A Measure of Force

You suggested a contest with Kai. I considered this carefully. True combat risks damage and unnecessary disorder, but a trial of balance seemed entirely appropriate. I collected four matching wooden matchsticks from near the pen holder. Between Kai and myself, I arranged them into an exact square grid on the dark tabletop. I nudged a single red checker piece to the center line and bowed slightly to the silent figure. A match is best determined not by collision, but by whose posture outlasts the evening stillness.