Jahadorei lifted her chin slightly, hoping the pose would make her look a little more arrogant.
"...Is that all?" There was a hint of judgment in her tone as she took a few more steps toward Hesta. "Then this time, you came to find him—"
"Who told you the two of us were 'childhood sweethearts'?"
The girl looked away. "...Don't worry about it."
"If you won't tell me, I'll go ask Boheng." Hesta planted her heavy bow in the ground. "After all, this concerns my reputation—"
"You're not allowed to go!" The girl rushed forward and clung tightly to Hesta's bow. "You're not allowed to mention this to Teacher Boheng!"
"Your District 3 Language is quite good," Hesta said, looking at her. "Why did you have Man Na translate for you earlier?"
Jahadorei opened her mouth several times, only to fall silent again. Her face quickly flushed red, as though Hesta's question had struck upon something she was too embarrassed to speak of.
"...Promise me first that you won't mention this to him. Even if he asks you himself, you have to say you don't know."
"Why?"
"Why do there have to be so many whys!"
"Then not only will I ask him, I'll ask him why I can't ask why—"
Seeing Hesta's utterly serious expression, Jahadorei was both startled and furious. A curse rose to her lips, but she could not quite tell whether Hesta was joking—because there always seemed to be a trace of laughter in Hesta's eyes...
Hesta could not see the swift, tangled thoughts racing through her mind. She only felt that the person before her looked humiliated and enraged, on the verge of exploding. So she averted her gaze, pulled up her bow, and turned toward the nearby bushes to look for arrows. "You shoot