𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋, ꜱ. ᴄʜɪꜱʜɪʏᴀ

𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩

saiyaka held the phone close to her stomach, looking at it closely.

this phone seemed to work, along with all the other ones in the room, but beyond that, they were useless. 

the only feature on the phone that actually seemed to work was the camera function, only unlocking once a facial scanner had read her face.

she was confused, why would these phones work, but hers wouldn't? she could only guess that there was some type of electrical equipment inside these phones that made them actually work instead of stalling.

another thing, the lights and electricity worked here too, so she guessed it had the same type of thing to do with the phone, from what she could make out, electricity only worked in these games.

so she thought, maybe, someone was controlling the electricity to only function in certain places.

soon enough, the phone pinged once more.

'registration closed?' she thought silently, tilting her head to the side. that must mean that no one else could join the game. 'and there are only a few players, too.' she frowned.  

"game; tag." a cheery feminine voice called through the phone, and saiyaka couldn't help but think that she sounded slightly like Siri. she guessed that this was this phone's version of the virtual assistant.

the phone read aloud a series of rules that the players and game must abide by, and saiyaka couldn't help but think that there was something more through the door ahead. these people seemed way too scared from a simple game of tag. the most alarming rule was the time bomb, if she didn't escape in time, she would be eliminated by the bomb, or the tagger. the only objective of the game was to find a room with a symbol in it to clear the game, but saikaya thought that was way too simple, but remembered that this was in fact an apartment complex and figured by the seven floors, there could be about one hundred to two hundred rooms. it made sense why they would place a game of tag here.

so she figured her best bet was the roof. so that she could see everything happening below her and move according to the complications that should arise. another alarming feature was the fact that weapons were allowed in this game. 'so if we are allowed weapons, the tagger must have them, too.' she thought, so she finally figured out why all these people looked like they were about to shit their pants. she smirked silently,

"game, start!" 

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as soon as that had happened, saiyaka walked calmly through the archway, the first one to part from the group. she had gone straight to the elevator, since she figured the rest of the electricity worked, this would too. and she was right.

she walked in and selected the highest floor possible, and then backing away and resting her body on the hand rail. however, just as the door was about too close, a boy stuck his hand through and opened it, walking though and reaching to press the top button. although, he saw that it had already been pressed by the girl standing in the corner. he let a small, amused smile rise on his lips, he knew he was right to not underestimate her, he could tell she was smart.

'maybe someone might actually give me a run for my money, finally.' he thought sharply. 'ill just have to wait and see.'

after a short intermission, the elevator door opened, and they both stepped out. saiyaka was in the front and the white-haired boy was slightly lagging behind her. once she reached the furthermost point she could walk too, she jumped onto the railing and reached up, pulling herself up onto the roof with ease.

he knew she was smart, but to think to go completely up too the roof was extraordinary. he knew she'd found a loophole in the rules; as it was never actually specified that playing area of the game, so she assumed she could go on the roof.

 she bent down and sat on the roof, her legs dangling over the edge and swinging childishly. she'd observed the other players, and judging y the way they were all frantically running around, she figured the time was almost up, and the tagger would be coming out soon. she pulled her phone out of her pocket and observed to see that she was in fact correct, there was 20 seconds until the grace period was up, and she couldn't be more excited.

however, when the sound of shots rang out, she was slightly unnerved and confused. when she'd heard weapons were allowed, she figured the tagger would have a short range weapon like a knife or a machette, your typical horror movie duo. but not a gun. 

this was a game of tag, so it made sense that the tagger would tag you by maybe stabbing you or cutting you, so it was strange that the tagger would have a gun in a game that was based on short range skills like running. 

if she knew the weapon would be a gun, she would've chosen a location with more cover. so, she slowly slid off the roof and held herself by her hands. as her feet touched the railing and she let go, jumping behind the concrete barrier.

"changed your mind?"  said the boy next to her, tilting his head. 

chishiya couldn't figure out why she would give up her advantage point on the roof when it was the best lookout space the complex had to offer. 

"well I figured since this was a game of tag, the tagger would have a short range weapon to 'tag' someone, like a knife, per say. but it doesn't make sense why they would give a tagger a long ranged weapon in a short range based game." she replied, voicing her thoughts.

"and since the tagger most likely has a gun, judging by the sound of the shots, i figured this floor had much more coverage than the roof, like these cement railings." she said, tapping the railing with her hand.

chishiya was stunned. she'd figured out more than he had in three minuets of the game, and it surprised him. 'looks like i might've met my equal.' he mused in his head.

"impressive." he muttered, complimenting her.

"but now, i have a question to ask you. it only seems fair, after all." she said, facing away form him, looking over the apartments.

he hummed, showing his was willing to answer her question. 

"can people die in this game?" she voiced, resting her hands on the railing silently.

from her prefrail vision, she could see him nod his head and hum, signaling the answer was, in fact, yes. and saiyaka couldn't say she was surprised. from the way people acted, she could tell this was no joke. the way people looked scared, too the rules, too the weapons, and too the actual concept that this was an empty version of Tokyo, she cant say she was surprised nor scared.    

she'd already been through countless, more life threatening situations than this one. all she could say was that she was slightly pissed off and mildly excited.

"awesome!" she said as she rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her tone. chishiya looked over at her confusingly, wondering why she wasn't freaking the fuck out like literally everyone else. 

even he, the emotionless chishiya, had been frightened. not that he would ever admit that.

nor would he admit he found this girl interesting.

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