…
Slowly but surely, El's heart began to slow down into a normal beat, and the pain lessened until it became a manageable discomfort that he could endure. It felt like the sharp sting of an ant bite, occasionally attacking his heart. Yet, the veins on his chest remained bulging and pulsing with each heartbeat.
On the other hand, Gill sat on the ground.
After rubbing his jaw with his palm, Gill said his piece with a mirthless smile, hands on his knees.
"Not bad. But remember though, that's still seventeen to one, you know. There are sixteen more for you to win if you want to claim our draw. I can say for sure – that's almost an impossible thing to do…"
Gill smirked at the end.
El looked up, then let his bottom fall on the ground as he sat relaxedly facing Gill. He responded to his statement, "Nah, I'm good. Pretty sure that draw will come to me shortly after this. Pretty sure it'll be fast too."
El subsequently narrowed his eyes as he continued. "Now that we come to it. Pretty fast, huh? I'm sure I'll clutch that win faster than you cutting your carrot, Hehehehe," he giggled to himself.
He reminded Gill of the time the three of them helped the aunties in the kitchen just two days ago, and how Gill struggled with cutting his carrot. Not only did it take him a long time, but the shape was extremely crooked. It was one of many jokes that El and Ran teased Gill about since then.
Speechless, Gill bit back with his remark. "Damn, at least I'm not crying buckets because of some onions," he smiled smugly at El.
To that, El replied calmly while blinking his eyes, trying to shrug off the embarrassment hiding deep within him.
"But everyone cries when cutting onions…"
"Not as much as you! Aha!!! Kekekekekeke," Gill pointed his finger at El's face, then laughed.
El ended up rubbing the back of his head. He felt even more ashamed because the truth of that day was that crying while cutting onions was just a façade. The real reason for his tears was that when he conversed with the aunties who cooked there, they shared bits of their lives, and his sense heightened so much that it caught the emotions radiating from them.
It made his heart feel like it was wrenched by something.
And that's how he ended up crying. The aunties just smiled at him, not wanting to embarrass him any further. But the problem was, he was already drying from embarrassment. Those aunties even made up – excuses that El didn't do well with cutting onions to explain his weeping.
Since then, El always blamed all of that experience on his senses all day long.
"You know what, at least you're not like a certain someone who puts sugar in the soup just because she thinks it's going to be better if it has a sweet taste," Gill added with a smile.
Then suddenly, the two of them caught in a daze – exchanged glances between each other.
Gill's smile faded from his lips. Now, the two of them were currently fighting hard against something in their minds. It was the same kind of scene running through their heads. Though, in the end, they still failed terribly.
Then simultaneously, the two of them ended up guffawing, their laughter resonating and stretching everywhere in the field. Tears fell as they held their rumbling stomachs.
"I'm sorry, it was too much. Help, I'm dying from laughing here. Ahahahhahahahaha," El chortled. His forehead was on the ground, kneeling while holding his stomach.
Gill, equally in the same state, pounded the ground repeatedly with his fist.
"Wkakakakka, she is what? She wants the soup to be sweet. What has she gone to do with it? Making tea? Whahahahhahahah…"
"We need, ahahaha, we need to crown it as the best joke of this year."
"Agreed…"
"Whahahahahahhaha…"
"Keekekekekke, whahhahahaha…"
…
On the other hand, Ran was currently quite close beside them, holding two plastic glasses filled with clean water. It was something she had fetched with difficulty from early morning in a thermos, directly from the 'upper side,' special for today as she felt like, today's training would be a better start for El compared to the previous training results they had done before.
But, lo and behold. They mocked and laughed at her instead.
Her face fell and darkened. Her hands trembled while holding the glass, splashing water to the ground. Without her even knowing, her necklace lit up faintly. Her eyes too. Her hair was the next one that was gradually lifted by some unknown force.
Even Sir Giles and Sir Don at her side stepped back carefully after feeling something in the air, away from her. They stopped their advance to approach El and Gill.
"Should we stop her?" Sir Don whispered to Sir Giles. His expressions and tone were still as rigid as ever.
"Nah, we're good. Let's just step away first…" Sir Giles replied with a helpless smile. The two of them then turned, walking back.
After positioning themselves back in their original place where they watched the fight earlier, Sir Don suddenly said something to Sir Giles with a stiff smile and deep voice.
"But it's really funny though. I heard from the others too, that she put sugar in a soup. Everyone ended up forcefully eating it though…"
"Uh, now that you said it, I indeed thought it was funny. She really was her daughter," Sir Giles replied, but with a sad smile instead.
Sir Don could only keep his mouth shut after that particular subject accidentally came up unintentionally.
…
*Bam*
*Thud*
El and Gill abruptly stopped laughing because, from out of nowhere, two cups filled with water flew right at their heads. It was lucky though, as all along the way, the glasses already spilled almost the whole part of the water to the ground – only drenching their heads and shirts a little bit.
"Ouch…"
Rubbing his head, Gill turned his sight to the direction of the flying glasses, followed shortly by El.
Subsequently, the two hastily and as quickly as possible propped themselves to stand on the ground, facing the poker-faced Ran.
Not knowing what to say, their eyes flew to the left and right, looking for an escape.
Ran abruptly rushed to Gill, knowing that El wasn't the kind of person who would run away if he felt guilty about something.
"Calm down, Ran. Uh…"
Palm after palm flew toward Gill, who tried his hardest to dodge while at the same time attempting to comfort the pissed-off Ran.
One palm hit his upper hand, somehow numbing it until he couldn't use it anymore to block Ran's attacks.
"Ouch…"
Another palm sneaked and managed to land a hit on the back of his head, making his head dizzy – as if a bird was flying round and round in the air.
"Uh…"
And the third and fourth palms, using her left hand twice, pushed Gill away, with his feet skidding on the ground, until he ended up in the embrace of El, who was stunned by such a spectacle. It was the first time for El to watch Ran use this kind of technique. It filled him with wonder.
On the other hand, Gill himself seemed to be drunk for an unknown reason.
"Wow, the taste of that palm is still the same as I remember," he said with a slurry voice before closing his eyes – succumbing to unconsciousness.
…