GAME AFTER (english version)

11-The Game After

ARISU'S POV

The nurses ushered me and the other guys (who I had no idea who they were) into a waiting room.

"Soon Yamada san and Sakei san, will come back to you and explain everything." One of them told us, in a reassuring tone

"We'll get you something to eat while you wait." Her colleague said; then they both left the room, leaving us alone.

This whole situation was absurd. I understood that I was in a kind of clinic, but...why was I there? And who were these guys?

I had a thousand questions buzzing in my head, however, of two things I was sure: the first, was that the doctors were conducting some kind of test on us and the second, was that even if I didn't remember anything, it was as if the girl who I'd seen before and who appeared to be in a coma, was connected to me. To all of us. I wasn't sure how, I just knew it.

"My name's Arisu." I told the others, trying to break the ice.

"Kuina." The girl with the dreads said.

"Niragi." The guy with the piercings said, who was walking around the room, very impatiently.

The guy in the white hoodie, on the other hand, didn't introduced himself. He sat on the sidelines and began to stare at the hoodie he was wearing, as if it had something important, as if it itself held an important memory.

The nurses returned to the room with juices and biscuits, which they handed us.

I took the peach one, Nectar brand, because I think it was my favorite even if I didn't remember it at the same time.

"Where are the doctors?" The guy in the white hoodie asked.

"They'll arrive shortly, you eat in the meantime." The nurses urged us, before leaving the room.

Niragi and Kuina each took a packet of butter cookies and an apple juice.

After a few minutes, the guy in the white hoodie also got up and took the chocolate chip cookies. 

He bit into one, then spoke again "I know we don't know each other, but do you also have the strange sensation of knowing the girl in the other room by any chance?"

His question surprised me a lot, yet I found myself answering "Yes."

"Me too." Kuina said.

"And you, Niragi?" I asked him.

"Huh?" Niragi was absorbed in his thoughts. "Yes, I think I know her, but I can't explain why."

"Interesting." The guy in the white hoodie said again, while he continued to eat his biscuits.

"I'd say it's rather unnerving." Niragi retorted. "And you, are you going to introduce yourself or what?" I heard a hint of hatred in his voice.

"Chishiya." The guy in the white hoodie replied.

"Why do you think we're here?" Kuina asked, looking at us.

"I haven't the faintest idea." I replied. "But I think it's all related to the girl in the coma."

"Yes, she's important." Chishiya added, with a strange tone of voice, somewhere between sadness for having lost something and...I wasn't sure, but it sounded a lot like the tone of a boy in love, but I didn't tell him that.

"I think she's important too." Niragi instead, pronounced those words as if there was some sort of competition going on between him and Chishiya and he wanted to win.