"I hope to claim all the remaining truths."
Second is a Grade 10 student, sixteen years old. Her favorite color was blue. Her favorite subject was the arts. Her hobbies included drawing, painting, and writing. She was making a comic book, which didn't have a title yet. She attended the public school of Vosejo High School in the city. She had three best friends at school.
She has a mother, a father, and an older brother. Her parents separated. She, her mother, and her brother lived together. Her mother was ill, which caused intense suffering. They had both been her support in times of need. She studies hard, writes stories, and draws those stories into comics to help them. She also tried to participate in art contests. Her brother taught her basic self-defense because he belonged to that club in high school. She got angry with her father and blamed him for the hardships they were going through. In an instant, she was surprised that their lives unexpectedly improved—they were able to have their own house, buy and own a lot, and establish a business.
But when she woke up... when she opened her eyes... she wondered where she was. She was floating in the middle of the galaxy.
"I'll protect you."
"Will always be there for you."
"You don't have to worry."
"Ah!"
Simultaneously with her small scream, her eyes opened rapidly. Second twitched, sitting up from lying down, rubbing her head while shaking.
"She's up! Are you okay?" she heard Aeith's voice. "We woke up earlier. We're all fine and safe."
Her breathing deepened, and she was sweating from the cold. Some parts of her body were numb. Someone was supporting her, helping keep her body warm.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry," there was remorse and deep concern in his voice. She turned to her left, and it was First.
Second turned her eyes and saw her teammates. Tiredness was obvious in their looks. They were still wearing their swimming or diving clothes but no longer had the glass bubbles. She wasn't sure if their glass bubbles had popped or if it meant the game had ended.
She checked herself. This was the second time she fainted. She sighed and smiled at First sparingly. His left arm was still bleeding.
Ninth had his right hand and arm wounded. Fourth sobbed again in Aeith's arms. Third and Fifth had scratches. They all embraced as a team, led by Fourth, who was emotional. Knowing everyone was safe—that was enough.
Recalling her recent memories of what happened before she fainted, the gold team must have won because she lost consciousness in the middle of the game, and she no longer knew if she had crossed the finish line. She felt bad for not doing her part while her team sacrificed themselves. This had happened because of her incompetence. She clenched her hands in frustration. She didn't deserve her team. She couldn't look straight into their eyes because of guilt.
Her feeling of shame was interrupted when she heard the voices of the other team—the supposed enemy team. The gold team ran towards them and hugged them. She felt really bad for losing, but also glad that they won because they earned it after all. They had different strategies, but what mattered at this stage was to reach the finish line, which she failed to achieve.
They might be enemies in the games they played, but afterward, they still considered each other friends. She just hoped that in this last game, they could fight one another. She couldn't imagine those traumatic experiences of betraying and hurting friends to win because, for the duration of the game, they were enemies.
"I-I'm sorry for what I did... We didn't really plan to hurt you," Sixzen apologized to their team. The Sixzen she battled a while ago, racing to the finish line, was very different from the Sixzen she was facing now. Funny how this game turned people into villains. Even she was a victim of this game, which also drove her to hurt her friends from the gold team.
She saw Thirtwen behind her. "Well, that was one desperate move from us," he murmured, looking dismayed. "We shouldn't expect anything in return, but I hope our friendship doesn't change."
She could see the regret on their faces. She could feel their sincerity. She didn't hesitate to say sorry to the gold team, too, especially to Sixzen and Sectwen when she hurt them.
Ninezen didn't talk but gave them a light smile and mouthed "sorry." This was not like him. He was usually bubbly, but now things felt awkward between the teams.
Aeizen ignored them like nothing happened, as if she wasn't sorry, while Sectwen avoided them, rolling her eyes. Even so, she could still forgive them as long as everything went back to normal. She would act as if nothing bad had happened just to restore their relationship.
"Where are the three?" she questioned her team.
As she glanced at each one of them, she noticed that Sixth, Seventh, and Fifzen weren't there. By the way, where were they? All of them should have been here.
Fourth seemed unwilling to speak, so Third answered her. "They're dead," he replied weakly.
"What?!" How in the world did two of their members die? And one member from the gold team this time. "How-"
Third stepped forward. He coughed several times before starting. "Earlier, Fifzen was poisoned by a stingray when he was in a fight with Fifth," his voice was unusually husky. "It spread all over his body until the end of the game. When we searched for Seventh after his bubble exploded, he didn't make it in time to reach the surface. We tried to revive him, but we failed." Third ended his statement.
Fifth continued. "As for Sixth, same as Seventh's bubble, it got pierced but by Sectwen. I chased her when she was catching her breath underwater, when the octopus ink spread all over beneath. Her body got contaminated by the ink. I rushed to help her get out of the poisonous water, but Third stopped me when they arrived." He explained.
"My bubble exploded too, and I accidentally drank water with ink. I almost swallowed some of it, but I puked it out." Third touched his throat. "My throat burns because of it. That's how dangerous it can be." He coughed. "It turns out, the bubble on our head can be destroyed by the poisonous ink and needles that the gold team has."
This couldn't be. They lost three of their friends again. And Third barely made it out alive. Luckily, he was able to throw up the water with poisoned ink inside him, but it made his throat burn. She felt great remorse and sadness. What had just happened?