Command 1 [Monday, 19 October 00:00]

A phone rings.

"Who the heck is calling me so late at night?"

Nobuaki rolled on the bed to the side of his phone. He picked it up. A message popped up on the phone.

[10/19 Monday 00:00 From: The King Subject: The King's Game Body: This is the King's Game in which everyone in your class must participate. The King's command is absolute and must be done within 24 hours. ※ You can not withdraw from the game. ＊Command 1: Student Number 4 Inoue Hirofumi(M) and Student Number 19 Nakao Minako(F)—the two of you will kiss END]

Half asleep, Nobuaki rubbed his eyes as he read the message.

"What the heck is this? Is this a prank? How stupid."

He muted his phone, threw it on top of the pile of clothes on the floor, and returned to his sleep.

The next day, Nobuaki opened the familiar door of his classroom and greeted his classmates.

"Good morning!"

His classmates was standing up and talking in the classroom. Curious, Nobuaki went to them to find out what had happened.

"Hey! What are you doing? Did something fun happen?"

Naoya, standing beside him, asked him,

"What? Didn't you get the King's Game message?"

"Mmm? Oh yeah~ ~ My sleep yesterday was interrupted by that stupid joke."

"Oh, so that means everyone received that message! Everyone thinks that it's really fun, so we're following his command."

"Fun? Are they really going to follow his command?"

Sitting on a desk beside Naoya, Hideki wavered his legs in the air.

"Look! Hirofumi and Minako sure look embarrassed! Gosh, it's only a kiss. Oh, is it their first kiss?"

Mami widened her arms to incite them.

"Kiss! Kiss!"

Hideki shaped his hands into a loudspeaker and shouted.

"The King's commands...?"

"-are absolute!"

Half of the students in the class replied in unison. Embarrassed, Hirofumi approached Hideki and poked him.

"Hideki, do you want to try it yourself? It's embarrassing!"

While on the other side, Minako crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped the floor with her left foot, waiting impatiently.

"Oi! Why are you making a girl like me wait? You're such a wimp."

"W-What are you saying! I'm no wimp! What's so great about kissing? Fine, let's kiss."

Hirofumi seemed to have gone for broke. After listening to his response, a smile emerged from Hideki and he raised three fingers with his right hand.

"Okay, Hirofumi! Let me count for you!"

"3...2...1...Go!"

"All right!"

Hirofumi pressed his hands on Minako's shoulder and moved his face to her. Then, they kissed in front of everyone.

"Ohoh!"

"Yooo—! Yooo—!"

"Oh~Yeah! Bravo!"

Witnessing their kiss, everyone applauded.

"You're good, Hirofumi!"

Minako, with her arms still crossed over her chest, approached Hirofumi and slapped him at his surprise.

"Ouch!"

Hirofumi covered his cheeks with his hand.

"You suck!"

With that said, Minako turned away and left Hirofumi. Hirofumi walked to Hideki's side with a face filled with tears.

"Why did I have to kiss her?"

"Because this is the King's command. He said that you have to kiss Minako. We can't help it!"

"But this is really..."

"Ahah~ Fun, I say! Will we get another King's message tomorrow?!"

Hideki stood up and left the table. He glimpsed at Hirofumi and returned to his seat.

"They really kissed in front of everyone!" Nobuaki said.

"Yeah. Once Hideki starts the fire, there's no stopping him," Naoya said, nodding.

"So what will we do if we receive another message tomorrow? You may be the next one!"

"Quit the jokes—I'm not that unlucky."

"Maybe you can kiss with Hiroko, the one you secretly love?"

"That would be great!" Flushed, Naoya said blissfully.

"How can that even happen! You dummy!"

"You dare play around with me?" At that, Naoya started chasing Nobuaki around.

"Everyone return to your seats!"

As the teacher entered the classroom, the students quickly returned to their seats.

And then Nobuaki's cell phone received a message.

[10/19 Monday 08:25 From: The King Subject: The King's Game Body: Obedience Confirmed END]

After that, the usual things happened. Attending class, eating lunch, attending class again, and playing around with schoolmates after school was not much different from a normal school day.

When everyone got back home, they had already forgotten the King's Game they played that morning.