Vermin
Once again, the day of the tournament dawned. This meant that Lia, who had been avoiding me ever since last night, was forced to share the same space with me. Consequently, an awkward silence hung between us as we sat far apart inside the large waiting tent for the participants. The only thing filling the gap was the noisy chatter of the other competitors and the crowd outside.
Jing, who had managed to soften the awkward atmosphere over the past few days, had stepped out to check the tournament bracket. As for Ratel, he was a man who utterly lacked the concept of needing to clear the air, so he might as well not have been there at all.
Well, we couldn't keep going on like this forever. My eyes drifted to the gloves Lia was fidgeting with, her gaze fixed unnaturally straight ahead.
"Those are new," I said. Startled by my sudden voice, Lia finally turned her head and met my eyes.
"...Yes. Ethan gave them to me. He said my old ones were torn."
She must have received them on the day she went to speak with him. Watching her hold them so preciously, I was reminded once again of how much she had cherished Ethan in the original novel. The discrepancy between the Lia of the original work and the Lia of the present was likely proportional to her desperation to meet Ethan. Swallowing a sigh, I spoke.
"I'm sorry about the other day."
At my abrupt apology, Lia hurriedly shook her head.
"...No, I'm the one who should be sorry. You only said those things out of worry."
Fidgeting with the gloves on her hands, she continued, "But Ethan is a really good brother. So you don't have to worry, Ran. Once the tournament is over and you talk to him, you'll understand too."
I would probably never like Ethan as long as I lived, but I didn't say that out loud. In the original story, Lia was someone who gathered the courage to embark on an adventure solely because of Ethan. There was no need to stir up trouble right now. Besides, I was well aware that I had meddled in a way that was unlike me.
Pwooooo—
Fortunately, before the awkward silence could settle between Lia and me again, a horn blew, signaling thirty minutes until the start of the match.
Time to get ready. I reached into my pocket to pull out my gloves. But my fingers met empty air where they should have been.
"What the...?" I muttered under my breath. Lia approached me with a worried expression.
"What's wrong?"
"My gloves are gone. I had them this morning."
"What?!" Lia, looking far more shocked than I was, frantically scanned our surroundings.
"There must be someone selling gloves nearby. The Temple also rents them out. We still have some time before the match, so go quickly, Ran."
Urged on by Lia, I pushed myself up and walked out of the tent. Even without checking the bracket, I knew my opponent today would undoubtedly be Ethan. I had no desire to face him bare-handed either. Yet, as I walked, a strange sense of déjà vu lingered. It felt too suspicious to be a simple case of my gloves slipping out of my pocket.
As the match drew near, I pushed through the crowd gathering around the spectator stands and waiting rooms. Finally, a small, makeshift tent set up in a corner came into view. Located slightly away from the stands, it was the space Lia had mentioned before, used for handling miscellaneous chores. With time running short, I quickened my pace. But the moment I reached for the entrance—
"Mmph!" A rough hand clamped over my mouth and throat, dragging me backward. I twisted my body instinctively, but there was more than one assailant. As I was dragged away helplessly, a realization flashed through my mind: Ethan had never intended to grant Lia's request.
Left alone with Ratel after Ran disappeared, Lia kept her worried eyes glued to the entrance of the tent.
"Are you that worried?" Ratel, who had been quietly observing her, tossed out the question.
Though briefly surprised that Ratel had spoken first, Lia nodded calmly. "Of course. If he doesn't make it back in time, he'll be disqualified. He's worked so hard to get this far."
Ratel briefly wondered if that man had ever put in enough effort to warrant the word 'hard,' but deciding it was pointless to dwell on, he let it go. Perhaps being disqualified like this would actually be better for him. Lia, however, seemed to think differently as she stood up.
"I can't just sit here. I'll go make sure Ran didn't get lost."
"It would be better for him to just get disqualified."
Lia, who had been about to rush out of the tent, froze. "What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. It's better for him to be disqualified than to face Ethan today."
At Ratel's explanation, Lia's expression softened slightly. "So you were worried about Ran too, Ratel."
"Don't jump to conclusions. If I actually cared about him, I would have stopped him from entering this tournament in the first place."
Despite his sharp retort, Lia still believed Ratel was worrying in his own way. "Don't worry too much. I already spoke to Ethan. I asked him not to be too hard on Ran. My brother doesn't like picking on the weak."
"It's useless. Your brother has no intention of letting that man off easy anyway," Ratel declared flatly, listening to Lia's assessment of Ethan.
"Ethan isn't that cruel. He doesn't even like hurting people." Lia emphasized her words to clear up the misunderstanding, but she was met only with a sneer.
"You really don't know your own family, do you?"
Lia flared up at Ratel's mockery. "Ethan is my family. I know him far better than you do."
Ratel's golden eyes pierced through Lia. "Do you really think Ethan said those things because he's angry at that man?"
Lia frowned, unable to comprehend his point. "What on earth are you talking about? If not that, then why...?"
"To shock you," Ratel's firm voice cut her off.
"What does that..."
"To show you the person you chose being brutally mangled right before your eyes." Ratel delivered the answer casually, as if commenting on a mediocre breakfast.
"Stop talking nonsense. What could Ethan possibly gain from doing something like that?" Unlike Lia, whose voice trembled with agitation, Ratel merely stared at her with calm, unreadable eyes.
"Who knows? Maybe he just wants to show off his strength..." Trailing off, Ratel shifted his gaze from Lia to the entrance of the tent. Following his eyes, Lia locked gazes with Ethan, who was just returning from checking the bracket.
"Or perhaps to make sure you never dare to enter a match again." Ratel's low voice vibrated in her ears.
Though she wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, she couldn't bring herself to deny it immediately. The eyes of the Ethan standing before her felt strangely unfamiliar today. His dark brown eyes, filled with a trace of anxiety, refused to look away from her. No, to be precise, he wasn't looking at Lia. He was looking at her hands. At the hands wearing the gloves he had given her.
As if possessed, Lia pulled off her gloves and stared down at them. The padded fabric meant to protect the knuckles caught her eye. It was standard for participants to add knuckle guards to their gloves, so there was nothing unusual about it. It should have been perfectly normal, yet Lia found herself applying pressure to the padded area.
Rip. Even though she hadn't squeezed hard, the guard tore away effortlessly. And from the space between the guard and the glove, something fell to the floor, dragging Lia's heart down with it.
Clang. The object that dropped with a heavy metallic sound was a piece of iron. Though its tip was blunt, it was undeniably a blade. A strictly prohibited item, without a doubt. Lia's face turned deathly pale. Her body began to tremble violently as the nightmare of three years ago rushed back to her. Snapping out of her daze, she looked at us.
"I-I really didn't do this! Just in case, I didn't even bring anything sharp this time. I checked everything... but..." Mumbling blankly, she slowly turned her head. Her stiffly turning gaze landed on the crowd from Group 12, where Ethan stood. A brown-haired figure towered a head above the other participants. Sensing Lia's gaze, Ethan slowly turned his head toward her.
For a moment, time seemed to stretch into eternity. Lia watched blankly as Ethan's mouth opened.
"Lia!"
Until his panicked voice called out to her.
There was no one in the tent who didn't know Lia's name. The attention that had briefly gathered on Ethan instantly shifted to Lia. Though this sequence of events felt like an eternity to Lia, in reality, it had barely taken any time at all. A few seconds at most.
The one who prevented history from repeating itself was someone entirely unbothered by the commotion. Faster than Ethan, faster than the crowd's eyes, Ratel's hand moved. His palm slammed down onto the floor, concealing the blade. For a split second, Lia thought she saw a flash of light. The light vanished so quickly that not even an afterimage remained, but it was enough to snap her out of her daze.
"What is it? What's going on?" Sensing something amiss, the other participants crowded around Lia and Ratel.
"Hey, what are you hiding?"
"Make him move his hand! He's hiding something!"
"Did she smuggle in a weapon again?"
Lia fought to keep her wits about her, desperate not to fall back into the illusion of three years ago. She couldn't let Ratel take the blame because of her. "N-No, this is..."
"There was a bug." The one who cut off her frantic excuse was none other than Ratel.
"A bug? Then why did Ethan call out to Lia?"
"Who knows? Maybe he had some final words for his sister." Replying nonchalantly, Ratel pushed himself up and lifted his palm from the floor. Contrary to Lia's fear that she might scream in shock, there was nothing beneath his hand. Well, not quite nothing. To be precise, a pile of black powder remained. But no one had the chance to examine it closely. A sudden gust of wind blew in from somewhere and swept it away. The unnatural flow of air dispersed rapidly, unnoticed by anyone. Lia blankly watched the dust drift through the air before vanishing.
"What is going on here?" Lia turned her gaze toward the owner of the stiff voice. It was Jing, his face tight with anger.
"Must have been some kind of bug," replied Ran, who had walked in right behind him. His eyes slowly drifted toward Ethan. "It seems Ratel let a rather large vermin slip away." A slow, mocking sneer spread across Ran's face.
Pwooooo—
At the signal marking the start of the match, the participants, unable to find any immediate evidence to press the matter, began to disperse. Amidst the crowd, I didn't miss Ethan anxiously checking on Lia. It was the moment suspicion solidified into certainty. The moment the true culprit of the incident from three years ago was finally unmasked. But there was nothing I could do right now. I couldn't accuse Ethan without proof. Tearing my eyes away from Ethan, I looked at Lia. She still hadn't fully recovered from the shock.
"Lia, nothing changes. There's only one thing we have to do."
"...Yes, I know," Lia replied. Good, at least she hadn't lost her mind. But I soon realized I had spoken too soon.
"There is only one thing left to do. Win." Her voice was boiling with rage. She hadn't snapped out of it; she had just snapped.