Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

"In that case, who should go first?"

Sitting opposite Takami, Kaguya managed to maintain a calm expression as she asked a question, but she couldn't take her eyes off the three people in front of her.

Why are you all able to sit together so naturally?

Why did it turn out like this, with me sitting alone in a row while the other three people are facing me at the same time?

Why do I feel like I'm playing a game with the three of you, not with four other people?

Something must be wrong here!

Kaguya Shinomiya really wanted to loudly question the three people sitting opposite her, but in the end, she only twitched her eyebrows, suppressed her displeasure, and maintained a normal expression as she asked calmly.

"I'll go first. Hmm, rolling a 6 means moving forward six spaces, right?"

As she spoke, Princess Zhenfei, holding the dice, threw them onto the table.

"That's right, Little Princess is going to move forward six spaces, right? Let me see..."

Chika nodded excitedly and leaned out to look at the location where Maki's character card had arrived.

At this moment, the four of them were gathered in Fujiwara Chika's room, playing games with the girl. It's worth mentioning that when Kaguya first learned that Chika wanted to invite everyone to play games, she immediately refused to participate. However, after Takami expressed her desire to join in, and Maki refused to let Takami and Chika be alone in the room and joined in, Kaguya reluctantly agreed to join in.

Hopefully nothing too strange will happen.

Kaguya, who was well aware of Fujiwara Chika's eccentric personality, could only pray silently in her heart at this moment.

"Oh dear, Little Princess Zhenfei drew a misfortune event card. Let me see. If this is the number she drew... Hmm, the event Little Princess Zhenfei drew is [Encountering a bad man who deceives her feelings], and she will [not trust men] from now on."

The next moment, accompanied by Chika's slightly surprised voice, Maki's brows gradually furrowed.

"Wait a minute, something doesn't seem right about this. Aren't we still in the [Juvenile Zone]? How can we expect to encounter something like this so early?"

The somewhat annoyed girl turned to look at Chika, but Chika generously showed Maki the event list written in her notebook, leaving Maki speechless with displeasure.

"It's actually quite reasonable for teenagers to encounter bad men. Aren't there many cases nowadays where young girls are deceived in their feelings by older men?"

Gao Hai was trying to understand the rationale behind the events set up by Qianhua.

"Are you talking about yourself?"

Then, Maki's sharp gaze turned to Takahashi.

"Don't talk nonsense. I'm the type of person who's very straightforward and confronts my desires directly; I don't lie. Honestly, when have I ever lied to you on our dates—"

"Alright, you don't need to say anything more. Which one is number two next?"

Before Gao Hai could finish his self-defense, Zhen Fei reached out and covered his mouth, coughing lightly with a slightly flushed face, signaling to the others that they could continue.

This subconscious action and their intimate behavior, completely disregarding the distance between them, caused Chika's lips to twitch slightly, and Kaguya's brows to furrow slightly. However, neither of them said anything, simply taking turns rolling the dice.

After several rounds of proceedings in the youth section, Maki and Kaguya, one due to a windfall and the other due to inheriting unexpected wealth, tied for first place. Chika, on the other hand, had a smooth run without encountering any major events, only gaining a few points through a small investment. In contrast, Takami drew two "Scumbag Cards" in a row, acquiring a large amount of money by deceiving young girls, and thus occupied third place in the rankings.

"Although I read Chika's rulebook beforehand and knew she didn't cheat, isn't this dice roll too ridiculous? Or is some kind of Lady Luck deity targeting me?"

Looking at the two scumbag cards in front of him, Gao Hai couldn't help but complain with a dark face.

"I think you're quite deserving of these two cards."

"Imperial Consort Zhen said softly from the side," then threw down the dice and looked at her next move.

The second misfortune event card.

Empress Zhen frowned, then rolled the dice again to select the event type.

The event type is: Encountering a bad woman who deceives you emotionally, losing one-third of your assets, and receiving a status card of "Distrust of Women".

"What's going on here? Does my character have to live such a miserable life?!"

The Empress was furious.

"It's just a game, don't worry about it. I think I'm more innocent than anyone else, since I drew two [Scumbag Cards]."

Gao Hai chuckled and said, and then Kaguya began to move, entering a new space.

This time, she drew a [marriage card].

marry?

Consort Zhen, whose mind had just calmed down a bit, was stunned for a moment.

Chika, who was holding the rulebook, was also surprised for a moment, then announced that Kaguya, who had obtained the marriage card, could form a marriage relationship with the player closest to her. As for the player closest to Kaguya, well, it was Maki.

"..."

The two girls simultaneously showed expressions of disgust towards each other.

"Ah, but because Maki has the status card of 'Distrust of Women,' she can't marry a woman. That means Kaguya can only marry the player who is the second closest to her, which is Umi."

Then, the next moment, with Chika's slightly mischievous voice, Kaguya froze on the spot, her gaze instinctively rising to meet that of Takahashi, who was looking up at the same time.

marry?

Should I marry Gao Jun?

No, no, no, it's just a game, don't take it too seriously. My plan hasn't even begun yet, and there's no need to be proud of such a small victory in a game.

Trying hard to keep her lips from curving too much, Kaguya took a deep breath, then noticed Maki sitting next to Takami's wide eyes and her fists clenched tightly.

"After the wedding, the other players on the field will each give the two married players 5 Neon Yen as a congratulatory gift. Hehe, congratulations to the two of you."

Then, in Chika's next sentence, Maki's eyes welled up with tears.

He subconsciously took out his wallet and pulled out five 10,000-yuan bills.

Kaguya instinctively reached out to take the money from Maki.

"It's not real-world money. Wake up, it's just a game."

Gao Hai quickly coughed lightly to remind the two not to get too caught up in the act, and then quickly observed Qian Hua beside him. As expected, he saw the girl's well-hidden smile of pleasure.

"Yes, yes, it's just a game, just a game."

Maki took a deep breath, then another, and stared intently at her character card on the table, as if she were glaring at an enemy.

Kaguya lowered her head slightly, a faint blush appearing on her face, seemingly lost in thought.

The game continues.

A little while later, Kaguya and Takahashi, who were a married couple, drew the "produced" slot and immediately "gave birth to a pair of twins". When it came time for other players to give them gifts, Maki almost pulled out real money again.

Chika's character, however, seems to have a lot of bad luck, constantly stumbling around. One minute she's in a car accident, the next her company goes bankrupt, and by the time she reaches the "middle-aged zone," she's already over a billion yen in debt. But she herself seems completely cheerful and not upset at all, probably because there's just too much fun to keep up with Kaguya and Maki's antics.

"If you include this production grid, that makes 7 children."

Gao Hai was speechless at the fact that his character had already entered the "old age zone" yet he could still draw "production" slots. He was just a little surprised that he could draw so many "production" slots in a row. Could it be that he was actually a man who was very good at getting girls pregnant?

"Yes, yes, but it's just a game, don't take it too seriously."

Kaguya whispered, her head lowered ever since she drew the second [Production] slot. She rarely looked up anymore, focusing instead on the game cards on the table.

"..."

Princess Zhenfei remained silent.

Her current actions are quite similar to Kaguya's; she's also staring intently at the cards on the table.

After completing the game in the "Youth Zone" and "Middle-aged Zone", Zhenfei has reached the top of the rankings and become the richest player in the game because she drew several good cards in a row. It can be said that other players can only look up to her.

However, there was absolutely no gaming experience.

For Maki, who just keeps seeing Takami and Kaguya draw the "Production" slot, there's absolutely no gameplay experience to be had in first place.

"So now it's my turn to move forward. Hmm, this is... a Doom event square?"

But in the next moment, things seemed to take a turn for the better.

Kaguya, who drew the "cheating and divorce" card, chose to divorce Takami after discovering his "cheating." As a result, the two not only separated, but Takami also had to pay a huge sum of compensation for the seven children he had "gave birth" to Kaguya. It can be said that the character's wealth plummeted.

"Did they get divorced because of infidelity...?"

Kaguya took a deep breath, clearly quite shocked.

"What exactly is causing this strong sense of déjà vu and the feeling of being targeted by malice?"

Gao Hai looked at Qian Hua again, but this time he couldn't see any flaws in her expression. He didn't know if this was really fate or if she was just hiding it too well.

"Oh dear, oh dear, you've got a pitiful moment too!"

As for Princess Zhenfei, who immediately went from cloudy to sunny and cheerful, well, let's not expect too much from this child.

That said, isn't this game just a heavily modified Monopoly game from the original? So far, the events seem vaguely familiar, with only minor changes in details. Based on my recollection, the original game is almost over by now, and there are only a few moves left in the game. In such a short time, Chika probably won't pull anything too big, right?

As Gao Hai was thinking this, he then saw Maki draw the [Marriage] slot.

Fujiwara Chika's lips curled up.

Kaguya had already realized that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out how this misfortune would happen.

A blush immediately rose on Maki's cheeks as she secretly glanced at Takahashi, whose character card was currently closest to her.

"Generally speaking, you should marry the player who is closest to you, but Xiao Zhenfei has the status card of 'Distrust of Men,' so she can't marry Ahai."

"Then, originally, as a substitute, she was supposed to marry the second closest player, but Maki has the status card of 'distrusting women,' so she can't marry Kaguya either, let alone me, who is the third closest."

Chika, who had used the notebook containing the rules to cover her mouth, looked at Maki and slowly spoke.

"What do you mean? Does that mean the card's effect is nullified?"

Consort Zhen was puzzled, so she asked directly.

"How could that be? I'm a gaming expert, how could I possibly design such a deadly situation?"

Putting down her notebook, the pink-haired girl's joyful smile was no longer concealed at this moment.

"Considering the extreme case where a character simultaneously acquires the status cards of 'Distrust of Men' and 'Distrust of Women,' my proposed reversal is—this player will simply marry all the players present, forming a prosperous family! yay!"

Chika, waving her little hands, excitedly announced the results.

At that moment, Gao Hai smiled, remained silent, and applauded, thinking it was brilliant.

Kaguya's entire body stiffened, her brain once again undergoing an automatic Windows 11 update.

Meanwhile, Maki, whose mind was already in a mess, had her head rubbed by Chika. After several seconds, she finally reacted and shouted, "What kind of bizarre reversal plan is this?" Then, in the next round, she drew the [Production] slot.

Incidentally, according to Qianhua's rules, the True Concubine who draws the "Production" option at this time does not get pregnant herself, but rather gets all the players she marries pregnant—yes, all of them, regardless of gender.

"So you're the legendary protagonist of a light novel?"