Alice in Borderland

Chapter 43 - restless sleep

I dawn a little in front of me, but whenever I close my eyes I find myself under water again. I don't know how many times I get scared out of my light sleep, but annoyed I push my head back into the pillow every time. This feeling when the body screams for air but doesn't get any, it just doesn't want to get out of my head anymore.

After a while I manage to fall asleep for a short time, but when I hear the door fall, I am brighta. I sit down carefully and rub my eyes before I look at Chishiya. It looks pretty finished, which is no wonder, because by now it has to be between one or two o'clock at night. He doesn't seem to have noticed that I'm awake, which gives me time to model him. He still wears the black jogging pants and the hoodie of the game, with his sweater looking a little wet. I notice that he holds the black rubber ball in his hand and keeps turning it back and forth. I can't help but shake my head with a grin at this sight.

"What was the meeting like?"

It turns surprisingly with its mouth slightly open, before he grins slightly and walks a few steps towards me.

"Annoying. They almost just talked about our game"

"What did they say?" I cover my face. He looks at me for a moment and seems to be trying to see if I'm really clear about it. He pauses for a moment and thinks about what exactly he's going to tell me about it.

"Niragi thought it would have been the highlight of the day to see you in a wet shirt," he finally pulls me up with a grin. I need a moment to understand this properly and look down on me. Immediately the redness shoots me in the face and I pull the top ceiling closer to me. I completely forgot that I was wearing a white shirt, great. Chishiya seems to amuse my reaction and although my ribs hurt, I throw one of the pillows after him. He catches it in front of his face and has to laugh.

"You don't happen to have a dark top?"

He just nods, walks to a closet near the room door and pulls out a black top. I can see from here two white vests on the left side of the cabinet. I already thought it could be his room. But now I'm 100 percent sure.

"You can change clothes here, I'll go to the bathroom," he says, handing me the top after dropping the pillow at the foot end. As the bathroom door falls behind him, I smash the ceiling back a bit and take off my wet and now see-through shirt. I just throw it on the floor next to me and put it on chishiya. I cuddle myself under the blankets again and lie down.

After a few minutes he comes out of the bathroom and lays down next to me on the bed. He crawls the black rubber ball out of the pocket of his hoodie and holds it to me. I just shake my head with a laugh and look at him instead of the ball.

"Sure that you want to part with it?"

"Mhm, after all, is yours," he says, holding him over for a moment to take a close look at him.

"Vote," I say, quickly grabbing the ball. I smile triumphantly and hear him laughing, but when I look at him I worry a little. "How are you?"

"Huh? How am I?" he grins slightly and looks back at me.

"Yes you look tired. Maybe you should try to sleep," I say, as I can see the slight shades under his eyes.

"Are you here?"

Wasn't that planned? I thought because the many blankets are already here he wanted it that way. I mean, why did they bring me here and not put me in my room?

 My facial expression must have looked quite confused, because he just laughs and looks back at the ceiling.

"I mean if it's okay for you to sleep here," he clarifies me and I relax a little. For a moment he made me really insecure, I have to admit that.

"If you think I'm still a centimetre from the spot today, you're wrong," I almost mutter into my pillow.

"Do you mind if we put away some of the blankets, or are you still freezing?"

"No is okay," I say, and sit down carefully to push some of the blankets down from me. Meanwhile, Chishiya reaches to the foot end to retrieve his pillow.

"How are you?"

I bite my lower lip for a moment and think. I shouldn't tell him why I haven't been sleeping long ago. That would not be fair to him.

"All right," I reply succinctly. But it's Chishiya i'm talking to here. He doesn't even need to look at me for three seconds to know that it's not true.

"Sayuuri, be honest with me"

I would have expected him to have a cool expression in his eyes again. But I think there is something else in it. His voice is not as direct or strict as he was to Ann, but nevertheless I feel obliged to answer him.

"My neck burns and my ribs hurt"

"Why didn't you react like the other woman, why didn't you try to run away?"

There is an undertone in his voice, but I cannot say whether it is incomprehension, curiosity or reproach.

"Then you would have died," I say of course, noting only now that half of the sentence is still missing, "And Yuudai"

He looks slightly astonished, but I dodge his gaze and turn to the other side to put the flummi on the bedside table.

"I also knew you were going to get me back," I say afterwards, smiling proudly at him as I turn back to him and put my head on the soft pillow. He smiles softly and seems to be thinking about something. I couldn't fall asleep the whole time, but since he's been lying here with me, my eyelids have become heavier. Maybe that's why I feel safe with him. The last time we slept in my room, I had no nightmares. That's why I close my eyes and know full well that I don't have to be afraid of being scared out of a dream next to him tonight.

"Sleep well Chishiya", I whisper already in half-sleep and for the first time I no longer feel like i am under water when I close my eyes.