"Jevin? You're participating in the 1st Championship?"

"Shhh Falsie! Not so loud!"

Jevin and False stood a little way from their 3-H classroom, two wooden swords in Jevin's hands. They were at a clearing, trees surrounding them from all sides.

It wasn't like False had forgotten about the Championship and her ticket to return to the main campus, it was just too much fun building their classroom. And she never expected Jevin to be the first hermit in the Championship.

"I'll be joining with some of my friends in 3-G and 3-F," Jevin explained. "I don't expect to win, I'm just doing it... for the experience."

"For the experience," False repeated.

"Yeah! Sooo... please keep it a secret from the other hermits. I don't want them to cheer for me when I'm not going to put in that much effort anyway. We know if our classmates know I'm in the Championship, they'll feverishly support me even if I tell them not to."

"But—" It didn't feel right for a single hermit to go to the Championship alone. False knew she definitely wasn't doing that.

Jevin's blue eyes looked at her seriously. "False, I trust you."

"Alright." False couldn't say no to that. She shifted on her feet. "So, uhh, why did you tell me in particular?"

Jevin suddenly looked shy. "Uh, would you mind training me? Just a few rounds of sparring. So I don't go in completely unprepared." Jevin tossed her a sword, which she caught.

"Sure thing. By the way... I'll confess that I want to watch the Championship. So I can study the Championship and, y'know," False shrugged, "figure out some strategies. But you said you don't want the hermits to watch."

Jevin laughed. "Ohh, it's okay if it's just you. I just don't want, let's say, a huge glowing sign, balloons, accompanied by twenty gongs clanging at the same time. You know how extra the hermits are."

So False dueled Jevin and gave him pointers on where to attack and tips to defend himself. Their little duel session was quickly discovered by others, in particular Scar and Bdubs who were taking a stroll. Thankfully, they thought it was just a friendly fight and had nothing to do with training whatsoever.

"This needs some hype music!" Bdubs announced. "Scar, don't you have a radio?"

"On it!" Before Jevin and False could stop him, Scar was already fiddling with his radio and rapidly switching through the music channels. "This one's too grim... and this one's too upbeat! Man! Is there no good music to listen to while fighting your friends?"

Country rock suddenly blasted through the radio, and Jevin yelped, "That's it, Scar! This is perfect. We're fighting to country rock. Don't bother with anything else."

"Wh-what?"

"You're the best DJ in the world," False told him, readying her sword. Guitars twanged in the background as someone moodily sung about their truck or something. She rushed towards Jevin, who parried her attack.

"You know what, fighting with this music is strangely fun," Jevin told False with a chuckle.

"I know right!"

And for an hour, False could pretend she was having fun with Jevin. She could pretend Jevin wasn't going to enter a Championship and get absolutely slaughtered by the PvPers. She could pretend that the hermits weren't going to be laughed at by everyone. And everything was fine.

-

False noticed that teams were starting to practice for the Championship, so after school, she put on a banana hoodie (a birthday gift from her friends) and sneaked down to the main campus, notebook in hand. Many new games were added this year, including the universally detested Parkour Warrior (at least, everyone that False had spoken to hated it). Hence, she wanted to know more about these games from watching others practice.

To her surprise, much of the Dream Team/ Dream's SIMPs/ Dream's friends/ whatever they called themselves weren't there. In fact, Pete was the only Green God playing. False heard it was because they were busy doing something else (Naruto running or these things called "manhunts", probably). But she still saw the hermits' patron saint Fruitberries sparring with somebody.

False watched as Fruit and the other guy fought. Fruit was clearly the better one (why wouldn't he be? He was a Green God), but the other guy wasn't bad as well.

"That was a good one, H!" Fruit cheered when the other guy hit his shoulder.

H? False glanced at the list of participating students. That has to be HBomb. False had heard of him, but she didn't know him very well.

Other students were sparring, but False couldn't help but focus on H and Fruit. Fruit wasn't all attacking; he made sure to teach H some moves. False could only dream of replicating them. H and Fruit two weren't just classmates in 3-A, they were also good friends, as False could see from their friendly punches and nudges. She quickly scribbled notes down, hoping to at least learn a little.

After a while, H left Fruit behind to chat with some main campus kids. False wondered if Fruit would spar with someone else, but he just sat on a bench, all alone. Fruit then took out his phone and presumably started texting someone.

The area was filled with shouts and yells and sounds of swords clashing. Everybody had someone else, whether to chat with or to spar with. Everybody except two. One, a hermit whom nobody noticed, who isolated herself from her friends to learn more about the Championships. Two, one of the most skilled students, one of the Green Gods, on top of the food chain, Fruitberries himself.

Somebody walked past Fruit, and False saw him stand up and call to that somebody, but he was ignored. False glimpsed the familiar crestfallen look on Fruit's face before it quickly disappeared. Ah. So Fruit had experienced that as well. False felt a stab of empathy. She didn't expect to feel that for someone who was supposedly massively popular.

Fruit sat down on his bench again, and picked up his water bottle. From his actions, False could infer that his water bottle was empty, but before Fruit could do anything about it, a redhead teacher appeared and asked Fruit to talk to them. False didn't recognize the teacher— was it a new teacher? Perhaps the Cherry Twitt person Cub had been talking about? Anyway, Fruit left with the teacher, leaving nothing on the bench but a single lime green water bottle.

Five minutes later, when Fruit returned, he found his water bottle was half full.

"Strange," he muttered to himself. "I could've sworn it was empty. Well, thanks H, I guess. I mean, who else can it be?"

Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of banana yellow passed by.

-

Next day, and the day after that, False returned to observe the practice sessions. She wore her banana hoodie every time, because it made her feel safe and secure. (Read: it made her feel like her friends were with her.)

She didn't ask any of the hermits to accompany her, since she was sure they would make a huge fuss out of it. Jevin and his friends were practicing outside of school and False didn't want to disturb them.

So False quietly sat in her corner. This time Fruitberries wasn't there, but that HBomb guy was. In fact, he and his team were sitting pretty close to False. Not close enough for it to be awkward, but close enough for False to hear them (or maybe H was just loud.)

"Let's go, guys!" H whooped. "We got this!"

He started to analyse each of his teammates' strengths and weaknesses, making sure to reassure them when they doubted themselves. False listened to him ramble about strategies and what each teammate should do. He heartily slapped his teammates' backs.

Funny. This main campus student, a student from 3-A nonetheless, was making False feel... comfortable. Or as comfortable a stranger could make her feel. At first, False couldn't figure out why. But then she gazed at H's brown hair and saw the excited glint in his blue eyes, and with a jolt, she realised it.

He reminded her of Ren.

The unwavering optimism. The trust in his teammates. The way he cracked jokes and made it sound so easy. This HBomb was a lot like Ren.

Stop! What are you thinking about! False scolded herself. H was from the main campus and was probably only nice to the main campus kids. He wasn't a hermit like Ren. False was sure H would sneer at them like everybody else did. His encouragement was reserved for people who were good at sports, not silly hermits trying to make it big. False couldn't trust the main campus students.

... Now False missed Ren. She took out her phone and checked her messages. Scar was spamming the class chat with pictures of Jellie, which no one minded. Grian was spamming the class chat with puns, which everyone minded. False quietly laughed, amused by her friends. She noticed Stress had sent her a text.

Stress: Hi False! Surprise sleepover tonite? <3

False: sure! :D usual peeps, amirite?

Stress: Yeah! Grian's coming too

Stress: we're all meeting up at my house rn

False: oh, so fast?

Stress: Haha yeah

Stress: all the boiz are talking about capitalism

False: oh lol

False: convex duo and architect and pacific...

Stress: yeah :( Im the only one not in a megacorporation

False: :(

False: sorry stress, i got something to do now

False: should be free in a few hours

False: ill go to your house at 6

Stress: np falsie! See you tonite! <33

False: See ya! <333

False tugged her banana hoodie closer to herself, and listened as H continued to practice with his teammates. As they chatted and laughed boisterously, False suddenly felt like she didn't belong here at all.

-

"Oh my God! False is finally here!"

"Hi Stress. Hey guys."

False stepped into Stress' house, which was lovingly decorated with purple and magenta carpets, walls, and just about everything. Alliums grew in neat lines of flowerpots, and a sparkling chandelier hung from the ceiling. Out of their close circle of friends, only False and Stress had houses tidy enough for people to visit, but the former did not allow anyone to sleep over at her house. (Ren was an exception, only because he occasionally locked himself out of the house at nighttime.)

Everybody else had arrived. Scar and Ren were busy playing with a Lego set, while Cub and Grian were arguing about Star Wars. Stress was teaching Mumbo how to weave flower crowns, and Iskall was in the kitchen, wearing an apron that said "Kiss the Cook". False noticed that both Ren and Iskall had pigtails with ribbons, which were likely Stress' work.

"I bought you guys something!" False raised a hand to shake the packet of cookies she had purchased. They all cheered, delighted they had more food.

"Sorry that I didn't have time to bake cookies," False said. "Next time I'll make a cookie of everyone here. I'll draw your faces in icing."

"Your cookies are really good, Falsie."

"Wait, isn't that cannibalism?"

"We don't talk about that, Grian."

False carefully tucked her banana hoodie inside her bag and sighed. It had been a long day at school, and while False had a fruitful time studying the PvPers, she sorely missed her friends.

"Hey False! Here's the Concorp drone that you asked for." False turned to see Cub giving her a cardboard box. "I trust you to take care of it."

"Thanks Cub! Appreciate ya!"

"Not a problem." Cub waved a hand dismissively. "I still dunno what you're using it for."

"Oooh, a drone!" Ren joined in the conversation. "I've used lots of those! Those aerial shots are ah-maize-ing, man!"

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe you two can teach me how to use it later?"

"Now that everyone's here, let's watch something that isn't a compilation of Ren being mildly inappropriate!" Iskall declared.

"Ohh! I know!! We should show Grian the Logfellas Court Trial!" Stress suggested. "I have the DvD somewhere..."

The Logfellas Court Trial was a short film False and a few others had worked on in their first year. Stress was not directly involved, but she had rewatched it so many times she probably knew it better than they did. Grian only met them last year, so he probably had no clue what the court trial was.

"Grian, get a tasty beverage and some snacks and enjoy the show!" Ren exclaimed.

Stress dimmed the lights and they all watched the court trial with content smiles. Grian laughed and pointed at the screen every time someone showed up in a suit.

"Isn't that Mumbo's suit?" he squealed, clutching his sides. "Why is everyone wearing Mumbo's clothes?"

"This is why we don't put Mumbo in charge of the costumes," Scar remarked. "He has no fashion sense whatsoever."

"Aha! So says the cowboy," Mumbo retorted.

False chuckled. Ahh, it sure felt good to relax. She felt somebody comb through her long golden hair— it was Stress.

"You okay, luv?" Stress asked in a motherly way. "You seem a little tired lately."

False exhaled. "Just a little stressed," she replied, laughing a little at her pun.

... To be honest, False hadn't mentioned the Championship to any of her friends yet. That was why she went down to the main campus alone. Of course she wanted someone to go to the Championships with her, but she wasn't ready. And she didn't want to distract her friends from their projects. So she would wait.

Stress started to play with False's hair. "You know, your hair's really pretty. Have you ever thought about braiding it or tying it up? I think a ponytail will look good on you."

"Nah. I like it when it's around my shoulders. Less restraint, more freedom. And I like having freedom."

"You do you, luv!"

"But I mean... I don't mind it when you're doing my hair," False said. "Because you make me look pretty." She giggled.

"Aww, that's because you already are pretty!"

For one night, False was determined not to think about the main campus and Fruit and H. This sleepover was dedicated to having fun with her friends. And from how loud her friends were, False found it easy to forget her troubles.

-

False knew Jevin didn't want the hermits to support him in the 1st Championship, but False couldn't help but put on an aqua jacket (aqua was Jevin's team colour and coincidentally the colour of his hair). Even if Jevin couldn't see her at the Championship, False wanted to support him in her own way. She also learned it was surprisingly easy to sneak away from 3-H. Although they had all grown close to each other, it wasn't weird to have one of them disappear for half a day. The hermits could be mega engrossed in their projects and not interact with anyone at all. False hadn't realized this until Stress commented on how she hadn't seen Iskall and Mumbo for several hours (they were busy working on "Pacific").

The Championships happened in the afternoon on a school day, and all lessons after lunch would be cancelled. (It used to happen on Saturdays, but no one wanted to go to school on Saturday, even if it was for the Championship). Scott had to leave 3-H so he could manage the Championship. So False thought no one would notice if she disappeared for three hours after lunch.

She was wrong.

"Hey, Falsie, where are you going?"

It was Ren, smiling innocently at her. False glanced at her aqua jacket and the drone in her hands, then back at Ren. He had caught her walking down the hill and to the main campus.

"Are you watching the Championship?" he asked. False did not have it in her to lie to him, and mumbled a "yes".

"Ohhh! Is that why you're bringing Cub's drone? So you can record the Championship?"

"Yep."

"Sweet! Can I join you?"

... False was finding it hard to say no to Ren. He was always so nice and endearing. And if False brought just one hermit with her, Jevin wouldn't be too upset, right?

So False somehow ended up going to the main campus with Ren by her side. She didn't know why he had chosen to do that. He didn't look like he was particularly interested in the Championship.

But then a thought struck False.

He wants to keep you company.

False had always been a little quiet and shy. That was why she got along so well with Mumbo in their first year, as both were introverts and dedicated to their craft. They also had a mischievous side that they only showed to close friends, and they enjoyed messing with each other. However, Mumbo's popularity caused him to distance himself from his friends, False included. False didn't mind. Really. Mumbo just wanted to keep them safe and free from discourse. Sometimes False just ate lunch on her own, and sometimes she was the one left behind when her classmates paired up for group projects. It was totally fine.

It was at that time Ren befriended her.

False had always known Ren as the "weird neighbour kid" and never spoke much to him. But then they were enrolled in the same school and started to go to school together. False could not recall the exact moment they became friends— it had to be somewhere between the first time she saved Ren from falling in a pond (yes, it happened multiple times) and that time when Ren accidentally stepped on a spider and they both cried (because they were devastated by the spider's death, not because they were scared).

And being friends with Ren meant she would be friends with Ren's friends, which included Iskall. And Iskall was the guy who coaxed Mumbo back into interacting with his friends. So everything worked perfectly.

False gazed at the back of Ren's head. He didn't have to accompany her, she was fine with being alone, but he knew she didn't really like that. As a socially awkward person, she felt uncomfortable without her friends. And Ren knew that without her saying it.

... She was so thankful for Ren.

"Ohh look, is that the Decision Dome?"

False followed his gaze to a rainbow coloured floor topped with a glass dome, with a huge timer above it. "Yeah, that's it. Man, Noxite outdid themselves. Look at how pretty this is!"

"It's easily the most beautiful thing in the area. Second only to me, I mean," Ren replied.

"I wish Noxite renovated the rest of the school as well. Maybe that's why the main campus kids are so bad tempered. I would lose my mind if I had to stare at cobblestone walls eight hours a day."

False introduced Ren to the different games. She'd done research on every one of them, plus she had heard some other participants talk about them. Ren nodded and observed their colourful surroundings excitedly like a child in a candy store. False couldn't blame him. The Championships were awesome, even if it didn't favour the hermits.

"Oh wait Falsie! Is that Jevin?"

False froze. Jevin's blue hair appeared in her peripheral vision. "Uhh, yeah. That sorta looks like him? Or it may be Pete with dyed hair. I dunno."

"No, that's totally Jevin! I didn't know he was in the Championship! Man, the hermits should've formed a whole cheering squad for him!"

False winced, and let out a fake laugh. Thankfully Ren was too distracted to pick that up. The "cheering squad" was exactly what Jevin was afraid of.

"You know, you should stop mistaking the Green Gods for other people." Ren teased her. "Like, in your head there's only Fruit, the guy who looks like Fruit, and the guy who looks like Jevin."

False jokingly hit him. "Ohh, stop it! I'm getting better at recognizing Dream!"

False let Ren pilot the drone since he was better at it anyway. The hermit duo shuffled away from everyone and found a nice corner to sit down. It didn't offer the best view, but since they had the drone, it didn't matter. False took out bananas for her and Ren to munch on while they watched the Championship.

A second familiar figure in the Decision Dome caught False's attention, and she gasped, "Hey! That's Mr. Major!"

"Mr. Major!" Ren and False cried out, frantically waving their arms. It took them twenty seconds for Scott to notice them. Scott grinned at them, and mouthed the words "Go Hermits!".

False took a look around. "Organizing a Championship of this quality... it must be tough for Mr. Major and Professor Noxite."

"Certainly! We've got to appreciate their hard work."

"Maybe we should actually behave and stop giving Mr. Major so many heart attacks in 3-H."

"Tell that to the Boomers. It was a bad idea giving them explosives."

The timer above the Decision Dome started to tick down. The crowd screamed and cheered for their favourite teams.

"UWU MY OOMFS!!" an all too familiar voice screeched. Ren and False shared exasperated looks. Scott looked like someone was forcing him at gunpoint to smile.

"Welcome to the 1st Championship!" Stan Twitt cried out. "I'm so so excited! SHDJKSDLSGH!"

"How did they say that out loud?" Ren said in amazement.

"By the way, shameless promotion time UwU! Best boi Dream just released another Manhunt video, please watch it—"

False and Ren watched as a good chunk of the audience stood up and left their seats, presumably to watch the new video. False's jaw dropped. How could they give up watching the Championship live just to watch a video? Oh, it was totally because Dream wasn't in the 1st Championship.

"For a long time, I thought Manhunts were a dating game," Ren whispered to False. She gave him an odd look. "What? You hunt... men? That sounds like a dating game?"

"I've always thought it was a murdering game." False had correctly inferred what Manhunts were. She probably knew more about Manhunts than Dream, the guy who popularized it.

"Anyways, let the games begin! May the odds be in the favour of my UwU bois!"

Scott snatched the microphone, looking like he was in physical pain. "What Principal Twitt means is that may the odds be ever in your favour! These games are not biased or scripted! You have my word! Aaaand the 1st Championship begins... NOW!"

-

As expected, Jevin's team did not do particularly well in the first half. They still got 6th, which was already very good in the hermits' eyes. The PvPers from 3-A and 3-B utterly dominated the games.

During the intermission, Ren took out his earphones. "Let's listen to some chill music, Falsie. I screamed my lungs out and you must be so tired from taking notes."

"Sure." False rubbed her eyes. Ren popped an earbud in her ear and they both nodded their heads to the beat. "Your brother composed this one, yeah?"

"Spot on. I'm so proud of Jono."

"I should probably commission him sometime. I know he did music for Grian."

"Ohhh look, I just realized a hermit's in the Championship," an unfamiliar voice sneered. Ren and False instantly shared glances, their good mood ruined. Ren stopped playing the chill music.

"Poor little hermit trying to get back in the main campus... aww, how pathetic."

False tensed. She didn't want to lose her temper like she did at the Camera Incident, but she wasn't going to let people slander her hermits.

"Wait, is that Fruity sitting next to us?" Ren whispered.

False looked, and discovered Ren was correct. Fruit had a slight frown on his face for some reason. False blinked, once again starstruck by Fruit.

"Who's this hermit again? A Pete wannabe?"

"I don't know any of the hermits other than Grian, and that's because Grian won some prestigious prize before. The hermits are so irrelevant. No wonder everyone looks down on them."

"I can't take this," Ren growled. "I'm going to say something." False nodded. "Me too."

"Guys, guys..."

A soft voice interrupted False's train of thought. It was Fruitberries. He was trying to get the attention of the main campus students, who blithely ignored him.

"Bruh, I don't even know why the hermits are trying. They're just a waste of space—"

"HEY!" Fruit bellowed, voice uncharacteristically loud, which shocked everyone into silence. Ren dropped his earphones. False dropped her bananas.

"What have the hermits ever done to you?" Fruit demanded. "It's not like they stole from you, or punched your face—"

"One of them hit my friend."

"Oops. That was my doing," False murmured to Ren.

"Fine. But has this particular student Jevin done anything to deserve your... insults?" Fruit continued. "He's just existing. Let him be."

"Fruit, are you standing up for the hermits? You're protecting them? Really?"

Fruit shrugged. "What? I'm chill with everybody in this school. Why are we so unnecessarily cruel to strangers? I'll stand up for anybody."

"Ohhh Fruitberries, you're a lone wolf, deviating from the rest of us," one of the main campus kids drawled. "That's why you don't have any friends in this school."

Fruit flinched. So did Ren and False. "Untrue, but whatever," Fruit said in a lighthearted tone. "Just don't bully people."

(False had a feeling Fruit didn't mean it when he said "whatever".)

The main campus kid took a step closer to Fruit and jabbed a finger at his forehead. "Don't think you're so high and mighty because you're one of those Green Gods," they seethed. "How many people do you hang out with? How many fans do you have? Do people even find you outside of school? You're good at fighting, and that's probably the only reason why people even talk to you, sensei." The last word was spat out with venom.

"That's what they all know you as. Some "sensei". Someone who trained Techno and Dream. And now you're known as a Hermit Lover."

"A little embarrassing, really. Do you even deserve the Green God title?"

False found herself raging even though she barely knew who Fruit was. Nobody deserved to be hurt like that. God, not even Fruit was immune to being bullied. Stan Twitt's school was even more terrible than she had thought.

"K. You're wasting my time."

Fruit stiffly spun around and walked away, but False swore she saw Fruit's hands tremble. Part of her wanted to chase after him, part of her wanted to "cancel" the person who insulted him (she won't succeed in the cancelling, but oh well). Next to her, Ren had already stood up, expression unusually grim.

"UWU GUYS!! THE INTERMISSION'S OVER!" Stan Twitt screeched. The audience screamed, hyped once again.

"Hey! Don't talk to Fruitberries like that!" Ren angrily shouted at the main campus students, but his voice was drowned out. False exhaled shakily.

"That's awful of them. I-I don't know what to do. I mean, Fruit's actually a stranger to us."

"At least we can thank him for standing up for the hermits even if he doesn't accept our comfort," Ren pointed out. "I-I don't know where he went though."

"Let's search for him," False said without hesitation. She knew she had come to the Championship to learn from it, but no way in hell was she going to pretend that hadn't happened. She wasn't going to ignore Fruitberries, even if he was a main campus student.

"I'll leave the drone up there so we can catch up on the Championship later." Ren looked up, and gulped. "For now, let's find Fruit and talk to him. He has to be here."

What the hermits didn't know was that their search would be futile. Because Fruit had already left the audience stands.

-

"Calling Illumina..."

"Pick up, pick up, please pick up," a soft voice whispered with urgency. His feet moved on his own, carrying him to— he didn't know where he was going, he just wanted to get away.

"Connected."

"..."

"Yeah, Illumina, I'm fineee. Oh, why am I calling you? Haha, for no particular reason."

"..."

"I see."

"..."

"So it's a few months before you can enter my school?"

"..."

"Oh, that's okay. I'm doing alright here. They even call me a Green God! Haha... yeah."

"..."

"Don't worry, I'm making friends. I spar a lot with others. Even the really popular peeps like Techno and Dream. They call me "sensei". Cool, isn't it?"

"..."

"Oh. I talk a lot about HBomb, don't I? He's a fun guy. I mean, he has a lot of friends because he's friends with practically everyone. So I probably don't mean a lot to him."

"..."

"Hahahaha. Sorry, was being self-deprecating."

"..."

"You're busy, aren't you? Sorry for disturbing you. I don't know why I made this call. Haha."

His laughter was so fake. He didn't know how he was fooling Illumina.

"..."

"Bye. Miss you too, Illumina."

The call ended. He sighed, and absentmindedly brought his hands up to his face. His feet were still moving.

That was right. All he knew was how to run away like a coward. Always running. Always running, running away from people.

-

A/N: .. To be honest, that Fruity plot popped out of nowhere. Idk maybe I was having too much fun and needed some angst to balance it out :D

Don't worry, Illumina will be in the school. Eventually :))

I really wanted to add in False saving Ren since she did that a lot in Hermitcraft, and the best I could come up with was "saving him from falling into a pond" and "letting him stay over when he forgot to bring his keys". Since saving Ren from an explosion or a murderer is, y'know, a bit unrealistic.

False is now associated with a banana. I mean, she brought this on herself! Banana False ftw!

Thanks for reading! :D