Chishiya

'Spades,' I said. A minute passed and nothing happened until the door clicked open again and the next round started.

I left the room and looked to the left and right, seeing everyone leave their cell but one person: the muscular dude. I slowly walked over to the cell door that stayed closed and looked through the peeking hole. There he was, laying on the ground, headless. So the collars exploded. Fun.

I walked to the place Ippei and me met and found him, pacing around like a caged animal. 'Are you okay?' I asked out of politeness.

'I am scared. Why is someone dead right after the first round? Have you seen anything? Who told that person his suit and lied to him?' Ippei blurted out. He started to hyperventilate and I motioned for him to sit down for a while. While I patted his back and shushed him, he calmed down.

'Are you feeling better?' I asked.

'I'm okay, thanks... I used to have panick attacks in the real world. Since I came here, my body went into survival mode. I didn't have any, but that's only because I felt too much fear to have time to have one, I guess... Now that I found a partner in this game, maybe my body finally found the time to release all the stress...?' he explained.

I thought about what he said and questioned whether that was a medical correct explanation, but I didn't care too much to think about it properly. 'I see... That's normal. Don't worry, it's going to be okay. It will all be over soon,' I reassured him.

'Okay,' he hesitated and thought deeply for a moment. 'What do you think about the first round...?' he asked.

'I don't think the person who told him his symbol is the traitor. I think the traitor just used him to mess with the game,' I reasoned.

'Ooh... You are so smart,' Ippei smiled.

'Maybe that's because I'm the traitor,' I winked at him.

Ippei looked shocked.

'Just joking. I'm not him, sadly,' I mumbled the last word by myself. 'So, what's my symbol this time, Ippei?' I asked while showing him my collar.

'It's diamonds!' Ippei smiled.

'Thanks. Let me tell you yours. Ah, it's diamonds as well!' I said.

'Can we eat something together, Chishiya? I don't want to be alone for the time remaining,' Ippei asked me.

I nodded and led him to the cellar. We sat down at the same table as during the previous round and ate cookies from the same package while listening to the table next to us' conversation.

Niragi

The King of Spades was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to play it safe and stay on the rooftops for a while. Here, I had the best view so that was the most clever idea. I put the watergun back in my backpack and started climbing and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, towards the big Queen-of-Diamonds zeppelin.

As I came closer, I descended the fire staircase of the rooftop I was on to inspect the Queen of Diamonds game area. It had been a casino, before Borderland. A woman dressed in red was standing at the entrance, her make-up perfectly done, lingering at me with her elegant hands. She wore a golden ring with a red, sharp looking diamond. I tried ignoring her as I walked past her, but she kept staring at me.

'Aren't you going to join me in my game?' she purred at me.

I glared at her and gave her a grin. 'Your game? Are you the Queen of Diamonds?' I asked her.

She smiled. 'It'll be fun if you like a challenge,' she said. My excitement grew, but I had to focus on finding Chishiya.

'So your game hasn't started yet?' I tried to find out whether he was here or not.

'Who will tell? Maybe it has, but I'll make an exception for a pretty boy like you and let you in anyway...' she came closer to me, walking like a cat on her red, high heels. She laid her arms around my neck and I could feel her breath on my cheek. She waited for an answer.

Looking over her shoulder, I tried to see inside the building, but I couldn't see anyone.

Chishiya

I turned my head with my ear towards them so I could overhear their conversation.

'That big guy is so dead, hihi!' the girl in blue giggled. 'I saw him talking to Yuri earlier. Maybe he's the traitor. We have to eliminate him too, just to be sure,' I heard her whisper to the older lady. She had a frightened look on her face and looked over to the other side of the table, where Yuri was drinking tea. Then, she almost invisibly nodded.

Apparently, their partnership crumbled as fast as it came. But I wasn't sad about it. As long as I had Ippei, I was happy that they killed each other. It just made it easier for me to reveal the traitor.

'Fear makes humans so crazy,' I mumbled to Ippei as I looked at him. He was biting the rims of his fingernails, a habit that revealed his anxiety.

'Why are they lying to each other?!' Ippei yelled-whispered. 'I'm going to tell Yuri his true symbol!' he confidently announced.

I laid my hand on his shoulder to stop him: 'wait. Don't do that. It's not your fault that they're killing him. It'll only end the game sooner if you let them. We have each other, so we're safe. It's just the two of us. It will be over soon.'

He gave me an uncertain smile. 'Okay...' he said and sat down again, his eyes watery. He sniffed one time and sat in silence for ten minutes, staring in front of him.

'Take a rest now. It'll make you feel better,' I told him while smiling.

He sat down for another three minutes before abruptly standing up. 'Okay... Goodbye, Chishiya' he said in a monotonous voice. It sounded like a permanent goodbye. Was he going to make an end to it himself...?

'See you at the next round!' I smiled. 'Yeah!' he said and he walked away from me. I turned back to the other table, right in time to hear the women tell Yuri a wrong symbol. This was going to be an intersting round.

Niragi

'Maybe another time, darling,' I said as I gently pushed her away from me.

As one of her arms grabbed tighter around me, the other one reached under her dress to reveal a glimmering knife that she pressed against my neck.

'Are you sure?' she hissed.

'Woah, easy...' I said as calm as possible while trying to grab her hand. 'You don't want any trouble with me...' I warned her.

She laughed like a chicken: 'ha ha ha! Do you know who you are talking to? I am a Citizen of Borderland! You are just a stupid Player!'

I wasn't fit enough to be in another fight right now, but I couldn't get away. So I tried to use my verbal skills to free myself.

'You know, I was just on my way to a friend of mine. I am sure he would enjoy the game as well! It would be a pity if he missed out on this, because he's very smart and lóves diamonds games!' I bluffed. Okay, I was looking for Chishiya. But no way I would come back here after I found him.

Her eyes glimmered. 'Really? That's interesting. But how do I know for sure that you won't run away?' she smirked.

'I promise you I will come back with him,' I said.

'Good boy. I know you won't lie to me. Now go and find him!' she smiled again and pressed her ring against my neck. It stung, like she stabbed me. 'Now I'll find you everywhere. Ha ha ha...' she let me go and put the knife where it came from. Not really knowing what she meant with her last words, I ran.

After I ran a couple of blocks away from the Queen of Diamonds, I grabbed the walkie talkie and searched for channel three. I sat down on a bench and sighed. 'Chishiya, are you there?' I asked. Nothing. 'It's Niragi. If you hear me, answer me. Are you there?'

Chishiya

'Tell me your symbol,' the voice commanded through the intercom while I was standing in the middle of the same cell as one hour ago.

'It's diamonds,' I confidently announced. Once again, I heard a loud bang and after that, a soft click while the door opened.

Yuri's lifeless body was laying two cells next to mine. The girl in blue had an evil smile on her face. But the game wasn't over yet. What meant that Yuri wasn't the traitor. What a surprise. I rolled my eyes. The next thing I thought of was Ippei. I had to check whether he was still alive! I walked down the cellblocks, hands in my pockets, and looked for the cell he was in. I found him sitting in the corner of it, rolled up like a little ball with his head on his knees.

'Ippei...' I mumbled while sitting down next to him. 'Are you allright?'

'I... is Yuri... dead? I am so afraid...' he silently cried.

I sighed and nodded. 'I know. But it's the two of us, okay? We'll make it out. Trust me. It will be over soon,' I promised him.

'U-huh. I trust you. You and me. It's the only thing that keeps me alive,' he sniffed.

I nodded and smiled at him. 'I think I'm going to the cellar. If you need me, just come and find me, okay?'

'Okay,' he replied and gave me a little sad smile.

I stood up and walked out, through the hallway, as I heard something coming out of my pocket I'd never expect to hear. I quickly went into a cell, closed the door and took the source of the sound out of my pocket...

Niragi

'Niragi?' the walkie blurted out. I almost could not believe it. 'Yes, Shiya? It is me! Where are you?!' I almost screamed. I desperately looked around for him while I grabbed onto the walkie like it was the only thing that mattered. I laughed like a madmam, so happy was I to hear his voice.

'I am in a prison, playing a game.' My happiness dissapeared.

'A... game? In a prison?' I asked. 'Are you allright? What is the game about?'

'Yes I am. It's a hearts game...' he sighed. 'But I'm doing fine. I'm working together with a boy whose super scared, but he helps...' I heard him putting his hand over the walkie and mumbling something. Who was there with him?

'Who are you talking to?' I asked.

'No one. I got to go. Try to find the prison. We'll talk in fourty-five minutes, okay?' he said before turning off his device. I watched the sun. 'Okay...'

So I stood up, walked towards a metro station to look for a city map and found the prison on it. It wasn't that far away, obviously. So I took a quick run to it and placed myself against one of its walls, behind some bushes to be out of sight.

As I sat down, I touched my painful neck. I followed the contours of the small wound the queen made with her ring. As I put some pressure on it, I felt a little bulge. It felt like she put something in there. What could it be, a tracker? Wasn't that impossible in a world where almost no electronics worked?

I watched the sun again. Fourty-five minutes almost passed, I guessed. Telling the time by the sun was something I learned from survival games on my computer.

I grabbed my walkie talkie again and searched for channel three. I waited for some seconds and talked: 'Chishiya, are you there?'

He replied with just one sentence: 'he told it the wrong symbol on purpose.'

[End of part two]

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Hi y'all! First of all, I want to apologize for the long waiting time! My life has been so busy and I never find the time to write, but I'm excited to present you this chapter! I'm also very excited to see that two translators are working on a translation for my book in their language. It makes me so happy that others are as passionate about this story as I am! Stay put for the next part and don't forget to vote and comment.

Photo from the Alice in Borderland series on Netflix