Storm of Confessions

NG Word Game: Battle of the Five Great Emperors

The Five Great Emperors clashed at the edge of the Primordial Desolation—a battlefield of intellect where words held more power than weapons. Their minds so sharp they could cleave reality itself, their mental pressure bent even the Grand Dao.

And all for one purpose:To win the NG Word Game and be crowned the Student Council's Supreme Intellect.

Sakurai Saki glanced warily at the glowing words floating above each participant's head.Fujiwara Chika – "Detective Action"Kaguya Shinomiya – "Cold Laugh"Shirogane Miyuki – "Part-Time Job"Ishigami Yu – "Fujiwara-senpai"And above his own head... the cursed word: "Meow."The first round's NG words had been handwritten by the players themselves, ensuring each phrase was something their target would almost certainly say or do. Sakurai didn't even need to guess who had written his.

Fujiwara Chika. No doubt about it.

He didn't dare say a word. Not even a syllable. That verbal tic had betrayed him before.

In this dark forest of traps and trickery, every player was a hunter, and any slip of the tongue could lead to a chain kill.

Sakurai's eyes darted between his rivals. If he wanted to knock Fujiwara out first, he'd need to bait her with something she couldn't resist.

Romance.

But someone beat him to it.

"I've recently met someone I'm interested in," Shirogane Miyuki said smoothly. "It's a girl I met… at my part-time job."

Boom.

That word—"part-time job"—glowed atop his head like a death flag.

Fujiwara Chika instantly leapt to her feet, finger pointing like a prosecutor mid-trial.

"President Shirogane, NG!!"

But Kaguya's lips curled into a dangerously cold smile. "Fujiwara Secretary... you just did a detective gesture."

Fujiwara froze.

"NG."

Ishigami Yu raised an eyebrow. "Fujiwara-senpai… too careless. Shinomiya-senpai, you too."

"Huh?"

"You laughed just now. A cold laugh," he pointed out.

Kaguya's eye twitched. "Wait—didn't you just say Fujiwara-senpai?"

"..."

Silence fell.

Then, in solemn resignation, the four of them simultaneously took down the cards above their heads and drew new ones.

All eyes turned to the last man standing.

Sakurai Saki.

'Meow?'

Shirogane frowned. That was an absurdly hard NG word to trap. He didn't know about Sakurai's mysterious cat-summoning side effect, so he had no idea how close that word was to a time bomb.

Still, Shirogane never gave up.

"In any case," he continued, "the girl I met wasn't the important part—it's what she was doing."

Kaguya glanced up at the new word above his head: "Laugh Out Loud."She smirked. "And what was that?"

"She came into the convenience store I work at every day to buy melon bread. But for some reason, she always gets chased by dogs afterward. I've seen her flee past the storefront screaming more times than I can count."

He paused meaningfully, looking right at Kaguya's card—"Make animal sounds."

Kaguya, utterly calm, responded, "Well, I prefer cats. They're quieter. Less obnoxious than dogs."

"And their sounds are cuter too."

"Yes!" Fujiwara agreed enthusiastically, new word "Blink Madly" pulsing ominously above her. "Meowing is the cutest sound!"

Trap set.

Fujiwara Chika, the one who preferred dogs in real life, had abandoned her loyalty just to bait Sakurai into meowing.

That's how far she was willing to go to make him fall.

(For the record, her dog's name was Pace, and they jogged in Yoyogi Park every weekend. She hadn't told anyone that, of course.)

Ishigami Yu analyzed the battlefield. He saw all the NG words like chess pieces and felt confident—this round was his.

Time for a tactical nuke.

"I have a joke," he said casually. "Want to hear it?"

Everyone nodded. Who would refuse free self-destruction?

"Once, a man adopted a cat. He wanted to name it something powerful—maybe Tiger. But someone else said Dragon was stronger. Yet dragons ride clouds, clouds are blown by wind, wind is stopped by a door… and a door can be chewed by a mouse… and a mouse fears a cat. So the cat's name became…"

He paused.

"...Cat."

Silence.

Then—Fujiwara blinked. Once. Twice. A dozen times.

And burst out laughing.

Kaguya stared. Blinked furiously in warning.

"Meow?" she whispered.

Fujiwara's eyes widened. She returned the signal. "Meow??"

And from the side—

"Pfft—hahaha!!"

Shirogane Miyuki had cracked.

That was all it took.

Three NGs, detonated in a single moment.

Fujiwara: Blinked madly.Kaguya: Made an animal sound.Shirogane: Laughed out loud.

Sakurai Saki watched in stunned silence as the three collapsed.

He hadn't said a word.

And then, Ishigami turned to the group, deadpan.

"Everyone," he said. "You're all NG."

"President Shirogane, you're also out," Kaguya Shinomiya said coolly.

"Eh? I'm out too?" Fujiwara Chika blinked in confusion and removed the card from above her head.

Then she turned to glare at Kaguya, cheeks puffed in protest.

She totally did that on purpose! That blink just now—she lured me!

Nearby, Ishigami Yu silently took down his own NG word card.

...He had no words left. Literally.

Shirogane Miyuki sighed and followed suit, removing the card from his head. Then he glanced over.

Sakurai Saki hadn't moved.

And then—

"Meow?" Sakurai tilted his head innocently. "My NG word was 'Meow'? Right, meow?"

He meowed twice.

Fujiwara Chika instantly pointed, triumphant. "Sakurai-kun, you didn't declare you were guessing your word before speaking it—automatic fail!"

Sakurai just shrugged and placed his card down without protest.

A few minutes later.

Shirogane Miyuki and Kaguya Shinomiya were slumped across the sofa, staring at the ceiling, existential dread pooling in their eyes.

How could this happen?

The number one and number two academic elites of Shuchiin, utterly crushed in a party game... by number three.

Meanwhile, Ishigami Yu had already retreated back into his world, handheld console in hand, unmoved by the carnage.

Victory didn't matter. As long as they had fun.Or more accurately, as long as the upperclassmen had fun.

Except Fujiwara-senpai.

She wasn't all that upset either—she'd gotten to hear meows. Plural. It was a good day.

From the corner of the room came a small voice:

"Fujiwara Secretary, can you delete those recordings… meow?"

Fujiwara Chika looked left. Then right. And suddenly stood up.

"Ah~ I just remembered! I have something at the Tabletop Game Club! Sooo… goodbye~!"

She dashed off before Sakurai could stop her. Not that he tried very hard.

He figured she wouldn't spread the recording.

...Unfortunately, Sakurai Saki didn't know.

Kaguya Shinomiya, phone already in hand, had discreetly captured the audio too.

"I'll send it to Hayasaka tonight~" she thought with an elegant smile.

For the sake of purging her bitterness, Kaguya Shinomiya had worked very hard today.