YOU, ME & DEATH ━━ polyam ann & kuina

𝟮𝟴 plan

   THE BULLY'S FACE on the computer screen had turned into blackness, showing his elimination.

   Murmurs went through the players, some remarking that he deserved it whilst others felt bad for him since he clearly wasn't the Jack — the game was still going, after all. But everyone was fearful, eyes darting around as if they could spot the Jack coming for them if they were skittish enough.

   "Hey, that guy—" Urumi spoke up, nodding her head at the man who had given the bully the wrong symbol— "must be the Jack. He lied to that bully and killed him. I think we'd better kill him next turn, he's definitely the Jack. If not, he's still dangerous. We should eliminate him while we have the chance."

   Suddenly, the group, that had been murmuring agreement, fell into silence.

   The man they had been speaking about walked up to them. "Um, can you please tell me what–what my symbol is?" He inquired. He was sweating horribly, hands shaking as he held them close to his chest.

   "Of course." Urumi smiled at him. When he turned around, she lied, "You're a spade."

   "Yes, you're a spade." Everyone else joined in.

   "Thank you so much." The man nodded in relief. Then, he noticed Tomoko and Chishiya hadn't spoken. He turned to them, quickly becoming unsure, "It is a spade, right?"

   Tomoko ignored the heart on the back of his collar and nodded, "Yes, it's certainly a spade."

   The man smiled, relieved. Then, he stepped backward, blending into the group, as a different person stepped forward to get their symbol read to them. He was so consumed with hope that he didn't realise everyone else in the group was shifting uneasily, guilty that they had sentenced him to his death.

   Tapping his sister's shoulder, Chishiya held up a packet of biscuits for her to take, "Here."

   "Thanks." Tomoko returned, taking the food off of him and beginning to eat it. The one good thing about this game was that they had a plethora of food to consume, and whilst it wasn't gourmet or anything, Tomoko was enjoying the seemingly endless supply she could gorge herself on.

   Then, the round ended. Whilst in her cell, Tomoko heard an explosion, confirming that the man the group had lied to was dead.

   "What? I don't get it!" One girl exclaimed as soon as the group of players led by Urumi met up again. "I thought he was..."

   "I guess that guy wasn't the Jack of Hearts." Someone else returned.

   "People are starting to get nervous." Chishiya remarked to his sister, "They said no time limit but people are dying now. I'm not sure we'll find the Jack at all."

   "We will." Tomoko stated firmly, "I know we will because I have never lost a game before and I don't intend to do so now."

   Chishiya smirked at her words before the two exchanged the information of their symbols. Suddenly, Urumi gently clapped her hands together to grab the attention of her group.

   "That girl there," She stated, pointing to a member of their group that was stood in a corner, sipping water. "She wasn't on our side when we tried to get our stories straight earlier. Should we kill her, hmm?"

   The group exchanged glances of uncertainty before slowly nodding. It seemed they were all too afraid to challenge Urumi. So, when the time came to tell the girl her symbol, everyone lied — telling her she was a club when in reality, it was a heart.

And so, she died.

By this time, Tomoko was extremely suspicious of Urumi. One part of her said that she was clearly the Jack, trying to kill as many people as possible before they killed her. Another part told her that the Jack wouldn't be this easy to spot, they would try to stay under everyone's radar. Even if Urumi wasn't the Jack, she was killing enough people in such a short amount of time that surely the Jack would be found quickly.

Tomoko was unsure of what to do. She didn't want to kill an innocent person but she didn't want to waste the chance to kill the Jack as soon as possible.

She was torn — until Urumi told Chishiya his heart symbol was a diamond.

"He's very quiet," She had said to members of the group earlier, unknowing that Tomoko was eavesdropping, "Surely, he's hiding something. He has to be the Jack. Even if he's not, he's reluctant to tell us our symbols. It's clear he doesn't want to be in our group, he'll betray us sooner or later. We have to eliminate him right now before he tries to eliminate us."

Luckily, Chishiya had believed Tomoko and not the group — so he survived.

And Tomoko's plan was set in motion.

"Hey!" She whisper shouted to a girl as she was picking up some food from downstairs. Tomoko had noticed that this girl was extremely suspicious of Urumi, eyes narrowing almost every time she set her eyes on her. The girl turned to Tomoko, tilting her head in confusion.

"You're smart, I can tell." Tomoko stated as she walked over to her. "Surely, you must have figured out by now that Urumi is not to be trusted."

The girl's eyes widened and she breathed out a sigh of relief, "Yes, yes! I thought it was only me who thought that but you do as well."

Nodding, Tomoko showed the girl a friendly smile, "As much as I don't want to, it's clear that we need to eliminate her. She's lying to someone every round and soon, that person will be one of us. But, the problem is that the rest of the group trusts her. I need your help to convince them to eliminate her."

"Of course!"

Smiling wide, Tomoko held out her hand, "I'm Tomoko. You are?"

"Furuta." The girl replied with a grin, shaking her hand.

Thus, their friendship was born.

🂱

AUTHOR NOTES
double update today bc i forgot to update yesterday lol.
also furuta is this girl:

she was such a girl boss tbh, like she was the only one who was smart enough to figure out that hey, ima die soon bc urumi is evil!!! so yeah ofc i made her team up with tomoko bc she's a girlboss too. also, i wanted a urumi vs tomoko rivalry thingy and bc of tomoko's development she's not gonna randomly be like yea u know what let me kill this girl for no reason, so i made urumi try to kill chishiya bc we all know tomoko would do anything for her brother.