Saikyō | Alice in Borderland

Ⅱ.

Karai didn't even have to wait that long. The previous message switched to a big red arrow that pointed out the way to the game area. The brunette followed the arrows and she soon found herself in front of a school yard with a big running track. The running track was surrounded by bars and a small gate. In front of the gate was a white table with a sign that read "One per person." Under the sign there were three smartphones. She wanted to look around more, however one thing made her eyes grow wider in surprise. There were people. At least now she knew that she wasn't the only one who was stuck in here.

She decided to walk closer, completely ignoring a timid-looking schoolgirl that tried to stop her. There were three people in total if she counted herself out. The schoolgirl gave her a nervous smile. She was shorter than Karai and she also had blight brown hair and pink nails. Other than her, there was a serious looking man. Judging from his appearance, Karai assumed he was in his early 30s. The last person to be there was a muscular black-haired male that seemed to be around Karai's age. He was stretching his arms and legs as if he was expecting to be doing something physical.

The schoolgirl approached Karai, putting her trembling hand on her shoulder. "A-are you new here?" She asked and Karai just nodded. "Where are we?" The schoolgirl sighed and opened her mouth to explain, however the muscular male interrupted her. "Don't explain. You're wasting your time here." He reached his hand towards the table and handed one of the smartphones to Karai. "You play games. If you lose, you die. If you win, you gain visa and you get a few days off. The you have to play more games to gain more visa days. Everything clear?" He dumped a lot of information on her, however it wasn't a problem for her to understand what he was saying.

She nodded, making a mental note to ask more a bit later. She tried to turn on her smartphone which she surprisingly could do. A bar was filling up, "Facial recognition in process, please wait." Karai's dull eyes stared at the screen while she was waiting for it to change. Once it did, it showcased a black and blue screen that resembled the back of a card. "Funny." She stated dryly as she continued scanning the screen with her dark orbs. There was an application that had an icon of the four card labels: spades, diamond, heart and club on a white background. Under that app was another icon with a fancy calligraphic 'V' on it. This app had a name written under it as well. It was a singular, simple word: Visa.

Her eyes wandered a bit lower, reaching the middle of the screen. There was something that seemed to be an identification code, "ID6733982". She looked at the apps once more, then looked into the right top corner. She raised an eyebrow as she read "No signal". That was weird, Tokyo usually had a good signal. Suddenly, he screen changed again.

"There are currently 4 participants. Please wait until the start of the game. Fifty seconds until the registration closes." Interesting...Karai felt herself grow excited again. What should she expect? Will the game be dangerous? The male did say she would die if she lost. That doesn't really give her many choices. She has to win. A jingle was heard. "Registration has closed. There are four participants. The game will now commence." Karai ignored the anxious girl that was even more nervous now.

What is it? Come on, tell me!

"Difficulty: Three of Spades."

The anxious girl let out a quiet sob and the muscular man seemed to be relieved for whatever reason. Karai blinked. Three of Spades as a difficulty ranking. Interesting. "Is the difficulty rate in this game good or bad?" She nudged the schoolgirl, ignoring her feelings once again. The girl shook her head. "I-it's different for everyone, but the Spades label means it's a physical game. The number is just a predicament of how difficult the game will be." Karai made a sour face. She despised excessive physical activity, yet three was a pretty low number. Maybe it won't be that bad after all. She looked at the screen, noticing that it changed again.