When we enter the shop Hilda doesn’t say anything and just orders a strawberry ice cream for me and herself before she heads outside.

“Hilda, this is not really what I wanted though…”

She turns around and smiles softly at me. “I know but I just wanted to talk to you a bit. When we go back in we can get you something else.”

“Oh…”

Hilda sits down on one of the benches in the park and motions me to come sit next to her.

I oblige and lick my ice cream. It’s actually really good.

“So, what’s wrong, kitten?” She licks her ice cream as well. “Shouldn’t you be happy that Sam’s team is winning?”

“... well yes… but…”

“Does it have something to do with your powers?”

“Mhmm.” I nod.

“Ah. Figured out a new skill?”

I explain the entire situation to her including the visit of Gamma this morning.

“I see…” She stares ahead of her and licks her ice cream again. “So you think they are performing that well because of you?”

I nod again.

“Well, apart from their energy levels. When it comes to sport, talent is incredibly important too. At least that’s what I think with my limited knowledge of the subject. Even without having a bit of an energy boost, you can’t say Max and Sam aren’t talented, right?”

“I guess that’s true… it just… I don’t know...”

“I can definitely see what is bugging you. But if you let this lady give you some advice, I’d say to not let it get to you this much. It’s not like you gave them performance enhancing drugs, you just made them healthier and that can never be a bad thing.”

“Mmmm.”

“And if you still feel like it’s a bit unfair, why don’t you try to level the playing field?”

“What do you mean?”

Hilda looks around for a second and then licks her ice cream one last time. “How well can you hide casting your healing spells?”

“Oh… I see… I’m not sure.”

“Try to cast a spell on me but try to keep it hidden. It doesn’t matter if you mess up a little, there’s no one here anyway.”

I nod and start concentrating on healing Hilda. After a couple of attempts I manage to hide the glow enough to where it is practically not visible anymore.

“Good job!” Hilda enthusiastically pets my head. “So if you want to you can now heal everyone in the room without anyone noticing. And then see if that makes a big difference or not.”

“Thanks Hilda.” I give her a big hug.

“No problem kitty cat, now, let’s go and get you some real snacks for the second half of the game, shall we?”

“Yes! But one final thing before we go.”

“What is it?” She smiles at me.

“You said you came with your bike, right?”

“Ah, you want me to take you on a ride?”

“Maybe…”

“That can be arranged, I have a sidecar for it at home. So when you come and visit we can definitely make that happen.” Hilda winks.

-Hilda’s house! Ooooooooooh!-

When we pass back through the shop, me and Hilda buy another portion of bitterballen before we head back to watch the second half of the game. Just as we had practiced a bit earlier I stealthily start casting healing spells on every single participant of the game. Right when the game is about to start I just finish off with the last person.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Did you go through all of them?” Hilda asks silently after having popped a bitterbal in her mouth.

“Mhmm.” I nod.

“Alright, let’s see how this goes then.”

“What are you two conspiring about?” My sister looks at the both of us with a sly look on her face.

“Shhh.” Hilda holds her finger in front of her lips to shush my sister. “We’ll tell you after the game.” she ends her sentence with a wink.

“Hmm, I’ll wait but you’ve definitely piqued my curiosity.”

Me and Hilda quietly giggle amongst ourselves.

As the second half of the game progresses, it becomes quite clear that, however everyone is definitely playing more energetically than in the first half, Sam and Max are still pretty much dominating the field. They just appear to have to work a bit harder for it.

Hilda pokes my side when the game enters the last quarter. “See, your girlfriend and Max are just talented. You didn’t have to worry at all. Maybe you were just having a classical case of confirmation bias.” She pets my head and afterwards eats another bitterbal.

“Hilda is so smart.”

“I know I know.” She giggles.

The last quarter pretty much follows the same pattern with the exception that the opposing team manages to crawl back a couple of points in the last three minutes of the game. Mainly because the home team was already pretty much in a celebratory state as the point gap was already insurmountable.

Once the final whistle blows both teams shake hands with each other and exit the field, apart from Sam and Max who come to us for a little bit before heading out.

“Psst, Ami.” Max calls me closer to them.

“Mhmm?”

“Did you do something to all the players? Suddenly a lot of people mentioned that they felt incredibly refreshed.”

“I wanted to level the playing field a bit…”

“See, I told you.” Sam laughs softly so she doesn’t attract the attention of the others. “My girlfriend's heart is just too good for this world.

“Definitely looks like it.”

“Congratulations on the victory.” The others now start congratulating our victorious pair. So I take a couple of steps back to give them some space.

“Thank you!” Max basks in the compliments while Sam just smiles.

“Thank you all for coming to watch us, hope you all had fun.”

“Definitely, and the snacks are very good too.” My sis raises a smoothie to my girlfriend and does a symbolic toast.

Max then continues to flirt with Carol a bit while Sam catches up with her parents before they head off to shower. Our entire group exits the gymnasium as I sit down next to Hilda on the bench since we still had some bitterballen to finish.

My sister and Nikki are talking to Sam’s parents while Hailey and Carol come standing next to us, giving me the opportunity to talk to them about what I did.

“Oh my Goddess, Ami.” Carol starts laughing. “You are so pure.”

“She is, isn’t she.” Hilda smiles and rubs me behind my invisible ear. “Oh, sorry, force of habit.”

“Haha, it looks pretty funky to see someone touch your invisible ears and seeing you react to it.” Hailey giggles.

“Oh, about that!” I turn myself to Carol. “How are you going to explain it to your parents if you become… you know.”

“Ah. I actually didn’t think about that.”

“Really? Isn’t it pretty important to think about that beforehand.” Hailey gives her friend a soft slap on the arm.

“Well, it’s not like I see my parents that much. I pretty much live by myself.” Carol shrugs. “So I might just hide it from them and only show it to my friends and partners.”

“If you choose it.”

“If I choose it, yes.” She blushes.

“Already excited for your date?” I ask.

“Definitely. We are already going to start playing the game today and then continue tomorrow after we go to the movies.”

“I hope you have fun.”

“I guess it’s already too late to catch up to you people?”

“We are somewhat already on a different continent.” Hilda chimes in.

“Was to be expected.”

“Hey at least you can get some more alone time with Max that way.” Hailey smirks.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let her get bored.” Max joined our group, her sudden appearance makes Carol jump a little before she starts blushing even more.

“You guys sure do shower pretty quickly.” Hilda eats her last bitterbal.

“We hear that quite often.” Sam smiles and then sits next to me on the opposite side of Hilda. Her conditioner smells really nice so I can’t help but to rub my head against her shoulder.

“Watch out Ami, don’t start sniffing me in public.” Sam pokes my side.

“Awh… sad.”

“Sad cat Ami. How cute.” Carol aws. “But we should probably go now, you were all having dinner at Sam’s place, right?”

“Yeah, I heard my parents were going to make some seafood paella.”

“Really?” My mouth already starts watering at the sound of such deliciousness.

“Wow, you are really trying to make us jealous aren’t you?” Max laughs. “Why don’t us three go look for a nice restaurant instead then?” She looks at Hailey and Carol.

“Sounds like a plan, maybe a Spanish restaurant because paella does sound really good right about now?” Hailey proposes.

“Yes, let’s do that!” Carol agrees and takes Max’ hand. “Let’s go!”

“Sounds like someone is really hungry.” Max laughs and follows Carol while Hailey takes the lead. “See you all next time.”

We wave our friends goodbye leaving the three of us sat down on the bench.

“It’s been a while since I ate some good paella too.” Hilda leans back into the bench, staring at the tree cover above us.

“My parents make the best paella, I can guarantee that.”

“Looking forward to it.” She smiles.

Even though I only just finished my bitterballen, my stomach couldn’t agree more. More nom noms equals better.