Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Dealer's Choice - Part Two (Side Story)

There would always be that one person.

In the plethora of games that she observed, Aimi never failed to see that one character who would either second guess every move she made or complain the entire way. Not that she care, to be honest, because they would eventually end up dying.

She stopped what she was doing, handing the one clue they found over and gestured for him to solve it.

The man was thrown off.

He expected to have convinced someone to join his side, or perhaps for her to put up a fight. He never thought she would so easily relinquish her power.

"We should always listen to our elders, shouldn't we?"

From her experience of watching players as a dealer, in general, Aimi could tell what kind of players were in the game. This group was much easier to guess. Big man was most likely a Spades player, young man with glasses possibly Diamonds. Kind man seemed like a Clubs player, and the old man would like to think he was a Diamonds player but most likely, he was nothing.

The women, on the other hand, were a little harder to read. The three in a group were new, so there was no knowing. The old woman too, could possibly be a Diamonds player or a Clubs player, she was not giving out too much information.

One person for sure, she knew what kind of player she was.

There was no doubt she was a Hearts player from the way she turned the situation over with the old man. Now, all eyes were on him and if anything went wrong, it would be his fault, not hers.

As he was reading the clue, the woman was singing softly, her voice filling the room eerily. He tried ignoring her, looking around the room for anything that stuck out, though he did not see anything. The group was quick to lose interest and confidence in him.

"Help us!" One of the three women yelled, looking at the nonchalant woman who was now sitting on a table, playing with a pencil.

"I'm sorry, I'd help if I could. But our elder said that you shouldn't rely on me. Especially since I might kill you," she smiled. "Right, Aguni?"

The man she participated the game with did not reply, simply looking away with his arms crossed.

Aimi was impressed.

Hearts players, in her opinion, were the worst and the hardest to deal with. Not only were they good at reading other people, they were good at putting themselves on top. Much like how that woman did with the old man. She did not fight him to prove that she could lead them all to safety, she instead made him do the work so everyone could see for themselves how useless he was.

"Hey...do you smell that?" the kind man asked, sniffing the air. "It smells like...it's gas!"

Everyone started to sniff the air, some even coughing when they took in too big a breath. Aimi simply put her finger up to her nose, blocking the smell. The rules clearly stated that there was a time limit to solve each room; they seemed to have forgotten completely about it.

Jumping off the table, the woman walked up to the man called Aguni, pointing up to the ceiling with a small smile. Although he kept a stoic expression, he knelt down and the woman climbed onto his shoulders. When he stood up, she was tall enough to reach the ceiling where something had been taped to the ceiling just out of sight.

From there, just like the first room, she solved clue after clue with ease and eventually found the key to the exit. Though, by the time they managed to open the door and get out, time had already ran out.

Unfortunately for one of the three women, she did not make it when the room was engulfed in flames.

One down, eight to go, Aimi thought.

"You killed her!" the dead woman's friends cried, hitting the old man. "You killed her!"

"I didn't fucking kill her!" the man said, pushing them away, though guilt was written all over his face. "She was killed by whoever made these games!"

"If you didn't doubt her, and waste all that time trying to be smart, our friend wouldn't have died!"

"Then blame her for not solving the puzzles faster!"

He pointed his finger at the woman, but it seemed like she was not having any of his bullshit any longer.

She grabbed his finger and twisted it back. The man bended over in pain and she grabbed his face, looking him in the eyes. "Who was it, wasting all the time when we could have been solving the puzzles, hm?" she asked, squeezing his cheeks hard. "Who was it, whining because nobody was paying him any attention? You really think I respect you because you are older? You are a joke."

Of all the games she had observed, this was definitely the most entertaining for Aimi.

Game after game, it was always crying and yelling, and players flopping around not knowing what to do. Although the same was happening right here, the roles each person played was intriguing. Who would have thought the pristine looking woman would be the alpha?

Letting the old man go, the woman went about her own business and the rest of them started looking around for clues and paid no mind to the man. Their lives were on the line, and they did not have time to be lounging around or wasting it arguing with each other.

"She really doesn't have any manners, does she?" Aimi sighed, standing next to the old man. "I know maybe everyone is angry and upset that we lost someone but the least she could do is show some respect. She's acting like she's so much better than you."

The man did not say anything, walking off to one corner and sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest. Aimi smirked a little, then joined the group in looking for clues. Or well, pretended to.

Once they found the key, they unlocked the door and were getting ready to leave when the old man suddenly pulled the woman back. He held onto her, trying to drag her back into the room as she struggled against him.

He was knocked off his feet suddenly, and the woman was freed.

"Go! Quickly now!" the quiet old woman held the man down, waving her away. "Go! They need you!"

Grabbing each arm, the two young men pulled her out of the room just in time and shut the door before any of them could see what happened to the other two.

Only six more to go, Aimi grinned.

"What do we do now?" The two women cried, clinging onto each other. "How many more rooms are there? Why is this happening to us?"

"We push on," the woman said, getting up and brushed herself off.

"People died! How can you not care?"

"Because if we sit here and cry about it, then we're the ones who'd die."

The room fell silent, though the two women continued sobbing. The woman did not bother with them, moving on as if someone did not just sacrifice themselves for her. Even for Aimi, that was a little heartless. Then again, this was Borderland.

To be merciful for others, was to be cruel to oneself.