playing cards | ryohei arisu

9

Hana stepped forward when she noticed the crowds collective gasp. She looked down and noticed the dead body on the ground. There was a knife in her chest.

Someone screamed as they noticed her friend dead on the ground. She kneeled down and looked distraught.

Something clicked in Hana's head - these were the same girls that her and Arisu saw outside before making the deal with Chishiya and Kuina.

"There's a fire burning outside!" A man quickly ran in with a panicked facial expression.

"Find the one who murdered Momoka, then burn them in the fire of judgment." Ann explained.

The game explained before that you must find the person who caused the murder, then burn them to end the game.

"A witch hunt? That sounds interesting."

Hana's body felt tense from the voice of Niragi.

She looked down at her phone - the screen read 1:59:31. "The games already started." Hana spoken to herself.

Hana felt someone brush past her shoulder for a moment. "Hey." Niragi was close to her face as he smiled.

She looked up at him before taking a small step back - why was he like this?

"Alright, let's look for this witch!" The crowd erupted in gasps and small talk.

"Hey, you." A woman pointed towards the girl in the middle. "Why weren't you with her today?"

"Huh?" The girl of the friend who said looked up at her in confusion.

"Why were you so late today? Why weren't you with her like you usually are?" A man suspected her this time. "Are you the witch?"

"No!" She quickly defended.

"We'll know once we throw you into the fire!" Niragi tried scaring her.

"I was in my room! I'm not lying!" She cried out, trying to back away from Niragi, who hovered over her.

"You two are always together, but today you just happened to not be?" A man accused.

"It's decided then! Pick her up and drag her to the fire!" Niragi laughed - he was so evil.

Four people roughly picked her up and held her, and Niragi laughed again. "Take her to the fire!" He chanted.

Hana noticed the gap between the crowd where they were about to take her through - she quickly ran over over block it, Mira joining her.

"Stop. Put Asahi down." She said calmly. "There could be other suspects."

"Where were all of you?" Hana suddenly asked, looking around at the crowd. "You have no proof of her being the witch. It could be any of you! Just say it!"

Niragi looked at her. "We were in my room having a good time, right?" He sent a wink her way as well as a smile.

"Everyone will take turns reporting what they've done the past hour." Ann spoke up again.

"There's blood on her!" A girl suddenly spoke as she pointed to the bloody cloth that was in her hand.

"Don't get the wrong idea." Ann said sternly.

"Now, this is getting interesting." Niragi added, excitement laced in his voice.

"Could she be the witch?" Someone said.

"You're wrong!" Ann raised her voice a bit. "This is Hatter's blood."

"Hatter's blood? What?" Confusion blew through the air - the Beach was very secretive when it came to things like this.