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my footsteps echo as i walk along the empty streets. a cool breeze tangles itself in my hair as i watch the sun set over the tokyo skyline , flooding the sky with crimson.
time for another game.
i head towards the fluorescent glow , which lights up the nearest arena. the building is bleak ; seven concrete floors of identical blue doors. 'toei sendagaya apartments' , a sign informs me.
i take a deep breath before walking up the stairs and crossing the border. no going back now.
grabbing a phone from the table, i begin scoping out my competition. mostly faces that i know i won't remember ; men in business suits , women in skirts and heels , all stood clutching their phones nervously with their backs to the wall. it was like they were trying to get as far away from each other as possible.
my eyes are drawn to a tall , strong looking man in army-like attire who stands to my left. a blue band circles his wrist. i look at the hands of his companion , a thin , slightly shorter man wearing a bandana , and see that he's also wearing one. 'strange' , i think to myself. 'must be some kind of club'.
it's only on closer inspection of the other players that i see him. blending into his surroundings in a way that had caused my usually observant eyes to completely skip over him before. his hood is up , leaving blonde hair poking out. he's leaning against the wall , hands sunk deep into the pockets of his white hoodie , head down , obscuring his eyes from my vision , with the most unbothered look on his face. by his feet i see black wires , clearly charging what looked like some kind of radio. i chuckle to myself.
'ballsy. it's clearly not his first time'
on hearing my light laugh he raises his head , his face mostly blank but with curiosity in his cat-like eyes. his lips pull up into a smirk as we make eye contact. i feel blood rush to my cheeks , my face heating up. he's beautiful. i drop my head , averting my gaze in embarrassment. i can feel his eyes linger on me before he returns to his original pose.
two more boys enter at the last minute, and a mechanical voice informs us that registration is now closed and that there are 14 participants in total. my heart is beating hard , almost jumping out of my chest. i hated these games. one of the players , a young boy around my age , walks up to the newest two participants and begs them to tell him what was happening. the one with shaggy , dark hair begins answering him before his blonde , older looking friend stops him.
'beginners will only get in our way' the blonde says. i give the boys a sad smile , knowing that even though it was true , it didn't feel any less awful.
at that moment , our phones light up , informing us that this game is a five of spades. i let out a breath of relief , glad that i had chosen to wear sneakers. i wasn't the most physically fit by any means - my strong suits being clubs and lower difficulty diamonds - but i had spent a lot of my childhood and teen years outside doing farm work , and i enjoyed running. the girl next to me begins to stretch and we exchange faint smiles.
conversation was being made between some of the players about the meaning of each suit but i had stopped paying attention , now thinking about the shape of the building. it was 'L' shaped so naturally the best place to begin the game would be at the top and to the right. the arena seemed to be forgiving , not a running theme with these games , and i am impatient to find out what the objective is.
our phones light up again. finally.
"game : a game of tag.
rule : run away from the tagger.
clear condition : discover the safe zone hidden in one of the rooms within the time limit. you clear the game when the objective is fulfilled. time limit , 20 minutes. after 20 minutes, the time bomb hidden in the building will explode".
the mechanical voice finishes speaking.
people were questioning each other , confused.
