A Story of Evil

Chapter 19: The Competition

"I'm heading out." Cain brought his tools with him. The basket bag, the gloves, and the shovel.

"Honey take care of yourself out there, okay?"

"Sure mom." Cain wore a smile on his face.

"Big brotheeeer!" Eve came rushing towards him. Hugging Cain like he was going to vanish into thin air.

"What is it Eve?"

"You're not gonna leave us too, aren't you?" Eve was afraid. Sol was already taken from them and, although she didn't like her father, he was still somehow family.

"Of course not. I'm just gonna work for a bit." Cain said, patting her little sister's hair gently as she slowly loosened her hold of him.

It was Cain's first day without Sol. It felt odd because, he was already used to the boy putting him into all sorts of trouble. He was used to the voice of the orphan who never ran out of ideas. And he missed how Sol made him go further than what the slums could ever offer.

But there was no use complaining. Sol wasn't coming back anytime soon. In fact, he may not come back at all. For that very same reason, Cain needed to focus on what he can do on his own.

"I hope you're doing your best." Cain said, looking at the [Inner Walls] which contained Solomon.

"Congratulations everyone, you've finished today's training regime. Please refer to the scoreboards to see your rankings." Onyx said, opening the door to all Pandora's Boxes.

The three boys immediately left and, the only ones who remained to take a good look were Alice and Solomon. On overall speed Alice got Solomon beat but, when it came to the least amount of damage sustained, Sol came on top.

There were various other rankings and scores displayed and, Solomon viewed them all. Analyzing what he lacked that day so that, he could focus and improve on them.

"Okay you two that's enough, the time for your dinner is running so you need to go out." Colonel mentioned, surprising Solomon who thought that he would be the only one interested in the scoreboard.

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They left at the same time, appearing at different doors within the same wall. They greeted each other because they thought that it was proper to do so.

"Alice." Sol flatly said.

"Solomon." Was the same response of the female orphan.

The two walked side by side. They were the top contenders among the five. In fact, the only thing that greatly differentiated the two was that Sol had King Jubilee's approval while Alice didn't. Apart from this, the two had every intention of surviving the Culling.

"Just a reminder, you still owe me for that one time." Alice said, refering to the laps.

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten." Sol wiped away his sweat with the towel placed around his shoulders.

They didn't need to talk about anything. They were both reasonable and knew that, establishing connections, even the shallowest kind, would make them hesitate in killing the other. Yet, there was something bothering Alice's mind so, she decided to at least ask about it.

"So, you're an orphan too?"

"That's a wonderful way to open a conversation." Sol sarcastically commented, having a smirk on his face.

"Just answer the question."

"You're almost as good at demanding as King Jubilee. But yeah, I mean that should be pretty obvious since I don't have a family name.

"That is true. So which part of the slums did you grow up in?"

"Street H, way on the end of it. You'd notice actually because I have my carton house attached to the Bloodbourne household."

"Ahh that's why."

"Why what?"

"When that Eve person was called, her last name was Bloodbourne right? She was probably the daughter of your benefactor so you stepped in to save her." Sol was impressed at how retentive Alice's memory was. After all, Eve's name was only called once and the shock from the event would've easily made everyone forget who it was that was called before him.

"Well, you're not entirely wrong but, that's also half true."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that, from the very start, I had every intention of joining the Culling." Sol's words took Alice by surprise. In fact, she wasn't able to ask anything more because, they were already within the cafeteria.

The three void titans were already munching on their meal. And as Sol and Alice walked in, they began whispering among themselves.

"Hey do you think Sol is hitting on her?" Jake asked, with some grains of rice flying out of his mouth.

"Oh I doubt it, things may just be the other way around you know." Peter said, still holding Sol in high esteem.

"No way. With how cold and distant Alice is? I doubt she'd make a move on Sol."

"Maybe they just talked about their common interests."

"Like what? Being an orphan?"

While the three murmured among themselves, Sol couldn't help but notice. In fact, he looked at them specifically because they were murmuring among themselves.

"Lowlifes really do love gossip." He said, moving to an empty table as he began his meal.

"Hey Sol! Come here buddy!" Peter shouted but, Sol just gave them a shake of his head and continued eating. There was another person who shared his sentiment, moving to his table as soon as she got her food.

"So what do you think were they talking about?" Alice moved to the same table as Sol because there were only two long tables in the cafeteria. Plus, Alice wanted to entertain the tree idiots while also showing that she didn't care.

"I think it has something to do with both of us. With their expressions and Jake's blushing cheeks, it probably has something to do with love."

"Wow you're quite the detective, aren't you? Can you even think of us in a situation like that?"

"Not in a million years, no." Sol said, and with that, the two continued to silently eat.

If Sol was a normal boy just like the other three, he would have also been enticed by Alice's beauty. She was only twelve just like him, not even in her teen years. But She was already gorgeous. Her silk-like long black hair fitted perfectly with her crimson-colored eyes. Her skin was fair as snow and, even as she was drenched in sweat, she had a natural aromatic scent on her body. A few years from then and she would've been the perfect lure for any nobleman or aristocrat.

"Too bad she won't reach that long." Sol thought, looking at the soup which vaguely reflected a distorted version of his face. Stirring it before deciding to take a sip.

"So about what you said earlier." Alice began.

"What about it?"

"I mean, it's not normal to want something like this right? Why would you wish death upon yourself?"

"Hmm I can ask you the same thing."

"What?"

"You wanted to join this as much as I did."

"How can you tell?"

"From the moment you were selected and, with every part of this training, you've always tried your best to be the first in anything. Of course there's also Jake but, you were the only one who showed constant effort."

"How can you even claim something like that? We've only been here for a day and a half."

"That is also true. But so is the fact that you were the first to get up for training in the morning. In fact, why were you already dressed at that time?"

"That " Sol interrupted before Alice could even say her alibi.

"That just means you tried doing workouts before the morning alarm rang. That's why you were so quick to get up on your feet and, even had sweat dripping from your face. Of course the others didn't notice because they just woke up but, it'd take more than that to deceive me."

"That still doesn't prove anything."

"Doesn't it? You also searched your pockets in case there was something. Specifically because you wanted to get a lead on us on anything you could get your hands on. You also left Pandora's Box at the same time as me."

"So what if I did? I just wanted to have a healthy competition with all of you."

"Come on, is that the best you could pull? Cain could lie better than that." Alice wasn't able to say anything anymore.

"You wanted to get in on this and, just like me, you want to win. There's no such thing as a healthy competition here Alice. Death is the only thing waiting for everyone else except the survivor of the Culling."

"You really are smart." Alice said, smiling from her utter defeat.

"Oh, is that the real Alice I'm seeing now? If so then let me introduce myself again." Sol said, extending his hand to the girl.

"I'm Solomon I hope I'm not the one to kill you." Alice grabbed his hand and replied.

"Likewise, I hope you take out a bunch of enemies before you get killed. By the way I'm Alice."

The two began laughing; genuine and innocent laughter. It was the first time they saw each other smile and, at that moment, they did the one thing they tried to avoid. Getting close with a fellow titan.