"AHHH!!! A GHOST!!!"
"Wait! Farah! It's me! Jenny!" a female voice came out of the chimney, it seems to really be Jane.
Poof!
She hops down, causing all the ashes on the floor to fly up and get all over both girls.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Patting sounds could be heard while the two continue coughing.
"Jennie looks like, Cough, like you dyed your skirt black! The rest of you is so gray, too! Haha, cough, haha!" Farah, also covered in ashes, told her friend while coughing and patting the ashes off her clothes.
"You can, cough, you can only say that because you didn't get soot on you! This, cough, sucks! Hmph! I'm never, cough, hiding here again!" Jane, frustrated from the situation at hand, lashes out at the laughing Farah, smeared some soot on her hands, and started chasing Farah.
"Take... this!"
"Kyah! No way! You'll never catch me, and you know it!" Farah runs around the room, laughing and smiling all the while, making Jane start to also smile and have fun with the chase.
"What about this?!" Jane jumps over the table, getting in front of her prey and holding her hands out. Farah, however, was going too fast to stop!
"What?!"
Then, they collide.
'Ow, ow. It hurts... Especially on my cheeks... Wait, cheeks?' Farah rubs her left cheek where it hurts with her index finger, then brings it up to her eyes. It was black.
"She got me! Argh, why is she so athletic?! Jumping over the table like that... That's cheating!" Farah complains to herself, forgetting the fact that the person in question is sitting besides her.
"It's not cheating. Pft, hahaha! How does it feel, Miss Handyface?" At first, Jane was going to argue, but when she saw Farah's grumpy expression, she couldn't help but laugh out.
"Hnn... Revenge!" Farah lunges at her gray-colored friend and rubs her cheeks on Jane's, smearing it all over both person's faces.
"Ahahaha! Stop it! That tickles!" Jane, being held down by the little girl with palm prints on her face couldn't help but laugh as she feels tickly sensations all over her face. Unable to exert strength, she lets her friend have her way with her.
'I'll just wash it off in the kitchen.' Jane thought to herself, clueless to how she'd deal with her dirty dress, so she decides to leave it to her parents.
"And that's how we became like this!" Farah has come back to the gang to celebrate finding Jane. However, the children got surprised and confused as to how the two came back in a complete mess, as if they cleaned a chimney before coming back.
"Is it sticky? We can wait for you to clean yourselves, can't we?" Arthur asks Jane and Farah out of consideration. Arthur's loud voice called for everybody's agreement,
"Of course!"
"Yeah!"
"We can wait!"
Arthur nods to himself in happiness, 'Everybody agreed with me!'
"All right, then! Jane, let's go!" Farah takes her friend's hand and starts running to the house closest to the square, looking to ask for water from their well.
"Don't go so fast! Huff, huff." Jane can't quite catch up to Farah's speed, and she can't escape from her grip either, so she would have to suffer for a little while.
'It hurts! But... it's warm...'
"I'm so jealous of Farah right now, guys..." Arthur retreats into the gang and start chatting among themselves while waiting for the girls to return.
"Thank you very much!" Farah and Jane thanked the residents of the home and circled around the perimeter to get to the well behind. The girls then proceeded to wipe themselves and each other.
"Hey, Jennie." Farah strikes up a conversation while wringing water from the towel the girls are using to clean themselves. She sounds slightly reserved, hesitating whether or not to say what she's been thinking.
"Hm? What is it?" Jenny quickly replied, having been thinking of a way to start a conversation with Farah herself. Her voice is small, though. Since she is bashful from not having had someone other than her parents wipe her back before.
"About that hiding spot..." Farah, having started the conversation, knows she cannot avoid the topic any longer. Therefore, she starts asking Jane how she knew about the hiding place she went to.
"Ah, the owner told me about it when I asked to hide in the storage room. He didn't tell me about all the mess in there, though. Hmph!" Having just had the experience, Jane has no trouble recalling the events that happened though she got a little angry at the end of the story, with her body slightly trembling from rage.
"Ahaha, it sure was a mess! I'm glad it happened, though. Oh, I'm done. You do me next." Clueless to this, Farah finishes the job and hands the towel to Jane.
"You're happy about getting in a big mess?" Jane accepts the towel with a confused expression on her face and in her green eyes. She turns around, getting ready to start wiping Farah.
"Well, it means that now I have a story to tell my folks at home! And it was fun, wasn't it? All the chasing around and smearing. Good thing the owner didn't tell us to clean the floor!" Farah tells Jane of her experience, smiling and shaking her head, as if reminiscing the moment. Her hair, gleaming with droplets, splashes water all over Jane, though she doesn't mind.
"If you put it that way, I guess it was... Lift your arms." Jane is impressed by Farah's positive ways of thinking about thing, as always. Jane subconsciously aspires to be able to think that way one day, however, today is not the day this change happens, as change is gradual, like a fireplace heating up a room. Anyways, Jane is now looking to wipe Farah's sides after finishing washing her hair.
"Hehe, that tickles." Farah jerks her body from the tickly feeling in her left side as Jane was gentle, too gentle. The sudden movement startled Jane and almost made her drop the cloth in the well.
"Then stop moving so much! I almost dropped the cloth there!" Jane replied angrily and sternly once she realizes what is going on. Inwardly, however, she thinks of a reason why Farah felt ticklish when she was wiped down even though Jane didn't.
'Is she that ticklish? No, she's not that easy to tickle from experience. Hm, I guess when she wiped me down, she wasn't this gentle about it. I'll go rougher.'
"Sorry, sorry! By the way, have you heard? An uncle named Uriah is teaching the Farma brothers how to fight! Ah, that really hits the spot." Satisfied with the pressure, Farah starts gossiping about what she just heard this morning.
"Uriah? I've seen him before, that big, religious, old man, right? He knew how to fight, huh." Jane recalls the image of the Uriah in her memories: kind, gentle, weird, but smart. He's old enough to be knowledgeable on things, but also young enough to maintain his enormous muscle mass. Those muscles aren't for nothing, after all. Maybe Jane can also go learn swordsmanship under him since they're on friendly terms.
"Yeah! You didn't come see the fight four days ago, right? He was killing those scary beasts like they were bugs! He uses a scythe, but it's super big! Like, as tall as him! And you know he's huge! He swings it really fast like this!" Farah thinks of the scene of Uriah dashing around the battlefield, quickly killing the beasts in his way and imitates the moves she saw though she isn't quite as fast as him. She swings her arms around, getting water droplets into Jane, again. This time, even in her eyes.
"You're exaggerating! There's no way anyone can do that. Also, stop moving when you're speaking, you're making things hard for me." Jane obviously doesn't believe this as she wasn't present at the scene. She doesn't believe that somebody can ever be that strong. Even if there was someone that strong, why would that person ever stay in this village? They'd just go to the city and live lavishly! It's common sense!
"Fine, I will try not to, but I'm not exaggerating! Go ask him!" Farah tries to keep her hands to herself although it's uncomfortable.
"Fine. I will. Why don't we bet on it? If I'm right, you owe me a favor. If you are, I owe you a favor." Jane decides to make a wager. She is very sure that the scythe cannot be as long as the man. Farah saw the fight from afar, so there could be inaccuracies. She was also in shock by then, wasn't she? The premise itself is also ridiculous. There's no way she loses this.
"Deal! I know I'm right!" Farah KNOWS she's right. A free win! She's already begun thinking of what to ask of Jane. 'Maybe I could ask her to treat me to a big meal! One at the restaurant! Or maybe I can have her do...' Farah's thought continued until Jane finished cleaning her up and spoke.
"I better think of what to ask you. Let's hurry, the guys must be waiting."
Then the two ran back to the gang and played many, many games until the sun sets.
"I'm heading home, gang!" Farah runs away while pulling Jon along since he lives across the street, might as well go back together. This way, she wouldn't be alone.
Farah runs until she couldn't hear the sounds of farewell anymore and slows her pace down to a walk since Jon's pull on her hand has become too heavy for her not to notice.
"Are you okay, Jon?" Farah asks out of concern, seeing Jon's face in deep red, shaking heavily from all the panting he is doing.
"Hah, hah, no! Let me, hah, let me breathe for a, hah, for a second." Shooting Farah a mean glare, the boy tries to calm down and talk, hoping to propose they walk instead of run.
"Oh, come on. You've got to try to surpass your limits! Let's go!" Farah destroys any hope Jon had left for resting.
"Ahhhh!!!"
"Whew, we're, pant, home!" Farah lays down on the ground and turns her head towards her best friend, already lying down and wheezing. She giggles at this sight and gets an angry look from Jon as response, making her laugh loudly.
Glistening sweat, dancing hair, vibrant smile, closed-eye laughter. Farah makes her way into Jon's heart and warm it up once again. Jon's bad mood and exhaustion is instantly evaporated with the power of Farah's warmth. Even though she's the one putting him in this miserable state, he just can't get truly mad at her and her contagious happiness. It's as if she had used a charm on him.
"Hah, even you're tired!" Jon replies with a comment on Farah's condition from pushing herself, and Jon, so much over the edge. She just can't take it easy, for Prometheus's sake!
"Pant, I'm fine. Okay, pant, I'm not! But it was fun, wasn't it?" Farah changed her answer after getting a questioning look from Jon. She had to tell the truth, she is tired, but she doesn't hate it. The feeling of being out of breath, the feeling of strained muscles and tendons, her burning lungs, and her beating heart. It makes Farah feel alive, more than ever.
"Don't you love it when, pant, when you're out of breath?" Farah asks her friend if he feels the same way about it.
"Again, Farah, Hah, I'm not a masochist like you." Jon replies, once again exhausted by Farah's repeated attempts of trying to get him to enjoy being exhausted. It's painful, the pain of breathing too hard, the pain in his legs, the heat in his lungs and neck, the pain in his chest. It hurts him so, so much that he doesn't know how Farah can ever enjoy something like this. She is always like this, enjoying things he can never understand. It is fascinating, though, so he doesn't mind it. Except for when she drags him into it!
Anyhow, they both have now recovered, and are heading back to their own families.
"See you later, Farah."
"See you later, Jon."