𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 :
protecting with a cold face
VISA COUNT: 7 DAYS
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"WHO WERE YOU talking to?" The man rushed out, grasping her shoulders harder as he peered to the side and into the hallway with a panicked expression. Obviously he had attacked first and thought second.
A pang of hurt shot through her chest at the man's question. Chishiya left me alone? He abandoned me after talking all about how we should be partners. He just left without trying to help?! She scoffed under her breath, what an asshole! Right after I acknowledge my crush on him, he betrays me. Fitting.
Riko blinked fast, the speed picking up as she quickly defended, "I was talking to no one." She lied with wide eyes, peering up at the man while she lightly pursed her lips to try and give her more of an innocent appearance. Men always fall for the doll look, like fools.
"Bullshit," He cursed, making Riko struggle to not falter with her act at his harsh voice. He sounded like he had been running for hours straight, his voice sounding raspy and giving out at certain moments. "I heard you talking."
"Oh, well I was speaking." Riko attempted to reason, "I was just speaking to myself."
The man faltered, his hold loosening for a second. But Riko didn't act to get out of it. She knew that the man was far too big for her to successfully run and get away, especially now that she knew Chishiya wasn't right outside of the door to help.
Even if he was there I don't think he would help if I called out for him.
"What?" The man interrogated, his hold tightening on her shoulders. Riko hid her wince to clarify,
"Well, I've been talking to my therapist a lot lately and she says that it's not normal to talk to yourself as often as I do it. And I mean I do it all the time but that can't be a bad thing right?" Riko took a dramatic breath before she continued,
"Anyways, so my therapist has been trying to get me to see a psychiatrist—which is like a level up or something just in case you didn't know, because there's something about me being seriously mentally ill or something. I didn't listen much and I wouldn't know because I'm a vet I take care of dogs and—"
"Stop talking..." The man practically begged, shaking his dead in irritation, "Damn you're fucking annoying."
"If I had a nickel for every time I've been called annoying, I'd have a lot. But I'm not keeping track of how many times I've been called annoying, because that would be ridiculous, right?"
Just keep talking Riko, she reminded herself as she observed his bewildered expression only grow, "I mean like imagine how high that number would be. Annoying is such a common adjective. It would probably be in the hundreds...or maybe even thousands if we count—"
"Stop fucking talking!" The man shouted, but regret flashed on his face as he realized his action. Riko quickly shut her mouth, watching him as he looked around nervously. He breathed out, "Where's your paper?"
"My what?" Riko tilted her head slightly to the right as if she couldn't hear him, even though she could. I need someone to intervene, I won't be able to get him away on my own. And someone was already killed by a player, I'd rather not join that list.
"Your paper!"
"Oh, that thing they gave us in the beginning?" Riko blinked for a moment before admitting, "I don't have it." And luckily, she didn't. Chishiya did.
The man scoffed, "Bullshit!"
"No, it's not, I gave it to my partner." This was one of the only true things she had said to this man.
"Then where is your partner?!"
"I don't know." This wasn't a lie either. She was doing great with telling the truth.
"You—...You don't know where your partner is!?"
Riko hummed, "Nope."
The man's mouth opened and shut like a fish, "No idea...at all?"
"Not a single one." She shook her head slightly with straightened lips.
The man punched the wall beside her head with his left hand, making her shy away closer to the right arm. "Now I know you're bullshitting me."
Riko blinked with a blank expression, "I'm not."
"What kind of idiot would lose their partner during this game?!"
"This one apparently." Riko watched the man innocently, "If it helps, I didn't lose 'em on purpose."
"How would that fucking help?!"
Riko shrugged, "I don't know." That's your problem not mine.
"What do you know then?" The man cried out.
"I know that you're going to lose this game if you don't back the fuck off of me right now." Riko spoke slow and calmly, her eyes narrowed back to their normal height.
Now she wasn't giving the young appearance she once had, instead it was one of a predator. Specifically, a panther, one that was ready to pounce and take the life of its prey. The man swallowed back his fear, knowing that he was the prey in the metaphor.
"I'm bigger than you are." He tried to regain his confidence, but the longer the eye contact lasted the more it faltered.
"Of course, you are silly." Riko rolled her eyes with a light tone, "It's just that you, are standing here, threatening me. And I know for a fact that your bar isn't going up. Especially, because you took your paper from your partner and left them alone."
She could see it poking out of his back pocket and assumed that since he asked for hers earlier, referencing it would make him nervous. "Which makes me wonder why you would need mine. Perhaps you believe I've been marking it with answers and locations? Could this be a desperate last minute act to try and redeem yourself for your partner that you've failed in some way?"
"This game fuc—"
The man was caught off guard when a sudden aggressive shout was heard. Both turned to the right and saw a man with an axe in hand charging at them—more specifically the stranger holding her. Still, Riko panicked as she was too close to be out of damage, holy shit!
The new stranger screamed, "This is for Haru!"
The man hastily let go of Riko, jumping back to prepare himself for the attack. While the man rushed inside, Riko stayed by the door, slowly sliding out while keeping her eyes on the men inside who had begun to duel. Suddenly a hand grasped her own, beginning to pull her out the room.
Riko quickly turned and spotted Chishiya, who held a finger to his lips and only continued to pull her out of the room.
The sound of the men groaning and hitting the wall as they fought aggressively in the room grew away as they rushed farther down the hall. Chishiya didn't let go of her until they were multiple turns away and hidden in a random room.
Riko breathed quickly, both out of the anxiety of the situation and the running making her look at Chishiya flushed. He was struggling less than her, breathing only a little quicker than usual as he scanned her appearance, getting caught in a few places before he made eye contact again.
Feeling slightly self-conscious because of his attentive eyes she forced herself to ask, "Where did you go?!"
"The man who threatened you killed that guy's partner earlier in the game." Chishiya informed, making Riko blink at him.
She shook her head with a sigh as her heartbeat began to calm down, "I'm too tired right now to connect the dots, please just finish your thoughts for once."
"Never thought I'd hear that from you." Chishiya teased. Riko took a deep breath, if this man does not shut up, I might just go back to that guy and let him kill me too.
Chishiya smirked at the sight of her glare and relented, placing his hands in his pockets as he admitted, "I knew the general area he was in, so I found him and told him where you two were. He wanted revenge, so I used that to motivate him."
Riko found her mouth twitching upwards as she realized that he just admitted he went out of his way to not only help her, but possibly save her life, "Nice to know you care."
Chishiya's expression looked like he got a smack to the face. He opened his mouth slightly before he shrugged, "I didn't want to lose my partner."
Riko fought the grin that tried to creep onto her face and instead questioned, "Three objects left?"
"Yup." Chishiya nodded simply, closing his eyes as he did so.
"Let's hear them." Riko decided hastily. "Then we'll think about where to go on our way back to the lobby."
Chishiya nodded, looking down and reading off the next riddle, "Who makes it, has no need for it. Who buys it has no use for it. Who uses it can neither feel nor see it. What is it?"
"Hm." This stumped them both for a moment, before Riko snapped with her right hand, the idea hitting her full force as she waved her finger in excitement to share her answer, "A coffin."
Chishiya nodded, it made sense to him. So, he moved on and read the next riddle, "They come out at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?"
"Stars?" Riko answered with a questioning tone, wanting a second opinion in her words.
"Makes sense." Chishiya nodded,
"Here, I'll read the last one." Riko reached out, her hand taking the paper without any struggle once he passed it over. Riko looked down at it, reading the final riddle. I should not have taken it. She clicked her tongue before reading, "I love to dance and twist. I shake my tail as I sail by, flying wingless into the sky. What am I?"
Chishiya thought about it for a second before he spoke blandly. "Kite."
"Wait... Wasn't that kid holding it in the painting?" Riko inquired, remembering briefly the image of the little boy smiling happily with his blue kite in the background.
"In the lobby?" Chishiya clarified.
"Exactly." Riko nodded.
"Well, yes." Chishiya added, "I remember because you looked like you want to rip it straight from him."
Riko looked at him for a moment, Kurayami's words about her always seeming angry seeping into her mind. She pouted slightly before changing the topic, "Okay, so we go back to check out the painting, and then deposit these ones, then search for the other items?"
Chishiya shrugged, unbothered by whatever path they took, "Sounds good to me."
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"I'm so tired of this game." Riko complained.
Currently, Chishiya was under her. They made it back to the lobby without struggle and deposited their objects. Their bar rose to be the highest by far. Meaning either they were in a gigantic lead or there were others like them who were waiting to deposit their objects all at once.
Chishiya pointed out that the painting had a slip of paper on it, and the deposit box was wide enough to fit it. That led to where they were now. Riko sitting on his shoulders as he held her thighs tightly.
She gripped the painting, letting out a small groan, "It's heavy."
"You got this." He assured, but his grip tightened on the flesh of her legs by his head.
Riko tried her hardest not to focus on the skin contact and instead gripped the painting harder. She devised, "Okay, once I get this off, you quickly go to the board, okay?"
"Hm."
She was able to lift the painting up with some decent struggle, and ordered, "Go!"
Chishiya listened and they hastily stumbled to the board. Riko lowered the painting, her top half lowering with it until her abdomen was pressed against his head. His head dipped because of the pressure as he helped push the painting into the slot with a kick of his feet.
Once it was in, it slid down and out of their sight. Riko let out a breath of relief, straightening herself to not be pressed against him anymore. "We did it."
"You doubted us?" Chishiya questioned, eyebrows furrowing slightly.
Riko looked down at her hands, "Yeah, I did."
Chishiya let out a small laugh in the form of a breath exiting his nose.
Riko sighed, before she acknowledged their position, "Okay, you can put me down now."
"Whatever you say boss." Chishiya relented and crouched, loosening his grip as he allowed Riko to climb off carefully, subconsciously watching over her to make sure she didn't get harmed in the process.
"Okay," Riko brushed off her jacket as if a germ had gotten on her from being lifted up and decided, "let's finish this."
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The coffin was a small one, one the size of a pencil holder. They came across it on accident but carried it none the less as they found the stars. The stars were on a blanket that was folded neatly and placed onto a random bed they had the luck of finding.
The two made their way back to the lobby, items in hand when they—only Riko, Chishiya was still walking casually—rushed over to the board and placed the small coffin inside. The bar slid up one and was only one away from the top.
A voice cried out, "Don't put that in!"
Riko turned and spotted two other players entering the room, a singular item in their hand as they started to run forward. Riko watched idly, she didn't have the blanket, Chishiya did.
"Game over. A pair has found all of the objects."
Riko let out a small breath of relief. Not once did she truly doubt them, knowing they had a high probability of making it out, but there was always a possibility that one day they ran into someone bigger. Someone better.
But it seemed today wasn't the day, and they would get to see tomorrow. For the others, they received a laser falling from the sky and landing in their head. Riko hoped that before they died, they found peace.
However, the question stuck with her, could one truly come to terms that they would die seconds away from it? Riko believed so, after all, they had no way to survive, why not accept it?
In her hand, the phone lit up, 'To the survivors of the game, we will now greet you a visa' They read, 'We will now supply you with a three-day visa.'
Three days isn't bad...What am I at now? Riko scrunched her eyebrows as she tried to remember, it had to be around ten. Safe to go with nine.
Without noticing, Chishiya had been watching her and observed her deep in thought expression. Since he figured she would be there for a while if he left her, and he wanted to go sleep at the Beach, he reached out and shook her shoulder. "C'mon." He ordered simply, but Riko snapped out of it none the less.
Riko nodded shortly, "Right." The girl turned around, beginning to walk out of the hotel. Chishiya quickly caught up to be beside her, but Riko was staring in front of them where the vehicle was still parked unharmed.
"That was easy." Chishiya hummed, looking at her to gauge her reaction. She turned to him curiously. He hid his smirk, enjoying her attention being in him.
"Yeah, you'd think a four of clubs would be at least a little challenging. But I suppose not." Riko shrugged, quieting after she spoke. Her gaze strayed towards the vehicle once more.
Chishiya brought her attention back to him as he admitted with a strange tone, "You're not the worst partner I've had."
Riko made eye contact, finding him watching her with a contemplative expression. Her lips twitched upwards, but she tried to suppress it, "Agreed."
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AUTHORS NOTE !
Is it possible Chishiya
also has a crush on Riko?
Posted: December 31, 2022
Words: 2706
Edited: ✘︎