"Let me know if I can help you find anything."

"We will. Thanks." I answered the employee in the striped uniform. He dipped his head, then returned to fiddling with the merchandise underneath the counter. Unlike most of the stores in the mall, the board game store was devoid of customers; however, based on the bulletin board hanging behind the cashier, this wouldn't be the case for much longer. Scrawled across the board was a list of activities and their corresponding start times, the earliest one starting at 11:00. Only ten minutes from now.

We wandered down a random aisle crammed full of dice, guide books, craft supplies, and customizable action figures. Rika poked at some fuzzy dice, while I flipped through one of the guide books called Monster Inventory. Although I had no interest in the role-playing aspect feature of the guide, the lore and illustrations were inspiring. I made sure to memorize some of the details and features, so I can use them in later chapters.

"What are you looking at?"

I flinched away, startled by Rika peering over my shoulder and nearly flinging both the starfish and book across the room. I took a calming breath to slow my rapidly beating heart. "Just checking out this book."

She crouched down to peek at the cover. "...Monster Inventory. Are you into role-playing games?"

I shook my head. "No, but the pictures are cool."

"They look pretty freaky if you ask me."

Good thing I didn't ask you.

Despite what she said, Rika continued to look on with me, pouting when I turned the page too quickly and decrying me to go back. It was clear her only interest was comparing the unflattering features of the monsters to my own and then laughing about it to herself. When I did the same, her expression turned cold and she told me I should learn how to better appreciate fair maidens such as herself. It made me wonder if all fair maidens were so hypocritical.

After realizing we'd already skimmed halfway through the book, I shut it in spite of her cries of protest. "We didn't come here to read, you know."

Her complaints halted, but she puffed out her cheeks in irritation. "Whatever."

I slid the book back on the shelf when the bell above the door rang out. "Matthew, how’ve you been doing? Been a while." The middle-aged man who walked in had a gruff voice and a receding hairline. I mention that second fact because the teenager accompanying him, who I assumed to be his son, sadly took after his old man in that regard.

The employee from earlier must have known them because he broke his professional persona. "Well, if it ain't Senior and Junior! Glad the two of you made it. I got the tables set up in the back already, so feel free to use 'em."

The two men began to idly chit-chat, and I tuned them out. I needed to focus on the mission at hand. "We should find the board game section. He's not going to want any of the stuff around here."

Rika hummed, and we stepped out of the aisle to search. It wasn’t difficult to spot them. The board games were spread across a pair of shelves that lined up perpendicular to one another and were tall enough that I'd have to stand on my tip-toes to reach the highest shelf.

"Do you know what kind of games he likes?" Rika asked.

The sheer amount of games on display was overwhelming. There were colorful ones, explicit ones, bland-looking ones, and a few that are a combination of everything. Most of the titles were unfamiliar to me. I recognized the classics I played as a kid, but otherwise, all the modern games stood out like a sore thumb to me. Knowing what Ethan liked didn’t do me much good if I couldn't tell what type of games they were.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I'll have to read the backs of them," I replied, shuffling out of the way of a mom and her two kids. More and more people were trickling in now, getting in my way while I glanced through some of the games.

Somebody chuckling nearby distracted me, and I glanced over to the source. The man holds up a hand in greeting. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop. But if you guys got no idea what games you might like, best way to find out is to play 'em." He motions to the back room. "If you want you could join Junior and me. S'more fun with a bigger group."

I was about to refuse his offer when Rika chimed in. "Sure, sounds fun."

"Great!" The man clapped me on the back, sparing Rika, and guided us towards the back room. It was amazing how over a dozen tables can all hold such a variety of games. I'm no fan of board games, but surely even I could find something of interest. The older man slowed before a table that had a large board laid out upon it. The board itself appeared to be a map of a world bearing a resemblance to our own, but with fictitious names and mildly inflated landmasses.

He settled into a seat next to his son, and we sat across from them, Rika hanging her shopping bag from the back of her chair. The teen studied me for a moment, then nodded. I returned it in stride. When his eyes flitted over to Rika's grinning form, they widened for a moment before he glanced away. Rika tilted her head to the side, confused, but his red cheeks spelled out the issue loud and clear. I couldn’t blame him; she had a certain charm to her until she opened her mouth.

"You guys ever play Battlefront?" We shook our heads in near sync, eliciting a huge grin from him. "Hear that, Junior? Newbies!"

Junior groaned in protest. "You're so embarrassing..."

"That's what being a dad is all about!"

His lame joke earned a chuckle from Rika, further embarrassing the poor guy who hid his face in his hands.

His dad disregarded the antics of his son. "Rules are pretty simple."

The man went over them with us. The gist of the game was a strategy game where each team built up their armies and attempted to conquer the world. I zone-out when his explanation delved into the more intricate strategies and observed a group of friends fooling around during a trading card game match. On the other hand, Rika hung on his every word, even asking for further explanation on certain aspects of the game. Once that was out of the way, we set up the board. The team of Rika and I were assigned the blue soldiers, while Junior and Senior opted for the red ones.

The game started slow, and I could freely admit Rika did most of the setup. Like I mentioned, I could care less about this game. Watching her beam when she made a clever move or pout when she spread her troops too thin was much more amusing for me than participating. Once the combat ramped up, though, things turned spicy.

Junior scrunched up his face as he decided whether to fully retreat his troops or stand his ground after the ambush Rika laid. The boy's pointer finger and thumb hovered over the pieces. He kept glancing up to gauge her reaction. The girl, for her part, waggled her eyebrows at him in challenge.

"I'll move my air fleet to attack your base at the canyon."

A daring move I didn't expect from him, but Rika only cackled like a cheesy villain in a Saturday morning cartoon. "You've activated my trap card!"

While there are no cards in play, I could appreciate the reference. The other two looked too stunned to react, so Rika explained further. "After I move my army here, I can use the cyber-cannons to destroy your air fleets." She pumped a fist in the air. "Your villages are so going to be pillaged!"

I blinked, wondering if she had finally snapped after uttering such a strange proclamation, while the group to our left placed their session on hold to laugh at the eccentric girl.

Senior, however, seems impressed, while his son mumbled a colorful curse. The man rubbed the whiskers on his chin in thought. "You've never played before? You're not bullshiting me?"

"Nope," she popped the 'p.' "I do play a lot of real-time strategy games on my phone, though."

"Well, I'm impressed. You ever consider joining a team round here?"

Her grin faltered for a split second. "That'd be fun, but I got too much going on with school and stuff at home."

"That's a shame, but what can you do." He turned to his son. "Probably only a few more turns till she sends us packing, Junior."

His prediction was spot on. Without their air fleets to counter Rika's naval forces, her troops dominated land-based combat, and she set up stronghold after stronghold. They conceded defeat when she pushed the remainder of their troops into a tiny corner of a continent.

Senior tipped back in his chair and dabbed at his brow. "Here I thought we were pretty good, but you really kicked our asses. What do you say to a rematch?"

She stared at me expectantly. "You want to?"

What the hell was I supposed to say to that? No? Despite my reservations, I was having a good time and didn't want to spoil her fun. "Sure."

The balding man met my gaze. "You gonna play this time or have her carry you again?"

I let myself smile for the first time today. "Hope you like losing twice as fast."