“We need to pick three clue givers for our team,” Fori addressed the black team. “Any suggestions for who’s good at drawing, using body language, and knows a lot about songs?”
“The leader should be the first clue giver!” one of the black team participants suggested, and the others quickly agreed.
“Alright… alright,” Fori responded reluctantly. She wasn’t confident in her ability to use body language and felt a twinge of anxiety. “So, who’s good at drawing for our second clue giver?”
Silence followed her question, indicating that drawing wasn’t a strong suit for most of them.
“How about Xynth instead?”
Xynth, perched on the window ledge by himself, shot a glare at the participant who suggested his name. Before he could refuse, the whole crowd erupted into cheers. In that moment, he regretted agreeing to Antares’ bet not to use his powers during orientation.
“Alright then, Xynth will handle the drawing section,” Fori declared. “Now, any takers for the third clue giver?”
“How about me?” Siska spoke up suddenly, a hint of shyness in her voice. “I might not know as many songs as everyone else, but I’ve been listening to instrumentals since I was a kid. Plus, I just have to read the lyrics, right?”
“You’ve only listened to instrumental music since you were a kid?” Fori asked, her expression one of surprise. She had never encountered someone who exclusively listened to instrumentals their entire life.
“As far as I know, Siska is a pianist,” one of the participants chimed in.
“That was in the past,” Siska corrected. “I had an accident with my hand in high school, so it’s hard for me to play the piano now. But I still enjoy listening to classical instrumental music. So, I’m not very familiar with popular songs.”
“Ah, you used to play the piano,” Fori nodded in understanding. “Well, since Siska has volunteered, she’ll be our third clue giver. Now, any ideas for words to give the red team for this first session?””
“We should make it as hard as possible,” Xynth suggested.
“One syllable, right?” a participant asked. “What if we take it from a certain sport, like the term ‘birdie’ from golf?”
“But anyone familiar with golf will guess it right away,” Xynth countered. “It’s better to use terms from less popular sports; it’ll take longer for them to guess. How about ‘tekong’ from sepak takraw?”
“There are many sepak takraw players in Indonesia,” Fori pointed out. “What about ‘inning’ from baseball? That might be a bit harder to demonstrate, right?”
The team agreed with Fori’s suggestion, and she quickly wrote ‘inning’ on a piece of paper.
“Are you sure they’ll struggle? This is an upper-middle-class university; more people probably understand baseball than sepak takraw,” Xynth whispered into Fori’s ear.
“Maybe, but they’ll still have a tough time giving hints for the word.”
Xynth shrugged and returned to his seat. Fori stepped forward and handed the paper to the senior overseeing the match. Soon after, the clue givers from both teams stepped up and prepared.
A short, stocky man from the red team, who appeared to be their leader, approached Fori with a smile. Fori smiled back confidently, but her expression shifted when a senior handed the red team’s paper to her.
“The black team goes first,” the senior announced to everyone.
Fori’s face drained of color as she saw the black team members gathered seriously, all eyes on her. When the senior set the countdown clock on the front table and announced the start of the game, panic surged through Fori. In a reflex, she began mimicking running motions, sparking various guesses from her team.
“Is it athletics? Running? Marathon?”
“Start? Finish?”
“Fartlek? Cadence? Pace?”
Fori shook her head vigorously as her team threw out those suggestions. Then, she raised one arm and flexed her muscles, prompting laughter from the red team.
“Maybe it’s weightlifting? Bodybuilding? Something related to muscles?”
Fori shook her head once more, then mimicked running again, followed by a gesture of triumph as if she had won a trophy, eliciting laughter from the red team once more.
“What’s our leader trying to convey? What sport could this be?”
“Champion? Cup? Trophy?”
This time, Fori mimicked swimming, then acted out winning again and receiving a medal. She performed various sports gestures, further confusing her team.
The team scrambled to throw out terms from different sports. Frustrated with little time left, Fori repeated her initial motion, causing panic among her teammates once again. This time, she mimicked drinking, then returned to exercising.
“Drinking?” Xynth guessed in the final seconds. Fori brightened at Xynth’s answer, then gestured for him to guess again. She repeated her previous motion multiple times, now emphasizing her muscles.
“Steroids? Um, Doping?” Xynth replied. But just as Xynth answered ‘doping’ and Fori cheered with excitement, the timer for the game went off. Xynth’s correct answer was disqualified because their time had run out.
“You should have made the drinking or injecting gesture right from the start,” Xynth commented to Fori in a casual manner. However, Fori, already exhausted and sweating, glared at Xynth, who looked disappointed.
“Why didn’t you just step in and demonstrate? Didn’t you see that the entire red team was laughing their asses off at me?!”
“I was just evaluating the game, why are you getting so angry? Are you on your period or something?! Besides, if you had started with the drinking gesture, everyone would’ve guessed ‘doping’ easily!”
Fori, who felt blamed, immediately became inflamed. “Are you stupid? I’ve demonstrated various sports and victories, why are you so slow to think and answer ‘doping’?!”
Xynth glared at Fori’s emotional remarks, and they were on the brink of a verbal confrontation. Fortunately, Siska swiftly intervened to defuse the tension.
“Hey, hey, calm down… Let’s take it easy. We still have two more game sessions today,” Siska said, attempting to soothe their tempers. “Now, let’s just hope the red team struggles with our word.”
As the red team’s leader received the black team’s paper, he grinned widely. As soon as the game commenced, he mimicked swinging a baseball bat. His actions prompted a flurry of guesses from the red team members.
“Is it from baseball? A bat? Homerun?”
“Pitcher? Catcher?”
“Base? Hit?”
“Infield? Outfield?”
“Inning,” Antares suddenly guessed, earning a cheer from the stocky man.
Upon discovering that Antares’ guess was accurate, the entire red team erupted into cheers, sending a wave of excitement through the hall. Antares shot a triumphant glance at Xynth from across the room, accompanied by a hearty laugh. This stirred a sense of resentment in the typically arrogant Xynth. Suddenly, his competitive spirit flared.
“We’ll need to make things tough for them in the second game!” Xynth declared to Fori, who was seated among the black team members. Suddenly, he appeared more driven and resolute.
“Words related to news, with two or three syllables,” Fori murmured to him, her expression equally serious. “What terms would pose a challenge for the red team?”
“Running text? Live reports?” one team member suggested.
“That’d be too easy to illustrate,” another quickly replied.
“How about a weather forecast?”
“No,” replied Xynth. “What about vox pop? They’ll struggle to guess vox pop.”
“Vox pop? That sounds like it would be difficult to describe. Great idea, Xynth!” the other participants exclaimed excitedly.
“Exactly, I’ll just write vox pop,” Fori added with enthusiasm. She swiftly jotted down the word on their team’s paper and handed it to the senior at the front, who was preparing a small whiteboard with a black marker.
“The red team goes first,” announced the senior.
This time, it was Antares who stepped forward confidently, a grin on his face. He accepted the paper from the senior and fell silent. When the game commenced, Antares began drawing various scenes of interviews, prompting the red team participants to shout out various journalistic terms.
“Interview?”
Antares nodded, keeping his hand raised to keep his team guessing with that clue.
“Um, live interview?”
“Doorstop?”
“Press conference? Interviewer? Interviewee?”
Antares continued to draw more interviewees, but none of the guesses were correct. The frustrated red team began throwing out various journalistic terms randomly.
However, despite their efforts, the red team failed to guess correctly, eliciting cheers from the black team. Xynth now wore a mocking smile as he stared at Antares.
For the second game, Xynth stepped forward to represent his team. He accepted a paper from a senior and read it with a smile. Then, he calmly picked up the black marker and began drawing on the board.
“Book? Cover?” Fori asked.
“A news script? Newspaper?” guessed the others.
Xynth added a picture of two coins with different surfaces.
“Economic news?” asked one of the participants.
“Why is he drawing so detailed and neat? He’s going to waste time by drawing too well,” Fori commented, disrupting Xynth’s concentration. Nonetheless, he tried to redraw something.
“It’s like a book or television cover. What is he drawing exactly?” said Fori, still confused. “It’s like a picture of a box… is it a coffin? Ah, news of a tragedy? The aura of the picture is very gloomy.”
Xynth tried to ignore Fori’s words, though he felt inflamed as the red team laughed at her comments.
“Um, I think I know the answer,” Siska muttered to Fori. She was about to speak up, but her soft voice barely carried, so she gently touched Fori’s shoulder for assistance.
“What is he doing? There are too many intricate details in the picture. Is he trying to paint?” Fori exclaimed, surprised. Unfortunately, her voice reached the red team, prompting them to burst into laughter again.
“Fori, I know what Xynth’s drawing means,” Siska said timidly, seeing Xynth shaking with anger. “Xynth means that… cover both ….”
Siska’s words were cut short by the sound of a marker breaking from the front. Xynth, now visibly enraged, shouted at Fori.
“Are you dumb?! You can guess ‘cover,’ but can’t figure out this is ‘cover both sides’?”
Xynth’s outburst elicited laughter from the entire hall. Even the seniors glanced at the black team, amused by their leader’s argument with Xynth.
“They must have history. They’ve been at each other’s throats,” remarked a black team member loudly, sparking more interest in the room.
“History? I wouldn’t want history with a dumb girl like her!”
“And I wouldn’t want to be associated with you!”
Rigel, previously occupied with his team, signaled to Antares to intervene, but Antares merely chuckled. Suddenly, a whistle pierced the air, drawing attention to the senior overseeing the red and black teams.
“Three extra points go to the red team,” the senior announced, stifling a chuckle. “Current score: six points for red, zero for black. Red team, you’re up first for the third session. Both teams, get ready!”
“You’re still mad?” Fori asked Xynth with a wry smile as the tension eased.
“You made me a laughingstock. Of course, I’m mad,” Xynth replied tersely.
Fori gently patted Xynth’s arm. “I got carried away earlier. I’m sorry. Let’s strategize better for the next session.”
“Better be on point for the next one,” Xynth warned. “If we tank, I’ll hold you responsible, as leader.”
“Alright,” Fori replied with a smile, then turned to her team, urging them to brainstorm for the third session.
“Anyone got an idea for a tricky song? Remember, it’s gotta be from an oldie but goodie,” she prompted her teammates. “Xynth, your suggestions are usually spot on. Got any thoughts for this round?”
Xynth, now calmer, pondered for a moment. “We need a song where the title is hard to avoid in the lyrics. That way, our clue giver can dance around it without saying it outright.”
“Smart,” nodded a team member. “It’ll keep the red team guessing.”
“Who’s a karaoke buff here?” Fori queried. Nearly everyone raised their hand, except for Xynth and Siska. “Great. Let’s hear everyone’s picks. We’ve got three minutes to decide which song we’re sending over.”
Both teams wore expressions of intense concentration as they made their song selections. Once decided, each team leader approached the front and handed their choice to the overseeing senior.
Representing the red team was a bespectacled girl, who, upon reading the black team’s title, appeared utterly bewildered. Her pallid complexion and pleading glances at her teammates were met with hopeful smiles from the black team.
“Remember,” the senior reminded the participants, “no verbal hints. If you recognize the song, hum or sing the chorus without interruption.”
With great effort, the girl from the red team opened her phone and scanned something, evidently struggling not to reveal the title of the black team’s song.
“Lift yourself up off by the floor, like today never happened, today never happened before,” she said aloud.
“Is that all?” asked the red team leader in confusion.
“Yes, that’s all I can read,” the bespectacled girl at the front replied with a look of frustration. The entire red team now looked at each other.
“Try repeating the words again,” Antares told her. However, even though the girl repeated it several times, none of them were able to answer the song title until the time-out bell rang.
“So, what was the black team’s song?” Antares asked the bespectacled girl.
“It’s Switchfoot, ‘Dare You to Move’,” the girl replied with a face like she was about to cry, before running back from the front to her team’s line.
On the black team, Fori couldn’t help but smile proudly. She felt relieved that the song she had chosen had put the red team in a difficult spot, giving her own team a chance to earn three points to offset her earlier mishap.
Now, Siska stepped forward to receive the paper from the red team. After quickly searching for the lyrics on her phone, she took a deep breath as the game began for their team.
“Dreams are my… The only kind of… fantasy. Illusions are a common thing. I try to live in dreams. It seems as if it’s meant to be.”
Xynth smiled as Siska began reciting the lyrics. He glanced at Fori, who still wore a frown.
“I recognize this song,” he told her. “But I don’t wanna sing it.”
“What song is it?”
“‘Reality’ by Richard Sanderson.”
“Oh, right! I remember now! But… I don’t know the tune. You start singing the beginning, and I’ll join in when I remember.”
“What?! Oh f*ck!”
“Don’t let the time run out, Xynth!”
“Well, instead of us ending up with zero points in the standings, I should at least try!” Xynth exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, he began to sing.
“Dreams are my reality, the only kind of real fantasy. Illusions are a common thing. I try to live in dreams. It seems as if it’s meant to be,” Xynth hummed boldly, eliciting a hush across the hall.
As soon as Fori remembered, she joined in to sing with Xynth. Their duet, followed by the entire black team, brought smiles to Rigel and Antares’ faces.
“Dreams are my reality. A different kind of reality. I dream of loving in the night. And loving seems alright. Although it’s only fantasy.”
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