't give any hints, alright? B-but good luck, Leona-sama!"

"Craaap! So this is the pattern where the third person gets something crazy!? Aaah, what is it! A snake? A frog? Or maybe a human head!?"

"Bzzzt! Sorry, wrong. Time for the punishment game."

With that, the Golem holding the slapstick appeared again.

"Eh, ah, wait, that wasn't my answer! Eh, it doesn't count?"

"You had your hand in the box when you answered, so it counts."

"What's with that! At least let me give a proper answer!"

"… Fine, I'll give you one more try as a mercy round. Go ahead, your answer?"

"Yaaay. Hmm, let's see."

The slapstick-wielding Golem reluctantly stepped back. Leona felt around inside the box again.

Something touched her hand. It was cold and kind of jiggly… if she pressed into it, her fingers seemed like they would sink in. A big water-based manjuu?

"Eh, wait, is this food? Ah, that's not my answer!"

"Hmm, who knows? That would be a hint. Ah, but if I had to say, I don't eat it… After all, I'm a Golem!"

"Ahaha, well Golems don't eat meals after all. Hmm, this texture…"

It felt like it would squish if she put strength into it. A pleasant feeling to the touch.

Leona felt it twitch. There was no mistaking it; this was alive. A living thing.

"… Is it a Slime?"

"Is that… your final answer?"

"It is!"

A drum roll suddenly played from somewhere.

"… …"

"… …"

They stared at each other for over ten seconds. Just as it started to feel too long, a "ta-daa!" sound played as the drum roll ended.

"Too bad! The correct answer was 'Jelly'!"

"So close!! But wait, isn't a Slime basically the same as a Jelly!?"

"Yes, that's exactly why I allowed you a mercy round. You would've gotten it right if you'd said both across your two attempts. But alas, you missed. A 50% chance after blowing the 100% chance… what an incredibly fair contest it was. Well then, time for the punishment game."

The slapstick-wielding Golem appeared for the third time. Standing beside Leona, it raised the slapstick with all its might.

"Kyaah～! Please be gentle with me, kyaah… hauu!"

With a loud smack, the slapstick struck Leona's head.

… The Golem and Leona paused for a moment as if savoring the aftermath, but both started moving immediately upon hearing the host Uuma's voice.

"Alright, good work, Golem-san. Leona, here's your participation candy. The next room is through the door on the right."

"Okaaay! Come on, let's go, Suira, Michiru!"

"" Yes, Leona-sama! ""

Leona and the others headed enthusiastically to the next room.

By the way, the next room's challenge was piping hot oden.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

After Leona and the others left, the slapstick-wielding Golem reached up and slowly removed its own head.

… To be precise, it was Setsuna, who was wearing a papier-mache Golem costume, removing it.

"Puhaah! Ahh, that Golem shell was so hot…"

"Good work, Setsuna-san."

I had prepared the Golem costume and the rule "if you get a punishment game, your head gets whacked with a slapstick" in order to create an opportunity for Setsuna to hit Leona.

Leona kept avoiding the punishment game for quite a while, but she finally got one. Incidentally, Suira had zero misses, and Michiru's earlier one was her first punishment game too.

Also incidentally, since you couldn't proceed without clearing the physical variety challenges, Leona had been supporting the other two… Well, I'd been switching things up over and over until she got a punishment game, and ultimately I was planning to set up a challenge that was practically a guaranteed loss.

So that's why Setsuna was inside the Golem. And Setsuna, disguised as the Golem, had whacked Leona's head with the slapstick as hard as she could… In other words, Setsuna had fulfilled her goal, the condition of her promise, to smack Leona.

If this fulfilled the promise unilaterally, then I wouldn't need to do anything that might cool Leona's mood by messing with her further. Otherwise, I'd have to reveal Setsuna emerging from inside the Golem at some point.

… I hoped it counted as fulfilled.

"So, you hit Leona with the slapstick… how was it?"

"Hmm, I thought I'd have to tell Grandma directly that I hit her, but it feels like the curse has lifted. I want to check, so can you help me take this off?"

"Sure sure, coming right off."

With Nerune's help, Setsuna slipped out from inside the Golem. Since she'd been wearing the papier-mache costume the entire time while waiting for Leona to get a punishment game, Setsuna's skin and clothes were damp with sweat.

"Hmm… mm. Hmmm…"

Setsuna patted around her body, tapping here and there.

Nothing looked different at a glance, but…

"… Yeah, the curse has lifted."

Setsuna's expression turned complicated. The curse had lifted, but was there something else?

"That's what matters most."

"Thank you, Nerune-san."

"Yes, and I'll be collecting the payment separately, okay? You could even pay with your body if you want."

"Yeah, it's a promise, so I'll do anything I can. I wouldn't even mind working for free for a month."

"Hmm. Well, I'll check with my superiors about that… By the way, what did Leona do to you?"

"… U-umm… M-my body has a secret…"

Setsuna squirmed as if embarrassed.

Indeed, I wanted to ask too. What exactly had Leona done to Setsuna?

"I was cursed into believing that I was originally just an ordinary girl…! She made Nayuta think so too!"

… Huh, so that had been natural all along? Well then.