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Kazumi breathed a sigh of relief and fell to her knees at the game clear announcement. The tagger who lay on the ground began to move, slowly recovering from the shock they received. Crawling their way to a sitting position, their face came into view. An older woman stared back at the four people in the room with a terrified look on her face. A collar around her neck began to beep rapidly and she took one last fearful look around the room before it exploded, killing her instantly.
Kazumi, who was closest to the woman, was heavily hit by the spray of blood which followed the explosion. Blinking rapidly in disgust and horror, she shakily rose to her feet. The smell of iron invaded her nostrils and she idliy wondered how long it would take for her to be free of that smell.
The shaggy haired man lurched out of the room, looking sick to his stomach, followed by the climber. The light haired man moved further into the room, past Kazumi, who remained where she stood, feeling the adrenaline drain from her body.
The lights to the building turned off, leaving the two of them standing in the dark room, the only light coming from the window. Kazumi broke her stare from the corpse and turned to the remaining man, who had begun to look around the room.
Holding up the device he handed to her, she tested it for remaining charge. It sputtered to life for a moment, then quickly died out. The man pivoted at the noise, and she held out the now useless weapon to him. "You ended up being pretty helpful"
His easy smile finally returned as he arched a brow in curiosity. "You doubted me?"
"You don't exactly inspire confidence."
"You don't know me."
"I don't want to."
He finally reached out and took back the makeshift taser from her outstretched hand. Walking past her towards the door he paused, crouching before the corpse and searching through the tagger's pockets. Pulling out a piece of paper he unfolded it to reveal a confusing drawing of a circle and squiggles. Looking over his shoulder Kazumi frowned in confusion. She was sure this pattern meant something. It felt oddly familiar, like she had seen it somewhere before, she just couldn't place it.
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She took the stairs two at a time to the lobby. She hoped that's where the card would be, hoping another player hadn't gotten to it first. The man trailed behind her, the difference in pacing meant they had lost sight of each other fairly quickly.
Returning to the room previously filled with players Kazumi headed over to the center table which now sat empty much to her disappointment.
From the corner of her eye she noticed a side door, separate from the stairs and elevator. Striding over to it she pushed it open, discovering a cramped room, with an eerily similar table sitting in the center. The five of spades lay on the table, and Kazumi did not hesitate to claim it as her own. Exiting out of the room, she headed for the outside.
"Chishiya."
She turned to see the light haired man at the bottom of the stairs. "What?"
"My name." He moved further into the room. Silence filled the space. "Now is usually when you would reply with your own name."
"I'm trying to decide if it's worth telling you. For all you know I could be dead tomorrow."
"You don't strike me as the type to die easy."
"I'm not." She said it confidently, all doubts pushed away by sheer force of will. "Kazumi."
He nodded and stepped closer to her. He now stood mere few feet away. She eyed his new positioning, ready to bolt if need be. "Kazumi. Come to the beach."
She furrowed her brows in confusion at the man, Chishiya. She raked her brain for any kind of meaning to the sentence but came up empty. "Is that code for something?"
He chuckled to himself. "No it's a place."
"What sort of place?"
"Some would describe it as a utopia in this hellscape." He shrugged as he spoke, maintaining his apathetic stance.
"But you wouldn't."
"I would describe it as an opportunity." He paused before brushing past her and moving towards the door. Looking over his shoulder he offered on last insight before stepping out onto the dark street. "You don't have to decide right now. Call it a hunch but I'm sure you'd be of use there."
Kazumi remained where she was, letting his words sink in, before reaching her hand into her pockets. Her hands brushed against her Swiss army knife sat folded in her right pocket, and her two playing cards in her left.
...Wait.
She froze, a knot forming in her stomach. She ripped the two cards out of her pocket, the four of hearts and the two of spades staring back at her. The five of spades was missing.
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Kazumi was furious. Chishiya was nowhere to be found by the time she ran out to the street which left her with two options; wallow in misery and accept the loss of a card, or figure out wherever and whatever the beach was.
She spent some time combing through beaches within the city, but none of them yielded any result. Eventually her focus shifted to prioritizing survival over retribution, hunting for food with a practiced ease. Personally familiar with the practical aspects of survival, the time between games was when she felt the most in her element.
Over the days following her red hot anger dimmed to the smoldering coals of frustration. Frustration that best directed somewhere. As much as she loathed to admit it, she did enjoy the feeling of adrenaline in her veins whenever she joined a game. Her shortening visa time was the last push she needed to get her to join yet another game.
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Kazumi found herself in an underground highway, orange lights bathed the tunnel, washing everything in a dusky glow. The tunnel was wide and sparse, very few cars were left on the road. Further down the tunnel stood a heavily graffitied bus, uniquely colorful against the monotonous orange.
She approached the buses entrance, which stood already opened, before pausing to look further down the tunnel. Aside from the stray car, the tunnel stood unremarkable before twisting to left, making it impossible to see down any further.
Sighing in preparation to herself, she climbed aboard the bus, ready to face whatever awaited her.
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