Deal

"AHH! Let go of my foot now! Don't you know that's against the rules?!" said Mai as she shook and swung her legs desperately, trying to get rid of Rohan.

Rohan said, "Big words for someone who was planning to beat me up less than five minutes ago, but I'm surprised. I expected you to be ticklish on the foot, but I didn't expect it to be to this degree. It seems that your foot is your weak point."

"Let go ... of my ... foot." Mai said as she laughed from time to time.

"Why? You seem to be having so much fun."

"I ... I'm going to kill you."

"Well, you'll have to release your foot if you want to do that."

Mai didn't say anything more and just kept trying to free her foot from Rohan's hand, but after trying for a long time without success, she was running out of steam and was even starting to have trouble swimming.

Rohan then thought, 'That seems to be enough. She won't be able to swim for a while, and since the water is shallow here, there's no risk of her drowning.

He then let go of Mai's foot and said, "Well, I think you've had enough fun, Mai. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a red rune waiting for me."

Rohan started swimming quickly towards the red rune, but before he could get much distance, he felt a weight on his back that almost made him sink underwater.

He then stopped swimming, propped his feet up on the ground, and said, "Get off my back, Mai! You almost made me drink water again!"

Mai said nothing and seemed out of breath.

Seeing this, Rohan thought, 'She must have used up the rest of her breath to get on my back,' and said, "Mai, you're clearly in no condition to continue swimming. Get off my back before I sink into the water with you."

Mai then said a little breathlessly, "Feel ... free.", and then wrapped her arms around Rohan's neck, trying to strangle him.

Rohan was surprised by this and quickly used his hands to try to free himself from her, but although he managed to make room to breathe, he couldn't get Mai's arms off his neck.

Rohan then thought, 'Where is she getting all this strength from?!', and said, "Mai, let go of me! I can feel your breasts on my back!"

"No problem. Enjoy the sensation because this will be the last sensation you'll ever have in your life."

Soon after, Mai tightened her grip on his neck, which made Rohan start to have a little trouble breathing and think, 'Damn, she really doesn't plan to let me go. I have to do something.'

Rohan then said, "Mai, listen to me. Let's make a deal," but Mai ignored him and continued to squeeze his neck.

"The deal will be to your advantage, Mai. I promise."

Mai said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Can you ease up on my neck a bit? It's hard to talk like that."

Mai didn't answer him and simply squeezed his neck a little tighter.

"Hey! It's okay! You don't have to ease up, but don't squeeze any harder!"

"Tell me about the deal."

"... Okay. Here's the idea. We'll try to get the rune at the same time."

Mai squeezed Rohan's neck again and said, "What?! Are you kidding?!"

"N-No, *cough*, I'm serious. Don't you remember that Hes said that if two people took the runes at the same time, it would multiply?"

"I know that, but do you know how difficult it is to make that happen?"

"No, I've never tried, but it shouldn't be too complicated."

"You couldn't be more wrong. I tried it with some white runes, but I couldn't get the timing right once."

"Well, maybe you've just been unlucky. I've thought of a method that might make it easier."

"I'm listening."

"The method is simple. We just need to hold each other's hands."

Mai was about to squeeze Rohan's neck again, and realizing this, he said, "Calm down! Wait for me to finish explaining. I'll use my hand to show you what I meant."

Rohan placed his hands where Mai could see them and then put them together, interlacing all the fingers except the index and thumb.

Rohan said, "If we put our hands together like this and use our index fingers to touch the red rune, I think we'll have a good chance of touching it at the same time."

Mai said, "Hm, I know what you mean, but you don't really think I'm going to do that, do you?"

"Hm? Why not?"

"First of all, I'm not going to hold your hand, let alone intertwine fingers with you."

"... Mai, I understand your point, but I don't know if you remember that you have your breasts pressed against my back! Don't you think it's past the point of you feeling ashamed for holding my hand?!"

"I'm not ashamed of holding your hand! I just don't want to! Besides, there's no guarantee that you won't try to get in front of me when we touch the rune or that you'll touch it first by luck."

"Well, you're right. There's no way you can know that, but I'll promise you something else."

"Go ahead."

"I'll only keep the red rune in case we manage to multiply it. Otherwise, even if I'm the first to touch it, I'll give it to you."

"You're kidding, right?! Do you really think I'm going to believe that?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but you don't have to believe me."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's only the two of us here, so even if I take the red rune first, and I don't want to give it to you, you can take it from me by force just like you planned to do with the blue runes."

Mai was then silent for a while and said, "All right, I'll accept your deal, but you'd better not try to run with the red rune."

Rohan said, "Don't worry, I won't."

Mai got off Rohan's back, and then the two of them headed towards the red rune. On the way, Mai was watching Rohan to make sure he didn't try to pick up the red rune in front of him, but to her surprise, he didn't try anything.

The two arrived in front of the red rune, and Rohan said, "Well, we're close enough. Now, please give me your hand."

Mai said, "Okay." Then she took his hand, and soon after, they intertwined all their fingers except the index and thumb. 

They then stretched out their index fingers, adjusting them so that they were at the same height, and then dived towards the red rune.

After a few seconds, they both arrived in front of the red rune and began to stretch their hands together towards it.

Mai was holding Rohan's hand very tightly, ready to stop him if he tried to let go and grab the rune in front of him. Still, to her surprise, Rohan didn't try anything of the sort until they were in front of the rune.

The two of them then touched the rune, but nothing happened. The rune didn't multiply as Hes had said.

Rohan let go of Mai's hand and started to come up for air, and Mai picked up the red rune and went after him.

They both caught their breath after climbing, and Mai said, "Looks like your idea didn't work."

Rohan said, "Yeah, it's a shame, really, especially thinking about all the blue runes I've lost, but there's no point in crying over spilled milk. Well, congratulations on being the first to get a red rune. I'm leaving now."

"Where do you intend to go?"

"Well, I need to try and make up for the fact that I got my clothes wet, so I'm going to look for another river."

"For as long as we've been here, I don't think it's likely that you'll find a river that still has any runes in it."

"I know that, but I have to try. Along the way, I'll also pick up some white runes."

"If you want, I can help you pay for your clothes. After all, I ended up taking advantage of you to get the red rune."

"No, you don't have to. No offense, but the only thing I want from you is distance."

"What?! How can you say something like that to someone's face?"

"That's why I said no offense."

"That doesn't make what you said any better."

"Well, let me explain why I said that, and maybe you won't feel so offended."

"Okay, explain it to me then, please."

"We're in a competition, aren't we?"

"Yes."

"That means we're going to keep competing for runes until we get out of here, right?"

"Yes, as it has been since the beginning."

"So, I can't promise that I won't end up offending you again until I've collected all my runes, so I'd rather keep my distance from you. That way, I don't have to worry about other people following me to stop me from getting runes."

"... I understand, but if you want, I can promise you that I won't do it again."

"No. We'll just stay away from each other. In fact, you don't even have to worry about that. Before I leave, I'll see which direction you want to go and I'll go in the opposite direction. That way, we won't even have to fight over runes."

"I don't think you have to go that far, but fine, I won't argue."

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Rohan then walked away from Mai, disappearing into the forest.