The Emerald Soulmate

08. Complicated situation

As per the terms made by Hiro yesterday, Ten agreed to a match between Hiro and himself.

Now they are ready in the arena.

"Before I fight you, may I ask you why you chose me to duel with you?" ten asked while twirling his wooden sword casually.

Hiro stared at Ten intensely, then turned to his other friends on the bleachers. "Simpel, I beat Kai once, so I'm not interested in fighting him again. As for Zou, he is too smart. Maybe I haven't enjoyed the game yet he's beaten me for nothing because of his genius strategy," Hiro always flattered Zou, never thinking of making fun of him like what he used to do to Kai.

From the audience bench, Zou snorted amusedly at Hiro's statement. And don't forget there's Kai's upset face.

"Then, why not choose Kyo?" ask Ten again.

Hiro chuckled amusedly, "You remember him yesterday saying that his archery ability is the best right? So I don't think he's worth it to be my sword fighting partner."

"You look too high on yourself, Hiro," cried Kyo.

Hiro chuckled once more. "So that's why you challenged me? You sure I'm a worthy opponent for you?" Ten smiled lightly.

Hiro who was staring at Ten's paltry smile just shuddered, "Ten, don't look at me like that. Come on, you're all that's left. I didn't mean to underestimate you."

Kai and Kyo cheered from the bleachers. "Let's Ten, beat the cocky Hiro!"

"Yes that's right! Don't let you let your guard down."

Ten smiled in response to the support of his friends. Meanwhile, Hiro let out an expression of contempt.

"Not to wait any more. Let's just start the game!"

Ten attacked first. Because Hiro had never instilled an evasive strategy in his dictionary, so he continued to fend off attacks from Ten.

And sure enough, what Hiro said yesterday was evident. So long ago Hiro and Ten fought, making Kai, Zou and Kyo feel very bored.

In fact Ten could have won the game quickly, he had many times seen the gap to knock Hiro down. It's just that yesterday he himself told Hiro to enjoy the game. How could he possibly end it so quickly and deny his own words?

Ten also followed up making a gap, so Hiro could drop him and the game was over. But he saw Hiro deliberately avoiding the gap. So he thought that Hiro really intended to make the game long.

"Come on, until when are you going to keep fighting? Aren't you tired?"

"We're just watching, we're so bored,"

The complaints from his friends watching made Hiro grin. Finally the goal was achieved.

"Ten, you heard that they're bored, so how should we do it?" hiro asked in a provoking tone.

Ten picked up the signal that Hiro had sent him, Ten grinned. "Oh? Whatchu think? Of course, this match is very exciting," said Ten not connect.

Ten's words that contain meaning implied in it, make those who hear it know, that Ten and Hiro agreed to prank his three friends.

"Well, you're bad! You guys deliberately played a long time to make us tired of waiting!" accuse Kai of being upset.

Zou who had been silent had chimed in, "Actually I already felt that the arena of this match was turned into a stage. I saw you guys deliberately displaying a gap so that the opponent could drop easily. But neither Hiro nor Ten took advantage of the opportunity. So I'm guessing you guys intentionally made this long. Am I right?"

Hiro no longer focused on the match, he dropped his wooden sword and clapped. "As expected, Zou is too observant to be deceived."

Meanwhile, Ten was still standing staring at Hiro with a hard-to-understand look. Hiro stared back at Ten. "I give up" Hiro said, raising his hand. "I was the first to create a gap, and you could have beaten me at that very moment. But I'm quite surprised you chose to continue the match. I think you're following my game very well, it's not wrong that I chose you," Hiro continued with a small oddity.

Kyo said, "Ten, you know everything. But why would you prefer to follow Hiro and not think about our feelings?"

Hiro smiled. "So you realized that?"

Kai, Zou and Kyo frowned confusedly, they did not understand Hiro and Ten's conversation. "What does that mean?" Kai voiced his thoughts.

"Actually, Hiro invited me to a match because he didn't want to bore me waiting and together felt the excitement of competing. There's no other reason, I guess at the beginning of the game you were just making sense, huh?" clear Ten.

Hearing that, his three friends suddenly showed an expression of disbelief. "What?!"

Hiro laughed, "Well you're right, Ten. But not entirely true. The reason I made at the beginning of the game was not mischief. I do intend to praise Zou."

Zou quickly gripped onto Hiro's collar. "This is the first time I'm not happy to hear a compliment from you, why are you deliberately boring me if you intend to praise me?"

Seeing the unexpected actions from Zou made Hiro feel shocked, "OK, okay. Ii'm sorry. I praise you, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just, I bore you waiting, because you also bore me with your match yesterday with Kyo."

Zou let go of his grip, "So you intend revenge? Your target is me and Kyo?"

Everything became understandable now with the complicated situation that Hiro had created. Kyo became guilty, "I'm sorry I bored you yesterday. I understand what it's like to get tired of waiting after you show me."

Kai suddenly interrupted their conversation, "Hei-hei. Don't you think that I'm the one who's been hurt so much here? I'm not Hiro's target, but I also feel bored waiting. You guys are so unfair to me."

Hearing that, Hiro immediately approached towards Kai. "Okay, I'm sorry. I was wrong for dragging you around when you were innocent here" Hiro said solemnly.

But instead of being moved by Hiro's sincerity, Kai was angry. "It seems you're sorry for me after everything happened, do you think your apology can cure my boredom?"

Hiro so followed up with emotions, "However everything has passed. You don't want to accept my apology, yasudah!" Hiro passes by leaving Kai and his friends.

"Why are you the one who's mad at me? I should have been the one to get angry, right. Hey Hiro's back!" exclaim Kai.

Ten shook his head little to see their quarrel. Immediately, Ten touched Kai's shoulder. "Hiro tried to get along with you earlier, why aren't you a little more gentle in responding to her?"

Kai immediately turned his head to the side where Ten was, "You're guilty too! You understand Hiro's intentions, but instead of stopping him from enjoying it. You think you have the right to advise me after intentionally making me wait?"

"You're an emotion Kai. Stop it, don't blame anyone else" Lerai Zou.

Kai looked at Zou fiercely, "Being a victim of injustice, can I just be quiet and upset alone?"

Ten calms Kai. "I don't intend to bore you waiting, really. Especially you, Kai. Because you're innocent. But I suggested that Hiro enjoyed yesterday's game. And I couldn't lick my own saliva by ending the match quickly. It's all my fault, please forgive me," Ten said as he lowered his head deeply, deeply regretting his actions.

Kai ignored Ten. "Forget over. I don't want to hear an explanation from you" Kai said as he walked away, about to go home just like Hiro did.

Ten didn't prevent it. Now Zou, Ten and Kyo are left.

"How's this? It's all my fault" said Ten. "If I hadn't advised Hiro to start the game, he wouldn't have had this game either. And you didn't wait long."

Kyo advanced to appease Ten, "No, this is not your fault. It's my and Zou's fault, if only we hadn't fought for long yesterday, maybe Hiro wouldn't have thought of revenge."

Zou replied, "No. It's our fault together, we're all wrong. Me and Kyo are the cause of all this. Hiro and Ten are deliberately making a long match, and Kai is emotional."

Ten smiled smirkingly hearing it. "Poor Kai. I know he's just a victim, I also know he deserves to be angry about everything. But what about our friendship next? Will it crack because of today's incident?"

Kyo rubbed Ten's shoulder, "How could it possibly crack just because of a small incident like this? We've been together for years. I think our friendship should be a little test as a pebble."

"Just calm down, Ten. Tomorrow all will surely regroup because we failed to shoot today. Hiro's the one who kept his promise, so he couldn't possibly not come. And Kai proposes this, I don't think he'll be willing to just abandon his proposal" Zou predicts.

Ten raised his head and smiled, "Alright. I'll believe what you say."