Flashback to the event that happened the day before the Battle Royale.
"I have a way to increase the number of shots you can take."
"..."
"Interested now, huh?" Argo chuckled on seeing her interest in his words.
"This better not be a joke, Argo Talean."
"Hey chill out, I'm trying to help you here." Argo said, though he inwardly couldn't help but notice that this was the first time Adah directly said his name.
"It's impossible to increase the number of times I can shoot in such a short period of time, unless you have a way to directly increase my level. And even if there was a way, why would you help me?"
"Hmm... Good question. Why would I help you? Maybe because there are four guys in the team already, and I was hoping a girl would be our fifth teammate. I wouldn't want to see nothing but their ugly faces all the time. Plus you're damn hot." He said.
"...That's a stupid reason."
"Look, here." Argo threw an object to her. It was a Colt revolver. "This will help you."
Adah looked at the strange object in her hand and asked, "Why does it look like a gun?"
"That's because it is a gun." Argo rolled his eyes.
Seeing her doubtful and questioning gaze, Argo explained further. "This is a gift from my father, it has the power of a Master Level 1 weapon and does not drain any stamina when used..."
Argo was just saying a load of crap, of course. The gun was an (Uncommon) grade item from the system. He exchanged it for 15,000 SP.
"I've not heard at this type of gun before, and I've trained with guns all my life." Adah said suspiciously.
"Uh... It's a one of a kind weapon. It was a prototype made by a weapon specialist working for my father then, but the power of the weapon was too low to be useful. My father thus gave it to me as a gift." Argo bullshitted.
Seeing that Adah was still a bit suspicious, he decided to distract her. "Just take it home and practice. I wouldn't want to you to miss a shot tomorrow."
"I never miss."
"You did against me."
"You dodged."
"You missed."
"You...you...hmph" Adah Sun snorted, exasperated. She turned around and hurried home.
Argo didn't try to stop her this time, he gave a slight smile. The distraction worked perfectly and as it turned out, teasing Adah was fun. He turned around to walk home.
Poor Jared was totally forgotten.
*****
Present day, Arena.
"Wow! That was an exhilarating match. Totally epic. That was the most intense battle we have witnessed since the start of the tournament.
Up next, the semi-final draws and battles coming right up. You can expect a fight of greater intensity and heat than the last." The anchor continued to hype up the semi-finals.
At the moment, Argo was still explaining to Jared how a meteor shower was the reason he was unable to meet up yesterday.
Jared wasn't believing the ridiculous story.
"Sigh, it's so hard to get people to trust you nowadays. Alright let's go know who we our opponents are first." He said, patting Jared's shoulder. Argo walked up the stage first. He picked up a black coloured, ball shaped object from a box placed on the stage. The other three participants proceeded to do the same.
The ball shaped object was a container that was hollow on the inside. Inside the container, there were paper slips with numbers. Two people who picked up the same number, were to face each other.
The four of them opened there balls at the same time and took out the slip of paper inside it.
Argo's slip was numbered '1'. Jared's slip was numbered '1' too. They turned to look at each other.
"And we have our matches: Argo Talean vs Jared Omah
Kenny Lee vs Harry Seth."
...
The dugouts.
Argo and Jared both sat in silence. There was a air of unease between them.
"Look. If you want, I can forfeit the match." Argo broke the silence first. The system's mission reward was tempting and he really wanted to beat Kenny Lee up. But Jared was the only friend he had. and beside he could always get more missions in the future.
"No, you don't have to. I'll forfeit instead. My goal was to make the representative team, and I have already accomplished it. There's no need to go further." Jared shook his head.
"Are you sure? Don't you just want the Captain position?"
"I'm sure. The Captain position is too troublesome for me. I'd rather be am ordinary member." Jared refuted.
"Ok. Since you insist..." Argo saw no need to be courteous between friends. "It's decided then."
"Just do me one favour." Jared said suddenly.
"Huh?"
"Don't let Kenny Lee get the Captain position either." Jared said with a grin.
"Definitely" Argo chuckled back.
...
"Match One: Argo Talean vs Jared Omah."
Hearing the anchor's voice, they went up the stage.
"Begin!"
"I surrender."
Immediately the anchor gave the order to start, Jared surrendered. The audience were less than pleased with the decision.
"What the hell? How can you surrender without a fight? What a wimp."
"Yeah, How did he make the semi-final, if he was such a coward. He did not even dare to fight."
"It must be that bastard cheat's doing, he must have paid him to forfeit. What a shameless guy!"
"I thought the anchor promised us an exciting match. Is this it?"
...
"Cough cough. This was unexpected. The next match will surely see some action, I promise." The anchor cursed Argo and Jared in his mind as he tried to calm the angry audience. Even though he was a teacher, he couldn't go against the mob of angry students all by himself.
"Match two: Kenny Lee vs Harry Seth." The anchor hurriedly announced before the audience could get rowdier.
Kenny Lee and Harry Seth both stepped unto the stage glaring at each other. They looked ready to battle to death.
The audience quietened down upon smelling blood in the air. They anticipated a good night after the disappointment of the last battle.