Alice in Borderland: New York

Discovering this World (3): The Weight of the Past

As he woke up in the gym, Teinejī looked at his clock. 1 PM. He had not realized he slept that long, and he almost went back to sleep realizing beans was not there anymore. He didn't have the strength nor the mental energy to go see Peter again today. As he wandered around the streets, he went on without any specific objective, just trying to kill time. But nothing was any good to him. He was not in the mood to read, and nothing could make him think of anything other than Beans getting shot in the head and collapsing to the ground. But he had to stay strong. He didn't want other people to see him as someone weak. The hours passed by, one by one. He tried to assemble the pieces of the puzzle. The suit of those games was very important. If he could figure out the secret of the suits, then he probably would have access to valuable information about the games, to not repeat his past mistakes. He wouldn't let anyone get shot again. He would participate tonight; he would not lose any hope. That's what Beans would have wanted. With this new determination, he set off to go around the city.

At 10 PM, 9 hours after he woke up, the front lights of a gym opened. Oh, what irony. Beans probably loved this place, and this was where Teinejī had to go tonight. He met Charlie and Pier again, all ready to play, as well as another person. She was a high school girl named Alisson. There was also a very talkative girl named Maya. She had black hair and tanned skin, and seemed to be really strong, even if she was hiding her muscles. The voice announced the game. It would be the 3 of spades, weightlifting.

Teinejī thought about what Peter told him, and then it all made sense. The higher the number was, the more rewarding it would be, but also the most difficult. This is why Peter told him to beware of games that have a high number. The rules of the game were simple, they had to lift weights, that were going to become slowly heavier and heavier. They all laid down on different platforms to lift their weights, when Teinejī realized something. The bar they had to lift over their head was linked to a cable that, if release, would make spikes go up, impaling their head. This was a horrible death, and Teinejī started lifting the weights, scared of what would happen to him if he let go.

As promised, it became more and more challenging. He was strong, so that wasn't really an issue for him, but he noticed Alisson struggling to keep up with the increase in the weights. However, Maya had no problems with hers. He saw Pier and Charlie struggle a bit, but there was nothing too bad happening for them. As the high school girl was about to release the weights due to the intense pressure, Teinejī realized why this game was only a 3. At the beginning, nothing said they could only be one person per platform. This was obvious, how could he have missed it? The weights fell down, and, by a pulley system, made the spikes go up. There were no screams, no tears, no fear. Just blood.

Teinejī was horrified by this death, but soon, the last weight was lifted and the game ended, and he won 3 more visa days. Would Beans have been able to save that girl? He did not know. Teinejī decided not to talk with Charlie nor Pier at all. He had nothing to tell them, after all. But now, he had information. Every game that required physical activity right now was a spade, so he knew what that would mean. He went back to the tech center to sleep, leaving to see the sun rise for at least one more day.