My Unconventional Lover: Seeing A Different World

286 Teamwork (3)

(Jane’s PoV)

“Human, you can see me.” From the way it talked, it seemed like it wasn’t a wild and low level shadow. Also, it seemed to have existed for a long time.

I bit my tongue, holding myself not to respond since it would only create a commotion. As much as I was curious, I couldn’t openly ask this shadow about anything.

“Let’s go! Our second item is waiting!” Yuni shouted excitedly as a card with a stamp of first checkpoint was being pocketed by Alivia.

I shifted my eyes towards my friends and acted like I didn’t see the shadow. It was too late, I know, but it wasn’t the point.

After all, high level shadows weren’t only smart and evil, they were also highly curious about human who could see them. More importantly, I didn’t react strongly like what normal humans would do.

It would surely follow me!

“Go! Go! Go!” With a new spirit, I made our way towards the second location. This time, it wasn’t as dangerous as before -it was dangerous because there was an evil shadow, actually- and it only needed our speed and strength to be able to finish it as soon as possible.

However, there was one tiny problem. The spot that had the second item only provided two platforms, which meant, there would be a long queue if we weren’t fast enough. And, if we failed on our attempt, we needed to line up again.

.....

“Are you sure the second place will be crowded?” Daisy confirmed the information she got.

“Uh-hum.” I nodded after confirming that the place we were heading was indeed the same with the lady in the checkpoint said.

“Then, let’s go! We need to move faster!” Daisy kicked her feet and dashed towards the second challenge spot. As the ones younger than her, we couldn’t possibly lose to her.

Couple of minutes later, we arrived at the second spot. As expected, there were many teams queueing nearby. There were some of them that had just arrived, and some of them had arrived way long before us. From the way they panted and sweated a lot, I guessed it was something related to running.

Relay?

The queue was long, but in no time, we arrived at the front line and received an explanation.

“Is it your first try?” A man who was wearing a uniform of the camping site with a name tag ‘Opan’ written on the right breast, asked us with a smile.

“Yes.” Our heads nodded as we all looked at him eagerly, waiting for him to explain the rules.

“Well, it’s pretty simple. Each of you will stand on different places. I have placed several long shelves on each path with many different items. If the four of you can bring me these items and relay it to your friends before the time runs out, I can give you a stamp. Also, you only have 80 seconds.” With that being said, Mr. Opan handed us a piece of paper where there were four items written on it.

Cactus toy, a pen, a paper bag, and a pack of melon seeds.

“The first runner will pick one item and pass it to the second runner. The second runner will pick one item and pass the two items in her hands towards the third runner and so on. Is that right?” Daisy asked, confirming the rules.

“...You can say so.” Mr. Opan nodded, still with a friendly smile on his face. Somehow I felt that his reaction was a bit off. Did he mean something else?

“Okay. We got it.” Daisy nodded and turned to face us. “Who wants to be the first runner? Cactus toy, a pen, a paper bag, and a pack of melon seeds. Make sure you remember it.”

“Should we divide who will take what?” Yuni asked.

“No. As long as it still on the list and still isn’t in your hand, take it. I doubt they will provide the same items in different path. Alivia, you will be the first runner. Yuni, you will take...”

“I’ll take the last.” I told her before she could appoint a role for me.

“Great. Then, Yuni will be the second and I will be the third. Jane, are you sure you can do it? Make sure you don’t lose any of it on your way back.”

“Don’t worry.” I nodded my head, trying to assure her that I would be okay.

“Okay. We’re ready.” Daisy faced the still smiling Mr. Opan.

“Great! Let’s start!” Mr. Opan arranged for an electric car to take us towards our own spot.

“Honestly speaking, Mr. Opan’s reaction when answering your question was a bit off. He might mean no matter what we pick, as long as the items he asks is being delivered by the last runner, he will still give us a stamp.” I told them as soon as we got on to the electric car.

“Well, there’s no harm in making Plan B. What do you suggest we should do?” Daisy looked at me curiously.

“I say, each one of us only have approximately 20 seconds. Count the seconds properly. If you still can’t find the item in the fifteenth second, pick anything. The next runner would change it with the ones from her shelves. If we’re lucky, we could even take two or more items before we pass it on to the next person. Just hope there will be same items from the list in one shelf.”

“Nice idea. Let’s do it. Fifteen seconds, find it or not, run towards the next runner. We will cover up for you. We need to shorten the time as soon as possible so that the others can search the item properly.” Daisy nodded and in a short time, we all agreed that my Plan B would be closely executed if something wrong happened.

As soon as the relay started, I watched from the other side of the field as Alivia tried hard to run as fast as she could. There’s no shyness like any other girls when they ran. She really tried hard. I couldn’t see what she picked but she did a great job not delaying her movement. Yuni also shot like an arrow as soon as Alivia passed her the item she had in hand.

When it was Daisy’s turn, my body went into full alert. I watched as she picked two items from her shelves before she ran towards me.

“Melon seeds! Pen! We still need melon seeds and pen!” She shouted on top of her lungs as she ran towards me.

Melon seeds and pen! I repeated those words inside my brain. After Daisy passed me the three items from her hands, I pushed my feet off the ground and shot towards the shelves on my lane. My heart thumped loudly in my chest and I almost lost count of the seconds I took.

Melon seeds!

Pen!

Melon seeds!

Pen!

My eyes scanned the shelves for the pack of melon seeds and a pen. It took me a second before I found the pack of melon seeds. I replaced the melon seeds with the sword toy in my hands. Two seconds later, I found the pen on top of the shelves, almost missed it since it wasn’t on my eyes level.

Grabbing the pen in one hand and three other items being hugged close to me, I dashed towards the finish line while counting and hoping that I didn’t miscalculate the time I took.

Mr. Opan pushed on the stopwatch button as soon as I arrived in front of him and put the things on the table with a loud thud. Breathing heavily, I stared at him, silently waiting for him to announce whether we passed this challenge or not.

“You guys....” Mr. Opan shook his head and I couldn’t feel my heart thump even loudly. “Congratulations! You did it on your first try! Seventy six seconds!”