Julie couldn’t shake the thought from her mind. The more she unraveled about him, the more the mystery deepened.
And yet, while she was grappling with curiosity, Aisha was grappling with something else entirely.
Pure, burning frustration.
She hated this. She hated him.
Not because of his attitude, not because of his arrogance, not even because of the way he always seemed so damn amused whenever he was speaking.
She hated him because he treated these ideas—ideas that could revolutionize entertainment, business, and even culture—like they were nothing.
Like they were trivial.
Like they were some disposable thoughts that he simply threw away.
To her, this wasn’t humility. This wasn’t him wanting to stay in the shadows.
This was arrogance.
It was him saying. "This isn’t even worth my time."
It was him saying. "I can make something like this in a day if I wanted to."
Like he was some kind of god, effortlessly tossing out groundbreaking innovations the way others would scribble down pointless notes.
Aisha’s fingers curled into fists.
Her ears twitched with irritation.
She considered herself intelligent. Extremely intelligent.
And yet—even she knew she could never create this many inventions so easily. She could never design so many different games, music, and sports in such a short span of time.
So what did that make him?
Someone better?
Someone who could do it without even trying?
The thought made Aisha who for some reason considered him as her arch nemesis grit her teeth.
Julie, noticing the way Aisha’s frustration was building up, decided to step in. "Aisha..." She said gently, her tone measured. "Why don’t we take a closer look at these games? They look rather interesting don’t they?"
Aisha huffed, still glaring at the board in front of her.
Julie then turned to Isabelle. "Would you mind explaining them?"
Isabelle, having already noticed Aisha’s mood, immediately stepped forward. "Of course." She said lightly, before shifting to Aisha’s side.
She followed Aisha’s gaze, quickly pinpointing the game she was currently staring daggers at. "This one here..." Isabelle said, gesturing to the board. "...is called Backgammon, Miss Aisha."
Aisha raised a brow, the name alone irritating her further. "And what exactly is it?" She muttered wanting to find some way to nitpick the game.
Isabelle smiled and began explaining the rules.
She went over how the black and white pieces were flipped, how each move strategically affected the board, and how, despite its simple design, the game itself was incredibly complex once played at a higher level.
Aisha listened in silence, her eyes fixed on the board.
Her frustration was still there...But something else had crept in.
A strange, undeniable curiosity that pushed aside her desire to hate on the game and rather want to learn more about because of how simple and complex it was the same time.
Isabelle, noticing the slight shift in her expression, smoothly continued. She gestured toward another board game, one that had fewer pieces but a distinct, recognizable pattern.
"This one here..." She said, tapping the board lightly. "...is called Checkers."
Aisha narrowed her eyes, watching as Isabelle pulled out a neatly bound notebook and placed it in her hands.
"This has all the rules inside." Isabelle said, her tone patient yet encouraging. "It’s pretty easy to understand once you go through it."
Aisha hesitated.
For a moment, she considered refusing.
She had no reason to learn these games.
She didn’t even want to learn them.
She didn’t want to acknowledge anything created by that infuriating man.
But, her fingers tightened around the notebook before she even realized it. A sigh escaped her lips, and—despite her better judgment—she opened it.
Her sharp amber eyes flicked over the neatly written text, the careful explanations detailing the mechanics, the objectives, the rules.
It was…structured, logical and tactical.
And before she knew it, her eyes were scanning through every single detail.
Julie watched, hiding her teethering amusement, as Aisha’s brows furrowed ever so slightly, her usual skeptical glare replaced by deep concentration.
She had fallen in.
Hook, line, and sinker.
And she hadn’t even noticed.
Isabelle, also noticing how deeply Aisha was scanning through the notebook, couldn’t help but smile before moving on. "And this one over here..." She gestured toward another table, eager to continue. "...is called Snakes and Ladders."
Aisha looked up briefly, eyes flickering toward the brightly colored board with a grid-like pattern filled with numbered squares, winding snake illustrations, and long ladders stretching between them.
She stared. Then she stared harder.
"What the hell is this?" She muttered, thinking that this game seemed rather childish compared to the other games.
"It’s a game of chance." Isabelle explained. "You roll a die, move your piece forward, and if you land at the base of a ladder, you climb up. But—" she tapped a square with a coiling green snake on it. "—if you land on a snake, you slide down."
Aisha blinked.
"...That’s it?"
"That’s it." Isabelle confirmed.
Aisha scoffed. "What’s even the point? It seems so dumb." She muttered, crossing her arms, even though her eyes kept on glancing at the die like she wanted to give a try.
"The point..." Isabelle said patiently. "...is to test your luck and enjoy the thrill of unpredictability."
Aisha frowned. Then, without meaning to, she reached out and rolled the die sitting beside the board.
A four.
One of the knights sitting at the table laughed.
"Looks like you got a snake!" She grinned, pointing to a square with a grinning cartoon snake slithering down.
Aisha stiffened as her tail flicked in annoyance at the bad luck
"...That’s dumb." She said flatly, looking annoyed.
The knight chuckled, moving her own piece forward and narrowly missing a snake.
Aisha narrowed her eyes at the board.
She did not like games where she had no control over the outcome.
And yet she rolled the die again.
Julie hid her delight as she watched her prideful little strategist begrudgingly engage with the game, even if it was just to prove she could win through sheer force of will.
Isabelle, meanwhile, smoothly continued.
"And over here." She said, pointing to a different board. "...is something a bit different—it’s called Ludo."
This time, even Julie leaned in slightly, unfamiliar with the bold, bright board marked with four quadrants of different colors.
Aisha, still grumbling about the snake she landed on earlier, looked over as well. "Ludo?" She repeated.
"It’s a race." Isabelle explained. "Each player has four tokens. You roll a die to move them, and the goal is to get all of your tokens to the center before anyone else. But—" She tapped the board. "—you can also send other players’ tokens back to the start if you land on them."
Aisha’s ears perked slightly.
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"...So it’s a competitive game?"
"Very competitive." Isabelle grinned.
Aisha’s eyes gleamed ever so slightly.
Julie noticed immediately.
She could already tell that Aisha was hooked.
She’d pretend she wasn’t interested. She’d act like she didn’t care.
But at some point she was going to play and she was going to play to win.
Isabelle, seeing Aisha’s growing interest, smiled and moved to the next table. "And over here." she gestured. "...is a game called Othello."
She pointed at the board filled with black and white discs, positioned in a way that suggested it was mid-game.
"This one is all about capturing territory." Isabelle explained. "Each turn, you place a piece, and any opponent’s pieces trapped between yours get flipped to your color."
Aisha furrowed her brows.
"...So it’s like conquering land?"
"Precisely." Isabelle nodded.
Julie glanced at Aisha.
A game of conquest?
Yeah.
This was going to be a problem.
Aisha might pretend to hate everything about Cassius, but there was no way she wasn’t going to challenge someone to this game by the end of the night.
Isabelle, satisfied that Aisha was following along, continued on to the next table.
"And over here." She said. "...is Dominoes—"
Aisha followed and Julie, at this point, just sighed with a small smirk and followed too.
Like a reluctant child, Aisha was absorbing every single piece of information, no matter how much she pretended otherwise.
And Isabelle, ever the gracious teacher, made sure to explain every detail.
One game at a time.
One reluctant step at a time.
Until Aisha—whether she liked it or not—was fully immersed.
Isabelle, having already played and memorized all the games, explained everything to the best of her abilities and she had done a really good job as because by the time she finished, Aisha was practically vibrating with excitement.
Julie, who had been watching her little sister’s slow descent into enthusiasm, couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
Aisha—who had spent the last 15 minutes pretending she wasn’t interested, pretending that she didn’t care about Cassius’ ridiculous inventions, pretending that she was above all this nonsense—
Was now darting her eyes all over the courtyard, her expression barely holding back her excitement.
She looked like a child in a candy store.
Like someone who had just been dropped into a treasure trove of fun but had no idea where to start.
Her ears twitched. Her tail flicked.
She spun around, scanning the tables, glancing at the knights who were playing, laughing, competing.
She wanted to play.
She wanted to play badly.
But there were too many choices.
She wanted to play all of them.
And because she couldn’t decide—
She did the only thing that made sense to her.
She turned toward Julie her big, amber eyes locked onto her Captain’s. "Captain!" She blurted out, rushing toward her like a child running to their mother for advice.
Julie blinked. "Yes?"
Aisha grabbed her sleeve, her entire body brimming with energy. "What should I do?!" She demanded, her voice earnest, eager.
Julie raised an eyebrow, amused about her change in behaviour. "Do about what?"
Aisha gestured wildly to all the games surrounding them. "I want to play them all!" She declared.
Julie chuckled.
"Then play them."
"But which one do I start with?! I don’t know which one to pick!"
Julie, still smiling, couldn’t help but lift her hand and pat Aisha’s head.
Aisha immediately scowled.
"Hey! Not now! I don’t want pats! I want answers!"
Julie’s laughter grew.
"You’re really acting like a kid right now, you know that?"
Aisha pouted.
"I am not! This is a serious matter!"
Julie hummed thoughtfully, glancing around.
"I don’t know, Aisha...There really are a lot of options."
She smirked playfully.
"Maybe you should just play all the games at once. After all, you’re so smart—I bet you could manage."
Aisha froze...Then her eyes gleamed which immidietly made Julie realise her mistake.
Aisha straightened, grinning wildly. "That’s it!" She declared.
Julie blinked. "...Wait, what’s it?"
Aisha ignored her and turned sharply on her heel.
And then, she climbed onto the nearest chair, took a deep breath and shouted.
"LISTEN UP, EVERYONE!"
The entire courtyard turned toward her.
Knights playing volleyball stopped mid-game.
Knights who had been laughing at their boards froze.
Even the ones who were dancing to Cassius’ strange new music paused to see what their tiny chief was about to say.
Aisha pointed dramatically at them all.
"I AM GOING TO PLAY A GAME AGAINST EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!"
Silence.
Then—
"HUH?!"
The loud collective reaction from the knights echoed through the courtyard.
"You heard me!" Aisha declared.
Her tail swished aggressively behind her, her entire body radiating competitive fire.
"I am going to play every game in this courtyard! And I am going to play against all of you!"
Murmurs erupted.
"Wait, is she serious?"
"She wants to play all of them?"
"Does she even know how long that’ll take?!"
Aisha smirked.
"Don’t worry." She said confidently, crossing her arms.
"I’ll play multiple games at the same time."
The murmurs grew louder.
"You mean like...simultaneous matches?"
"She’s really acting like a noble strategist right now."
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"She’s definitely serious about this."
Julie, still standing to the side, sighed and shook her head with a fond smile.
She really should have seen this coming.
Skadi, who had been watching from a distance, grinned wildly and pumped a fist in the air.
"HAHAHA!" She howled. "THAT’S MY AISHA! LET’S GO!"
Aisha shot her a sharp glare.
"YOU’RE NOT MY HYPE WOMAN! SIT DOWN!"
Skadi cackled, completely unfazed.
The knights, now fully riled up, cheered.
"If you’re challenging us, Chief, then don’t expect us to go easy on you!"
"Yeah! You’re gonna regret this!"
"Pick your games, chief! We’re ready!"
Aisha grinned, her amber eyes burned with competitive excitement.
"Good." She said, cracking her knuckles.
"Then bring it on."
And with that—
The first official Holy Guard Game Night had begun.