Niragi

About an hour after he left, Chishiya came back in with a depressed face.

'Are you okay?' I asked worried.

He picked himself up quickly: 'uhm... yes, it's all right. How have you been? Did the painkiller work? Did you take some rest?'

He tossed the bag in the corner of the room, ran towards my bed and kneeled on the ground, taking my hand in his. He had a new bruise on his left cheek and two near his neck, but I ignored it and nodded as a reply on all of his questions.

'I found a laptop!' his face cleared up.

I excitedly uprighted myself and felt a sharp pain in my side: 'argh... That's great!' I smiled.

He continued: 'I also thought of the next step. Wanna hear it?'

'Of course' I replied as I nonchalantly played with his hand between my fingers.

He looked at it while he talked: 'so we will go to the Queen of Diamonds together. While I protect you in the game, you can secretly use the electricity to hack into the laptop and make your program. I'll distract the Queen as long as you need me to...'

I brought his fingers towards my mouth and sucked on his index finger. He stopped talking and watched the scene mesmerized.

'I could use some distraction too...' I grinned. He leaned forward to kiss my lips. I put my hand on his left cheek. He cringed a bit because of the painful bruise, but picked himself up quickly.

I slid my tongue piercing over his lower lip as he shivered. He opened his mouth and my tongue met his. I intensified the kiss as my hands rose and my fingers tightened in his blond locks.

After a while, he closed his mouth, pulled back with a smile and cleared his throat. 'Niragi... We need to focus. And you need to heal a bit more before...' his eyes shifted towards my crotch and back up to imply what he meant. I grunted and sat back.

'I also brought us some food on the way back. Let's rest and eat. Let's stay one more night before confronting the Queen' he said. I nodded as he crawled in the bed with me.

He sat with his back against the headboard. I laid on his chest and his arm laid around me. It felt good.

'Close your eyes and rest some more, Niragi. I'll keep watch' he whispered. And I closed my eyes to fall into a deep sleep.

Chishiya

The light shone throught the window again. It had been a long night and I could barely stay awake. I was tired, but Niragi needed the sleep more than I did. I stood up as silently as I could, grabbed the bag, zipped it open and found the freeze-dried noodles and beans. I hoped that the stove would work. Then we could have a hot meal again.

'I am right back' I whispered and went downstairs to find the kitchen. Bingo: it was a gas stove and there was still some gas left. I searched for a little pot, poured some water in it and waited for it to boil. I heard stumbling on the staircase and looked behind me to find Niragi, standing in the door opening. It was a nice sight to see and reminded me of our first encounter in my room back at the Beach hotel.

'Hi' I said while smiling, 'you are out of your bed.'

He grinned: 'yes, I am. I am feeling a lot better already because of your good care.'

I smiled.

'That's good to hear' I said while looking in the cabinets for a fork. I emptied the box of food in the boiling water and stirred with the fork. Niragi stumbled towards me and hugged me from behind.

Imagine how it would have been if we had met each other back in the real world... Would we stand here like this, in our own houses, cooking food for each other? Would we hug each other? Become closer? Become... boyfriends?

Niragi bit in my ear and smiled with his teeth around my earshell. 'What are you thinking about, darling?' he asked.

'Nothing' I hummed and put the top on the pot. I turned around and leaned against the counter. He laid his arms around my shoulders and I looked him in the eyes.

'Do you think that this could be us in the real world?' I asked bluntly.

He thought about it for a moment. The water boiled over and I quickly pulled it off the fire.

'Sit down, breakfast is ready!' I smirked.

He sat down while I divided the food in two equal portions before sitting in front of him. I handed him his bowl and some chopsticks and grabbed a pair for myself as well. I looked at him. He started devouring the food in a fast pace. He must've been hungry.

I started eating as well. I just had my second bite when he finished his bowl.

'I think - without the bruises and wounds - that we could look a bit like this, yes. I mean us, in the real world, together...' he started blushing, 'we would have to get to know each other first, of course. We would tell each other our favourite colour. Show each other our apartments. Our favourite music. Our favourite places.'

I smiled and blushed as well while eating my food in silence.

After I finished it, I reached over the table to take his hand. We sat for a while in silence, looking in each others eyes. How could Niragi possibly be such a romantic? I thought about what Usagi said in the store and just couldn't connect this Niragi with that one... I wiped away that thought fast. We all did horrible things in the past.

'Red' I said as a reply, 'that's my favourite colour.'

Niragi nodded. 'Green' he said and stood up.

'Let's get ready for the game, darling' he said while he reached for my hand again to pull me up.

Niragi

Two and a half hours later we were behind a wall, a few meters from the entrance to the casino. I sat down with my back against the wall, looking at the laptop while Chishiya peeked over it to watch the front door.

'I wonder what we'll have to do in her game... I hope it's kind of a challenge for us, since Diamonds is our forté' I smirked.

'Shush, be silent now... I see some people approaching' he said while ducking behind the wall as much as possible while still watching them.

I put the laptop away, under some bandages covered by my new hoodie and looked at him to see his facial expressions: 'what happens?'

'I think it's a group. Two women and four men. They're approaching the entrance...' he explains, 'oh, there she is. Just like you described the bitch. She's opening the door for them. They're entering. She looks around behind the last one. The door is closed again.'

I chuckled amused: 'she is probably looking for us. Shall we start?'

He kneeled down and gave me a pat on my head. 'Sure' he nodded.

We revealed ourselves by coming from behind the wall and walked to the door with a confident step. I knocked loudly on the door and I spoke to her firmly: 'open the fucking door, Queen. We are here.'

Chishiya chuckled because of my performance, but regained his serious expression when she opened the door.

'Oh, who we have here: my pretty boy and his... friend' she said and looked from me to Chishiya with a grin on her face. She laid two fingers under Chishiya's chin and tilted his head so he had to look her in the eyes.

'You don't look bad yourself too, sweetheart. I like your eyes...' she purred. 'And your lips...' She stroke her gloved finger over her own lip and then reached to his underlip to smudge some of her red lipstick on him. She winked. My blood boiled because she touched him like that, but I didn't act because we agreed to keep our relationship a secret for this game.

'Let's get the party started' she smiled while wrapping her arms around the both of us, standing in the middle and leading us inside. Chishiya looked at me behind her back and raised his eyebrows.

She showed us two seats around a round poker table, next to the other players and walked back to lock the front door. She kissed the key and shoved it between her breasts. After, she came back and pressed some buttons against the wall to enlighten the place with thousends of bright, red lights. What a showoff...

'My name is Hoseki. Before we begin: I have a surprise for all of you!' she screamed while jumping excitedly, 'you will find it upstairs, in the first room to your right. When you're ready, you can come back so I can explain the rules.'

Her behavior went from serious to crazy in a split second. She probably wanted to play a serious role too in front of us, but failed due to her excitement.

The people around the table looked at each other sheepishly, so I took the lead and stood up. It could be a good thing to let her know I'm not to be messed with.

I walked towards the stairs and looked over my shoulder to see the rest of the group follow me, Chishiya last.

After I slowly walked up the steps, I pushed the door to reveal a room with a rectangular table. On it, there was a freshly popped bottle of champagne, eight glasses and a bowl with red grapes. Around the table, there were eight chairs, each with a black tuxedo vest hanging over them. I slowly walked in and pulled back one of the chairs to see a bundle of neatly folded black and white fabric on it. After grabbing it to take a better look, I came to the conclusion that she picked out a full tuxedo suit for every one of her players, including a black bowtie.

Chishiya came in the room and grinned: 'what? Is she trying to tell us that we have a bad taste for fashion? He he.'

The other players looked at him in fear. They were probably scared as fuck because of this game.

'Please dress appropriately for the game' the Queens voice said through an intercom. I looked around and saw the blinking light of a camera. At least I shouldn't be afraid that there would be no electricity in this building.

Chishiya came next to me and rolled his eyes. 'So she is going to watch us while we undress? Can I sue her for voyeurism?' he smirked while he kicked off his shoes.

I turned towards Chishiya with big eyes, scared that she would see the laptop we brought in if I took off my hoodie. He got the message, grabbed the bottle of champagne and stumbled towards the camera to block my view.

'Miss, may I congratulate you with your exquisit taste in beverages?' he smirked, holding the bottle up close in front of the camera.

'Thank you very much, sweetheart. Take a glass for me with you when you come back, will you?' she replied. That conversation gave me enough time to quickly change clothes and tuck the laptop at the back of my pants.

I cleared my throat to let Chishiya know that I was done and he pulled out his hoodie in front of the camera to start changing clothes too.

He turned around and gave me a good view on his torso. Since the laptop was stuffed in my pants, it already felt tight. But nów it absolutely did. He smirked and I looked away to clear my head. The tease.

Chishiya

I noticed nothing weird about the suit she gave us, until I had fully buttoned it up. I didn't know how it worked, but it felt tight from the moment I popped the last button in place. Almost painful. Like it pressed on my lungs. It took my breath away. I eyed at Niragi and saw a pained look on his face: he must feel it too. It had to be extra painful for him, with the injuries from his burns still fresh.

I squeezed his shoulder and grabbed two glasses of champagne, nodding at him to take one too. Did she poison it, or was it safe to drink? We returned to our seats together.

I handed the champagne to the Queen as she took a sip from it. I looked at her inquisitively to see if something happened. She noticed me and pouted her lips: 'I don't need any posion to kill you, sweetheart. You'll kill yourself soon enough. Unless you are smart enough to remain the last one. Are you?'

I grinned mysteriously: 'we shall see. The fact that I'm still here can mean two things: or I am lucky, or I am smart. Which one could save me today?'

She squinted her eyes and gave me a smirk. This woman wasn't dumb. We had to proceed very carefully when the game started. We waited for all the players to join us. After a while, everyone sat down: the game was about to begin.

She clapped twice and the bright lights dimmed a tad before a big screen came out of the ceiling.

'Dear players, welcome in 'Queen of Diamonds', my casino!' she enthousiastically screamed, 'before I came to Borderland, I already owned this place. I saw hundreds of people everyday. Hopeful people. People who wasted thousands of dollars, thinking it would make them millionaires. But the only millionaire that came out of their money, was me!' She laughed hysterically while a whirlwind of money notes came down on us.

'I have seen people loose their last cent. Litteraly the last thing they owned. After that, they would start betting on their houses, their legacies, everything! And you know what? It amused me. It amused me to see how desperate people can be. You can probably imagine what a heavenly place Borderland must be for me, ha ha!' she went on while taking a red lipstick out of her decolleté and reapplying it on her lips.

'Sadly, money isn't word a shit here in Borderland. So I figured I'd let y'all play with the last thing yóú have to offer...' she paused for an extra dramatic effect before ending her sentence, 'your lives!'

She turned towards the screen to shift the focus to the image on it: a cross-section of the tuxedo vest we all wore. The image showed twelve sharp, metal pins on each side of the vest, exactly where our ribs would be.

'I designed these especially for you: black sheep's wool from Scotland on the outside, fully lined with the softest satin from Istanbul with a diamond pattern on the inside. And don't forget the most unique feature! I call it 'rib crackers', they automatically spring inwards when you lose a coin!' she smiled. She took a basket with eight red pouches and distributed them.

'There are twenty four coins for everyone. When the bell rings, you may roam freely through my casino. Play the games in the order you choose, and don't forget to stop by me for an extra fun challenge!'

The screen showed five different games; from slot machines to poker tables to games I didn't even recognize.

'But every time you loose a game, and thus a coin, one of your ribs gets crushed by my wonderful invention. Luckily, you've got twenty four. That makes for a lot of fun playtime. Let's enjoy this game together!' she let out a crazy laugh and clapped. The lights became bright again and on the screen, a logo from 'Queen of Diamonds Casino' popped up.

'Let's waste ourselves!' she yelled. And the bell rang. I gazed at Niragi and he looked back at me with a confident smile around his lips. Time to get going.

[End of chapter thirty six]

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Hi y'all. I really hope you enjoyed reading this part and that it makes you excited for the next one! I had so much fun writing it and I took some of your feedback to shape where this is going. Take care and stay put for the next chapter. Votes and comments are appreciated, as always! Love, Midnightwritings.