Suna seemed like she was caught off guard by what I said. I assured her that on our next break we would do something she would like.
Breaks like this would be more important going forward. There's no real benefit to pushing these two more than is necessary, especially since it was more than evident they had experienced the pain of death at least once before, and the resulting pressure that follows from death.
We walked into the stands and sat down halfway up.
A few moments later the combatants walked into the ring.
My eyes went wide and I unconsciously leaned forward.
"Tsubasa, do you know her?" Suna asked.
There in the ring was Xuelian. Instantly a wave of shame and anguish rushed over me. I felt like I wanted to crawl into a little ball and fade away.
". . . Yeah, sort of . . . I, uh, had heard she's somewhat famous for being a top player," I replied.
I couldn't exactly say we were teammates and I just abandoned her because I'm a gutless jellyfish.
I bit my lip in frustration for not being honest to her.
Or Xuelian.
"Oh really," she replied.