Chapter 96 Assumptions
Kajal approached the stage slowly, contemplating various scenarios that could occur. "Sakshi, do you know Thumbelina?" she asked as she approached the front.
For a brief moment, everyone was perplexed. Sakshi's nostrils flared, and she locked her gaze on Kajal, enraged. Her heart was racing, and her breaths were shallow. She was debating what to do. If it had been anyone else, she would have nuked him with spells until he apologized, but Kajal was her sister, making it difficult for her to make a decision.
Dilip was the first to recognize the reference, laughing and saying, "Your question is incorrect; you should ask, are you the reincarnation of Thumbelina?" When the others heard it from Dilip again, they raised their eyebrows in surprise before they, too burst out laughing. Nina smiled as well when she heard it; she looked at Rishi and gave him a thumbs up.
Rishi smiled back to Nina, while he was not completely satisfied because Kajal didn't exactly repeated what he had told her but the face of Sakshi's angry face was then also a treat to watch.
Looking down, Kajal approached Sakshi. "Are you mad, Kajal?" Sakshi asked, leading her to a corner. "Are you taking revenge for my earlier prank?"
"You've got me wrong, Sakshi. It was a dare from Rishab," Kajal explained.
"Then why are you playing that game? It's your fault you lost, and for that idiot, I'll beat him down," Sakshi said as she approached Rishi.
"Stop it, Sakshi, everyone is looking, and he is already injured. Do you want to become everyone's enemy? Doing something like that will ruin everyone's mood," Kajal warned.
"So what if he can ruin my mood? I have the right to ruin everyone's mood," Sakshi reasoned.
"Come on, Sakshi; he's just a brat, Please forgive him," Kajal said.
"I will forgive both of you and him if you stop playing that shitty game," Sakshi said.
"As you say," Kajal said after a brief moment of thought.
Rishi and Kajal paused their game. After a while, everyone got on the dance floor and began dancing, Rishi wasn't a professional dancer, but he knew how to have fun with it.
The music mainly was party music, and Rishi danced with his friends. He didn't approach Kajal because he wanted to give her personal space, and she was with Sakshi who was already upset with him.
They all danced for a while before stopping to eat dinner as It was already past midnight. Everyone had to be back at the academy by nine o'clock.
Rishi tried the food and was pleasantly surprised—it was delicious. The pizza here was the best he'd ever had, He looked around to see how everyone was reacting and noticed that everyone was having a good time.
Sakshi, who had been so agitated earlier, was munching on her burger, unconcerned about the reactions of others. Then he noticed Kajal eating nothing but fruit salad and strawberry-flavored ice cream.
Everyone finished their meal before deciding to return to the academy as a group. Rishi approached Dev as they returned and said, "Dev, I forgot to tell you, that you need to take care of recruiting new members as well."
"Don't worry, leave everything to me; Ajit has already informed me," Dev assuredly replied.
"Try to recruit those two guys as well; what were their names?"
"Yes, Aman and Vinay," Rishi added.
"All right, I'll get to work on it, Me and Ajit were talking about how many and what kind of students we should hire," Dev said.
"Don't recruit any senior students; they will not listen to you and only add one or two more people other than the two I suggested before. Our guild is a guild of elite students, so please keep it that way," Rishi said.
"As you say," Dev replied.
"If possible, try to hire special job classes such as explorer, assassin, mage, and healer," Rishi advised.
"I was thinking about that as well; these classes really provide a big advantage in some scenarios," Ajit, who had been patiently listening until now, commented.
"I think we should make some big announcements and ask interested students to apply online if they want to join our guild," Dilip suggested. It surprised everyone because Dilip never participated in such discussions. 'It appears that he is also aware of his responsibilities,' Rishi thought in his mind, smiling.
They arrived at the academy quickly and split up to go to their respective hostels. Rishi gave Kajal one last look before departing for his room, Sakshi noticed Kajal's behavior and asked, "Aren't you getting a little too close?"
"Stop it; you're just crazy because of his dare," Kajal said.
"Did you ask him what we decided?" Sakshi inquired.
"I did," she admitted.
"What did he say? Who supports him? And why did he come up to you? From your behavior, it appears that you did not find any red flags," Sakshi asked.
"Slow down, I did ask him these questions, but his answers confused me even more," Kajal said as she walked towards her room.
"Did you mix the truth potion into his drink? Don't tell me you had a last-minute change of heart," Sakshi asked.
"No, I mixed it up and got caught by him too," Kajal replied.
"All our efforts are in vain if he already knew about the potion, You should have been more cautious," Sakshi remarked.
"It's not what you think; he knew about the potion but then also drank it," Kajal explained. "As for being more cautious, I was already being as cautious as possible."
"No, there could be some trick he used Kajal to make it appear as if he drank the potion," Sakshi explained.
"Am I that easy to fool?" Kajal said.
"Forget about it; tell me what he said," Sakshi said.
"When I asked him why he approached me, he said it was out of curiosity and destiny," Kajal explained.
"What kind of nonsense is this?" Sakshi asked with a puzzled expression.
"It is not even the end of this story, I asked him why he was so generous to me, and he replied, Isn't it quite clear? He even admitted that he had no intention of harming our clan." Kajal responded.
"What a cunning jerk! He didn't even give you a single answer," Sakshi said, pulling her hair.
"That's correct, but he did say something."
"First and foremost, he is not an enemy of our clan."
"Second, his adversary is a large clan."
"Third, he has no backer, which means he has a high status, possibly similar to yours or mine, which explains why he was not intimidated by the Tiwari and our clans."
"You are correct; even the stick master said that if our guild members had known his true identity, they would have apologized. It also implies that our clan has good relations with his clan," Sakshi added.
"Who is his adversary? I'm at a loss," Kajal said.
"Did he fight or humiliate someone unnecessarily in the last few days?" Sakshi asked. They both began to think about it for a while before recalling one such incident; Kajal and Sakshi exchanged glances to confirm their thoughts.
"Do you have the same idea as I do?" Sakshi asked.
"So his adversary is the Tiwari clan," Kajal confirmed.
"This makes things even more interesting; the Tiwari clan is not our direct enemy but is certainly not a friendly clan. It is our regional rival." Sakshi stated.
"But here's what confuses me even more: what clan has good relations with us but is an enemy of the Tiwari clan? I can't think of any such clan," she continued.
"Let's not think about it too much; we can't get all our answers in one day," Kajal said as she opened the door to her room.