"You were a little busy just now, didn't think it would be appropriate to say hi," Kurenai smiled, looking at the man in a suit.
"Were you jealous? Hoping that you were the one everyone saw."
"Not one bit."
"Brought back memories for you? Of our night together?"
To be honest, Kurenai had forgotten about their time together. She was only reminded of it seeing him here tonight. Why would she want to remember a one night stand when she had Chishiya now? He was the only person who she would never forget, every little thing about him, everything he said.
Yaba Oki, on the other hand, was nothing more than a business partner with whom she had slept once. She would admit, however, that the sex was good. Though, besides that, everything else about him repulsed her.
"So who is it?" Oki asked. "You have that look on your face. That 'I have a man now, so I'm not interested in you' face."
"He's someone a million times better than you in every way," Kurenai smiled.
"Never thought the day Chuya Kurenai falling in love would come," Oki laughed. "Must be some man, getting a woman like you hooked." Losing interest in the conversation already, Kurenai was heading back to solitary confinement when Oki called out to her. "Tell me now, Kurenai. Are you the Jack of Hearts?"
She stopped in her tracks, thinking his words over.
"Why would I be the Jack of Hearts?"
"I don't know anyone else here, but I do know you. You're the only person I know who could pull something like this off. With your intelligence and how good you are at manipulating others, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the Jack. Especially since I know what you were planning for your father back in the real world."
"I'm not the Jack of Hearts, believe it or not."
As she was about to leave once more, Oki called out again. "Do you not suspect me?"
"But I don't think you have the intelligence to pull this off."
While she was a good fuck, Oki really could not stand her personality. Knowing full well what she was capable of, it was the arrogance and the condescension that turned him off. It was also why he never went back for more with her.
"It's Clubs," he said.
"Thanks, Diamonds."
Though Oki was not the type of person Kurenai could tolerate, she could wholeheartedly say that she trusted him when he told her the mark on her collar. He was an investor, and everything he did would have been calculated down to the last number for benefits. And he knew that it would be beneficial to keep her alive, just as it was beneficial for Kurenai to keep him alive.
Returning to solitary confinement, yet more interesting plots were unfolding. The group that formed had broken off from the rest, while those remaining were looking for a partner. Different personalities were showing, and it fascinated Kurenai.
There was a girl who showed off her purse, willing to give all the cash she had inside, including a black card, lifetime golf membership, and a blank check. It got a chuckle out of Kurenai. What would one need with cash and a black card in Borderland? And if survival was that easy, Kurenai could have bought her way through all her games and still had enough black cards left to buy someone else's life through games.
Then there was that big scary man who beat up another participant in order to get his own mark. It was a way to get his mark for sure, though a partnership like so would never last too long.
As she walked past the man in the jumpsuit, Kurenai stopped. He did not partner up just yet, though she was not looking for a partnership. She looked down at him, just as he was looking up at her.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Why are you asking?"
"Just curious."
"Curiousity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brought it back."
He stared at Kurenai, studying her just as she was studying him. Eventually, he smiled. "Banda Sunato."
"Nice to meet you. Chuya Kurenai."
Banda Sunato, yet another interesting person. Like Oki, she knew who he was. Not because they had met before but because she saw his name on the news once. Banda Sunato, a man on death row.
Time was ticking away and they were soon entering the cells for the last five minutes of the first round. Each announcing their own marks, they were waiting for the hour to end. Unsurprisingly, no one died.
And this continued on for three rounds.
Everyone was seemingly cooperating, and the Jack of Hearts had yet to make his move. And there was still no clue as to who the Jack of Hearts was. However, it was about time that someone died.
Out of nowhere, the participant who had been beaten up stabbed the big scary man in the back with a ceramic knife. If his goal was to kill him, he did a terrible job. Though, the outcome was just as expected when the big man went into a rage and started bashing his head in. Then his own collar exploded.
Two players dead. Still no Jack of Hearts.
While everyone freaked out over the two deaths, Kurenai had her eyes set on a certain someone. Did he do this? Did he set this up? Banda Sunato, the man sitting in a corner with a smile on his face as he watched.
Refocusing on the game, Kurenai found herself standing close to Oki and the woman he was doing before the game started. It was only natural for one to want to be closer to someone they knew in situations like this.
"Everyone is freaking out," Kurenai sighed, observing the rest. It was entertaining, albeit irritating. At the rate they were going, they would be stuck here forward. Though, as they were all starting to panic because of the two deaths, they were most likely killing each other first before they could find the Jack. "How did I end up playing this game with a bunch of idiots? But if they kill each other off, and we stay alive. We'll be able to find the Jack."
"Are you saying you'd like to partner up?" Oki asked.
The woman clinging onto him looked up at Oki, her eyes widening a little. Was he abandoning her to partner up with Kurenai? Who was this other woman? Why did it seem like Oki trusted her for no reason?
"Not partnering up. Just keeping each other alive until the end," Kurenai smiled.
As Kurenai predicted, following the two initial deaths, more deaths followed. Paranoia was starting to trickle through and settle in the players. It did not matter when someone else was telling the truth, because they did not believe a stranger. In order to preserve their own life, they decided to seek the truth elsewhere. Except, the truth was nowhere to be found and they ended up killing themselves.
Soon, they went from twenty participants to eighteen, then fifteen. Though, the entertainment really began when the number of participants went from fifteen to fourteen, with the death coming from the group.