A game of hearts || Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter 2: the first game||♦️3

Song: untrust us-crystal castles

I stand in front of the building, too confused to do anything else. The building is huge and maybe even more creepy than Kenzō's place. I'm still freezing so I put my hands in my pockets.

"You should go inside before the registration close" I hear a voice behind me say. Humans? When did they show up again? Well, I'm not saying no. I turn around and I see a man around my age maybe a bit older. "What?" I ask. "You're new, aren't you?". He takes another step forward so now he's standing beside me.

"New to what exactly?". "If you weren't new you would've understood exactly what I meant. You're new to the games" He says, staring forward.

Since I don't want to ask more questions I just look at him in confusion. For the first time he turns and looks at me. I raise an eyebrow at him to make my confusion even more clear.

"You have to play games to earn visa days. If your visa expires you die. Therefore you have to continue to play games to get more visa days. If you lose a game, you die. If you leave a game arena before the game is over, you die. You cheat in the game, you die. If you refuse, you die" He says with a dramatic voice.

I'm confused, shocked and most of all scared. And I do what I usually do when I'm overwhelmed, I stay quiet. This time I'm the one who looks away. I look down at the ground.

"The games are based on a deck of cards. Each card has it's own game. The number means the difficulty and the suit means the category of the game. Spades are psychical games, diamonds is a game that includes intelligence and logic, and clubs require teamwork. And hearts, they're the hardest I assume" the explanation continues.

"You assume?" I ask when I get out of the trance this new information has put me in. "Never played one, but not many survives those games. Heart games toy with peoples feelings and they're games of betrayal".

So if I've understood I can basically die at any time. I can die in a few minutes I guess.

"You have to register now" the man says as he start walking to the entrance. I stay still a few seconds, still shocked by all this new information. But when I realize that I might die if I don't register I follow close behind him.

When we walk inside, he first and me a few feet behind, we get into the waiting room. There are a few other people waiting. Three men and two women. Some of them is leaning against the wall, other sit at the floor or at a chair.

In the middle of the room I can see a white small table. I walk up to it and I see five phones and a sign.

1 per player.

I obey the sign and pick up a phone. I wonder if what phone I take will affect me in the future. The phone turns on to my surprise and starts a facial recognition. I slightly furrow my eyebrows in confusion, but I quickly stop when I realize that being new is maybe not a good thing.

00.02.34 left until the registration closes.

I use this time to observe the other people. I've always liked watching others. Since me and my brother didn't have much money, I couldn't afford fancy electronics, so my hobby was mostly to watch other people.

There's two guys around my age, including the man who explained everything to me. And then there's one man and one woman who's a bit older. Maybe in their fifties or forties.

There's one girl who I think is a bit younger than me. Maybe seventeen or eighteen. I believe she is also new based on her body language.

I don't think anyone here know each other from before, since everyone is standing alone with a good distance to the closest person.