"But it's not every time the water makes us sick..." Yuka murmured, too quietly to be taken seriously, having already mentally surrendered to Tairo's final decision.
Hawke clearly noticed her expression of sadness, her shoulders drooping slightly. Kaira also showed visible disappointment and genuine discouragement on her face.
"How about we have a democratic vote?"
Hawke's voice interrupted Tairo, who had already turned around, determined to take the lead and continue the journey, ignoring the request.
Everyone there immediately looked at Hawke with expressions of doubt and utter confusion.
'Damn it, why do I always have to get involved in situations like this?'
Hawke thought, instantly regretting it.
"What do you mean by a vote?" Tairo said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"A simple vote, whoever wants to go to the lagoon simply raises a hand. If the count of raised hands is greater than the lowered ones, then we go to the lagoon. How about that? Fair for everyone." Hawke had already determined that the group knew how to count.
"No way are we going..." Tairo began to speak, refusing, when the old woman unexpectedly interrupted him, raising a trembling arm high, causing him to immediately fall silent in utter shock.
The old woman's completely unexpected attitude caught absolutely everyone by surprise. Even more intriguing was trying to understand why on earth she would have chosen to vote to go to the lagoon when she had just agreed that it was dangerous. No one knew for sure what her real intentions were.
The old woman cleared her throat loudly, drawing attention.
"NO!"
She declared in an extremely clear and firm tone.
Hawke confusedly assumed that the old woman probably hadn't understood the dynamics of the vote correctly, but whatever the case, her physical action of raising her arm was the perfect opening needed to officially begin the vote that Tairo would never allow otherwise.
"Hey, old woman," Hawke explained loudly. "If you want to vote NOT go, your hand has to be down, not raised!"
The old woman instantly lowered her arm with an irritated growl, realizing her mistake. Tairo just stood there speechless, realizing he couldn't stop it now , he definitely wouldn't go against the old woman's respected authority in front of the others, and Kuggi and Duggi already seemed completely convinced to participate in the vote. He crossed his arms resignedly, waiting for the inevitable outcome, but at least with Grandma's clear NO vote, his side was ahead, and the probability of final victory was extremely high.
Kaira and Yuka raised their hands excitedly almost simultaneously ;Yuka even jumped slightly, lifting one foot off the ground in excitement. Hawke raised his hand immediately afterward without hesitation, receiving in return a look of pure contempt from Tairo, a "traitor" kind of look.
It was a close race ; three votes for YES, two votes for NO. Only Duggi and Kuggi remained to decide the final result.
Tairo gave a slight, extremely confident smile, already seeing the clear and inevitable victory just ahead.
Kuggi scratched his head indecisively, but still didn't raise his hand, as it was expected that he wouldn't lift it., while Duggi seemed completely still like a stone wall, giving no indication of what his vote would be. But something totally unexpected seemed to suddenly convince Duggi, a look, perhaps a threat? He wasn't sure how to interpret it, but he saw this unsettling look when he casually glanced at Hawke.
Hawke stared intently at him with an extremely unusual, almost predatory expression , like a hungry beast silently hunting its unsuspecting prey, his eyes narrowed and intense in a way that Duggi had never seen before. This completely broke his firm posture, making him raise his hand with visible tremors, hesitant, very slowly, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing.
Thus, the vote was four to three for Hawke's team to win. Yuka and Kaira let out a celebratory shout so absurdly loud that they were immediately reprimanded by Tairo, who told them to be quiet, but he reluctantly acknowledged that in a way they had lost the vote democratically. Then he resignedly pointed the correct way toward the lagoon without complaining anymore.
Tairo technically could very well have pointed the wrong way on purpose since he was the only one who had climbed up and seen the lagoon from above, but Hawke already had his opinion formed about his character , he wasn't the kind of petty and vindictive person who would do that. If Hawke suspected even the slightest bit of his honesty, he would climb the tree himself to check the direction personally.
"Hawke..."
Kaira whispered softly, looking back as they walked.
"T-thank you so much for convincing them."
The tone came out much sweeter and softer than usual for her, it even seemed like a completely different person speaking with that sweet voice.
'How cute when she's like that.'
Hawke put a hand behind his head, a little embarrassed by the compliment."It wasn't anything special, really."
"That was fun!" Yuka commented excitedly. "This voting thing... in this game even the women participate actively and have a voice!"
He gave an extremely satisfied smile, as if he had witnessed something revolutionary.
Even the men Kuggi and Duggi had compared it to a game, but for them it was an extremely boring and dull game; their normal games were all based purely on brute force, so the strange addition of the women's active participation in making choices left them constantly criticizing throughout the walk to the lagoon. Which naturally resulted in more and more "educational" blows from the irritated old woman to the head of Duggi who was carrying her, while Tairo remained in absolute silence the entire trip like a sulky child.
Hawke continued meticulously marking the trees along the way, this time using a large X symbol instead of the directional arrow, clearly differentiating this detour from the main route.
At first he had honestly considered the trip to the lagoon a simple side detour without any real advantages or disadvantages; he would go straight to the objective without stopping, but he yielded specifically for the girls who wanted it so much.