The whistle rang out to show that it was time for the players to get themselves ready. Bunny was already gearing up and I made my way to her to wish her good luck. Her little pig tails were swinging back and forth and she was jumping happily on the spot because she was excited to play.

When she spotted me, she waved and I smiled at her.

“I’m so happy you came to watch my game, Aera! This is a dream. I want to be a professional palet player!” She exclaimed and I smiled at how cute she was with her beaming and her bursts of energy. She had conjured up an energy pallet and jumped onto it, balancing herself on it and I grabbed her hand, the female telling me not to worry. “I’m one of the best, don’t you know?”

“I still don’t understand the game but it looks like it’s dangerous, Bunny.”

“Oh, you’ll get used to it, Aera. It’s fine! You hit, you shoot, you score, you fly, you die!” She beamed at me and hopped off. “Today, Corsiva and Justicia are playing together against the Veritas and the Integritas. Yellow and Green against Blue and Red. It’s going to be a game to die for!”

“Okay, but don’t actually die, will you?”

“No promises.” She smiled at me and I pinched her cheek, Kim Bunny running to Na Jaemin who was twirling a staff between his fingers. I saw Jeno and Doyoung under the blue tent and headed towards them.

Doyoung was talking to Jeno, the male patting Jeno on the shoulders and speaking as if he was giving Jeno instructions.

“I want you to crush her dreams, Jeno,” Doyoung was saying and I stopped beside both of them, Doyoung paying me no mind. “I want you to make sure that she wants to not become a palet player. I mean, what kind of crazy dream is that? Tell her she wants to become a vet or something.”

“Really?” Jeno was asking, putting on his knee pads. “A vet?”

“A vet is better than my sister wanting to play palet for a living!” Doyoung snipped, massaging Jeno’s shoulders. “You can do it. Do it for Bunny’s future.”

“Hyung, I won’t go easy on Kim Bunny but to break her dreams?”

“Break her arms if you have to. But she writes with her right arm so make sure it’s the left,” he told Jeno, Jeno raising an eyebrow.

“Seriously?”

“What? And if she sprains her ankle, you take care of her. Just don’t break her legs, I can’t handle her waddling around like a seal.”

“Wow, Hyung. You really thought this through.”

I blinked, the conversation was enough for me to realize that Doyoung wanted his sister away from the sport and he would utilize Jeno’s dark soul to get what he wanted. I crossed my arms across my chest, Doyoung turning to stare at me.

“What?”

“Whatever you heard, that is exactly what is happening,” Jeno butted in, and Doyoung snorted. “He’s trying to make me murder his sister. Look, look—”

Doyoung’s bracelet clouded and I saw Doyoung’s eyes widen, Jeno snapping his fingers in front of his hyung’s face.

“Meditate. It works.” Jeno rolled his shoulders, trying to relax them. “I’ll go and shake Bunny’s hand for formalities.”

That was when Lee Jeno walked away from us to Kim Bunny, leaving me and Doyoung staring at him from behind.

“You are a horrible brother,” I told Doyoung, the male narrowing his eyes at me before he told me that I would understand if I had a sibling I really cared about, to which I told him that I did. I cared about Aro more than anything in the world and with that answer, Doyoung looked at me, confused.

“Well then, what do you not understand?” His question was cut off by a very loud yelp from the yellows, the people dispersing when we saw that Jeno was holding a server’s bat.

“Jeno is holding a bat!” A shrill scream from a female echoed out and I frowned, trying to assess the situation. “Step awayyyyyy from Lee Jeno!”

“Oh, not again!” This time, it was Na Jaemin. “Remember what happened last time? Jeno put down the bat!”

“What happened to Jeno last time?” I asked Doyoung, the Head boy of the Verita house shrugging.

“Nothing happened to him. It was he who beat Wonwoo up.”

“Why?”

“Beats me. Jeno is a good kid but he has his moments. That was a long time back when he was hovering between his current shade and his darker shade.”

“Jeno has moved on and picked up a staff!” Another scream sounded but this time it was from the greens. People were intimidated by Jeno and they didn’t hide it. I decided to ask Doyoung to explain the game, Doyoung turning to me and trying to explain them in simple terms.

“If you don’t understand, there are goalkeepers. They have staffs and they twirl it to produce a shield and to keep the balls away from the goal. In games that are conjoined, an example is this game with the greens and the yellows playing against the blues and the reds, there are four goalies instead of two.” He motioned to the bat on the floor.

“That is a server’s bat. The moment a server swings the bat and the ball is in the air, that means the game has started. The ball itself flies around due to the energy inside but most of the time it’s like a boomerang. It’s very unpredictable. And like basketball, a game that the normal citizens play, they get the ball and throw it through the hoop.”

“And people just navigate around on their color disks?” I asked, Doyoung motioning to his sister on the side who was on her energy pallet, one hand free and another hand propelling her forward. “So, you’re basically playing with one hand because another will be used to control your disk?”

“Yes. You can also jump on someone elses’ disk but if it’s their color, they will be able to diminish it. Another rule is that you can’t destroy a disk of a different color. That is a foul, but you can do whatever to throw them off their own disk. That’s why it’s risky to go on someone else’s pallet because if one of their colors catches you and destroys it, you fall and you basically go out.”

“And the two ways to win?”

“Either score more or get rid of the other team, throw them off their disks and etc. I know the yellows will try to score while the greens get rid of the people. It’s a tactic but it’s been widely used. Don’t worry, Sungchan and Cupid will be commentating the game so you’ll learn as you go.” Doyoung passed me a smile. “Come. I assure you; you’ll enjoy it.”

And I did.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The game had started.

Bunny and Haechan, both MVP players of their teams had shot into the sky. I saw Jaehyun and Jeno shake hands, wishing each other good luck since they were in the same team.

Jeno had conjured an energy disk, Jaehyun the following suit when Sungchan began to commentate. The tall Verita’s voice echoed throughout the field.

“Johnny Suh, Vice of Integrita is going to serve the ball! There he goes with the bat, let’s see how far the ball goes this time!” Sungchan began, Johnny walking to the middle of the field, a bat on his left shoulder.

He raised a hand a waved to the reds and the blues, a wave of support coming from them.

“Go, Johnny!” Dana was yelling from beside me. “Wooohooooo, es!”

Doyoung chuckled and the ball was released. Johnny prepared himself, gripping the end of the bat when the ball shot towards him, Johnny swinging the bat and a crack sounded. The ball flew into the air, going so far it disappeared when there was a woosh and it had made its way straight back.

“Bunny! Focus!”

Haechan was yelling, Bunny conjuring up energy disks for Haechan who began to conserve his energy. There was a reason why Bunny and Haechan were best friends—they worked very well together. I saw Haechan climb up Bunny’s energy disk-like stairs, the female swooping through the air.

Mark had noticed this, the male rushing up and dropping down one of Bunny’s disks, the male following Haechan from behind. Bunny began to panic, the female trying to diminish the first steps of yellow but Mark was faster.

“Don’t worry about him, Bunny! Focus!” Haechan was telling his best friend.

“Mark Lee has found a way to follow Haechan up Bunny’s energy stairs. What is going to be their tactic this time? Oop, Haechan had jumped onto Jeno’s energy disk, the two are fighting! Now, where is the ball?”

“Sungchan, you fail to mention that it seems like the greens and the yellows have different roles. Lee Haechan, Nakamoto Yuta, and Zhong Chenle; the star players are trying to throw the other colors off their energy pallets to eliminate them! The yellows are definitely focusing more on shooting the goal.”

“Oh! Lee Jeno had managed to throw Haechan off his disk!”

Haechan had fallen from Jeno’s disk, the male dangerously dropping to the ground with such speed.

“Haechan had managed to save himself by conjuring his own disk—That was a close call.”

Haechan zoomed up into the air, Jeno gritting his teeth. I began to see Renjun enter the game, the smaller framed male fast to pepper small blue energy disks all over the air, a green taking the opportunity to jump onto the disk when Renjun smirked.

He quickly destroyed it, the green falling down onto the ground, Chenle hissing out.

“DO NOT! Go onto the blues or the reds!”

He was frustrated.

“Jung Jaehyun had taken a hold of the ball!” Cupid continued. There were so many things going on, I didn’t know where to look. Jaehyun had somehow got the ball, passing it onto Mark who swung it to Johnny.

Johnny looked around, frozen on the spot when Renjun zoomed past him, Johnny passing it to him. Renjun shot the ball forward but Na Jaemin had already taken the post as the goalie. Twirling the staff between his fingers, the ball slammed against the shield and everyone let out a disappointed sigh, the ball making its way back straight to Jeno.

“So, they can’t hold the ball for more than three seconds?” I asked Dana, the female peering through binoculars.

“Yeah. They just need to keep passing the ball. It seems like the greens had given up on scoring. They’re going to play dirty,” she told me and I saw Yuta tighten his cuffs, his eyes on Jaehyun. “Nakamoto Yuta has marked your boyfriend.”

Right as she said, Yuta propelled himself forward, tagging on Jaehyun who looked irritated.

“Johnny Suh has gotten the ball! He has gotten the ball but why isn’t he aiming for the goal?” Sungchan asked, everyone’s attention going to Johnny Suh who was holding the ball.

Johnny’s eyes flashed red, the male aiming at one of the yellows when he chucked the ball forward. The yellow was taken by surprise, the male stepping off his energy pallet and falling onto the ground. There was a buzzing sound.

“Boo Seungkwan! Eliminated!”

“Good job, Johnny!” Jaehyun yelled, Nakamoto Yuta still making it impossible for Jaehyun to get the ball with him trailing him. “Jeno, time to switch roles!”

Lee Jeno was no longer guarding the goal, Kim Bunny bouncing from green to yellow energy pallets so she wouldn’t have to conjure her own when Haechan let out a yell—He had tried to eliminate Renjun, the male failing and now hanging off Renjun’s disk.

“Is the yellow going to save her friend or she is going to continue to try to get the ball?”

Bunny decided to jump onto her own disk, flying over to Haechan who let go when he saw his friend. Both of them clung onto each other trying to balance when Jeno took the opportunity to rush forward, slamming against both of them, Haechan yelping.

Bunny’s pallet was disappearing, the female looking exhausted from having to handle the weight when Haechan jumped off, sacrificing himself for Kim Bunny.

“What the —”

“You got this, Bunny!”

“Lee Haechan! Eliminated!”

Bunny’s lips were in a tight line now, the female removing her pigtails and finally putting it up in a ponytail instead. Her eyes narrowed on Lee Jeno, the male already moving onto eliminating the other yellows.

“It worked once; it’ll work again! I see that Jaehyun had gotten the ball, what is he going to do with it? Nakamoto Yuta is right beside him and they are fighting for ownership—”

Jaehyun, being unable to move or it would be a foul was trying to pass the ball to someone on his team but he was surrounded by greens. They had swarmed around him, Zhong Chenle telling him to pass the ball to Yuta.

But Jung Jaehyun had different ideas, the head boy dropping the ball and stepping off his disk and shooting downwards. Johnny was waiting, Jaehyun planting his feet on Johnny’s disk just for the ball to be caught by Jeno.

“Smart, Jaehyun. If he didn’t do that, they would have found a way to eliminate him,” Dana told me.

But Jeno was then rammed by an aggressive Kim Bunny, the female taking the ball and throwing it impressively into the air, another yellow getting it.

“Shotaro has the ball! And Shotaro is now… Eliminated!”

Mark had pounced on Shotaro, both of them twirling in the air. Shotaro dropped to the ground, Mark trying to make an energy pallet to no avail, he managed to grab on but Bunny was quick to diminish the disk that was yellow.

“On your mark! Get set! Gone!”

Another buzz and Mark was eliminated, the ball shooting back to the sky. The yellows and the greens were outnumbered. With Lee Haechan out, Kim Bunny knew she had to carry the weight of the whole team, the female focusing on simply trying to stay on the air.

Jaehyun’s body was filled with sweat, trying to fight the ball when it barreled straight to him. It slammed against his stomach, Jaehyun gasping when he lost balance. Despite having the ball, he had slipped backward, the male refusing to let go of the ball but exhaustion making it hard for him to conjure an energy pallet.

“Is he going to be eliminated? Is he? Oh! Lee Jeno got him!”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Jeno had swooped and grabbed Jaehyun, bringing him up. Jaehyun looked grateful, throwing the ball up to Johnny when Kim Bunny appeared from nowhere, jumping onto Johnny’s back and holding on.

Both of them began to fight, the ball shooting straight back to Jeno when Jaehyun managed to step onto his own disk. Jeno grabbed the ball, aiming for both Johnny and Bunny when he flung the ball forward.

“Johnny Suh, Eliminated!”

Johnny had jumped down but Bunny was still clinging onto the red pallet, the ball slamming against her leg as it tried to make its way back to Jeno. She cried out, drops of sweat sliding down the side of her face when we all realized that she was in pain.

“,” Kim Doyoung cursed from beside me, Kim Bunny managing to climb onto Johnny’s disk that was fading. “My sister is hurt. Forfeit! Forfeit! Oi! Greens, do something!”

But the greens were focused on trying to score, not a single care in the world that there was a yellow trying to hold on. Jaehyun had gotten the ball and was fighting off the greens when Kim Bunny closed her eyes, letting go of the disk.

“I forfeit!” She could be heard saying, Jeno rushing to her. He managed to grab her so she won’t bounce back on the net. From where I was, I saw Jeno catch her in his arms, Bunny wincing as both of them hovered in the air.

Jeno’s arms tightened around her waist, Bunny holding onto him with her eyes closed like she was scared of the impact of falling. I smiled when Jeno finally gently lowered her on the ground, Bunny falling onto the ground, gripping her ankle.

“You wanted this, Doyoung,” I told Doyoung, the male rushing to go find his sister.

I saw Jeno give Bunny one last look of concern before heading back to play the game.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The reds and the blues won.

Without Kim Bunny and Lee Haechan, the greens had no sense of teamwork and Na Jaemin was quick to forfeit his post. Lee Taeyong appeared to play the rest of the game but he too looked too worried to focus. Once yellow forfeited and they didn’t seem all to mad about it because their fellow housemate got hurt, the greens began to aggressively crowd the people who had the ball.

It didn’t end well.

A few people got injured, Nakamoto Yuta had catapulted the ball towards the goal and scored one but right after, Jaehyun had scored another. With no yellow members, the greens were outnumbered, and quickly, they lost.

After the game, I watched as the Integritas basked in their victory of palet. I could see Johnny yelling out loud to everyone that they worked extra hard and this is why they won. The greens were seething like the reds winning were the worse thing that has ever happened in the whole world and it wasn’t long before I saw Jaehyun and Yuta stare each other down across the field.

I thought to myself that if I stayed, I may witness a fight break out and the stress of watching palet was enough to make me want to take some time alone to recharge. Kim Bunny was on the ground, wincing as Kim Doyoung checked his sister out. I quickly slipped away to walk towards the stream.

I decided to see my brother.

I saw Aro once in a while but he was always an individualistic child. Every time I saw him, it would be both of us trying to conjure shields. Aro was always very active and his energy was off the roof.

When I reached the cottage, I saw my little brother cleaning the place. He smiled when he saw me as if he was expecting me and I stepped in. The shack was a simple place, with two beds and a bunch of items on the furniture. I looked out the window to see Moon Tae-il holding up his staff before he began to move his body freely, completing his Tai-chi moves.

I felt a presence beside me and I turned to see Aro staring out the window with me.

“Moon Tae-il is the coolest,” Aro gushed, beaming at the man who was unaware of us watching him.

“What does he do? He’s just grumpy all the time.”

“He just likes his serenity, Noona,” Aro told me and I fidgeted with the vase that was on the table, Aro shaking his head and straightening it. “Don’t do that. Janitor Moon doesn’t like it when people move his stuff.”

“Mhm? You seem very close with him, Aro. What else does he not like people doing?”

“A lot of things. He grumbles about the students once in a while and I just listen!” Aro smiled at me, hopping down from the stool he was standing on so he could look out the window. “And before he sleeps at night, he takes out his eyes and I wash it for him.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. My brother had such a wild imagination.

“Sure, Aro.”

“I love him so much, Noona. When I scare him, he doesn’t even blink! He told me that if I keep washing his eyes very nicely, I’ll get to study with the younglings soon.”

I frowned at the second time Aro had mentioned washing Moon Tae-il’s eyeballs. I was wondering what the that meant but I knew better than to say it. My train of thought was interrupted when there was a sound from the back door and Tae-il walked into the shack, frowning.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his staff pointed at me when Aro ran to give him a hug.

“To see my brother?” I answered and Tae-il relaxed, the staff going down onto the ground. “How are you, Janitor Moon?”

“Fine,” he answered, walking over to the bed and falling back onto it. “You can hang out here, don’t worry. Have fun, children.”

And with that, he fell silent, his eyes on the ceiling.

I blinked and almost forgot about my brother until Aro crept up to Moon Tae-il and waved his hands in front of the janitor’s face. Much to my surprise, my brother slowly with his two fingers, pressed down on Moon Tae-il’s eyelids and closed them.

“Now, he’s sleeping.”

And with that, Aro smiled.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It consumed me.

Was it normal for someone to sleep with their eyes open? Was it not? I knew fishes slept with their eyes open. I have seen so many people sleeping—I have never seen someone sleep with their eyes open as Moon Tae-il did. I found myself walking down the hall, deep in thought.

Why couldn’t I get rid of the idea? This always happened. Every time I had a question, I found myself obsessing over it. While thoughts filled my head, I felt a hand grab my elbow and I turned around to see Jaehyun standing in front of me, his hair slicked back from the sweat.

“Well, hey there,” he said, breaking into a smile when I frowned at him. “Why are you looking at me like t