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AKUJI REMEMBERED IT LIKE it was yesterday - it replayed in her mind all the time: her first game.
The Seven of Spades, nicknamed 'Boiling Death'.
They were in a humongous sports arena, fake grass on the floor and a large display screen in front of them. It read 'PLAYERS, PLEASE GATHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD'. Before the crowd of individuals that had arrived was a table full of phones - there was a sign telling them to take one each.
"What the fuck is this?" Akuji hissed under her breath, confused and scared. She was squeezing Akane's hand so tight it had turned white.
One person stepped forward and grabbed a phone, many others following until Akane and Akuji grabbed the last two. The screen turned on, saying 'PLEASE WAIT FOR THE GAME TO BEGIN. TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 17'.
"Game? What is happening? Where did everyone go?" Akane read out, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She glanced over at her friend's phone, which said the same. The two exchanged a look of bewilderment before staring at the timer on the screen. It counted backwards from ten before the screen changed to show rules for the game.
The rules offered no information, simply saying: 'Escape. The game ends when the arena is fully collapsed. Difficulty, Seven of Spades. Game, Boiling Death.'
"You want to survive, girls?" A man stood beside the two asked. He pointed at the screen, "Then, you're gonna have to beat the game."
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. It rumbled furiously as if there was an angry demon inhabiting the floor, ready to burst out and attack them. And burst out it did. As Akuji took off running, pulling Akane along with her, a piece of the floor exploded and was thrown into the air. It fell soon after, causing a large shock wave through the floor.
Akuji stumbled, twisting her ankle, but Akane took lead in sprinting away and dragged Akuji with her.
More of the floor was upheaved and tossed around as if it were nothing. Akuji could taste blood in her mouth, feel her lungs constricting at the lack of oxygen, barely able to ignore the burning in her legs.
Together, Akuji and Akane raced into the building surrounding the sports field. They could see the exit not so far away. Akuji's heart soared with hope but then it was crushed - just like the building was around them.
A piece of concrete flew straight toward the two girls, sending them flying backwards, knocked unconscious.
𖤐
Akuji opened her eyes to a world full of pain. Everything in her body screamed anguish. It seemed even breathing harmed her. She couldn't see out of one eye and when she rubbed it and looked at her fingers afterward, she realised blood had soaked into her eye from a cut on the side of her head. Her ankle still hurt and when she looked down at it, she realised there was a chunk of debris sitting on it.
Letting out a groan from the effort, she managed to pick up the debris and throw it to one side. She rolled her ankle around and although it hurt, she didn't think - no, she hoped - it was broken.
It was silent apart from the occasional boom as the game arena crumbled in on itself. She could only hear her breathing...and soft gasps of pain.
Furrowing her eyebrows, Akuji hauled herself onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the source of the noise. She had to climb over a pile of concrete and wipe the blood out of her eye multiple times, but when she found the person who had made the noise, she was both simultaneously overjoyed and upset.
"Akane!" Akuji exclaimed upon seeing her best friend, tears stuck in her eyes.
Akane looked up but her face did not brighten the same way Akuji's did upon seeing her friend. She glanced down at her leg and that's when Akuji realised why she was making noises of pain - her leg was impaled on a metal spike!
"Fucking help me with this!" Akane yelled at her.
Almost vomiting in her mouth, Akuji crawled over to her friend. She was swaying slightly, her head heavy and her vision dizzy. Finally, she reached Akane and grabbed a hold of her leg. Together, the two lifted it off of the piece of metal, Akane screaming in anguish.
"Shit! Shit!" Akuji cursed, turning away momentarily to spit out the sick in her mouth. She looked back to Akane, who was weeping and trying to stop the bleeding. Thinking fast, Akuji pulled off her school tie and wrapped it around the wound, using it as a makeshift bandage. "Are you okay?"
"What do you fucking think?" Akane yelled at her, wiping her tears away with dirty, soiled hands.
"Here, come clean yourself." Akuji said, trying to be helpful, as she pointed to a pool of water beside them.
"No! Don't!" Akane screamed. Akuji was about to dip her hands into the water, not realising it was extremely hot. If she touched it, the skin would have most likely melted off of her body - resulting in a boiling death.
Akuji jumped backwards in surprise, cradling her hand to her body as if it had been burnt even though she had not actually touched the water at all.
She hated this. She really, really hated this. Why couldn't she have died? Why was she put in this hell?
"C'mon," Akane said, patting her shoulder to get her attention. She was unsteady on her feet but determined nonetheless, "We have to escape."
"There was- I think there was a vent over there." Akuji told her best friend, pointing to where she had originally woken up. She crawled over to it, wincing when small rocks and bits of metal poked into her bare hands and knees. She pulled herself over the pile of concrete but when she heard no signs of Akane following her, she turned and looked at her best friend in confusion.
Akane wiped tears away from her eyes even though she was still crying softly, "I don't think I can get over with my leg."
Akuji's eyes widened in alarm. "But you have to! There's no other fucking way out! Please, please, just fucking try!"
Akane placed both of her hands on the piece of concrete and tried to haul herself up, but it was no use. She fell back to the floor with a groan. She had little strength to carry out the activity and it took her a full minute of lying on the floor to gain back the ability to sit up.
Akuji looked at her friend with a sad expression and Akane looked back. And in that moment, with little ability to think straight, Akuji knew Akane would not be able to make it. She knew her best friend would die. Akuji also knew that she would die too if she stayed around much longer.
"I'm sorry." She said, "I'm really sorry."
Then, she turned and left.
AUTHOR NOTES ok!! wow! this was rlly fun to write lol. now you know akuji's backstory & who her unnamed 'best friend that she sacrificed is'. and now you know why she always feels guilty and why she's always sacrificing other people to survive and 'make up' for the first sacrifice she made. and guess what! akane and akuji meet in the next chapter! i can't wait to write that drama fest 💀
also i just wanna say i don't really like akane because she literally sexually assaulted arisu and as someone who has been sexually assaulted it literally makes me fucking sick to my stomach. however, i do admire akane's determination to survive and i modelled akuji's determination after hers, and so i figured it would be very smart of me (i wanted lots of drama lol) for them to have known each other before borderlands. and i made akuji leave her because yay!! betrayal means more drama!! so yea i just wanted to get that out of the way, even tho akane & akuji were close in this book, i dont like akane AT ALL. and if u like akane even after she s/a'd someone, rethink ur choices and convert to liking kuina and usagi because they're way better in all regards 🤭
