♠ ♦ Alice in Borderland ♣ ♥

32

'There she is!' Niragi says as I walk into the hallway. He starts clapping and makes a supposedly humble bow to me as I get closer to the door. 'Oh, master genius,' he says, head bowing, before picking up the rifle he used to shoot Kuro. 'Ringo asked me to come over today,' I say in a neutral tone. Niragi looks at me annoyed and turns to the door. When it opens and we enter the room, all the people sitting at the table are silent. They probably heard how Niragi spoke to me in the hallway. 'The master genius has arrived,' he says humbly, before closing the door for me and leaning against the wall with an annoyed look on his face.

'Ha, Kairi,' Ringo says, standing in front of me. Slowly I come closer and stand by the table. Every seat is taken, which means I can't sit down, but I don't know if that's the intention. I have absolutely no idea what he wants from me and how long this visit will last. Hopefully that won't be long. 'Have you recovered from last night?' I can't tell if Ringo is asking me this question on purpose to piss me off or if he's genuinely bad at starting a conversation. Niragi apparently assumes the former. 'Why did you want me to come over?' I ask.

A boy with blond hair that falls just above his shoulders and a white vest with black stripes gives a short laugh, as if he thinks it's funny how quickly I get to the point. I look around the rest of the table and notice, among other things, the players from my game last night. Also Last Boss and two other guys whose names I don't know are sitting at the table, but Hatter and Aguni are both nowhere to be seen.

'We had an agreement,' Ringo says, rummaging in his pocket. He takes out three wristbands. 'Your cooperation in the games, in exchange for a better number for Soran, Yuki and you.' Niragi begins to whistle. 'For her brother and boyfriend,' he pretends dreamily. 'Cousin,' Ringo corrects him. I don't respond. 'Your part in the game allowed us to receive the same card eight times and come out unscathed.' By "us" he just means the executive members and me, because Kuro doesn't matter to them. Niragi laughs again, as if he doesn't agree with me being credited. When Ringo hands me the wristbands, I take them and put them in my pocket without checking.

'She's not going to give her brother that wristband,' Niragi says with a grin. 'Then she has to explain to him how she got it, and she'd rather let him play a game without telling him what's going on.' I ignore him and give Ringo a questioning look. 'Where's Hatter?' Not only he, but also other executive members react strangely. Someone is breathing nervously and Ringo is also visibly trying to control his facial expression. Something's wrong.

'Listen, sweetie,' Niragi says as he approaches me, rifle in hand. 'We gave you that reward, but we can just as easily take it back and hurt your friends. Do you understand?' Do I understand that I shouldn't bring up Hatter anymore? Of course, that wasn't my plan either. I already didn't like the best man, so why should I talk about him any longer? Yet the feeling that something is not right is reinforced.

'I'll be back at the game in three days?' I ask Ringo, ignoring Niragi. 'I'll let you know,' he replies in a strange way. I don't understand. He went to such lengths to get me into the elite to make sure Hatter lives, and now he's telling me there's a chance I won't have to play the next game? Well, alright. I nod at him and almost turn to leave, but then I think of something. I scan the table and arrive at Last Boss, who is looking at me like the others. 'Thanks,' I tell him. 'I understand you killed the lion that tried to attack Soran, so thank you for that.' He looks at me with a questioning look in his eyes and a crooked head, as if he didn't quite expect or understand that I'm thanking him for that.

'The queen of peace has the greatest difficulty when a person dies,' Niragi says, 'but an animal is not a bad thing.' I'm not going to explain to him that I'd rather not see anyone dead, but when it comes down to it I'd rather have an animal than my own family dead, because he won't understand that anyway. I ignore him and look back at Ringo to give him one last nod. Then he surprises me by looking past me and saying to the others: 'You can go.'