Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Forty Two

Takara had been right, the exit was just beyond the clearing they had been in. And seeing as they were the only pair left alive in the maze, their survival was guaranteed.

Reaching down, Takara pulled her knife out of the girl's lifeless body, wiping the blood off with her sleeve and returning it to her boot. Chishiya stared at her as she did so, an emotionless look on his face.

Takara caught his stare, unsure of what to say to him. She gave him a small nod, turning away from him and walking towards the exit. Within a few steps, the pair crossed over the mazes threshold onto the moonlit street outside of it.

Congratulations Team 6, you have completed the maze.

A smile of relief etched onto Takara's face. She had survived yet another game. A small table stood to the right of them, two cards placed neatly on the center of it. Chishiya strode over to the table, picking both cards up. He passed one of them back to Takara, not turning to face her.

Takara gladly took the card from him, muttering a thanks and slipping it into her pocket. Chishiya shoved his card into the pocket on his hoodie and put the hood up, walking away from the table.

“Where are you going?” Takara asked his retreating form.

“I'm going to find our car” he called back to her.

Takara quickly caught up to him, wanting to find the car and leave as badly as he did. They walked in silence for a few minutes before they saw the car come into view.

Chishiya thought it would be best to not speak to Takara for the journey back, hoping that his silent treatment would make her second guess and doubt her actions at the end of the game. To make her regret not listening to him. Once the doubt had settled in, he would make her regret disobeying him, making her wrap tighter around his thumb.

The two waited for the other beach members to return back to the car, but none showed. Takara let out a heavy sigh, they must have all lost their games. After another five minutes, they decided that there was no point in waiting any longer. It was time to return to the beach.

The ride back was awkwardly silent, which was strange seeing as the pair had shared many silent moments with each other before, yet only now did this one have a tense air to it. Takara wondered if the game had rendered Chishiya speechless from how exhaustive it was, but part of her felt he was mad at her for some reason.

She shook the thoughts from her head, telling herself that Chishiya's behaviour was not her responsibility and returned her attention to the passing buildings as they sped down the desolate road.

The drive back had been shorter than the drive to the game, which was mostly due to Takara's indecisiveness on which venue they should choose. Chishiya pulled up in one of the few remaining parking spots and turned the car's engine off with a twist of the key.

As they left the car, a swarm of other players still remained on the front steps of the beach, either congratulating each other on another win, or still patiently waiting for their friends who would likely never arrive. Takara noticed how Chishiya quickly walked away from her and into the crowd, not waiting for her. Frowning, Takara followed after him.

Pushing through the crowd, Chishiya had more or less vanished in the sea of people. After a few more attempts at trying to follow his trail, Takara stopped fighting against the mass of people, accepting that Chishiya clearly wanted to be alone.

Takara disbanded her chase after the blonde and headed in the direction of the card declaration room. If she didn't hand hers in soon, she was sure the militants would start looking for her in suspicion of her being a traitor.