Chapter 38 : Knife Talk

A/N : I'm recovering form a hangover smh so enjoy this week chap and pic. See you next sunday

"So...? Don't you have anything better?" Kurai was smiling cheekily.

After Ryuko fired her gun, he sat on a log next to her, waiting for the 2 other winners.

Hearing him, the blond could only sigh helplessly.

This trial took around 2 hours on average.

And Kurai ended it only after 45 minutes or so.

An impressive feat she could only applause... If she was a spectator...

Now that she was the referee of the whole thing. And the main initiator of the game, she could only swallow the bitter pill and see all her efforts getting easily crushed under his feet.

"You.Are.A.Cheat." She mouthed him each word slowly. Even though it looked like she was tired of his antics, it wasn't totally true.

She respected his strength a lot, and was eager to spar against him after that volleyball tournament coming soon.

'Didn't he say 'fight' though?' Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the same cat.

"It's just that your challenges were a walk in the park, heh." He smirked.

Ryuko deadpanned at his remark.

"You didn't even try to finish the food challenge."

She knew that those challenges aimed to correct certain traits.

Like holding the bar under water; equals to fighting under pressure.

Or building a boat; is for using their brain and whatever's near to get out of any situation.

The disgusting food challenge aimed to correct something too; sometimes a Hero has to be content with the smallest things.

... And the list goes on. But she knew that if someone already possesses such traits then everything would look simple.

'He's clearly a cut above everyone. He'll definitely be a fantastic Hero later.' Ryuko's appraisal was once again interrupted by the same cat.

"We just didn't see the need to dirty ourselves... Rumi ate everything because she needed it."

Ryuko nodded. The rabbit's perseverance and courage really impressed her and made her see the tanned girl in a new light.

'My first female rival?' Oddly, Ryuko was starting to have competitive thoughts.

Something she never thought of having.

'Did meeting him change me so much?'

"Rumi, ummm..."

On the other hand, Kurai was thinking about his friend.

'I feel like something happened to her psyche...'

Kurai could be considered as a smart person but not all knowing.

And even if he could be considered very experienced in sex during his past life, not even for a second did he think that a CPR could affect Rumi.

At that moment, he only thought about saving a kid, a friend.

And truthfully speaking, that wasn't even a kiss, even more so after considering what kind of kiss he did on a regular basis before...

'I should try to do something after this whole ordeal...' Still, he didn't want to remain passive to matters related to Rumi anymore.

*Rustle Rustle*

Suddenly, the sound of leaves brushing against each other sounded in the small clearing.

Ryuko and Kurai came out of their thoughts and prepared for the arrival of the next kid.

Before the kid arrived, Ryuko saw the corner of Kurai's mouth lift up.

'??'

She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that he knew exactly who was coming.

He noticed her look, so without even looking at the blond and keeping his gaze at the bushes, he told her shamelessly, "I bet all my savings that Rumi is the second."

Laughing at his attempt, Ryuko shrugged her shoulders, "Too bad, it's unfair if I call a bet as a referee."

Looking back at her, Kurai imitated her, and shrugged too, "Too bad of an excuse yeah..."

Burst of laughter resounded in the forest even though the place wasn't that welcoming.

And a few seconds later, the second winner showed the tip of his nose.

...

...

...

A few moments before.

As of now only the odd kid and Rumi had a chance to get a blade.

After seeing the fireworks high in the sky, both knew that it was the last sprint.

Although the lone kid knew that he had more chances since he was alone in his zone.

Compared to Rumi who had a few kids tailing her.

Still, she was at it for a longer period so when she found it she didn't hide her joy and instantly jumped toward the central zone.

'AHAHA! Let me show you how great I am!'

Rumi had a wide grin spreading on her face, it came as a liberation. Her stress was finally relieved and her spot in the top 3 secured.

She knew that Kurai would be in, but she also hoped that he wasn't the one to fire that gun.

Mainly so she could finally brag in front of him.

As she was approaching the clearing where Ryuko was, she heard people talking.

One of whom she knew very much.

Finally, after passing the last bushes, she stumbled on the scene of Ryuko and Kurai idly laughing in the middle of the forest...

Though, both turned around, looking at her hand holding the blade.

At that moment, she didn't know what to feel. It looked like her heart was aching but she wasn't sure.

She didn't know that her knuckles were almost white and while approaching the duo she stabbed the log in front of Ryuko with the weapon.

Next to where Kurai's blade was lying, her gesture made them stop their laughter.

But the bunny ignored them and wordlessly went to sit on another log further away from them.

Kurai and Ryuko looked at each other, not knowing what happened to her.

Thinking that she may have just snapped because of tiredness or simply the game, they decided to leave her alone for the rest of the time and resumed their talk after Ryuko fired the second firework.

It wasn't long before the third and last winner came too. Unsurprisingly it was the quiet kid.

The waiting felt short to the two blabbermouths but way too long to the bunny girl who was only getting irritated by their apparent closeness.

After she received his blade, Ryuko naturally congratulated him and fired a green firework instead of the usual red ones.

It was the end-game signal to the remaining kids.

Very quickly, with the help of the teachers that were spread around, the losers of the game joined the 3 finalists.

"First of all, I want to congratulate everyone!"

Ryuko declared expressively, accompanied by the teachers clapping along with her

"As you probably guessed, here's our top 3!"

She then pointed to Kurai.

"With the first being Kurai." Once again another bout of clappings resonated in the forest.

Although this time some kids were whispering words like, 'again?', 'too strong!', or even 'unfair!'.

"Alright! Now I ask you all to leave for today. Obviously even if you just lost now, you shouldn't have to worry about your grades…"

Ryuko continued, "After coming this far, you'll naturally receive a nice grade according to your overall performance!"

…

…

…

Later that day.

Kurai, Rumi and the last kid whose name was Araki Satoshi were all on an isolated island waiting for the upcoming and final challenge.

When they were about to leave with everyone, Ryuko gestured to them to follow her, with a small smirk on her face.

So silently, she guided them to it and explained that they'll have to stay until the beginning of the challenge.

And that they should talk together or sympathize a last time before being enemy again.

Even though that's what she said… Right now, no one was talking and they were all observing each other.

Well more or less.

Kurai was replaying a scene that happened earlier with Ryuko in his mind, just to be sure of what he saw while Rumi was also thinking about trivial stuff related to the man in question.

Only the last kid, Araki was attentive observing his opponents.

Seeing him like that Kurai was at least sure of one thing, 'He has a hidden card behind his sleeve.'

He had confidence of winning whatever Ryuko threw at him, but that was his habit of taking each piece into account.

He didn't put his guard up against Rumi because she was way more straightforward.

She wasn't the kind of girl to make a plan or scheme behind someone's back.

'But this guy…' He remembered what happened earlier, even if he saw it with the corner of his eye.

Kurai continued to think, 'It looked like a nervous reaction but to me it was clearly a grin.'

Previously, in the boat that brought them here Ryuko told them that the final challenge would be more of a mental bout than a physical one.

And it was exactly at that time, after Ryuko finished her sentence that Kurai saw Araki.

'Whatever…' He shrugged it off, in the end he was still as confident as ever.

Meanwhile, Araki was still scrutinizing the two tanned kids. Both were on the opposite side of the campfire Kurai built moments before.

He couldn't help but want to talk to break the ice.

"...Umm Hello! I'm Araki Satoshi! Pleased to meet you."

Finally, Rumi and Kurai both looked him in the eyes.

Their gazes gave him a small fright but it disappeared as soon as it appeared.

"Rumi."

"Yo! My name's Kurai!"

The bunny was displeased that she was interrupted, Araki could feel it.

Still, he nodded, "Um. I already knew both of you ahah." He obviously heard of the top ranker, and Rumi was in his previous team.

He then scratched his head not expecting them to not react at all.

"Anyway! How were the first few days Kurai-san?"

Kurai went along with the kid's game of mind, "Very great! We had a good team so the survival stuff was smooth sailing!"

"Surely you can't be this modest? I heard that you helped your team a lot. "

"Ahah! Those are only rumors…" He shook his praises off.

All the while, Rumi was listening to them, wondering what the hell were they engaging in a full blown discussion just before the challenge.

And they unfortunately didn't stop until it started, talking about this and that, to Rumi's displeasure who was left out during the whole time.

When Ryuko came back, she saw an outcast and annoyed or bored to death bunny standing between two "best friends".

That's what it looked like to her at least, both had smiles on their faces. Though it couldn't be further from the truth.

"Ahem!" Politely coughing to make her presence known, she invited them on the boat for the final round.

"Please follow me!"

She also started explaining the rules while bringing them to the place.

"You'll be confronting each other on 3 wooden poles while keeping equilibrium, if you fall into the water it's a loss for you! It'll basically be an attrition war!"

"That's why I told you that it'll be hard mentallly." She nodded to herself wisely.

"Anyway, I'll let you know during the game but the surface where you'll have to keep the equilibrium will shrink more and more as time passes."

Hearing the referee's explanations, the kids were in deep thought.

Well, Kurai wasn't thinking much, cats were renowned for their equilibrium after all.

Though, the other two weren't so confident.

Even more so after seeing the 3 wooden poles from afar.

They were standing tall, anchored deep into the water.

Turning back to the trio, Ryuko showered them with a 'beautiful' smile, "Alright, now please advance up to the poles! And let "Les poteaux" begin!"

Without hesitation Kurai stepped forward and swam to their final destination.

He was soon followed by Rumi who was balling her fists, her spirit ignited again.

Only Araki looked reluctant to walk forward.

Kurai saw that after he stood on the pole and couldn't help but shoot a snarky remark.

"Afraid?" Grinning, he eyed Araki from above.

"Let's just say that this type of game doesn't advantage me as much as it does to you."

"Heh." A short laughter escaped Kurai's mouth.

Finally when everyone got onto his pole, teachers came from behind to give them a bag full of water.

A pipe from where they could drink water was coming out of the bag.

It was to help the kids during the challenge. The sun was quite high, in fact it was at its highest since it was noon.

And the temperature was already above 30° too.

Not knowing how long the challenge will last, Ryuko decided to give them this bag of water, afraid that something will happen because of deshydratation.

The blond was looking proudly at the 3 finalists, clapping, she screamed a last time, "Alright! We'll start in... 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Go!"

She activated the mechanism and the platform where they were standing immediately became smaller, just enough for their feets.

The last challenge called, "The Poles" began.

***

A/N : The poles = Les poteaux (french, the idea came from a French TV show that's why)