The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

The teeth of doom

A lousy trick that just gave Team B a huge advantage.

I was horrified at how easily they could play with other people's lives. Sure, if I thought about it, I would do it too, but just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

And on top of that, they were playing with my life, which didn't exactly leave me indifferent. One alligator had bitten me, I was pretty sure I was bleeding. Not particularly helpful when I was diving with carnivores. So, I had to make sure I got out of the water. Firstly, to survive and secondly, to protect my team members from attacks.

But what was the best way to get out? When I surfaced, I hadn't seen any movement on the surface of the water, which made it difficult to even estimate where the beasts were. And with every move I made, I could immediately draw attention to myself. I really didn't want to find out who could swim faster.

But staying here wasn't an option either, so I had to improvise. I was about to try to make eye contact with our distraction, still held by the muscle man, when Kuina appeared a little in front of me. Her face spoke volumes, she had already noticed the situation and I assumed that she was aware of the seriousness of the situation. She looked around searching until her eyes landed on me. She silently asked me how we should proceed. I just shrugged my shoulders.

There is a splash and Chishiya also appeared. At that moment I wondered where our fifth team member was. But the question was quickly answered when a red pool formed on the water. An animal had caught the man and I had to look away.

So, I squinted again at the distraction that seemed to have noticed us. She looked at us with glassy eyes. I could imagine what was going on inside her: she was afraid - afraid that she was going to die.

What now? The alligators would soon have finished their snack, and I was sure that they wanted to proceed with their main dish.

I hadn't quite finished the thought when I felt the shriveled skin sliding along my feet. I jerked my foot back, which was a big mistake. I immediately felt the sharp teeth digging into my injured leg again. My squeak drew the others' attention to me, I swallowed and squeezed my eyes shut, tears streaming down my cheeks from the pain.

"Ku- damn it! Kuina, do something! Anything!" I shouted in panic as I stepped on the animal's head with the last of my strength. Apparently, I had hit a good spot because it let go again.

I swam off with powerful strokes. I had spotted a large stone lying on the water, just barely in the location. I pulled myself up with shaking arms and lay there, breathing heavily. My leg hurt, but I knew it would get much worse. Once the adrenaline wore off, I wouldn't be able to walk anymore.

10 minutes remain!

Exhausted, I leaned back. I was already tired, and we still had to fight for our lives for another ten minutes. But was there any point at all? Was it possible that I would even get back to my normal life?

I looked at the scene that was unfolding before me. Kuina stood stock still in the water, Chishiya was close to her. She seemed tense, he embodied, as always, a cocky and superior person.

He had a plan, right?

Why didn't he say anything? We were losing, we could die! If he knew how we were going to get out of this stupid situation, why didn't he show it? Couldn't he just jump over his skin once?

If things continued like this, Team B's plan would really work. In any case, they looked confident of victory as they fished for their coins.

If they played dirty, we were allowed to do so too.

I gritted my teeth and whistled. Kuina heard me first and stared at me. I pointed to the woman on the beach who was still being harassed by the guy. It was a wonder he hadn't killed her yet. She seemed to understand because she also whistled. Only this time the woman also looked at us. Chishiya just watched the spectacle and grinned, which almost drove me crazy. I tried to ignore his personality and did everything I could to ensure my plan would work.

I pointed at myself, then at the water, trying to depict a loud splash. Next, I pointed at the woman, then at the guy, then at my foot. She seemed to slowly understand. The plan was simple: I would first create a distraction by throwing myself loudly into the water. Yes, I know it was high risk, but then the woman on the beach came into play.

The guy would be distracted, so she'd be able to push him into the water without any problems - at least that's what I hoped. The spot where they were standing led into deeper water, which was on the beach because there was a weird cove there. He would start kicking because if I judged correctly, he couldn't swim because he was completely dry. With his pathetic attempts at swimming, he would trigger movements that distracted from me. I could escape back to the stone in time.

Then it was Kuina's turn. She would swim ashore in time. Distracted by the commotion, Team B wouldn't be paying attention to the game. During that time the treasure chest could be stolen.

We were pirates, we stole.

I only realized it when I was lying on the stone. And what should Chishiya do? He was allowed to decide for himself, regardless of how he integrated himself into the plan.

It was show time!

I stood up, ignoring the throbbing in my calf. I walked slowly to the edge, then took a breath and yelled, "I've had enough!" The guy immediately turned around, but that was all I noticed because I was already immersed in the cool water. The pressure briefly squeezed all the air out of my lungs and for a moment I thought I wouldn't make it to the surface. But when I broke through it, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the young man was in the water while kicking like crazy. His head kept diving under, he could barely stay above the surface. The alligators weren't with me, which meant at least part of my plan had worked. When a powerful scream rang out, the second one had also succeeded.

3 minutes remain!

I could see Kuina just going ashore, Chishiya was there too. He stood at the edge of the water and looked in my direction while she steeled herself to the other side and emptied the treasure chest that was unguarded. Team B didn't notice anything because they had been distracted by their team member's pained screams, just as I had hoped. A person's behavior was easy to assess - this situation showed me that again.

I pulled myself back onto the stone and watched, satisfied but also disturbed, as the gold coins landed in the chest.

1 minute remains!

The nightmare was over soon! I turned my head slightly as team B panicked. They had noticed that the chest was empty. They screamed, cried and...

I looked away as the laser ripped through their heads.

The game is over.

Congratulations, Team A!

I carelessly dropped the phone into the water. I didn't want to hear that annoying voice. Of course, I knew it would do no good because it had already burrowed itself into my consciousness, just like the alligator's teeth.

They were the teeth of corruption, because they played with our psyche, they corrupted us to the bone.

I took one last look at the field before diving into the water and swimming back to shore.

The next few days I would go through hell with pain, I already knew that when I was on the way back to the beach.

My leg was burning.