“I am your younger sister.”
Standing up on the wooden spiral stairs, the girl in light yellow dress looked at me, as if I was a new toy that she just found. Her cuteness and beauty would make anyone who was her sibling proud for her.
However, I was not.
“I am sorry, but I don’t know you, and don’t know what you are talking about,” carefully, I said, to the girl who was blocking me on the stairs.
It was my first day of class in this school, and I was on my way to submit a required document to the office. Fortunately there were no other students passing by in this building, or else I will be surrounded by numerous of curious eyes because of the strange situation.
None of the girl and I stepped back for each other on the stairs. She grinned, showing her fake well-manner, and began to move her lips again.
“Fiction Ruler.”
Immediately, I threw off my backpack to the floor, and entered into precautions when I heard the name, my other name, coming out from her mouth. She knew the name, it meant that she was the same kind of person as I was, and it also meant that I might get into a trouble.
“Let’s play a game.” Her sound was like poisonous honey, sweet but dangerous.
Without any warning, our surroundings suddenly turned black.More precisely, everything immersed into darkness, including me. The spiralstairs disappeared, instead of was a huge glowing black-and-white chessboard. At the other side of the chessboard, the girl whom I just encountered was sitting comfortably in a cozy chair. There was no light, but just like how I could see the chessboard, I still could see her clearly, including her expression full of interest.
I could only think of one possible reason for this situation.
“Is this your exam?” I asked her.
“Correct. This is my exam, Gamble Board.”
The exam here did not mean the examinations which students take in school, but a kind of special ability that some people own. Generally, people knew it as parapsychology, but for those who had it, wecalled it exam, because it examined people. One had the right to choose how to use his or her exam, and it would reflect the examiner’s true desire and morality.
“What’s your purpose?”
To understand more about the situation, what I could do wasto ask more questions. The space did not look harmful, but it was still uncomfortable to stay in the darkness. As long as I was in the mysterious space, I could not get out of the examiner’s control easily.
The girl answered with no doubt.
“Of course, to challenge you. The name of Fiction Ruler is quite famous among the examiners, don’t tell me you don’t know that.”
“...”
So far the answer was in my expectation.
I sighed for my abnormal life. Was it really that hard to own a peaceful life?
“All right. So what do you want me to do now? Playing chess? I don’t know how to play it.”
“Don’t worry. It’s different than usual chess. How about having a seat first?” She pointed to a red chair behind me. I accepted the invitation, putting myself onto the chair that allowed me to watch the chessboard in a whole.
“Have you heard about eight queens puzzle before?”
“It’s the game that you have to put eight queens on an 8 by 8 chessboard without two queens threaten each other, right?” I tried to pull out the memory from my brain.
She nodded.
“My Gamble Board is a little different. We are playing a debate here. In one round, one player can ask any but one question,and the other player will provide the answer to it. The winner of the round…”
I noticed something.
“Wait, who is going to decide the winner for us? There are only two of us here.”
“The spirit of this space,” she saw my bitter face. “It’s absolutely fair. I don’t have the access to change the result.”
“So what can the winner of the round do?”
The girl raised her right hand in a perfect angle to the chessboard. If she did not move at all, I would believe the girl was just an innocent and adorable doll.
“You can put a queen before the first round start. After you win a round, you can either summon another queen to the chessboard, or to move the position of any existed queen.”
“Does that mean you can use your queen to eat other player’s queen?”
“Yes, but that means you won’t be able to summon a queen at the round. The game ends when you finish the eight queen’s puzzle, or when other player does not have any queen on the chessboard. And also…”
She showed a small demon smile.
“The winner of the game can get one thing, anything from the loser. No matter if it your clothes, your hair, or the right to command you.”
That’s why her exam was called Gamble Board?
I sighed again, for the meaningless game.
“…Got it. I accept it. So what are we debating for?”
“I have told you.” She continued the terrible sweet smile.“I am your younger sister.”
“…”
I quieted down for the ridiculous topic, and the girl who claimed herself as my younger sister chose to ignore my silence.
“Before we start, is there anything you want to clarify?”
At least she was serious as a host, I thought. Flipping the memories in my mind, I gave out one critical question.
“How do we decide who’s going to question for the round.”
“Since this is my space, I will leave the choice for you to select whether to question or answer for each round. How does that sound? Anymore questions?”
“Great. That’s enough.”
Enough for not losing the game, I hoped.
“Then we can choose the place for our first queen. Same, I give you the right to choose first.”
“Thanks.” I randomly pointed a black box on the board. A white chess queen appeared from the board. To be honest, I did not know how to play chess, even if it was eight queens puzzle, I still had no idea about how to deal with it.
The girl also summoned a chess queen. Different from mine, it was black, just like the color of a crow. The glow from the chessboard prevented the black chess from melting into the color of the surroundings.
“So do you want to question or answer?”
First round, the girl asked me.
“Question.” It was the best choice for me at the time. I forced myself to be ready for the game. “If I have only one queen on the board, can you please just don’t care about it, continue on summoning your queens? As you know, I am only a new player, and you probably have played it for few times, and have memorized the arrangement of the queens. I think it is fairer to me.”
The girl sitting at the other side showed a weird expression, just like she had eaten a rotten apple. Technically I had said aquestion, but it was actually a begging, and totally not related to the topic “Younger Sister.”
“I can do that.” After a long consideration, she gave out the answer, or promise.
A black chess floated up from the board, just like the previous queens.
“See, asking that kind of question is not prohibited by the rules, but it is only wasting your chance to summon your queen. Next, question or answer?”
“Question. May I use my exam during the game? It’s fairer for me to use it too since you are using it now.”
“What are you asking? It’s not related…” Hearing my question which was not related to the topic again, she was confused. Nevertheless, she stopped her complaints in the middle, probably because she just remembered she was still in the answer section. “I permit. However, I do not think it will help you much. Please ask something related to the topic, or else you are likely to lose.”
She successfully summoned another black queen.
Glazing at the chessboard that only had one lonely white queen, I honestly expressed what I thought at the time.
“Huh, debate is not my strength. I don’t really want to conflict with others. But if you say so……Question, how do you explain the differences of our appearance if we are sisters?”
“Every individual is different. Even twin sisters can look different, so there is no a necessity for sisters to look alike.”
Seemed like the spirit of her space liked her explanation. She got a fourth black queen easily, which meant half of the black queens.
“Next, question.” I decided.
“You don’t have to choose question all the time. You can also let me to question you about your explanation of not being my older sister.”
Kindly, she advised me. However, if she was kind enough, we would not have to play the game that gambled something from us.
“I know, but it’s easier for me to question. If we are sisters, then we should have some commons. Can you name one of them?”
“I think it is obvious that we both have exams. It is hard to find a person with exam, but if we are sisters, everything can be explained. You and I all have the blood of examiners.”
That was a simple answer. At the same time, she put a fifth black queen confidently into an empty white box on the chessboard.
I continued to ask the questions that usually people will have if they suddenly knew they had a sister.
“Question. Why don’t I remember you? In other words, I don’t have any memory that I have a sister.”
“It’s possibly because you hurt your brain. So you can remember anything else except me.”
I could feel that she was getting a little shakened; it was too easy to summon those black queens.
“I believe it is a good answer...since nobody knows if the world is just created five minutes ago, along with our memories,” I agreed with her idea. ”Then, sixth question. If I am your sister, why do you do this…”
I looked around the darkness which swallowed everything from our real world.
“Why do you want to take something from me?”
“Ha, do you mean sisters should get along well? Well, I can also explained it as sisters’ game. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Also, sisters cannot always be perfect.”
All of her answers to my questions were short, but effective, or reasonable. No mistakes, therefore the spirit of the space admitted the answers, right?
Finally, the round that I had been waiting for. If the girl could answer my question, she could summon the eighth black queen.
“Question.”
I held my breath.
“What should I do now?”
“What?”
“The question is, what should I do now?”
“As your enemy, I don’t know that,” She was trying to calm herself down, again to the unrelated question. “The only thing that I know is, I am winning the game.”
The eighth black chess was coming from the chessboard. However…
“The game ends when the other player does not have any queen on the chessboard, right?”
I raised my right hand, pointed to the glowing chessboard. All the black queens vaporized. Then, the white queen too.
“Impossible! What did you do?”
The girl at first stared at the chessboard which was melting from the center, then turned her sight to me.
It seemed like I should give her some explanation.
“Don’t you think our exams are a type of fantasy setting?” I said. “In other words, fiction. Then, what happens if there is no conflicts in a fiction?”
“No conflicts?” She looked confused.
“That is why I accepted your challenge, required your permission if I needed to, and tried to avoid any conflict. No conflict, it means the fiction has failed.”
I looked into her eyes.
“This is my exam, Fiction Ruler. You should have done some homework before you challenged me.”
The darkness started to fade, from top to bottom. The returning sunshine from the window hurt my eyes. I had to close my eyes for a few seconds to recover. When I opened my eyes again, the image of the yellow dress girl stood in front of me.
Her face looked stressed, as if all the disappointment and sadness were pushing her down.
To the shadow in front of me, I made a statement.
“Hey, technically I did not win the game, the game was broken because of my exam, so there is no punishment too. You are welcomed to challenge me again. By the time I will learn how to play normal chess, so just don’t ask me to do that gamble again. Or you can change the gambling rule from your exam, it’s a good game, I enjoyed it.”
Silently, she walked down from the spiral stairs, and stopped beside me.
“Of course I won’t give up. So beready for it, my older sister.”
Just like nothing happened before, she raised her head, and walked passed me.
“Same words to you.”
I smiled, picked up my backpack on the floor, and walked up to the stairs.
「我是妳的妹妹。」
站在木製的螺旋梯上，那名穿著淡黃色洋裝的女孩趣味豐饒地往下看著我，好似我是她找到的新玩具一般。微卷的褐色長髮自然地垂到肩膀以下，皮膚有如陶瓷一樣白皙，那雙大眼則像玻璃珠般深邃透亮。這個女孩看起來就像是和我等高的人偶一樣，其可愛和美貌足以讓任何有幸身為她手足的人為之感到驕傲。
然而，我並不是。
「不好意思，我不認識妳，也不知道妳在說什麼。」小心翼翼地，我對這名站在階梯上，擋住我去路的女孩這麼說。
這是我轉學後開始在這新學校開始就讀的第一天。在放學後的現在，我本來預定要到某個辦公室遞交一些必要的文件。而那個特殊的辦公室就在與課室和教師辦公室不同的建築物裡，也就是這裡的三樓。而如果想要上樓，唯一的辦法就是爬上這看似古老的螺旋樓梯。
不論是那名女孩的奇妙發言，又或者是此時我們雙方在樓梯口的僵持狀態，都造成了一股在我看來相當尷尬的氣氛。幸好這個時間沒有任何學生經過，不然他們一定會用好奇的眼光圍繞著這奇妙的光景。
若是平常的話，我絕對會選擇退後或往旁邊一步，讓對方先過。但是這次恐怕沒那麼簡單，因為不管怎麼看，這個螺旋樓梯讓兩個人同時過去簡直綽綽有餘，現在那女孩擋在我面前，分明是故意的。也就是說，即使我往其他方向走，她也還是會纏著我不放。
感受到我緊盯著的視線，她展現出虛假的禮貌在嘴角畫出一道笑容，接著移動小巧的嘴脣開口。
「『虛構之弊（Fiction Ruler）』。」
幾乎可說是同時，我做出反應，把自己的背包扔到地上，進入警戒狀態。
已經顧不了那麼多了。當她把那個名字——我的那另一個名字說出口時，我就已經知道了。
——她和我是同一類人。
這意味著，我即將迎來麻煩。
「我們一起來玩個遊戲吧。」她的聲音彷彿摻了毒藥的蜂蜜，甜美卻又危險。
毫無任何預警，我們的四周突然變得漆黑一片。更準確地說，是所有的東西都被拉入了黑暗中，包括我自身在內。本來近在眼前的螺旋樓梯也消失不見，取而代之的是一個散發出微光的巨型黑白棋盤。縱使現在棋盤上並沒有任何棋子，但是依照棋盤的尺寸來看，如果真的有棋子，那大概也有我的半身高。在棋盤的另一邊，先前遇到的黃裙女孩正舒服地靠在椅子上。在這黑暗中雖然沒有任何燈光存在，但是就如同我能夠看見那個棋盤一樣，我也能清楚地看見她，包括她現在充滿了玩心的表情。
現在這種情況只有一種解釋。
「這是妳的試驗嗎？」我警覺地問道。
「答對了，這是我的試驗——『暗中遊戲（Gamble Board）』。」
這邊所講的「試驗」指的並不是學校的測驗或考試，而是少數人擁有的特殊能力。有些人們或許會把它稱為超能力，但是像我們這些擁有力量的人則是稱它為試驗，正因為它是給予人們試驗的存在。人們有著選擇要怎麼使用這些試驗的權利，而這些所做所為正可以反映出我們這些「試驗者」的欲望及良知。
我們在試驗別人的時候，同時也在試驗自己。
「妳的目的是什麼？」
為了更深入瞭解目前的情況，我所能做的也只有問更多問題。即使現在這個空間看起來並沒有什麼威脅性，但是待在這一片黑暗之中難免還是會感到不舒服。再者，只要我還待在這個神秘的空間裡，就很難從眼前這名試驗者身邊脫逃離去。
那名試驗者女孩對於我的問題毫不遲疑地回答：
「當然是為了要挑戰妳。『虛構之弊（Fiction Ruler）』的名號在我們這些試驗者當中可是相當有名的，別跟我說妳不知道。」
「⋯⋯」只能說到目前為止還在預料之中吧。
我為自己的不平凡日常嘆了口氣。難道想要過上一個平靜的生活真的那麼難嗎？
「好吧，我接受挑戰。妳想讓我做什麼？下棋嗎？我可不知道要怎麼下。」
因為我討厭和別人起衝突。
用棋子吃掉棋子，這種互相吞食的行為，不管看過多少次也無法習慣。即使知道規則，也無法下手。正因如此，不是不知道規則而不知道怎麼下，而是不知道怎麼去下手。
但是，就算是這樣，就算我一直避免鬥爭，麻煩卻一直找上門來。
這究竟是為什麼呢？
因為是試驗者吧。
因為是人類吧。
「不用擔心，這個遊戲和一般的西洋棋不同。妳要不要先坐下來再談呢？」那個人指向我身後一張紅色的椅子。我乖乖地接受了邀請，坐上能讓自己俯視整個棋盤的椅子。
「妳聽過八皇后嗎？」
突如其來的一問，讓我不得不從腦中搜索並拉出記憶。但是實際上並沒有花上太久的時間。因為——
「在八乘八的棋盤上放八個皇后，讓她們各處於不會被對方吃掉的狀態，是這樣的一個遊戲吧？」
和一般的棋類遊戲不同，八皇后是從數學問題演變而來的，不需要吃掉棋子的遊戲。不能吃掉旗子，而是以力量互相牽制住，這一點讓我很喜歡。
她點頭。
「我的『暗中遊戲（Gamble Board）』就是以八皇后為基礎的遊戲，但是有一點不同。在這個遊戲裡，我們要進行一場分成數回合的單一辯論。回合的數目為無限，直到有一名玩家贏了整個遊戲為止。在一回合裡，其中一名玩家可以提出任何一個問題，當然問得越接近辯論核心，越讓人答辯不出的問題是最好。然後另一名玩家則要提供對該問題提出合理的回答或辯解，如果沒辦法給出一個好的回答就視為輸掉那一回合。那麼該回合的贏家⋯⋯」
我注意到了某件重要的事。
「等一下，誰要負責決定贏家？這裡只有我們兩個人而已。」
「這個空間的意志。」她看到了我苦著的一張臉。「放心，它是絕對中立公平的，就算是我也沒辦法更改它決定的結果。」
「⋯⋯好吧，所以回合的贏家可以做什麼？」
那名女孩舉起了她的右手，以堪稱完美的角度指向棋盤。如果說她就那麼不動的話，我幾乎就會認為那名女孩只不過是一個無辜又惹人憐愛的娃娃罷了。
「在第一回合開始前，玩家可以先自由置放一個皇后在棋盤上。如果玩家在一個回合當中贏了的話，可以選擇召喚另一個皇后到棋盤上，或著移動任何已經在場上的皇后。」
「這代表我們可以移動自己的皇后，然後吃掉對方的皇后嗎？」
感覺朝著不妙的方向發展了。
「對，但是那也代表玩家在那一回合就不能進行皇后的召喚。遊戲會在玩家完成八皇后的時候，又或者當對方玩家沒有任何皇后在棋盤上的時候結束。最後⋯⋯」
她露出了一個小惡魔般的笑容。
「這個遊戲的勝利者可以從輸家那裡獲取任何一樣事物。哪怕是衣服、頭髮，又或者是⋯⋯對輸家的命令權。」
所以她的「試驗」才會叫做「暗中遊戲（Gamble Board）」嗎？
我再度歎氣，為了這沒有任何意義的遊戲。
現在這種情況應該就是最惡吧。
不但增加了可以吃掉皇后的規則，而且輸家還得賭上自己的東西。
不，說得白一些，既然是賠上任何一樣事物，輸家可得要做好心理準備啊。
——賭上自己的準備。
「⋯⋯我知道了，我接受。所以我們要辯論的是什麼？」
但是我不得不接受啊，因為這就是我一貫的作風。
如果想要順利結束這一切，就必須得這麼做。
「我已經說過了。」那名不知道剝奪過多少人的女孩繼續那可怕的甜美笑容。「我是妳的妹妹。」
「⋯⋯」剛剛那是主題？
我因為那個可笑的主題而沈默下來，那名自稱是我妹妹的女孩則選擇無視我的沈默。
「在我們開始之前，妳還有什麼地方需要我補充說明嗎？」
至少看得出她身為遊戲方還是挺負責任的。在翻閱腦中的記憶後，我丟出了一個關鍵的問題。
「我們要怎麼決定在該回合問問題的玩家？」
「因為這是我的主場，所以我就把選擇發問或者是回答的權利交給妳。妳覺得怎麼樣？還有其他問題嗎？」
「好，這樣就足夠了。」
足夠讓我不輸掉這場遊戲——至少我是這麼希望的。
「那麼我們就先來為各自的第一個皇后挑選位置吧。一樣地，我給妳先選的權利。」
「謝了。」我隨機指了一個棋盤上的黑色方格。一個白色的皇后棋從棋盤中冒出。老實說，我不擅長下棋，即使現在換成了八皇后，我也不見得會下。即使都知道規則，前者是因為不喜歡下而沒有練習，後者則是對新手來說根本是折磨人的遊戲。八皇后本來就不是拿來對弈的遊戲，而是拿來挑戰自己的問題罷了。
假設一次又一次在辯論中不停獲勝，讓自己取得先機，確實能稍微阻止對方完成八皇后贏得遊戲。
但是，那又怎麼樣？
一句話概括之，如果是先成功完成八皇后的玩家獲勝的話，那麼沒有把八皇后排列法記在腦中的人贏的機會根本十分渺茫。
那名女孩也隨後召喚出一個皇后棋。與我的不同，那個皇后是黑的，就好像烏鴉一般的顏色。從棋盤散發出的淡淡螢光阻止了那枚黑色的棋融入四周的顏色中。
「所以說妳想選擇先發問還是回答呢？」
第一回合，那個女孩問我道。
「發問。」這是對目前的我來說最好的選擇。我迫使自己為這個遊戲做好準備。「如果我只有一枚皇后在棋盤上，可以請妳不要管它，繼續召喚妳的皇后嗎？妳也知道，我只是一名新的玩家，而妳身為這個遊戲的創造者，極有可能已經利用它對戰過多次，當然也有可能把八皇后的排列法背了下來。所以我的這一點小要求，應該不過分吧？」
坐在對面的女孩就好像吃到了壞掉的蘋果一樣，露出奇怪的表情來。畢竟就遊戲層面而言，我剛剛確實已經問了一個問題，但實際上那只不過是區區乞求而已，完全和「妹妹」這個主題一點關係也沒有。
「我可以那麼做。」在經過長時間的考慮後，她給出了答案，或者說是承諾。
就如同先前被召喚出來的皇后般，一枚黑色的棋子從棋盤中浮上。
「妳看吧，問那種問題是不會被規則禁止沒錯，但是那只是白白浪費妳召喚皇后的機會而已。下一個回合，妳要發問還是回答？」
「發問。在這場遊戲中，我可以使用我的『試驗』嗎？理由跟上述一樣，我覺得在妳已經用了『試驗』的現在，這麼做比較有公平性可言。」
「妳到底在說什麼？這完全和主題⋯⋯」聽到我那些又和主題無關的話後，她開始感到困惑。然而，她還是在半途中停止了抱怨，有可能是因為突然想起自己還處於回答的環節中。「我允許。但是，我不認為那麼做可以給予妳任何幫助。下次請問和主題相關的問題，不然妳很有可能會輸掉這場遊戲。」
她成功地召喚了另一枚黑色的皇后。
確實，我那兩個看似自殺式的問題加速了遊戲的發展。尤其是她如果真的記得了八皇后的排列法，那麼完成八皇后對她來說只是時間的問題。
盯著棋盤上唯一的孤單白色皇后，我誠實地抒發了自己此刻的想法。
「唉⋯⋯辯論也不是我的強項啊。我呢，最討厭和別人起衝突了。妳現在這麼說的話也⋯⋯那麼，發問吧。如果我們是姐妹的話，妳要怎麼解釋我們兩個外貌上的差異呢？」
我可沒有像她那種美貌。
「每個人都是不同的。就連雙胞胎姐妹都有可能看起來不像對方，所以姐妹當然也沒有必要長得相像。」
看來那個所謂空間的意志還蠻中意她的解釋的。她現在已經輕易地得到了除了一開始的第一枚，剛剛獲取的兩枚之外的第四枚黑色皇后，也就是八皇后所需的一半的黑皇后。
「接下來，發問。」我做出決定。
已經什麼都無所謂了，就讓故事加速到終局吧。
快點讓無謂的鬥爭早點結束吧。
「妳不需要每次都選擇發問。妳也可以選擇讓我發問，然後由妳解釋自己不是我姊姊的理由。」
她好心地提出建議。只是，如果她真的那麼好心的話，當初就不應該把我卷入這種具有賭博性質，奪取我們事物的遊戲了。
「我知道。」我向她說道。「但是對我來說問問題會比較簡單。如果我們是姐妹，那我們應該會擁有共同點，能請妳說出任何一樣嗎？」
「很明顯地，我們兩個都有『試驗』。雖然平常有著『試驗』的人極為稀少，但是如果我們兩個是姐妹，一切就說得通了。我們兩個都流著『試驗者』的血，這就是我們的共同點。」
那是相當簡單的答案。與此同時，她在棋盤裡的白色方格裡放入第五個皇后。
正因為不想贏得辯論，正因為不想否決對方的想法，正因為不想強詞奪裡，我才會一直問問題。哪怕是縱容對手也好，維護對手也好，我都必須得這麼做。
我繼續問著一般人如果得知突然多出一個妹妹時可能冒出的問題。
「發問。為什麼我不記得妳？換句話說，我從來沒有任何關於自己有妹妹這回事的記憶，妳要怎麼解釋？」
「那個可能是因為⋯⋯妳不小心傷到了大腦，所以不記得任何有關於我的事啊。」
我可以感覺出她正在動搖。現在的狀況對她來說，召喚黑皇后實在是過於簡單了。
「嗯，那是個不錯的答案呢。畢竟誰也不知道世界是不是五分鐘前才創造出來，我們的記憶或許也不是那麼可靠。搞不好妳是我失散多年的姐妹也說不定，所以記憶或許也沒那麼重要。」
我同意她的主意，甚至擅自加油添醋地幫她補充對我自己不利的論點。
「那麼，第六問，如果我是妳的姊姊，你為什麼要這麼做——」我環顧將一切事物從我們的真實世界噬入的黑暗。「——妳為什麼要進行這種有可能從我這邊剝奪事物的賭博遊戲？」
「哈哈，妳認為姐妹就應該好好相處嗎？當然，我這邊可以解釋成這只不過是姐妹之間的遊戲而已。很有趣對吧？不過啊，姐妹也不可能都是完美的，一點小小的打鬧也是正常的。」
到目前為止，她所有針對我問題而給出來的回答都很簡短，但是都十分合理有效。找不到反駁點，所以那個空間的意志才會承認那些答案，是嗎？
第七枚黑皇后遵循召喚而來。
終於，到了我一直在等待著的回合。如果那名女孩能夠回答我的問題，她就能成功召喚出第八枚皇后。
「發問。」
我屏住了自己的呼吸。
「我現在要做什麼？」
「什麼？」
因為又是一個，毫不相關的問題，所以她才會那麼吃驚，懷疑自己可能聽錯了啊。但是很遺憾，她既沒有聽錯，我也沒有說錯。
「問題是——我現在要做什麼？」
「身為妳的敵人，我不知道。」她試著讓自己冷靜下來。「我唯一知道的是，我會在這場遊戲中贏得勝利。」
第八枚黑色的棋子正逐漸從棋盤中冒出。那個應該是在正確的位置沒錯，畢竟置放的人可是那個女孩啊。一旦那個皇后被整個召喚出來，她將贏得這場遊戲。然而——
「這個遊戲在對方玩家沒有任何棋子在棋盤上的時候也會結束，對吧？」
我舉起了右手，指向發出螢光的棋盤。包括剛剛召喚出來的黑皇后，所有黑色的棋子都蒸發掉了。然後，最後唯一的白色皇后也是。
「不可能！妳做了什麼？」
那個女孩先目瞪口呆地望著從中心溶解的棋盤，之後又把目光轉向我。
看來得好好向她解釋一下。
「妳不覺得我們的『試驗』就像某種幻想設定嗎？」我說。「換句話說，就是虛構作品裡的設定。那麼，如果虛構作品裡沒有衝突的話呢？」
「沒有衝突？」她看起來極為困惑。
「這就是為什麼我接受妳的挑戰，在需要的時候徵求意見，然後極力避免在遊戲裡的衝突。沒有衝突，意味著這個虛構作品已經失敗了。」
我看入她的眼。
「這就是我的『試驗』——『虛構之弊（Fiction Ruler）』。妳應該要在挑戰我之前做些功課的。」
周圍的黑暗逐漸從上往下褪去。返回的陽光透過窗戶，刺激到我的眼睛。我不得不閉上眼數秒來讓眼睛恢復。當我重新睜開眼時，那個穿著黃色裙子女孩的身影正站在我面前。
就好像所有的失望和難過全都壓在她身上般，她的臉色看起來十分沈重。
對著眼前的影子，我只好開口道：
「正確來說，我並沒有贏得那場遊戲。那個遊戲只不過是被我用我的『試驗』破壞了而已，所以當然不需要什麼懲罰。妳下次要是想再來挑戰我，我很歡迎。到那時候，我也會儘量改變，學習怎麼下西洋棋，所以不要在玩那個賭博遊戲了。不然的話，妳得想辦法把那個規則從妳的『試驗』中撤掉。總之，這是一場不錯的遊戲，我玩得很開心。」
靜靜地，那個試驗者女孩在我發表完剛才那一番話後，自螺旋樓梯走下，然後在我身旁停住。
「當然，我是不會放棄的。所以做好準備吧，我的姊姊。」
猶如什麼事情都沒發生過，她抬起頭，自我身旁離去。
「這邊才是，原句奉還。」我喃喃地說。
話說剛剛好像做出了不得了的承諾啊，好像確實說了要學習下西洋棋。果然逞一時之快說些漂亮話就是會發生這種錯誤。但是論會不會後悔的話——
我想應該是不會的。
因為我討厭衝突，討厭看到別人難過的樣子。所以避免掉衝突才能使用的「虛構之弊（Fiction Ruler）」才會是我的試驗啊。
所以說，雖然百分之百會輸掉，但是之後就去學習不吃掉棋子的西洋棋下法吧。
我拾起地上的書包，背向那名女孩，走上眼前的螺旋。
創作內容
【活動】Younger Sister【英翻中再創作】
Zean（十六夜文藝創作交流區） (11)
