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Flickerman scooted a little closer to Aries, clearly intrigued, though the action made Aries raise an eyebrow in silent amusement. With a lazy lean back into his chair, a small smirk played on his lips—quiet but powerful enough to make the host, and even a few members of the audience, slightly intimidated.
The host pressed on with a question, trying to maintain his composure. "Do you have a weapon of choice, Aries?" It was a far better question than the first ones, and Aries actually took a second to genuinely consider it. His eyes flicked to the screen, which had just begun playing footage of his minor confrontation with Cato. Raising a hand, he pointed directly at the scene. "I like swords."
"Any special reason?" Flickerman asked, sensing an opening—but not prepared for the answer.
Aries leaned in, locking eyes with the host, his voice smooth and low, yet laced with something bone-chilling. "I believe you should be close enough to look somebody in the eyes when you kill them. Distance is for cowards."
Flickerman gulped audibly, his fear transparent to everyone watching, but he quickly disguised it with laughter, trying to keep the mood light. "Perhaps I'll just scoot my chair a few inches farther away from you!"
The audience roared with laughter and applause, but Aries didn't react. His eyes were already scanning the backstage area for Estella, his focus elsewhere. Flickerman caught the shift in attention and quickly pivoted again. "Do you have a girlfriend back home?" The question came out of nowhere, enough to make Aries raise a brow and glance at the host again.
"Do I?" he repeated, almost amused. "I don't."
The crowd responded with playful disbelief, murmuring and teasing, but Aries merely grinned at Flickerman, who looked equally skeptical. "A handsome lad like you? There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?"
Aries sighed, leaning back again, but this time his grin faded into something more somber as he recalled memories buried beneath years of pain. "I had a childhood friend. Then something... unfortunate happened to her. The worst kind of nightmare made her brain refuse to remember the past. Including me." The murmur from the crowd shifted into quiet sympathy. There was no sign of deception in Aries's expression—his voice was sincere, and his eyes, now lowered to his lap, held a weight that couldn't be faked.
Flickerman, sensing the emotional shift, took a breath and gently pushed forward, "What about Miss Perez? You two seem to have a pretty close relationship." The screen behind them lit up with footage of Aries and Estella's earliest interactions—from casual introductions to training clips that clearly showed Aries initiating most of their conversations.
Watching it, he couldn't help but smirk, feeling that familiar flutter in his chest whenever she appeared. "There's no one I'd rather be with to win this game," he said simply. The crowd erupted again, shrieking and applauding, their hearts melting at his words. It wasn't the phrase itself—it was the way he said it, with that subtle, honest inflection that made it feel like more than just a tactic. The look in his eyes confirmed it. He wasn't denying anything.
