Zara stared intently at Valeria, her eyes narrowed. "Is that true, Valeria?" she asked, her voice calm but with an underlying tone of challenge. "Do you have a special interest in Elio?"
Valeria, never one to back down, lifted her chin confidently. "And what if I do?" she responded, a playful smile dancing on her lips. "Elio is... interesting. And I'm not the only one who's noticed."
Brok and Micah exchanged uncomfortable glances, clearly out of their element in this conversation.
"Uh, girls," Brok tried, his voice uncertain, "maybe we should focus on expanding the tunnel..."
But Zara wasn't willing to let the subject drop. "It's not going to be that easy, Valeria," she said, crossing her arms. "I'll make sure Elio only pays attention to who truly deserves it."
Valeria arched an eyebrow, amused. "Oh? And who decides that? You?"
"If necessary, yes," Zara responded, her tone defiant.
Micah cleared his throat nervously. "Girls, we really should be working on-"
"Oh, shut up, Micah," Zara and Valeria interrupted in unison, before turning back to glare at each other.
Brok scratched his head, completely lost. "What's going on?" he muttered.
At that moment, a sound in the tunnel wall caught their attention. They all turned to see Aria carefully opening a gap in the carbon.
"Careful with the cores!" Micah warned, moving quickly to help contain the flow that threatened to enter.
With a joint effort, Aria managed to slide into the tunnel, and Brok quickly sealed the opening behind her.
Aria looked around curiously. "Did I miss something?"
Valeria smiled, seeing an opportunity. "Oh, nothing important. We were just discussing who deserves Elio's attention."
Aria's eyes lit up with interest. "Really? Well, if we're talking about that, I think we all have our strong points."
Zara looked at her incredulously. "You too, Aria?"
Aria shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face. "What can I say? Elio is a good catch."
The tension in the tunnel noticeably increased. Brok and Micah instinctively backed away, sensing things could get ugly.
"This isn't going to end well," Micah muttered.
As if on cue, another series of noises was heard in the tunnel wall. This time, it was Kriz who entered.
"Whew!" he exclaimed, shaking himself off. "Did anyone else have trouble getting out of the book? I could swear I was buried about 3 meters deep in the cores."
Zara coughed slightly, avoiding eye contact. "How strange," she said, in a tone too innocent to be believable.
Kriz narrowed his eyes, suspicious, but then shrugged. "Well, hello team! What did I miss?"
Valeria, seeing an opportunity to gain another ally, quickly brought him up to speed. "We're discussing who deserves Elio's attention. Zara thinks she should decide."
Kriz's eyes lit up with mischief. "Oh, really? Well, if we're nominating candidates, I propose my rabbit! It has a very cool personality."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, looking at Kriz with exasperation.
"Kriz," Brok finally said, "sometimes I wonder if you really understand what's going on around you."
Mei smiled softly. "Well, instead of deciding who deserves Elio's attention subjectively, why don't we find out objectively what kind of characteristics he prefers in a girl?"
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered Mei's suggestion.
"You know," Valeria finally said, "that's not a bad idea."
"It's subtle, but revealing," Aria added.
Zara nodded slowly. "It could be useful to know..."
"Great!" Kriz exclaimed. "I vote that he likes girls with scales. You know, for variety."
Everyone looked at him silently for a moment.
"Kriz," Brok finally said, "sometimes I wonder if you live in the same world as the rest of us."
"Of course not!" Kriz replied cheerfully. "My world is much more fun."
"Maybe," Aria suggested, "we could see what kind of girl attracts him more. You know, physically."
Zara frowned. "Elio isn't that superficial."
"We're all a little superficial, Zara," Valeria responded. "It's part of being human."
Lila, who had been observing silently, finally spoke. "Maybe we could start with something simple. Like... what hair color does he prefer?"
There was another moment of silence as everyone considered the idea.
"Fine," Valeria finally said, with a challenging smile on her face. "If that's how you want to play it, so be it."
"Fine," Zara replied, matching her tone. "But don't think he'll choose yours."
"Oh, we'll see," Valeria said, winking.
Kriz clapped enthusiastically. "This is better than eliminating monsters! Anyone want to bet?"
"Kriz!" everyone exclaimed, exasperated.
"What? I'm just trying to make this more interesting."
Brok shook his head. "As if it wasn't interesting enough already."
♢♢♢♢
Hours later. Someone was entering the tunnel.
Everyone turned to see Elio descending through the opening.
Before anyone could say anything, Zara stepped forward, a sense of purpose on her face.
"Elio," she said, her voice so intense it surprised even herself, "what hair color do you prefer?"
The rest of the group held their breath, waiting for Elio's answer. The leader, for his part, looked at all of them.
After a moment of tense silence, Elio could only articulate one word.
"What?"