Companionship
Slight Tw! - self harm-ish
The water was turned to the hottest setting, she could feel it stinging the more she rubbed her skin. She couldn't stop, she was trying to clean off any blood that she thought could still be on her.
She felt disgusting, she was feeling every worst emotion possible. When the game was completed, she wanted to talk to and interrogate the lady who was wearing the horse mask, maybe get some information out of her. She had saw how the lady started freaking out and she had tried to calm her down but then her neck exploded, Hikaru was then covered in blood, the entire top half of her body was.
In that moment she was confused and shocked, but she didn't want to seem weak in front of others, she needed to shut out her emotions. She of course was feeling sick, nauseous, disgusted, and faint, knowing the adrenaline in her was running out. She can remember how she stood up and went silent. Chishiya and her had made eye contact but she didn't say anything, she just stood there, she wondered if he could see her shaking and see what emotions she was truly feeling in that moment by looking in her eyes.
She had released a shaky sighed and looked around seeing the shaggy haired man, the girl who was a climber, looking at her, those eyes that examined her, shock, fear, disgust, and horror. She could only guess what pity they felt for her. Chishiya remained silent and looked at her with no judgement or emotion. Just looked at her. Then she finally walked out without talking to anyone.
Walking back to the beach she didn't bother talking to anyone, everyone eyed her seeing how she was covered in blood. Whispering among themselves noting that this wasn't the first time she had showed up covered in all red, knowing they were judging her and though the worst of her.
Immediately walking into her room seeing Junseo sitting at the desk, he had looked up at her and his eyebrows raised in surprise , she didn't say anything and turned into the bathroom.
Taking her back to reality and remembering what she was doing, she couldn't stop rubbing her arms, feeling her skin become raw, she felt disgusting, and she wanted to stop the feeling of how the blood covered her. She was shaking and tears were being mixed with the water, making their way down her face.
She hated the beach, she hated these games she had to play, she hated herself. Her urge to just walk into Hatters room and get him to talk of where the cards were hidden was getting stronger. She wanted to end the beach, she wanted to get away, to escape.
She finally stopped rubbing her skin the moment she realized of how much it was starting to hurt, in some spots on her arm she could see places that were starting to bleed. The hot water wasn't helping at all but it was either to release her emotions alone or not at all. She wouldn't accept anyone seeing her like this, not even Junseo.
She needed to relax, to calm down, to get her emotions back in check and push them away where they wouldn't reveal themselves because once she stepped out of this shower she would not be able to show them at all. She was letting the water take her emotions down the drain.
Turning off the water she sighed, she felt somewhat better after the emotional rainfall she went through in the shower. She looked at herself in the mirror, she could see the steam come off of her skin, it looked like she had an aura of some sort, just coming off of her. Some patches of her arms were so raw they were red, like she scratched off her skin and was left with the raw flesh.
She felt like an insecure teenager, just staring at herself in the mirror wondering how she can fix herself. When in reality it was all in her mind, there was nothing wrong with her, this feeling was all mental, the fact that the women died was not her fault.
She walked out of the bathroom seeing Junseo stand against the wall that was facing the bathroom door. He showed a concerned face, he was about to speak but Hikaru didn't want to talk about what had happened, and turned and opened the door to walk out of the room. This wasn't the first time she had acted like this but Junseo could only try and again fail to try and get her to talk.
"I wasn't going to ask you anything, I'm just once again amazed at how you can take such hot showers." He had just came up with a subject to talk about, she knew that.
He followed her down the hallway until she had came to a stop.
"You can't follow me, I'm going to meet with Chishiya." She spoke softly.
His eyebrows raised and a smirk formed on his face "you got a date with new guy already? I see you Hikaru, you aren't so anti-romantic after all."
She laughed a bit but tried covering it up as a scoff "that's not it, during the game, we were walking down a hallway and he told me that there's a certain plan he's already set in mind and he wanted to explain it to me." She sighed "of course he couldn't tell me during the game cause we were busy with clearing the game."
She looked at Junseo, his expression changed into a confused one. "I know it sounds crazy since he just got here, but what if he can be an accomplice? What if we can use him to get to the cards even quicker than we thought? That's only if he also wants to get his hands on the cards of course, but there's really nothing else this 'certain goal' could be."
His hummed as a response, not looking so convinced. She could understand why he wouldn't believe her, she was basically just guessing that this goal of his could potentially be something related to the cards. But it wasn't just a guess, she was certain it could be true, he didn't look like the type to wait around for his turn to leave this place to arrive, he was closed minded, she understood him, and she was certain he would do anything to benefit himself.
Was she being judgmental? Yes, but it was probably the truth, after experiencing what he was like in the tag game she made some connections along the way.
"So.. you can't come, I don't think you'd be welcomed since you hardly know him, if I can I'll ask if you can come but don't follow me okay? Trust me on this, I'll tell you everything once I get back."
He nodded, confirming that with him, she smiled and turned back around, she was tired and wanted to sleep but even if she tried to go to bed she'd probably be left sleepless, reoccurring the game and getting lost in her head where it wasn't ever good to be lost in.
He had told her to meet him on the roof, seems like he's already figured out the cameras planted everywhere, he was smart she had to give that to him.
Finally reaching the top of the stairs she opened the door and immediately saw him, he was sitting on a out folded chair, there was one next to him as well. Hearing the door open he looked her way, showing a slight smile. The cold wind went through her jacket it felt nice but she accustomed herself to the warmth of the bathroom and suddenly walking out into cold air made her shiver.
"It's cold, out of all places you chose to meet you chose the roof.. you know the security room doesn't have any cameras in it, we could've gone there." She scrunched her nose, her body shaking a bit.
"I haven't had much time to explore this place, I'll keep your suggestion in mind."
She approached him and sat on the chair next to him "next time make a meeting during the day, it's common to see executives stay within the company of one another."
He nodded, keeping in mind that she probably had an idea of what he wanted to talk to her about right now. He knew she wouldn't be someone who would disappoint the impression he had made of her.
She looked at him expectingly, showing that she was open ears for him to start talking.
"Before I approach the actual reason I asked you to meet me here, I have something to show you."
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. She looked at this hands opening the paper and unveil a circle with lines going through the circle, huh.
"I found this in that lady's pocket after you had left, it looks familiar but I can't find anything as to why she would be holding this."
She agreed with him, it did look familiar but from where? Then she realized what he had said, it was in the pocket of the lady?
"You searched her body?"
"Yeah, I thought that's what you were going to do before you left."
She shivered, remembering what had happened at the end of the game.
"Well I was going to interrogate her, but she died before I could. I came to realize now that since she died maybe she made that game and had to win it to survive, if she didn't she'd die. That would make her almost exactly like us, but I'm wondering how she was able to set up the game."
She looked back at the paper he was holding out to her.
"I'll look into what that is, it looks really familiar to me."
She heard him hum and watched him as he put the paper back into his pocket. She looked over toward the edge watching everyone party beside the pool.
"Do you like it here at the beach?" He asked
She didn't respond immediately, but she put into consideration if she should reveal her true feelings of how it felt for her being at the beach.
"I don't hate it but it's not like I'm going to love it, it was better when I was on my own. I think everyone deserves a fair chance at life, being sent here gave everyone the opportunity to fight to live, there's nobody with advantages in this place and the beach ruins that."
"What if we did something to destroy the beach?" He asked cautiously
She looked at him and saw he was staring at her with a look that showed no signs of wavering, he was serious and determined.
"Depends" she said, she sighed and looked back at pool area.
"Do you want to destroy the beach to get your hands on the cards yourself, or do you truly want to destroy the beach along with the cards?"
She heard him laugh.
He was amused because she was more observing and critical than he thought she was.
"Do you want me to be honest? ... I want both, but with the exception of me being able to keep the cards. This place will soon be ran by idiots. I like to keep my hand in the fate of my survival."
The idiots he was referring to was probably the militants, if the Hatter leaves there won't be any control over the militants, chaos will break out.
"You know, the rule.. 'Death if you're a traitor'.. are you willing to risk yourself to accomplish your goal?"
She looked at him with a stern face, she has been prepared to die to give people their own will to live or die in this world. The option to have a fair death. She would die to give people the experience of freedom.
"I'm confident that if we work together, we can achieve this goal without risk." He showed her a smile.
She can't trust this, not one bit. If it were anyone else who were to offer this information to her and accompany her to over take the beach, she would deny in a heartbeat. So why? Why is it so difficult for her to make a decision right now? Is it him? Is it her desire to work with him? Or is it the fact that their goal can be reached if it's him who works with them. Debating of an answer her thoughts got interrupted.
"Also, your friend can come out now."
What? She looked at the door of the entrance to the roof, she saw it was cracked open, had she left it like that? Walking out like he was guilty of a crime, Junseo appears and stops right at the door. She widen her eyes, she's not angry, just a little irritated.
"Junseo, I told you to not follow me." She stood up and walked up him.
" I told you I'd tell you what happened, why are you here?" In a hushed voice she angrily said.
She heard Chishiya stand up and walk just about 4 feet from them. What was she going to do now? Would he take back everything he said about working together? She hadn't made up her mind yet but she didn't want to close her options.
Looking back at him she showed an apologetic face.. "Listen I didn't know he followed me , I told him not to."
Chishiya's face showed no emotion. She couldn't tell if he was angry or not.
"That's fine, I know you two are probably working together to reach your goal, but he is associated with the militants so I'm confused as to how you two even started working together."
She was going to speak until Junseo cut her off.
"I'm actually just playing with the militants, trying to get any useful information I can to use as an advantage."
"Interesting, then you can be useful. Having a person on the other side of the executives is a good way of getting information by both parties."
She looked at Chishiya in surprise, she didn't think that he'd be okay with letting Junseo in on the plan, but it was inevitable that he wouldn't because she would've told him everything they talked about and use him even further. She was his friend of course but to get closer to survival was ideal for the both of them.
"Then we will accept working with you. Only if you reciprocate trust."
Junseo's words took Hikaru a second to recuperate. We were accepting, yup. Wait trust?
"Hold on I haven't decided ye-"
"Good to know, I look forward to working with you. Also I have a friend that I made here, she was not able to make it but she is a good use for this plan as well. Her names Kuina, I'll be sure to properly introduce you to her tomorrow."
He looked Hikaru's way, looking for an approval of the new information about his friend and confirmation of them now working together to achieve their goal of destroying and attempting to get out of the beach.
She needed to speak but she didn't know what to say. Everything happened so quickly she hardly had time to react. A part of her was happy because Chishiya and her were going to be working together and she'll be able to talk to and get to know him more. The other half of her was angry, she was thinking with her emotions and she didn't want to feel these emotions for this boy, it would only result in heartbreak... right?
"Yeah.. okay, looking forward to it." She showed a hesitant smile and nodded. She didn't know if this was a good thing or not.
Chishiya nodded back in acknowledgement, they all stood there till a gust of wind blew and Hikaru shivered. She said goodbye for both her and Junseo and as Chishiya watched them leave he started to wonder what it was that intrigued him about her. Hearing her voice lower when she was scolding Junseo and watching him say something he couldn't hear, just to see Hikaru laugh a little. Right as she was going to close the door from the staircase she looked back at Chishiya, he looked back at her, feeling some way towards her that made him gravitate to her. She turned and closed the door leaving him on the roof.
The feeling vanished and Chishiya was left standing there, he couldn't take his eyes off her and he didn't understand why. The only thing he came to convince himself was to ignore this feeling, he's only feeling it because he's curious of how she's managed to have the will to fight and risk her life for the freedom of other people, not once did she mention anything about freeing herself.
He wondered how she survived this long playing games that would be life or death for her and other people, in those moments she would choose herself. But outside of the games she's someone who's willing to risk herself for people she thinks aren't living fairly. How amusing, she certainly seems to be a smart girl, her being a hearts player makes sense. But thinking about how she would be in a diamonds game made Chishiya smile, she would win of course but he wanted to beat her at her own game. He finds no interest in how she is as a person, for now, but he's curious of how would she react if she were to ever be betrayed..
He's not close enough with her to do anything of that sort, yet, he knew she was hesitant about joining him in this team they have going on. If it weren't for Junseo sneaking around she probably would've said no.
What made him want to work with her was how much she was able to analyze people. In the tag game she had pointed out how close minded he was. Nobody had ever said that to him, it was only him who knew that. The idea of getting her to trust him is enlightening, he needs to get her trust otherwise he'll betray himself. His survival was the only thing he needed to focus on and if that meant having to go back on his word and lie a couple of times to his new formed 'team' then so be it.
Aside from Hikaru, Junseo was unlikable, he didn't care for the guy so if someone had to go it would be him first, no hesitation.
Hikaru was laying in bed surprisingly calm and relaxed, she wasn't as anxious as she would've been almost an hour ago when she got out of the shower. The effect Chishiya has on her is starting to worry her, his calm demeanor in any situation she's seen him in has given her some peace of mind. She doesn't know how or why, but she doesn't want to dwell on it too much, she's just now content that she can sleep well enough tonight.
Was this partnership the right move? Or was it going to be a mistake and a regretful memory.. only time will tell. The more they proceed with their plan, the more true colors of Chishiya's will show. She hopes everything will play out smoothly, but when has that ever happened in her life.
She looked over at the clock, she had been in bed just staring at the ceiling for an hour now. He was really taking up space in her mind, she didn't like how much she actually liked it one bit. It surprises her how much time she's spent thinking about their interactions together when in reality they don't really know each other. She senses that her and Chishiya are similar in more ways than one, but are putting these feelings in disregard, choosing to ignore them because they're irritating emotions and feelings to deal with.
Two people who ended up coming to this world together, are now depending on one another for freedom. At least that's what Hikaru thought at that moment.
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Chapter 4, it was fun to write this chapter lol, hope you enjoyed! I'll start working on chapter 5 asap, I'm excited to release more of this story.
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