The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

Catch Them If You Can [2]

I had to suppress a gag when I saw the woman's body. They had slashed her and left her to bleed... The two guys hadn't even batted an eyelid but had high-fived each other with a laugh. Did they no longer feel guilty at all?

I was disgusted but couldn't show it. This could happen to me too if I wasn't careful now.

"Foxes?" Fenji asked as we walked up to the two and they nodded before Guy 1 pulled his knife out of the corpse.

"Lucky for you," he said to me, "I would have loved to crush a young woman like you." I shuddered but didn't lower my gaze. Instead, I looked him straight in the eyes. It was he who finally avoided my stare.

"You take over the left side. And woe betide you if you let even one rabbit escape!", Guy 2 snapped at us before they left. I looked after them in disbelief. Fenji nudged me before she too disappeared into the undergrowth. I stared at the corpse again before following it.

45 minutes remain.

It had only been fifteen minutes? It felt like we had been playing for a while now. Fenji stopped and I ran straight into her because I wasn't expecting it. I was about to protest when she put her hand to her lips and asked me to listen carefully. Sure enough, I heard footsteps. She grinned mischievously and crouched down. I followed suit and we watched as three people walked past. Fenji followed them and I had no other choice. So now we were on the trail of three others. But that didn't last long because one of them spotted us.

"Fox?" he wanted to know, and we nodded. I saw two of their expressions relax, but the girl beneath them froze.

So, she was a rabbit.

And she had the same idea as me? Clever! But how long could she keep her mask up? If we met two more foxes, we would slowly be cornered. Then we were directly in the line of fire. So, I decided. It was risky but useful because I had observed something that could really help me in this case.

40 minutes remain.

"Fenji? I'm going to go the other way again. Do you want to come with me? Or one of you?" I asked, crossing my fingers behind my back. Could it work?

"I'll stay here with the others," she finally decided, but the girl stepped forward. Double jackpot!

Fenji had bitten the bait, as I had hoped. So, there was more behind her staring, I was pretty sure that she found the one fox very attractive. If you took human feelings into account, then you could assume that you would not leave a possible "partner" alone but would stick to their side. It was therefore foreseeable that Fenji wanted to stay close to him.

Now it was up to the young woman.

"I'm coming with you," she said, and I nodded.

So, my plan had worked after all! If Fenji stayed with the other two, the unknown girl would take the chance and move into the minority to increase her chances. Since I didn't exactly make a strong impression, she felt safe with me.

We said goodbye and set off. I could feel that she was still tense next to me. "You're a bunny, aren't you?" I finally asked her and saw all the color draining from her face. "Me too," I added in a whisper, and she relaxed again. Of course, I had made sure that no one was around.

"How... How did you-" she stuttered, and I pointed to my body.

"Body language... You really need to work on your expressions," I advised her, and she nodded vigorously before picking up the pace.

35 minutes remain.

"Do you think we can do it?" she asked me as we got back to the starting point. I shrugged, unable to find an answer. I didn't know, wasn't sure how much I could trust myself. After all, I hadn't been in this situation before.