"I would rather live a normal life than live in this grand castle confined."
The fourth round has already begun. There are four victims of unexplained sudden physical pain that they felt every round. I just noticed when Ninth writhed in pain, according to the ball's content. It is silver in color and has a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, and a nose. Just like the sudden pain in Ninth's eyes, ears, and nose.
They've been playing for a minute. Ninth's left hand was still covering his face. He was offered a wet, cold towel to alleviate the pain. Fifth is also back in the game because he doesn't want to lose. All the girls from the silver team take care of our hurt silver team players.
02:20
"Player Third, rule number 5, defied. Castigation will begin at any moment."
Third has been called by the timer machine.
"Players, continue the game."
The others did nothing, and the game continued. Third approached us, suppressing the pain he was feeling.
"My right arm broke." he stopped squirming because he didn't want the players, especially his team, to worry.
We sat him on the bleacher and supported his right arm. I held it for a look.
"Ouch!"
"S-sorry" I apologized.
"I think I'm injured."
"Right away? You don't even play much," I threw him a small joke to lighten his mood.
"Hmp. It must have something to do with the 'castigation' thing."
Fourth handed me two face towels and I knotted them together. I wrapped it around his twisted arms up to his neck to support the injured arm.
"You think so too?" We must be thinking the same thing, if not, closely the same.
"You must've known by now. You're just uncertain."
I ended up giving first aid to his arm. "It's not like that..."
"You shouldn't have bothered with your improvised first aid. After two minutes, I'll be fine."
I gazed at him while he seriously looked at the players playing. "So, you already know."
"Almost"
"How did you know I might know something?" I'm curious how he found out that I might know something.
"You look undisturbed."
"Me? Not even"
He did not utter a word. Maybe he thought I was calm. That's just how I am. My face looks calm when I think a lot, especially in our current situation, where the brain needs to be activated to decipher the trick behind this. Regardless of my expression, my head is chaotic.
I tried to remove the towel around his neck and arms because he insist that I shouldn't bother anymore.
"What are you doing?" Now he's baffled.
"Well, you said I shouldn't bother giving you first aid."
"Aw, aw! It still hurts."
We just let him rest so he can return to the game.
Round 4 is over. No one scored. The boys went to the bleachers to drink water. I just noticed that they weren't sweating while playing.
"Looks like it worked," Ninezen appeals to everyone.
"Good job!" – Seventh
"Same method for next round," said Firstwen. It seems like they have their own world discussing their plans for the game.
I sighed in relief that their small plan worked. What is their plan? It's simple.
Everyone thought that every time someone shoots and breaks the rules, the specific body parts of a certain someone are suddenly in pain.
First, when you break a rule, like what happened to Fifzen and Third. The speaking timer machine will detain you, and you will be removed from the game, not because you were disqualified, but because your body part will hurt. Part of the body where no organ is involved, only tissues and muscles, so the pain will be milder.
Secondly, earlier, before round 1 started, the color of the ball was dark blue, but it turned to silver when Seventh fell ill. It's dark blue because the ball has not yet detected which team will shoot. Dark blue is the color for the 'unknown' team that will shoot. It became silver before Seventh, Fifth, and Ninth got sick because the gold team shot and scored. The pain depends on what flesh or organ is inside the ball.
We also observed that in about a minute, the pain disappears when someone violates a rule. Two minutes after the opponent shoots. Random members in a team will be chosen by physical pain. That's why our team is being attacked because we haven't scored yet. Instead of scoring, when you shoot, some opponent members will be hurt. I noticed that Seventh mentioned that the pain disappeared suddenly, but it seemed to have a side effect, that is because Author wanted to know which team would remain stable despite having physical pain.
That's why Firstwen's plan is not to score or shoot the ball so that no one would get hurt. They plan to finish this strategy until round 5, which seems to work. Even if we think this game is unfair and hurts others, we were left with no choice.
More than three minutes have passed, so Third's injury is finally okay. He didn't mean to be detained by the timer earlier because he didn't know anything about basketball, so he made a mistake.
"Was our game great? I'm cool, aren't I?" Seventh boasted. His energy is replenished because he's confident now that their strategy is working.
I saw Fifth talking to Fourth. Ninth sat quietly; he's doing good. Aeith argues with Fifzen and Sevenzen. Firstwen talks to Sixth. Thirtwen also approached the girls by the bleachers.
There's only one person I haven't talked to since the game started. Maybe he's not feeling well? I'd better approach him.
"Players, back to the game. I repeat, players, back to the game. Round 5, the last round will start in 10, 9,"
Wrong timing
"8, 7, 6, 5"
I just went back to my sit.
"4, 3, 2, 1,"
The ball went back to being dark blue. I'm already waiting for the timer in case it has a follow-up message.
"This last round will be a special one. Previous rules were eliminated except for one new rule: There must be one team... who will win this game."
*whistle*