Loner [Alice In Borderland]

001

kana had been sat alone on the roof for a while, allowing the cold breeze to flow through her hair, her legs hung off the edge swinging back and forth slightly as she stared into the distance at what once would've been a brightly lit tokyo, but now all that was left of the city was desertion and isolation. kana let her thoughts run wild as she imagined what her life was like before all of this happened, she reminisced about the past, she thought of how much she had changed since the start of her time in the new world. but if she was honest, it would've been stranger if she didn't change at all after witnessing so many innocent deaths.

kana looked up at the stars, back in the old world they had been barely visable due to the light pollution from the bright city of tokyo at night, but now that none of the lights were on and there was no power in the city, she could finally see the beautiful night stars that she had heard so much about. she couldn't help but think about the stories she used to be told when she was younger, it was morbid but in a way also beautiful.

the story began with an old man and his wife, the old woman had fallen ill and was bedridden, barely breathing, but she still looked lovingly up at her husband, tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he looked down at the love of his life, holding her cold hands in his own.

"don't leave me" he'd say, his head hung low as tears finally fell from his eyes.

the wife would reply with the same thing, each time kana was told the story the wife would say with her last breath "i'll never leave you my love, i'll be with you in the stars, if ever you need me all you have to do is look up"

that story had stayed with kana her whole life, she looked up at the stars, imagining each individual star to be somebody's soul, watching over their loved ones.

kana hadn't realised that she was crying until she felt a tear drip down her face and onto her hand which was rested over her lap, she quickly lifted her sleeve and wiped her eyes, she was alone and nobody would see her crying, but she felt as if crying was a sign of weakness. and she didn't want to seem weak, especially not here at the beach.

she had to act strong and intimidating if she wanted people here to respect her, she could show no signs of weakness, she wouldn't let herself, someone might try to use it against her in the future, she refused to let herself be manipulated for somebody else's personal gain.

but that story brought back memories that kana thought she had buried long ago, she frowned, playing with the hem of her jumper as she tried to push the thoughts out of her head, deciding instead to think about her current situation.

she was trapped in a place that looked exactly like tokyo, but it was so much different, almost everyone was gone and tokyo looked as if it had been abandoned for years, the buildings were covered in foliage and the streets were dirty, half of the buildings were practically destroyed, and dead bodies littered the streets, this wasn't the tokyo that kana had grown up knowing. not to mention that kana was stuck at 'the beach', if she left she'd be seen as a traitor and she'd be executed by her fellow militants.

in a way she was glad to be part of the militants, at least she could wear normal clothes, she didn't particularly trust most of the militants, nor did she like the idea of having to kill innocent people, but she had access to weapons that could be useful in the games and she didn't have to wear any of those god-awful swim suits that hatter forced everyone else to wear, there was no reason for her to, she could carry around a weapon without having to try and hide it.

kana seemed to be in a world of her own, not even noticing that she wasn't alone anymore until she felt somebody softly tapping her shoulder, she jumped out of her trance with a soft gasp, replacing her frown with a blank expression, turning around to see who it was. she turned to see tatta stood awkwardly behind her with an apologetic smile.

tatta was another beach member, he was a newbie, he had relatively long messy hair which brushed his neck, he always seemed to wear the same hat, kana couldn't recall a time that she had seen him without it. kana had always thought he was a kind person, and he was always patient with her, never getting irritated with her because of her own struggles and she was glad for that, he treats her like he would any other person, she never felt like she was being judged by him and he'd never know how much she appreciated it. they weren't friends, but she admired his kind and positive demeanour.

"sorry for scaring you, hatter sent me to get you" he told her with a soft smile, offering a hand to help her up from her position on the edge of the roof. it was well known in the beach that if you couldn't find kana she'd be up on the roof, most of the time at night, it was her spot and it was a non-verbal rule not to disturb her unless you had received specific orders to.

kana politely refused to take his hand, shaking her head softly, not giving him any verbal response as she lifted her legs back onto the roof and pushed herself up, following behind tatta as he led her to where hatter and the rest of the executives were probably waiting for her to join them in the meeting room, dreading the social interaction a minuscule pout adorned her face, one that could hardly be seen at all as she dragged her feet childishly.

it wasn't a secret that kana really wasn't interested in her job as an executive or a militant, she'd rather not be associated with the beach at all, she just wanted to be left alone.

tatta escorted her to the main hall, to stand with the rest of the executives on the balcony overlooking where everyone at the beach would be stood, waiting to leave for their assigned games.

once kana and tatta arrived, he bid her a goodbye and left, leaving her to walk onto the balcony alone to listen to hatter's pre-game speech, the speech that was basically the same everyday, he just seemed to rearrange the words each time.

the alarm hadn't rung yet, the alarm being the one that alerts the members of the beach that it was time to leave for their games, it seems kana was right in assuming that hatter had been waiting for her arrival, she truly had no idea why hatter even bothered with her.

she sighed quietly from behind them, making her presence known among the executives, hatter motioned to someone to sound the alarm, he turned to her with a grin on his face, "ahhh kana, i'm glad you joined us" she looked at him unimpressed, had it been her choice she would've still been on the roof, hatter was the one who was always forcing her into meetings and making her listen to his staged and repetitive speeches.

she didn't respond, choosing to ignore him and instead she turned away from him and stood beside aguni, he didn't say anything to her, knowing that she wouldn't respond to him anyway, instead he sent her a nod of acknowledgement to which she returned blankly. they too weren't exactly friends but both of the militants had a mutual respect for each other.

kana listened to hatter painfully make his speech, she felt herself refraining from rolling her eyes every time he opened his mouth to talk and she would hold back a sigh of relief when she realised that he had finally done talking.

she finally left, walking towards her assigned car, taking a seat in the back, staring out of the window as she waited for anyone else participating in the same game to arrive at the car so she could get the game over with.

one of the newer member's of the militants got to the car first, sitting in the drivers seat followed by aguni who sat beside him in the passenger seat, it seemed like they were waiting for just two last people, she really didn't care who she was playing with, she just wanted to play the game, get the card and return to her solitude.

tatta sat beside the girl, in the middle of the back seat to leave space for whoever else comes, tatta smiled at her politely, her blank expression remained the same but she gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

they drove towards the game arena once chishiya got to the car, he gave her a wave when he entered, she simply glanced at him before turning away and looking out of the window as they drove away from the beach.