The Winners Take It All | Chishiya

A freedom that can be played for

A/N: Disclaimer! I have invented the following game and it does not occur in the original series!

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I barely got any sleep during the night.

No wonder - some people wouldn't have been able to sleep either if the person they loved was spending the night next to them.

We had carried the mattress from the bedroom into the living room so that we had as many escape routes as possible in case the King of Spades showed up unexpectedly again.

So, we decided to stay as close to each other as possible. Not only because of that - it was getting pretty cold at night and our bodies were natural heaters in this case.

It had been very warm during the night, but I couldn't find any peace.

When I was awake, I had concentrated on his breathing, which then kept lulling me to sleep again.

Accordingly, I had quite dark circles under my eyes the next morning.

I thought I felt the scrutiny on me again, but I was too nervous to react.

We would go play a game.

Mira had called it the next level; did that mean the games were different now?

"We'll split up," Chishiya said to me as we left the apartment. When I looked at him questioningly, he still left his statement unexplained. I knew my attempts at persuasion would hit an iron wall, so I left it alone.

"We'll meet back here when we're done," I replied instead, and he nodded before looking up at the sky. I followed his eyes and noticed where he was looking.

Jack of hearts.

Did I expect something different from him? No not really.

He noticed that I had figured out his plans and just grinned. "Where are you going?" he wanted to know, and I shrugged my shoulders before I also let my eyes wander to the sky. Finally, I found what I was subconsciously looking for. He followed my gaze and his grin turned to a sneer.

"Mmh, I didn't expect anything else. See you," with these words he started moving and disappeared from my field of vision with the next bend. Sighing, I ran away in the other direction.

I hoped that I would survive.

Up until that point I had simply been far too cowardly. If I died now, I would take my feelings with me to my grave.

Just like so many other words...

I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realize I was standing in front of the game location. Only when I glanced sideways and saw the laser barrier in front of my face did I shrink back a little.

There it was... my first game in the last round. It was the exaggeration of the century to say that I entered this new chapter with confidence.

I didn't want to, but then again, I did. It was just chaos...

And yet I passed the laser barrier. I hoped I made the right decision in picking this game first. Maybe it was my strength, maybe not.

But I wanted to face the Jack of Spades.

Once I entered the building, I looked around. Only then did I realize that it was a shopping center. It wasn't particularly big, but not too small either. A perfect venue for a game of spades.

I scanned the foyer and spotted more players waiting in the corner. Some looked at me eagerly, others occupied themselves with other things.

But that wasn't what threw me off. No, it was the one person waiting there in the crowd.

Aguni.

He had survived, how was that possible? And who was the girl standing next to him?

She also looked at me curiously and then whispered something to the ex-military man before I averted my gaze and instead walked towards the table.

There were strange jerseys there. They lit up and had numbers printed on them. I grabbed the last one - number 10 - and read the sign:

One per person.

Please put it on!

Interesting.

But somehow a little scary if I was honest.

So, I did the same as the other players and put the vest on; it closed at that moment and adapted perfectly to my physique.

How strange... Should I be worried now?

These games were truly on a whole new level.

Registration is complete!

The game will now begin.

Please welcome the Jack of Spades team!

Dramatic music filled the building, and we watched as ten players entered the mall through a large door. They wore the same vests, only red in color. His number 1 was right at the front.

I never thought I would meet someone who looked like me here again.

Blonde hair, blue eyes... He also seemed to have his roots in another country.

"Welcome! I'm the Jack of Spades, your game master!" he bows somewhat cockily to the crowd, "My name is Joshua Krutz, Josh for short." The silence filled the room again. I felt a little uncomfortable.

"Then let's get started right away, shall we? The rules of the game will now be explained to us!" he pointed to a large screen behind him, which immediately came to life.

Game: Free the king!

Difficulty level: Jack of spades

Rules: The challenger team competes against the Jack of Spades team.

Two rounds of 30 minutes each are played.

The respective search team must try to find all players on the opposing team.

The players move through the entire building.

When a player is found, the seeker must return to base and place their hand on the post.

Then the opposing player's number is given along with the location where he was last seen.

If the information is correct, the player found will receive an electric shock and then have to go to prison.

If the location or number is given incorrectly, the searcher will receive an electric shock.

If you get four electric shocks, it's game over for the person.

The prisoners can be freed by a teammate from the same team.

To do this, a player must place his hand on the opponent's base and announce the words "Free the king!" loudly.

The round ends when all players on a team are trapped or time runs out.

The team that catches the most players from the other team wins.

The challenger team begins their search.

Oh dear... That didn't sound good, so much at once!