When the game resumed, the ball darted forward, weaving between floating obstacles.
West leaned into his glider, accelerating.
Two opponents immediately abandoned chasing after the ball and angled toward him.
They both crashed into him from the sides, causing West to nearly lose his balance.
He glided backwards, stabilizing himself...
"Whoa, hey," West called. "It’s just a game."
However, it didn’t stop there.
Their movements were sloppy... but hostile.
They angled towards him again almost like he was the target instead of the ball, and in the next instant, a disguised punch swung toward his ribs.
West tilted sideways, letting it miss by inches, then casually bumped into the attacker.
The other guy went flying instantly, spiraling off the glider.
The second opponent leapt onto West’s glider, trying to knock him off balance.
West twisted, grabbed the guy’s shoulder, and used the momentum to spin.
The attacker was sent tumbling away like a kicked can.
West suddenly noticed something after spinning around...
One of the opponents who was up ahead earlier, wasn’t chasing the ball.
Instead, he was speeding backward, straight toward Elina.
"Elina—!" West shouted.
But it was too late...
The guy slammed into her glider and it destabilized instantly, tilting violently.
She lost balance and slipped off while screaming.
West who was over fifteen feet away, launched himself off his glider without hesitation, traveling across the air.
He slammed into the attacker, hijacked the glider beneath them, and forced it downward, diving after Elina.
The attacker was sent flying off as he reached out and grabbed Elina’s hand.
However, the added weight sent the glider tumbling.
But West adjusted mid-spin, using the momentum to twist his body and fling her towards his glider which was already flying towards them.
Using that same momentum, he found himself in mid air as well, while the glider delved downwards, right beneath his descending body.
He landed direcly onto his original glider and grabbed the falling Elina, holding her princess style.
The crowd went silent.
Elina stared up at him, stunned.
"You okay?" West asked quickly.
She nodded, breathless. "Y-Yeah..."
He angled his glider towards her and set her gently back onto her glider, stabilized it, then kicked off, chasing after the ball.
The ball tried to evade him, zigzagging wildly but West smirked.
"Nice try."
With his current speed and agility, the zigzagging ball was moving slower than normal. He could read its pattern of movement...
The moment, he thrust his palm forward two feet towards the left where the ball hadn’t reached yet... the ball suddenly flew into his grasp.
His smirk widened as he boosted forward, slid past defenders and slammed the ball into the goal zone.
Victory!
The referee hovered in place with his mouth wide open.
"...What the hell just happened?"
West wanted to complain after the game ended.
The other team had been aggressive to the point of outright sabotage, and if this were anywhere else, he’d have raised hell about it. But by the time he turned around to look for them after the match ended, they were gone.
Just... gone.
Like they had evaporated.
West frowned. "That’s not suspicious at all."
Elina, still riding the adrenaline high, was bouncing slightly on her heels. "At least we won!"
West glanced at her, then at his dad, who was rubbing his shoulder like it personally offended him.
"Yeah," Mark said, exhaling. "I’m officially clocking out. That game just shaved five years off my life."
West laughed. "You did fine, old man."
Mark scoffed. "Don’t call me that. I’m going to grab food at that restaurant we passed earlier. You kids go enjoy yourselves. I’ll wait there."
"You sure?" West asked.
Mark waved him off. "Positive. Go. Before I change my mind and force you to sit down and talk about taxes."
That alone was enough motivation.
West nodded, watched his dad leave, and then—
Silence~
Now it was just him and Elina.
She realized it at the same time he did.
Her eyes lit up like someone had just handed her a winning lottery ticket.
"Oh! It’s just us now."
West swallowed. "Yeah. Looks like it."
She clasped her hands behind her back and immediately started walking beside him... and talking.
"Oh my god, that game was insane. I swear when I was falling I thought my soul left my body. Do you think they’ll change the rules after that? Also, have you ever noticed how some people get way too competitive? Like, sir, it’s a game, not a blood feud—"
West nodded along, smiling politely.
Five minutes later, she was still talking.
Not that he minded.
It was... kind of nice.
They moved from one attraction to another—arcade-style games, interactive puzzles, motion simulators—and Elina commented on everything. Her thoughts bounced from topic to topic with adorable enthusiasm.
Then they decided to try a boating attraction.
The stream was calm at first and the boat glided forward smoothly.
Elina leaned over the edge. "Wow, this is really peaceful—"
The water suddenly exploded.
A small cyclone formed out of nowhere, spinning violently in the middle of the stream.
People screamed.
Boats were lifted, tilted, and sent spinning like toys.
"WHY IS THERE A TORNADO?!" Elina shrieked.
West immediately grabbed the paddles and rowed with strength that absolutely did not belong to a normal eighteen-year-old.
Their boat shot forward, cutting through the chaos as the mini cyclone chased them like it had a personal vendetta.
Other boats collided. One guy got launched into the water screaming something about refunds.
West paddled like his life depended on it.... because it might have.
They escaped the attraction soaked but unharmed.
Staff rushed in. Apologies were issued and vouchers were handed out.
Elina stared at the water with a pale look. "That... that never happens, right?"
West forced a laugh. "Yeah. Totally normal. Happens every Tuesday."
They moved on.
Next was a racing game with hovering gliding carts.
It started fine.
Until two other racers began ramming West’s cart repeatedly.
"Hey!" West shouted. "Back off!"
They didn’t.
One hit sent his cart veering off-course.
Another nearly flipped him.
Finally, a third impact knocked his cart clean off the track.
Elina screamed in horror as she watched from a different cart.
West leapt and mid-fall, he grabbed onto a support beam before swinging himself back onto solid ground.
The cart exploded below him in a harmless burst of light.
Staff panicked.
The racers responsible vanished again.
West stared at the empty track with narrowed eyes. "What is wrong with people today?"
But West didn’t know that... this was only the beginning.
A food stall malfunctioned and caught fire right as they approached...
A hologram exhibit glitched and tried to grab Elina’s hair...
A harmless-looking game booth collapsed the second West touched it...
By the time they sat down to rest, Elina’s shoulders were slumped.
She stared at her hands. "I... I think I’m cursed."
West blinked. "What?"
She nodded solemnly. "This always happens. Whenever I start to like someone. Weird things. Accidents. Disasters. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me happy."
She sniffed dramatically.
"I’m destined to be single for life!"