The Queen of Spades (promise this is good)

Extra chapter 34-a game with the King

The two of you walked toward the game arena, where you were met with 18 more people standing around the tower. There was a huge bucket above the tower, and a lever holding it up. There were 20 ropes around the area, the one holding the bell up was unknown.

"Game registration closed.

Difficulty: 7 of Diamonds (originally I wanted this to be the six of diamonds but in the manga Chishiya played the 6 of diamonds as his first game, a simple game of blackjack against a card dealer and a mathematician.)

Game: Guts

Rules: Each player will take turns cutting off one rope, one of which holds up the bucket of acid above you. If you think that the bell is going to drop, you can run out of the arena. If the bell does not drop, the player who runs out of the arena will die. If players do not decide on cutting a rope when the time limit ends, a random rope will be cut off. When the rope holding the bucket up is cut, all players on the platform will die.

Game start."

"Do you have the guts to stay, cowardly run away, or run at the right time?" Kuzuryū explained the rules of the game simply. 

They put your names in alphabetical order, you being just before Kuzuryu. On a table was a screen with all the 20 ropes to cut. The first person to go up was a poor pregnant lady who was about 25 weeks in. Her finger lingered over the buttons, unsure which one to pick at all. She was fearful for the worst and worried about her own life too much, something you should never do in a diamonds game.

"Wait! This is a trap! All of them will make the bucket tilt!" One man shouted. A few other people agreed with him. Just as the woman picked to cut rope number 1, 5 people had ran out of the arena, the devices around their neck exploding. You tried to hold in your laughter, but it was all to no avail as you cackled maniacally. 

"If this game was that simple, it wouldn't be a 7 of diamonds!" You laughed at all the foolish people who had ran out on just the first rope. That proved that they had absolutely no wits whatsoever. But, every rope had a 5 percent chance of tilting the bucket, so the chances of them dying increased after every round.

You looked over to Kuzuryu, who was keeping his arms to himself and looking around the arena skeptically. Soon, it was another man's turn to pick a rope to cut. He walked past you from behind you, his jet black hair remaining completely still. The dark aura around him was rising, making the tension in the air rise after every passing second.

He randomly pressed to cut rope number 14, before walking back to his original position. You could feel his eyes staring right into your soul, which you found extremely creepy. You turned your head around and met his gaze, his lips curving into a small fake smile under his tanned skin.

He donned a pale blue shirt on his broad shoulders that was tucked into his khaki-coloured pants. A casual but thrifty and slightly fashionable look, not bad, you thought. 

You crossed your arms above your chest, letting your breasts rest comfortably on your forearms. You felt pretty much naked with your chest and butt revealed to the whole world, whilst all the other people were given the privilege of wearing covering clothes, which was taken away from you. 

Well, it was lucky you were pretty.

When you caught him taking a glance at your cleavage, you immediately covered it with your entire palm, cringing at him as he looked away, without an ounce of remorse or guilt.

Another man went up, unable to choose which button to press. He shakily pressed button number 20. An obvious decision for one to pick the multiples of 5, or the first and last number.