Upon hearing this, the man could confirm that the girl's repetitive dives were indeed an attempt to return to her original world, but what astonished him was "this return through the dives". He thought hard about it, but he could not conclude anything in the end. Even his wildest assumptions, assuming that the girl was perhaps a mermaid, could not convince him since not only were they at a river too far from the ocean, but the girl had no sign that could make one believe she was a mermaid. No scales nor fins, much less a face that reminds of a fish. He thought then that the girl may have had a shock that made her delirious.
The girl's attempts to free herself brought him out of his thought. They were standing side by side, the girl facing in the river direction while the guy in the opposite direction. He looked at the girl out of the corner of his eye and asked, "What are you going to do exactly?"
She replied word for word: "I must go back from where I came, through where I came", shaking off his grip with all her strength. Hence, her hand was released for a brief moment but the man grabbed it again. This latter rebuked in an authoritarian tone: "It is out of the question! "
Aggravated, the girl retorted while sending him waltzing in a self-defense movement: "Dare to put yourself on my path, and you will reap the consequences! And do not complain later that I did not warn you."
Although sending him waltzing, the girl realized the difference in height between herself and her opponent. So she said with astonishment, "You are longer than me? I must surely hallucinate or did I reduce in size since this weird trip?" She assessed herself again and found out that she still has the same waterproof watch to her wrist and her necklace hanging to her neck with the same length. She continued reflecting out loud: "no, no, no... I'm not hallucinating. If I had no change in height then this guy is just longer than me ... it is quite possible for I am not at home"
Seeing this funny spectacle, the man did not know whether to laugh or cry. The girl appeared so serious while what she was saying had no sense. But he remained collected and approached the girl again, trying to reason with her and saying to her, "Damsel, you must have faced a huge shock. So I will ask you not to act carelessly ... "
The girl interjected stubbornly, "As if I were going to listen to you! Save your saliva for another debate, I said I was going, so I will go!"
At this answer, the man bit his lower lip, suppressing his annoyance and gritted his teeth: "I have never met a girl so stubborn and unreasonable in my whole life"
With a satisfied smile, the girl replied "thank you for the compliment! "
- "It was not a compliment! And since the peaceful method does not work, I will have to use force and you will excuse me for it."
He then grabbed both of her wrists, gathering them behind the back of the girl, thus positioning himself behind the girl. "Now you will kindly follow me to the village to find your relatives"
"Relatives!? She said, remembering that she was an orphan.
She then gave him a heel strike on his right foot, bumped her head against his and hit his chin. The man did not expect this movement from the girl. Blood trickled from the corner of the lips but he did not grunt in pain. The girl completely freed herself from the grip of the man and faced him. The man wiped the blood trickling from his mouth while the girl, a little sorry for the blows she had inflicted on her savior, said again: "I warned you to not hold me back"
The man smiled and came closer to her: "not bad for a girl, but the fact is that you're still a girl! And no one defies my commandments ... "
Annoyed, the girl replied: "Since you look down on me on the pretext that I am a girl, I will not hold back my blows. I am neither your sister nor your aunt, let alone your daughter or your cousin! I have no orders to receive from you! "
She has yet to finish her sentence, the man tried to immobilize her once again. She dodged him and kicked him, right in his face. Little did her blow hit him. For once, the man took seriously his blows exchange with a girl. Her moves were not really familiar to him, but they were just as effective and fluids, without superfluous actions. Each attack was well calculated. But the only weak point was that the girl did not have much stamina in battle. The girl seemed to be panting more and more over time and the man remained in defensive mode throughout the fight.
The girl then took a step back and began to think. Although at first, the man was struggling to hold back her blows, he seemed to be adjusting to it now. "This style of combat is not going to do since I am exhausted", she said to herself. But as she thought through their exchange and analyzed them, she realized that the man was showing an embarrassed look every time she kicked him.
"Bingo! I found his weak point", she told herself. With a narcissistic smile, she told him "since a normal fight will not do, I will opt for close combat".
Without waiting for another second, she jumped on the man and encircled her legs around his waist. And as she expected, the man caught off guard, began to blush in the tip of his ears. His eyes were wide open with dilated pupils. Narcissistic as she was, the girl grinned even more, wrapping her arms around him and getting closer to his ear, whispering "so handsome, still playing to the clever guy now?... It is true that men nowadays are more prudish than women."