Against ourselves

Shina, noticing the weirdly suspicious action keeps herself on guard, her eyes darting from Toki to Hiwo within a split second, her glare never leaving the two of them.

“Right, I'm coming.” Toki stands up from his log and walks towards his tent with Hiwo. Both of them enter at the same time and close the tent behind them.

It was dimly lit inside as the sun was trying to shine through the white surface with no avail. It gave a sense of mystery and comfort within the shadows.

They both take a seat on their respective sides, loosening themselves up, Toki giving a casual look. Despite his relaxed position, he was ready for pretty much any scenario.

Hiwo is already scheming. Having him on our side is actually a lucky thing; hopefully, it continues that way.

“Let's take a look inside,” Hiwo lets out a lazy chuckle as he opens the first page.

His eyes focused in and took in the information given to him. Despite the dim lighting, he managed to catch the majority of the information.

“Like expected, Toki, elimination means the death of another.” He glanced up, taking in Toki’s expression, which didn’t portray any emotion.

He spoke up, interrupting his reading further, “Cast the guidebook aside for now; I want to hear your first thought, the one that made you want a place for us to discuss.” His glance was unyielding.

“The guidebook is what I want to discuss. It will determine whether or not I offer you a deal,” he flicks to the second page.

A deal? Making a deal with me this early into a game is rather pointless, isn't it… His thoughts soon abruptly ended as Hiwo spoke again.

“Each day we can summon the goddess once for any sort of guidance that we need; however, we can’t personally intervene using help from a goddess on any opposing team.”

Toki’s eyes widened. “Having such a powerful being is rather advantageous to us, isn’t it?”

Hiwo sighs, “Everyone else has the same rules set; assuming the games are fair, they have their own deity to help them.”

He has a point; we're all here due to a deity of sorts. Will this turn into a battle of mortals or a battle of gods?

“Lastly. Special events will occur every day throughout the duration of the God Games.”

He puts down the guidebook, having read everything that was needed. He didn’t even bother looking at the illustration.

“Let’s summon the goddess,” Hiwo instantly offers; his expression is still neutral. Gauging why he wants to summon the goddess is impossible.

Toki brushes the air. “I think that’s a waste.”

Their eyes sharpened onto each other, both firm with their stance; it was like two people with separate ideals trying to mix.

“I want to ask about tomorrow's event; it will give us an edge to prepare, especially knowing that our combat skills are vastly limited.”

His decision isn't wrong. Every other team will get the same information unless they ask their deity, which also means that it's logical to wait and use that question on learning about our surroundings more clearly. But at the same time I should use this disagreement to my advantage

“Hiwo, I will support your decision on the condition you tell me something.”

Hiwo’s face falters a bit, surprise etched across it. “Go ahead.”

"How come it is that a person who wanted efficiency all his life. Only now decides to take so much action within a time span? It just seems rather unnatural that you changed so suddenly, trying to push us forward.”

His neutral expression returns, his face turning monotone as he revels in the question, “It’s a situation of life and death; wouldn't it be natural for me not to let others drive me to the ending I don't desire?”

“You don't trust us at all, do you?” Toki wasn’t a bit affected by this; the only people without any relation to one another were Hiwo and him, making him susceptible to the group.

His eyes close in, a slight smirk appearing. “You don’t trust anyone either, which is why I wanted to discuss things with you.”

“You're wrong.”

Silence filled the tent, dread and stiffness filled the air from within, and a heat emerged from their sweat, filling the tent with an odour. The sun, still being relentless, poured in from the outside, making them ache for fresh air.

“Explain how you, without any power and also not part of our goddess’s guidance, can trust us.”

Toki hardens within “I trust only Ayuri; she’s my childhood friend and someone I know won’t betray me, unlike Shina or even you.”

“That’s good, Toki; let me offer you the deal I called you for. I want us to team up against Shina, not eliminate her from the games, but limit her chances of eliminating us.”

Toki listens in, and curiosity fills his insides.

“We will let her absorb powers to make her grow, obviously; however, we must eliminate any power that can pose a threat to us.”

Making sure we can always prevent backstabbing but also trying to make her grow stronger is a hard task. I have no reason to object. If the goddess ordered her to kill us all, even Ayuri, she wouldn't have an issue with us dying for her.

His body turns, his eyes are dazed, and his mouth is closed. Lost in thought, he answers, “That’s fine. But if we get caught, then I want you to take full blame and also explain that you forced me into this with a threat.”

This way, I can protect myself in case we mess up or just get found out; keeping myself safe is the biggest priority. This will also protect us towards the end when I have to reveal the hidden rule

“Sure,” his nonchalant tone pierced the short silence. Getting up from the tent, he unzips the entrance, letting the sunlight in, and a wave of fresh air enters.

Toki darts his eyes before he can leave. “What about the summoning?”

“Let’s do that with the others; we wouldn't want to start any mistrust before we even begin, would we now?” His silhouette disappears into the outside, leaving Toki by himself for a minute. His eyes take in the guidebook still left inside their tent.

He props himself up onto his feet, also leaving the tent, and he meets with the three of them standing in silence, inherently listening to the sky.

“What's goin—” Before he could finish his sentence, he could see Ayuri letting out a shush signal.

Shina looks around, seeing a shadow appear just as fast as it would disappear. It produced afterimages from the movement speed, with the silhouette being able to be spotted.

Their movements are too fast for us to even see; only Shina seems to catch glimpses of this figure. There is most likely also the threat of their teammates watching us from afar. Our first fight