Roulette // Chishiya x Banda // alice in borderland

Thirteen

Was it weird that the first time Chishiya felt calm in Borderland was around a serial killer?

It shouldn't have had felt like a camping-style vacation but how else would Chishiya trick his mind in order to stay sane? He tried not to feel nervous about joining the next game; he was able to mask his emotions perfectly, it didn't mean he wasn't afraid of dying in Borderland though.

Banda's company helped, but so would anyone's, right? He started thinking about his friends, wondering how they made it through so far. If they were still alive, that is.

"It's really warm today, finally."

Chishiya unzipped his hoodie, glad they weren't freezing so much anymore. They've had more fish for breakfast and came back to the river to have some water before leaving the forest.

It was about time they needed to start looking for a better place.

Banda had his blue shirt on, washed and tucked in, definitely looking like he hadn't been near woods for the past two days. Chishiya had no idea how and why Banda killed his victims but he could believe a few women were easily lured into wherever he planned. He was tall, in a good shape, his hair never too messy; his piercing blue eyes could surely intimidate someone in a matter of minutes.

Chishiya was almost sure Banda took advantage of his look before killing the victims. Or maybe he just zoned out too much, analyzing some other guy like a creep.

"Why are you staring for so long?" Banda asked, walking in front of Chishiya and looking for a path leading to the city.

"I'm not."

"I can feel your eyes glued to my back."

Fuck. Chishiya quickly looked away.

It sounded like every bird around them started to chirp louder than usually. Maybe it was just because Chishiya focused on their melody too much. The temperature was almost perfect. He wished they could just avoid games and rest in the sun while they still had time.

Life in Borderland was a little weird, since Chishiya never had so much free time before. Too used to busy shifts that lasted forever, constantly overlapping. It was somewhat nice, if anything in Borderland could be nice at all.

Chishiya looked down and realized there was something in between the bushes.

"Wait. I see something there."

He kneeled to check whatever it was. Even if visible in the leaves, it still didn't look like it was left there on purpose. He was just about to pick the item up when it suddenly struck him - he knew exactly what it was.

Chishiya backed off, landing on the ground with his eyes wide open, holding his breath. Banda turned around curious and saw Chishiya getting pale, his lips parted.

"What is it?" Banda came up to him and looked down. "A necklace?"

Chishiya wished he could speak freely; all the emotions he held deep inside took over, paralyzing his body and giving Banda no response. His shoulders started to shake. Kuina.

"What's going on?" Banda kneeled next to him, just carefully watching his reaction. The necklace by itself didn't interest him at all.

"It's... It's my friend's."

Chishiya said slowly, in a neutral tone feeling like all the emotions start tearing him apart. Like desparately choking on tears that never appeared. "I've been wondering how she's doing and I- you know, I didn't think she would-"

Chishiya didn't cry, he couldn't. Wasn't used to it at least. But the chaos he felt inside was shredding his soul into pieces. He'd seen death before, it was a part of his job. But as much as distanced he was towards death of others, the feeling of losing a loved one was new, destroying him in a blink.