"What are you thinking about?" Emma appeared beside him out of the blue, interrupting his thought process.
One moment, Satoshi was relishing his solitude amidst the crowd of spectators. The next moment, Emma showed up beside her, grabbing him by the hand before he could ask her what she was doing by the stalls.
Speechless, Satoshi bowed towards Emma in greeting before he asked her. "Ah, Emma, what are you doing here?" He trailed off, averting his gaze from the pair of softness that pressed against his arm.
Back there, he almost choked out his saliva after feeling something on his arm. While this was not the first time Emma grabbed her like that, this was definitely the first time she put her guard down and got closer to her. It was too close for comfort, but there was no way Satoshi would bring it up. After all, it would be a great blow to his pride if he was the only one conscious of it.
"Nothing. I went to the waiting room, and you weren't there, so I opened my portal and went here." Emma replied, heaving a sigh.
Even without her usual chatty explanation, Satoshi could tell that something was bothering Emma. She wasn't her usual self; to top it all off, it seemed like she was looking far off into the distance.
Because of that, Satoshi just let her be. And together, the two stopped by from one stall to another. If she didn't want to talk about it, then Satoshi would just let him be. They'd already spent a significant amount of time together, and the least he could do as a friend was act as a shoulder she could lean on.
"Ah, by the way, congratulations on reaching the finals," Emma turned away as soon as she mentioned the finals. At that moment, she remembered what she had done in the training room before the semifinal match, which embarrassed her a little bit. That was the first time she had acted so forwardly towards someone, and she couldn't get used to the feeling.
Her mind kept on replaying the scene as if to torture her, and she continued to grow redder and redder as time passed.
"Are you all right? You're red as a beet." Satoshi asked. He immediately assumed that Emma had a fever. That was the only likely explanation for why she turned red in an instant.
Without thinking too much about it, Satoshi pressed his forehead on Emma's (no, Satoshi didn't press his head on Emma's chest!). And just as he thought, Emma was really burning up.
"Wow, that's a pretty high fever. Are you sure you're all right?" Satoshi asked, tightening his hold on Emma's arm so she won't trip and fall if she were to get dizzy.
"Er, yes. I'm fine." Emma responded, but she clearly wasn't doing okay.
"Let's get you to the infirmary." Satoshi continued, assisting Emma with every step.
.....
A couple of minutes ago.
A white-haired girl walked along the aisle that led to the line of waiting rooms where all the participants were staying. Most of them were already empty, or rather, only four were currently filled since the semifinals had just finished.
Nevertheless, Shiroi walked forward. In hand, she clutched a bento wrapped in a pristine white scarf, hoping to give it to Satoshi after congratulating him for reaching the finals.
Since Satoshi was usually alone in the waiting room, Shiroi tried to calm herself down first before she knocked on the door. Just when she was about to do so, the door opened. And out came a girl who seemed to be the same age as her.
"And you are... ?" Shiroi had no idea who the girl was, but judging from the fact that she came out of Satoshi's room, she must be a friend or an acquaintance.
She was a petite girl, prepossessing, but her beauty couldn't match Shiroi's. For a moment, Shiroi froze in front of the girl, her mind going through the motions of assuming what had happened in the room since Satoshi was usually alone there.
"If you're looking for Satoshi, he's not here," Jana responded, answering the question that plagued Shiroi's mind instead of answering the one she blurted out. "I'm also looking for him. I need to tell him something important."
"Something... important?" Shiroi's mind clicked, and she concluded that the girl would probably confess to Satoshi. Now that she had gotten a better look at the girl, she realized that she was one of the beast tamers participating in the Official Beast Tournament. From what she could recall, the girl was defeated by Link, and Satoshi jumped in to interrupt their fight since Link had gotten out of control.
"Yes, something important. Do you happen to know where he is?" Jana asked.
Shiroi shrugged, hiding the bento behind her since that would give away her purpose for visiting. "She's probably wandering around the stalls like usual. I'm also looking for him."
With a nod, Jana left Shiroi and walked out of there. As for Shiroi, she also walked out, hoping to find Satoshi before anyone else did. Somehow, her intuition told her that a lot of girls were looking for him, which bothered him a little.
Walking towards the stalls, Shiroi started searching for Satoshi. They were childhood friends, so she was confident that she'd be able to spot him in the crowd. A minute or so later, he spotted Satoshi, and she ran toward him.
Before she could call out to him, a figure suddenly appeared beside Satoshi. It was none other than Emma, and Shiroi instantly recognized her.
For some reason, Emma was leaning too much toward Satoshi, even going as far as to grab her arm and press it against her chest. Emma felt a pang in her heart and interrupted their conversation by revealing her presence.
In her mind, she practiced multiple times how she'd approach the two of them. 'Should I act cheerful? Or casual? What am I supposed to do here?' She contemplated while stealing a glance at the bento she was holding.
There was a wall of people between Shiroi and Satoshi, and she felt like she couldn't overcome it. After all, it would be weird if she just showed up out of nowhere, just like Emma did a couple of seconds ago. She had no choice but to watch from afar, waiting for the best moment to approach the two.
And then Satoshi pressed his forehead against Emma. It was quick, but Shiroi saw otherwise. Because of the people passing by, she only noticed Satoshi leaning toward Emma before pulling away.
WHAT?!
Emma couldn't believe her eyes. She had to pinch herself to ascertain that she wasn't dreaming. Well, more like she wanted everything to be a dream... but it wasn't. While she didn't see what Satoshi did, she immediately assumed he kissed her.
After all, what else would a guy do if he were to lean his face toward a girl's face? There's only one explanation for it.
Shiroi's mouth hung open in disbelief as she turned around. She then covered her mouth and walked away. She couldn't believe that Satoshi was brazen enough to do something like that in public.
But then again, who was she to question what Satoshi did or did not do? She wasn't his girlfriend or anything, and she never confessed that she liked him.
A stray tear fell from Shiroi's eyes as she walked away, totally misunderstanding what had just transpired.
Somehow the air surrounding Shiroi started getting colder, thanks to her superpower activating due to the intense emotions she felt within. Because of that, people who were passing by started avoiding her.
Shiroi told herself that there was no way she could go back to her seat after that. Everyone would ask her why she was crying, and she didn't want to deal with any of that.
Instead, she found a nice quiet corner and tucked herself over there. It was right beside a vending machine, a pretty secluded spot. She quietly cried there, thinking Satoshi had chosen Emma over her. And she couldn't blame anyone but herself, holding off her confession in hopes that Satoshi would do it first.
.....
Meanwhile,
A man dressed in black casually strolled through the crowd, whistling an unfamiliar tune while he scanned the faces of every person that passed by. He was looking for someone.
From afar, he noticed a familiar face, no two of them, but he only aimed for one since he stood no chance against the other.
Unsuspected, Jana walked amongst the crowd, looking for Satoshi. She didn't even notice the man who was looking at her all this time. He was wearing an evil grin on his face.
Tug!
Before Jana could react, the man grabbed her by the arm. "Found you," The man gruffly muttered before opening a portal and shoving Jana inside. In an instant, the two of them disappeared from the crowd.
It would be a couple of hours later before someone realized that Jana had been killed, but not before the finals of the Official Beast Tournament was over.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m