BIG FISHES, rizuna ann

CHAPTER NINE

"The last Diamond card we need."

GAME, LIGHT BULB. . .
QUESTION, WHICH SWITCH TURNS ON THE LIGHT BULB?. . .

ONLY ONE SWITCH AMONG A, B, AND C WILL TURN ON THE LIGHT BULB. . .
YOU ONLY HAVE ONE CHANCE TO FLIP A SWITCH WHILE THE DOOR'S OPEN. . .

IF THE DOOR IS CLOSED, YOU CAN FLIP THE SWITCHES AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE. . .
IF SOMEONE IS IN THE ROOM OR A SWITCH HAS BEEN TURNED ON, THE DOOR WILL BE LOCKED. . .

IF YOU ANSWER CORRECTLY, YOU CLEAR THE GAME. . .
IF WATER LEVEL RISES AND TOUCHES THE ELECTRICAL WIRES, IT'S GAME OVER. . .

"Electrical wires?" Saki's head shot up almost immediately. Kuina?, she frowned her eyebrows.

The sudden loud spark followed by a woman's pained guttural sound and a splash of water coming in the forms of little waves that crawled over Saki's thighs was all it was heard for a moment. She stepped to the side, unconscious of where the wires were, though a pair of hands landing on her shoulders made her breathing stop and her legs tremble. Under her fingers, the beach shirt's silk became a second skin, too thin to feel long nails graze softly at the moles on her arms and the warmth of a woman's body, breathing and alive, helping her stabilize herself.

"You'll get electrocuted." The phone had slipped from her hands, drowning at her feet, but all her attention was on the voice that traveled from behind her back and sank inside her ear.

The water level didn't seem to recede, in fact, it raised slowly.

"If it rises too high, everyone dies!"

"We just need to figure out the switch for the light bulb, right?" Do people really not heed game's rules?, Saki opened her mouth, but the guy was faster to add, "I'll head into the room, we'll take turns!"

"If you enter, the door won't close."

"So we only have one chance to turn on the switch with the door open." Now that she's heard her once more, Saki knows for sure it's her, Kuina. Nonetheless, even if she'd also noticed her, having a chit chat about how they've been after so long wasn't something to be planning at the moment when death was creeping up on them.

"But there's no point in flipping the switches when the door is closed!"

"If you turn on Switch A with the door open and it doesn't light up, then the answer is not A." Ann said.

"Let's just flip A with the door open. If it turns on, it's A. If it doesn't, it's either B or C, at least we have a fifty percent chance!"

"Sixty six." Someone sighed in defeat, gibberish resonated even under water, and then her voice was blooming again. Insisting, putting pressure on Arisu's back. "What will you do Arisu?"

At the end, Saki realized one thing: everything, at any moment, could and would get worse. It wasn't something she had the opportunity to discuss with God, the Devil, or the Earth's roots. It was fate and they couldn't do anything about it.

Perhaps she wasn't fond of caring, nor a written destiny in a diary of her seven-year-old self when she got partially better at braille, but she had a flair for feeling too much. Even if it crushed her heart, she wanted to be alive, to taste hope as sweet as the dessert she'd eaten a day before.

"Are you just going to guess?"

"We have no choice but to bet on it." Arisu argued.

"Using all eight lives here?" The wasted seconds raised up to their waist, "Well, seven."

"If you know the answer, do it yourself!"

"Didn't I tell you?" Her voice was harsh, studious, "I'm testing you."

"Don't drag us into the newcomer's trial!" Kuina's got enough.

"Giving up already?" She teased her.

"Arisu, just do it! It's going to be too late!"

"Why's nobody thinking?" Saki whispered to herself, the water carried her words inside bubbles of air, and when Arisu turned with fear gasping for a way out of his chest, he saw her. Wet hair and the corner of her eyes red. He looked at her as if the color lost inside her iris was of help, as if she had the answer hidden on the natural curve of her cupid's kiss, laying an epiphany on her lips parting, saying: "A light bulb gets hot when it's on."

"Hurry up and close the door!" He screamed. Someone did as he said, hoping he knew what he was doing, "Now, open it! Kuina, touch the bulb!"

Oh, he got it, Saki smiled warmly. The water brushed her chin, a gentle touch that reminded her of her father's moonflowers.

"Go, we're running out of time!" Ann ordered.

There was movement in the water, a hissing sound, and then the answer appeared right before their noses. Maybe it had always been there, standing next to her, a centimeter away from her hand.

"The answer is—," Arisu's voice was interrupted by Ann's.

"Switch A."