-ˏˋ END ME ˊˎ
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
"Himiko, [—]."
. . .
"I understand."
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
Six people left.
A pair, a trio, and someone unfortunate enough to end up alone.
It sounded risky, but the Jack could possibly move this round.
"The timer will end soon." Himiko told the guy in front of her, and she turned to Banda who was approaching them.
Enji stood up to be on the same level as the two, and no one dared to speak up for the next few seconds.
"Let's go." Banda told Enji while staring straight at him, and Himiko just watched in silence.
Enji turned around, and she looked at his suit while thinking of her exchange of plans with Banda and Yaba earlier.
"Nothing can beat honesty."
"That's rich coming from you."
"Shut up."
"Spade." Banda said, and she also confirmed it.
Himiko turned around next, and Banda moved away the hair near her nape. She could feel the tips of his fingertips grazing her skin, and the contact made her panic internally.
If only she wasn't extremely ticklish.
"Diamond." Banda said, and she turned back to them.
"Spade." Enji told him, and she confirmed his lie.
"Can we talk?"
"Sure."
Himiko and Enji made eye contact, which didn't go unnoticed by their other friend. She looked away, and the announcement from the game fortunately saved her from the tense atmosphere.
'Everyone, please enter a prison cell.
One person per cell, please.'
Himiko walked away from the two first, and they followed after a few seconds. She entered a cell, and the sounds of the timer were starting to annoy her.
"I understand."
Wow, she should be a professional liar at this point.
"Man, this is so annoying." She complained while putting both her hands in her pockets.
"Heart."
"You're a diamond."
Of course, she knew which one was the right one. I mean, unless the other two in her plan were actually just acting and trying to get her killed off... haha?
While waiting for the timer, she thought about the conversations she's had for this round.
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
"Can we talk?" Enji asked, and Himiko turned to him.
"Sure." She replied, already knowing where the conversation was about to go.
"Help me, Himiko."
"Hm?"
"You know it yourself, don't you? I lied earlier, it wasn't Chishiya. It was Banda. Why do you think the deaths started in the first place? It's because of him. He told the weak guy to lie."
Himiko listened in silence, giving him a chance to tell her everything.
"You probably didn't know this, but he's nothing but a murderer."
"Oh."
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
"We'll tell him his true suit." Himiko said while leaning on the wall of the bathroom, which was kinda musty but let's ignore that.
"Nothing can beat honesty." She told them with a grin.
"That's rich coming from you." Banda replied, knowing all about her constant lying.
"Shut up." She rolled her eyes before looking away in embarrassment.
Wow, was Yaba even here with the two of them?
"Right, the biscuits... the Jack is probably working with someone, and they're using the biscuits as a way of communication." She said while waving the biscuit around.
"I hoarded them all, of course." She added with a mischievous grin.
Well, not exactly all, she did leave a random one behind.
She continued to tell them the plan, which kept getting interrupted by Banda's stupid remarks every single sentence.
The three ended up telling each others suits after the discussion.
"Get out, this is the men's washroom." Yaba forced her out, ignoring the complaints from the girl.
"Jerk!"
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
The timer went off, and a loud noise resonated in the area, meaning that someone had died.
Enji went out of the room, and he looked around silently.
"I won." He said, and his loud laughter followed after.
Unfortunately for him, the door near him swung open, and Chishiya and Enji looked at each other.
"You're the Jack of Hearts, just as I thought."
"How..."
"I saw when you and the murderer, Banda, paired up. Even if you were impressed by what Banda said, there's no way anyone could be accepting of a stranger so quickly."
Another door opened, and Enji looked behind in shock.
"There aren't many people who'd approach someone like me. And if you tried to kill me, then you're either scheming, you're just a plain idiot, a psychopath, or a sociopath." Banda told him with a smirk.
"Why you..."
"To find that out, I decided to play along. You thought that you could control me. You should've known that it wouldn't be as easy as you think to try and get two people who trust each other to lie that easily. Also, you were confident that you were superior to everyone else."
"Damn it..." The door in front of Enji's opened, and Himiko stepped out in annoyance.
"Everything isn't gonna go your way."
"But we..."
"I'm surprised you actually thought I'd help you. I thought that since you saw us kiss, it'd technically be impossible to get us to go against each other." She sighed, and the new tea definitely didn't get unheard by Chishiya who was looking at her like a damn Cheshire cat.
"Sorry, but it's not me. Banda is the Jack." Enji pointed at Banda, which made Himiko deadpan.
Seriously?
"It's such a shame, but it's not him." Yaba walked to the three, and everyone turned to him.
Enji looked at him in shock, swearing inside that he should've been dead right now.
"You were in cahoots with Kotoko. I told Kotoko her real suit. But still, she died. This means that somebody else was controlling Kotoko." He threw the biscuit in his direction, and Enji looked at it nervously.
"Then... then that guy must be him." Enji pointed at Chishiya this time, and you shook your head in disbelief.
"How can it be him when he's too stuck on his own snack?" She asked while trying to hold back a laugh, remembering the times she'd seen him eating the same thing every time.
"You told Kotoko to lie to me about my suit. I honestly did trust that woman. Except at the end." Yaba finished, and Enji finally accepted his defeat.
"When did you four start working together?" Enji asked.
"In the opening announcement for this game, they said that it's a test of how much you can trust others. We simply followed that advice." Yaba answered, and he started walking forward slowly.
"The surest way to ensure trust isn't through persuasion, manipulation, or even domination, nor is it through brainwashing, hypnotism, deception, or fear. It's equality." He stood beside Banda.
He sure had a way of saying things.
Yaba thought about his conversation with Banda, which happened right after he forced Himiko to leave.
"Still... It's still possible that one of you is the Jack of Hearts! Yeah, maybe I did try to deceive you guys, but you can't declare I'm the Jack of Hearts because of that!" Enji shouted, and Himiko walked to Chishiya and stood beside him.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Chishiya spoke up, and Enji turned to him.
"Huh?"
"If they were certain that you were the Jack of Hearts, then why didn't Banda or Himiko lie to you during the last round and try to kill you?" He asked.
"They must have made a deal, and are going to try and get some info out of you."
Enji turned to Banda and Yaba in realization, and his breathing got worse.
'Round 14 will now start.'
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
"Aren't you going after them?"
"I don't want to see a thing. I'll just wait for them later."
Himiko and Chishiya were currently walking out of the prison, and the clear skies made her feel better.
"So you kissed, huh?" He asked with a smirk.
"Let's not talk about that." She quickly replied, her cheeks tainted with a faint red.
The short conversations they were having were interrupted by a loud explosion from above, and the two flinched.
Well, Chishiya BARELY flinched, while Himiko yelped in shock.
˗ˏˋ꒰ ♡ ꒱
"Are you coming or not?" Himiko asked in impatience.
"Why're you still here?" Banda asked, and Yaba stayed back and stood behind, not wanting to third-wheel.
"I waited for you, what else?"
"I'm flattered." He replied, and she wasn't sure whether that was sarcasm or not.
The three carried on to go to their next game, and Yaba just followed after the two, clearly annoyed at the fact that he was forced to listen to the girls bickering.
She didn't ask about Enji nor brought him up once, not really wanting to talk about him. She was pretty curious about what they did to him, but then again, she DID see Banda holding a sharp weapon, so it was probably torture.
'Just kill me.' Yaba thought while looking at the two stupid lovebirds.
They weren't lovebirds, but they sure looked like one.
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UPLOADED: February 6, 2023
EDITED: ✘
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