𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐌, alice in borderland

003

Teio Prison.

Shivers ran down your spine. Never thought I'd be in a place like this, but here I am, you thought unpleasantly.

The place was anything but cheery: most of the walls were white, with a large, single stripe of one shade of gloomy grey painted horizontally along the bottom. All it brought to you were feelings of woe and despair.

After your successful escape from the King of Spades, you and Chishiya had come to a silent agreement to stick together, since "two is better than one", as the quote would say. You spent the most of the day trying to get to know the blond-haired man, and yes, though he did participate in the conversations, he only gave answers that didn't really satisfy your curiosity about his person, but you pushed it aside. You asked about the others (Kuina, Arisu, and the shorter woman, who you came to learn is named Usagi), asked what his hobbies were (he didn't share much), and even thought of asking what he did before he arrived in the hellhole that was the Borderlands, but didn't once you realised it wasn't your place to know, and he wasn't obligated to tell you, anyway.

It was only when the balmy night was slowly making its approach when Chishiya and you arrived at the front of the humongous prison. You remembered your pounding heart at that time, and recalled asking Chishiya if you and him should participate, blimp looming over you with the large Jack of Spades card billowing in the wind below it. Of course, the composed man replied with only a nonchalant shrug of a shoulder, then walking past the gates and into the prison grounds, you trailing behind him.

You had allowed one of the three collars to secure itself around your neck after reading the instructions on the table by the entrance, then made your way up to the central guardroom, Chishiya right behind.

Now, you were growing restless, too anxious to just stand in one place. You pulled on the sleeve of Chishiya's jacket, the man craning his neck to look at you questioningly.

"Should we look around?" you asked. Chishiya hummed, then nodded, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on.

You and him went off to a random hall, you gulping at the sight of numerous cells lined along the walls. You could imagine the prisoners rotting away behind those doors, and a shiver ran down your spine. After a bit of observing that area, Chishiya went off to another one, the same line of cells along the hall.

You wandered off on your own after Chishiya left you all of a sudden, only saying, "I'll be back" before he made his way down to another hall, walking with purpose. You only brushed it off, not sure what he was so intrigued by when it looked the same as the other areas: cells, cells, cells.

You walked back to the central guardroom, emerging from one of the tunnels nearest to the entrance. You were just about to circle back around to the spot you first were in with Chishiya, the tunnel diagonally across the stairs, when you felt yourself collide into a wall-like figure. You let out a small yelp, immediately backing away to look at the person you had just bumped into.

The 'wall-like figure' was a man, tall with impressively broad, wide shoulders, dark eyes under the fringe of his dark hair. He wore a blue, long-sleeved button up that had a clean, white shirt underneath, brown pants clad onto his legs. He had beauty marks peppered along his tan skin. He gazed at you with a look in his eyes that you couldn't quite place.

Flustered and embarrassed at your clumsiness, you say, "I'm sorry, I should have paid more attention to my surroundings." You bow your head apologetically. "Please excuse me."

Unexpectedly, the man let out a chuckle, just a short, amused breath of a laugh. You then felt a weight, making you perk your head up to recognize his hand atop your crown.

"It's alright. No need to worry," he said, voice smooth and calm, hand patting your head. His eyes sparked a feeling of uneasiness within you, though you're not sure why, but you stored it in the back of your head, planning to think about it later.

You straightened yourself, cleared your throat, gave one last bow of your head, before walking past him and towards your waiting companion. Chishiya had clearly been watching the interaction the whole time since he came back, and he shot you a look once he was able to catch your eye.

Unfortunately, you weren't close enough with him to understand the look he gave you.

You settled back to leaning on the wall behind Chishiya, opting to get lost in your thoughts again.

The other participants were dead silent, each individual standing off on their own or with the person they came in with, fidgeting around nervously with their heads bowed. One of them stood calmly, a young girl adorning a baby blue dress that you've only seen on dolls, half of her hair in buns, socked feet rocking with her Mary Jane shoes. Another was a man, face and style typical of a 'gangster' who would bully people for his own pleasure. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, glaring at every person he could land his eyes on. You swear he even threw a glare at you when you walked by earlier, acting as if your mere presence was a nuisance.

Chishiya pulled his hood over his head, sighing boredly.

Then finally, the chime of the PA rang out, the large tv on the wall lighting up.

"Difficulty level, Jack of Hearts. Game, Solitary Confinement."