King of diamonds x Queen of spades

chapter 11 - Queen of spades

After the scare from the jack of hearts game Chishiya and Kuina decided to rest for a while, sure they could probably go find a game but they needed to regain energy and brain function. "Kuina, you don't know how sad I was at the end of that. I thought I lost you. I know I don't show it but I really do love and care for you. I'll try and show it more going forward." Chishiya said as he looked out to the water. That didn't last long however because Kuina pulled his head close to her 's, mere millimetres apart. "Chishiya listen to me, I know you do and you don't have to change because this is just your nature and that's what's good about you" Kuina said as she moved her face away from his and gave him a smile. Chishiya smiled back without saying anything, he didn't need to though, the look in his eyes told Kuina that he'd finished that topic and had already thought of a plan. "What's on your mind Chishiya?" Kuina asked as she finally got up from his hold. "People normally form groups in hard stages of games like these. I say we make our own. From this moment onwards we'll beat all the games we can in a group" Chishiya said standing up aswell and started walking back to the city. "Wait, are we seriously doing this. Are we joining with him?" Kuina asked as she followed Chishiya. "You better believe it. He might be dangerous but he's skilled with what he does. We have intelligence and strength, if we get 2 more people with those qualities we'd be able to beat these games easily." Chishiya said. Kuina lowered her head in thought, she knew Chishiya left one person vague for a reason but she didn't know that he wanted to find 2 people that wouldn't fight each other. It was at least 10 minutes before Kuina figured it out. "Wait, are we actually trying to get help from Last Boss and Niragi. Last boss will definitely join us but Niragi is going to kill us all." Kuina said as she tugged on Chishiya's arm, he just shook his head which caused Kuina to become confused. "You seem to forget the state he's in currently. His right hand is half broken, he's burnt beyond recognition, he's constantly coughing up blood, doesn't have any weapons and he can barely walk. The only reason I want him with us is because we can use him as bait. We really only need Last Boss because the jack of clubs is for teams of 3" Chishiya responded as he continued to pull Kuina along seeing as how she appeared to be stuck to his arm. Kuina released her grip and stood still. "We're already going for another game? Also how do you know it's 3 people?" Kuina asked which brought Chishiya's smirk to an entire new level. "Simple, we want to get out of here right? And to answer your second question, I've been scoping it out from inside teio prison throughout those 17 hours. It was always groups of 3 that went in and it hasn't been beaten yet. But we need to talk Kuina, I'm worried about you" Chishiya responded, his smirk slowly shifting into a frown. Kuina shook her head. "It's fine, we can talk about it later. Let's go find Last boss" Kuina said as yhe 2 of them continued along. Kuina couldn't remove any of the thoughts out of her head, she would have to eventually. Chishiya felt the same, he was always fine with emotions, he used them to his advantage whenever he could, the emotion of love though scared him, he was weakened by it but, because of Kuina, grew attached to it and didn't want her to leave in case that feeling would forever be removed from his system.

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Last boss was easy to find, he was sat on a highly eroded bench and joined them practically instantly after hearing their proposition, he wanted to beat the games, not to get out, but to finally have some form of freedom in this hell. Niragi however, he wasn't convinced, all 3 of them tried to convince him to join but he just spat in their faces, he was severely wounded after everything he's faced and yet he still pushed on, despite the fact he's a shit person he needs to at least be applauded for enduring all this torture in his state of health and mind, he wasn't dumb by any means but he wasn't the brightest either, though when it came to things he liked, then his excellent mind would be released, that's the reason Chishiya wanted him, he wanted Niragi's skills and mind because he was one of the only people he wasn't able to manipulate alongside Kuina. They all moved on after he left the area, they decided not to try in case he'd go on a rampage to kill him. The sun was beginning to set and gun shots could be heard in the distance, the king of spades had started again, that wasn't the game Kuina was going for though, she stood outside an old boxing club trying to bring herself to join the game, she left Chishiya and Last boss by themselves saying she was just leaving to find food, she didn't want them to follow or worry about her, she still didn't understand a lot but the only thing that plagued her mind was why Chishiya wanted Niragi, there was no need to have him in her mind but she had to push that aside if she wanted to leave this purgatory. With that, she stepped into the building and was greeted by a fairly muscular woman. "Welcome, to the queen of spades, I am Ruri and you will be the only participant going against my crew round by round. The rules are simple, clear five rounds of my game and you win, if you give up, lose one round or get knocked out then that is game over. Each round will progressively get harder, you'll first go against one person, then 2, then 3, then 4. Between each round you will receive and pack of tissues and a bandage roll along with 5 minutes to recover. Finally, you can use any fighting style you like. Rounds will end when one side forfeits or is knocked out. Are the rules understood?" She said with an added finger snap at the end which ushered multiple people out. "Wait, I do have one question, you only mentioned the conditions of 4 rounds and you said there were 5, what happens during the fifth?" Kuina asked as she removed anything valuable she had on. Ruri only smirked and got the arena set up. Once Kuina had finally gotten warmed up and prepared the very familiar announcer voice sprung up. "Competators for Round 1. challenger, Kuina Hikari. Citizen, Ginro Rivers. Round begins now" Kuina got into the poorly made ring and saw a relatively frail man across from her, just from the sight she'd normally expect this to be easy but she's learnt not to underestimate these face cards. Kuina ran towards the man and kicked him in the stomach which sent him relatively far but that wasn't really much of a surprise, the man tried to get up but started coughing up blood when he tried, with that, the round was ended and the victory was given to Kuina. Round 2 was pretty much the same. After the first 2 round Kuina noticed that Ruri was laughing at the end of each, thoughts about what she was doing rushed through Kuina's mind but before she could come up with a solution round 3 was going start, this time, instead of weak people she saw 3 relatively muscular men, similar to the build of Ruri herself. This didn't faze Kuina however, solely because she had fought Aguni at the beach due to Niragi and came out victorious, the difference with this though, they are going to be fighting for their lives and there's 3 of them. Kuina didn't have a choice though, she had to fight, she took a breath and once the round began she used the same technique she'd been using the previous 2 rounds, this didn't work for her this time though, one of the men grabbed her leg before she was able to finish her attack and her head smashed against the rocky floor. The man that grabbed her let go and she stayed dormant on the floor as blood trickled from the side of her head, the 3 men in the ring seemed happy, they had beaten their round and put an end to the queen of spades game until a new challenger would arrive, it'd been the same way since the fact cards were introduced, the others were just a distraction, they were safe from death for now. Or so they thought at least, during their celebration Kuina latched herself on to one of their legs and pulled as hard as she could which caused 2 of them to go falling back on to their heads, she then started punching the life out of them not knowing what to do, it's not like she had Chishiya their to strategise with. She got up and stabled herself, the 2 men on the floor were long gone, faces disfigured from the sheer strength she put behind those punches, she stared towards the other man who stood above the others not doing anything. Kuina thought everything over and finally came to peace with her mind, cracked her neck and charged the man with the same method she'd used previously, going to kick him in the stomach but before she could make contact pulled her fists into his face with a crack, the man knelt over and held his nose in pain with blood trickling down. Kuina backed away and re-entered her fighting stance. The man kept his composure and rushed towards her, fists up and tried getting a shot on her to no avail, he tried getting her head but when he missed he had finally accepted his defeat and with one quick blow to the lower jaw from a violent kick, round 3 was over and ruri was left speechless. Kuina got out of the ring and went to the bathroom to clean herself up, it was only then when she noticed a giant cut down her leg, blood covered nose and multiple bruises all over her body, no way to hide it, with no explanation to give Chishiya she just had to suck up her courage and beat this game without him in her mind, for all 3 rounds he was the only person on her mind but she had to brush that away if she wanted to win. Round 4 wasn't any easier for her, 10 minutes straight were filled with mindless punches in random directions, kicks to the legs, beatings, bruises, blood and pain to all of them. Kuina did emerge Victorious though in the end and had only one round left. However, the condition she was in might mean game over for her, her feet were now in shreds, breathing was harder and multiple cuts plastered her face. "Round 5 final. Competators; challenger, Kuina Hikari. Citizen, Queen of spades, Ruri Amura. Begin" Ruri and Kuina both entered the ring and took their stances. Kuina didn't waste any time and immediately tried to land a punch to her throat but was blocked and grabbed by Ruri then slammed to the floor, it was obvious now that this was the actual game, none of the others mattered. Ruri deserved the title 'the queen of spades'. Kuina lay on the floor unable to move