The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

An invisible threat

I noticed that something was wrong when the silence began to set in.

We had been waiting for almost an hour, but nothing unusual had happened during that time.

Until now.

A huge screen announced with loud fanfare that the game had started. Since then, my nerves have been stretched to the breaking point; I had the feeling that they could buckle if they were put under even greater strain.

The woman next to me suddenly stood up a little straighter, her gaze lost itself in the distance. I watched her behavior out of the corner of my eye, a sinking feeling settling in the pit of my stomach that only made the nervousness worse.

"Do you hear that?" Usagi was still staring in the direction where she supposedly heard the noise when she asked her question.

A noise in the silence - how unusual. Was that a sign? Did something happen now?

It didn't take long before I heard it too.

What was that...?!

At first it was a low tone, then it became higher and finally low again. A shiver ran down my spine, I was no longer comfortable with the whole situation.

Then I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

There were cars coming straight towards us. "Those are the cars from the beach..." whispered Kuina, staring spellbound in the same direction as us.

I noticed Arisu tense up. Usagi did the same - so they expected danger. I briefly struggled with my ability to judge but decided not to do anything for the time being. So, I stopped as the cars surrounded us.

When the first people got out, my suspicions subsided a little. They were normal people, I even knew some of them, if only by sight.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kuina next to me as she examined the cars.

A young woman replied, "We're here because we're chasing the airship - the one from the King of Spades."

Wait, the airship was moving? I hadn't even noticed that...

I looked up at the sky, a little confused, then I spotted the flying thing in question. They were right, it was moving.

Right in our direction.

Was that a good or bad sign? If I was honest, I don't think I even wanted to know...

At that exact moment I made three mistakes.

First: I had sighed and turned away from the conversation between Kuina and the travelers to tie my hair up.

Second: I didn't realize until much too late what had happened behind me at that very moment. It wasn't until Chishiya pulled me along by the sleeve of my shirt that I saw the bodies and heard the shots.

Third - I was on my face because I tripped on a damn curb.

I had seen the shock in Kuina's eyes when she briefly looked around for me. The sight of me on the asphalt must have looked horrible.

It also hurt quite a bit.

I picked myself up a little sluggishly and noticed the scratches on my knees that were fucking burning. But that was only a lesser evil, because the greater one was just looming.

Kuina.

She was always a great friend who would support you in every situation in life, but now that was her downfall.

I knew she would stop because of me.

"Dammit, run!" I shouted to her before I started moving again and immediately had to dodge a hail of bullets. But I managed it - luckily for me I was able to escape into an alley that ran parallel to the street.

And then I ran as if death itself was after me.

Well, technically it was, but let's leave that aside for now.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Chishiya still running with the others... on the main road. In contrast to me, they were still fully under fire.

I tried to get his attention, but it didn't work.

Sure, I could have just moved closer, but that just put myself in unnecessary danger. I was pretty sure the sniper was the King of Spades.

I couldn't prove it, but it was my feeling.

It was a game of selfishness. Everyone against everyone, their own will and their own safety were the priority. It hurt to let my friends down, but now my life came first.

It sounded so cold-hearted... I didn't know myself like that. But I had made this observation several times by now. The Borderland had fundamentally changed me and my outlook on life.

A sound of an engine drew my eyes back to the street, where Arisu, Usagi, Chishiya and Kuina had taken refuge behind cars. I stood in the shadows of the houses and tried to observe.

Then everything happened very quickly. A car braked sharply, I saw Tata and Ann trying to let the four of them get in. Kuina, Arisu and Usagi also managed to do this, but when Chishiya wanted to get in, I saw something small fly at his feet.

"Go! Quickly!" he shouted before he slammed the door and Tata shot off indecisively. Then something exploded and I watched as he was thrown through the air.

Silence.

But only for a moment, because a second car sped past, I saw a person dressed in black sitting behind the wheel while using an assault rifle.

Multitasking at its finest...

I sprinted to reach Chishiya. A restlessness spread inside me that was foreign to me.

Fear, I think that was it. I was afraid that something had happened to him.

When I got to him, he was sitting again and rubbing his neck in pain. When he saw me, he frowned briefly, but then sneered again. "So, we'll see each other again," he said, and I wanted to slap my hand on my forehead. That grin again? If he continued like this, I wouldn't last an hour with him.

"I swear, Chishiya, one more line like that and I'll blow you up too," a hint of irony played in my voice, which seemed to amuse him even more. His grin widened before I held out my hand to pull him up. My heart fluttered a little as he touched my palm, but I swallowed the feeling once again.

What he had already done with this hand...

Damn Ayuna! Pull yourself together, you can't seriously think about your past right now! It is inappropriate to think about past sexual events now when you could still be in danger of death!

"Are you having a fever?" he grinned at me, "your face is red."

Oi, damn it!

I quickly turned away and my back was to him. He laughed quietly before brushing off his clothes a little and then looking around. "The King of Spades is after the others. But that doesn't mean we're safe from him in the future," he mused out loud, and my suspicions were confirmed.

"Tokyo is his entire playing field," I remarked, "The other airships are stationary, only his is moving." He nodded next to me, and his face had taken on a serious expression.

"That means we don't have a quiet place - he can attack us anywhere. Except..." he looked at me and I could guess what he was about to say, "We play different games. Every game has a precise plan... he can't intervene them."

It was an invisible danger no matter where you stood. I was sure that some players would lose their minds.

"Then let's play," I said as I turned to Chishiya, "All this should finally come to an end."

He looked at me with a grin: "I didn't expect anything else from you, Ayuna."

Hopefully the others were okay...

King of Spades, if you do anything to them, you will regret it bitterly!