take me back to eden | niragi x oc

十二

Hiyori watches as two new people are being dragged through the halls, flanked on either side by bored-faced militants that hold the recruits' arms. The girl is petite enough to be mostly carried, but the gangliness of the guy has his legs dragging behind him, pitched awkwardly forwards in the militants' grip. For a moment, Hiyori wonders how they'd looked when they'd been dragged in. The toes of their shoes had been scuffed and their ankles had hurt after.

A quiet sigh passes their lips and they glance away, running their fingertips along the white bandage around their calf. Well, it's of no concern now. The new pair would have to pass their tests and assimilate into the Beach or die, those were the only options under Hatter's rule. No one could escape him once his claws were dug in.

Day turns over to night and the Beach residents all pile into the main hall. Hiyori gets jostled about and grunts quietly in pain, shrinking away to find a more empty hollow where elbows weren't jabbing into their sides. Hatter stands on the balcony to address them, bolstering morale and causing cheers to peal through the hotel. He sways away, his robe trailing behind him, and excitement continues to build as the players hurry from the hall to the parking lot.

Hiyori ends up squished in one of two cars, a team of ten heading off.

The game arena is huge, and oddly dark. They weren't exactly excited about heading into another dark game after the Yomi game. They trace their fingers over the lighter in their pocket, swallowing as they follow the rest of the team inside.

There's only one lit room, a single square room right in the middle of the building, complete with a table and a large dark screen. The team files in to pick up a registration phone each. Next to each phone is a long, red matchbox. Hiyori picks theirs up, sliding it open. There's only eight matches rolling around inside.

With the last person registered, the familiar voice begins to speak.

"Game difficulty, 10 of clubs, Bingo in a Match Factory." The voice continues, trailing off rules. There's a beat of silence after the 'lose' condition, then the voice adds: "Lose condition added: use of outside light sources is strictly prohibited and cause for immediate elimination."

Hiyori's hand flits quickly to their pocket, over the familiar weight of the lighter. In their periphery, they see embarrassment and annoyance flicker across a couple other players' expressions. They spy the shape of a small flashlight in one man's pocket, then they glance up to watch a couple female players quickly yank off their neon glow stick jewellery and toss them into a pile onto the table.

Glancing around their group, their gaze sets on the new girl they hadn't noticed was placed on their team. They stroll over to stand next to her.

"Hey, you're one of the new ones, right?" Hiyori says, smiling easily. The girl seems surprised and the way she shifts leans towards discomfort. It doesn't bother them much, she's new and the Beach is so strange a place that it'd be common sense to not trust anyone from inside its walls. Still, they offer their unbandaged hand in greeting. "It's a clubs game, so how about we all work together? I'm Hiyori. What's your name?"

Slowly, the girl takes it, shaking their hand: "Usagi."

"Nice to meet you," They say, releasing her hand.

Tossing the box of matches and catching it, they sway their weight from foot to foot as they turn the game over in their head.

"24 rooms with 10 players, each with 8 matches," they muse thoughtfully, "To find all the numbers, we've all got to find 1 number in at least 2 rooms each, but a bingo only requires five numbers. Either way, we should split up and try not use more than 3 matches per room."