Chapter 38 Let the final game begin...

'Well, now that we introduced each other, what to do next?' I looked away and saw the pair on my left staring at us. I hesitated and said, "She ermm... Just won the Pessimistic / Drama Queen competition, and she wants to keep practising. After all, practice makes perfect. You know."

They silently stared at me. I mumbled to myself. "What bullshit am I sprouting? Even I wouldn't believe what I just said."

The pair looked at each other and nodded. "I see." They looked at the girl and said, "Congratulations."

I was puzzled. 'Those competitions exist? I never knew. Maybe I should have listened to my Ma and go out more.'

A voice came from my right. "What are you talking about? There are no such thing as a Pessimistic / Drama queen competition."

I looked to my right and saw an odd pair, a boy who was busy looking at the back of the mirror, and the other boy who had freckled milk-white skin and was looking very timid.

I said. "Oh really? Good, 'cause I made that up."

The person holding the mirror said. "Oh, of course. Because I would have joined it and won."

I smiled awkwardly. "Ah...I see..."

The boy with the mirror said. "Oh, I'm so beautiful. Aren't I?"

I replied. "You should flip your mirror to see yourself."

"Oh?" He flipped the mirror and screamed. "AAHHHH!!! A BEAST!!!" Then he fainted on the ground. His pair saw him fainted and then fainted as well. I stood there staring at the pair in confusion. 'Did he just think that his face was a beast?' Suddenly, some brute men came and dragged them somewhere. I gulped nervously.

[Oh, would you look at that? Those pair lost without trying. Aren't you bunnies lucky? One team less. Now that you all have been paired, let the final game begin. On my mark, little bunnies.]

Some children began preparing, and some were glaring at each other. The pair on our left waved at us. "Good luck. May the best pair win." The blue screen started to count down.

The audience began to cheer.

3.

2.

1.

Start!

As soon as the countdown ended, the children began rushing into the maze. A few seconds inside the maze, I could hear children screaming and blood sound splatting. I just stood outside the maze completely still as I waited for the little girl to move. I waited for a minute and noticed that the little girl didn't have the slightest intention to go into the maze.

I turned toward the little girl and asked. "Want to go now?"

She shook her head and said. "What's the use? We will die a horrible death if we go in. I don't like that. Outside is safer."

I looked toward the entrance of the maze and felt a dark eerie presence. I trembled and said. "I guess you're right."

[Oh? So you are forfeiting, my little bunnies?]

"Huh?" I looked up and saw Mr. James on one of the little blue screens.

[If that's true...]

Mr. James waved his hands, and a few scary brute men came rushing toward us. I screamed. "Ack!! They're coming at us. They're coming at us. They look worse than those monsters inside!" I grabbed the little girl and rushed into the maze.

[Au revoir, my little bunnies ~]

"Huff... Puff... Oui... Those brute men look like they could eat us..." I trembled in fear. "Hmm?" I looked behind and saw the little girl's face turned pale. "Oh, crap! You alright?" She slowly looked up, and I saw her eyes filled with tears.

"Scawyyyy..." She wailed. I panicked when she started crying.

I took her bear toy and said. "Don't cry. If you cry, Mr. Bear will be heartbroken, right?" I imitate the bear sound and played with it. The girl stopped crying and stared at Mr. Bear.

She asked. "But what if we all die because that stupid girl pulled us into the maze blindly?"

I coughed. 'Stupid? Ouch!' I looked at the girl as she waited for Mr. Bear's answer.

I answered in Mr. Bear's voice. "No worry. Everything will be fine. Trust Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear will protect you."

The girl's eyes sparkled and smiled. "Okay. I'll trust Mr. Bear! And don't worry, I'll protect you too, Mr. Bear." She hugged Mr. Bear and danced around. I sighed in relief and looked around us for any danger.

No matter where I looked, all I could see was our reflection. "Sigh... How do we get out of this place? There's nothing but mirrors here." I touched the mirrors and remembered what happened to the dogs. "Hmm... How did those monsters jump in and out of these mirrors?" I tried pushing the mirror, but nothing happened. "Oui... This is so confusing."

The little girl poked me. "What are you doing? Aren't we supposed to go to the next level? Look!" I looked at where the little girl pointed. The large blue screen showed a few pairs had reached the second level.

"Oui... They're fast."

The little girl pouted. "Hurry, slowpoke." She rushed forward, and I followed her. "Hey! Wait for me!"

As I followed the little girl, I realized she was very good at navigating herself through the maze. Oddly, I didn't feel any danger around us. Within a few minutes, we reached the centre of the maze. The little girl hurried to the ladder, but I stopped her.

"Hey! What's the big deal? Let go of me!" The little girl struggled to break free as I hold onto her hand.

"Shh! Did you forget what Mr. James said? There's a guardian we need to defeat first before we can climb the ladder."

The little girl frowned. "The guardian has been defeated already, dumbo! Now let's go!"

I shook my head and said. "It won't respawn?"

She glared at me and slapped my hands away. "No, it won't. So hurry up already." She rushed toward the ladder and started climbing. I cautiously followed her from behind, and we easily reached the second level.

"Whew. Looks like there wasn't any guardian at all. How did you know?" I asked the little girl.

The little girl said in annoyance. "'Cause Mr. James already explained just now. Didn't you listen? Now stop talking and start moving those dumb legs."

I was baffled by the sudden change in her attitude. I shook my head. 'It must be my imagination.' I continued to follow behind the little girl. As we walked deeper into the maze, the path gradually got darker as well as my tingling sense of someone or something was watching from somewhere.

I patted the little girl. "What?" She looked behind. "Be careful. We're not alone."

The little girl looked at me in disappointment. "Of course, we're not alone. There are other pairs here, duh! I can't believe I got paired up with someone who doesn't have a brain cell." I got pissed when I heard the insult. I wanted to scold her, but I pulled her back instead.

Bloop.

A monster came out from the mirror. The monster was small and had a grotesque look. It had green-colored skin with large pointy ears, red eyes with green pupils, and a long sharp nose. It was holding a wooden mace, a dagger, and a bomb on its waist. 'Goblin.' That was the first thing that popped into my mind. Nothing else could fit those descriptions except a goblin. I clenched my fist and was panicking a bit. I started looking around for any more of them since goblins tend to attack in groups. It slowly turned around and saw us. It looked at us in confusion.

The little girl whispered. "What's wrong with that monster?"

I replied as calmly as possible. "Probably thought he hit something to find that he missed totally."

The little girl scoffed. "Are you afraid?"

I asked in confusion. "Are you not?"

"Gwargh!" The goblin screamed and ran toward us with its mace. The little girl smiled and threw three large metal needles at the goblin. The metal needles stabbed through and killed the goblin instantly. The little girl picked up her weapon and put it back into her clothes.

"Easy." She flipped her hair.

I looked at her in disbelief. "Oui... Thank goodness she's not my enemy." I looked at her weapon. 'Where did she get those?'

Kishik. Kishik.

There were some weird noises from above. I looked up and saw a huge group of goblins hanging on the mirror. I was horrified and screamed. "Run!" I picked up the little girl and ran as fast as I could. "AAAHHH!!! It was raining goblins!" I screamed. I knew goblins would travel in groups, but not this many. The goblins dropped down while screaming and crashed onto the ground. I dodged those crazy goblins and stopped once I felt it was safe. I turned around, and there was green blood everywhere.

"I guessed that's it. What a waste." The little girl said in a calm tone.

I placed the little girl down and thought. 'What kind of place is this? Chimaera and now goblin? This place is driving me crazy.' I sighed and continued forward.