- Coin Toss -
Khun wasn't really surprised to know that he and the others were blocked by Rachel's teammates. Casano and the Mr. Traveler stood before them while Rachel and Yura Ha were in the behind them, trapping them in the middle without any way out.
"Shall we begin....the 'Sweet Fish Hunt'?" Rachel asked him. Her yellow eyes showed hatred and maliciousness.
The pipe was quiet for a moment.
"Were you waiting for us until we got to the exit so you could surround us?" Khun asked Rachel. "You're lot more determined than I thought."
"....you were the only one who refused to believe it" Rachel responded. "I was always like this. Don't you remember....? I once pretended that I suffered with a broken leg for years just to trick you."
Hong Danhwa, on the other hand, when he saw Yura Ha warned Yura Ha to leave the FUG's side. He warned her that FUG was merely using her in which Yura Ha didn't understand.
"Enough of this nonsense!" Rachel said again. "Let's just end the game here!"
Casano who heard that began to use his left arm that started to transform into something else with red glow. Khun assumed that his strength would be similar or stronger with Ran who didn't use the Lightning Pill.
He also can't underestimate Yura Ha for she was from the Ha Family while carrying her suitcase all around. He was in a disadvantageous situation for he should shield his Sweet Fish.
But he wasn't really worried. His cobalt blue eyes glanced to a direction as he was waiting for someone or a group of people.
"AAAHHHH!!! HEY!!!WHITE TURTLE!" A very familiar voice shouted from the direction where he was glancing at.
Rak who was shouting to Khun came with Celeste and the strange pink haired girl who was still asleep. He shouted at him while asking, "ARE YOU IN TROUBLE?!"
When Celeste noticed that there were some enemies down below, she began to pull out her sword. Rak who landed on the floor changed his size again and turned into the gigantic alligator before Casano and shouted again, "THIS LOOKS SO MUCH FUN!"
"STAY OUT OF THE WAY!" Casano said as he began to use his left arm.
Celeste noticed the traveler with orange hair who stood near with Casano. She knew him.
In the one month after their failure in the Train City, Charlotte told Celeste everything that she knew, including the traveler. Although Charlotte mentioned it accidentally and let that information slip from her mouth carelessly, the brown haired girl told Celeste that Casano met a friend with orange hair. The two of them seemed to be close, she said towards her.
Without thinking longer, she extended her right palm towards the orange haired man. White butterflies immediately appeared from her sleeve, or perhaps from her right palm, and circled around the orange haired man.
Calmly and steadily, she said to Casano, "My butterflies love meat the most, especially the fresh one. And lately, since I don't have any fresh meat to offer, they might be quite hungry. You won't mind if I feed your little friend over there to them right?
Keep your Devil to yourself, Casano."
Celeste could see now that Charlotte wasn't lying about it. Casano did stop and stood properly, showing no sign of fighting now.
"H-How did you get here?! How did you know I was here?" Rachel asked, panicked.
"....Actually, I brought us some insurance" Khun began to explain.
"What?"
"On the way here, we used a Dallar at every door and locked them. Of course it may work against us if the enemy finds them. But statistically speaking, there is a higher chance that our team will find them. I figured whoever finds them will definitely follow us."
Rachel was shocked to hear those words. She thought that she had gotten the arrogant blue haired male once but who would have guessed, she was outsmarted by him again?
"Well...it didn't really matter if the enemy followed us, actually. If they did, we could always just put a Dallar high up on the next door and then run" Khun added.
"So you're the one who locked all the doors, Blue Turtle!" Rak shouted angrily at Khun.
"Sorry~" Khun apologized, not sounding sorry at all.
"I WAS GOING TO KILL WHOEVER DID THAT IF THEY WERE AN ENEMY!!" He furiously shouted again and Celeste felt that she was going to be deaf because of hearing Rak's shouts again and again.
"Anyway, we were lucky" Khun continued as he glanced at Rachel again. "I was worried that no one will notice. With this current team, I can't guarantee that we'll win in a fight. But we should have enough time to protect the Sweet Fish and escape to next pipe.
So I was thinking, you probably won't want just to lose to us here and we don't really want to use a higher Dallar to escape either.
So why don't we have a match to see who gets the remaining Dallars from both of the teams? You and me, just one against one match with the two of us."
Rachel was quite shocked to hear that.
"HEY MAN!! WHY WOULD JUST THE TWO OF YOU FIGHT?! ARE YOU TRYING TO HOG ALL THE FUN?!" Rak protested.
With vein bulging, Khun replied with only two words to him: "Shut up!"
He looked again at Rachel, "Well? If you accept this, I'll let him loose. Whoever wins will take all the Dallars away. I'll make sure it's fair and equal so that neither of us are in disadvantage."
Rachel pondered about it for awhile before she decided to hear it.
The two of them floated on their own lighthouse while the others were watching them. Since Rachel had agreed, Celeste had no other choice but to let go of the Traveler. She wasn't quite happy with it since she had always wanted the chance to fight with Casano and to make him suffer a bit for hurting her teammates.
The game that Khun proposed was very, very simple. It was just about tossing the Dallar. If it shows the head or the number, then Khun wins. If it shows the tail or the symbol, then Rachel will win.
"W-what are you talking about?!" Rachel asked in disbelief and surprise. "That's just pure...!"
"Right. It's pure luck" Khun agreed with her for once. "It would be nonsense for you to fight me, someone from the Ten Great Families. And obviously you can't outsmart me in a brain match. So in order for it to be a fair enough match for you to accept, wouldn't it be luck?
Let's do it. You and me....let's see whom God loves more."
Rachel was quiet for a few moments.
"Why? Are you worried that I won't be chosen?" Khun asked her again. "Don't worry, I was never a lucky man myself."
The blonde girl who was quiet for a few moments closed her eyes as she began to chuckle.
"Fine, it makes this feel kind of desperate......to be honest, I kind of just want to prove you wrong too" Rachel said towards Khun with a smirk. "Hurry up and toss it. Now I'm starting to wonder who's gonna win."
Khun had set few rules. First, he was going to toss the coin that will surely land on his other lighthouse. In that way, the others could also see the results. Second, whoever loses should accept his or her defeat and shouldn't whine about it. They only had one chance.
Rachel was excited about this. She can't wait to see the result that she was certain that she was going to win. Whoever loses could only keep their one Dallar and left the rest for the winner.
Khun didn't hesitate any longer as he began to toss the Dallar he was holding.
The Dallar rolled and rolled before it stopped and showed who the winner was.
There was number ten written on it. Khun Aguero Agnes won!
Rak cheered for their victory happily and proudly, "WOOHOO! YOU WON, TURTLE! BAHAHAHA!! I KNEW THAT TURTLE WOULD COME IN HANDY! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE JUST WON THAT EASILY!!"
"T-THIS CAN'T BE!" Rachel argued, panicked. "THAT WASN'T A PROPER SHOW DOWN! IT DOESN'T COUNT!"
"It doesn't count?" Khun asked to Rachel coolly. He had predicted that Rachel would argue and whine about the result if she loses. "What do you mean? We said we wouldn't complain about the results. You can't complain about it now."
"THAT WAS WHEN IT WAS A 'FAIR MATCH!'" Rachel shouted. "Come to think of it, you get to toss the Dallar! And that Dallar is yours! You might have rigged it somehow!"
As Rachel complained, Celeste couldn't help but to face palm herself. She felt that her effort to make it sound as if Khun was cheating was quite desperate and somehow she felt kind of embarrassed to see this.
Rachel insisted for a second chance. She didn't want to lose like this. Therefore, in order to make Khun interested and agreed for another round, she purposely offered that if Khun wins, she will tell everything she knew about Bam and Charlotte.
She will tell him their identities, what they had endured before going to the tower and more. She was certain that Khun would agree for another round after she offered information like this.
Khun cared for Bam a lot. Therefore when Rachel offered to tell about Bam's past, he was interested and agreed with it. He just need to win this one round and he will get what he wanted to know. Rak who heard that Khun was going to play again was shocked as he shouted, asking why the Blue Turtle will play another round.
Hwaryun who was standing near Rak just closed her ears so that she won't go deaf from Rak's shouting.
Rachel volunteered to throw the Dallar, mainly because she didn't trust Khun throwing it. She tossed the Dallar and the winner was none other than herself.
It was a bit disappointing of course, but now that Rachel won the round once, this proved the game was fair and square right?
"Let's play one more round" Khun said with his friendly smile again. "Best of three, whoever wins twice is the final winner."
"What do you mean? We said this round is the last" Rachel disagreed. She can't risk her victory again.
"But I just let you play again with the same condition. So wouldn't it make sense to play one more one-on-one under the same conditions?" Khun asked Rachel, ignoring Rak who was still shouting and yelling to him. "No one will accept the results if we let it end like this. Don't you also want to have a proper match too?
So let's settle this with one more round. We'll change the rules so that it's best two out of three. And this time, I won't complain at all if I lose. And we'll let that alligator toss the coin so that it's very fair."
Rak who heard that was confused.
"Hey, turtle!" Rak called again. "How is it fair if I toss it? I'm on the same side with you!!"
Rachel observed Rak for a few moments before she agreed, "Fine. I feel like he won't be pulling any stunts."
Rak was beyond surprised.
A moment ago he was standing with other regulars, watching and yelling at their match and a moment later, he was standing on a lighthouse while holding the Dallar, responsible for tossing it. He was lost in words and he was sweating coldly.
"Come on alligator" Khun said to him. "Hurry up and toss it."
"Hurry up and throw it, Rak."
"Hey, what's the hold-up?"
"H-how should I toss it to make it heads, turtles?" Rak nervously asked.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW IT? JUST DO IT!" Khun replied in disbelief. "WHY ARE YOU SUCH A WUSS FOR A GUY WHO'S AS BIG AS MOUNTAIN?"
Now, Rak was getting even more nervous.
"Toss it!" Khun ordered.
Rachel, "Come on!"
"Ugh..... DAMNIT!" Rak shouted as he threw the Dallar to the lighthouse.
Hwaryun knew that this match was not fair. She knew that Khun Aguero Agnes never intended to finish this match in just one round. On the first round, he pulled out a trick that was dangerous enough considering that his opponent was a Light Bearer who could notice it if she was focused. But even if Rachel did not notice, he knew that Rachel won't let him win easily without complaining about it. But if he used the trick twice, then Rachel would know that he cheated.
For the second round, it was pure luck. It was because of luck that Rachel won.
'Khun Aguero Agnes firmly believes that God would never give her luck twice. And that if God really is fair to everyone, then it probability dictates that he should be the winner this time' she thought.
The Dallar rolled and rolled on the blue lighthouse. The others were burning in anxiety and wanted to see who the winner was. This round will determine everything. When the Dallar stopped and showed its result, the winner was clear.
It was a number! Khun Aguero Agnes won again!
".....A number....." said Rachel in disbelief. "It's heads...."
"Whew- I couldn't even breath for a second there...." Khun said in relieve. "Jeez...."
"So...we lost?" Yura Ha asked, looking at the match in disbelief.
"Obviously" Celeste replied with a smile of satisfaction.
She thought that if this round Khun loses again, she would immediately draw her sword and fight with her enemies. But it seemed like it wasn't needed.
'That was risky. A total gamble.....with no guarantee of victory. A number so low it would be hard to trust probability for a third chance. Why on earth would he play a game like this with Rachel?' Hwaryun silently wondered. 'Did he want to prove that God gives equal good luck to everyone? Khun Aguero Agnes....?'
≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫
In another place, Noah let out a sigh.
"You are just too stubborn" Noah said. "You know that he will win, but you still want to take this challenge for him."
"It can't be helped, I cared for him too much that I could sell my souls to demon if something happens to him" the brown haired girl replied. "And besides, with this, I could help Celeste a favor and heal those who are injured later."
"By risking your life? That doesn't sound like a wise thing to do."
"I was never wise from the beginning. Besides, I always wondered. I always wanted to know....how powerful could I be" she responded earnestly to Noah. "Don't worry, I won't die that easy."
"Then if something happens to you....do you have any last wish?"
"........not really. But if something happens to me, then I have to ask you to take care of the others and help them to reach the top. I think that's all I ask for."