Life in Borderland

Burning Down the Past

Kagami sat in the back seat next to Kuina while Arisu drove and Usagi sat in the passenger seat. There was still an unspoken amount of tension between Usagi and Arisu, but Kagami was too distracted to ask about it. She had caught a glimpse of Niragi as the group had driven off. It seemed as though he was waiting for them to leave so he could pay his own respects to Tatta, but, she didn't care. She had made her choice and the next time they met, she would kill him if he so much as touched her. The thought of it made her skin crawl and made her want to throw up. She didn't know how she could have been so blind for so long when it came to Niragi. Now that she was finally free of him and any slithers of feelings she had left were gone, she could finally see how terrible of a person he was and had been all along. The boy she had first met and loved was dead and gone and the man that replaced him honestly disgusted her.

Despite that, part of her hoped that she would see him again. He wanted to play monster and if he wanted to play than she would happily play with him. Niragi was the only one who knew her wrath and her cruelty and while she had spent years trying to hide it, facing death in the clubs game had brought it back to the surface. Never again would a man make her feel weak or afraid. Even Chishiya. But, unlike Niragi, Chishiya had never once made her feel afraid, in fact, he had become a safe place for her without her even realizing it. He was the only person other than her brother that had ever talked her down from a panic attack. Chishiya was as important to her now as Daiki was. Just as the tall woman with dreadlocks that sat beside her was. Her best friend and her lover. Oh how the times had changed. What was once Sato and Niragi had shifted to Kuina and Chishiya in the span of ten days and in both cases her feelings for both Kuina and Chishiya were much stronger. Never in her life, other than Daiki, had she ever met someone that she valued more than herself. Now, rather than just her brother, she had Kuina and Chishiya as well.

She wondered what Daiki would think about them if things were different and he wasn't a citizen of this place like Kyuma and the others. Daiki was always her favorite brother and the pair had been close even as young children. No one knew her pain better than he did because they both lived it. She wasn't stupid either, she knew that Daiki and Niragi had never seen eye to eye, but she had the feeling that if he had the chance to meet Chishiya, he would like him. Despite Daiki's terrible advice when it came to love, she knew deep down that all he wanted to do was protect her. It was what made her want to play his game. She wondered whether or not he even knew she was in this place.

"Look! The King of Hearts blimp is moving." Arisu said, drawing Kagami out of her own mind and back into the present.

Kagami pulled out the map before her eyes shifted onto the large blimp that hovered over San'ya. It had moved from the rich part of Shibuya to San'ya which was quite strange. Other than the King of Spades, none of the other blimps had moved since the Face Card stage had begun. 

"Let's see what he's up to." Kagami said and Arisu was quick to nod in agreement as the group drove towards where the blimp hovered.

"Do you think it's Daiki?" Arisu asked and Kagami somewhat flinched at the sound of her brother's name coming from Arisu's mouth.

"It's a possibility. If he's going to San'ya than he'll be headed to out childhood home. Neither of us had been back since we ran away from home in the same year. Other than when I came back at seventeen but that's a long story..." Kagami said trailing off as Kuina glanced at her. They both knew exactly what Kagami was talking about. The day she had killed her father and hid the body with Niragi's help.

Kagami's stayed locked onto the blimp as Arisu pulled into San'ya and already, the group were able to see flames erupted from somewhere in San'ya. Black smoke filled the air and it reminded Kagami of the Beach.