Social Proof

***

Fantasia feels restless, eager to know what happened to the other teams after ten long minutes of silence. Determined to find out, she grabs her gear and prepares to venture into the forest.

"No, don't go! The Castle Phantom targets females. You'll be putting yourself in danger. I'll go and investigate," Ravel insists, taking a few steps forward.

BANG! BANG!

“What…?” He’s shot twice in his chest, dying in the game.

“Ravel!! No!!”

Fantasia watches him fall on the ground as a mysterious figure clad in camouflage clothing and a mask, reminiscent of a seasoned soldier, reveals themselves approximately 100 meters in front of her.

“Are you the Castle Phantom? I thought you target only women, why did you kill Ravel?!” Fantasia confronts him, raising her gun in defense.

The Castle Phantom aims their own weapon at Fantasia, without uttering a single sound. She fires twice but they evade effortlessly, retaliating with precision. She’s hit on her hands and gun, rendering her unable to continue in the game anymore, although she’s still alive. The Phantom proved to have extraordinary paintball skills even from such a distance. They aim once again and close in on her, ready to finish the job.

“I’m sorry, Ravel, we’re not winning this game…” Fantasia, unsure of what to do, closes her eyes and resigns herself to her fate.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

As she jerks back a little after hearing the gunshots, she reluctantly opens her eyes, only to find out she’s been spared because a familiar muscular figure has shielded her from harm.

Ares stands tall, his back turned to Fantasia, having taken the shots meant for her, evoking the image from many years ago, when a certain student has taken a hit from a bully for her.

“Ares!! Why??”

Fantasia’s eyes get filled with small tears, he looks back at her and smirks, then falls to the ground according to the rules of the game.

“Good job, Ares!!”

“We’re taking over from now!”

Yutaka and Zhang have come to Fantasia’s aid, aiming their guns at the Castle Phantom, covering Fantasia with their bodies.

“I’m not gonna let you hurt Fantasia!” Yutaka exclaims confidently.

“She’s our precious friend’s girlfriend! No… she is our precious friend!” Zhang shouts fiercely.

“You guys…!”

A wave of relief washes over Fantasia.

‘Dead’ Ravel is smiling under his nose as he observes the situation unfold before his eyes. Ares, Yutaka, Zhang… you bastards are gonna make me emotional.

BANG! BANG!

The Castle Phantom shoots both Yutaka and Zhang down with a single hit to their necks.

Oh my god, they’re useless… if this was real, I’d rather run away than rely on these clumsy idiots.

Then again, if this was real, they’d fled the battlefield before the fighting even started.

Having no more obstacles in their way, the Castle Phantom closes menacingly the distance between them and Fantasia.

BANG!

A green paint is splattered across the Phantom’s back.

As they turn around to face the enemy, Seko shoots two more times from his gun, ultimately defeating the Castle Phantom.

“Die, you motherfucker! That’ll teach you to mess with my friends!” His injured ankle causes him to limp. “Fantasia, are you alright?” He shoots the White Phantom two more times even though he’s considered dead already.

“Yes, thanks to you!” Fantasia smiles gratefully.

“Hey guys, you can stand up now, the game’s over, right?” Seko says but they all remain motionless.

“Ooh, that’s right, only one team can win. And me and you are from different teams. Come on, shoot me, you deserve to win this game. My hands are useless anyway,” she shows him her hands covered in white paint.

“No. I’d never kill my savior. This may be just a game, but the time you helped me when I was injured was reality. You deserve to win.” Seko dramatically shoots himself in his chest and collapses to the ground.

I always knew you were a good person under that façade of a stingy jerk.

“Nooo, Sekoooo!!” Fantasia's scream of anguish is abruptly cut short, replaced by laughter. "Hahah, that was fun, guys!"

Everybody ‘comes alive’ and stands up, including the Castle Phantom.

The once dead girls painted in white ‘injuries’ regroup with the other players at the red base as well.

“Okay, so who’s this phantom?” Silveria inquires.

“I hope you enjoyed this version of my Paintball Survival game, darlings!” The Castle Phantom speaks to the group in a male voice.

“He’s my friend from the store,” Ravel introduces him as the Phantom takes off his face mask and military helmet. “Carlos.”

“Lady C?!” Zhang, Yutaka and Seko recognize that friendly face of darker skin color, short blonde hair brown eyes and the shining earring in his left ear.

“’Lady’?” Eleona is puzzled, with the other girls visibly sharing the confusion.

“Yeaaah, we dated for like two weeks, ahahah,” Carlos scratches the back of his head while embarrassingly smiling.

“Neither of us, free spirit teenagers, had a girl at the time so we thought, why not take ourselves for fun dates and eat out some yummy food?” Ravel explains. “We’ve always been close friends.”

“Yeah, but then you dumped me the second your Lady D appeared! I’ll never fogive you!!” Carlos playfully teases Ravel, while the group bursts laughing.

***

Back in the Paintball store that Carlos’ family owns, Ravel and Fantasia return all the gear.

“So how much for the game?” Ravel prepares his wallet.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. The game was a little short and different, so this one’s on me!”

“You’re so skillful! And handsome! And I like that diamond earring of yours~,” Fantasia compliments Carlos.

“Wow, your girlfriend is such a sweetheart! So this is your Lady F, huh?”

“No, I gave up on that when I met her. If she’s gonna be Lady F, then it’ll mean she’s gonna be Lady Final. I wanna spend the rest of my life with her…” Ravel stares into Fantasia’s blue eyes.

“I have no say in this?” Fantasia chuckles.

“Awww, what an adorable couple you are! How did you meet?”

“I took care of his pipe and then he took me out for dinner!”

“Whaaat?” Carlos is shocked by the sudden revelation.

“No!” Ravel tries to defend his image. “I mean, yes, it was like that but no! She really means a pipe! Like, she was on her knees in my kitchen and I noticed her left hand was hurting so I bought her a dinner because I didn’t have cash!”

“Dude.” Carlos’s shock subsides as he responds with indifference.

“Nooo, oh my god!”

Fantasia giggles at the way Ravel attempts to find a way out of the situation she unintentionally created.

“It’s okay, I don’t judge you,” Carlos maintains his stare.

“You’re totally judging me! Damn… let’s forget about it.”

After the playful banter, Fantasia steps outside of the store.

“You both seem so happy. It’s the aura you exert, I can’t put in the words… And she’s very cute, if you weren’t my friend, I’d probably go for her, hehe.”

Carlos is undeniably a handsome guy. Having moved to Slovakia from overseas, he always attracted a bunch of girls.

“You see, you're one of the few people who have said such kind things about her right off the bat. People at school used to bully Fantasia because of her appearance. Strangers on the street would give her disapproving glares. Even my friends have been giving her a hard time.”

Ravel’s memories tinge his expression with sadness.

“But then at this Beauty Contest we had at our school, a few people stood up for her and now she’s almost like a celebrity. I wasn’t able to do much for her, maybe aside from giving her a little push, but I’m glad things turned out this way…”

“You did a lot more than you think. In psychology, there’s this concept called ‘social proof’. It explains how people are influenced in their decision-making by others, compelling them to act within societal norms or expectations. So when some people were bullying her, the others naturally joined, thinking it was the norm.”

“Are you saying they might not have harbored any ill will towards her?”

“Exactly. They just went with the flow. So when you or others stood up for her during the contest, you legitimized Fantasia in the eyes of the others. ‘Hey, if it’s okay for them, maybe I could be nice to Fantasia, too!’, they probably thought. It’s especially effective when a person with authority or high social status does this.”

Silveria… Zinia… Eleona… they all hold the titles. Wait, even me! Was my declaration of love much more powerful because I won the Judge Prize? But still, it had to be also because of her showing her real self.

“Carlos… you really are amazing.”

“Heh, I’ve still much to learn as a psychologist to be! But thank you for letting me try out the new ‘Castle Phantom’ challenge mode.”

“No, no, the pleasure’s mine! Thanks to that, I got to witness my friends’ level of acceptance of Fantasia. And the others loved the challenge!”

Thus, our two-day hiking trip came to an end.

My friends finally acknowledged Fantasia for who she was, making us a big happy family.

Armed with a newfound understanding of society, I was more determined than ever to face the whole world for Fantasia’s sake.

Little did I know, the battle was going to be much easier than I had anticipated.

CHAPTER 41: END