Playing Soldiers: Jail Version

That brought our morning of interviews to an end. After lunch, during the afternoon free time, the little kids took Ronnie and me by the hand and led us to the backyard.

“Ronnie, Leon, let’s play!”

“What should we play?”

“Playing soldiers?”

These kids were so small, yet they had so much energy. Marie had always seemed so grown-up, and this was my first time playing with so many little kids.

Ronnie was clearly used to this, chatting with them as he led the way to the backyard.

“Leon, teach us a new game!”

“Huh!? You know any new games?”

“We’re tired of playing soldiers!”

“Then how about playing shop? Let’s play shop!”

“We’re tired of that, too!”

“Leon, do you know any other games?”

The children asked me one after another. A new game... What could we play? Tag and hide-and-seek were too ordinary. There was also Red Light, Green Light, and kick the can. Hmm, none of those felt quite right. Besides, we didn’t have any cans to kick.

Oh, what about cops and robbers? It was like a twist on tag, so it might be fun. Maybe they’d accept it as a new version of playing soldiers.

“Everyone, what do you do when you play soldiers?”

“We all get swords and defeat the bad guys!”

“What are the bad guys?”

“This is the bad guy! And this is the sword!”

The children showed me a small log buried in the ground and some branches that had been whittled into shape.

So they knocked over the log with the branches.

“When the bad guy falls over, the soldiers win!”

“I see. Then let’s play a new version of soldiers today. Playing Soldiers: Jail Version!”

“Jail?”

“A jail is a place where you keep bad guys you’ve caught. Can I explain the rules?”

“Wait a second! I’ll go get everyone else!”

The children around me went to gather everyone, and Ronnie and Asia-san came over, too. Once all the children were ready to listen, I explained the rules.

“The name of our new game is Playing Soldiers: Jail Version!”

“...Leon, what kind of name is that?”

Ronnie immediately called me out after I made my enthusiastic announcement.

“Huh? Isn’t it cool?”

“Hmm, whatever. Go on.”

“O-okay.”

Ronnie looked unconvinced, and the children looked puzzled, too, but I decided to stick with the name and continued explaining.

“First, we split into the soldier team and the criminal team. The criminal team should have a few more people. Next, we decide where to keep the criminals we catch. I’ll draw it this time.”

Then I drew a large square on the ground.

“This square is the jail. The criminals have to run away and avoid getting tagged by the soldiers. If a soldier tags a criminal, they have to go into the jail. The soldiers have to catch as many criminals as they can and put them in the jail. If they catch all the criminals, the soldiers win. If even one criminal gets away, the criminals win. Does that make sense so far?”

“Yeah! I get it!”

“We just have to catch the criminals!”

“I’m gonna catch lots of them!”

Hmm, it was hard to tell whether they really understood, but they’d get the hang of it once we started playing.

“There are a few more rules. I said that the criminals have to go to jail when they’re caught, but there’s one way they can get out. Their fellow criminals can rescue them from jail. If a criminal who hasn’t been caught tags a teammate in jail, the tagged criminal can get out.”

“Really!? We can’t let the criminals escape!”

“That’s right. The soldiers have to keep an eye on the jail, too, so the criminals don’t escape.”

“Yeah! I won’t let them get away!”

That was about it for the rules. Oh, right, there was one big problem: there wasn’t an easy way to measure time in this world.

We couldn’t decide that the criminals would win if a certain number of minutes passed. Maybe I should change the rules a little.

Hmm, or maybe I could make something to measure time. If there was an old wooden cup, I could make a small hole in the bottom and have the game end when the water ran out.

“Everyone, there’s one more rule, but wait a moment. Asia-san, do you have any old cups you don’t need?”

I asked everyone to wait a little while and turned to Asia-san.

“I think we do...”

“I’d like to use one to measure time.”

“Then I’ll go get one.”

The cup Asia-san brought had a small crack in the bottom, so water leaked out of it.

Perfect. Judging by how fast it leaked, it would probably take about thirty minutes. I’d fill it halfway and try to make it last around fifteen.

“Everyone, remember the rule about how the criminals win? When all the water in this cup is gone, the criminals win if even one of them is still free. And even if there’s still water in the cup, the soldiers win if they catch all the criminals. Do you understand the rules? Were they too difficult?”

Now that I’d explained them, there were more rules than I’d expected. Maybe it was hard to follow. I’d been trying to organize my thoughts as I spoke, so I felt like I hadn’t explained things very well.

But contrary to my worries, everyone was eager to play. Some of them didn’t seem to understand, but about half the kids appeared to have gotten it.

“I get it!”

“Me too!”

“I didn’t really understand...”

“If you didn’t understand, I think you’ll get it once we try playing. All right, let’s give it a go. First, we’ll split into teams. Who wants to be on the soldier team?”

“Me!!”

When I asked who wanted to be on the soldier team, every single one of them raised their hands. Well, I supposed that made sense. Everyone wanted to be a soldier.

“I know everyone wants to be a soldier, but we’ll switch roles each time. Is anyone willing to be a criminal this round?”

“Aww, I wanna be a soldier.”

“I’m gonna be a cool soldier!”

“Then how about we decide with rock-paper-scissors?”

That seemed like the fairest way. But as soon as I suggested it, everyone gave me puzzled looks. Ronnie, standing beside me, asked in confusion:

“Leon, what’s rock-paper-scissors?”

No way... Was rock-paper-scissors not a thing in this world!?

Now that I thought about it, maybe I’d never played it here before. At home, I always let Marie have her way because she was so cute. And after I started at Royal School, there were hardly any people I could suggest settling things with rock-paper-scissors. Our different social standings meant the order of priority was decided without any discussion.

The only person I could have suggested it to was Ronnie, but there wasn’t much we needed to settle between just the two of us.

I’d only just realized it... That was pretty shocking.

Should I teach them rock-paper-scissors...? But how did people in this world decide things without it in the first place?

“Ronnie, how do people usually split into teams when there are a lot of people? And what about when everyone wants the same thing?”

“When we want to split into teams or when we’re all after the same thing?”

“Yeah. For example, at the orphanage, some people cook and others serve the food, right? How do you decide who does what?”

“The director decides.”

“Then what if there’s only enough food for one person, but there are five people? And it’s something you can’t divide up?”

“Hmm, we usually talk it out, but we often let the little kids have it.”

So if there was someone with a high status or someone in charge, they made the decision. If there wasn’t, they talked it out.

If that worked well enough, I didn’t need to teach them rock-paper-scissors. Teaching them too many things at once might only confuse them.

“I see. So in a situation like this, can I decide?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Then, everyone on the right side, could you be the criminals first?”

“Aww, I’m a criminal?”

“That’s right, but it’s just a role. We’ll switch next time.”

“Well, if that’s all, then okay.”

“All right, let’s give it a try!”

After that, we all had fun playing cops and robbers—or rather, Playing Soldiers: Jail Version. The kids learned the rules quickly, and they liked the game so much that as soon as one round ended, they wanted to start another.

“This is fun! Leon, this is so much fun!”

“Thanks, Leon!”

“One more time! Let’s play again!”

“I wanna play!”

Kids really did have so much energy. Keeping up with them while they stayed excited the whole time wore me out, even if my body wasn’t tired. Kids were amazing.

“Everyone, if we play too much, you’ll get tired. Let’s stop here for today.”

“Aww!”

“I wanna play more!”

As I struggled to handle the children’s protests, Asia-san, who had been watching over us the whole time, stepped in to stop them.

“Everyone, playing too much isn’t good for your bodies. Let’s play again tomorrow.”

“...Okay.”

“Leon-kun, thank you for teaching us such a fun game. It’s a great way to build stamina while having fun, and it helps you practice teamwork, too.”

Now that she mentioned it, working together to catch people and rescue teammates really did make it a good game for building teamwork. I was glad if I’d been able to help, even a little.

“Leon, I’d never heard of this game before. It’s fun. Did you just think of it?”

Ronnie asked me that. If I said it had been popular at my family’s house, he’d realize I was lying right away, so I’d have to pretend I’d come up with it myself.

“I’d been thinking for a while that a game like this would be fun, but I never had enough people to play it. Since there are so many kids here, I thought it’d be perfect.”

“It is more fun with a lot of people.”

“Exactly. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it.”

While Ronnie and I were chatting and taking a break, a scream came from the children who had started playing a different game.

“Aah! Director, something terrible happened!”

“I-I’m sorry, I...”