Niragi

'So in order to be able to target the Queen of Hearts, we have to bring one of these trackers close enough to her location?' Chishiya asked as I jumped off the bottom rung of the ladder.

I nodded as I turned the tracker around between my fingers and put it away in the front pocket of my pants.

He looked at me with an absent look, as if he was thinking deeply. Then he said: 'and what are you planning to do in order to kill her?'

'A bomb, maybe?' I giggled while I adjusted the strap of the backpack I was wearing. 'I think it'll be a fucking pretty sight to see her skyscraper go down in flames with a bomb!'

Chishiya made a concerned face, like he was pondering about something important. What could possibly be more important than killing the Queen with grandeur? That was the only way to become Kings of Borderland!

But all of a sudden, he shook his head firmly, as if to shake off his thoughts, smiled and said: 'let's not waste any more time, than. Shall we?'

The plan was to go scouting a bit to inspect the playing field for the last fights against the face cards. Chishiya had told me that some of the people from back at the Beach were planning on fighting the King of Spades together, and that Kuina had asked him to join them. I wasn't very fond of that idea, but at least it gave us the opportunity to see Arisu and plant that tracker in his neck. Kuina had told us that they were meeting some blocks away from here. They were planning on setting up some traps there and leading the King towards them to have the advantage of their own terrain. I must admit that that was a smart move for such dumbasses...

Chishiya

Kuina's words echoed in my head as we walked in silence: 'you will have to do something very big before I can forgive you.' Killing Arisu and Usagi by bombing the Queen of Hearts while they were with her was probably not what she meant by that. Therefor I was determined to make Niragi change his mind about the bombing.

All of a sudden, Niragi took me out of my pondering by tapping my shoulder and beckoning me to hide with him. We quickly went to the side of the road and hid behind a dumpster. I listened carefully while Niragi peeked over it to see who was coming.

It was Arisu and Aguni. They were in a heated conversation so they didn't notice us at all. Funny enough, the conversation was about us...

Arisu yapped: 'are they crazy? Niragi nearly killed her during the King of Clubs game!'

I frowned at Niragi and he shrugged while he pouted his lips. He looked at me, eyes asking for forgiveness for what he had done. He probably didn't regret it, he just wanted my approval.

Aguni answered calmly: 'and maybe that's just why he is a good ally against the King of Spades. We need some more real men to clear this job, Arisu. The King of Spades won't be won with a simple trick. It will need brute power, like Niragi has.'

Niragi's mouth made a big grin.

'Are you trying to insult me by not calling me a real man, Aguni?' Arisu replied.

'I understand that you are trying to protect your girl...' Aguni clearly tried to shift the conversation to another topic.

Arisu interrupted him: 'if I see him, I'll show him what my brute power tastes like!'

Aguni tried to oppress a smile: 'calm down, kid. We all have loved ones here. That's why we need every hand in this fight.'

At that moment, Niragi's grin turned into a loud laugh and Aguni and Arisu abruptly stopped their conversation.

'Speaking of the devil...' Aguni said after a short moment of silence.
We both came out of our hiding spot, grinning unapologetically.
But while I waved at them and wanted to say hi, Niragi walked straight up to Arisu.

Niragi

I walked up to Arisu to teach him another fucking lesson. He wanted to show me his power? He could. Ha ha ha. I grabbed him by his collar and pressed him against the wall of the opposite building.

Inching my face close to his, I grinned at him and said: 'well, well. Still didn't learn to not talk bad behind my back? Didn't you learn your lesson? Always a lot of talking. But acting? That's something different for you, huh?'

Chishiya whispered: 'Niragi...'

In the corner of my eye, I saw that he tried to approach us, but Aguni stopped him: 'this is something between them.'

Arisu moaned: 'you... you should be a bit more like me... in that regard. You always only act without talking things through. And more important, without... thinking.'

'Well, about that... I háve been thinking. Thinking about playing a game together with you. It's called: whoever shoots the other one first wins!' I laughed while smacking him on the ground.

He tried pushing himself up with a pained moan.

'Enough,' a voice called from behind me. It was Usagi. 'Now that we are all here, we can start preparing ourselves for this fight. The sooner it is over, the sooner we can part ways. Then I will never have to see that face of yours again,' she spoke. Behind her, Kuina stepped in the light.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then, Aguni took the opportunity and decided: 'let's have a walk around the area to inspect it and find a good place to talk through our plan, shall we?'

Some hours later, we sat in a circle on the ground of an abandoned garage. Arisu had pulled out a map and was pointing at crosses he had drawn to indicate where we could best confront the King of Spades. He was talking over the plan and Usagi sometimes filled in with some more information on how we'd do things. I wasn't listening that well though. I didn't need teamwork, I'd just do my thing when it was the right time.

Both my thoughts and my eyes drifted towards Chishiya. He had a worried expression on his face, just like he had some hours ago when we talked about blowing up the Queen of Hearts. Following his eyes, I saw that he was looking at Kuina's hands, which were playing with a cigarette stump.

'Is everything clear?' Arisu asked with a raised voice. Chishiya snapped out of his pondering and looked up at Arisu, trying to cover that he didn't completely hear the plan. He nodded, just like I did.

Aguni jumped up first and everyone followed. Than he commanded: 'okay, let's move then! We now split up, like we talked about. I go with Usagi to set up the traps. Chishiya and Kuina are keeping watch to inform us when the King of Spades comes, and to shoot him from there, later. Niragi and Arisu will lure him to us.'

Great.

Arisu hugged Usagi and whispered something in her ear I couldn't hear. Kuina was already waiting for Chishiya near the exit. He stood up and nodded at her before turning towards me. I locked eyes with him and took a step closer, but he stepped back. 'I will see you soon,' he said silently. I nodded. Why was he acting so weird? So distant?

When everyone else was gone, Arisu and me started towards the roof. We located the King of Spades' zeppelin some blocks away and descended the stairs again to find him. Arisu looked nervous. He was sneaking and constantly looking around as if someone could jump scare us any moment, while I roamed the street like I owned this goddamn world already.

I chuckled: 'after all this fucking time in Borderland, I would think that u'd be used to it. But no, you are still afraid as a dumb rabbit. Scared that you'll be cought by your nightmares?'

He gave me a dirty look but said nothing.

I sniffed: 'lost your tongue, Arisu? Shall I check if it is still there?' I approached him and grabbed his arms. I licked his cheek and grinned: 'I still have mine...'

'You are crazy,' Arisu gasped. He tried to push me away and whispered: 'leave me alone. What do you want me to talk about anyways? I have nothing to say to you.'

'You don't know me,' I grumbled as I let go of him before we walked in silence again. I tried to think of an excuse to smack him in the face as the shadow of the zeppelin above our heads descended upon us. We were close.

We hid near some parked cars as Arisu pointed out the Kings location. I peeked through a car window and saw the King of Spades. He was clothed in a black cloack and had a black mask that covered his whole face, but his eyes. Two M17's hung in his belt and a M60 was swinging around his shoulders. He was standing on top of a chest with ammo and was looking at some people in the distance that ran around in panic. Then, he grabbed one of his guns, aimed and shot them one after the other without missing a single head shot. Impressive. Arisu gasped in despair.

I made use of the situation and decided that it was time. Time for some delicious chaos. 'Hey you! Want another head to practise on?' I yelled before I pushed Arisu out in the open for the King of Spades to see and took a run. Arisu hit the ground while he cursed me but he quickly scrambled to his feet to start chasing after me. The King came after us as well.

Being rained over by rapid gunfire, we ran from one hiding place to another, in the direction of our teammembers. Arisu overtook me and grabbed me by my hair. He pulled me back and made me trip. We both fell behind a dumpster, out of sight for the King of Spades.

Arisu threw himself on me and sat straight to give me a few blows. I laughed as his fist hit my cheek. Then, I grabbed his wrists and struggled to get on top of him. I beat him on his nose and laughed loudly. I let go of him and he covered his nose with his hand when his eyes got big. Looking up behind me to see what he was staring at, I saw the King of Spades standing on top of the dumpster, his gun aiming at us.

In a panic, I pushed my legs back to give the dumpster a kick and I scrambled on my feet. The dumster rolled some metres away and the King lost his balance for just as long for me to start running again. Arisu cought up as well.

Being some metres ahead of the King, I stopped running and pushed Arisu against another car. He braced himself and tried to throw punches again. I grabbed both his hands in one hand and plucked the tracker out of my pocket. I looked at the shimmering metal and saw the confusion in his eyes. I lifted it into the air before I planted it in his neck with force. A little trickle of blood left his neck. He doubled over and grunted: 'what the hell did you do? What was that?'

I couldn't give him an answer; the King of Spades was right behind us again. I jumped into an ally on the opposite of the street. Arisu ran after me, panting. He tried to grab me again to continue our fight. But the King of Spades was nearing us fast.

Chishiya

Standing on the roof of a high building, Kuina and me had a clear view over a big part of Tokyo. We watched in silence how the zeppelin came towards us. Meanwhile, I thought deeply about a way to be on a good page with Kuina again.

After a while, I broke the silence: 'Kuina, I am trying my best to make it up to you and I am sure I will eventually. That is, if I have enough time left. Therefor, can you do me a favor?'

She looked at me with a curious glance in her eyes and nodded slowly.

I whispered: 'whatever comes next, promise me that you will not join the last fight, with the Queen of Hearts. And if you really care for them that much, tell Usagi that they need to leave before the end of the game. Tell her to run as far away as possible and hide. Don't tell her it comes from me. Otherwise, she will never take it seriously.'

'Why would I take it seriously? You don't even tell me why I need to do this for you...' she said while chewing on a popsickle stick she just found.

'Just do it, Kuina. I know what I'm doing, but it can only succeed when you and your... friends do exactly as I say,' I tried to convince her.

She looked away, towards the horizon. So did I. I really hoped that she would just listen to me. As the zeppelin neared, Arisu and Niragi came into sight. They ran and hid behind cars and other obstacles and... I leaned over the railing to have a closer look and saw... that they were fighting? Kuina rubbed her eyes in disbelief while I tried to think of something to say.

She gasped: 'what the fuck are they doing? Chishiya, if Niragi is here to ruin our plan...'

I sighed. I knew that Niragi had his own agenda; it had always been difficult for him to form a team and stick to somebody elses plan. Knowing his past, I could definitly see where that came from. But no one else needed to know that. Wanting to defend him, I said dryly: 'I have no idea what they are doing, Kuina. He told me he was up to join us, no jokes. Do not assume that there is only evil in him.'

'After what he's done to Usagi, it is difficult to not assume that...' Kuina said, her arms crossed.

I sighed: 'sorry, Kuina. I will make sure he doesn't boycot the plan. I am trying to make it up to you, remember...?'

She nodded but also rolled her eyes.

'Let us just get on with our job in the plan,' I concluded and gave her a glance before I ran to the other side of the building to inform Aguni and Usagi that they were coming and to prepare for the fight. Kuina crossed her arms in protest for a moment, but recollected herself and placed herself by my side.

Niragi and Arisu neared fast; we almost had the King of Spades where we wanted him. Usagi and Aguni took their places on both sides of the ally where the King would be coming through while me and Kuina readied our rifles from above.

Niragi

I ran as if my life depended on it, chased by both Arisu and the King of Spades. I was sure they would both as much like to kill me. But I was determined to be first with killing them both. I ran around the last building we marked, towards the ally where Aguni and that bitch were hiding to catch him.

As the King came through, Aguni jumped out of his hiding spot, onto the King of Spades' back. In surprise, the last one fired some bullets but Arisu and me jumped out of the way for shelter. Aguni tried to strangle him while Usagi came out and fired her gun. The King of Spades got shot in his leg and his side, but he kept standing and threw Aguni off. Usagi kicked him some times, but he grabbed her hair and threw her on the ground. She bumped into a piece of glass from a broken window. In pain, she reached for her bleeding leg.

Arisu ran over to her and took her in his arms while the King of Spades turned towards me. I grinned and stuck my tongue out to him: 'come and catch me!'

I ran away, further into the alley. There was a pile of trash with a strategically placed cloth over it, which I nimbly jumped over. I landed on a mattress and lay there for a moment, hoping the King would come after me. And yes, he did. He ran through the alley at a great speed, not paying attention to his surroundings but focused on only me. When he stepped on the cloth to catch me, his left foot and legs were impaled by the sharp sticks that Usagi and Aguni had placed earlier.

He growled, raged by fury. He pulled the sticks out and threw them away with force, like they were toothpicks. He cracked his knuckles and stomped to me. I readied myself.

When he stood right in front of me, his grin faded and turned into a gasp. His black tank top colored even darker. He turned around and revealed the gaping wound in his shoulder. On top of the building in front of me, Chishiya waved at me with a rifle in his hand before he hid behind the railing again.

The King turned back around and slammed me in the face unexpectedly. I took the blow before I kicked him in his guts. He grabbed my foot and wanted to throw me away, when Aguni came back in action and jumped on the King once more.

That gave me some time to look around for a moment. Above us, Chishiya and Kuina fired their rifles to try and kill the King. But he seemed to be made of steel. In the background, I saw Arisu caressing Usagi's hair.

'Hey, loser! Don't you need to do something more important then petting your bitch?' I called. He looked up at me, his face thundering.

I walked towards him to get him to fight with us, but he didn't move a bit. So I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him on the ground next to Usagi saying: 'if you aren't gonna do anything fucking useful, you better make yourself comfortable, right? Sit down and relax, loser.'

I turned back to the two fighting men, grabbed one of the bloodied sticks and prepared to smash it inside of the Kings torso.

Then, I turned around by the sound of Chishiya's voice, yelling: 'everyone, duck!' right before he threw one of his makeshift bombs down on us.

I hid for shelter behind the nearest bin and Aguni threw himself off the King, behind the mattress and rubbish. The bomb landed on the King of Spades and exploded with a loud bang.

I lay down on my back on the concrete and looked up at the blue sky. After the dust from the explosion had settled, I saw Chishiya, smiling at me from the top of the building above us. My own laugh sounded even louder in my ears than the bomb. This was a damn nice foretaste of how the Queen of Hearts would blow up in the air soon... In my head, I imagined Chishiya and me standing on top of the highest building of Borderland, surrounded by nothing but the city we could soon call ours.

[End of chapter forty]

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Hi! Woah, a lot happened since my last time writing: I bought a house, I wrote a physical short story that's going to be published in March and I'm busy brewing on yet another story to be published! But I didn't forget about 'Game of Hearts' in all this time, so I wrote again and made it extra long, just for y'all! I hope y'all are happy that I published after such a long break. I will definitly not wait as long for the next chapter... I hope you enjoyed reading this part. Don't be shy to vote and comment, it really motivates me to go on! Love, Midnightwritings.

Photo from the Alice in Borderland series on Netflix