Disingenuous [AiB Fanfiction]

Chapter 15 - Jack Of Hearts

They moved to somewhere more private. They choose to talk in one of the cornered cells, far from the other people who seem to tried persuaded the others to work together. Working together in the hearts game, something that will be hard to do.

"I've told you that I've been here much longer than you guys do, right?" the tall man said as he look at the younger "Well how long do you think it has been?"

With hands folded on his chest the white-haired man answered "From the way you asked, I guess it has been a really long time "

"do I look that old to you?" Kingo respond with an annoyed look, he gave the younger a side-eye.

"yes" the younger answered with no remorse whatsoever, his flat expression framed his face like usual "When you came here?" c he continued.

"two years after my brother died, so 2017" Kingo answered, he might have his life back then, but he sure can't forget that day.

"so you ARE old" the white-haired man chuckled, "what do you mean?" Kingo asked as if he was offended, he know he looks more mature than his age, but he would never call himself old.

"When do you think I got here?" Chishiya give the older a mischievous smile, he wonder what kind of reaction the older would give when he found out how long he had been stuck in this place.

"I don't know... 2018? time doesn't work same in here" He was right, though times flew, sometimes it would look like the time got reset every time they were done with the second stage. The season didn't even change, so Kingo wouldn't be able to tell or to count how long he have been here.

"no. It's 2020" Chishiya said as he waited for the taller's reaction,

"What the fuck?!! You're saying that I've been missing from the real world for 3 years?!" Kingo's eyes widened as they were about to jump out from their sockets. He had his hands holding the side of his head gripping his wavy hair, jaw dropping almost to the floor. "God... My goldfish.." as he remembered his pet.

Chishiya's guess was right, the reaction the tall man gave didn't disappoint him. He find Kingo's reaction was cute, wait what? No... It was funny, not cute. Chishiya blinks for few times as he got back to reality.

"So your point is?" Chishiya cleared his throat before he get back to his usual tone to speak.

"Right... My point is... this isn't my first rodeo. I had played this Jack of Hearts game, it was a different game but you know who else has been in this game? That guy." Kingo, the master of expressions, get back to his usual stature as he stood with eyes staring at the mentioned kid.

"So you're the Jack," Chishiya said without even looking at the mentioned kid.

"did you plug your ears? No, I'm not. But he might be. Like I said before, in this stage each game has its own host. The hosts were the people who choose to stay. I think they also had the privilege to choose the game." Kingo explained with juussst a hint of annoyed tone, something unconsciously he did, usually he would have great composure. Guess he was desperate.

"you beat this game and you did choose to stay. So how come you're not the Jack?" the white-haired man had to look up a little bit whenever he wanted to look the tall man in the eyes. This time was no exceptions. Guess that's where all his neck pain came from.

"I-.." Kingo was about to argue back but the younger man was right. He let out a sigh before continuing "because I refused to be the host. I chose to be a tourist. Which means I had to play games to extend my visa like everyone else." Chisiya didn't say anything. He looked at the other guy with his emotionless face. Kingo knew that he had no proof to say that he wasn't the Jack. After all these years, he never felt desperate as this. All he hope was that Chishiya would believe him blindly. This time he actually wanted to stay alive, he did want to come back to the real world. Started a new life, find some friends, and probably started a family, he didn't know. What he knew was that he had to survive all this.