'Round and round like
a horse on a carousel, we go
Will I catch up to love?
I can never tell, I know'
'Chasing after you
is like a fairytale,
but I feel like I'm glued
on tight to this carousel'
"Game closed. There are 20 players." A voice in their headsets spoke. That means the game explanation and rules are yet to come. It seems this time there are no screens explaining like in the other games, the audio just played in their ears.
[GAME]
"Serendipity"
[RULES]
• Find the only real red rose and bring it to the Queen at the end of the maze.
• Violence is allowed beetwen players.
《 GAME OVER CONDITONS 》
• Another player fulfills the objective.
• Bring the wrong rose to the Queen.
Bringing the wrong rose to the Queen.
• The time limit is done.
《 GAME CLEAR CONDITIONS 》
• Fullfil the objective.
TIME LIMIT
30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes are done, everyone's head will be blown off.
As everyone listened to the rules, some participants realized this wasn't the usual voice in the games explaining the rules. The voice they always heard was more robotic, this one was pleasant to ears, calm, sweet, soft, human. And a certain player could recognize that voice and remember it all too well, maybe more than he should. He missed it, perhaps. But that's not something he's willing to accept, because ¿Why would he miss someone?, especially her. They weren't friends, in his point of view. She was, at best, an ally, nothing more. Right?
"Game start. Please enter the labyrinth!"
♡♡♡
It had been around seven minutes since the game began, the players were all scatered in the labyrinth. It was a matter of time until someone was killed by another player, since violence was allowed, it was easier to win if you had less contestants. The blond man had been lucky of not crossing ways with other players, or maybe a dead body. Until now.
When he was about to go around a corner, he could hear people talking and some noises. He carefully peeked and saw two women looking at the roses and talking with eachother. Both women looked around their twenties, maybe the same age even. One of them was average height for a woman yet was slightly taller than the other female, had a confident appearence, short blond hair and brown eyes. She was wearing brown trousers and a black tank top, which made it posible to see the cut on her shoulder, that most definetely was made on a previous game. Who can be assumed was her friend by the way they were talking, was short in height, with her probably long black hair on a braid, inspected the roses with her blue eyes, she was dressed in some black shorts, a black t-shirt and a pink jacket was wrapped around her waist, her demeanor was a little less confident, presumably being the more introvert or quiet beetwen the pair.
- White roses painted red, why does this remembers me of something? I can't put my finger on it tho..
- Alice In Wonderland, they painted the white roses red for the Queen Of Hearts. How can you not recognize it? - The short friend couldn't believe this, how can her not know where it comes from?
- Not everyone has their nose on books their whole life, Kaori. I was thinking about it, just couldn't remember well, I haven't read it since I was a child.
- That's not an excuse!
- Anyway, let's focus on the game. How are we supposed to know what rose is the right one?
As it seemed the girls wouldn't be so dangerous, Chishiya almost decided to walk pass them. Almost. When he was about to do it, both women were shot from behind. And he heard some murmurs of masculine voices. He's not going there now, that would be a stupid thing to do. He turned around and took another paths inside the maze, being aware of hearing if someone came his way, and inspecting the beautiful flowers. The last words he had heard from that duo lingered in his mind. That girl was right, how where they supposed to know which one was the right one? The rules had not said how, and most of the roses looked the same. Some were fully white or red, some were white with red stains, those were obviously painted. Well, the completelt red roses were all painted too, except one, according to the rules.
Now that he thought of it, the rules also never mentioned what the lenses and headset were for. The collar was what would blow their head off if they lose, he knew that, but what about the other parts? It has something to do with the way of recognizing the right flower, Chishiya assumed.
♡♡♡
"Twenty minutes left."
The gentle voice came from the headset to every player's ears warning them of how much time they had left. In the last ten minutes, Chishiya had witnessed five deaths, and had heard screaming from afar inside the labyrinth, that ended in more deaths, probably. When he saw the fifth person die, he also saw who killed him. Two men, one around his early thirties and one in his forties. Both of them were tall, they looked strong physically, but maybe not so much mentally. Because of their ways, they must have worked as police or soldiers in the original world, most definetely not the good ones. He decided trying not to directly cross paths or be seen by them, they probably had killed a lot of players. And judging by the facts he noticed earlier, he didn't have a lot of chances of winning in combat, he wasn't as strong or trained as them. Besides, he was already shot once and was lucky to be here, being shot again could be his end, especially when these men where killing anybody that got in their way of winning. Though, he knew that even if both of them were left, they'd end up betraying eachother to win, as only one person lives in this game.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps coming his way. Just around the corner, the men were walking, murmuring something Chishiya couldn't quite catch on. But he prefered not to risk, and started to go back from where he came. Unfortunately, the pair had seen him, and were now after him. The men had a quick pace, chasing him while the doctor tried to lose them between all those identical paths. Was he really expecting that to work? He wasn't even running, he was barely jogging! Could even consider it as walking. Claims to be so clever and can't even run? His hands were still in his pockets. That's something that had always frustrated Mina, how he could look so unbothered under every circumstance, and that fucking habit of having his hands in his jacket's pockets even in the worst situations.
The men stopped in their tracks suddenly. Chishiya took advantage of that and quickly walked away from them, making sure not to be followed. When he finally stopped, he paid attention to the sound in his ears. A faint humming was coming out from the headphones on the device his head. This bringed back a fragment of a memory, he sometimes wished he could get rid off them.
♡♡♡
A slim femenine figure walked in the sidewalks of Tokyo, making her way to a certain place, a bouquet of lilac flowers in her hands. Her long black hair was let loose, her black eyes were looking forward. The girl was wearing a cream jacket, brown pants and white sneakers. She had a calm aura, a kind of mysterious yet peaceful beauty. The woman stopped at the corner, waiting for the pedestrian traffic light to give the green light. Among the people that had stopped besides her, one had casually laid his gaze on her, observing her for a second then returning his view to the front. He noticed she was quietly humming a melody, which he didn't recognize. Well, he did not have much knowledge in music anyway.
♡♡♡
- Can I ask, what's that melody and why do you hum it so often? I'm starting to memorize it of how much you do it.
The girl laughed.
- Isn't that a good thing? You'll remember me whenever you hear it.
♡♡♡
He snapped out of it when the humming suddenly stopped. It had just lasted a few seconds, yet he did think of her when he heard it.
"Fifteen minutes left"
Now, he had to seriously get that rose if he wanted to get out of here alive. There had to be a way, or some specifical place to find it. Must hurry up before the men find him, or someone else wins the game.
Some more minutes, yet he still didn't find it. Everything was silent, then.. a blow was heard. Someone got the wrong one and died. He had to be careful or the same would happen to him. Some minutes after, he found himself in what appeared to be the centre of the labyrinth. There were more bushes with roses, with shapes this time. But, in the middle of it all, the central bush had a flower that seemed to be the same as all the others, yet as the lenses of his headset recognized it, they marked it as the rose. After paying attention and observing it closely, it had differences. The color shade looked more natural than the others. Hidden in plain sight, this unique rose was waiting for the winner. He plucked the rose from the bush and kept it hidden in his jacket. If the other players saw him with the rose, he was dead for sure.
Now he had to find the way out.
' 우리 둘의 마지막 페이지를 잘 부탁해
어느 작별이 이보다 완벽할까
Love me only till this spring '
' 오 라일락 꽃이 지는 날 goodbye
이런 결말이 어울려
안녕 꽃잎 같은 안녕
하얀 우리 봄날의 climax
아 얼마나 기쁜 일이야 '
——————— ♥︎ ———————
Author's note:
I don't know how to write Chishiya's character well, sorry. In the next chapter I will try to do better. I wanted to include a little of the past history in this chapter, although it may not be understood yet. This chapter is longer, fortunately.
Word count: 1731