Though no one could see it, Chishiya had lost his sense of serenity.
His normal reaction should've been to pass it off as a mere coincidence, but this, this was something different.
Something in him froze over.
His legs felt like jelly, his vision blurred over, and he felt his throat close up.
All because of you.
Your face was more roughed up than the last time he had seen you, but you still had that playful tilt to your lips.
Your chest was rising and falling smoothly, a big contrast to the mess of your clothes.
Considering being tied up to a chair... you looked completely relaxed.
"Hey, Hatter," you greeted, voice filling the silent room. You nodded to a few others standing around the chair. "How are you?"
Hatter returned your wide smile and went to return a greeting of his own, but Nigari stepped forward.
Suddenly, your head snapped to the side, followed by a spit up of blood that came from your mouth.
Niragi had punched you.
Chishiya gulped and worked to calm himself, hoping to look as stoic as always.
"Hello," you grunted, "To you too, Niragi."
"You're dumb as fuck, Y/n," Niragi growled, the fist he hit you with clenching tightly.
For the first time, Chishiya didn't know what to do.
What Niragi going to hit you again?
Why wasn't anyone helping?
Why would they just let that happen?
Under his collected exterior, his mind was running miles with this sudden feeling to help you — a thing he's never felt before.
You threw your head back in a fit of laughter. Chishiya felt his face screw up with confusion. "Missed you too," you added to Niragi with a wink.
The pierced man would've taken another step to you if it wasn't for Hatter getting in the way. "That's enough," Hatter interjected before turning to you.
Chishiya released a deep breath.
"I'm good. How have you been, Y/n? It's nice to see you alive."
Chishiya tried to understand what was going on.
How did Hatter know you?
Does everyone else know you?
Where's your wrist band?
Are you apart of the Beach?
It annoyed him beyond belief to be in the unknown — something he wasn't used to being.
A foreign territory.
You shrugged; or at least the best you could with your arms tied being your back.
"Been iffy. Lots of games, lots of death." You then lean forward with a gleam in your eye. "Good news for you: it means more cards."
"Speaking of cards, have you seen our wall," Hatter asked with a grand gesture to the Card Wall behind Chishiya.
You eyed it before sitting up in your seat. There were spaces that you would gladly x-out. "It looks good," you comment and wiggle against the restraints. Three cards fall by your feet.
"Here's my newest ones."
"Thank you, my spy," Hatter praises and crouches down for the cards.
"Spy?" Chishiya repeats in a whisper. His eyebrows furrow. "Spy?"
Hatter yells out, staring at the cards he holds away from himself. "Seven of Diamonds?!"
Everyone collectively gasps.
Some clap for you.
Chishiya sucks in a breath.
Even Niragi gives a nod of acknowledgment.
"Three of Hearts..." Hatter continues reading off the cards. "And Five of...oh, sorry my spy, but someone beat you to the Five of Spades."
Chishiya gives a confident and smug smirk when Hatter gestures to him. "Chishiya, over there, brought it in yesterday. Chishiya meet Y/n, Y/n meet Chishiya."
He catches the way your eyes widen but you take back control quick and paste a smile on your lips. "Nice to meet you, Chishiya. Good job on the card."
Hatter takes over the conversation and throws an arm around Chishiya's shoulders.
He swore to himself he saw amusement in your eyes when he tried so hard not to scowl.
"Y/n here is my spy. She's been a part of the Beach for three weeks and a half weeks now. I send her out, she reports back the different games and any suspicious activity of the residents here."
Chishiya tried to nod thoughtfully, but all he could think about was your ability to slip through his top-tier observation skills.
For the entire time he had been apart of the Beach...
"I see," is all he said in response.
"Well," Hatter concluded with a hard pat onto Chishiya's back. "Meeting is over. Everyone except Y/n and Chishiya leave the room, they need to get acquainted."
And sure enough, everyone was gone within the next minute. The door was sliding closed when Hatter popped his head in. "You're sharing rooms while we set one up for Y/n."
Hatter received two lazy nods, neither Y/n nor Chishiya processing the words.
Chishiya watched you the whole time, basking in the long silence you allowed to pass by.
He had so many questions.
But you had managed to speak first.
"Before all of this, I was a psychologist. I worked with the mentally ill, having them create riddles and puzzles for me to solve. Those challenges helped me learn the ways of how their brains worked and how to help."
Chishiya wanted to stagger back at the sudden dump of personal information.
She's telling me about herself.
You tilted your head at him. "Your turn."
He blinked.
You blinked back.
"Medical student," he finally grumbled out, hands clenching from within his pockets.
He found it useless to be sharing this information, but he couldn't help but to succumb and answer you.
"Didn't think a psychologist could fight like you," he added with a smirk, hoping to get the higher ground and... maybe the dignity he might soon lose to you.
Have you tried flirting with her?
"And I didn't think a medical student could make a taser," you bit back teasingly and shrugged it off as if to mock him. "But what do I know?"
He took a small breath.
He couldn't let himself get riled up by you — it didn't help that you were a behavioral specialist.
You knew how to read between the lines.
But even with your expertise, you could still slip up.
And that's exactly what Chishiya wanted when he said his next sentence. "Good to know I exceeded your expectation," he replied nonchalantly and your eyes snapped to his.
You didn't expect that response.
Chishiya tilted his head, mimicking you.
He was silently asking you to explain your smooth moves and quick steps.
You rolled your eyes and sat back in the chair. "I picked up dancing when I was younger. Took it till college; seems like it helped in the long run."
There it was.
His opening.
His one chance.
His took a front strand of hair and twirled it around his finger, gazing at you through hooded eyes.
You would've been lying if you said you weren't intimidated.
"Does that mean you're flexible?"
Your mind went straight to the gutter and your face flushed severely. You lost all eye contact with the blonde to turn your head in embarrassment.
Chishiya gave a breathy, uncharacteristic chuckle and move to stand right before your chair. He bent over so your faces were only inches apart.
"He said we have to share rooms, right..." he dragged, taking a finger to your chin and pushing you to face him.
He inwardly smiled.
It's working.
"So...me, you, my room?"
He thought he had you under his clutches, wrapped around his finger.
He thought he had you on lock down.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Too caught up with his own tempting antics, he never noticed when your arms fell loose from the rope, freeing you.
He only realized it when your warm breath fanned his cheeks, hands falling softly on his hair and... his nerves flew through the roof.
Copying the seductive face he pulled only moments ago, you winked.
The roles had switched and Chishiya felt the tips of his ears burn a bright red. He could curse himself for letting his exterior walls fall for you.
You stood from your chair and pulled away from him. "I'm not interested," you said, trailing your tongue across your lips slyly.
He watched you back away from him, headed for the doors.
He could feel the hairs on his forearms rise.
He was stuck in place.
"Give it a few more days, Shiya..." you said with a big gesture of outstretched arms.
The next words you followed up with were enough to knock the breath from his lungs.
"...and maybe I'll fall in love with you."