A Reason For Living [Alice In Borderland Story]

"What's your reason?" I asked, gulping down the lump forming in my throat at meeting his dark brown gaze, mentally cursing those eyes that were the bane of my existence.

The ever elusive man named Chishiya Shuntaro, who blurred the line of ally and enemy for me, turned to face me completely, amusement and curiosity barely changing his neutral expression that conveyed his question to me without speaking the words.

"For living. Everyone in this world has it. They wouldn't still be here fighting in these games if they didn't..."

Chishiya took a few steps forward, eventually coming to stand in front of me, but I dared not step back. He intimidated me for far too long for me to want to run away again. Here and now, I wasn't moving until I knew why he still stood before me. For a man as cold, calculating, and callous as him, he, too, had a reason why he was still drawing breath, and it equally intrigued yet terrified me to know why.

His eyes flickered from mine to give my entire being the overlook, making me feel smaller than I already was, with the amusement becoming clear in his face as he met my eyes once more, like Chishiya again read through me, which made me feel so exposed.

"What's YOUR reason?"

I was too scared to move once he shot my own question back at me. Nothing else existed once that piercing gaze of his held me captive. He didn't blink, didn't move, staying just as still to keep me there, so I had to swallow it all down, taking a deep breath to fight back against his spell to stay in control and not become another pawn in his game. "I don't need a reason."
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People had reasons to live. She knew that, for experience had taught her, no one was alive without one. She didn't trust anyone who said otherwise, and in a twisted world of survival and betrayal, Hanako Sumeragi was to be tested against her own morals and figure out who was truly on her side and who wanted her dead, all while understanding that not every reason was as black and white.