♠ ♦ Alice in Borderland ♣ ♥

26

For the first time in ages I feel peace when I wake up. Whilst I normally want to stay in bed to give the illusion that I'm not living in this world right now, I don't want to get up now because I feel peaceful, something I never expected to be able to do in Borderland. Still, I'm well on my way.

When I hear the sound of a page turning, I suddenly feel my peace disappear. That sound brings me back to the realization that I spent an overnight at Yuki's. Slowly I throw the blanket off me, sitting upward. 'Morning,' I mumble slightly uncomfortable. 'Oh,' he mumbles equally uncomfortably whilst looking at his book, 'I'm sorry, I must have woken you up...' I shake my head and lift the corners of my mouth slightly. 'What are you reading?' He lowers the book onto his lap and shrugs. 'Nothing special.'

'Now you're making me really curious.' When he doesn't say anything, I throw my legs over the edge of the bed and walk over to his. Of course he knows what I'm trying to do. He grips the book tightly in his hands and doesn't let go when I try to grab it. Not even a slight friction gets into his grip. 'Maybe I should do some more exercise,' I mumble as I let go and lower myself at the end of his bed. Even from such a short effort, I'm breathless. 'I didn't think it would be necessary,' I continue with a shrug, 'but I just keep surviving the games.'

'You didn't really think you wouldn't, did you?' The way he asks that in disbelief makes me smile. 'It's not my own performance,' I reply, 'but you never know with the people here.' He can understand that statement. In the silence that follows I realize that I have sat down on his bed. He was nice enough to offer me not to spend the night in that snake pit. It was a strange idea to take up his offer, but he never showed any inappropriate behaviour. I trusted him that he wouldn't do anything to me. It all worked out well, but it still feels weird that I'm sitting on his bed now.

Before the atmosphere can get uncomfortable, he holds up his book. 'I was reading about cybersecurity.' Judging by his voice, he fears I would think it's stupid. When will he realize I don't? 'What is that exactly?' I ask seriously. He still looks at me as if he expects me to burst out laughing at any moment, but when I don't, he says: 'That's the practice of protecting systems, networks and programs from digital attacks.' I had already thought that. 'This book is mainly about detection, investigation and recovery, but also about the threats.'

'Like phishing?' I ask, to which he nods pleasantly surprised. 'Yes,' he says enthusiastically. 'There are still many people who fall for the emails that have the aim of committing fraud by stealing your personal information. You can protect yourself well against that if you know what to look out for.' The corners of my mouth curl up naturally from the enthusiastic way he talks about it, but he takes it all wrong. 'I'm sorry,' he mumbles, his cheeks colouring red, 'I could go on and on about it.'

'Oh, no!' I say quickly. 'I wasn't laughing at you, I just liked how enthusiastically you talked about it.' I can see from him that he believes my words, but that somehow he's still afraid of being laughed at. He puts his book on the bedside table. 'Let's get ready for breakfast,' he mumbles. I look at the clock and see that it's already eleven o'clock. I find myself not wanting to leave this room at all. Yet I get up from his bed and nod. 'Do you want to shower first, or should I go first?'

'Uhm, you can go first,' he mumbles awkwardly. I grab a new set of swimsuits and a cardigan and enter the bathroom. When I have taken off my clothes and am in the shower, I look wide-eyed at the bathroom door. I didn't put a chair in front of it. Yet that realization is the only thing that makes me nervous, not the thought that he might come in. I trust him that he won't.

After I'm done drying and brushing my hair, I go back to the bedroom. 'Those are the only benefits of the Beach,' I say, reattaching my wristband, 'a hot shower and electricity.' Yuki lifts the corners of his mouth slightly and then goes to the bathroom. I grab the book from his bedside table and decide to scan through it. There are a lot of difficult terms in there that I don't understand. I just switched to the viruses when Yuki comes back. I quickly put the book down and stand up.