16: The Game QUALIFIERS

Emma walked out of the room, head high while looking at her partner, Everett, with much confidence.

"I see," Everett thought to himself, then went after her.

"So you beat June Smith, huh?" He asked Emma while waiting for the elevator to turn up.

Emma was unfazed, still looking at her fingernails and blowing at them. It's as if winning is the most obvious thing for her.

"What a coincidence," Everett thought to himself as he waited for Emma's response.

On the other hand, the next game was for Phill, which has now finished. He was expecting it, though. He can't ask for help from his partner since both of them are not good at mathematical equations. Their defeat was totally obvious even before the game started. Rio wins five cookies against Phill with no cookies at all.

Meanwhile, Dae, who forfeits his chance to win, lets Chan, his brother, continue the game. He knew how good his brother was at this kind of thing, so he didn't hesitate to ask for help.

Ryota suddenly felt nervous when he learned that Dae would forfeit and bet on his sacrificial friend. He regretted not finishing the game as early as possible.

He already got the hang of how Dae answered the quiz. He knew that Dae sucks, but Chan is another thing. He didn't know what Chan was capable of. He looks like a nerd with friendly vibes, so he's not sure if Chan is a threat.

He looked at Chan while he was walking towards the door. He's watching everything he does until the door closes, leaving Chan alone in the room across from his.

He looked at the scoreboard and saw that he had three cookies more than them. Dae had one cookie the last time before he left, while he has four on his own.

"Is he good at this thing?" Ryota asked himself. He is not that good at equations. It just so happens that he's far superior to Dae.

Then the game resumed. On the first question between Ryota and Chan, the intensity became insane. Ryota could sense Chan's pressure because he was so focused on what he was doing.

And because his mind was wandering, he forgot to think about the problems that needed to be solved in front of him, not until he heard a buzz light meant for Chan's score.

He clicked his tongue with so much disappointment. It's bad luck for him if he lets him score like this. He then calmed himself down. He only needs one more cookie, while Chan needs to make up for a point Dae lost earlier.

"I can do it. All I need to do is answer the next question first."

After realising this, the aura surrounding Ryota suddenly changed, and even his opponent noticed it. It was very different when he first entered the room. He thought he could overwhelm Ryota after that last point, but he immediately calmed himself.

Chan looked at the score above and saw that he still needs two more cookies to catch up, while his opponent only needs one to win the game. He clenched his fist because of this and looked at Ryota intently.

Both of them felt the same pressure from one another. Ryota, on the other hand, felt competitive while looking at his opponent. He's not that good at this stuff, unlike Raia and the others, who are intelligent.

He excels more in guessing games than mathematical ones, so it's just a good thing that he has the advantage right now, or else it would be tragic for him to fight Chan.

After a second, the light turns on again, and the question flashes on the screen. Both of them looked at it and analyzed it more critically and quickly. Chan even looked at the patterns in solving the said formula, but in just a second, he clearly saw his defeat when Ryota pushed the submit button and the light turned green.

Both of them looked at the scoreboard.

Ryota- 5

Chan Ming-2

Chan couldn't even look up when he walked out of the door. Dae looked at his brother, but when he saw him looking at the ground, he could already tell what happened inside the room.

Chan suddenly stopped walking when he saw Dae making a sad face. With his lowered head, he said those words.

"Let's go back, Dae." This made Dae feel guilty. If only he hadn't let that large gap form between them, maybe... maybe his brother would have caught up to the opponent.

Just like that, the third play has already ended. Everyone who's looking at the scoreboard from their classroom can't stop themselves from wondering who will win on the last team. The last team is Raia's group versus Wrenn's group.

All of the winners and losers from the average round have already returned to their classrooms. Emma, who is obviously proud of what she's 

hearing—defeating a guy with a 1–5 score in favour of her. While the others felt depressed. And then there's this one, trying to avoid everyone and completely isolating himself from others.

"Tsk! I need to avoid Kanaye for now, or else he'll laugh at me like I'm some clown. Damn! It's so embarrassing!" June said to himself. His face is blushing as he just heard some girls laughing at him when they saw him.

"Shit"

****

After a minute, everyone was surprised when they saw Raia walk out of the room. It's a closed game!

4-5 in favor of Raia. It seems that the game was so tight that Raia was unable to speak when he went out of the room. Osamu understood him, so he didn't bother to ask his partner what happened.

Four groups successfully passed the average round. As a bonus, the moderator, Mr. Gojo, allowed the qualifiers to take a breath from the outside and take some rest. The difficult round will start again after 2 hours. This will let the players rest their minds after the long battle during an easy and average round.

Raia and Osamu went to the cafeteria, and as usual, no words could be heard between them. There are some guys who keep looking at them, probably gossiping about them since both of them qualify for the third round. But they ignored it all. They are silently preparing themselves for the next round.

The other qualifiers, Rio and Tobi, went to the dormitory and spent some time with their friends, especially Wrenn, who was a bit disappointed in himself.

"What? So you mean both of you answered at the same time?" Rio cannot believe what he just heard.

"Yes, and it only took one point for me to lose," Wrenn added. Apparently, the game between Raia and Wrenn is very close, and when they reached the same amount of cookies, which is 4, both of them became more competitive and under pressure. Both of them answered the last question at the same time and got the right answer.

But then, Mr. Gojo suddenly noticed a point that Wrenn had made at the end of his answer, which was not intentional. It seems like because he tried to raise his answer much faster, he wrote his answer in a messy way and didn't notice the point in the end.

Everett patted his back to comfort it.

"It's okay; at least you tried your best," he said.

"Oh well, good for you two. You both passed the average round," Dae suddenly butted in, referring to Everett and Rio. Well, it's true that both of them passed, though they're not on the same team.

Dae and his brother Chan have become part of the same circle of friends, so they are trying to catch up with the others.

"Well, all thanks to Emma," Everett said as if he were a complete moron.

"Oh right! But I didn't expect Emma to be so smart. I thought she was just an ordinary girl who was only interested in making love and flirting with guys," Rio said abruptly.

"Really? I already know that she's hiding her abilities, but not to the point that she'll defeat June either," Everett said.

A suspicious look could be seen in his friend's eyes.

"Ohhh... but you expect her to win at some point?" His friends teased him.

"Stop it. Of course, she's my partner. It's only natural to trust her even if she's a bitch," he said while looking at the ground. His friends looked at each other and grinned. Hearing him say "she's my partner" suddenly took on another meaning for them.

"Yeah, she's your bitch," Chan teased him. The whole gang laughed when Everett blushed.

The game resumed after an hour. The active players went back to the hallway where they had been earlier and started walking into a room.

Raia looked around as he saw the qualifiers who would play with them. There stand Rio and Tobi from Team C, Ryota and Eva from Team D, and Everett and Emma from Team F. And lastly, their team, Team H—Raia and Osamu.

He stands tall in front of them while waiting for further instructions. After a second, he notices the deadly gaze from Rio, but he decides to ignore it.

It doesn't take long before Mr. Gojo appears on the screen.

"Good day! Qualifiers!" he said with full energy. He had a genuine smile on his face, but it creeped Raia out. He suddenly felt uneasy, as if he'd seen that kind of smile before, though he was not entirely sure.

"I see... hmm, so only four teams qualified for this stage. Oh well, as for the last stage, let me introduce to you our new play," he said, then suddenly the screen blocked out and another thing appeared on the screen. 

CHARADES

"In playing charades, you need to have one who will guess and one who will act. In this activity, you will need to choose who will guess and who will act.There is no time limit. But in this case, the moderator—or simply your instructor—will grade your performance and act as the third-party grader. For you to win the game, you need to be the first one to answer all of the charade questions correctly."

Raia furrowed his eyebrows as he heard the instructor. He was well aware that he was not good at acting or guessing. He looked at Osamu, but it seems like he was thinking about the right strategy as well. 

"But! But wait, there's more! Here's the twist..." Mr. Gojo added.

"You can challenge anyone inside that room, and once you bet your win against them... they will automatically fail the test and will not be able to pass the test," he added.

As Mr. Gojo finished his last words, the screen went blank again. The other teams seem to be thinking about their strategy. Unlike the first two games, this is not against the other team but against your teammate. If your teammate is slow in picking up what you mean, then you both will lose.

That's why the right strategy should be considered to make their win much more possible. Raia was about to tell Osamu his ideas, but he was stopped when Rio suddenly approached him.

"Raia...is it?" Rio asked him. Both Osamu and he looked at the guy, confused.

"Yes?" Raia answered and faced him.

"I heard you defeated Wrenn…

"Wrenn?" Raia suddenly remembered his last game with Wrenn, and he felt something when he looked at Rio.

"Oh, I forgot, Wrenn is his best friend, right? Is he here to take revenge?" Raia asked himself.

Without any words, Rio turned his back.

"Let me tell you something. Not because you defeat him, that means you're better than him, so don't start getting cocky just after your one victory," Rio said before he continued walking away. The guys who saw that scene also turned their gaze away from him and tried to deal with their own business. 

"What the hell is his problem?" Raia asked himself. 

After a minute, the final decision has already been made.

Rio decided to be the guesser, just like Raia, Emma, and Ryota, while the actors are Tobi, Osamu, Everett, and Eva.