Queen of Diamonds | Shuntaro Chishiya

[Prologue]. Boiling Point

𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Borderlands. Just a few of my OCs and part of the plot here. All credits to the rightful creators.

Edit 2023 September: this book is ass be aware

~ Enjoy
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Congratulations on completing the last of the face cards, now you will choose if you wish to return back to your former life. Or continue here as a permanent resident.

"WE WON."

"Finally we can go home. Fuck this place," another chime in ecstatically.

"I refuse the offer to stay here." A brunette woman exclaimed loudly.

"Me too! I refuse to stay here!"

Setsuna slyly grinned underneath her ridged black hood as she sat up top near a wall dangling one of her legs as her arm rested around the poles lazily.

What a world full of despair and lost hope. A cold reality if not.

Setsuna had her weaknesses such as diamond difficulty games that weren't her strong point. In her former life, she was mastering Aikido most days. She remembered her sensei always put pressure on her or she would freeze up and her mind would blackout.

She was grateful for having some survivability skills such as Aikido. Its curriculum comprises various techniques, primarily throws and joint locks. Also training in weaponry such as bokken, tanto and jō. Setsuna preferred the bokken as her primary suite. Her physical performance was one of the best out of all the candidates in The Borderlands. However, mentally she wasn't the greatest in board games, or riddles etc.

She was surprised to even win against the Queen of Diamonds playing Russian Roulette with baccarat as the main game. If you win one round, you fire the revolver in front of you at your opponent. Purposely failing to do so will be game over for you.

Genza, Hajita and Kimara were some of her acquaintances she met through her games.

Genza didn't pass the 10 of clubs— purposely sacrificing his own life so his team would win giving her, Hajita and Kimara an advantage against their opponents in a team battle, where one is supposed to run the flag and not get caught and have less than 50 points. Genza was the decoy, while Setsuna stole their opponent's flag as a strategy to win.

Hajita, Kimara and Setsuna had to live with the guilt of sacrificing their friend to proceed with their lives. Kimara and Hajita had the most affected looks, barely eating, not talking for three days, whimpering in their sleep, having countless nightmares if their time was coming soon. Setsuna was already thinking of how pointless it was to wait for their time to come. She vowed to live one way or another.

The trio joined a 3 of Hearts... without any knowledge considering you don't know the level of difficulty or type of the card till the game starts.

Deception.

Hearts games were the worst. You have to lie to survive, trick opponents so you live. Break their trust and win the game with the feeling of disgust. There's no victory in Hearts game. You have to tow with people or you'll be the one towed in the final moments.

The game brought the worse out in Hajita and Kimara. Setsuna kept her thoughts to herself. While Hajita misleads Kimara into picking the wrong answer for the questionnaire. Making him have a higher lead.

Rule 1: answer the correct answer out of the two displayed per question.

The three of them were standing in their own space at a table and boiling water hanging above the out head.

The one with the most points wins the game.

After countless of questions and being drenched in boiling water per wrong answer they got.

They only lost Kimara. There was no way to win the game unless one is the last one standing.

New rule: deceiving your opponent you gain 5+ points.

Hajita knew if he tried to manipulate Setsuna he wouldn't win.

"Question 6: when did the Dodo bird go extinct?"

Setsuna for the whole time has been quiet. Not a word. Get the answer wrong, you suffer boiling water pouring on you till you did. So far she has suffered second-degree burns from the second and third questions. Her weakness was intellectual games. But this is a hearts game, with intelligence being an involvement.

She doesn't want to get it wrong.

"It's 1683..."

There are two answers on the spreadsheet. 1683 or 1681.

She wrote down 1681, and nothing happened. Hajita looked shocked but not surprised. Tricking Setsuna would be incredibly hard to proceed with. One more wrong question, he'll most likely die.

"According to Japanese monarchs, how many emperors were there in Japan's history?"

126 or 124.

If she gets this right she wins the game. She will have the right according points to win a game clear.

She watched Hajita mumble to himself. He didn't even know the answer either.

If you count the mythology emperors; the very first of Japan's monarch. She remembered back in history class that it was 123 plus the three mythology emperors making 126. And 123 isn't an answer on the spreadsheet. Then the answer should be 126. Hajita wasn't talking at all after he failed to trick her in the last question.

She made a gamble and wrote down 126 in hopes it was right.

"Correct answer is 126."

"What?! No! I can't endure more of this!" Hajita whimpered and fell to his knees as boiling hot water was poured on top of him. Burning his skin from a very high boiling point this time enough to practically kill him. His shrilling screams were heard probably all the way through Tokyo. Setsuna didn't feel any remorse for what happened to him.

But... why can't she feel any mounds of guilt towards the two?

"Congratulations: game cleared,"

Or were they friends?

"Arigatō.... I wouldn't have made it this far if it weren't for you two..." she murmured very quietly trying to contain her emotions.

Flashback over~

"I'll accept your offer and become a citizen."