Alice in Borderland

Chapter 49 - Beach day

All the next day I thought about whether I would really enter into a relationship in Borderland. My argument at the time was that I couldn't watch the person I love die in any of the games. But this one doesn't really work for Chishiya, because he's too clever to die in any of these games.

 And although I would think about such things, it occurs to me that I did not put the question on the back burner for him at the time. I thought I already knew the answer but now I wonder if I just didn't listen properly. He said it could distract Izumi and Yuudai in the games. But when Chishiya and I are in a game together, we kind of take care of each other without putting ourselves in danger. Perhaps we are an exception to this, but does he see it that way?

I've never been someone who talks big about his feelings and I'm not going to go to Chishiya now and tell him that I'm thinking about what exactly that is between us.

I notice how a hand is waving around in front of my face and frightened, I look up at the one. When I recognize the dark eyes and the white-blond hair, my face turns slightly red and I laugh embarrassed.

"Huh, where have you been again?"

"You can guess," I try to distract and raise my eyebrows challengingly. His grin widens and he nods only slightly before slowly running on. When he turns around again, I notice that he is waiting for me and I jump next to him.

"Where do you have to go, another meeting in the conference room?"

"No, the meeting has just ended. Kuina had the idea to go to the beach, are you coming with me?"

I think for a moment before I agree, because a cozy lunch with the two on the beach I do not want to miss.

"Sure, I just have to get the things in my room," I confirm and stop because I have to go the other way. Chishiya also stops and turns to me with his hands in her pocket.

"Should I take cards with me?"

"Yes," I shout to him as I'm already on my way to my room. I quickly put on my red bikini and loose, light brown pants while I grab another towel. Then I walk to Chishiya's room and wait patiently until he comes out of the room after a few minutes and closes the door behind him. He just stretches out his hand and waits without saying anything. At first I look at him confused, until he looks amused at the towel in my hand and I hand it to him. He puts it in his black backpack and together we walk to the entrance area.

I walk half a step behind him so he can't see my smile. The one with the towel was only a small gesture, but for Chishiya it was pretty sweet. In the lobby we meet Kuina and Izumi, with whom we walk down to the beach. We set up our place and spread out the towels before Kuina looks at me enthusiastically.

I look past her and see how far the buoy floats outside on the sea. I just shake my head in the negative while Izumi and Kuina start the race. I comfortably take off my pants and release my hair from the braid.

 "Do you think it's a good idea to go into the salt water with your open wounds?" says Chishiya and I just nod off. In the hotel I never went to the pool, no chlorine in the world could kill all the bacteria in it. That's why I go into the sea and swim out a little. What no one notices, however, is that my heart almost jumps out of my chest. I take a deep breath and dive down to the bottom. It's not all too deep, but I can clearly feel the temperature difference. I sit cross-legged on the soft sand on the ground and try to hide the burning of my wounds. Individual air bubbles rise to the top and I look around relaxed. Everything here seems peaceful and yet I feel the urge to get out of the water immediately.

When the air becomes a little scarce, I dive back up and see how Izumi and Kuina swim to me. We fool around a little, but before my skin becomes shriveled, I first leave the water and walk to my towel. I lie on my back and close my eyes to enjoy the sun.

"You've been down there for quite a long time," Chishiya says next to me and I bite my lower lip imperceptibly. Even though I have my eyes closed, I notice his look at my ribs and I think about what I could say to distract him from it. But somehow I think I should also take a step on it, so I decide to enter unknown territory.

"I used to be a real water nymph, my mother barely got me out of the water"

He looks at me silently for a moment and I open my eyes so that I can reciprocate his gaze. He promised me that we wouldn't talk about my family unless I wanted it that way. An honest smile creeps up on his face and his front two teeth come out easily.

"And then how did she get you out of the water?"

"Not at all. At some point my skin became so shriveled that I was afraid it will never go back to normal," I say honestly and the man next to me refuses to laugh. I think it is a pity that he is so repulsed in public. But that's why it means all the more to me that Chishiya doesn't disguise himself when we're alone. 

"Are we playing cards?" I ask, turning to my stomach. He grins at me for a moment, then he reaches into the backpack and takes out a set of cards. He hands out the cards and after a while my gaze glides to Izumi, who has stood at Yuudai at the lifeguard tower, which the military squad from observation tower uses.

I just grin and shake my head as I notice how the two secretly snag their little fingers into each other. Chishiya turns around and follows my gaze, which gives me the opportunity to look at him unnoticed. The hair in his neck ends up hitting slight curls and his neck slowly grows out. The zipper of his vest is wider open than usual, because even he seems to be warm in the blazing sun.

As soon as he turns around, I look into my cards again and try to stop my grin.

 "What are they doing?" he asks only with a confused look. Chishiya knows it's because of their secret relationship, but he doesn't seem to understand what exactly the little finger is supposed to do.

"That's just their thing," I laugh slightly and lay down a card.

"What is so special about crossing your fingers?"

"It's not that easy to explain," I say, but I notice that he's waiting for an answer. I just roll my eyes, lay my cards face down and reach for his right hand.

"Okay that," I say, raking our little fingers into each other, "That's fingers crossing, as you just said."

He just nods and by his concentrated gaze I recognize that he is not fooling me. He really doesn't seem to understand it. I take his hand again and put it on the sand between us. I put my hand next to his and recree the movement of Izumi and Yuudai.

"But they're doing this. They think that no one notices. It's like the tension between them is charged and they can't keep their hands off each other"

"You really think that no one notices?" he asks in disbelief but does not pull his hand away. I have the feeling that my cheeks are glowing a little and try to pull myself together again. 

"Apart from us, probably no one notices," I defend the two. Chishiya looks down at our hands for a moment and I become insecure, so I reach for my cards again and put down the penultimate one.

"Uno."