It is fine the way it is. He gave her an ultimatum, and she made her decision. At least she finally was able to decide for herself. And yet...
The moment tears start to stream down her reddened cheeks, Chishiya expects her to stumble into his arms and cling to him like she used to. He is sure she will apologize, like she often does even in situations where she can't be blamed at all, and that she will try to convince him to go back to the caravan, but in the end she will wait at the game's entrance for him to get out again like the stubborn woman she is. It is more than surprising when she simply steps into the rain, her hair and clothes completely soaked within a single moment.
Chishiya sighs, a noise that is drowned by the rain around him. It has barely stopped for days now, something that is more than unnerving to him. At least it turns out that the shop right next to him has a choice of umbrellas, and after rummaging through pink hearts and bright yellow smileys, Chishiya eventually finds one made out of plain and transparent plastic.
He would have taken any umbrella as long as it helped him stay dry in the rain, but he probably will never understand why people find it amusing to carry around childish umbrellas with colors so bright it even hurts the eye. The plain one is still ugly for sure, but its only purpose is to be useful anyway.
Heavy rain drops noisily cover the plastic above his head as Chishiya steps out into the open. He throws a quick glance towards the direction where the stubborn woman has left off, but she is nowhere to be seen.
Good. At least she was smart enough to not expect him to follow her, since the game is his priority now. The walk has been pleasant with the sun and the comfortable silence, but as soon as he had caught sight of the Diamonds blimp, Chishiya had directed them here with this end in mind.
Why has she been so surprised after all? They had been brought here into this world to play games, and Chishiya is clever enough to clear all of them with ease. He is not afraid to die in one of them the slightest, and even if he does – what difference would that make?
For a long time, he wasn't exactly eager to return to the real world. Though there might be a reason now, it is not enough to keep him away from proving his intelligence to the rest of this cruel and very interesting world.
But it's alright. She has never been able to stay away from him that long anyway, and Chishiya is sure that she'll wait inside the caravan once he has cleared the Jack of Diamonds. At least she is smart enough to find the way back to the caravan on her own, and he sighs at the thought of her ramblings that are certainly to come. That he's a jackass, that he has been rude and apathetic, and that she's waiting for his apology. Which Chishiya won't give, since he was not wrong in the first place, but eventually she will kiss him and say that she loves him.
She has said that so many times now – in the nights shortly before she fell asleep, and as soon as she woke up in the morning, sometimes after just staring at him for minutes. It was annoying at first but soon became a part of their daily routine, and Chishiya has to admit to himself with shaking head that he ends up enjoying the sound of those words coming out of her mouth.
No, there is no way she'd just leave like that. She will come back to get things straight, but maybe she will take her time so he can enjoy a bit of silence before she returns to the caravan.
Chishiya likes to be alone, after all. This is exactly what he has missed during his time at the Beach, and he has never known anything different since his childhood. He has always been on his own and found strength in it. This hollowness has been a huge part of him as far as he can remember; why does it feel so cold now? Has there always been the slight ache inside his chest?
The fact that he feels troubled by something that has made the footing of his being for the most part of his life is kind of disturbing, and the entrance to the Jack of Diamonds is a welcomed distraction. This game won't leave Chishiya time to think about her or what changes happened to him during the last weeks in general.
What a pleasant surprise that the game turns out to be Mahjongg. Only the player with the highest points will leave the building alive, and even after the first couple of rounds, Chishiya already has gathered way more points than the Jack himself. He has noticed at the very beginning that the floor is parted into four equal sections, with four doors leading to a possible exit, and as soon as the game ends, three of those sections will give way, causing the players seated on them to fall to death. What a well-thought construct!
The other two players don't stand a single chance against the Jack, but it doesn't matter. Chishiya wouldn't have needed those two; their sweaty faces and fearful chatter is nothing but annoying. The Jack, not trying to hide himself among the players like Hibiki or the King of Hearts, stays calm and quiet most of the time.
His moves promise to be challenging, and while Chishiya analyses his strategies, the Jack does exactly the same with him. And with gambling such as Mahjongg, it doesn't suffice to be intelligent only. There is always a part that can't be foreseen or influenced, but that's what makes a game exciting at last.
Only that in the end, it turns out the Jack is not too interesting at all. He misses several possibilities to clear the game for himself, and Chishiya manages to fool him with ease, never taking his eyes off the Jack with a smirk on his lips, as he watches how his opponent's face turns darker with every draw.
In the final round, the once composed figure of the Jack has turned into a pale and distorted grimace, spitting over the table while he shouts at the player to his right, who has just called a Kokushi-Musou although there is no way he could still take over the first place.
THE GAME HAS ENDED. THOSE BELOW 1ST PLACE: GAME OVER!
The sections of the floor open up almost noiselessly, and together with the desperate screams of the players slowly descending into the pitch-black abyss, Chishiya can hear a last cry of the Jack:
"Just how far does your luck goooo!"
That last word is drawn-out and fades quickly as the Jack won't seem to stop falling, but finally the screams are gone.
TO THE 1st POSITION: GAME CLEAR.
Silence falls down onto the room, only disturbed by the clacking of Majhongg tiles in Chishiya's hand. A gust of cold air emerges from the abyss as he inspects the tiles of the Jack, finding out that the citizen would have won easily if he had just taken a risk.
But that man seems to have chosen the safe and rational way, which has been enough to seal his fate. Gaming won't work properly without taking a risk, and who is able to do that better than someone who doesn't cling to life at all?
Chishiya has made bets with lives several times now, sometimes they were lost, sometimes not. Funnily enough, he always seems to survive when the bet is his very own life, most likely because he is not afraid about what will happen if he doesn't end up that lucky anymore. With no true purpose, death is just another part of the way he has to go, and up to this day, Chishiya has never been scared to step onto that part since it will put an end to the hollowness filling him.
And while death doesn't seem to be the only option to do that anymore, it remains an option notwithstanding.
The whole game started to be so promising, and yet Chishiya has not been able to find anyone truly interesting inside. But another game is still waiting for him, and not only the game – a certain citizen inside there as well.
What a surprise it has been to see his face on the podcast! Such a minor detail that almost everyone else probably has missed, while people were focused on Mira alone. Shapes of other figures, subtly hidden from the human eye's focus, but Chishiya has seen them. Other citizens, waiting to defeat them in the new games of the second stage – and one of those figures has been very familiar. He will be interesting for sure.
Chishiya doesn't need to see the last Diamond's blimp to know where it is. Grabbing the plastic umbrella from the entrance, he heads towards the shopping mall where he and that oh so stubborn woman had been chased by the King of Spades, but instead of turning right towards the Hearts game, Chishiya turns left where the blimp is withstanding the rain.
It leads him to the Supreme Court, a richly ornamented building if one ignores the broken windows and crumbling facades, and the King could not have chosen a building better than this.
Three people have already gathered in front of it when Chishiya arrives: a woman with a side-cut and barely any clothes on except a jacket and knee-high leather boots, not bothering the rain even the slightest; a man wearing a fancy suit and keeping himself dry with a white umbrella, and a hunched creature that resembles more a failed experiment than a human being, but at least it's wearing a rain coat.
It is the woman stopping Chishiya mid-way with her hand stretched out. "Wait! Real quick!" The arrogance in her voice resembles the look in her eyes, and Chishiya can't imagine how this one would be intelligent enough to face the King. "You, what do you do? What can you do? Math? Memorization? We're heading for the top of the intellectuals. The King of Diamonds! We don't want any meatheads, okay?"
As far as I can judge, I am the only one who is not a meathead around here. There are plenty of ways Chishiya could prove that he is better than any of them, but he doesn't want to waste time on such childish shenanigans. He manages a smile, putting the same arrogance and condescendence in it, and hums while the rain won't stop to cascade down onto his umbrella. "Well, just now, I cleared the Jack of Diamonds – I guess?"
"Ha? What? Crappy followup," the woman spits out, but Frankenstein's monster emits a cackling chuckle. "He's got credentials... and he came here in the rain. Let's go."
They enter the dark building of the court and emerge the stairs, creaking under every step despite their noble-looking appearance. So much money has been put into the gallant appearance of this place, and yet it takes a mere scratch on the surface to reveal the cheap truth inside. Just like humans themselves.
It leads them into a round chamber with five tables and five seats arranged in a circle, only that one of the seats is already taken. Even though it's not surprising that Chishiya was right with his assumption, he doesn't try to hide the satisfaction in his voice upon seeing the familiar figure.
"I knew it. It's you, former Beach number 2 – Kuzuryuu."
The former member of the executives back on the Beach sits there completely motionless, arms rested on the elbows and hands folded as if praying. His eyes are hard to be seen through the mirroring glasses, but he seems as immaculate and untouchable as always.
Chishiya ignores the confused looks and shouts of the other players – the man opposite to him is the only person of interest in this room, except for himself. But now that the King doesn't have to hide his true nature anymore, there is not even a single world of welcome for an old friend.
"That's such a cold face for someone who's come so far to meet you. So take it, you don't feel like chatting?"
Kuzuruyuu's voice is as cold as his face when he finally speaks up. "You all have come here for the game, right? Let's begin."
Such a rude man, not even answering his question, Chishiya thinks with a smirk. Though it does not seem to be anything personal; the King avoids all questions and statements from the other players as well while he summons them to take a seat and shackle their knuckles.
It has been a surprise to see someone working so close with Hatter reveal himself as the true enemy, even more with the rumors that citizens were once normal players but got to decide if they wanted permanent residency. What a shame that it is so hard to gather sufficient information about their life here, and Chishiya has hoped to find more answers inside this room.
What made Kuzuryuu choose to become the King? What was the reason behind his infiltration at the Beach?
The King refuses to talk about that matter too deeply for now, but maybe he will as soon as the other players are gone. Once the shackles are closed, the rules of the game are explained, and it is finally the challenge Chishiya has been looking for all the time.
All players are to select a number, and the player whose number is closest to 4/5 of the average taken of all player's numbers will be the winner of that round. One point will be subtracted from the other players, and once a player has reached -10 points, it equals death. On top of that, another rule will be added to the game every time a player dies, and except for the first round, only one minute of time is given to decide a number.
This is exactly why Chishiya needs to keep his mind clear from distracting thoughts, and it is his chance to prove that he is clever – more clever even than the King of Diamonds himself. It is good that he brought her to the King of Hearts though; not only because this game allows one person only to survive, but she would have never been able to keep up with the intellect of the other players.
While the others start to think of tactics and strategies, Chishiya can't help but to acknowledge the cleverness behind the game. Not only does one have to make out what number the others will guess – the task is to find out what guesses the others will take about you and how that will inflict their number, still including the fact that they know the others will try to see through their thoughts as well. It might seem unpredictable at first, but the situation is equal for everyone. And with the King having only a 20% chance of winning...
The first round is won by the King, and it turns out that a certain amount of highly concentrated acid is poured into scales hanging above their heads for the losers, and with the tenth point, the scale will most likely pour its content over the player sitting right under it. What a cruel and fascinating death.
With the next few rounds, the numbers chosen by the players decrease more and more, and every time, the King takes the win. As the acid pours into the scale over Chishiya's head, he watches the slightly panicked reactions of the others with a chuckle. He has expected to lose the first three to four battles until the game would reach a certain point, and that point has come now.
As the numbers chosen by everyone became lower witch each round, it is now that point where everyone will chose 0. The average will be 0 as well, and everyone will emerge as the winner. The game will continue forever like that, unless...
"I've got it. I finally understand what you're trying to weigh." There is no reaction to his words, but Chishiya doesn't need one anyway. Maybe it is because he has worked together with Kuzuryuu before, maybe it is just because the others can't stand up against him when it comes to intelligence. But a very important point, one that is missed by at least the other male players, is that being clever does not have to resemble flawless calculations. It resembles the ability to see through the bigger picture, and once again it proves to be a high advantage that Chishiya is not afraid of the acid hissing above his head. Death will be painful for sure, but it won't last long.
And with taking that risk, Chishiya chooses the 100. It is against all rationality, and he does not have the slightest chance of winning like this, but it manipulates all calculations and predictions. And not only does it prevent the King from winning another round, but Chishiya is sure that at least one other person inside this room will get what he's up to.
As soon as the results of the sixth round are revealed, his thoughts are confirmed. This time, it is the barely dressed woman choosing the 100, giving the point to Chishiya, who has chosen 25 and thus is as close to the calculated result as no one else.
There is no way in winning the game if everyone only tries to win every single round, but sacrifices are needed to commence. He did that himself by choosing the 100, and the woman next to him continued that thought. Making a sacrifice in the face of such extreme conditions, with the scales above their heads...
That's the purpose behind that game. To weigh the value of life. But is any life worth being weighed? Is life so sacred and beautiful that it deserves such treatment?
Two of the players finally reach -10 points at the same time: the monstrous looking creature and the one wearing his fancy suit. Though it doesn't remain fancy for long as the acid is poured down at their heads, eating into flesh and cloth all the same. Their screams are annoyingly loud, and Chishiya scrunches his nose at the stench of the burnt away flesh, but soon enough he smirks towards two piles of black mass that don't resemble a human life any longer.
With two more rules added to the game and a sudden silence falling onto the room, Chishiya once more tries to make the King talk a bit. "Why did you become a Borderland citizen?" Since he is sure all citizens have once been players as well, it means they had to go through the same stages of playing games against the Dealers and clearing the face cards. They all are the same, with the only difference being that the players have to renew their visa while citizens are granted freedom in this world.
And finally, Kuzuryuu answers. Giving multiple examples of how cruel the world can be, of people dying because they can't afford commodities that should be free to everyone, and how most systems simply continue to protect the wealthy and cruel.
"I lost my understanding of the worth of a life."
Nothing of this is new to Chishiya. He has seen such cruelty himself, has faced the dark side of the world many times as a child, but the difference to the lawyer sitting opposite to him is that he doesn't care.
"I see. You're gentle... And your high intelligence plagues you." Chishiya doesn't care if a child dies because it can't get vaccinated, or if someone dies in a country on the other side of the world. Why should he care when no one cared for him? Why struggle with such thoughts if it won't help anyone anyway?
Some lives just don't have value. And as he looks up to the board, noticing that there is only one point left for him to be eliminated, it becomes clear to him once more that his life is just one of them.
People might even say he doesn't deserve to live, and yet he survives again and again, round after round. It is once again the combination of rational thinking and luck that grants him the win in the next round, and another life is sacrificed in exchange for his own. Not worth the cost, and yet it happens.
Chishiya wonders if he could chose to become a citizen after this game. Will the emptiness inside of him vanish completely if he starts to run death games until he is defeated by other players just like him? Will it become easier once he loses the human emotions that he seems able to feel – or would it only increase the pain inside his chest?
But then again... Does he want to lose them? Does he want to lose... her?
At least Kuzuryuu allows himself to talk freely, now that all other players are eliminated. And it quickly turns out that they're both torn – Chishiya about his own emotions, and the King about the fact that he still doesn't know how life should be valued and how all humans could be treated equally. He had hoped to find out with this game, but the answer remains hidden while it should be more than obvious.
The fact is that it's impossible to achieve equality. There will always those who can be saved by the sacrifice of others, and even the greatest and most altruistic world would somewhen end up standing in front of a decision that requires a sacrifice. And as soon as this point is reached, the equality will shift to an uneven distribution of power. So why care in the first place?
That's not all though. Since Kuzuryuu is highly intelligent as well, he must have come to that conclusion himself long ago. And without finding a proper answer, he has seen himself unable to return to the normal world, and hoped that the games themselves would help him to decide.
What an immature thought. By trying to decide over the value of human life, he has been more trying to become a god over all people than a fair judge. And yet he is not able to make a conclusion. What a sad King he is.
Slowly growing tired of this conversation, Chishiya decides to lay his life into the hands of this judge. He does not value his life, so why not let the King decide about that?
Two times he turns the tablet so Kuzuryuu can see his number, and two times the King chooses his own failure without losing many words. The third time Chishiya does that, the King is not able to hide the delicate drops of sweat on his forehead any longer. By taking the risk of throwing his life away, Chishiya has managed to get him into a dead-end, but he makes his final decision after all.
No number is displayed for Kuzuryuu once the results are shown, which can only mean that he pressed two numbers at the same time. Not being able to make a final decision until the very end. How pathetic. And yet he appears completely calm in expectation of death.
"I see... So you decided that you can't decide the worth of a life. What happened to your normal expression? Your face looks like you'd rather die than to live with giving up on your ideals."
None of them cares about the announcement that the King has reached -10 points. "If that's the case, then I finally was able to decide how to live my life. Thanks to you."
Those last words come unexpected, leaving no time for further questions as the acid turns Kuzuryuu into a black mass of dead flesh. And yet it doesn't feel like a victory to Chishiya, since he is not the one who finally understood what his life was worth. Just as if the King ran away with the true victory. Is he... envious?
As the blimp outside bursts into flames and burning pieces falling to the ground, Chishiya decides to finally leave the court and return home. Other than expected, he doesn't feel satisfied by the challenge of mind at all. In fact, the current events leave him... thoughtful.
How could someone else put his life over their own? Why him, out of any? What did Kuzuryuu see in him that Chishiya can't make out?
Since the sky is still covered in thick dark clouds and rain continues to fall down, it is hard to make out what time it is exactly. Night has to fall soon, and when Chishiya reaches the caravan, it is not lit up as he expected.
In fact, his stubborn woman didn't return at all.
Everything is still the way they have left it in the morning, with both cups still on the table and breakfast remains covering the sink. During the games, Chishiya did not waste too many thoughts on her. He has been sure that she'd return here, change into dry clothes and wait for him so she could start complaining about his behavior. He has been wrong, it seems.
Where is she?
Chishiya frowns at the thought suddenly crossing his mind. It is not impossible that the King of Spades finally managed to kill her and that her body is still lying somewhere in the empty streets, her blood mixing with the rain that does not want to stop. She has escaped death multiple times now, but that does not mean she is safe from it.
He should not care about that at all. If she's dead, she's dead, and there is nothing he can do. Nothing he should do, other than continue what he has been doing. But most of the things he did these last days had something to do with her.
There is still a chance that she is not dead yet. There are more players after all, she probably just found shelter with one of them. It might sound cruel to others, but Chishiya could handle her death better than that. A dead person can't come back no matter what. If she is still breathing, she could return... or not. And there's barely a way to find out.
Searching for her is no good as well, since it will soon turn too dark to see anything, even more so with the rain. And yet the chance remains that she will return on her own.
She doesn't. Chishiya eventually reaches a point where his body refuses to take in another cup of tea and screams for sleep, and he gives in to the demands. But he doesn't seem able to find much sleep during the night. Something is missing – the warmth next to him, the sounds of her body shuffling now and then in the middle of sleep.
At one point, he turns around and rests his hand on the cold pillow next to him. Everything about it feels wrong. Just how could he get used to all that within a mere couple of days? This is everything he has known and wanted for a very long time, why won't he find any rest then?
And every once in a while, Chishiya will see an image of her dead body lying in the rain. What sense of irony if the King really managed to kill her.
Night fades and morning comes, and with it a cloudy sky and only a few rays of sunshine finding their ways into the caravan's windows. But it has lost every right to be called a home. Not... without her.
It is not the first sleepless night, and not the first morning without breakfast. Both makes him feel uncomfortable, but at least it is something he is used to. When he leaves the caravan, he does so without a clear end in mind, except that he wants to search the area for... for what? A body, a trace?
The umbrella scarcely shelters him from the rain now, as the wind will carry the cold drops of water into his hair and clothes anyway. He walks along the path near the river, passes the shopping mall and the Jack of Diamonds, only that the blimp is now scattered on the ground in pieces. There is nothing – no corpse, no blood, no signs of gunshots. Not even another player.
What a stupid idea to search for her anyway. The Borderlands are small compared to the real Tokyo, but how is one supposed to find another person, even more so if that person does not want to be found?
Chishiya doesn't like it, but he has to consider the possibility that she left for good. That she won't return to demand her hugs and kisses. This thought increases the pain inside his chest drastically, but it will soon all be eaten away by the emptiness filling him. Like it always does.
An unexpected and heavy gust of wind blows away the umbrella in a moment of abstraction, exposing Chishiya to the rain without a shelter nearby. He ends up climbing on top of an old minivan, as if he'd wait for something – or someone. Which is pathetic, of course. He does not wait for her to find him. She chose to leave, and thus it will be.
The rain runs into his eyes, pours down his spine. He lifts his face into the storm, exhaling a long sigh while he turns around a gun in his hands. He has found the weapon inside the van, and it can never be bad to come prepared. "What should I do now... I wonder why I really feel like talking with somebody...?"
His voice is drowned by the wind, and of course there does not come an answer. Not that he expected one, anyway. Minutes pass, maybe hours – hard to tell with clouds covering the sun. Another blimp falls down in the distance, but Chishiya can't see which one it is.
The minibus becomes uncomfortable after sitting on top of it motionless for so long, and Chishiya jumps down and continues his walk without destination. Past the cars, across a bridge, until he just follows a street, waiting for it to lead him anywhere.
With his eyes mostly glued to the ground and the rain drowning most of the sounds around him, it takes Chishiya quite long to realize that another figure is approaching him. The moment he looks up, he is sure to see the familiar face he has been searching for, but it turns out to be someone completely more unexpected.
His hair seems to be even more unkempt than usual, and he looks incredibly tired judging by the rings under his eyes. Surprising is only the rifle resting on the back of the usually quite peaceful man, but it is almost as if Arisu is the exact reflection of himself. Troubled, hollow. Tired.
"Yo." Chishiya is the one to open his mouth first, not sure how the dark-haired man will react to seeing the one who has put him into so much trouble. Not that Chishiya regrets what happened to Arisu because of him. Arisu had been his bet for stealing the cards – a bet that he sacrificed. And yet he is here, mostly unharmed, because he is clever as well. Clever enough to survive.
Arisu's eyes grow big while he lifts his head, as if he didn't realize there was someone standing in front of him until Chishiya spoke. "Chishiya?"
"Since it was you, I knew you'd still be alive. Ever since the Beach..."
The chuckle Arisu spits out is dry and almost sad. "That's right... You put me through hell back there. Being battered by Aguni's men and waiting for my visa to run out while I was being shackled on that chair..."
"So that's what happened. Are you still angry?" Not that it would matter much now anyway, but Arisu once more proves to be incredibly selfless. Chishiya has never been able to understand how one could think so much about others before even considering themselves, and somehow it seems that Arisu and Kuzuryuu have a lot in common without even knowing.
"No..." The boy's voice sounds tired, as if he just wants to lie down and sleep for a century before waking up again. "Well, maybe I should say I'm not in the right state of mind for that right now."
"I... see..."
Is it just an imagination caused by hunger and lack of sleep, or does talking to Arisu actually ease the pain inside his chest? "For some reason, this is calming... Being able to talk with someone I know...To be able to meet you again makes me happy."
And he means it. After all, what he has been looking forward to was to talk to her, let her rant about his indifference to the rest of the world, but also to talk about the King of Diamonds. About the sacrifices, the value of lives and how it just wouldn't leave his mind.
Arisu even manages a smile, the same weak and sorrowful smile that Chishiya is showing now. "You've somehow changed."
This is something Chishiya would have not liked to hear, but it is true. He is also completely aware of what exactly changed him. He wonders how he would have gone through the second stage if she didn't choose to go with him. Would Kuzuryuu's words still have been able to touch something inside of him? Or would he have been apathetic to them all, continuing to live that senseless, wasted life?
What is it – the power held by this woman, able to change him to what he is now? Maybe he will be able to find the answer if he talks to his opposite, who has been way better with other people anyway.
"Arisu, will you listen to something I've never told anyone before?"
The boy nods, hesitantly at first, and waits for Chishiya to continue whatever it is that he has to say. Only that he does not know how to begin. For the first time in his life, he is not able to find the right words.
"I..."
That's when Chishiya hears a gunshot, and every part of his body explodes into a single mass of pain and his vision goes dark.