Alice In Borderland: Riptide

EPISODE TWO: DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

"So you could stop all of this. Right now." Karube states, leaning against the cold gray wall and slowly crossing his long, lean arms. "Nobody has to play in the games, nobody would have to die..."

       "It isn't that simple," you argue, glancing sternly in his direction. "I know how to locate their base of operations—but not necessarily from this... dimension."

       "Dimension?" Arisu's eyes crinkle in confusion.

       "Whaddya mean, this 'dimension'?" Niragi sneers.

       You sigh deeply and rub the space between your eyes. You can feel the headache coming.

       "I'm pretty sure that's what it is. The game masters somehow must've warped time and space. It's really the only thing that makes any sense to me—how else to make it appear as though everyone else in Tokyo has disappeared—or really make them disappear into the Borderland. Since people arrive at different times..." Your voice trails off and you look up from your contemplation to see that everyone is staring at you in confusion. "What?" You say, shrugging. "It's the best I've got, so I'm running with it, okay?"

       "Wait," Chishiya steps forward. "If everyone vanished into this... Borderland..." —he forms air quotes around the stressed word, a small smirk on his lips— "at different times, then how do you plan on all of us" —he gestures to the rather large group— "being able to arrive there together?"

       This, finally, is where you get to smirk. You cross your arms and tilt your head, considering every person in the room with a veiled, knowing gaze.

       "By forcing time and space to aquiesce to my request, of course." You smirk widens into an almost-grin as you see the lightbulb flicker and glow above Chishiya's head... then Niragi, Kuina Karube.... you nod, still smiling. "You see it now? By gathering together so many who arrived at the different times, I hope to create a... time bubble?... allowing everyone here to cross en masse. Hopefully with no repercussions on the outside world. Then we can take control of this place and keep Hatter from starting his reign of terror..."

       "Who?" Kuina asks, eyebrows raising.

       "Undesirable Number One. No-" You stop yourself. "Scratch that. Mira is the first one we need to find and put a stop to. Hatter can wait. He will be here for a year at least before finding this place, if the timeline is the same. Trust me—him being in control is the last thing we want."

       "Why couldn't we just all leave Tokyo?" A voice from the back asks. You search the crowd and your gaze lands on a little slip of a girl in a school uniform. She looks to be barely in her teens, wearing teddy bear ears and a pink kitten backpack. You smile gently at her. She must've been among the first to die. Before.

       "Anyone who tried to leave Tokyo before... it wasn't pretty." You close your eyes for a moment against the memory of lasers pounding through skulls—at the thought of the same happening to the child before you, of her dropping lifeless to the ground with sightless eyes. You give a quick shake of your head and once again meet her eyes, dark and liquid as  a doe's. Alive. "I think if anyone wants to try to remain in the real world, it can be done if they cross the border at the exact time as the first person would cross into the Borderland. If anyone decides to do that, I would strongly suggest them taking along this phone." You hold up the slim phone in your hand. "Hopefully it will allow communication between us and the outside."

       Chota gently nudges his way forward from between his two taller friends. He gulps nervously and raises his hand, barely meeting your eyes.

       "I'll go back," he says softly. His round face turns worried. "I'm not strong, or fast... or even very smart. Not like Karube and Arisu. If I stayed I'd probably die anyway. But I'm okay with figuring out technology. I'll be your go-between."