A loud noise startles me out of my sleep and after a jerky movement on my part I fall off the chair and the next moment I feel a sharp pain in my head. Cursing, I open my eyes and realize that I am lying on the floor next to a coffee table on which I hit my head.
"Damn," I hear a male voice say and the next moment Chishiya's face appears in front of me, "I didn't mean to scare you, did you hurt yourself?"
"No I'm fine," I mumble and sit up. I rub my sore spot, but still smile at Chishiya, who is squatting in front of me. He takes my head in both hands and turns me this way so he can get a picture of the back of my head. Laughing, I take one of his hands to make him relax and try to cover my clumsiness at the same time. "No really, that was just the scare".
Chishiya looks next to me and picks up the book on electronics in surprise. He looks at me with raised eyebrows and his typical grin.
"You read that?" he asks in surprise, setting the thick tome down on the coffee table.
"And fell asleep while doing it? Yes," I say and he stands up laughing, holding out his hand to me. I take it gratefully to let him help me up. I realize that the bathroom light is on and he smells intensely of shower gel. I must have fallen asleep while reading on the chair and he went to take a shower when he got home from the meeting. "Sorry, I didn't mean to root here".
"That's okay" he laughs lightly and as I look into his dark eyes my fingertips start to tingle again, "I wanted to do something with you today as well"
"Good, now I'm awake. What were you thinking about?", I grin broadly at him.
"I don't know, I thought we'd just spend time together like we normally do" he shrugs and avoids my gaze. Spending time together. I think that sounds nice because I don't care what we do as long as I'm with him.
"I'll get some food and you choose what we play meanwhile?", I ask him and he grins widely, as if he had the same thought. When he nods, I laugh out loud and run out of the room with him. We part at the stairs and I head for the restaurant. I walk through the door, which is actually only for the staff. No one seems to pay much attention to me, so I just go into the storage room and take with me a bottle of iced tea and a pack of fresh grapes.
I make my way back to Chishiya's room, but as I stop at the railing on the second floor, something catches my attention. In the lounge area of the entrance, I discover my uncle drinking tea and playing checkers with number two. Unsure what to make of this, I screw up my face, but a hand comes to rest on my arm and I relax again at the familiar touch.
"Come," Chishiya says softly and I just nod thoughtfully. Together we go to his room and I put the things on the table. He looks at me scrutinizingly, but since he can imagine what I'm thinking, he says nothing in response. He reaches for the grapes and throws one high in the air before catching it again with his mouth and eating it. He looks at me playfully and holds the package under my nose, wiggling. I just roll my eyes before grabbing one and doing the same to him.
"So, what kind of game did you pick up?"
"Chess."
"Chess?"
"Yeah, you should practice some more" he laughs lightly but when I see his serious, lowered gaze I look at him questioningly "I've already had two games that kind of involved chess. It's strategic and requires logical thinking."
"Are you worried about something?", I ask him with raised eyebrows and he replies with the same look. He just laughs lightly and instead of answering he sets up the pieces. I look at him for a moment and give him a gentle look. If he wasn't worried, he would have made a snide remark or just denied it.
"So, which opening do you prefer?" he asks me, and I look at him with a laugh.
"Opening?"
"You..." he begins in surprise, but stifles any further comment, "Openings are made with the first move. It reveals a lot about your strategy, whether you're defensive or offensive"
"Hmm," is all I do, and he looks at me critically.
"You said you taught yourself to play chess. How?"
"Through an app, I was bored" I say honestly and he stifles a laugh. I hesitate for a moment, but I feel like I should just tell him more. "My grandfather tried to teach me, but he died when I was seven".
"What was he like?"
"He was a very strict and determined father, but as a grandfather he was the opposite. When I cried he would take hours to be there for me. He always said it broke his heart. Once he carried me outside to the garden and put me on a wall. He just thinks I should be myself and took a picture. There was a rainbow in the background and when I saw the picture my sadness was blown away," I say as I recall the moment, "He was a wonderful person. He just made everyone feel better."
"And the picture?"
"That should be somewhere in our house"
"If you want I could put a supply drive there and we could-"
"No" I interrupt him "If I died the picture would just be burned or thrown away. It's safer where it is."
He just nods understanding and I make my first move. I feel his gaze on me, but can't quite place it. His slight smile shows me that he is happy that I told him something private. I can see from his nod that he knows exactly that I have only told him these details so far. And his evasive look at the chessboard lets me know that he will not inquire further. He values my privacy and doesn't ask further. It's as if he knows me intimately and a comforting warmth spreads through me. And I have only had that feeling with him, with Chishiya, until now.
Sleepy, I open my eyes and snuggle into my blanket for a moment before sitting up. Yesterday me and Chishiya played chess until morning but at some point we both realized that I had to sleep in my own room. I rub my eyes tiredly and realize it's pitch black outside. Damn, did I sleep through the whole day? The dress is wrinkled, so I quickly swap it for my bodysuit and loose pants and grab my rubber ball from the nightstand. I lock my room door behind me and walk down to the pool area. I spot Izumi and Yuudai at one of the group tables, and I don't actually intend to disturb them, but I can't spot any of the others.
"Hey," I greet the two, who welcome me with a warm smile.
"Where have you been all day Sayuuri?", Izumi asks me with wide eyes.
"Yeah, I missed you at foosball," Yuudai laughs. I slap him on the shoulder playfully and stifle a laugh. By now we're not playing against each other, where he lost most of the time on the side. We formed a team of two and together we defeat the other beach members, one by one.
"Just woke up," I say, looking around a bit. I can't see Kuina, Ann, or anyone from the leadership rule, just Niragi who is with the military squad. "Where are the Hatter or Aguni?"
"In the conference room at a meeting. Ann should still be with Chishiya," Yuudai muses and I look at him confused.
"Why is Ann at Chishiya's?"
"You haven't heard?", Izumi asks me with wide eyes and I shake my head in confusion. What am I not supposed to have heard?
"Chishiya was wounded in the game today," Yuudai continues. Impossible. My heart skips a beat and the people around me move as if in slow motion. How bad is it, is he even conscious? As if in a trance, I stand up and apologize to them. He can't be hurt, why didn't he tell me he was playing today? I take three flights of stairs at once and run to his room. Just as I turn the corner, I see Kuina standing in front of the open door, looking inside. She seems to have heard me and looks at me. With her eyes she points into the room and I understand. I hide around the next corner, as there seems to be someone in the room. If Ann is with him it must mean he is more seriously injured and she is tending to his wounds.
I peer toward the hallway and watch Ann leave the room, pulling off bloody disposable gloves. I slap a hand in front of my mouth and squeeze my eyes shut really tight, like I'm having a bad dream. I can't think objectively and clearly, maybe that wasn't so much blood. My hands start to shake and I try to get the image of Ann's gloves out of my head. I hear the two women talking to each other and as I look back to around the corner I see them walking in opposite directions. Kuina turns around once more unobtrusively and nods silently at me.
I check that no one is in the hallway either and knock quietly on the door to the room.
"What else Ann?", I hear an annoyed voice and think for a moment before I slip into the room. The room is dark and I only see light burning in the bathroom, which I slowly walk towards. Chishiya runs out of the bathroom and I startle slightly when I see him. He is lifting his black sweater in his hand, but a bandage is wrapped around his bare torso. Since it covers both part of his stomach, his chest, and his right shoulder I can't tell what exactly is wrong with him.
"Sayuuri," he states in surprise, and I look at him with wide eyes. He doesn't seem to be pumped full of painkillers or out of it somehow. He's fully conscious and judging by his expression, he's not in much pain. He already wants to say something, but I run up to him and pull him into a hug with relief. He flinches briefly, but then, laughing, he puts his arms around me and returns it softly.
"What happened?", I ask, looking at him with furrowed brows as I release him from the embrace again.
"I was able to dodge the bullets but one of the hunters clipped me with his knife," he says nonchalantly, just shrugging his shoulders like nothing happened. I just shake my head and hold back my tears of relief. I feel that tingling in my fingertips again and just follow my instinct. I pull him down to me and try to eliminate any uncertainty. I place my lips on his, but he seems surprised, so I pull away from him again.
I try not to avoid his confused gaze, and from the slightly open mouth and his piercing eyes, I can tell he's thinking about something. I hope I haven't crossed a line, does he think I'm crazy now or way too emotional? But no matter what he thinks, I put all my courage together and dared to take the step. His whole body relaxes instantly and he pulls me to him again. When I feel his lips on mine again my cheeks start to burn and with the fluttering feelings I can hardly breathe. I slowly pull away from him again and try to hide my stupid grin.
"How are you feeling, are you okay?", I ask quietly as my voice feels hotter.
"I'm fine," he says, just grinning softly at me. I almost melt under that look and want to kiss him again, but I smack him lightly on his unwounded shoulder.
"Don't ever do that again!"
"Hey hey," he complains with a laugh, "Now you know how I usually feel about you."
"You dumbass. I don't know whether to throw you out the window or kiss you" I slip and as he looks at me grinning I freeze slightly.
"Can I pick?" he asks with raised eyebrows and a wide, snooty grin.
"No," I say provocatively, and he laughs softly. Shaking my head, I just look at his face and would love to pull him back to me, but I don't want to get on his nerves already.
"Do you want to maybe sleep here?" he asks cautiously and I try not to laugh out loud.
"You wouldn't be able to get me out of this room today anyway," I say and instead of being annoyed, he seems more pleased. He tries to put on his sweater and it's at that moment that I really realize he's had practically nothing on up top this whole time. I take the right sleeve and help him to put on the black sweater when I see him make a face. I adjust the collar of his sweater as he looks past me critically and doubts come back to me. What if he only now realizes what we just did and finds it repulsive?
He just walks past me and I bite my lower lip because I can't believe how quickly this situation could go wrong. Suddenly I feel something around my shoulders and when I discover the white fabric of his vest I look at him in amazement.
"You were shaking, I thought..." he starts, but I stretch my arms through the sleeves and just enjoy the feeling of wearing his vest. I climb into his bed without words and when I look at him waiting, he just grins. He lies down with me and I get comfortable on the pillow as I feel his gaze.
"What?", I ask without opening my eyes.
"Nothing," he says curtly, and I grin sheepishly. Does he want me to sleep closer to him?
"I don't want to hurt you," I say simply and he just laughs lightly.
"You won't," is all he says, and I tentatively lean against his shoulder in response. Immediately he puts an arm around me and I snuggle up to him. Did that really just happen? Did we and really kiss, without play and without interference? And best of all, unlike our last game, it feels right. No worries and no doubts, just the butterflies in my stomach and my head on his shoulder.