The Grand Magic Games (2)

Huh? What? Did she guess it? I looked over at Keira, whose face was currently extremely smug. How did she know?

“W-what! There has to be some kind of mistake!?” Bill shouted instinctively.

“Mistake? What mistake?” Zyra repeated mockingly.

“I don’t know but something is wrong. You must’ve cheated!” Bill accused.

“I agree.” Phill added.

“Oh give it a rest. Since you don’t want to say it then I will, Finn can you please reveal your object.”

Reveal? Does it really matter at this point? Suddenly, a Mereon fruit appeared out of thin air, like Finn had used some sort of sleight of hand.

“This one’s on me guys.” A voice said, quiet. It was Jamie. “I feel like I shouldn’t have been caught so easily.”

“That’s not true boss! Zyra set you up!” Bill shouted.

“Maybe… but still, I let you all down. In the next one I’ll redeem myself.” He looked up, eyes bright. At least he was taking the loss well and learning from it. That was the only thing you could do after the fact. It was rare to see Jamie this down but I’d seen him like this before. When he apologised to me in the store after we’d just met.

“It’s fine don’t worry about it.” I consoled him. It wasn’t all bad, we hadn’t exactly lost yet.

“What happened on your end?” Jamie said.

“Well it wasn’t—“

“I meant Finn.” He cut me off. I turned to follow his gaze to the boy beside me. As usual he looked unfazed.

“Well?” Jamie continued. “Did you get caught on purpose?”

“Hm.” He looked away, avoiding eye contact. Jamie’s tone was serious. Serious enough that not even Finn dared to make eye contact with him.

“H-hey, B-boss, Finn break it up. We still have two more games to go.”

“T-that’s right.” The twins said hesitantly. This tension in the air…

“It’s fine let’s just play the next one. We all did our best I’m sure.” I said trying to move away from this topic. Though I was ninety nine percent sure that Finn did not do his best. That’s probably why Jamie had been so annoyed. He definitely lost on purpose.

Apart from being known as the literal ninja of the group, his body language was also telling a lot. He might be mysterious but he was still a kid. He was curling inwards slightly, and averting his gaze whenever Jamie’s swept by. If that didn’t scream guilty I don’t know what would.

He definitely let them win—but why?

“Hello? Main host? Aren’t you going to announce the winner of the first round?” A voice came from the table. Bill clenched his fist, his next words escaping through grit teeth.

“The winner of the first round by split decision—“

“Unanimous.” Zyra interrupted.

“By unanimous decision, is the pre-scouts. The score is now one to zero, in favour of the pre-scouts.”

“We did it!” Rosette and her group shouted, jumping up and down. Ah, I really don’t like losing. Somethings never change, even when you get reincarnated.

“Suddenly I’m in a good mood, can I choose the next game?” Zyra said smiling. All of a sudden you’re in a good mood, huh? We’ll see about that.

“S-sure.” Bill nodded. Phill drew the hat from under the table again.

“Let’s see—how about this one?” She drew a piece of paper out the hat. “It says four man relay race—wait I have to participate too?” Rosette nodded. “No way, my hair will get all messed up…”

Four man relay race? This should be light work. Bill sat up from his chair suddenly invigorated.

“Okay, select your teams.” The two leaders nodded.

“Anyone want to sit this one out?” Jamie said scanning the Little Dreamers before his eyes went back to Finn. “Do you want to be in this race?”

Finn nodded.

“Okay, then different question. Do you want to win this race?” Finn’s eyes darted for a second before he composed himself before giving another short nod. “Good.”

“Then it’ll be me, Reno, Finn and Phill. You’re okay with sitting this one out right, Bill?”

“Yeah that’s fine, I quite like my announcing chair anyways.” He shrugged. This was the optimal line-up.

“We’ll be counting on you for the last event, Bill.” He nodded.

“The Little Dreamers have selected their four members and the four members of the pre-scouts have been selected by default as they only have four people. When both teams are ready to begin I’ll start explaining the roles.” The two team leaders nodded.

“Good. For those who don’t know, don’t worry, a relay race is simple. You must pass on an item to the next runner once you finish your part of the race until the final person. We’ll have each person stand in line with a shop or location and I’ll be at the end. The first team to reach me wins.”

We all nodded.

“Reminder that the order is crucial too, so decide on that now.” We looked around. Optimally you want a fast starter initially for the mental boost. Then you’d want someone who could set a pace and finally the last two would be the fastest people, the third leg would push the pace and finally the last leg would bring it home. But Jamie’s call was what mattered. He’s the leader.

“I think Phill should start, he’s our slowest.” Logical enough, I could see his thought process. Personally, I’d probably have put him second and Finn first. “Then me.”

“What? Are you sure?” I was pretty sure Jamie was faster than Finn.

“Mhm.” He nodded. “I want Finn to be the one who gives you the baton.”

“Well…” I looked around. Phill was quiet and Finn was too. I guess if no one else minded then it was fine. “Okay, that’s cool with me. Then I’m last?”

He nodded solemnly. “I trust you there.” I smiled. This should be good, I was confident I’d be able to carry the team even if we were quite a bit behind.

“Have you all decided?” Bill’s voice came. Rosette and Jamie nodded. “Then first for the pre-scouts will be?”

“Polia.” Rosette spoke up.

“Phill over here.” Jamie said too.

“Then they’ll start at the entrance.” Bill pointed to the entrance of the central district, about 30 tethers away. “Next.”

“Me.” “Zyra.” The two second legs exchanged looks.

“Of course it had to be you.” Jamie lamented with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.” Zyra flicked her hair.

“Scary… Oh I mean you two are next to the blacksmith shop over there.” He pointed to Stox’s store.

“Oh and you two give these to those two over there.” Bill handed them two sticks.

“What? What’s this?” Zyra said almost insulted seeing what was in her hand. “A stick?”

“Well we don’t have enough budget to get real batons…” Bill twiddled his thumbs.

“Seriously?” Zyra face palmed. “Well whatever.”

Jamie cackled. “The last two for me is Finn and then Reno.”

“Keira and then me.” Rosette said as she turned her gaze from Bill to me. Me and Rosette in the last leg huh?

“So Keira and Finn can stay at the fountain and you two can follow me.”

“Wait if you’re going to be at the end, who’s going to say go?” I questioned.

“Good point. Well…” he looked around.

“I-I’ll do it!” A sweet voice called out. Magia?

“When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago.”

“How did you know we were doing this?” I questioned.

“Well,” she twirled her hair. “Rosette told me.” Rosette nodded. Wow they seemed to be somewhat closer than yesterday. Rosette must’ve went to her store and apologised early this morning. She really is quite mature.

“Well that’ll work, right?” Bill said looking at the two of us. We nodded. Bill walked up the rest of the way towards the opposite entrance of the central district. “Stop here.” He pointed at a random store. “I’ll be up ahead commentating with the Sonus flower. I’ll have to use all three together so you all can hear me.”

I nodded. Then, it was just me and Rosette stood in a straight line. Standing like this felt familiar, I’d done it so many times in my past life it felt like second nature. “Did you apologise to Magia?” I looked at Rosette.

“How did you know?” Her eyes widened.

“Just a feeling is all.” I smiled. “Good luck.”

“Good luck to you too. But we’re winning this.” She said decisively. Not an attempt at trash talk or anything similar but rather out of conviction. Like something was compelling her to win.

“I respect that.” I nodded. She had the heart of a real competitor but I wasn’t a slouch either. If I really wanted to win I would’ve taught the others breathing and running techniques, but that seemed like too much. Besides, I felt that we were the favourites to win anyways. After all, I was here.

“You realise that Finn wants you to lose, right?” Rosette said out of the blue.

“What, what do you mean?”

“He showed his object to Keira directly. In fact as soon as he could.”

W-what? He betrayed us? Wait…

“Did he tell you why he did?” She shook her head. “Are you telling the truth?”

“I promise.” She looked me in the eye, devoid of any signs of deception.

“Why did you tell me that?”

“He might try something again, so be careful.”

“You’re warning your competition? Sincerely?”

“Of course. I don’t want another free win handed to me.” She appeared mildly frustrated. She wanted to win but on her own terms. I really didn’t misjudge her, she had a blazing competitive spirit and desired an equal playing field, I had no doubt about that.

“Fine, thanks for the heads up. I’ll watch out for him.” Since she was taking it seriously I would too. But why would Finn do that? I can’t think of any reason that he’d possibly have to—wait.

If the people are of one heart, even losses can become gold. That’s what he said earlier, but what did he mean. Was that a message to us? That sometimes the better outcome was to lose? Could it be he… felt bad? He wanted us to do more community service to make up for all the mess we made? If so then…

“And they’re off!” Bill shouted energetically as Magia’s hands came down from about a hundred tethers away. Phill and Polia ran with all their strength, the sticks in their hands waving frantically.

These two… their technique is awful to watch. But at the very least, they were running with heart.

“And there goes the first exchange, the Little Dreamers are in the lead!” Bill shouted energetically. Ah this feeling, I could feel my heart beating once again. I want to win. “What’s this? The Little Dreamer’s leader has taken off! Two tethers, five tethers, ten tethers and Zyra’s only just gotten a hold of the baton! It’s a blow out!”

Jamie he’s… really trying. I’d seen that look before, on real trained athletes. He took that loss heavily earlier.

“Zyra’s only just hit the half way point and Jamie’s already exchanging the batons. This isn’t looking good for the pre-scouts.”

The switch over’s important. Finn put his hand behind his back and Jamie handed it over cleanly. Looks like Finn isn’t going to try anything this time.

“And it’s the ninja streaking into the distance, the Little Dreamers want their win and they want it bad! But look, it’s Keira coming in hot from behind, could this be a comeback?”

Woah, she’s quite fast. But… it’s not enough. Jamie left behind too much of a gap so there was no way we’d lose now. Unless Finn… he wouldn’t let them win again, right?

“They’re rapidly approaching, can the rookie bring it home for the Little Dreamers!?” Bill said energetically.

Here he comes.

“Go. Go. Go.”

Huh, what’s with that chanting in the background? Well whatever—it doesn’t matter. All that matters now is the switch.

Fwish!

The stick swished in the air before I clasped it firmly, already getting a running start. Maybe it was overkill to treat this like a proper relay race but it was just second nature at this point. Finn’s gaze met mine.

Why’s he making that face?

I took off, the ground beneath my foot blurring as I did. The finish line and the two racing lines in my path was all that mattered—was all I could think about. The background chatter, the noise of Bill’s announcing, it all went quiet. Until finally, I reached the finish line.

Wait… when did I end up in this stadium?

‘Congratulations Akio, you’ve broken the under twelves national 800m record.’

This is… a memory? In front of me was a familiar stadium I’d once raced in full of all the people I grew up racing against. Why am I remembering my first competition right now?

“And the rookie storms through! The winner—by absolute destruction—is the Little Dreamers! Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to a tie break!” Bill shouted as animatedly as humanly possible. His natural style of hyping up the competition made me think he actually had some talent as an announcer.

“Go! Finish the race!” Voices came from the side. Huh? What’s this? When did this crowd get here? I turned around to see Rosette running her heart out. Ah, she was just unlucky. Still the crowd was right, always finish the race.

She was flushed red, right up until she made it to the finish line.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

An ovation. She deserved it for keeping on going but it was a culmination of everyone’s effort. We all earned that ovation.

“What a magnificent performance from both the Little Dreamers and the Pre-Scouts!” Bill said excitedly. We all moved to gather in the central area where the fountain was.

“That was so cool!” Phill and Polia said at the same time. “Did you hear them chanting for you?” Phill looked at me and Polia looked at Rosette. Me and Rosette exchanged glances.

“They were chanting for Rosette.” I clarified.

“They were chanting for Reno.” Magia and Rosette said at the same time as I did.

The three of us exchanged glances this time.

“Haha!” Jamie laughed iconically. “Can’t you just say they were cheering for both of you?”

“I guess.” I nodded.

“Regardless that was a lot of fun.” Jamie continued. “I feel much better now, don’t you, Finn?”

Finn looked towards Jamie then turned his gaze to the distance. “Hm.”

So back to his usual. Still, I wonder why he was making that face earlier when he handed me the baton.

“Hey, Reno.” Rosette said softly. “I want a rematch.”

“Any time.” I smiled. I expected as much, it wasn’t really fair to her given that my team had already left her well behind and I was someone who’d ran relay before so she was at a twice the disadvantage. She already done well considering as much.

“I want a rematch too.” Keira said as she looked at Finn. No response.

Typical Finn.

“Don’t you want a rematch too, Zyra?” Rosette said looking at Jamie. “You did lose quite badly, it was pretty much even before that.”

“Rosette! I in fact don’t want a rematch, he tries too hard. Hmph.” She flicked her hair. “Why are you asking me, why don’t you ask Polia? Her race was much closer than mine.”

“M-me? I’m h-happy with my race!” She said nervously. Fair enough, it seemed like Phill was the same.

“Let’s keep the momentum going and pick the next game!” Bill said, making sure to not use the Sonus flower in his hand so our ears weren’t blown off.

“Let’s do it.” Zyra said, a fire in her eyes. She was like me in a way—I could tell she also hated losing with a passion.

Bill nodded at Phill and he went and got the hat. Bill fished his hand into the hat before drawing out a piece of paper.

“H-how is this possible?” Bill’s voice fluctuated chaotically.

“Hmm? What is it?” Zyra said impatiently, her fingers tapping onto the table.

“This is wrong I’ll get a different one!” Bill moved to exchange the note he’d fished out.

“So useless, give me that!” Zyra snatched it out of his hands and read it out loud. “Rock, paper, scissors—wait, who put this in there?”

We all shrugged. “Who even decided these games?”

“That’d be us.” Two people raised their hands. It was Rosette and Magia. Did they do it this morning when Rosette was apologising? Then they must’ve gotten quite close.

“Of course it’s you…” Zyra said looking straight at Magia. “… two. Of course it’s you two that decided these.”

Huh? What was that pause about? Is there something between these two?

“You got a problem with it, Zyra? I was the one who chose that game.” Rosette spoke up.

“Oh it was you Big Sis? I don’t have a problem with it at all. Rock paper scissors works…” Zyra said quietly. Weird, then why did you mention it?

“The rules are simple, first to three wins as a group and everyone plays someone once. No cheating like reacting to the other persons hand moving. Who wants to go first?”

Jamie raised his hand. “Then I’ll go too.” Rosette moved too.

“On shoot okay?” She nodded.

“Rock paper scissors, shoot!” They cried in unison.

“One to zero, in favour of the Little Dreamers!” Bill smiled. Good start. “Who’s next?” Zyra raised her hand.

“I guess it’s me then.” Bill said with a sigh. “Rock, paper, scissors—shoot!”

“As expected, you always go rock. One to one!” Zyra smiled. Bill’s belly rumbled angrily.

“I’ll go next. Against Finn.” Keira said confidently.

“Hm. I’m going paper.” Finn said calmly. The mind games have already begun.

“Shoot! What, no way! You actually went paper?” Keira looked at the rock in her hands with disbelief.

“Just like that two to one in favour of the Little Dreamers. Match point to the Little Dreamers!”

“I want to go next.” Phill said, eyeing Polia.

“B-bring it on!” Polia said raring to go. “Shoot! Ah?”

“Nice try.” I patted Phil on the back.

“Sorry, Reno.” He sighed.

“It’s all tied up! But what’s this, the pre-scouts have ran out of members? Who’s going to be the last one who will face the rookie?”

“I-I’ll do it!” A voice spoke up. “I am a pre-scout after all.”

I smiled bitterly. Of course it’d be her, why would it be anyone else?

“Are you ready, Magia?”

“Mhm.” She nodded.

It would all come down to this.

“Rock.” I looked her in the eye.

“Paper.” She looked me in the eye.

“Scissors.” We spoke in unison. “Shoot.”

Ah?