(Oh my gawsh!! I just visited the doctor's for an injection and I rearranged my room to get ready for a new academic year. My left arm really hurts but I'll try to continue typing. I just logged in to see that this story has reached 600 views! We're very close to 1K :00 in a lot shorter than I expected! Thanks for all the votes and support guys!)
You yawned drowsily before getting up from your mattress, or your makeshift bed. It consisted of a feathery pillow which you lay your head on and a long blanket that you used to bring warmth to your body. It was always a habit of you to wake up early at 6am in the morning, when the sky was still dark.
You proceeded to brush your teeth after having taken a short shower. You looked at yourself in the mirror, droplets of water dripping down your wet hair. "Today is the day we get our answers," you spoke to yourself with determination in your tone. "What this borderland is about, and how we get the hell out of here. I've been at the verge of death way too many times, though I must admit these games are enjoyable to a level."
"That I have to agree with, Yuki." You were startled to see that Chishiya was also awake. He leaned on the wall. He changed into some black long pants and a pair of black shoes with white soles at the bottom. He was wearing a black shirt underneath his unzipped white hoodie. You had to admit that he looked a little bit sexy.
"You'll give me directions whilst I drive, okay? I hope we'll finally get some answers to out never-ending list of questions. Akira has a low chance of winning these games, considering that he has an injured leg that still needs healing and the fact that he's only a child. I just can't handle to see him hurt anymore," you told him, making eye contact with him via the mirror in front of you.
"Yuki, how do you care, protect and love your brother so much? In the borderlands, he'll be a burden in the difficult games, especially in clubs and spades games in his current state." Chishiya inquired, curious about how your human heart functioned.
"We've been through so much together, that I can't let go of him. He has some decent fighting skills despite his injured leg, but I can help him in some clubs games if we're working together, or maybe even hearts games because our trust is unbreakable. He's saved my life in these games some times, so I need to pay him back and make sure he survives, no matter how injured I am! If the situation called for it, I would gladly sacrifice my life for him!" You answered.
Chishiya seemed amused by your speech, thinking through about how you cared about your brother so much. He did care for you, but not too much to the point that he was willing to risk his life to save you. After all, someone as heartless as him could only care for someone so much.
After you got ready to get going, you were chatting on your sofa together, sharing a little about your past and talking about some theories you had about the borderlands. An Alien invasion, some hallucination pandemic, or could you be dead and was fighting to survive? Maybe it was all a bad dream, but you clearly had all your senses working normally.
Without knowing it, you had developed a romantic liking to Chishiya through the life-and-death games. He was always calm and collected, making sure not to make any errors in his movements during the crisis he was in. He also made sure not to show his weaknesses to others, though physical ability was clearly not one of his talents.
If you were completely truthful, you suspected deep down that he might be a game master posing as a player, possibly a diamonds or hearts master? Though you grew a liking to him, you made sure to keep a close eye on him at all times.
Once Akira and Kuina got up, they quickly got up, seeing you two early birds chatting away to kill time while waiting for them to get ready. Clearly, Akira still did not trust Chishiya, but was grateful towards him for saving you. Whenever he was near him, Akira would warily grab the handle of his dagger, getting ready to kill him if he tried to do something to him.
This did not go unnoticed by Chishiya, but he understood that you were always remaining alert, which he admired. You never let your guard down, not even in front of your closest ally in the borderlands. Chishiya really envied your ability to love others so much and care for people that might be your enemy in the next game.
He had a small heart that had the inability to love and care like a normal human. He had built stone walls surrounding his heart, not opening to anybody at all. It was his parents' fault for not taking care of him and raising him well.
Astoundingly, you had broken those walls and showed him that there are people out there to love and care for. Not everybody was like his parents, and you proved that to him with the games. You constantly looked out for him and made sure that there was no danger heading toward him.
"Sis! CHISHIYA, SMARTASS! WE'RE FUCKING READY LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS BORDERLAND! SNAP OUT OF YOUR HALLUCINATION!" Akira broke the both of your thoughts. You apologized to him and grabbed your car keys, walking our of your hideout.
You unlocked the door, getting into the driver's seat and starting the car with ease. Chishiya sat in the front seat next to you, taking out his map. Akira and Kuina sat at the back, gossiping about the two of you.
"Hey, are they dating or somehting?" Kuina cheekily asked him, wearing a pair of blue high-Rise raw-hem flare jeans. Akira was wearing his black hoodie that was the same brand as Chishiya's, a Nike. He wore a pair of cargo pants.
"Oh hell no, I don't trust that sly bastard with my sister one bit. If I were in a game against him, I won't hesitate to slice him in half!"
"But they're like soulmates! They're the unstoppable duo in the borderlands!"
"True, but still, I bet he won't waste a second in sacrificing Yu-chan for his survival."
Chishiya focused on directing you, eavesdropping on Akira and Kuina's gossip session. They made not a bad duo in the borderlands, both of them having extroverted personalities and being cheerful people in general. You were too busy with driving to listen to Akira's crap, you knew that when Kuina and him were talking, it could never be about something good. They would have been best of friends in the real world.
You stepped on the break, coming to a stop nearby the subway station. You walked inside carefully, holding a flashlight in your hands, looking carefully for any booby traps that might kill you. "This looks like a normal subway station, you sure this is the one, Shuntaro?" You peeked around, trying to look for any suspicious article.
"Yes, there's no mistake it's this one. Maybe try looking behind the train tracks?" He suggested, the two others following behind you. You shone your torchlight at the door of a maintenance room? You opened the door, making sure that the door was covering your body to protect you from any incoming attack.
You slowly stepped inside. There it was again, the stench of dead corpses. You curiously shone your flashlight on the ground, only to find a bunch of dead bodies. "These people died from the lasers. Could they have been participating in a game that took place in here and failed? Or could they be the game masters who were watching us this whole time?" You picked one up to inspect it, but found nothing.
"Considering that there are lots of security cameras here, it's most likely that they are the game masters. Also, I only found out about this place from the tagger in the 5 of spades game. it's likely she was also a game master playing these for her own survival too. So actually, these game masters also have their own game: to kill us," Chishiya explained using his excellent intellect. he was, by far, the smartest person in the beach, or rather, the borderlands.
"Yeah, I agree with you," Kuina walked around, almost tripping over a dead body. Akira silently inspected every single body, every small detail was being scrutinized by him. Unfortunately, he could not find any leads on what it could be about.
You stood there for a few moments in silence, before Akira detected the faint sound of approaching footsteps with his hearing aids that had newly changed batteries.
"Guys! I head footsteps approaching this area!" Akira alerted you. He glanced from outside, catching a glimpse of Arisu and Usagi walking towards where you were. "It's Arisu and Usagi."
Soon, they opened the door, stepping inside. You leapt from your position to the table in front of them, causing them to grab each other's hands and step back with caution. When Arisu shone his light and your face, you tilted your head to the side and stuck out your tongue, shouting, "Peek-a-boo!"
"Kayami-san? Gosh, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Usagi let our a sigh of relief.
"We've known each other for long enough, so please call me by my first name, you make me sound like an old lady! I mean, I did turn 20 not too long ago but I'm still very young!" you leapt off the table and stretched your arms in the air.
"So you found this place too. thanks to you two, I have all the numbered playing cards right here. Thank you." Chishiya held up the deck of numbered cards in his right hand. Arisu was saturated with curiosity about how you two were always three steps ahead of other people, how you found that place being included.
Chishiya took out the piece of paper he found from the tag game out of his pocket. He displayed it to the both of them and said, "It took me a while, but I figured out that this is actually the map of a subway station. It was from the tag game we played together."
"So what happens when we complete all the numbered cards? I figured coming here would provide me with an answer." Arisu was curious to know who was behind all these games.
"I only know one thing for sure."
"These people aren't the game masters, are they?"
"Right. What's pretty clear is that they were all killed after we emerged victorious in the numbered cards. They're just humans like us, and there's someone above them. the killer."
"So, who could they be?" Usagi questioned, desperately needing answers.
"Hmm, does an alien invasion, or even God infiltrating this earth to get his karma on us sound plausible at all?" You spoke up, enlightening the stiff atmosphere. Chishiya nodded in agreement.
All of a sudden, the lights turned on in the subway station. On the screen displayed "SPECIAL URGENT BROADCAST". You held Akira close to your waist, grabbing his hand tightly.
Unexpectedly, Mira appeared on the screen. "Congratulations to all players who have made it through all the numbered card games!" she started.
"Who would've known that she was a higher-up of the game masters? Oh my gosh..." Akira mumbled.
"The price of these victories was the sacrifice of many lives. I wonder.. just how many of your close friends have died. Do you remember the ones who were shot in the head? The girl you burned alive, the ones struck down by lasers. The ones whose heads were blown off. all that despair you felt. Those gruesome scenes, you'll never forget them. And that really touches my heart!" she declared. Was she from an asylum or something? She was mentally unstable.
On the screen showed you shooting down multiple players in a game, cutting off their legs to get the device around their ankles in order to gain more points. One of them, sadly, was still alive, begging for his life as he was tortured to no extent by you chopping his leg off mercilessly.
There was one scene which intrigued you though. Arisu was crying, his friend next to him having his head explode. That was Karube! So that was how he died! If he joined the beach, he had some potential to be a militant and be a useful spades and clubs player.
"To reward you..." Mira continued, "There will be more games! Let's all play together, and this time with all the face cards!"
"New games? What the fuck? Is my ankle being nearly bitten off by a lion not enough for you? IS THIS CHILD OVER HERE ALMOST BEING SHOT BY FULL-GROWN ASSES NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?" Akira shouted, grabbing a chair and kicking it so hard that it broke in half. "FUCK YOU!"
"Honestly, I'd rather see an alien up there," Kuina remarked.
"We have wonderful games in store for you guys! The next stage starts tomorrow, when the clock strikes noon. Let's have some fun!"
"So there's a difference," Arisu said, (having his 'main character' moment where the camera zoomed in on his pretty face), "Now we know our target."
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Fireworks blasted into the air in all different colors. A screen showed "NEXT STAGE" on it. You noticed a shadow above the screen, resulting in you looking up and finding planes with huge cards in the from of flags hanging above them. It was the King of Spades.
"This is where we'll find our answers," you gripped your machine gun tightly. Around the area was more face card games, each having a different venue not too far away from each other.
"Akira, let's complete these games together and get out of here. When we're together, our bond is unbreakable."
"Yeah, Sis. I promise to protect you no matter what happens."
"The same goes to you too."
(Okay time for some face cards! This'll be so fun to write! Happy new year everybody! It's 2023 and we've come so far! I hope you guys will continue to grow and shine like stars in the night sky.)