"At the count of 10, players must be back in the game, or else the pompoms that the ladies are holding will explode. 10, 9,"
"W-What?!" Tenth shrieked while holding her pompoms.
Tenth was about to throw them when Sectwen stopped her. "Don't do that. It might explode in no time."
Some girls went back to the bleachers and dropped their pompoms. She saw something shining on the handle. If there really was a bomb on it, it must be small to be discreet.
"I'm okay, guys, you can do it. I put my trust in you," Seventh made a hand gesture that he was okay, and the players returned to the court immediately.
"Come on, let's go back!"
"8, 7, 6, 5"
"Get well!"
"4, 3, 2, 1 *whistle*"
They were back in play. Forzen, Sixzen, and Twentieth continued to assist Seventh in his recovery. It had been 03:10, and round 2 was over.
"I think… I'm good," Seventh tried to sit down. He moved his arms and legs.
"Are you sure? You were so much in pain." Sixzen reassured them that they couldn't believe the speed of Seventh's recovery.
Seventh ran to the center and ran around as if nothing had happened. The timer had notified earlier that he could return at any moment when fully recovered. Others were also confused because Seventh had returned to normal.
It caught her attention again that the ball changed. It was still silver in case the flesh inside was different…
"Oh, that organ looks familiar to me… They're in a pair, so it's easy to remember… Uh-huh! Lungs!"
Round 2 ended exactly. The gold team scored again. She couldn't focus well on the game but was deeply disturbed by the two consecutive mishaps that happened to the two players who were in pain, then suddenly felt better.
"When are we going to score…" Tenth sighed sadly. She saw the gold team had scored twice already.
Fifth, who looked weary, sat down on the court holding his chest. Fourth ran from the bleachers and went to her twin brother.
"Brother!"
Fifth took a deep breath as if he was running out of breath.
"Water. Give him some water, please!" Fourth requested.
He seemed to be suffocating and could hardly breathe. They were all confused.
"Does he have asthma?" she questioned Fourth, since she was his sister. She might've known something.
"No, my brother is a varsity student at his school, so he can't have asthma. He must have quit a long time ago if he had one," Fourth replied.
Indeed, a sporty guy like Fifth, not to mention a varsity player, did not simply do sports when he had an ailment.
"You two, are you okay?" she questioned Fifzen and Seventh, the first two to writhe in pain.
"Yeah, my leg is a bit sore, but I can still run," Fifzen answered.
"The pain in my stomach disappeared before, but now, it seems to have a side effect, I don't know, but I can play," Seventh responded.
"One minute break is over. Players, back to the game. I repeat, players, back to the game. Round 3 will start in 10, 9,"
"I'll take care of him," Fourth assured while holding her brother's arms.
They couldn't do anything significant. The players went back, even though they were worried about their friends; they needed to continue the game.
Second sensed that there was something wrong with this game. She already had a suspicion, and if she was right, this incident would happen again.
04:35 and then the gold team scored again.
"Nice shot, Ninezen!"
"Go! Go! Go!"
The cheer of the girls' gold team was audible. They had scored three times now. Their team was doing great.
"What the! Argghhh!" someone shouted again. This time, it was Ninth. He rubbed his face.
"What's this again?"
"It's killing me! It's pricking my eyes, ears, and nose!" He was still rubbing the part of his face that hurt. It wasn't bleeding, but why? It might be some sort of internal bleeding.
In the remaining seconds, no players played. They just waited for the time before the fourth round. The one-minute break for every round was not enough to aid the players. When the round ended, one player was hurt for an unknown reason. This was getting worse.
"I'm just wondering, huh," Seventh muttered. "Why is it that only the players on the silver team are suffering like this?" "Then every time someone shoots, a physical pain attacks a player of the enemy team," Fifth added his realization. He seems okay now, and that was good news.
"When the ball is shot by the opponent in the team's ring, the ball that contains an organ will affect one of your members." Third was holding his chin after saying it, as if he had found an answer to their questions. "Just as I thought, Author's right."
"What does that mean?" Forzen asked incredulously.
Second was surprised to see who spoke next. "When the opponent shoots the ball, the team member's body will be affected depending on which organ is inside the ball held by the opponent." It was First.
Finally, he spoke. Before the game started, she had never heard his voice or interacted with anyone. Maybe he found out something strange that he also wanted to let others know what he knew because they were the only ones who would work together to solve such riddles behind this game.
"I-Isn't that hologram a joke? I thought we were just going to play a simple game, but someone will get hurt b-badly…" Twentieth uttered in a downhearted tone.
Second hadn't noticed that she had come to their bleachers. She must have been deeply concerned for them.
"What are we going to do? Round 4 is about to start," Fifzen alerted them about the incoming round.
She gazed at the timer. They only had 20 seconds to get back into the game.
"Why don't we try that?" Firstwen talked about an initial plan.
The boys gathered, except for Ninth, who was not yet fully recovered. Everyone wondered how they could play without getting hurt.
"All right, that looks like a good plan," Thirtwen agreed. The others nodded and agreed.
"Argh, the pain is still there!" Ninth twitched.
"Drink some water and take a rest first," Firstwen suggested.
"Players, back to the game. I repeat, players, back to the game. Round 4 will start in 10, 9, 8,"
Each team was positioned where they should be. They became more serious than before.
"7, 6, 5, 4,"
She just hoped their plan would work.
"3, 2, 1,"
She knew what they were planning.
"*whistle*"