The Guardian Angel is such a bullshit cheat!

I fiercely swung my fist. Deen leisurely moved away as if she had predicted my move—which she obviously fucking did. Her face showing intense concentration, she hit me back from the side as the momentum of my punch carried me forward. Her blows barely hurt because she wasn't able to gain a firm footing before she attacked, likely unable to keep up with her Guardian Angel's instructions.

It was about half an hour past midnight, the humid breeze of February had turned cool with the sun asleep. The sliver of the moon I had spotted as we jogged to this secluded spot had gone into hiding behind thick clouds along with the stars.

Or maybe that was the city's egregious amounts of pollution rolling across the sky above. The evening news had reported multiple fires caused by separate riots in the poorer parts of the city—those probably added a lot of smoke to the air. Dozens of vehicles caught up in the heavy traffic along the select roads going out of the city that remained open, even at this late of an hour, certainly made things worse.

Deen and I sparred under a dim light post on the furthest street corner at the back of Poblacion Verde Hills. The road followed the side of the actual hills that weren't so green despite their name before snaking back into the premier gated community of La Esperanza. I heard the hills were protected by city laws for some wildlife and heritage reasons, otherwise, there'd be mansions on top of them. Rich people really liked to live on the heights.

It was only the two of us here, plus our audience, a bunch of frogs hidden amongst the tall grass, cheering for us with their incessant croaking. Well, they were probably cheering for Deen, because I still hadn't landed a hit on her for the fifteen minutes or so we were fighting.

This was supposed to be a quiet and peaceful place for us to practice, but I was steadily getting more and more irritated, and the loud frogs weren't helping things. Stupid amphibians with their mating calls, fucking each other in the darkness while Deen's Guardian Angel was fucking me over with its powers.

With each miss, I'd curse myself in my head. I wanted to beat her in our fight because I was so pissed that she had a better plan than me. Even more annoying was that it was a big-brained plan too. A plan that’d cause a lot of drama. That was supposed to be my thing, yet she came up with it. Grrrrr!

I'm a petty bitch, so what?

Sue me.

If only I could land one hit, I'd be so freakin’ happy. An arbitrary mini-goal, but already a tall order against Deen and her bullshit Guardian Angel.

Remember her fight against Dario, I coached myself. I nudged the frustration out of my head, calming down almost instantly; I always had a firm grasp on the meager emotions I could muster.

Just be better, stronger, faster.

Create a situation where she couldn't keep up with her Guardian Angel's instructions, a situation where the only correct path was for her to run. At that point, she wasn't going to follow her future-seeing pet but would stand her ground. That would be my only chance of getting her.

My downward kick harmlessly sliced empty air; Deen shifted to my left to counterattack. Holding my arm up, I blocked her incoming fist. It was heavy and a bit painful. She was using her superstrength but held back enough not to seriously injure me. I kicked sideways. She scooted left, throwing another punch at me. I was waiting for it this time around, reaching out to catch her hand. But she pulled it back. I chased after her; one attack followed by another and another.

She just kept on evading while retreating.

From the pavement, onto the sidewalk, then we were on the grass. I was relentless, attacking faster and faster, not letting her have a chance to fight back. Her Guardian Angel should know I was also using superstrength. I wasn't sure if it'd risk Deen getting injured for a chance to hit me. Probably not.

Deen panicked a bit, her eyes wide in alarm as my flurry of attacks came for her.

I'm going to get your pretty blonde ass—okay, that...that didn't sound right.

A few more feet and we’d reach the side of the hills, her back would be against the wall of earth, giant rocks hemming her in. She’d have nowhere to run!

Deen tried to dive to my left to escape my trap, but I lunged at her, hoping to grab her. No amount of foresight could save her once I got a hold of her.

Huh? She fell backward to the ground just as I reached her. My arms ended up hugging nothing.

Did she trip? No! Her determined expression told me it was intentional. Lying on the slightly sloping earth, she rolled down past me. I noticed she picked something from the grass before she pushed herself back up. I had a fist ready to greet her as she stood. She chucked the dark baseball-sized thingy she held at me.

Something sticky went splat on my face, covering my eyes and nose.

What is this shit? I yanked it off in a hurry, expecting Deen to take advantage of my momentary blindness. I was ready to kick her if she came close. But she just stayed away, wearing an expression like she was trying to hold back laughter. Confused, I checked my hand.

A frog? She threw a fucking frog at me?

The fat slimy animal wiggled in my grasp, flailing its webbed feet in a feeble attempt to escape. It croaked. I felt the vibrations of its throat and belly on my fingers. Other girls would probably scream by now, but I was far from normal. I was super irritated that there was gooey stuff on my face and hand.

As I was about to crush it and return to the fight, I realized I should act like…like the timid Erind face I supposedly had on.

"Eeek!" I yelped, tossing the frog away, playing into Deen’s expectations of my character. I furiously scrubbed my hand and face with the end of my shirt while she giggled.

"Sorry, Erind," she said in between fits of laughter. There was no indication she sensed something was off with me. "I blame Gabe for that."

Touché, you bastard pet. It had chosen the perfect way to make me stop without hurting me, that way Deen would assuredly follow its instructions. It trapped me there, no doubt. "Throwing a frog?" I nearly shrieked, feigning exasperation. The two of us walked back to the streetlight. "What are you twelve? Jeez, Deen."

"I already said sorry. I didn't know you'd be so scared of frogs."

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"Not scared. I’m just grossed out, okay?" I stuck my tongue out at her. That was a pretty good performance. This wasn't the first time I had to pretend I was disgusted by something.

When I was a kid, my older cousins used to tease me with bugs and cockroaches. I wasn't scared of them; my hobby was playing with various critters to see how long they'd survive my 'games'. But even at that young age, I knew I'd stand out and be labeled weird if I didn't react appropriately to their teasing—I’d cry and call for Mom so she’d scold those twisted brats.

And when everybody had left, I’d find those insects to make them fight each other. The ones I had caught were likely different from the insects my cousins used to bother me, but my kid brain didn’t know any better.

“It’s just a frog,” Deen said with a shrug. “I used to hold those I’d find in our garden in my childhood days because I didn’t have anyone to play with, but my nanny would scold me.”

Whatever, Deen, I thought in my head. No one cares about your backstory; this isn’t about you. “Yeah, I know it’s just a frog,” I said, frowning at her. "And I’ve experienced more disgusting things than this…” I let my words trail into silence to make it clear what I was referring to. As payback, I thought I’d make her remember everything I had gone through. She didn’t have any fault in my sufferings; she just weirdly blamed herself for them—illogical heroic mindset—so I thought I could rattle her a bit for the frog.

“Uh, yes you have,” she somberly replied as her eyes stared at the ground. “You have…” She shook her head and said in a forced energetic tone, “That’s why you shouldn’t have been bothered by the frog. In serious fights, nothing should distract you. Treat our practice like one.”

“You’re right.” Wow, she turned that around on me.

"Shower it off later. I don’t think we’d get sick if the frog carried like bacteria or something." She raised a brow as I raised my balled fists. "We're going to continue?"

"I'll have to get revenge for the frog," I said with a cocky grin as if timid Erind was coming out of her shell. "And we had barely fought. I'm not sweating yet."

"You were going at it so intensely, I'm worried that—"

“This was supposed to be a serious practice, right? You said it yourself. We need to get stronger and better at fighting for our survival."

Deen gave me one firm nod. "Let’s get it on.” She grimaced at her words. “Did I sound cool or cringe?”

“A bit cringey,” I sheepishly said. Then I rushed at her.

__________

Another ten minutes, and no progress on my front. Deen was reading me like an open book, and it turned out I was a very simple children's story. Although I had an overwhelming advantage in strength, maybe a tiny bit on speed, I didn't have the fighting experience and tactical knowledge to make good use of it. In contrast, Deen was reading 'Classical Electrodynamics' or something during her fight with Dario—there was simply nothing she could do despite knowing his future moves.

Throughout our practice, Deen seemingly became more confident in evading and attacking. Her movements were crisper, smoother—can something be crispy and smooth at the same time? She had gotten used to following the snap instructions of her Guardian Angel, executing them as cleanly as possible. So annoying that our practice session was benefiting only her. It was as if she was the main character of the show, getting stronger during a training montage almost at an unreasonable rate.

To be fair, putting us side-by-side, it was obvious who was the protagonist and the side character between the two of us.

"I think that's enough for now," I said with fake heavy breathing.

"Are you tired?"

"A bit, yeah" I wasn't but I didn't like to continually lose, so I had to make a plausible out. "And I think...I think if I get too focused on fighting, some feelings surface inside me that...that..."

"Feelings?" Deen gave me a worried glance. "What feelings? Are you okay?"

"Rage, anger, that kind of stuff. But I'm okay!” I hastily added to calm her down. “I just feel like if we kept it on, I might unconsciously draw my Adumbrae power and transform." That should be a cool enough excuse, compared to the truth that I just sucked big time against her Guardian Angel's ability. I'll get you next time, I thought, looking at the space over Deen's right shoulder.

"Time to go home then."

__________

During our jog on the way back to Deen's house, she brought up the clue that Hedley Kow supposedly gave me. She had kept silent about it since our meeting at Cindy's this morning, but I was sure she was pretty interested in it even if we agreed that asking Adumbrae for help would be our last option. "Have you checked your test documents?" she asked.

"I didn't find anything," I nonchalantly lied. I took out the bookmark and hid it somewhere else.

Good thing I hadn't given it to Johann because I thought back then that Dr. Cornelio just misplaced it. I'd try to figure out that clue maybe when I get really bored with nothing else to do. No rush. It was best I didn't show my pretty face to Penemue again or he'd cut me into cubes. But there might come a time I'd need to find them.

"Oh, is that so?" Deen slowed down her jog. "I thought there might be something there, like a small piece of paper with a clue?"

"No, there's nothing."

"Can I check it later? Maybe the clue is written on the papers themselves. Invisible ink and such. "

"Sure, no prob," I said, holding back the urge to roll my eyes. She really didn't trust me that I thoroughly checked the documents. Yeah, I’m lying to her, but that wasn't my point. Oh well. It was in Deen's personality to take charge, and it was the character of the face I had on to be the sidekick.

But that didn't mean I'd let her have actual control of the situation. It was my ass on the line here, not hers.

I had to figure out a way to take back the steering wheel without her noticing. I could start with something small. Assert myself a bit, contribute a minor idea that she'd have to agree with, make her think all of it was her plan. Deen would be happy she was the leader, while I'd be happy I was manipulating someone. Win-win.

Now, what's the plan?

Was there something I could do at this time? It'd be nearly one in the morning by the time we got back to Deen's house. I guess I'd have to leave it for later since we'd be going to bed. Most people were already asleep, except those stuck in traffic exiting the—I got it!

"Deen," I faintly said, almost a whisper. "I just thought of something."

"What is it? Is it about the clue?"

"No, not that. It's about our trip to Vegas."

"I think we're all set for it. Our packed bags are already in the car. The mini-cooler with your ice cream is there too. We have prepped breakfast that we'll just microwave and eat on the road. What else do we need?"

"Everything is complete," I confirmed. "It's just that...instead of leaving tomorrow—er, I mean later, it's already one—what if we left now?"

"Now, like really now? Why?"

"Just to throw off anyone who might be watching us," I said. What a lame justification. "And there might be fewer cars tonight. Our original plan was to leave around five to avoid the deluge of vehicles throughout the day. But what if we go now? Like about two we'd be in line for the checkpoint. There are a lot of people there for sure, but so much fewer compared to if we leave much later."

"I'm not so sure," Deen said. "Don't you want to rest? You did say you're tired."

"I can sleep in the car," I replied. Yes! I have an excuse not to talk to her for an hour or two. My genius was astounding. "And then, when I wake up, you can have your turn to sleep while I drive."

"Hmm, I guess..."

"Maybe two or three, we'd be out of the city and free driving in the desert. On the road at that hour, isn't it exciting? I haven't tried that before."

"Fine, we'll go now."

"We can stop at a diner for breakfast. Have you ever eaten at one?"

"Nope." She gave me an embarrassed grin. "I'm sure you'll have a blast teasing me with the food there."

All the more reason to do this. "It'll be a fun road trip!"