Sakura Eyes

Chapter 36

I jumped back as I turned around to see who it was. It was the same man who had grabbed me when I got lost in the crowds of Mansa in the beginning. 

He had short charcoal hair and tan skin; just his strange aura made me want to turn tail and run away from his as far as possible. I edged away from him, trying to find an excuse to get out of this situation as soon as possible before the man suddenly burst out in a chuckle. "There's no need to show that much displeasure on your face. I'm not a bad guy."

"That's what bad guys always say," I muttered.

"Oh that's true. But you can't judge a book by its cover, right?" he smiled, his charcoal eyes gleaming with amusement. I searched for any tones in his voice that suggested that he was playing with me, but there was none. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else, but the man's voice called again.

"Now let's begin!"

My eyes widened. "Oh shoot! Partner..."

I realized everyone had already paired off together into two and were looking confidently at the man with his whistle. The only ones who weren't ready were...

I massaged my temples and turned around to glare at the man standing behind me. He shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into his pockets, grinning. Cursing silently in my head, I turned my attention back to Whistle Man.

First, we'll—" the man stopped when a man with long, unruly silver hair stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder. The man whispered something quickly into Whistle Man's ears who nodded quickly before turning towards the crowd. " We have something special today for the crowd's entertainment! Whoever ends up as the last two winning pair will have a sword fight! The last person still standing on their feet at the end will win the grand prize!"

The crowd roared their enthusiasm, but I noticed that some of the once confident participants had turned uneasy and pale. Obviously, they weren't expecting Whistle Man to pop up with that. Whistle Man then yelled above the crowd again. "If any of you aren't interested, you can step out now."

My mouth almost fell open when I realized at least half of the participants had left. Well, that does mean this will go by much quicker and easier. I frowned and bit my lower lip before turning towards the strange man. "Can you fight?"

My untrustworthy partner smiled in response. "If we're partners, we might as well introduce ourselves. The name's Gray."

I ignored him and tried to calm my thoughts down. I just had to get through this. As long as we don't trouble ourselves with this creep, we'll be fine. The last thing I wanted to do was make Justin and the others worry again. The next time I get in trouble, Justin might—

"Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" Gray's voice suddenly sounded very close to my ear and I jumped back, covering my ear and glaring up at Gray. For some reason, Gray reminded me a lot of Justin. 

Carefree but definitely having some kind of hidden motive. But then again, it's not like it can any harm just telling him my name...right? No, no. Just keep your mouth shut, Sakura. 

"Hey," he tried again. "Are you traveling alone? Or are you—"

"Hey," I snapped. "Look, I don't know who you are to be suddenly grabbing me out of nowhere and then coincidentally we meet up here again, but I'm not your friend. Don't talk or ask questions to me like—" 

"Hey! What'cha doing there! Hurry and get into the game, ya dingle weeds!" Whistle Man yelled at us, breaking my heated words at him. Whistle Man reached us and gave the two of us a sideways glance. "You two...?"