Getting into the pool

Rohan left the river and dashed towards the forest, and Mai was right behind him. The two of them ran through the forest for a long time, and Rohan tried from time to time to convince her to stop, but she ignored him.

Rohan thought, 'It looks like she really wants to hit me. I have to think of something to make her change her mind or at least delay her so that I can get away.

After some more time running, Rohan was getting exhausted. Because of this, Mai was getting closer to him with every passing second.

Rohan thought, 'She'll catch up with me this way. I need to think of something fast.'

He began to look around quickly, and after a while, he saw something that gave him an idea. 

He then changed his direction and, after a while, arrived in front of the place where the red rune was.

He then went towards the pool of water where the red rune was and stopped with his back to it.

Rohan then said to Mai, who was coming towards him, "Mai, stop now, or even if you hit me, you won't get any runes."

Seeing that Rohan had no room to run, with his back to the red rune pool, Mai said as she walked towards him, "I don't know what you're going to say, but I doubt you're going to change my mind."

"Stop right there. Don't take another step forward." Rohan then took out all the blue runes he had in his bag and said, "If you take another step towards me, I'll throw those runes into the pool."

On hearing this, Mai stopped and said, "You're bluffing. You wouldn't throw away the runes you picked up today. That would have wasted your day. Besides, you need four of those blue runes to get another outfit, or you'll have to spend twenty of your white runes."

"That's true. I really need those runes, and I don't want to throw them in the pool, but I'm not bluffing. If you come near me, I'll throw them."

"Well, I don't believe it."

Mai started to approach Rohan, and when he saw this, he dropped one of the runes into the pool.

Seeing this, Mai stopped and said, "Are you crazy?! Are you really going to throw the runes into the pool?!"

Rohan said, "Yes. I told you I wasn't bluffing."

Mai then stood there looking pensive.

Seeing this, Rohan said, "Mai, think about it. I'm sure we can come to an agreement. There's no point in us antagonizing each other like this."

Mai looked at him and said, "You're right. The best thing to do is reach an agreement."

Rohan was happy to hear that and said, "Yes, exactly! I'm glad you realized that!"

Mai then said, "Make no mistake. The best thing really would be to make a deal, but I don't know when I'll get another chance to hit you, so I'll put that deal aside."

Right after that, Mai advanced towards Rohan, which made him think, 'Damn, looks like there's nothing left to do. Well, even if I get caught, I won't let you have any of my runes,' and then he threw all his blue runes into the red rune pool.

Seeing this, Mai was in shock for a moment and was clearly annoyed, but she kept going towards Rohan.

Rohan raised his hand to defend himself and moved a little away from the red rune pool to avoid falling into it.

He waited for Mai to arrive in front of him, ready to flee at the first opportunity she gave him. Still, she suddenly stopped, seeming to go into a trance as she looked in one direction.

Rohan was surprised by this and thought, 'What is she looking at?

He turned in the direction she was looking and understood what it was, which, in this case, was the pool of the red rune.

Above the water in the pool, a blue liquid was covering it almost completely.

Rohan then thought, 'Where did this blue liquid come from? Could it have something to do with the blue runes I threw into the pool?'

While he was thinking this, Mai approached him, which startled him. However, unlike what he was expecting, she simply ignored him and knelt down beside the pool, putting a finger in the water.

As soon as she had done this, she quickly removed her finger from the water and said, "It's still too hot."

She then remained silent for a while and said, "How many blue runes did you throw in here?"

Rohan stopped to think for a moment and said, "Nine. Why?"

Mai didn't answer him. She picked up one of her blue runes and dropped it into the red rune pool. As soon as it touched the water, the blue rune gradually began to break up, turning into the blue liquid that was covering the top of the pool.

After a while, the rune disappeared completely, and soon, the blue liquid covered the surface of the pool completely.

Seeing this, Mai put a finger in the pool again but then quickly took it out, saying, "The water is still too hot! I thought this might be the solution to getting the red rune, but it seems I was wrong. Well, let's pick up where we left off."

She started towards Rohan, and when he saw this, he took a step back and prepared to run, but just as he was about to flee, he noticed something that made him stop. 

Right after taking the first step, Mai didn't take another step forward.

Rohan then thought, 'How strange. Why did she stop?'

Seeing Rohan stop, Mai said, "What? Why did you stop? Did you decide to accept your punishment quietly?"

Rohan said, "No. After all, you don't seem very interested in coming after me."

"Hmm? What are you talking about? I was just giving you a chance to run a bit before I came after you."

"And why would you do that? It's not like the two of us were fooling around or anything."

"Well, I just wanted to give you a chance to get away, but since you didn't appreciate my kindness, there's no reason for me to hold back any longer."

Right after that, Mai took another step forward but stopped right after it and watched Rohan.

Seeing this, he said, "Hahaha, I didn't expect you to be so bad at lying. You clearly have no intention of following me, and there's only one reason why you'd be trying to trick me."

Right after he said this, Mai turned towards the pool and ran into it, throwing herself into the water. Rohan didn't waste any time either, and as soon as he saw her turn around, he ran towards the pool and threw himself into the water right behind her.

The two of them then started swimming towards the light of the red rune, but Rohan was a little behind Mai as she had jumped into the pool before him.

Rohan then thought, 'Damn, it doesn't look like I'm going to get past her. Maybe I should call her Mei again ... no, I already know how much it annoys her, and even though we already have a bad relationship, there's no point in making the situation any worse. I'll have to think of another way to stop her.

Rohan continued to follow Mai as he considered a way to stop her until he had an idea and thought, 'Maybe... maybe this will work.'

He started swimming as fast as he could and then managed to get close to Mai. Then he stretched out one of his arms and grabbed one of her legs.

Feeling her leg being pulled, Mai said, "Hey! Let go of me now! Why do you always have to resort to dirty means to try to beat me?!"

Rohan said, "What do you want me to do?! Leave the red rune to you?!"

"Yes. It would be very nice if you did that. I could even forgive a lot of the things you've done so far."

"It's a shame, but that's not going to happen. Who knows when another red rune will be found. I can't give up on this one."

"Well, too bad for you because that rune is mine. Now get off my back!"

Right after that, Mai used her other leg to throw water in Rohan's face, which made him swallow some of it.

Rohan started coughing but didn't let go of Mai's foot and said, "You, *cough*, didn't have to do, *cough*, that."

Mai said, "I wouldn't have had to do that if you'd let go of my foot."

"*cough*, *cough*, Ahh! I didn't plan on it coming to this since I don't know how well you swim, but since you made me swallow water, I'm going to do the same to you!"

"And how do you plan to do that? You know you're not stronger than me. If you try to push me underwater, it's you who will suffer."

"Don't worry, I have my methods."

Mai was confused to hear this and was about to ask what he was talking about when suddenly she saw Rohan's other hand coming towards her foot. 

A thought then crossed her mind, and she said, "Don't you dare do that!"

Rohan said, "Too late.", and then immediately began to tickle Mai's foot.