As the contest passed the halfway mark and neared its end, Jahadorei's anxiety only grew. By the last four or five questions, she could no longer calm herself enough to read them. She could only hold her breath and force her eyes onto the screen.
"Hey!" Eleven's voice suddenly rang out. Jahadorei broke out in a cold sweat. Looking down, she saw Eleven staring at her with intense suspicion. "You—talk?"
"What?" Jahadorei tried her best to hide her panic.
"Eleven's asking whether you have any ideas," Xiaying quickly said in District 3 Language. "About this question..."
Only then did Jahadorei turn her attention back to the screen. This time, she carefully read the entire sentence, but although she recognized most of the words, she had no idea what those sentences were actually saying. She could not understand a single answer choice either.
"I... uh, I..." Jahadorei's ears began to ring.
"What exactly is this person here for?" Eleven snapped at Kiki. "She hasn't said a word since she came up here. Earlier, the teacher said the two of us were too young to compete alone, so they sent us an older helper to hold things down—what has she held down at all?!"
Only then did Kiki notice Jahadorei's expression beside her. In almost an instant, she understood Jahadorei's panic and pain.
"Don't say that. She definitely—"
"Useless!" Eleven cursed with her back to Jahadorei.
"Eleven!" Kiki suddenly got angry. Hearing her full name, Eleven froze in fright.
Jahadorei felt the ringing in her ears grow worse. She truly could not understand what Eleven had just said, but she could tell from her tone that the flamboyant-looking little girl had probably said something nasty.
Guilt arrived before anger. Jahadorei sat stiffly in place—turned sideways toward the big screen, she desperately tried