For a long time, the rumbling of your stomach is the only sound except your footsteps. It's getting louder with every hour passing by, but for some reason, you're too afraid to ask for breakfast or if Chishiya isn't hungry at all. You don't know where he's heading and what the day will bring for you, and the doubts haven't vanished since you left the camp. But you want to believe that going with him was the right decision, and that it will be worth it.
At some point, he has stopped holding your hand, and the one time you try to approach him again by gently touching the side of his arm, he doesn't react with anything else but slightly moving his hands inside the hoodie's pocket.
You near a tiny store with a ceiling that is half collapsed already, and parts of the rubble have destroyed the entrance as well. It doesn't look like it has been roamed so far, and you already open your mouth to finally ask for a break, when Chishiya heads right to the building as well.
A breath of relief exhales your mouth at the thought of something edible, but at the same time the way Chishiya ducks under a wooden plank to take a glance inside looks a bit dangerous.
"Be careful", you murmur as you examine the instable construct. It is pitch black in the inside because the only window has been buried by shelf remains and roof tiles, and your heart drops as soon as you can't make out Chishiya anymore.
But his blonde head peeks out again just a few minutes later with no more parts of the ceiling collapsing, and he carries a smirk on his face as he reaches out a selection of cereal bars to you. His thumb rests on one of them, covering most of it except the image of a strawberry, as if he doesn't want you to take that one.
"Most of it has already become waste, but these should still be good."
Your stomach rumbles once more as an answer, and you take the bar with strawberry taste. After opening it, you carefully sniff at it to see if it is still edible, and then take a nibble. It tastes just the way a cereal bar is supposed to taste, and you hum happily as you finally get to eat something.
Only then you realize the weird look Chishiya is giving you, and you wonder if he really wanted to keep that one for himself. Then your eyes fall down to the plastic wrapping in your hand and the other cereal bars that Chishiya still holds.
"What, you wanted this one?" you grin with full mouth, and reach the remains of the strawberry bar to him. He huffs and reaches to his pocket, pulling out at least half a dozen more of those.
The fact that Chishiya seems to like strawberries makes you laugh, and he offers you another bar once you finish the first, this one a chocolate-nut mix. You throw the plastic wrapping into a dustbin on your way, only to shake your head about yourself the second after.
"No one is going to empty those bins ever again. Why do we still stick to habits such as throwing our refuse into them?"
Chishiya isn't that subtle and just drops his wrapping behind him, where it is quickly carried away by the soft breeze. Not that it'd make a difference here in this world. "Because most humans feel safe when they have rules, borders and explanations for everything."
"Does that apply to you too?"
"I do prefer to understand the things going on around me, yes."
The cereal bars do ease the feeling in your stomach and while it won't last forever, it's a good start. Now you'll have plenty of time to search for a place to stay, worry about the games and think about your next meal.
But just as you want to answer, a roaring sound reaches your ear. At first, you think it's Chishiya's stomach rumbling, but it sounds too foreign and seems to be further away. You halt and try to concentrate on the source, and Chishiya watches you with furrowed brows.
"Can... can you hear that?"
The sound grows louder, and the way Chishiya's eyes widen for a second, you're sure he senses it too. You both look around, but whatever causes that sound, it's nowhere to be seen.
"This way." Chishiya abruptly turns around on his heels and heads towards a bigger building. The door isn't locked and you have some issues following him up the staircase, and the dim light doesn't make it easier. How is it possible that this man is so athletic even though you never see him do any kind of training!?
One door remains on the upper end of the staircase and Chishiya throws it open with a loud thud!. You stumble through it as well, panting heavily as you follow him through a penthouse flat that looks more luxurious like anything you've ever seen before. The carpet alone has probably been more expensive like a whole middle class house, and it just feels wrong that everything is covered in a thick layer of dust.
Chishiya doesn't seem to care at all though, as he heads straight towards the balcony door, only to freeze in front of the railing as he stares up to the sky.
"What th- hmm."
You want to hate Chishiya the way his voice sounds still completely calm after all the running, but it also causes you to look up from your knees, trying to ignore the pain in your legs, and the sight almost takes away your breath.
"What is that!?" you pant, staring at a huge blimp flying over Tokyo's skyscrapers. You have never seen a blimp before outside of television, and this one has a huge banner attached to it, showing a face card: The Queen of Spades.
The humming noise comes from the huge motors keeping the construct in mid-air, and you wonder if someone is in there steering it or if it has some kind of auto-pilot.
The Borderlands have felt surreal before with all their lasers and game mechanics, but with a blimp flying above your heads, it really feels like a parallel universe. And it's not just one airship.
"Chishiya, look! There's another!" You can't see the face card on the banner attached to it, but like the Queen of Spades, it's resting above a certain spot and doesn't move. Only the banner is waving in the wind, and you just can't stop staring at those constructs.
"I assume there is one for each face card, so it should be a total of twelve blimps all over Tokyo."
You want to hate him for not even being out of breath the slightest bit while you still don't manage to speak a full sentence without panting.
"Do... do you think the games are inside of them?"
Chishiya shakes his head. "I can't see a way to get up there. It's more likely that those blimps mark the game's location, so they can be spotted from the ground easily." He sits down on a metal bench, and you follow his example. You're still quite out of breath from running up so many stairs, and getting some rest for your legs feels wonderful. Though fitting the luxurious design of the whole penthouse, this bench has obviously been designed to look expensive instead of being comfortable.
"The broadcast said that the games would start at noon. Why are those blimps up already?"
"Who knows?" he responds with a shrug, "could be they want the players to prepare by getting to the locations. Or maybe they need time to prepare the games themselves. If the game area is indeed somewhere under the blimp as I assume, then they might need a few hours to set everything up."
Since there are not more than twelve face cards, that's the number of games you'll have to play. It sounds so much less compared to the first stage, but it's likely they will be a whole other difficulty level. You snuggle up to Chishiya's side, but the way he breathes out sounds almost annoyed, so you don't dare to move on further with touching his hand or something. The two of you have been quite close since last night, could it be that your presence is slowly getting too much for him? While your head remains on his shoulder, you don't press on further. Annoying him is a risk you don't want to take.
Twelve games. Twelve games and you could be free. It feels weird that the second stage might be over so soon. You have spend so much time in the Borderland already that it almost feels normal to play for your life once every few days; how are you supposed to ever live a normal life again with all those memories inside your head? Every single one who gets out of this alive will probably need life-long therapy to cope with what has happened. You don't even remember the exact date when you disappeared from the other world. Had it been June or July?
All you remember is how you opened your eyes in an empty Tokyo and that you where thrown into an unknown game way too soon. You had survived due to mere luck, but so many haven't been that lucky.
"Hey, Chishiya? Do you remember your first game?"
He snorts and you can feel his hands moving inside the pocket. "The Six of Diamonds. Nothing I'd forget that easily."
A Diamonds game. How fitting for someone like Chishiya. "You were lucky then, weren't you? Since Diamonds is just the game for you."
"Well, thanks to the game I now know the rules for Black Jack – and numerous ways to cheat."
"Will you search for a Diamonds game today as well?"
From the corner of your eye, you can see the way he nods. "It would be nonsense to head for something else, most of all since I don't know much about the second stage yet. As soon as I have gathered some information about it, I might try another type as well, but not today."
"We should start searching then. Since there's no Diamonds blimp nearby, it will be a quite long walk until we find one."
Chishiya turns around to face you with furrowed brows. "You don't want to participate in a Diamonds game."
What, because he thinks you're too stupid? "No. But I'll come with you. Wait for you to get out of the game alive."
"Crossing fingers and sending prayers won't help, you know that."
The mocking tone in his voice makes you lowkey angry, and you cross your arms while your lips turn into a pout. "I won't do any of that. It's just the best way to see if you make it. Because once the game is clear and you don't come out again, I... I'll know immediately." The thought makes you swallow, and you don't even dare to imagine the scene. Chishiya is too smart to die, period. "Unless... you don't want me to come with you."
With a long sigh, he gets up again and heads to the balcony door. "Whatever."
All those feelings are so familiar, and yet it's hard to swallow down the tears. Will you ever be able to fully understand that man? The way he had caressed your hair in the morning, even waiting for you to wake up before he got up himself, and now he's all selfish and ignorant again. The pain is already a huge part of you, but you just want to get rid of it. You had been so sure that there was something between you two just a few hours ago! Where is the warmth you had seen in his eyes?
A sound of frustration makes its way out of your mouth, but Chishiya is already too far away to hear it. At least he's not running this time, so you can catch up with him more easily, though you can't resist to take another look into the glamorous penthouse. Everything about it is so noble and beautiful, but never in your life will you own enough money to live inside something that luxurious. So many things that you want but will never have.
You just hope Chishiya won't turn out to be one more of those unreachable dreams.