Hope Always Dies Last | Chishiya [English]

Questions and answers [feat. Cheshire Cat]

I was only able to discover Kuina relatively late in the hustle and bustle.

When I got to her, my nerves were shattered. What awaited me there, however, was to pull me down even more in retrospect.

Next to Kuina sat Chishiya, he just grinned at me. I briefly considered whether I should perhaps go away after all, but my ego wouldn't allow it. Just because the guy was here now didn't mean I would waste my chances to get the answers to my questions!

"So? What were you playing?" she asked me as I plopped down on the lounge chair next to her. I blew a loose strand of hair out of my face before leaning back. "Ace of spades," I said, "You?" She smiled briefly. "6 of clubs. A very interesting game, but I'll spare you the details for now. You look completely exhausted!", she said to me, and I just nodded.

Chishiya didn't seem to care. He sat across from us in a calmly manner, holding his glass of clear liquid loosely in his hand while sipping from it time to time. Somehow, I could not have imagined that he also drank alcohol. But apparently, I was wrong.

"You promised to give me some answers," I reminded her of the pre-game conversation, and she nodded slightly before looking around. "Let's change places, there are too many ears here," she finally said and stood up before pulling me up from the seat. My weary limbs protested, and I grumbled briefly. To my astonishment, Chishiya followed us, the two seemed to have a closer relationship.

Our destination was my room. Kuina hastily pushed me through the door, then they followed me. It was he who closed the door before casually strolling across the room. I noticed how he seemed to be scanning the room and felt uncomfortable as the thought that he, too, was an Executive Member jumped into my mind.

"You should change your clothes, before we talk, Shiraishi" Kuina said, while she collapsed onto the bed, "Brave that you ran around the pool in a sweater and long pants, if Hatter had seen you like this, you would be in serious trouble now." I looked down at myself. That's right, I hadn't even thought of that... There was this stupid rule...

I was a little nervous as I grabbed the box that I had thrown into the corner before locking myself in the bathroom. Fortunately, these types of locks still seemed to work. As I rummaged through the skimpy pieces, I heard the two murmur softly. They seemed to be arguing, but unfortunately, I couldn't understand what they were saying.

I groaned as my hand pulled another much too tight bottom out of the box. If this continued, I would start to run out of options... At that moment, my hand closed on a light blue piece and, I had hope as I pulled it out. It was swim shorts... Not too short, not too long! Perfect! I dug for the matching top: also, light blue with a neck holder.

I swapped my current clothes for the bikini after a quick wash. To my surprise, the water worked as well, as did the electricity... hopefully Kuina could give me an answer...

When I came back to my room, Chishiya had planted himself on the comfortable armchair and was looking at me and Kuina expectantly.

Damn, this guy was weird... but he also wasn't as weird as he had seemed. Something about him made me curious, I was dying to find out who he was exactly and what he was hiding behind his facade. Because there was undoubtedly something hiding there...

"Why..." I began looking around, "...does everything work? Electricity, water, cars... I don't understand..." She patted the bed next to her and I sat down, even if I still felt a little uncomfortable being so close.

"Beach is special," she said. "They have the resources to keep everything alive here." I looked at her questioningly, but it was Chishiya who went into more detail: "There is an emergency generator that runs on diesel. The water is rainwater or river water, which we collected, and the cars only work because there are controlled manually." I started playing with my fingers like I always do when I'm nervous. The man didn't miss it, but he said nothing.

So, we sat there, silent. I didn't know how far I could go because he was sitting in the room. He could snitch my mistakes to the board, and I would be in big trouble then.

"What do you think, Shiraishi?" the young woman suddenly wanted to know, and it was my look that betrayed me. Chishiya's mouth twisted into a smirk as he felt my stare before stretching his feet comfortably. Kuina smiled briefly. "Don't worry about that dork, he looks like a boss but he's more of a shadow guy," she told me. My brain took a moment to process this information. When it clicked, my gaze automatically slid to him.

"A traitor?" I asked and he shrugged as I leaned back.

"A tip, Shiraishi," Chishiya's voice brought my focus back to him, "You're under surveillance... The tigers want you."

"The... what?!" I asked confused and he got up. Kuina did the same. She just looked at me seriously. "Believe me, you might be slipping into something you're going to have a hard time getting out of!" she agreed, and my brain kept screaming 'what'.

Who the hell were the tigers?

"Hey! Chishiya, Kuina!" I called after them, but they closed the door at that moment. I huffed in annoyance but stayed seated.

Since I've been here, I've had even more questions than before. It was exhausting to get an overview, to get everything under one roof.

This place kept me on edge while not allowing me to relax my nerves.

They were so mysterious that I just couldn't fathom them. It made the place even more dangerous because I could step into an invisible faux pas so incredibly quickly without noticing anything.

But that one person... Yes, he's already getting on my nerves. Unfortunately, I couldn't decide whether I should see this as a positive or a negative sign.

He was blond and stup-

Stop... Don't say it, Neiru! Just because the metaphor is in your head doesn't mean I have to apply it to him!

Because he was just the opposite: his manner, his words, his facial expressions... it indicated that he wasn't even showing his true skill.

Chishiya Shuntaro... He didn't seem to hang out with losers. He spoke to me, which was unusual for a start.

Who the hell was he and what was he up to?