“Uh? What are you doing over there, kids?”
“Come sit down.”
“Waaah!”
Nuri, who had just returned from the bathroom after chatting with friends to her heart’s content.
“Are we one short?”
“I’ll go get someone. Hey Yoon Si-hoo, hurry up and join us. We’re going to play Air Game Team Match, 4 against 4.”
“What? Don’t pull me, my clothes will stretch!”
Si-hoo, who was quietly reading a book, suddenly joined in.
Before long, eight of us had gathered round to play Air Game.
Just like a sparrow can’t pass by a mill without stopping, kids who witnessed this amazing game joined our group as if in a trance.
Yuna and I ended up on opposing teams for the Air Game Team Match.
The game design was such that if one person failed, the next person would take over from that same level, creating a chain.
The first round started lightly at 30 years.
I could easily last a hundred or a thousand years if I really wanted, but I wrapped it up at 5 years just to keep it reasonable. However, Yuna unexpectedly succeeded in a row for 9 years from the get-go, tipping the scales.
Ultimately, it ended with Yuna’s team winning 31 to 26.
“Waaah! We won!”
“That was too easy, Na-me!”
“Let’s change the rules.”
“Then let’s make it 50 years?”
“No, from now on, the opposing team can freely change the weight of the Ji-gi-dol!”
I didn’t just gather mana inside the Ji-gi-dol for no reason.
You could say I painted a bigger picture that foresaw this moment.
“This Ji-gi-dol’s weight changes according to the surrounding mana density. If I inject a large amount of mana here, Yuna, try picking that up.”
“What? This is super heavy!”
“The Ji-gi-dol’s weight changes in real-time.”
If we just increased the years, the game would get dull.
Also, since it’s a team match, the game drags out a bit until it’s your turn again.
“Want to try ‘breaking it’?”
Yuna threw five Ji-gi-dols into the air.
“Waaah! What’s happening?”
When thrown with the same strength, the light Ji-gi-dol soared high while the heavy one fell quickly.
“With this, the opposing team can change the weight of each Ji-gi-dol to hinder us. Should we start with 30 years again?”
This way, it would truly be an Air Game Team Match that everyone could participate in.
After all, isn’t nothing more fun than thwarting a hardworking opponent?
“Jeon Nuri, you said you’d go to the bathroom! What are you doing here?”
A clear voice rang out above me. Lee Ha-ru stood with her arms crossed looking down at us.
“This is so much fun! Come join us!”
“What is this?”
Ha-ru squatted down and pointed at some shabby plastic pieces.
“The number of people doesn’t match for 4 against 4.”
With no other choice, I stood up and decided to include Ha-ru in the game.
“Na-me, where are you going?”
“There’s an odd number of people right now. I’m going to sit this round out. Instead, Ha-ru will join my team.”
Yuna suddenly leaned in and told me to listen closely.
“Come on, I don’t like her. Ha-ru is the one who always talks behind my back.”
“What if you get to know her better?”
“I… don’t know…”
Ironically, Ha-ru seemed equally bewildered.
“I never said I’d play…”
“Come on, sit next to Yuna.”
Accidentally squeezed between Yuna and Nuri, Ha-ru joined the Air Game, looking upset and asking for at least a rule explanation.
“I don’t know how to play at all.”
“Learn while you drink~ it’s a fun~ game.”
“Huh?”
“Oh right, we don’t have any alcohol. Just watch the kids and follow along. It’s not that hard.”
Trying to lighten the mood, I ended up embarrassed when everyone looked confused, so I turned serious and said to Ha-ru.
Taking care of kids like this is such hard work.
Today seemed to be an unusually thirsty day.
I should probably go to the bathroom.
*
A rival can be seen as an evenly matched competitor, but that assumes both parties think of each other that way.
Si-hoo merely thought of Yuna as a rival, while it would be more accurate to say that Yuna’s true rival was Ha-ru.
The eyes of the two girls, gazing at their sworn enemies, burned with intensity.
The thought of never losing to this person dominated their minds.
However, the one who held the advantage in this game was none other than Yuna, who was the first to learn the Air Game from Na-me.
“Yay! 3 years! Only 2 years left?”
Cheers erupted from one side as gasps escaped from the other.
“Hey, what if you just make everything super heavy! Seo Yu-na’s got it too easy!”
“I didn’t even use mana this time. Ha-ru, you must be messing up the weight control.”
“Hehe, I’m starting to get the hang of this! At this rate, we might finish first!”
Yuna was proudly puffing herself up, but ironically, right after that, she dropped a suddenly light Ji-gi-dol on the next level, losing her turn.
“Ha-ru, you can do it!”
“Watch closely, Seo Yu-na, your turn won’t come!”
Ha-ru was able to say that precisely because she grasped the principle of how Ji-gi-dol would become heavier.
The idea that the weight changes according to the surrounding mana density means it could be manipulated and reversed as well.
Throwing the stones and catching them was hard enough, but managing mana at the same time was really difficult.
However, for the sake of beating Seo Yu-na, she would have to endure. Ha-ru gritted her teeth, focusing all her spirit on the Ji-gi-dol.
“The yellow Ji-gi-dol is heavy, while the blue one is too light.”
Ha-ru had devised a strategy to dilute the mana to reduce the weight of the former and to condense the mana for the latter before finally throwing the stone.
At that moment, Yuna’s eyes flickered red.
She unleashed a small mana storm that instantly reversed the weights — the light became heavy, and the heavy became light.
“Ah…!”
Just as you can’t ride a bicycle when the handlebars move the other way, it was impossible for her to adapt to the flipped concept in such a short time.
One Ji-gi-dol bounced off Ha-ru’s fist and fell to the floor.
Si-hoo, who snagged the Ji-gi-dol from the dazed Ha-ru, made no mistakes and caught two Ji-gi-dols in the “breaking” round, thus wrapping up the second team match.
“Kyahhh! Yoon Si-hoo, you’re amazing! I only trusted you!”
“Ugh, get away from me, Seo Yu-na!”
“We won, we won, we did it!”
Ha-ru, irritated by the annoying scene of that despised outcast getting cheers, stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to hit the bathroom too.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I can go alone. Nuri, you just came back.”
Ha-ru touched her cheeks. Feeling her overheated face, she planned to splash some water on her face to cool off.
From Class B to Class D, the classrooms were mostly quiet since they had different subject lessons.
Ha-ru opened the door to the bathroom she found at the end of the hallway.
“I’ll never play such a childish game again.”
Her hand was red and swollen from the Ji-gi-dol’s sudden weight increase.
She thought it would help if she filled the washbasin with cold water and soaked her hand.
But the lights in the girls’ restroom had been on before she came in.
Since it’s a sensor-operated light, it meant someone was already inside.
Thump-
‘Is someone there?’
A sound echoed in the last stall of the restroom as the door closed with a clatter.
However, from what Ha-ru remembered, there was definitely no toilet in the last stall.
Considering the time of day, there wouldn’t be anyone cleaning the restroom either. Who could it be?
She washed her hands, but her curiosity made her body drift toward the innermost part of the restroom.
The door was not locked.
“Is anyone there?”
“…”
There was no answer. But she could hear a distinct presence.
Was it a squirrel that entered through the window? What if it’s a mouse?
After a brief moment of contemplation, Ha-ru resolved to carefully open the door.
Creeeak-
“Kyahhhhh! What’s going on, NoName…?”
The child who had just played Air Game had just walked into the bathroom?
She realized she hadn’t seen NoName for a while.
It seemed they took a break from the game to visit the restroom.
But that couldn’t explain why NoName was precariously perched on a small chair in a ridiculous pose.
As she opened the door wide, a sweet apple scent spread all over the restroom.
“What is that smell…?”
“Cough! Is that you, Ha-ru? You scared me.”
“What’s this? Why is there smoke coming from your mouth…?”
An odd smoke was billowing from NoName’s mouth as they coughed lightly.
The smoke spiraled up and out through the exhaust fan.
Ha-ru remembered from her older sister, who attended high school, that bad kids often sneak into the restroom vents to smoke.
The reason was to keep the smoke from landing on their clothes.
But why was this transfer student doing such a thing, even Ha-ru puzzled herself.
“Ha-ru, come here for a second.”
“Uh…? Why should I?”
“Since it’s just the two of us, I thought we could chat.”
“No, I’m going back to class.”
Startled, Ha-ru tried to step back and escape the restroom at her words.
The fleeting desire to get closer to NoName vanished in an instant.
NoName definitely seemed small and not at all scary compared to Yuna.
So why Ha-ru was feeling fear, she couldn’t understand herself.
It was simply a natural instinct to distance herself from such a child.
[Casting: Rotational Movement]
Click-
In a scene resembling a horror movie, the manual lock on the restroom door rotated 90 degrees.
A child’s hand, barely 8 years old, couldn’t possibly reach that height.
