𝐒𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 // 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫ō 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

23

"You all right?" He asked him. But he didn't seem to be concerned on his wellbeing at all. He seemed to want something from him. You could read him easily. You knew he had malicious intents but it wasn't your problem. You saw him lean towards the man's ear and whisper something to him. The man tensed and his eyes widened slightly, seemingly shocked by what Banda said to him. You smiled, predicting what Banda said to him.

"Looks to me like you want another beating," The man said in a low tone "huh?!" He gripped his hair and held him up, throwing a punch to his jaw. "Give me the fucking answer!" He held up his balled up fist intimidatingly, inciting a response from him.

"C—club.." The coward mumbled in a desperate attempt to not get beaten up by him.

"Huh?!" The bald man said again, not hearing him.

"Club!"

He paused before grinning, satisfied. He slapped his cheek a couple of times, "Don't wait so long next time." He shoved him onto the ground and walked away, giving you and Chishiya some sort of stare as he walked pass you.

"There won't be a 'next time'", you said under your breath and smiled. Chishiya seemed to hear you and let a chuckle— which was barely a puff of air out his nose.

Ippei looked at the back of the bald man's collar and his eyes widened, letting out a small 'oh'. He was about to walk towards the man before you stopped him, gripping his arm tightly. He seemed to get your message and reluctantly stood in his place with a look of guilt displayed on his face.

"Now the game is really starting," Chishiya said, seemingly satisfied.

Urumi stared at the guy who got beaten up by the bald man. She decided to walk over to him and crouch to speak to him. You couldn't make out what she said, but you presumed that he got recruited into her 'group' as he got up and starting walking towards them.

You stared at the time and noticed there was 32 minutes remaining. Ippei also seemed to notice this, and he turned to you with a smile on his face. "Do you want to tell each other our symbols now?"

You nodded. "Yeah. Turn around."

Ippei nodded happily and turned around. You leaned in close towards the back of his neck to see what his symbol was before getting pulled away— by Chishiya, again. You furrowed your brows in confusion. He didn't seem to like you going near Ippei.. and you wondered why, but decided to brush it aside.

"Yours is a Heart," he replied curtly, still holding onto your arm.

Ippei turned around again and smiled cheerfully. "Thank you!"

Chishiya hummed in response.

"I'll check yours, Chishiya," you said. He hummed, letting you check his symbol. You brushed his hair aside and leaned towards his neck.

"Spade."

He nodded, acknowledging your answer before turning towards you. "Turn around."

You turned around, feeling his hand brush away the hair that covered the back of your collar. He leaned in, making you hear and feel him breathing. "Diamonds," he said, tickling your ear with his raspy voice. It made you feel shivers down your spine, but you decided to ignore it, humming appreciatively towards Chishiya.

Ippei looked at you and smiled. You couldn't help but think of Anzu whenever you looked at him. You softened at the sight of him smiling at you, giving him a slight smile and nod, indicating that you noticed him smiling at you.

Urumi's group spoke in between themselves to tell each other their symbols. As they did so, Urumi kept on glancing at you suspiciously. Chishiya seemed to notice this too, deciding to scoot towards you. Your shoulders were touching, and as much as you appreciated him being so concerned for you, you couldn't help but think that it's slightly out of character for him. As if a new person emerged from the shadows.

IT IS TIME TO GIVE YOUR ANSWER. PLEASE ENTER A SOLITARY CONFINEMENT CELL OF YOUR CHOOSING.

You walked over to a random cell and stared at the coward who lied to the bald guy, noticing guilt on his face. Ippei stared at the coward, knowing that he lied to him. He was about to say something, but in the end he pursed his lips and went inside his cell. Your expression remained indifferent as you also went in your cell. The door shut itself closed and you hummed, awaiting for the A.I to give you the countdown on giving your answer.

Finally, a buzz could be heard inside your cell.

PLEASE GIVE YOUR ANSWER.

"Diamond."

As the countdown went to zero, you heard a buzz, followed by the door behind you clicking and opening. You heard a loud explosion, which you presume was from the bald guy getting his neck exploded.

Everyone else got out of their cells, confused on the sound of the explosion. They all gathered back into the central guardroom. A big board was seen displayed with everyone's picture and name, making you hum in interest as you went towards Chishiya and Ippei. As expected, the bald guy's picture was nearly erased— faded in black, meaning that he got 'eliminated'.

Immediately upon seeing his picture getting faded out, everyone started discussing and murmuring amongst themselves.

"Oh my goodness." "How terrible." "Do you think I'll be next?", and so on. You and Chishiya looked at Urumi, who started speaking to her group mates.

"Hey.. that guy must be the Jack," she said in a low tone, directing her sentence towards the coward who lied to the bald guy. "He lied to that big bully and killed him...I think we'd better kill him next turn." She smiled, completing her sentence as if she said nothing wrong at all.

A girl in a yellow shirt approached her and whispered into her ear. "You mean to say.. we should.. lie to him..?"

Urumi turned to her, keeping her smile. "Of course.. he's definitely the Jack after all. Even if not, he's still dangerous. We should eliminate him while we still have the chance."

You noticed Banda staring at you with his piercing eyes. You stared back at him, perking a brow. Chishiya also seemed to notice him staring. He stared at him back and tilted his head as he scooted over to you almost as if he was getting defensive of you. You found it quite cute to see him like that and fought back a smile that wanted to appear on your face.

You hummed and smiled sarcastically. "I guess the game's truly begun, huh?"

Jack of Hearts arc gave me a newfound motivation to write. I hope you enjoy!! 💕