🇧🇷 (em português)

Chapter 4: Monuments of Deceit — Second Half

While some choose to work hard, others

prefer to work smart. Those who wish

to maintain a life of easy fulfillment

may come across the greatest hardships.

Conclusion to the first half.

It's getting late. Normally, this would have been around the time when we
would have been done with carrying all our harvest back to the Storage Shack
to be sorted out and stored away, but Pakua had something else in mind.

"Huh, Pakua? I'm not so sure about this anymore..."

Pakua sighs, "Too late to chicken out now, Kasu. Really, What's up with you?"

"Sorry, I'm freaking out. What if the others find out about what we did?"

"They *will* if you act like that," she points at me. "So, play it cool."

I can't help it. Waiting for the others is getting to me. I'm just glad that
we got some work done at the eastern side of the Crop Fields. Even if we're
here too early, we'll look a little a less shady while we sort "our" harvest.

After a while, the other Hirokaria begin to show up, leaving their piles of
food carefully separated from each other's. It was quite the harvest; the
real eye-catchers being two piles in particular.

Thankfully, nobody says a word. Before I realize it, we're alone again.

I lay on my back, "Phew!"

"Heh! I told you that it would work," says Pakua, looking rather proud.

"Thank God! Can we leave now? I'm so sick of this place."

She shakes her head, "Not yet. That grape head still hasn't come over."

"Oh yeah," I was so nervous that I forgot. "Well, her pile is already sorted 
so this would have been the time when she would show up to help the others."

Pakua nods, "Yeah. Of all the days for her to stop sucking up to the Pajé."

She's always helping others, even volunteering to stay behind to organize 
everything by herself. Pakua would kill me if she heard this but I look up to 
Wasa'i. She works hard and dreams big. Not everyone can become an Izagaia.

*** *** ***

"Wasa'i, what took you so long?" Pakua asks in a mocking tone. "Did a breeze 
knock you away or something?"

"Shut it, sloth," Wasa'i says dismissively, not even looking at us. "I had 
better things to do than pity your laziness."

"Oh, really?" Pakua grins, "Tough talk from someone who just got outmatched 
by a sloth."

Wasa'i stops, looking at the large piles of fruits and vegetables. Her eyes 
go wide, "W-Wait, what!? What happened to your... When did you..."

"I know what you're thinking, 'Wow! what an amazing work ethic!' Say, if you
ask nicely, we may just throw you a bone and teach you some of our secrets."

I know that grin. It's the face Pakua makes whenever a plan goes right. No 
wonder she wanted to stay. She must have really looked forward for this.

"And if you bow to us right now, we may even — after becoming Izagaia first —
recommend you to the Pajé. Aren't we so kind? He he he!"

Huh? But I don't want to become an Izagaia! Going around, hurting others for
no reason and embarrassing myself in front of the Pajé, er, again.

If someone entered the room right now, they would think that a flying tomato
was bursting into flames. "You!" Wasa'i shakes her arms. "You did something, 
didn't you? I just know it! I'll go tell the Pajé right now!"

Pakua raises an eyebrow, "Do I hear a sore loser? Please, just deal with it. 
Like she'll listen to your buzzing without any proof."

Wasa'i's face twists into a terrifying smile, "O-Oh, I can prove it, a-alright."

"Wait, what?"

Oh no. P-Pakua!

Wasa'i flies towards one of the cabinets nearby. "I'm the one who organizes 
all the harvest, genius. All I need to do is look inside these cabinets 
and... to no one's surprise, empty, just like your heads!"

Wasa'i crosses her arms, "Now, if you two clean up this mess while I'm gone, 
I may just tell the Pajé to go easy on you, wouldn't that be nice?" She says,
forcing a smile. "Have a good day, vermin."

Pakua shakes her fists, "Grr! Oh no, you won't go anywhere. Not this time!"

In a split second, Pakua grabs Wasa'i's doll sized body and shoves her inside
the cabinet. She holds it shut as Wasa'i's muffled protests are heard inside.

This is a disaster. Pakua has gone too far this time. What will happen to us? 
She isn't thinking straight. I need to do something and fast!

"Pakua, stop this already!" I scream as I push Pakua as hard as I can. I open
the cabinet, setting the small fairy free.

"Wasa'i, it's true that we cheated. We took some of the harvest away from the
cabinets to make our piles look bigger," I look at Pakua. "I'm sorry."

Pakua looks furious, "What the hell! Kasu, whose side are you on?"

"Hmmph," Wasa'i looks at me with an expression of pity. "At least you know 
when to give up. Regardless, the Pajé will hear about this."

I'm such a coward. How could I do this to my friend? I should have just
played it dumb. It's not like we took anything from that one cabinet in
particular...

Huh? W-Wait a minute. No, it can't be!

"Wait!" I yell, stopping the annoyed looking fairy on her tracks.

"I get it now. Wasa'i, you're... hiding something, aren't you?"

"..."

Pakua scratches her head, "Ugh, Kasu. You're not making any sense right now."

"Pakua, think out loud. Isn't it weird how that cabinet she opened just
happened to be empty? What if she already knew that beforehand?"

Pakua's eyes widen, "Oh... OOOH! T-That double-crossing cicada!"

"Isn't it obvious?" She calmly asks. "You must have emptied it yourselves. I 
don't see the rel-"

"We didn't, not that one at least. But it was still empty. Do you know why?"

Wasa'i crosses her arms dismissively, "Even if you weren't lying. Maybe I 
just didn't needed to put anything in there. There you go. Now, stop wasting 
my time with your rubbish." Wasa'i begins to fly towards the exit.

I stand in front of her, arms stretched. "Wrong! You would never do that."

"What do you know, well, besides how to be useless like her?" She points at 
Pakua. "You sure can't lie. Now, get out of my way."

I narrow my eyes, "Everything grows fast in Nusokén. Just look at today's 
harvest, and that's just one day," I point at the piles. "We barely have 
enough space to begin with, so why would you go through the trouble of 
leaving that one cabinet empty? it makes no sense."

Wasa'i's face turns pale. She already knows where I'm going with this.

"But what if you emptied it without anyone noticing anything? You're always 
here by yourself so no one would find it strange or even bother to check."

Pakua speaks up, "So that's how she always had the biggest piles. The nerve 
on this worm!"

Silence. For a moment, the fairy who was always so proud and talkative was 
left speechless. There was no point on fighting anymore, no reason to show
her fangs. Her silence could only be broken by sobs, followed by tears.

"Y-You... if o-only I was an Izagaia... Y-You would have p-paid for this..."

I don't know what took over me. Problems like these didn't come to mind when
I was an Ipohyk and yet here I am, standing in front of a sobbing mess who 
used to be a fellow Kisé, someone who despite everything, I looked up to.

This side of hers, has anyone ever seen it before?

In the end, we agreed to let this die here. Pakua wasn't happy about it but
nothing good would come from the others knowing the truth. My friend can be
so narrow-minded at times, but I can always give her a good push for her own
good. It's the least I can do for someone who's always watching over me.