Saikyō | Alice in Borderland

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

It was a sunny afternoon, yet the sun seemed to not exist for a certain girl that was relaxing in the shade of an old building. The girl had short black hair and was dressed up in a pair of old shorts and a shirt that was way too big for her frail looking body structure. She was trying to light up a cigarette, however the lighter refused to cooperate. "Fuck this." She spat onto the ground next to her. Her eyes were narrow as she tried to shield them away from the sun. She was unhealthily pale and her lips were dry- meaning she was dehydrated. She was just about to stand up, when she heard faint screams and multiple voices cackling. She ignored it. It was none of her business, after all. 

But the voices never stopped. She heard the sounds of a bat swinging and then a disgusting thud. 'Bullies.', she thought and frowned. She never wanted to get herself involved with anyone and anything but bullies were the one thing that could genuinely make her upset. "Don't move or I'm going to have you eat it again!" Hearing the cocky voice and realizing whom it belonged to, the girl's hand curled into a fist. "Urine rice." Her eyes widened. Whatever that was, it didn't sound good. She just prayed for the poor soul that it wasn't meant literally. Still, she stood up. 

Should she do something? She couldn't just be here and listen to the poor victim's screams. Suddenly, she came to a realization. She tracked the noises and observed from afar. There were four males with a baseball bat and a nerdy looking male with glasses. He was standing against the wall, his face covered in blood. Just as one of them was about to swing the bat again, the girl cleared her throat loudly enough for them to hear it. "Hey!" She spoke, her voice surprisingly calm as if the fact that she was a frail looking girl and they were four tall men with a bigger physique didn't matter to her at all. 

"Do you guys have a lighter by any chance?" She asked with an innocent face. "Mine stopped working and I'm actually craving a cigarette right now." Two of the males looked at each other, before one of them approached her. "What's your objective, Sakamoto?" He asked with a suspicious look on his face. "You forgot what Ahara did to you?" His other friends started laughing and yet the girl, now known as Sakamoto, didn't seem to be affected by it. "How could I forget, Mizuhara?" She asked with a sarcastic smile. "You held my legs and laughed when I screamed and begged him to stop." She wasn't saying it with hatred in her voice. She looked to be distant, which made Mizuhara angry. "Why you-"

"And did you also forget what happened to Ahara afterwards? By the way, is your sister still in the hospital?" Another one of the bullies approached her and took a stance next to Mizuhara who seemed to be speechless. "No? That's unfortunate." She chuckled. "I must've held her head in that toilet for too long, my ba-" She barely dodged Mizuhara's fist. "Do I make you that mad? Come at me then!" Sakamoto wasn't dumb. She knew well that she'd never beat them but she did what she wanted- distracted them so that the poor bullied guy could get some rest. 

She held up pretty well, yet she found herself on the floor not even a half an hour later. Her entire body was covered in bruises and ached like crazy but she still managed to lift up her curled up fist in the air. "I...acquired it." She smiled to herself, accidentally swallowing the blood in her mouth. "What is it?" She heard a voice behind her. The boy didn't run away. "The lighter." Sakamoto deadpanned. "I can finally have that cigarette." The boy moved closer and sat beside her. "Why'd you do that?" He asked her but she ignored him since she was busy lighting up her cigarette. This time it worked. "Why'd you stand up for me even though you knew you couldn't win?" He tried again and this time the girl answered him. "It's pretty simple." She spoke. 

"It's my last week at this school so I figured I'd do something for the people in this school to remember me even after I'm gone." The boy side-eyed her. "Niragi Suguru." He introduced himself. "Sakamoto Karai." She spoke back, taking a drag from her cigarette. "You look like a boy." Niragi deadpanned and then pointed at the piercings on her bottom lip. "Who did 'em?"

Sakamoto laughed. "People often tell me that." She attempted to shrug but she hissed in pain almost immediately after. "Oh right..." She touched her bottom lip with her free hand. "Me." She stated proudly. "I pierced it myself." He stared at her before he spoke again. "Didn't it hurt?" Finally, Sakamoto made eye contact with Niragi. For a second, her eyes appeared dull. It was like she wasn't even there. Was she his karma? If so, then why was she so weak? But then the lively spark came back and he realized that she was just an ordinary human. So what made her so different? His trail of thoughts was interrupted once again when he realized that she had smiled at him. 

"It did."