deadly games
❝new additions❞
SLEEPING WAS THE BEST WAY TO AVOID PROBLEMS. Once in a while, everyone has something to deal with. A fight with someone they love, a failure in career and many more, might be a cause that made people want to escape. As your breath kept its steady rythm along with the heart, your mind still had the worries that were put on hold.
Until something — or someone — decides it would be a good idea to disturb the peace. The blinding light in your room was unbearable, so you finally opened your eyes. They immediately began hurting because of how bright it was.
The first thought you had when you woke up was tied to Chishiya. Not a pleasant way to start your day, in your opinion. You would've thought that he spent the night in your room and he was now trying to wake you up. Since you fell asleep before finding out if he left or not.
But him spending the night in your room was hard to believe. He was Chishiya after all.
Your eyes locked with the tall girl with dreads, another cigarette being between her lips. She smiled at you in victory, making you sigh in defeat.
"You're spending the day with me." Kuina happily told you.
"I just woke up, Kuina. Have some mercy." you started pleading.
You didn't even bother asking how she found out where your room was. The answer was easy. However, you didn't know why would Chishiya tell her.
"It's almost one in the afternoon and you expect mercy?" she joked. "I get it. I heard about your game and that's exactly why I wanted us to have some fun today. You deserve it."
The mention of your previous game was more than enough to make you give up on trying to get some more sleep. At least you were able to forget about it for a few hours, without any nightmares that would've been a dreadful reminder.
You weren't really excited about doing something today, but you felt bad for how you treated Kuina at first. It was the least you could do and you also needed a new distraction, since sleep was out of the equation for now.
"What do you have in mind?" you sighed giving in.
"Maybe talk and drink. Later when it's dark we could go dance by the pool." she suggested with clear excitement in her voice.
Dancing was never something you enjoyed doing. Especially in public. To you, it was just a way of showing off and you didn't like to be noticed in such a way. From your point of view, the people who did that every day at the Beach were snobs.
"Talking while drinking sounds good."
"Then that's what we'll do." Kuina said and walked towards a corner. When she was facing you again, she revealed two bottles of wine.
"How did you get those?" you asked surprised.
"I figured that's what we'll be doing today, so I stole them from the bar." Kuina said and her eyes accidentally went to the number of your bracelet. She started smiling when she saw the one digit number on it. "One more reason to drink. Congrats!" she continued while coming towards you to wrap her arms around you for a hug.
The hug came as unexpected and it took you a few moments to process it. When you were finally going to hug her back, Kuina let go.
That was a little awkward, but you got over it quickly.
The girl took a sit next to you, while handing you one of those two bottles. You both opened them at the same time.
This situation reminded you of that day you skipped classes to drink with Karube, Chota and Arisu. It was a good day and all you did was laugh at their stupid stories. You'd give anything to go back in time at that exact moment. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible, so you had to find out how to leave this place and get back to them.
"So what did you do before this? If you don't mind me asking." you finally tried to get to know Kuina.
"Nothing much. I worked in a boutique with low payment. It was pretty nice there, though. What about you?"
"I was studying to become a detective. My parents hated the idea, they were always controlling and had expectations of me following everything they said."
"I know how that feels. My father always had this idea of me being his perfect son. The thing is that as much as I tried to be, I couldn't."
It took you a minute to realize the true meaning of her words and when you did, admiration was all you could feel when it came to the girl next to you.
You would've never guessed that she was transgender, but it only made you like her even more. She wasn't afraid of showing her true self, once she discovered it.
Little did you know that Kuina barely told people about it. She wasn't ashamed, but she didn't think screaming around about her sexuality will do her any good. She told you, because she liked you and felt like she could trust you.
"Your dad's an asshole, then. I'm sorry he didn't want to see how amazing his daughter is." you told her and she smiled.
"Thank you. Believe it or not, your words really mean a lot to me. Only my mother truly supported me through this. When I finally found out my parents got a divorce, I started looking for my mother. That's how I found out about her bad condition. She's currently in hospital and this was also the reason I quit smoking. Ironic how I can't be there for her, when she needs me the most."
Kuina's words made you understand that your life was pretty good. You kept complaining about little things and it slowly became a habit. You forgot that people were doing way worse than you.
All this new information about Kuina, changed your whole perspective of her. You didn't really want to see her too differently, because of what she's been through and you were sure she didn't want you to, either.
"I'm not really good at comforting people, but you deserve better." you said.
"I didn't expect you to comfort me. I just felt like talking to someone about it." Kuina smiled. "I still really want to know the deal between you and Chishiya"
"There's no deal." it came off as a very bitter response.
"That's a lie. The only thing I know is that you two knew each other in the original world. He doesn't seem to be the type to have friends, not to mention a girlfriend. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm really curious and I'll just keep bugging you." you grimaced when she used the word 'girlfriend'.
"Listen, Kuina. I don't know him any better than you do. Yes, we met in the original world, but on the same day you met him. He was an asshole and left me in the middle of nowhere, after everyone else disappeared." you left out the big part of the story, but you thought that Kuina would make a bigger deal out of it than it was.
"There's for sure more to that, but I'll stop asking you. It's clear that you don't want to talk about it and I have my limits of curiosity." she let go of the subject.
Then you remembered that she told you her story. Which was way worse than what was happening between you and Chishiya and probably very difficult to share. It wouldn't be fair to keep your situation a secret from her, so you opened the subject again.
"Remember when I said that my parents are controlling?" Kuina nodded and you continued. "They had my life already planned from the day I was born. They weren't happy when I decided to go to university, because it wasn't part of their plan. They went insane and kicked me out, after they found out I got accepted into one and went there for years without them knowing. For a while, I had to live on my friends' chouches, until I earned enough money to buy myself a little apartament. Two months after I finally got one, my parents invited me to lunch all of a sudden. I was a little happy when they did, considering that we haven't talked in over a year. I thought that maybe they wanted to apologize and accept my decisions, but they only wanted to control my life again by making me marry someone. That someone was Chishiya. He told me our parents knew each other for a while and they were friends. When I realized what was going on, I left. Chishiya found me in a park, we went to a coffee shop and now we're here."
Kuina was speechless. All she could do was stare at you in disbelief. It was a normal reaction and you knew your story would come unexpectedly for her. She probably thought you met him in some romantic-comedy type of way. That probably would've been a million times better.
"I expected anything, but an arranged marriage. That sounds exactly like a drama series plot." she said.
"To be honest, I have no idea if it's worse having to risk my life once at a few days or the idea of being married to someone like Chishiya. We are a little similar when it comes to pleasing our parents, but a marriage with him would probably be dull. I don't even think he's capable of feeling empathy." your words received a hesitant look from Kuina.
"I mean he is pretty distant, but I think he likes you. In his own way. He was the one that suggested me to spend the day with you, because you might need it. Don't get me wrong, I was more than happy when he suggested it. I also catch him sometimes glancing at you. That's why I assumed a possible relationship between the two of you."
"He probably just feels bad for leaving me in front of that coffee shop."
"If he feels bad, it means that he is capable of feeling some sort of empathy, so your perspective of him is a little exaggerated. I get that you're mad at him for being a jerk, I would be too, but it doesn't mean that he's not a human with emotions. He just has to discover himself and I think this place could be helpful to that."
Kuina was way too nice for her own good. It was one of the many things you have noticed about her. Normally, it would've annoyed you, but besides her being nice, you knew what she was really capable of. Kuina was a strong and ambitious woman, there was no doubt that she would return to the original world and reunite with her mother.
"Have you considered becoming a therapist?" you asked her and Kuina started laughing, probably taking it as a joke.
"I don't think it fits me. I'll just stick with my physical abilities."
The two of you continued to talk about little things. From what you liked to do in the real world, to your friendship with your three favorite guys you love with your whole heart. It felt good being comfortable around someone else other than Arisu, Karube and Chota. You were starting to see Kuina as a friend. You needed one here, as much as your fear of losing her kept denying it.
♤ ♧ ♡ ♢
It was already dark outside, the whistling wind was knocking on your windows, as if it was trying to come off as a reminder of what was going on. The games have started a while ago, making you feel uneasy even though it wasn't you who was risking following breaths. The uneasy feeling might be the fact that you were slowly getting used to this dreadful routine of waking up, doing nothing and then fight the devil for your life.
Tonight, Hatter had to renew his visa, that had a different impact on the Beach's members. At first, you wondered what if Hatter happened to die tonight. That would affect the Beach too badly. The executives would fight for the bigger role, not hesitating to kill each other for it like animals. Some members seemed to also put the pieces together, praying that Hatter will come out alive and well.
From your window, you stared at the groups returning. Hatter and Chishiya were part of the last group that came back. Surprisingly, it seemed like they got paired in the same game. Chishiya definitely earned a golden star from Hatter.
You couldn't see the point in playing while you still had multiple days on your visa. Chishiya had his reasons, though. He was trying to become an executive by playing as much as he could and it was foolish. He was risking his life, only to be part of some boring group. It had benefits, that's true, but he was trying too hard for nothing.
You were thinking about telling him your opinions about it, but it was best to leave him find out on his own. It wasn't like he would've listened to you anyway. Being paired in a game with Hatter might have been in his favor, they both came back well and it was probably thanks to Chishiya.
"Why does he want to be an executive so badly?" you asked Kuina, hoping that she knew his reasons. They were quite close, from what you've seen.
"He thinks they know how to get out of this place. At least, that's the excuse he told me."
"I probably stepped on his ego by becoming one before him." you said and Kuina chuckled.
"I bet you did. You should go ask him, though. There are some serious miscommunication problems between you two." pKuina said.
"Don't be ridiculous. I have nothing to say to him. Besides. I don't even know where his room is."
"I know where it is."
"Then, why would I go?" you asked. "I have to go check if Ann came back safely from her game, anyway." you chose an excuse, but it wasn't exactly an excuse. You really wanted to make sure that Ann came back. She did the same for you, after all. Even though Chishiya asked her to.
"Ann is the attractive woman with sunglasses, right?" Kuina asked and you nodded. "Can you introduce me to her? God, she's so beautiful."
"I'll have to agree with you on that one."
"Don't let Chishiya hear, he might get jealous." Kuina tried to joke, but you gave her a nasty look. "Sorry. No jokes about him, got it."
"Well, I better get going. You can wait for me here, it shouldn't take too long." you got up from the bed and Kuina did the same.
"It's fine, I should get back to my room, anyway. Thank you for today, it was fun."
"It really was."
Leaving your room together with Kuina and soon parting ways, you went around the corner, remembering how Ann told you about where her room is located.
Your arrival at the Beach, felt like it happened a long time ago, when in reality it's only been a few days. It was still very hard for you to pretend that the deaths from your games didn't affect you. You were doing a great job at hiding it so far.
After you knocked on her door, she opened it almost immediately. As if she was in a hurry to go somewhere.
"Hey, how was your game?" you asked her.
"Four of Clubs, it went easy, but that's not important now. I was just going to get you for an executive meeting. Hatter has an announcement, apparently."
"Do you have any idea what could it be about?" you asked and her head movement gave you a negative answer.
It would be a lie if you said that you weren't curious about what Hatter could possibly want. The entire way there, you thought about his intentions. It must be important, since he played tonight. You saw him getting back unharmed, so that was out of the question. Ann looked oblivious, too, and you knew she hated that. She usually knows what Hatter wants to do or say, but not this time.
You arrived for the meeting, opening the door widely. The only people there were Mira, Aguni, Kuzuryu, Niragi and a guy full of tattoos. You had no idea what was Niragi doing there, but you chose to ignore him and the weird smile he was giving you since he saw you walking in. You noticed that guy with tattoos around the Beach a few times, but you never paid him too much attention. He must be important to the militants, just like Niragi was.
Hatter soon entered the room, but not alone. Chishiya was behind him and you knew he made it as an executive. He impressed Hatter tonight.
The blonde had a little smirk on his face, while looking at you. His eyes were telling you more than any words could possibly do. It wasn't surprising to you, he was bound to succeed anyway.
"Hello, everyone!" Hatter said while clapping his hands. "You're probably wondering why I called you here. We'll get there. First of all, please take a sit." he pointed at the table while seating at the head of it. You sat next to Ann and Mira, while Chishiya took the seat in front of you. "You probably noticed the new additions to the executive table. I decided to let Aguni's most trusted men to join us, Niragi and Last Boss. Chishiya, there" Hatter pointed at him. "is a master of Diamonds, exactly what we need. This guy, really knows his way out of a Diamonds game. I'll get to the point of this meeting now. I realized that this place, is not an alternate universe, nor another dimension. It's in fact a country." Hatter revealed and everyone looked confused.
Is he drunk? You weren't the only one that had this thought. His revelation was totally out of nowhere, it also wasn't of any possible help. His spewing non-sense wasn't only annoying you as you saw Chishiya sending weird looks to Hatter.
"A country? How?" Aguni dared to ask.
"I was waiting for that question. As you know, we get supplied with a visa at every end of a game. Since it's called a 'visa', it's only natural for it to be a country." he finishes his continuous useless discovery.
"Is that all?" the man with glasses asked confused.
"Yes. Everyone's excused, except Y/N." he used a neutral tone, fluttering his hand through the air.
All the executives looked disappointed. Especially Chishiya. This definitely wasn't what he imagined. Everyone thought that Hatter had something bigger to say. Like how will they return to the original world.
Everyone got up from the table and right after, they left the room. That only left you with Hatter and you had no idea what to expect. You weren't sure what was going to happen, but you didn't think you were in trouble. He was annoyingly in a good mood.
"You're probably wondering why I asked you to stay." Hatter went away from the table only to bring two glasses of alcohol and a bottle.
"Kind of."
"I hope I'm not keeping you from any possible plans you have made." before you were able to give him an assurance that he wasn't, Hatter continued. "I had great conversations with everyone from the executive table. Everyone, but you. I even got to have a drink with Chishiya, earlier, who just joined us." you found that a little hard to believe, but it made sense, since Hatter sounded drunk the entire meeting. "I want to get to know you. See if there really is a place for you as an executive, because it's not all about playing well. There are a lot of good players here at the Beach, who don't have a chance at becoming an executive. Only caused by the fact, that they don't have character and their minds aren't so good when it comes to making decisions."
"Alright. What do you want to know about me, then?"
"What did you do before you arrived in this country?" he took a sip from his drink.
"I studied criminology, in order to become a homicide detective." you answered and slowly you felt like you were being interrogated. He pointed at your untouched glass of wine and you took a sip.
"That explains your skills at Hearts. You're also a good Clubs player. As I said, I know all about your first game here. I was told about how well you thought about splitting the people, in order to gain more time. That only tells me how good you are at making decisions, that's why I quickly accepted you as an executive."
"You make it seem like it was a big deal." you took another sip.
"It is. I'm an honest man and you truly did a great job." he complimented you once again. You would lie if you said that you weren't finding pleasure in his sugared words.
"How did Chishiya earn a spot?" you asked and received a laugh from Hatter.
"I see, you know him. We played the same Seven of Diamons tonight and I just loved the way his mind clicked and knew exactly what he had to do. The difficulty was also pretty high and soon after, it came to my attention that he cleared a Six of Diamonds the other night."
"I think his spot is well earned, then."
"Just like yours. Eight of Hearts is truly impressive. Now tell me, did you have to kill anyone?"
"Yes, but I didn't. I would've, if the other players were more skilled. They found a way to kill each other. The last girl... she killed herself."
"So what did you do in that game, then? If you didn't kill anyone, you just sat and watched?"
"No. I think I played with their minds, I made them trust me and blindly believe that I wasn't the one who will betray them."
"Hm, so you're a manipulator. That is very good in a Hearts game." Hatter said making it sound like another compliment.
"I guess so."
"Keep up with the good work. I better go get my sleep. I advise you to do the same. Goodnight!" he got up, leaving the glass on the table. After he left the room, it was your cue to do the same.