There are people who are difficult to play with.

***

For me, Saralegi is that person, but it's not that we don't get along at all or that we don't talk much. It doesn't seem to be due to the age difference or a significant gap in intelligence, either. If those were the issues, I wouldn't be able to get along with Wolfram or hang out with Murata on my days off.

I think it's just that Saralegi and I have led very different lives up until now. For me, the basics of 'play' would be playing catch, and the extension of "play" would be baseball.

However, for him, the basics of "play" are probably national affairs, politics or imperial studies.

Sara: "Come on, Yuri, even I don't spend all day thinking about the country. I do take breaks, enjoy looking at beautiful things and laugh too. I also exercise, of course. If I don't move my body occasionally, I'll end up like a fat, corrupt politician." Sara explained to me with a gentle smile. "What do you usually do for fun? I just happened to be wondering what the amusements of foreign countries were like."

So I took him outside with a ball and a baseball glove, but when I threw him a gentle easy-to-catch ball he moved so it would hit him in the head. God, it was unbelievable! Did he mistake baseball for soccer?

As expected, after just one throw, his attendants deemed it dangerous and stopped us. They said it was fine as long as I rolled the ball. So we played catch by rolling the ball on the ground. But at that point, it wasn't even catch anymore, was it? It was just a game of pick up.

As a result, sports time was over after only five minutes.

Then, how did we kill time? We had no choice but to take a walk around his beautiful garden or spend time sitting quietly and drinking tea in his room.

Booooriiiiiiiing.

***

(Takes place during kyo kara maoh R/OVA)

When you're locked in a coffin with someone like that, your options are even more limited.

Yuri: "...I never thought we'd be waiting this long. Still hiding."

Sara:  "The last person is taking forever to leave. But when our adventure is told to future children, it'll probably be said that the pursuers gave up quickly."

Yuri: "Oh, you mean like the edits in those variety shows."

Sara: "And they might add a dramatic story about how a sword was thrust into the coffin, creating a close call!"

Yuri: "Grazing your cheek and drawing a line of blood!... or something like that?"

Sara: "Right, right! Exactly."

But in reality, our pursuers are searching the wrong place endlessly. They're looking in the complete opposite direction of the coffin we're hiding in.

I mean, who would hide between drawn curtains? Their feet would be visible.

Sara: "This is quite boring, isn't it?"

Yuri: "I'm just glad the coffin is quite big. If it were small, we'd be crammed together. Last time I was trapped with someone, our faces and noses were practically touching..." (referring to Wolfram and Yuri being in a closet together to hide ep 5/manga chapter 14, I believe)

Sara: "What? Yuuri, have you been in a coffin before?"

Yuri "Oh? Uh, well, never mind, it was another story." I avoided the topic.

Anyway, I'm currently hiding in a coffin with King Saralegi of Small Cimaron, and the pursuers don't seem to be leaving anytime soon. And as soon as I realized there was no danger of being found, I started feeling incredibly sleepy.

Yuri: "I'm so bored I could fall asleep. We need a Himatsubushi."

Sara: "Hitsumabushi?"

Yuri: "No no, 'Himatsubushi,' something to pass the time."

I wonder what Nagoya's specialty (Hitsumabushi - an eel dish famous in Nagoya) would be doing in Small Cimaron. No, it must be a case of homophones or homonyms. Like candy (ame) and rain (ame), whip (muchi) and ignorance (muchi), Saitama Seibu Lions and Detroit Lions - same lion, different sports.

Yuri: "By the way, what does 'Hitsumabushi' mean in Cimaron?" only one way to find out.

Sara: "It's a word that encourages frugality and simplicity by avoiding extravagant clothing and wasteful spending. It comes from a story about a man who hid by covering himself (mabusu) with the precious herb called Hitsu, but was found by soldiers."

Yuri: "Hmm, so the meaning of mabusu (sprinkling/covering)  is roughly the same."

Sara: "Yuri, I just thought of the perfect thing 'to pass time' with!" Saralegi said in a voice that didn't match our hide and seek situation, with a smile bright enough to be seen through the light filtering in. "Let's play 'Shirinuki'."

Yuri: "Shirinuki?"

Sara "Yes. Connect words so that the last character of one word is the first character of the next."

Yuri: "I see, so in Small Cimaron, 'Shiritori' is called 'Shirinuki.' huh."

I feel a bit like a villager who met a kappa for the first time. But this might be a good way to pass the time. It could also help us learn new words from each other's cultures, and it's easy to play as long as you have your head and mouth. If we can keep a good tempo, it might even keep me from getting sleepy.

Sara: "Okay, I'll start. Let's see... shirinu 'ki'... 'kin no nanika gin no nanika' (golden something, silver something)."

Yuri: "What do you mean, 'something'?"

Sara: "I'll tell you the story. A man hiding in the forest was asked by a lake spirit whether he wanted the golden something or the silver something. He said, 'I want you,' and then got found
by the soldiers pursuing him because they heard his voice."

Yuri: "Wow! He must have really liked the lake spirit to confess even while hiding. Okay, mine is 'ka,' 'ka,' Kakushidama (hidden ball)."

Sara: "Hidden ball?" although Saralegi showed no interest in the meaning of my word and immediately continued with the next word. "'Ma', right. Then, 'Mario to Luigi to' (Mario and Luigi and)."

Apparently, this wasn't going to be a conversation, just a one-way exchange of words.

Yuri: "'Mario and Luigi and'... What does that mean? It's not a tragedy about a zombie couple who drank poison, is it?"

Sara "No. It's a story about two men who were hiding in a pipe and ate a legendary mushroom, it grants a second life, but eating it didn't stop the enemy from finding them..." it took a while for him to finish explaining.

Yuri: "...I see. Okay, 'to',then... 'tore-do' (trade)!"

Sara: "Next is 'do'. Hmm, ah, 'Doro no kana nimo san-nen' (Three years in the mud).'"

I started to doubt he was coming up with real words, he might be cheating. I shouldn't make assumptions. I have to ask.

Yuri: "Um, just to be sure, what does that mean?"

Sara: "'Three years in the mud'? It's a tragic story about a man who, for some reason, hid from the army, spent a year in water, two years in the soil, and three years in the mud, but was found in the sixth year. Terrifying, isn't it? To be hidden in the mud for three years. It's something humans can't do. Maybe the man in the story wasn't human."

Feeling a sense of weakness in the back of my neck, I leaned against the coffin.

Yuri "Sara... do you want us to get caught by the pursuers?"

Sara "Huh? Were you going to hide forever, Yuuri? Isn't a completely uneventful hide-and-seek boring without any excitement?"

***

People have different forms of play. For me, the basics of playing are catch, but for him, it seems like its hide and seek. I learnt a lot about Sara. He enjoys the game because he wants to be found...

(Translator note: there is a pattern in Sara's stories which all involve 'being found')