retracing steps | Arisu Ryouhei x Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter 2

Fireworks
-in which there is karube wearing glasses and Arisu occupying bathroom stalls for an inordinate amount of time.

Arisu's trusty backpack was a bright neon blue.

Was it the best decision to have bought this? No. But no one could stop his from getting such a flashy looking bag for survival in the borderlands.

When you're going to have to go through death games then at least you had to have something to brighten your day. And the bright neon attention grabbing blue was just what he needed.

He was also pretty confident that he'd be able to defend the bag if he encountered someone trying to snatch it up, but if the person was obviously stronger than him then he'd maybe take a token try once before conceding because he wasn't about to risk his life for a bag.

_____

Arisu put on sunscreen and moisturiser before he put on his most comfortable pair of socks and wore running shoes that could take a good trashing.

He put on his backpack and face mask as he made his way out of his house while putting his keys in the hidden spot by the plant pots.

He turned his phone on as he sent an audio text message to his family group chat, "Walking to Shibuya Station to take a ride to that hiking spot that I told you guys about, bye, love you!"

Which was an obvious lie. He was going to Shibuya Station but not for a ride for hiking. Being driven to achieve the perfect state for survival in borderland since young had done wonders to his relation with his family so a white lie didnt seem so bad to him now.

It was weird having a non straining family relationship but he wouldn't say no to the thumbs up emoji that his father and brother reacted with to his audio message anyways.

As he forwarded the same audio message to his friend's group chat, Karube sent photos of the hotel that he checked in which was booked by his company, he was wearing obnoxious spectacles that he didn't need at all but he still wore to look more 'business like'.

Chota sent selflies of him and his girlfriend sitting in a quaint cafe making victory signs.

Arisu smiled as he tightened his grip on his backpack and made sure to avoid a stain on the ground infront of him which looked suspiciously like puke.

_____

Arisu pushed open the stall of the third washroom in the Station ignoring the suspicious gazes of the people in the washroom as they saw him enter with a large overstuffed backpack.

Although he was pretty  sure he'd end up in the same place where ever he decided to stay, he didn't want to take any chances. Besides he wanted to enter this stall just for old times sake as well. To commemorate a memory no matter how gruesome the end result was.

He opened his phone which had a little battery left and thought wistfully, which song should he chose to listen to for the last time before entering borderland.

Opening youtube, he pondered and pondered.

His phone flickered and then promptly died.

He glared at it, "well, fuck you too." He muttered in annoyance before balancing his now useless phone beside the tissue paper holder.