Chishiya

I was sitting on an empty table, taking little nibs of some vegetables and listening to my IPod when Kuina approached me with a platter. On it, there was a bowl and two brownies. 'Good evening, Chishiya!' she smiled while taking a little candle out of her pocket and lighting it with a lighter.
I frowned at her while she put it on one of the brownies. When she shoved the candled brownie to me, I asked her what her intentions were.
'Don't you know? It's gonna be your 40th game tonight! That calls for a celebration!' she smiled. She is always so optimistic. At least, more optimistic then me.

I smirked and ate my bowl before taking the brownie and dramatically blowing out the candle. 'Let's hope it's going to be a fun one,' I said sarcastically. 'Because I have enough going on outside the games...' I sighed.
Kuina looked at me with a worried face, but she knew I wouldn't explain myself more.
'Okay, I see you tomorrow. Thanks for the treat,' I said and I stood up to prepare myself for the game of tonight.

I ran to my room to fetch a warmer hoody and running shoes. In this world, the nights were way colder than I remembered. When I opened the door to start my walk to the nearest game arena, An was standing on the other side of the hallway. 'Hatter asked me to inform you about the car that is waiting to take you to an assigned game.'

I smiled politely at her: 'sorry An, but I walk to my games.'

She turned around and beckoned me to follow her. 'Hatter explicitely told me you need to take the car instead of going to a game of choice. Follow me, I'll show you where you have to go,' she said calmly.

I rolled with my eyes and followed her to the car. I got inside of it without looking who the other players for tonight were and put on my earbuds. I waved sarcastically at An when we drove away and started to concentrate on the landscape that moved before my eyes.

The Tokyo of my memories was so different from this one. Though I didn't know which one I preffered. In the 'real world', there were a lot of people who all thought they were the main character of the bigger picture. In facts, even my parents did. That's why I wasn't important for them, I guess... Especially my father. He thought that he was saving the world everyday by being a doctor. He lived for it. But all he did was breaking his sons world. Bit by bit. I was so curious to find something to live for myself. That's why I wanted to become a doctor too. But I never felt it. Lives are worthless to me, including my own one. Now that I am here, this grade I worked for my whole life is worthless, but my knowledge and carelessness do help me a lot in the games. I see the irony of it all now. But maybe I can soon discover something worth living for...

My thoughts got interrupted by the car that brutally stopped. The person in the seat in front of me turned around and laughed: 'we arrived! Time for some fun!' It was Niragi.
I rolled with my eyes and thought: 'what a fun surprise for my 40th game anniversary...'

Niragi

'Come on, let's win this and celebrate tonight!' I yelled in enthousiasm.
My two teammates from the militant squad that were in the car cheered and Chishiya rolled with his eyes and sighed. So typical of him.

I jumped out of the car and slammed the door. My squad followed me and I confidently walked to the entrance of the game arena, rifle dangling around my shoulder.

A few metres behind, Chishiya followed in our wake. I was so happy when Hatter and Aguni agreed on my deal: I would behave better if he let me play with Chishiya tonight.

The game arena was a kind of police office. 'I am so excited to find out what kind of game it will be! I hope I can shoot things...' I yapped while we logged into the phones. 'Whatever it will be, I will beat everyone in here!' I laughed.

Chishiya took the last one: this was a game for eight persons in total.

'Registration closed. Welcome, players.

This game is called 'truth or die'.

Level: seven of hearts.

Players will have to pair up in teams of two and choose a door. One of the players of each team goes into the first room, the other one goes into the next. More instructions will follow soon.

Time limit: 15 minutes.

The game starts when all the players are seated.'

Everyone stood still for a moment. 'A hearts game...' I heard people gasp.
I wasn't prepared for this myself, but I had survived more games. No need to panick directly. People teamed up very quickly and even my two militants took a step closer to each other without giving me a look. The fuckers. Chishiya looked around for someone else to play with, but our eyes cought each other and saw that we were the only two left. I saw the corners of Chishiya's mouth fall down but I put on a bright smile.

Chishiya

'Are they trying to test me?' I asked myself furiously. I didn't want to play this game at all with Niragi. But this was the only option, so I had to do it with him. I sighed and nodded at him.

He wooshed away to the nearest door and held it open for me.

'I can open a door myself, too,' I said.

Niragi frowned and stuck out his tongue at me to show him his glittering piercing. For one second, images of our so-called 'kiss' flashed before my eyes. I shaked them off and walked in.

The room was not big. Maybe three metres wide and two long. On the wall facing us, there was a big mirror covering the whole surface of it. There was one single chair and a bright LED lighted the place.

'So, who is going to which chamber? We don't know yet what's expected from us, so it's difficult to decide...' I reasoned while approaching the mirror to inspect it.

Niragi closed the door. I saw him walking towards the chair in the reflection of the mirror. This reminded me way too much of another certain moment...

He sat down and swung one leg over the armrest. 'I don't know. As I remember from tv series, this looks like an interrogation room or something. Maybe we will have to interrogate someone? It would be fun beating that person to death if he doesn't answer,' he chuckled.

I gave him a cocky look.

'I'll stay here to do that! You go to the next room!' he commanded and I agreed.

Without saying another word, I walked to the next chamber and closed the door. I heard a 'click' which indicated that it was locked now. The room was identical to the previous one, but mirrored. And there was a table with a microphone on it. I sat down and waited.

'All players are seated. The game will commance soon.'

The light in the room dimmed and I saw Niragi in front of me. The mirror was actually a glass window. But the look on Niragi's face betrayed that he wasn't able to look back at me: it was a one-way window. He sat straight up and I could see a whiff of nervousness in his eyes. Two metal cuffs came out of the armrests of Niragi's chair and a metal necklace came out of the headrest to lock Niragi's body in place. The nervousness in his eyes became more obvious.

'Welcome to the game 'truth or die'. The next 15 minutes, players will be revealing their biggest and most embarrasing secret. Players in the second room are the interrogators. They will ask yes-or-no-questions to find out the questioned's secret. Players in the first room can only answer with yes or no. The lying detector that's build in the chair will tell if they speak the truth. If a player doesn't answer or says something else, they receive an electric shock. The shock gets worse when time passes. If the interrogator can't find the secret within 15 minutes, it's game over for both players. Time starts now.'

Niragi

'What!?' I thought to myself, 'why did I even sit down here? I... I can't tell anyone in Borderland about my past in the 'real world'! Especially not Chishiya! What the fuck?' I let out a hiccup.

'Uh... Niragi? Can you hear me?' I heard Chishiya's voice through the speaker.

'Y... Yes,' I whispered. If anyone here finds out about how I was bullied in the 'real world', everyone at the Beach will look down on me. My cool image will be dead in seconds and everything I have worked for so hard here will be destroyed. Fucking hell...

'Let's play, shall we? Is your secret something from before the Borderlands?' He really just started this without hesitating or discussing our tactic!

'N... no,' I whispered. An electric shock spread through my whole body and I let out a scream of pain. 'I will not tell him my embarrasing secret ever,' I thought to myself.

'So the answer is yes,' Chishiya concluded through the speaker. 'If you don't cooperate, this is going to be a very long game,' he smirked.

[End of chapter nine]

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Hii! I hope you enjoyed part one of this chapter and are looking forward to reading more! Comments and votes are appreciated!

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