Poor Rock. He wanted so badly to believe that people could change for the better that it could blind him to the obvious lies he was being fed. And he ate Piano’s reply right up. “Yes! Exactly. And I promise, Piano, I promise I’ll be there to support you and help you grow into the person you want to be.”
Of course, while Rock wasn’t one to do a lot of lying himself, sometimes even he could say things he didn’t truly mean.
His grin turned from joyous to a mischievous smirk. “Aha, I knew this had to do with Forte. So you guys are having a bet, huh? Let me guess, he dared you to do his job better than him?” His first instinct was to take Piano’s side and cooperate her to help his little sister win. After all, she probably took so much flack from Forte, she deserved the chance to beat him and rub his nose in it.
But making him believe that his practically newly-built little sister succeeded on her first try at something he’s tried and (mostly) failed for years, would that…hurt him? Would that be a cruel thing to do to his friend? Rock couldn’t help but think so. Maybe letting her win wasn’t the answer here.
“Hm…I’ll tell you what,” he began. “I’ll give you a fair chance, but I’m not just gonna hand this bet to you so easy. You’ll have to earn it.” Of course, he still wasn’t going to fight her with the same level of strength and effort he’d give to Forte. He considered making “no weapon fire” a rule to protect her, but he felt rotten just thinking about punching her. His regular buster wouldn’t be so bad, and she had her own weapon, so that would hopefully make them even.
Piano smiled victoriously. Finally! She was positive that Forte wouldn’t have gotten this far. She could see it now clear as day, the two of them going back and forth for hours on end. Stuck in a loop of ‘fight me’ and ‘let’s be friends!’ She had to give Forte slack that Rock was difficult to coax into a match, but it was far from impossible. Could her method have been counted as underhanded? Perhaps, but for the moment she wasn’t concerned.
“Ah yes,” She laughed, continuing to play the game, “We are in the middle of a bet. I must do his job, and in return he must do mine. I am completely confident that even if, in the worst and most unrealistic case scenario, I die, then I would still beat him in this bet. He did not even know what the password to my computer was until a moment ago.”
She held the weapon in her hand. “That is exactly what I am looking for.” Of course she is going to assume that in this fight Rock will be using his full strength. She’s never been in a fight before, but she trusted her armor. It was built to protect her in fights that even Forte were in.
... That is, as a bystander. Not as someone participating in the fight. But Piano would work with what she had, and for the moment this was all she had.
