Chapter four: Tea Timeout
”Have a seat.”
Aronin turned his head slowly, completely exhausted after the battle, still leaning towards the force field covering the stage. He noticed that a man was now seated at one of the chairs by the tea table, but noticed that it was not the same man that previously sat there. The man snapped his fingers and Aronin felt the force field dissolving, and fell down, tumbling to the base floor.
“Come on,” said the man with a sharp voice, “that’s no way to behave. Sit down now,” he added, gesturing towards the chair. Aronin got slowly to his feet and sat down at the chair.
“Now, what’s your name young boy?” The man took out a pipe from his coat along with a box of matches, “come on. Speak up!”
“Aronin.”
“Only Aronin?” the man peeked at Aronin, his fingers fiddling with the box of matches.
“Aronin Orino,” Aronin quickly added, looking shy and shamefully down into his lap. The man lit a match, igniting the content of the pipe causing Aronin to wrinkle his nose as the smell of tobacco reached him.
“I hope you realize what you have done? You interrupted a homeroom fight, breaking a combatant’s legs and causing great burns to another.” Aronin was shocked. He had caused some slight damage, but the combatants were stabbing each other with swords! Why was that accepted?
“So, can you tell me what you were doing at the stage? It’s illegal to be in here without permission you know!” The man wasn’t looking at Aronin, but at the stage, which made Aronin even more uncomfortable.
“Ok, so you won’t talk, that’s fine. I wouldn’t hear it either way. But you did something wrong, and must, as the rules are, go through a punishment.”
The man gestured towards the table, making Aronin watch. The teapot had disappeared, and now two cups with tea stood at the table. The man looked at Aronin.
“In one of these cups, I added a poison, which is tasteless, doesn’t smell or color the liquid in any way. It is also made of herbs. But the tea is also made of herbs. In the poisonous tea, the tea consists of one type of herbs, and in the other, the tea consists of two types of herbs. You must drink one of them, and if you drink the one without poison, you are free to go. But if you drink the tea with the poison, you will die a long and painful death, as the poison disables your lungs ability to absorb oxygen.” Aronin was calm, as he looked into the eyes of the man, showing no expressions at all.
“So, what do you choose? This cup, or this?” he said, gesturing at each cup.
Aronin looked at the cups, reached out, and took the cup at the left.
“Are you sure you want that one?” The man said, looking Aronin in his eyes. Aronin responded by drinking the tea.
“You’re a smart guy. Tell me. How did you know?”
Aronin finished his tea, which was not extremely warm, but pleasantly mild.
“I saw it in your reaction when you pointed at the cups. You tried to hide that you knew which cup the poison was in, but failed. It was subtle, but enough for me to notice.”
“Ah, but I might have faked that reaction, no?”
“Yes, and you did. I assumed that since you tried to make take the left cup, thinking I’d suspect that you would try to fool me, and therefore, switching again, showing me the right cup.”
“Clever. Very clever,” the man said, “How can you be sure I didn’t switch again?”
“Because,” Aronin answered, looking at the eyes of the man, still showing no emotions, “that could backfire, if I only thought you switched once. The safest was to switch twice, and you did so.”
“Precisely,” the man replied. “Anything else?”
“The right cup was placed in the Golden ratio, making it unconsciously the most appealing one, and therefore, the one with poison in. And more, I think you know me somehow, or have spied on me since you knew I was not from this place, but still talking to me like I was a student here.”
“Ah, but you are,” the man said, smiling.
edit: OoC: I assume I can choose if he lives or dies as you said stop whenever you want, right?
Also, if it feels a bit short, (I thought it was short) it's because I am experimenting with getting things done withouth having to describe everything.
And am I allowed to do what I did at the end?
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“Ah, but you are,” the man said, smiling.
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