Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

King of Diamonds - Part Three

It was not long before they had their first game over. Or well...two.

The other man and the old man, they could not keep up with the thinking of Kuzuryuu, Chishiya, and Daimon at the same time. Too caught up in themselves, they eventually lost the game without fully grasping what was going on.

Though, as they played another round more, Chishiya was close to the same end at -9 points.

Two new rules were added since the death of the other two players, and they were troublesome. If they were to choose the same number, it would be an invalid choice and they would lose a point. However, if one were to pick the exact number, losers would be deducted two points.

Daimon was finally becoming useful.

As time was ticking, Chishiya watched the woman frowning at her tablet. He contemplated for a while before choosing a number of his own and put his tablet down, his demeanour completely relaxed. Very unlike someone who was a point away from dying.

Flashing onto the screen was the result of their choices, and as it turned out, Chishiya got an exact match.

She was a little slow, but Daimon finally realised what this meant. After the last round, she was at -8 points. With Chishiya's exact match, however, she had reached -10. It was game over for her.

But she did not understand.

How did he get an exact match?

"Why 23?" Daimon asked, frowning at Chishiya. "You couldn't have possibly known that I was going to choose 62! Did you see my number on the tablet? Did you cheat? How did you fucking know?"

"Asking others about things they don't know is a trait of upfront people. A person with your mental capacity, what number would look random to them? You decided to distance yourself from the fight and choose from 2 to 100. That way, it'd be less of a chance that someone chooses the same number as you."

"There's still 99 choices! How did you guess 62?"

"Since you're trying to distance yourself from 0 and 1, that's about half the choices gone. But now 90 to 100 don't feel right, because they are too far away. Doublets are easy to spot, and the ten's look too nice, so those are gone too.

"Next is the 538. These are the numbers that most people would think of when asked for a random number. Apparently it had something to do with the pronunciation in Japanese. Prime numbers are gone too, because if it looks too odd, we tend to shy away from them. Among the ones left, there are numbers that appear in our daily lives.

"64 is associated with a certain game console. 69...well, no comments there. 72 is exactly 3 days, and 76 is associated with a famous lubricant company. And we're left with two numbers to choose from. It was just luck from there really."

With yet another game over, a new rule was added. If one participant were to choose 0, the other participant would win if they chose 100.

A battle of the wits had essentially boiled down to a rock-paper-scissors scenario.

"Justice, fairness...all this forced on me is starting to get annoying. What drives you to this end?"

"The majority of people living in our society will contribute hundreds of millions for the possibility of parents saving their children from incurable diseases. Yet on the other hand, just 100 yen could change a child's life in the developing world, but they don't bat an eye. What's the difference? A life that should be saved, and one that should not. Is it just the media that determines this?"

"That's a good question. I'd probably ignore them both," Chishiya stated. But take that 100 million yen and create one million vaccines for 100 yen each, which million people would you save? Who would you choose? Equality would be impossible, since you cannot save both."

Chishiya was starting to understand what drove Kuzuryuu here. It was not the worth of a life he could not determine, but that he could not decide on his own. He became a citizen here in Borderland and became the King of Diamonds so the games could decide for him.

"How immature," Chishiya sighed.

"Your girlfriend...the Chuya girl," Kuzuryuu said. "With that family name of hers, how many times do you think she was put above someone else? If she were to be involved in an accident, do you think they would choose to save her or an ordinary person?"

"I don't know, because I'm not the one choosing. I would choose to save her, but someone else might choose to save the other person. It's not up to you to dictate others' choices. In all your fuss, aren't you the one assigning superiority or inferiority to human lives?"

Kuzuryuu went silent at that.

It seemed like Chishiya's words had gotten to him.

"You're pretty fascinating," Chishiya smiled. "Maybe my reason for coming to Borderland was to play this game with you. And since you can't decide..." Picking up his tablet, Chishiya chose 100 before showing the tablet to Kuzuryuu. "Does this life have value? You get to choose."

A reckless move.

Kurenai came into mind then.

So he really might not be able to see her again.

Still, Kuzuryuu did something (somewhat) unexpected.

He picked 0, letting Chishiya win the round. All he had to do was pick 1, and Kuzuryuu would have won. So why did he not? Did it mean that Chishiya's life was worthed more than his own? As the King of Diamonds, he should be doing his duty and win the game. Why could he not bring himself to?

Moving onto the next round, Chishiya chose 100 again and showed it to Kuzuryuu once more. And again, Kuzuryuu picked 0.

Even in the last round, when Chishiya blatantly chose 100, Kuzuryuu ended up picking 0. The game ended in his victory though it was the first time Chishiya felt as if he did not really win.

For the first time ever, he really wanted to talk to someone.

Looking up at the sky, he was looking for the Jack of Hearts' blimp though it was nowhere to be seen. Did Kurenai clear the game?

Damn...he really wanted to see her.

Quickening his steps, Chishiya stopped when he saw a familiar figure just down the road. Who would have thought they would meet here?

"I knew you'd still be alive, seeing as it was you," Chishiya smiled.

"You put me through hell back there, Chishiya," Arisu said.

"Are you still angry?"

"No...actually, it's better to say that I'm not in the right state of mind to be angry right now."

"Even though you're not the person I want to see right now, it's rather calming being able to talk to someone I know. It kinda makes me happy to see you again. I know it might be a bit much to ask, but will you listen to something I've never told anyone before? I-"

BANG!

Right in front of Arisu, Chishiya was shot in the shoulder, collapsing on the ground.

"Chishiya!"

"I'm so happy we get to meet again."

Emerging from another road while holding a rifle, was Niragi.