The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

A little jump out of the old habit

When I woke up, Chishiya was no longer next to me.

Puzzled, I sat up and stretched my tired limbs before scanning the room with my eyes. Just then the young man came back. I assumed he had been in the bathroom.

"Good morning," he greeted me when he saw that I was awake.

"Morning," I grumbled back. Apparently, we both decided not to talk about last night. Maybe it was better that way, otherwise I wouldn't be able to concentrate all day.

"We have to hurry. Unfortunately, the King of Spades is not that far away from us. If we stay any longer, we could get caught in the gunfire," he informed me as I struggled to my feet and pulled a strand of blonde hair out of my face. I nodded at him before I stretched. My hair was quickly tied up in a braid and I also quickly gathered my things. Then I helped Chishiya pack the most necessary things into small cloth bags. It wouldn't hurt if we had something to eat or something to drink. At least at first, we didn't have to worry about essential things, which was an advantage if you looked at it that way.

When we finished, I caught Chishiya looking me over. He lowered his gaze quite quickly when our eyes met.

Slowly I believed more and more that something was changing within him. And I wanted to find out exactly what it was.

"Are you ready?" he cleared his throat, and I gave him a thumbs up before we grabbed the bags and left the apartment. I looked back briefly as I left.

Who knows, maybe this place was an important one in the development of our relationship.

I looked at the balcony one last time, where I had presented my vulnerability to him, then closed the door behind me. Maybe we would come back here again, maybe not.

Chishiya led us. He kept looking to the sky to determine the position of the king of spades. Every now and then I had problems following him because he scurried away quickly. His life no longer seemed as indifferent to him as it had been a few weeks ago. He didn't play with it as much as he had before.

The sun's rays tickled my nose and I sneezed softly. The young man in front of me looked at me briefly, nodded and then turned back to looking for an apartment.

I didn't know how long we had been looking, but the sun was high in the sky when we finally found something suitable. It was a small, old drugstore that had accommodation on the first floor. Here, we had enough escape routes again. And the best part was that there were some snacks and drinks at the drugstore. So, we didn't have to walk that far!

Chishiya set his bag down at the small kitchen counter and then looked around as I tried to sort through the food that we already had on the small kitchen table and note what we were missing. Luckily it wasn't much, we could get it tomorrow morning. Today I should concentrate on what I plan to do later.

I decided to declare my love in a different way. After all, he too had constantly asked me open questions, now it was his turn to figure something out himself. I would give him a riddle that he had to solve himself.

Could he do it? Certainly.

Was he able to get the right insight from it? I hope so.

If not, then...

To be honest, I didn't even want to imagine that...

"What do you think?" his voice suddenly wanted to know next to me and I jumped. Damn, I hadn't heard him at all! Had I been so absorbed in my thoughts again that it had been able to sneak up on me without any problem?

"Everything's fine," I replied, and goosebumps crept up my back because his breath was caressing my neck. Only he could do that!

"Mmh," he replied and let go of me, "So you think everything is fine?" I had the feeling he was about to pull another bad trick. And I was right.

"Then why did you open the chips and then put them away again?" I caught myself looking at the floor. I really did that? How embarrassing...

I quickly looked at the table and surprise, he had tricked me. I had fallen into his trap again. He smiled.

"You must have been really deep in thought if you had to check whether you really did that," he concluded, leaning against the kitchen counter. I watched him with narrowed eyes. He seemed to be able to understand me better and better, which to be honest scared me a little, even if the aftertaste was a pleasant feeling.

"Maybe I was, yes," I said, "But it's not important. At least not yet." I put the last item on the table. Then I turned to him.

"Listen, Chishiya," I began. Now things were getting serious. "I'm about to go play another game." He looked at me like I had some weird, colorful hat on my head. I almost laughed at the look on his face.

"Why?" he wanted to know. But it didn't sound like he was against my decision. No, he just wanted to know why I did it. It was pure curiosity.

"I don't know. It's just a feeling that it would be right," I explained to him, "It came when I saw Ayumi." He seemed to be thinking. Then he nodded.

"Alright, I won't play today," he said, and I expressed my understanding.

Now it was time.

I pushed myself off the table and walked to the kitchen door. Then I turned to him again.

"Chishiya?"

"Mmmh?"

"By chance you see each other, you feel each other, you stay. And then you become intertwined."

I couldn't see his gaze anymore because I slipped out of the room as quickly as possible. Now it was up to him to solve the puzzle. I had given him the nudge he needed, he now had to figure out the rest himself.

And when I came back, I hoped for an answer.

I put on my jacket as I left the building. It had become cold. Then I looked up at the kitchen window again as I walked down the street.

He stood there and watched me go.

I quickly looked down again. My heart was beating in my throat.

Oh, I couldn't wait to get back here.

I wanted to know if he had an answer.

But now... now I had something else to do.

I slowly looked up at the sky.

There it was - the airship I was looking for.

Queen of Diamonds, here I come!