The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

Hot air and cold looks

Until now I had only ever seen anything about train accidents in the news. I never wanted to find myself in a situation like that!

It wouldn't be long before we would collide with another train - just thinking about it made my stomach turn.

What now? How should one behave in such a situation? I had no idea - what would others do? We couldn't prevent it anymore, so the only option left was to seek shelter.

I pulled myself together and ran to the end of the compartment where he was standing. He looked at me with interest as I lay flat on the floor to distribute the impact across my body evenly. I had read that this principle was also used in elevators when they fell uncontrolled - who knows, maybe it helped us here too?

Since the next train was coming from the front, I had made the right choice with the last carriage, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be painful. We didn't know how fast the other train was going and how far it could destroy our train.

It was a competition with luck.

Hoodie did the same after a short period of observation. Not a second too late, because the next moment there was a bang. I felt like my eardrums were going to rupture and tears welled up in my eyes.

I was right: we were safest here. With a bit of luck, only the first few wagons would be affected. The people who chose these places would die.

The bangs and noises subsided. I sat up when I was sure it was over. Immediately there was a ringing in my ears, and I felt slightly dizzy, but that went away when I noticed the smell. It smelled burnt.

Apparently, Hoodie noticed it too. He was standing again and had made his way to the door, where he tried to open it with the emergency opener. It did not work. I overcame my fear and tried to help him. We were in a game. The blue bracelets couldn't do anything if they had to survive themselves. I also turned on the emergency valve, but nothing happened.

Oh no! Another train collided with yours! Fast! A fire has broken out, flee so as not to suffocate!

I peered through the car, but his eyes were on me. Then I saw our salvation: an emergency hammer! We could manage to escape through the windows! I ran over to the little thing and ripped it off the wall before hitting the window hard. Small cracks formed. I struck again and the cracks grew larger. If this continued, I was too slow! I was about to hit again when the hammer was taken from my hand. It was Hoodie. "Let me do it," he said, and there was mockery in his voice. He was making fun of me! I swallowed all the swear words and watched as he smashed the window with one punch. Great, was I really that weak?

My thoughts were quickly interrupted when thick clouds of smoke drifted into the compartment. At that moment I really wondered why it was a game of diamonds and not spades. A lot more physical effort was required! I noticed Hoodie climbing out and I quickly followed. The tunnel was already completely filled with smoke, and I occasionally heard someone coughing. Now the question was... which direction should we go?

I knew that the next station was not far away and that it was located higher than Shibuya Station. But that was exactly the problem. Smoke always drifted upwards. So, you would die from the lack of oxygen, even if the route was shorter. It was safer going down... But: There would be more trains coming. It was risky but doable. And so, I started running, ignoring the curious, albeit frightened, looks that followed me. I could just about remember the timetable. That was my advantage.

I heard more footsteps behind me, so they followed me. And so it was: We ran, I tried every door on the tunnel wall, but they were locked. I was afraid of it, so it didn't surprise me. It was clear that things weren't being made that easy for us.

And then the situation arose where the first train came from the front.

I had made it to a safety niche in the tunnel wall. Suddenly Hoodie appeared next to me again and stood with me, his gaze remained on me. I slowly had the feeling that he was really watching me while trying to assess me correctly.

He seemed smart, which made him a really good player on the outside. But it was his cold look that proved to me that he not only pretended to be a good player, but that he was one.

I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand because I was sweating quite a bit. At that moment the train raced past, the wind caressed my skin pleasantly.

I heard a scream, then a crunch. Nausea welled up in me and I had to hold myself together not to throw up. It would be extremely embarrassing if I showed weakness now!

There was a bang that broke me out of my trance. The train had crashed into the other one. Now we would have had another three minutes, but since no train could come from behind, we had six. It shouldn't take long before I was finally out of here.

I put my foot on the tracks and... saw lights. A train from behind... How could that be? They played with us! They had changed the timetable and reactivated a siding! I pressed myself into the booth again and swallowed.

Now it was pure luck.

The train rushed past, I took advantage of the time and ran, Hoodie was close behind me. The hot, stale air gave me a pounding headache as I ran. And that for a two-day visa? It wasn't worth it at all.

The train station came into view, and I swallowed again. Almost there! But... A train. It was still at the station, but for how much longer? Now I had to improvise! I quickly threw myself into the rails, made myself as flat as I could and prayed that it worked. Sure enough, the train started moving at that moment and was getting closer and closer.

I was afraid... afraid that it wasn't enough.

Ten meters...

Five meters and then...

... it roared over me.

It had worked, I was alive. I quickly jumped up and ran the last bit to the train station. As my feet touched the safe platform, I felt the adrenaline finally subside. I started shaking. This hadn't been a 2 of diamonds, it was too difficult for that. More like spades. But you had to remember too much for that.

Hoodie also moved onto the platform, followed by the military guy, who now also looked me over. Only then did I realize that I wasn't wearing my hood anymore. They saw me... I looked down and waited for other players to come back. There were five more. A total of 8 people survived.

The game is over!

Congratulations!

All survivors will be issued a two-day visa!

I barely heard the last sentence because I was already running up the stairs. I had to get out of here. It was too stuffy and then there were the blue bracelets! I took a greedy breath when I finally stood outside again. Now all I had to do was walk and then everything would be...

"Hayashi Ayuna," a voice behind me made me jump. I didn't have to turn around to know who it was. The tone told me immediately. "So, I was right," he cleared his throat as I held my breath.

"What do you want?" I finally squeaked, although it took all my effort.

"You know, a certain member in our club came home confused the day before yesterday. He kept talking about an imposter. It was weird until your name came up. I still couldn't quite believe it until I saw you today." I could practically hear the grin in his voice, "You're not as stupid as you look. Not like she is, am I right?" Suddenly it was bubbling inside me. He had chosen his words so that they hit the mark.

"What do you want!?", this time my voice was louder. It annoyed me that I showed him that he had hit my sore spot. He looked like he was going to take advantage of something like that mercilessly - why was he coming closer?!

"The Hatter became curious. And she didn't give him an answer," he was now standing next to me, "You can't run anymore, you already knew that when you saw us, right?"

Us... He didn't mean...

At the same moment I felt something crash against my neck.

"Beach wants to get to know you, Hayashi Ayuna," was the last thing I heard, then everything went black.