\\\|||||| Arisu's POV ||||||///
Usagi was sleeping peacefully while I was already awake, thinking about yesterday. It was 6am, 6 more hours till noon. I sat on the edge of my mattress and took a glance at my sister. Her tiredness was very noticeable, although she had her eyes wide open.
"Hey, did you even sleep?", I whispered and she just stared back, returning no answer. The more I looked the emptier and sader she seemed.
"Is it because of the announced facecards?" No answer.
"Is it because of the game we will attend today?" Still no answer.
"Is it because of the Beach?" Nothing.
"Did somebody you were close to die there?" Nothing again.
I quietly came over to her mattress and sat beside Y/n. This was the first time I noticed the smudged lipstick on her lips.
"You usually never wear lipstick," I pointed out and she immediately smeared it off with her now ruined shirt.
"Who did you want to impress?" I was very protective, even though she's 5 years older than me.
"Nobody. I was just trying something new out."
"Lie! That doesn't explain why you are so gloomy all of the sudden."
"Oh just leave me alone."
She pulled the blanket over herself and kicked me repeatedly in the back which made me fall off. I shrugged and patiently waited for the time to fly by.
I couldn't get more glad that Y/n is alive. I remembered how much I worried when I, Chota and Karube first arrived. It was a miracle that I found Usagi too. I like Usagi... I like her... a lot.
<<<----- 7 hours later ----->>>
[([([([( 1st POV )])])])]
We were waiting at the game area with Kuina and Chishiya.
I didn't despise him anymore. Arisu and Usagi had forgiven him, meaning there was no problem of me forgiving him too.
There was a big 'next stage start' sign on the building in front of us, but there was still no game. "Has it been an hour yet?", Usagi asked and I responded with: "I think so."
"They must have forgotten to push the start button," Chishiya assumed.
"And what about the explanation of the rules?"
I could hear noises of cars in the distance. When I looked closely, I realised they were players. They all parked around us and Arisu wanted to talk to them directly. I reconnized some of the faces.
"It's you guys. What are you doing here?"
"We saw the blimps."
"And we heard rumors that the next stage was starting."
Arisu was about to say more, but all of the sudden the man got shot in the chest and was instantly thrown onto the ground by the impact. The same happened to the woman in the yellow cardigan, followed by another man and after, many other people too. My heart dropped. I ran as fast as I could behind my friends.
"Has the game started?!"
"I don't know."
"Did they explain the rules?"
"There aren't rules! It's just mass murder!"
"That rifle can fire from a kilometer away."
"I've heard the sound of that gun before."
"Now they're using an adsault rifle."
"We don't know how many there are! Other players are arriving too!"
"There could be multiple shooters."
"Look how many people still survived!"
"They are coming this way!", Arisu alarmed and we got up to try and cross the street.
"Split up and run!"
After I stood up and saw a person in a black hood, looking for more people to kill. My legs began violently shaking, instead of running. I was completely frozen in place when blood of a teenager splattered in my face and on my clothes. I've figured out years ago about my anxiety, but I never went to therapy. I didn't dare to move a bit, I was in a trance or something like that.
"Oh my god, Y/n!" Arisu's hand clinged onto my wrist and he pulled me with him.
We somehow managed to split up again and I landed on the other side side with Chishida and Kuina. I sprinted over to them and hid behind a car. Usagi and Arisu were close to getting shot. "You'll die if you don't stay focused!", Kuina shouted. "Where the fuck are they shooting from?"
Above us was an airballoon with a giant facecard displayed. "The king of spades," Chishiya said. He looked at me and handed me some sort of can with wires in it. "Here you go. A good luck charm." "What is this? A bomb?", Kuina questioned. "Use it when you're in a pinch. It's an apology gift." "Don't worry, I forgive you. Thanks."
Arisu and Usagi switched sides, carrying a person. They had good intentions, but it was too late for thr man in their arms.
"The king of spades... he's alone," Arisu informed.
"We are screwed here!"
"We'll get shot if we run!"
Right after, a dark green car stopped behind us.
"Get in!", Tatta yelled. "Hurry up and get in!" Ann was in the passenger's seat.
Unfortunately Chishiya and I weren't fast enough and a bomb was thrown in between the car and us. "Shit, drive!"
Here we were, seperated again, this time it is more terrifying to find eachother. We used a car as a shield to protect us from the explosion and the king of spades luckily didn't see us, instead he had the others as a target.
"He skipped us."
"That's great, are you okay?", Chishiya queried.
"Yeah yeah, you?"
"Same for me."
He looked around for a second and walked in a certain direction.
"Where are you going?"
"Our first place we 'lived' in is very near. I hope nobody used it after we left. We're better off staying there for some time."
I nodded and we made our way to the second floor of the apartment.
The intense smell of spoiled food hit my nose which gave me the tough urge to gag. In there were some old clothes too, including my uniform for work. We threw everything that we didn't need out.
"What do you want to eat?"
"I don't know."
"What about ramen? Easy to make," I offered.
"Alright, I'm going to get the cups."
He went outside and 'ran' to the nearest store, slower than any turtle. I on the other hand arranged the beds to not face the window or the door directly. Chishiya came back with 6 cups of noodles, some packs of cookies and 4 sandwiches.
During lunch he told me: "There are more airballoons. They want us to play the other games while the king of spades is roaming around. The nearest one is the jack of hearts. About 10 miles away." Ahhh, a heart game, the worst type. I've played only one heart game so far, that was against Mira. It's not that I'm bad at them, it's just the 'playing with the feelings of others'. I couldn't do such thing. I even saved Mira that day, just cause my stupid heart was soft.
"Let's do one tomorrow."
All we did was talk or zone out for the rest of the day. At some point I explored the building, but there was nothing new to see. Every room was identical.
I layed on my bed, holding my blanket tightly. The overthinking began. How will I find Arisu this time? Will he manage? What about the others? I mean the king of spades was literally following them. It could've been that they were already dead. A single tear silently fell from my cheek. I wondered with my mind to a different subject, still not a good one though.
Me and Chishiya are friends. No- best friends, but nothing more. I lost all feelings towards him and I knew Mira was behind this. If only she didn't kiss me that night. If only I didn't fall for her. I hate her. I hate myself. Did she even like me or was everything thoughts from my delusional side? I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off.
I woke up to see an unusual letter folded in half beside my arm. I opened it up and it contained a short message. "Meet me -M" and some coordinates like I'd care. I ripped the paper without thinking and threw it into the garbage bin. I didn't want to be near a manipulator. Throughout the day I had gotten another one, the exact same thing was on it, so I did the same. I was frustrated. I want her to leave me alone.
Maybe she did like me... that was a thought a manipulator wanted to hear. Shut up Y/n.
"What is with those letters you keep on getting rid of?"
"Huh?"
"Those tiny papers where you send messages and recieve-"
"I know what a letter is, asshole."
He threw his hands defensively in the air.
"Calm down, just asking."
I rolled my eyes and kneeled on one knee to tie my shoes.
"We better get going."
■--☆---☆---☆---☆---☆---☆---☆---☆---☆---☆--■
We headed to the game area. It was a prison and to be honest, my mind was very clear when we entered. On the table were black rings to wear on our necks. The little screen on them was supposed to be on the back. I put it on and pulled my hair over.
[Game]
Solitary confinement
Difficulty:
Jack of hearts
Rules:
Guess the card suit that appears on the back of your collar. However, you may not look at the symbol yourself. The time limit is one hour per round. In the final 5 minutes, enter the cell and disclose your symbol. If you do not answer with the correct symbol, it is game over. The collar will explode and you will die. Additionally, when the time teaches zero, the symbol on the collar will reset and change for each round.
"Wait a sec. So that means we just have to ask each other what our symbols are. That's easy, huh?" A sweet guy in overalls next to chishiya spoke up.
"I'm not so sure. They haven't told us what the conditions to win are yet."
[Game]
The solitary confinement game is about how much you can trust your fellow players. Be aware, that your opponent, the jack of hearts has been already placed among you.
How to win:
Rounds repeat every hour. You win the game when the jack of hearts dies.
Prohibited actions:
Looking at your symbol with a reflective surface is cheating. Players may not use weapons or violence to kill fellow players.
There is no limit of the number of rounds.
Enough food has been provided. While participating in the game, no days will be removed from your visas.
"So we need to lie, find the jack of hearts and kill them off or we'll live out the rest of our days in this prison."
[Game]
The game will now commence.
The others were already building groups of 2 or 3. I was one with Chishiya of course. "Why don't we form a team and tell one another?", a girl in a very noticeable blur dress suggested. "If we do that, then we can't lie." One by one people started joining
We watched for a bit when the minion guy asked us if he could join. "If you want to survive, you need to observe everyone here very closely," Chishiya answered. "You need to remember everyone who doesn't lie. Besides I could be the Jack of Hearts myself. Look, they've already broken up into groups. They're all sizing up one another to see if they can trust anyone. Do you see these two? Do you knoe what they were doing before the game began."
I definitely did. We were just looking around to observe everything better... Well... It was very uncomfortable.
"Really?"
"This guy's got massive confidence. He's got her under his thumb and wont let her get involved with the other participants. In this game, if you build ultimate confidence with one person, you'll survive and win."
Bellow us, two guys partnered up. I kneeled down to hear them better.
The blue-dressed girl and her team came up to us. "Say, woulf you likr to join our team? It's okay if you dont want to." I glanced at Chishiya, to minion boy and then back to the blue-dressed girl.
"No I don't mind," minion boy said, followed by Chishiya: "Okay. Lez's work together," he said in an odd tone.
"And what about you?"
"Yeah, sure," I responded.
I followed their footsteps to the middle of the prison. Blue-dress stood at the front and told us loud and clearly: "First, we'll start with me. Tell me what suit I am, everybody." She turned around and moved her hair to the side.
"Urumi, your suit is heart." So Urumi is her name... everyone else nodded and repeated: "it's heart." I focused on their body language, I didn't find anything extraordinary though.
The voices suddenly seemed like a blur to me. I watched a tough man with a bunch of tattoos drag someone by the ear, bellow us were the two other guys and behind us the couple.
Time passed. I got enough time to learn names. My suit was heart and Chishiya's diamond. I entered my cell took a deep breath.
[Game]
Please make your guess
"Hearts."
Like I guessed, nothing happened, yet I still squinted my eyes, hoping to get it right. I opened the door and saw everyone else do the same. "Well, well. That was easy." Ippei's face lit up when he noticed we all 3 made it. Cute.
[Game]
Round 2 will now start.
The ticking indicated our suit changing.
"Let's do it again."
"Likewise."
"As long as we're all telling each other, we'll be fine," Ippei said.
"I wouldn't be so sure."
"What's your goddamn problem?!" The tough man from earlier yelled. We all just starred at the poor dude get pushed and thrown. "Hurry up and tell me, fucker!" Banda reached out for the hurt dude. "Are you okay?" "Telm him club," he whispered, barely loud enough for me, Chishiya and Ippei to hear.
"You want another knuckle sandwich?" The man grabbed him by the head while Banda slowly backed off. Multiple punches were thrown at the poor guy. Isn't that against the rules? Whatever, he's going to die next round anyway. "Club." Nobody did anything against the lies and I didn't blame them.
His real suit was diamond. Ippei saw and opened his mouth, but I shushed him quickly. "Now the game is starting for real."
I got told I was diamond too, Chishiya was clubs. The hour flew past pretty quickly.
___---___---___---___---___---___---___
My cell was directly next to the now-dead man's one. His body and the blood splattered wall could be seen through the window and his profile on the screen turned dark.
"Say, he's probably the jack," Urumi assumed. No he wasn't, he was just a scared guy with heavy anxiety who was influenced.
"He lied and killed that guy. Let's kill him on this round," she planned behind his back.
We switched to the storageroom and I grabbed a tiny donut to somewhat enjoy the show. "My turn." "Your suit is spade."
Her voice rose slightly out of excitement, but with the help of her followers, the guy didn't realise the lie.