Four Leaf Clover

♥ Eight Of Hearts ♥

Hello readers! Just a few bits before the story begins.

I've never been to Japan, so anything I'm writing about I'm doing with research and the help of Google Maps. So please don't judge me too harshly if I mess it up. Also, if someone speaks and it's in Italics, that means they're speaking English.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoy the story. 

Warnings; Violence//Cannibalistic Intent//Minor Character Death

~♥~♥~♥

As a woman vacationing in Tokyo, there were many things Clover had considered before making the trip. Wrapping her chaotic brain around the language had obviously been number one on her list. If she was going to be spending three months at most in a foreign country, then learning their tongue was the bare minimum. Thankfully, two years of communication between herself and her pen pal, 'Katterpillar', had her well prepared for the journey. The second thing on her to-do list had been getting to grips with the culture, and the common decencies they expected from visitors. Street etiquette, rules of public transportation, and other basic expectations. As a foreigner, Clover had been meticulously cautioned by her online friend about the views many men in Japan held in regards to female visitors, so knowing how to force a pushy man to back off had also been a necessity. Starting a fight with a touchy local was strictly advised against, since foreigners weren't exactly protected in foreign versus local disputes, so spitting as much vulgarity as she could imagine was what would keep her safe. In a nutshell, Clover had done every possible thing she could to ensure a pleasant stay in a beautiful city.

Fainting in the middle of Shibuya Crossing, only to wake again in total darkness and with no one in sight, had not been on her bingo card.

Looking back on it now, Clover still struggled to recall exactly what had gone down before she hit the deck. Deciding to visit mid-July had, apparently, not been the best decision. Her theory that the July heat and humidity had caused her abrupt and painful fainting spell settled firmly in her mind. Still, she'd made sure to keep her water bottle full and almost packed with ice cubes, and if that didn't help her stay cool, then the popsicle she'd grabbed on her way to meet Katterpillar should have done it. It was their first time meeting each other face-to-face, so she had to wonder if the first-meet nerves had also impacted her state in some way. One minute she was caught up in the mid-afternoon rush, which came to a slow halt when fireworks began to shoot up into the sky, and then... well, there was nothing.

Clover wasn't sure how long she'd walked around alone after waking up. As far as she knew, Shibuya Crossing was always active, and even if it wasn't, the buildings would've at least still been lit up. But no, as far as she could tell, the electricity pumping through the city had been completely wiped out.

'Well', she thought. 'Not completely'.

After a lengthy moment of contemplation and mild panic, during which she'd frantically wandered in and out of many stores with the hope of finding at least one living person, Clover had eventually caught a flash of light in the corner of her eye. The advertisement screen had sent an ominous, pale glow over Clover and the great empty space she stood in. The words 'Game Arena', with a black arrow pointing to the street to her left, gave her no choice but to follow. After all, there was no possible way she was the only person still hanging around in the city, and surely others would have seen the sign too. So, with this in mind, Clover started following the arrows.

Walking through the city in the midst of July had been almost unbearable. The buses alone had been a different breed of hell, filled to the brim with bodies of all shapes and sizes, uncomfortably squeezed together with hardly any room to avoid rubbing up against each other. It'd been so irritating that she'd jumped off at least a few stops before she was supposed to, choosing instead to navigate her way through winding alleys and streets to get to where she needed to be. Even so, she'd happily take that bus again rather than this. The silence was frightening; so quiet she was sure she'd hear a pin drop in the next street over. She hadn't seen a single person since waking up, but there was an awful, pestering voice in the back of her mind that told her she was being watched, as if there were a large number of strangers hiding in the shadows just waiting to jump out and tear her to shreds.