The Cycle Continues: Alice in Borderland Novel

53) Jack of Hearts [3]

"I suppose I thought that I'd be different, that I'd be the exception, not the rule. Oh, how foolish I was to be so naive."

===Zakū Raisunei===

Charī Kasutoro... Now deceased.

Two minutes on the clock. I blinked hard, swallowing a mouthful of saliva down a throat of what felt like razor blades. "Please," I croaked, "for the sake of my late friend, can we all try to work together?"

Banda tilted his head, corners of his mouth pulling into a slight grin.

"I wish!" Ryoko said. "But we can't unless we have a scapegoat! Still, no one wants to die, no matter how much each of us might preach cooperation!"

"Shit, okay." The businessman muttered. "Is... Is anyone willing to take on the role of scapegoat this round?"

Silence. We all shared glances. After ten agonizing seconds, the actor raised a slow, shaking arm. His face was red and he faced downwards.

"I'll do it."

Five votes went to him instantly.

"Thank you!" Ikari said.

"Thanks!"

"Holy shit thank you! I–"

"Just talk!" He screamed, so loud his veins bulged. "Don't waste anymore time!"

"Does anyone have any ideas?" The businessman asked.

'Okay... Let's do what I always do to ground my mind.' With that, my mind cleared, as if pushing aside a table full of junk, and a faint visualization of a blank list came into mind. Here are the facts: Banda's criteria is definitely against pandering, lying, and playing up one's abilities–and it may be against sugar coating or fluff, and pity stories. Banda's criteria is for courage, concise pleads, and above all else, ideals.

However, through everything, therein laid a massive issue.

My three seconds of thinking ended, and I lifted my head. "But wait. Guys, we have to be careful. It's clear Banda wants our pleads to be authentic and come from the heart. As much as we can cooperate, if it seems like we're just purposefully working together to try and engineer the perfect response, nothing will come across as genuine and Banda might not accept any of our responses."

My observation earned a chuckle from Banda. Bingo.

"So then how can we cooperate?" Ikari asked. "You were just preaching this two seconds ago!"

"We use the newfound silence to think carefully!" The businessman said. "Think and strategize! Of course he knows that we aren't going to be a hundred percent ingenuous with our responses! We just have to not violate any of the criteria on his list!"

"What if some of the criteria is colluding?" The actor asked.

"Shit..." Ikari mumbled.

I turned to the influencer. "Hey, you've been mighty quiet all game. You got any ideas?"

She snapped back to reality, her face going from stoic to suddenly full of emotion before the others processed my question. "Oh! I... I don't know! I'm so scared of going up there... I guess we all are. It's hard to think!"

"What ideas do you have?" Ikari asked.

"Anything is better than something!" The businessman said.

Ten seconds left.

"Uhh... Okay! Uh... I think we need to be authentic but also not talk too much! Have strong ideals!"

"Alright... Better than nothing..." The actor mumbled. "Um... Sir, if I may begin?"