Criminal || An Alice in Borderland Story

|| Episode 9 ||

Shion slowly walks towards a spot in front of him and tosses the cards aside like they were of no value. She puts her fist against his chest only soft enough not to hurt him. Not that Chishiya minds it. He'll let her beat him up until she stops. He looked down on her fist and widened his eyes slightly.

There are red spots on it and Chishiya figured out that she might have punched Niragi with such full force that it gained a wound on her skin.

He sighed and slowly took her hand, pulling her down to sit on the bed. Chishiya stood up to grab a first aid kit. He carefully and softly bandages her hand, raising it up to kiss it afterwards. Chishiya looks at her and she's a whole new person again.

Chishiya was about to open his mouth to apologise but Shion takes her uninjured hand to cover it. "Please.. let me tell you everything." She softly said before lowering her hand and taking a spot in her lap.

"I should have told you clearly that I would react like that." 

"Niragi is our family name so it'd be weird for everyone to call him that now." She slightly and bitterly chuckled at that retort and Chishiya could agree.

"He's supposedly my everything, you know? I gave what I can to him. Money. Sweets. Protection. Care." She counted and looked down, gulping.

"Love." Shion sighed, looking forward. "But he took advantage of it even back then. I guess when I left for Tokyo, it took a drastic turn for him. He's still quite protective over me despite being 2 years younger.."

"I never bother to tell anyone but you know, Arisu.." She looked at him to see if there's any hint of malice. Shion softened a little when there's nothing to it in Chishiya. He just looks at her with care and attention.

"He guessed it already since I've only had one conversation about Suguru with him anyway.." She looked down.

Chishiya bit his lip, hating that this girl is in pain and she's taking it in with open arms and no hesitation. He puts his hands over here, comforting her. "You can stop if you want.." he softly said.

She shook her head, continuing on. "I can't do it.. I wanted him back but I think I've pushed him further into this monster." She sobbed, letting her pain take over.

Chishiya looked away, almost letting his own tears fall as well. He hates this. He hates crying and he rarely cries.

But the woman he thinks he loves right beside, does and his heart is aching for her. He pulled her closer and hugged her out of comfort and care, rubbing her back softly.

"It's okay.." he said and repeated it, his other hand patting her head as she took him in with her arms wrapped around his shoulders, sobbing through his hoodie.

Pulling away after she stopped crying, he took her face and wiped the tears with his thumbs.

"I can't say if it's your fault or mine but we both know that in this world and whatever it is that happened to him, it's inevitable. He's long gone now." Chishiya isn't one to sugarcoat someone's devastation but he makes it clear and soft at the same time.

She nodded and looked at him. "I know.. but it does hurt seeing him like that and knowing that it'll never be the same again." Shion sighed and looked down, pulling his hands away from her face. "I'm really sorry, Chishiya.."

"Don't say sorry." He sharply said, not minding his tone. "Don't you ever say sorry when you did nothing wrong." He clenched his jaw and took her face again, turning her to look at him.

"I appreciate what you've done for him out of everyone here because he's your brother and any other family member would've left him behind to rot himself over but you didn't. You tried your very best to turn him back even when it's slowly starting to turn out that it's impossible. It's one of the things I like about you, Shion." He said with no hesitation and with admiration she thought she didn't deserve it.