"Maybe it is better to know nothing than to know everything that will hurt you."
Second patted Aeizen's back to calm her down. She knew Aeizen wanted to cry, just resisting not to.
"Players, back to the game. I repeat, players, back to the game. Round 4 will start in 10, 9,"
"Thanks for helping me." Even though she didn't cry, she knew Aeizen was sad.
She smiled at her and stood up, then held out her hand. "Let's go?"
For the first time, she saw Aeizen's sincere smile. Aeizen grabbed her hand and stood up.
"8, 7, 6,"
They were back, and the sky still looked the same. It was still as strong as concrete, so they could go back safely. The clouds weren't moving, maybe it meant they wouldn't fall if they stepped on them, and if the clouds moved, they were really going to fall.
"5, 4, 3,"
She turned to the silver team's bleachers. First caught her eye. He just stared at her, expressionless. He didn't even smile. Sometimes she didn't really understand him. Well, that was so him.
"2, 1,"
She returned her attention to the game.
"*whistle*"
Round 4 had started. Just one round before everything would be finished. Before round 4 started, they discussed that they would play normally and not chase the ball too much because of the trap that was ready on their sides.
Second passed the ball to the other team before Sixzen ran closer to the ball, and it fell completely to the floor. The ball turned to gold. Inside, the side became a heart, like Sixth's case. The middle of it was a torn leaf.
Sectwen's eyes widened for reasons they didn't know. She couldn't focus on the game. Another bizarre behavior. She was the sixth victim.
"Sectwen!" Twentieth shouted at her to call her attention but she did not catch the ball, and Forzen chased the ball.
Forzen stumbled, crossed the line, and fell. They were shocked because it was no longer the sky that was beneath them but the sea. A sea with a strong storm!
"Help!" she shouted while supporting her weight using her hands.
"Aeizen, help her, we'll play!" Sixzen commanded. She noticed that Sixzen's single hair bun was messy and loose. Her hair might be in the way of her eyes.
Sixzen couldn't help but continue the game because she was the best one on their team.
"Focus, Sectwen," she also advised Sectwen, who seems startled.
Everyone was distressed because a while ago it was mud, sky, and now it was the sea. What's worse, it was stormy, and it looked like there was a tsunami, so Aeizen had a hard time reaching her hands to Forzen.
"I-I'll help her!" Sectwen pulled Forzen's other arm and helped.
They couldn't help them because they had to play against them. Was this what Author wanted? Were they going to choose what was more important? A single person at risk or the lives of the majority?
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Forzen was safely lifted.
*whistle*
Round 4 ended. They were looking forward to not scoring anymore. What they wondered was how Forzen was when Aeizen and Sectwen picked her up from rushing water. Sectwen told her why she suddenly lost focus. And like the previous two she talked to, Aeith and Sixth, they remembered something about their memories from the past, which caused them to be miserable.
"Players, back to the game. I repeat, players, back to the game. Round 5 will start in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,"
They were back again. Last round, finally!
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1,"
The timer was delayed again in counting. It must have something to tell them.
"This last round will be a special one. Previous rules were eliminated except for one new rule: There must be one team ... who will win this game."
Very similar to what it said yesterday.
*whistle*
The gold team settled first. The ball was directed in her direction. She passed it to Fourth. She nearly missed it, but she got lucky. Tenth spiked it. She noticed that Tenth adapted to playing volleyball.
Unfortunately, it was less than thirty minutes into round 5. The gold team had already scored. The ball turned silver, in the middle on one side there was a heart, in the middle was a... baby?
They were the first to settle, but it went to the other team. While playing, she could hear a deep breath to her right. She turned her back at Tenth. Tenth's eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost. She held her stomach. While looking at her, she didn't realize that the silver ball was flying towards her face again and...
"Second!" her team shouted.
The ball hit her in the face and knocked her down. When she opened her eyes, her team surrounded her and lent her a hand. When she sat down and told them that she had gotten herself, they continued playing while waiting for her recovery. Her vision dimmed, and her eyes narrowed when the vision cleared. She felt a spark all over her body. Her breathing got heavier.
Second couldn't sweat for some unknown reason, but she felt cold in her brain. Her heartbeat quickened. Her whole body was hot, and her brain was cold. She felt mixed and various emotions. Joy, sorrow, frustration, depression, fear, anger, and so on. It was as if she wanted to cry but couldn't. There was a sudden appearance of an image on her that she couldn't describe clearly what it was.
Did others feel the same way before that changed their whole mood?
She turned to Tenth, who was on one side and crying. Her teammates couldn't do anything because Tenth was in bad shape, and they had to end the game because there were only three of them playing. She hadn't seen what was inside the ball before; she would have known why she was feeling this right now, that fumbled her mind.
*whistle*
Round 5 was over, finally.
"Second!"
Second felt heavier on her eyelids. She heard their callout. Someone was running. She felt tired. She couldn't stand this anymore.
Then everything faded and became dark.
***
"Hey, are you okay? Wake up!" Second heard the husky voice of Aeith. Yes, it was her.
She opened her eyes and saw the two worried faces of Aeith and Fourth.
"I-I thought you wouldn't wake up, Second!" Fourth sobbed.
"Oh my! Stop worrying us, will ya?" Aeith was acting tough.
What happened? She was still lying down. Then she noticed that she was lying on the floor of the fifth floor. She was back from wearing a school uniform. It was a bit dark, and the court was gone. The volleyball court and bleachers were gone. The game was over; it must have been over then.
She smiled at them.
"Why did you pass out?" Ninezen seemed concerned. She didn't notice him right away.
Third sighed. "Still, glad you're awake."
"That's Second for you. You're a weed!" Seventh was trying to act cool with his jokes.
She felt better, yet she felt weak. She was still really tired. She wanted to rest in her room with her soft blanket and pillow. Speaking of pillows, she caressed the thing that supported her head as she gradually lifted her head to sit.
"Pffft," Fifzen seemed to be holding his laughter.
She was holding it, so she looked at it. Dark blue? She saw someone's chin and face. Her eyes widened as she stared at him.
"Bwahahaha!" they all laughed.
"W-What's up?" First stuttered.
Then she realized that she had been lying on First's thighs earlier. She instantly stood up without their support. First averted his eyes, covered his cheek with the back of his right hand, and walked away.
"Where are the others?" she asked them to get out of that embarrassing moment.
"Downstairs," Aeith replied.
"How's the game?"
She passed out, so she didn't know what happened and what the results were. Despair replaced the faces of those who had once been happy to tease her.
"Did something happen?"
"It's okay... well…" Fifth could answer her directly.
"Answer me, please," she could no longer contain her emotions. Looks like something bad had happened. This was not good.
"Tenth is dead," Fourth burst into tears, and Fifth calmed her down.