Alice in Borderland ~ Chishiya

44 - ♠Q

As we stop and look at the transparent dividing line, it goes through my mind that I don't need to do this. I already had quite a few days of visa left, but especially after the witch hunt I'm in the right place in that regard. But I'm not really safe, because the king of spades may be chasing me at any moment. We suspect he can't do that when we're already in another game. In addition, we have also agreed on this. We survived the previous games, too, so why wouldn't we be able to survive this one? There's no need to panic just because it's a face card.

'A maximum of twenty players can participate,' Rayden says, looking at the computer screen on the wall. 'It says there are currently fifteen people inside.' We try to see through the transparent entrance, but except for a long corridor, there's nothing to see. We can't see what kind of players there are and we can't deduce what kind of game it is.

'Besides the witch hunt, have you ever played a game with so many people?' Raiden asks me. 'A lot of people played tag,' I reply, 'and the poisoned chalice. It doesn't necessarily have to mean anything.'

At first Raiden looks a bit reluctant to the entrance of the sports centre, but then he cracks his hands. 'Well, let's go in then,' he mumbles. I can tell from his face that he's trying to be the confident boy I met on the human elevator. It takes a while, but then I see that person again. To be honest, I also long to be that same girl I was back then, so I conjure her up again. 'Yes,' I say, 'let's go.'

We cross the invisible dividing line and enter the hallway. After a long straight stretch, we see a paper with an arrow on it hanging on the wall. It looks like we're supposed to go left here, so we do. We don't know when we'll get to see people, so we'll keep our faces straight just in case. To radiate strength, I have to feel that way, too. I think about the fact that I've made my body strong and I'm starting to believe that it will work out fine.

'Fun,' Raiden says with a smile as we enter the assembly area. Immediately he's being scanned by several pairs of eyes, after which they look at me for a moment. 'Well said,' I agree in the same way. 'Do you want an iPhone this time, or rather a Samsung?' Raiden asks, looking at me with a grin. Before I can reply, I hear someone say: 'Unfortunately, we're not getting such a beautiful phone this time.'

I have to hold back not to break my act, but almost annoyed I look at Yuri when he gets up and walks a little closer to us. 'We'll get a beautiful bracelet.' He smiles and holds up his arm. I certainly don't feel like talking to or even looking at him, but I'll have to play this game with him. We can't go back, because we've already crossed the dividing line. I look at him and try to make a quick choice: do I behave as hateful as we always did to each other, or do I play along with his act to pretend that we're close acquaintances, the way he behaves now? I can't figure out what to do, but luckily, Raiden makes the choice for me.

'It's indeed beautiful,' he plays along. 'I'm sure you want to tell us where we can score one like that, don't you, mate?' Yuri nods and gestures to a table further out in the room. 'Sure, come along.' I absolutely can't stand that kind tone in his voice or the fact that he acts like we're good friends, when in reality, he has annoyed me immensely in every game we've played together.

I didn't know any better during my first game, but during tag he tried to draw attention to me. He tried the same thing during the mascot game and almost screwed us over during laser tag. I remember how annoyed he had been when we got together on the team, because he wanted to beat me the most. I know it's no different now, but I understand why he's so kind to us for the moment. Several players look nervously or insecure when we pass by. I see the fear in their eyes. It seems like they're thinking: "Shit, these people seem strong and know each other well." Yuri now talks to us like that for exactly the same reason he did during tag: to intimidate the others. Since Raiden and I plan to act confident, we need to get involved.