playing cards | ryohei arisu

4

As the time for the game approached, Hana got more nervous for what could possibly happen to her and the others.

She glanced down at her hands - they were kind of shaky, but she dismissed the feeling.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Karube asked his sister, slightly startling her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah- I'm fine. Just.. nervous for everything, I guess." Hana breathed out. "I'm ready to go, though."

"You can stay here if you would like." Karube reminded her but Hana shook her head.

"I need to go. I want to get more days on my Visa too." Hana stood up. "Let's go."

LATER.

After saying their goodbyes to Chota and Shibuki, the trio made it to the large apartment building where the game was being held.

There were quite a few people in the building who also looked as worried as Hana, some looked completely fine, like there was nothing wrong.

Hana noticed a man wearing a grey hood - he was charging something. Hm.

Arisu handed the other two a phone. They hand to use the facial recognition before the game would start.

Some people seemed new to the game as they were asking questions about what to do amongst themselves.

REGISTRATION CLOSED.

The nerves settled at the bottom of Hana's stomach once again. Was she going to regret her decision?

The games difficulty is a five of spades.

"Five of spades? What does that mean?" Arisu asked the two.

Before they could answer, a slightly shorter man with a fedora joined them. "It's a physical game. Strength is everything here."

He continued on, "I'm Nitobe. Nice to meet you." Nitobe took Hana's hand first. This guy seemed off.

Karube pulled his sister back carefully as he eyed the man. "You too."

Arisu cleared his throat. "Every mark has... a meaning?"

"Bingo!" Nitobe said enthusiastically, causing Karube and Hana to exchange glances.

"Every card has a meaning - club means team battle, and diamond is battle of the wits."

Nitobe spoke once more, "as for hearts... that is the most troublesome one."

"Troublesome?" Hana questioned out loud.

"Hearts is a game of betrayal. One where you play with people's hearts." He said.

"And the numbers? Do they have any meanings?" Karube asked the man.

"The numbers represent the difficulty of the game. One is the easiest, ten is the hardest."

The phones beeped once more.

This is a game of tag.

Everyone around the room scoffed, this was just some children's game, right?

Run away from the tagger. You will have 20 minutes to fulfill the objective. If you can't by the the time the timer goes off, the time bomb will go off in the building.