Black & White-English Version

8-Distance

The next day I carried all my things to Chishiya's room, and we informed Kuina about what had happened with Niragi.

"That psychopath bastard." She said.

We spent the day all together at the swimming pool, talking and thinking about how we were going to steal the cards.

Chishiya didn't think we'd go home even if we took them all because the faces still remained and somehow, according to him, they would appear sooner or later; but taking possession of the others, gave us an advantage over everyone else. Also, having Hatter believe the 7 of Hearts was still unsolved and keeping my weapons for ourselves, was a huge plus.

The day we had to participate to the Game of Clubs arrived, so the three of us reached the car together, driven by a boy unknown to me.

When we left the Beach to attend the Games, we were allowed to change clothes, so Chishiya and I wore our beloved hoodies and sweatpants, while Kuina had her usual jeans and swimsuit top. We all wore sneakers.

The journey was not very long and none of us said anything. We had established an alliance and when we were in the presence of strangers, we had decided to keep it silent, except to talk about the essentials, like asking how much until arrival or that kind of things.

Chishiya and I exchanged a couple of glances. I was almost sure he was softening slightly when we were alone, as if he was slowly hallowing me to see who he really was, beyond the mask he had expertly constructed. Just like me.

We arrived at the Arena which was an underground highway tunnel, lit by dim yellow lights.

We walked for a while, until we reached a bus covered in graffiti. We got on and noticed that there were two other boys, about our age, sitting in the back row.

We took the three remaining cell phones and waited standing for the Game to start. No one spoke, then the metallic voice broke the silence.

Difficulty: 4 of Clubs

Game: Distance

Rules: Endure the trial while striving for the goal within the time limit. Clear condition: safely attain the goal.

Time remaining: 120 minutes.

We all looked at the screen which, in addition to showing the countdown, marked distance 0.

"Should we run then?" One of the two boys asked the other.

"If we have to reach a goal, what do ya think?" His friend replied.

"But I suck at running and they haven't told us where this goal is!" The first one protested .

The three of us listened without saying anything.

"For sure it isn't here! So move your ass and let's go!"

The two boys got off the bus and we followed them.

One started to run, while the first, the hesitant one, looked at us for a moment and said "What are you going to do?"

"We'll be running too, of course." Chishiya said.

I could tell from his tone that he had something on his mind so I added, "But we'll do some stretching first."

"You go ahead." Kuina seemed to have understood and that silent complicity made me feel part of something. I'd never really worked as a team since arriving in Borderland, believing that being alone was my strength, but since meeting the two of them I'd started to change my mind.

The boy looked a little dubious, but he turned around and started running, following his friend.

"So?" I asked looking at Chishiya.