Time stilled.
The wind's howl ceased.
The leaves floating in the air stood frozen in time.
"Ready!" Ren shouted, his voice roaring like a lion in the silent backyard.
Kai intimidated Ace by rolling his sleeves up until they bulged over his mountainous arm muscles.
Not one to give up, Ace smirked at him, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing his seductive collarbone and the dip of his still-growing chest muscles.
They silently flexed their response.
Ren nodded in satisfaction. Bending down, he removed his spongebob yellow socks and waved it once in the air.
"GO!"
Hiding behind the bush, Hari took a deep breath and held it still, afraid that her loud breathing would disturb the magnificent fight. Sweat beaded across her forehead, and when a drop of sweat was about to fall on the ground, her eyes widened and she quickly raised her hand to wipe it away.
"Here you go!"
Both boys shouted at once, running toward each other like bulls in rage.
Hari's body stiffened as she waited in anticipation for massive damage. After all, next to Kai, a 15-kilo dumbbell, Ace was practically an earbud with cotton stuck on each side.
And then… it happened.
Both boys, who had approached each other like desperate diarrhea patients running to the toilet, stopped abruptly. Their shoes screeched against the ground, stirring up dust and sand. With clenched teeth, they both raised their hands in the air.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
They shouted at the top of their lungs.
"-_-"
Hari's mouth hung open, dropping into a speechless look. Not in her wildest dreams did she think that the legendary fight between the two notorious gangs of Koharu High, the people spoke highly of, was a game of… Rock, Paper, Scissors, a game she had even stopped playing after kindergarten.
"Seriously, when did the meaning of throwing fists change?" she muttered under her breath.
Much to her disappointment and utter contradiction, the members of both Coffee & Saccharine and Tea & Drama were watching the match intently, as if this were a do-or-die situation the two players were engaged in.
But what could she do? They were legends here, and she did want to follow in the path of legends.
Throwing away her thoughts, she returned her attention back to the game… clears throat …the fight.
At the first throw, it was Ace who led Kai by cutting Kai's paper. On the second throw, Kai successfully broke the paper with stone. The intense "fight" continued for a solid two minutes.
Sparks flew, sweat dripped, and the animosity between the two gangs was so thick in the air it almost choked the girl hiding behind the bush.
Not to mention, Jamie stepped forward to hold a two-litre juice can straight to Kai's lips to make sure their soldier on the battlefield didn't go thirsty. On the other side, Rumi wasn't one to give up. She diligently stepped beside Ace and wiped his sweat with her kerchief.
After another five minutes of bloody battle, the game ended in a draw.
Ren scowled and exchanged glances with Blake, but before Blake could open his mouth, Ren declared.
"Super Over. Last five throws. The winners are Masters."
Looking at the blonde being smug and arrogant, Blake refused to waste his precious voice. He simply nodded at Ace, his hands still tucked solemnly inside his pockets.
Behind the bush, Hari was astonished at their otherworldly determination.
The first four throws ended with both Ace and Kai scoring two points each. The final throw would decide the victor, the one who would be the Master, and the other, the servant.
Both knights closed their eyes in unison. Taking a deep breath, they steadied their inner souls, making sure their next move would deliver a massive blow to the other.
When they opened their eyes again, Kai's gaze burned like a spewing volcano, ready to turn Ace to ashes, while Ace's pupils glowed blue, chill as ice, cold enough to freeze Kai into a statue.
"ROCK… PAPER… SCISSORS!"
But before they could throw their fists, the sharp ring of the school bell echoed, signaling the end of the lunch break.
Ren frowned in annoyance. "Don't think this is the end. Sunday, Old Man Hal's tea shop, 2 p.m.," he spat out.
Without waiting for Blake's reply, he turned and strode out of the backyard, his team members following behind him like a little tail.
Rumi glared at her brother's back, hoping to drill a hole into it. "A group of cowards," she muttered.
Blake gave her a pointed look, and Rumi bit her lip and huffed before turning her gaze away from her brother's head.
Now alone in the school's backyard, Hari stood like the sole testament to the fight that had just taken place. The once-murderous battlefield was now empty, and the sweat shed was the only evidence, apart from herself—of how intense the fight had been.
She cursed the damn school bell that had ruined the epic fight of the legends. She continued to stand there in a daze, staring at the place where the two gangs had faced off moments ago, a hint of melancholy hitting her hard.
And in the end, she—Hari, the new transfer student of Koharu High, successfully landed herself in the record books for late arrivals to class.