szallejhscorner

[szallejhscorner]

Hi! Could you write a number 3 fluffy prompt for chishiya? there’s a severe lack of tk content in this fandom

Hi!

I apologize for the late reply. This blog isn't active currently, and I don't write any prompts for Chishiya anymore. Sorry for that (:

[szallejhscorner]

Ahh yes, I almost missed this

#That's what happens when I put CiaD back on wattpad #Huh #People are already threatening me with jail it seems

[szallejhscorner]

King of Diamonds - Part VII

The air was cool around us, and Yukinari shivered. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t the temperature inside the dim building that made her do that. Seven days ago, she had lost her only son during a Hearts game, and this was the second time she’d play for her live.

With the tiny difference that this time, I’d make sure she survived.

“It’ll be okay”, I whispered quietly enough so the other players around us wouldn’t hear. So far, seventeen people had gathered in what used to be the hallway of Nanzan Elementary School, with colorful drawings still hanging on the walls. But I could see that the building had been altered, with additional walls that most likely hadn’t been there before the Borderlands, probably so the area would suit the game better.

Yukinari wrapped her arms tightly around her chest, her gaze wandering from side to side anxiously. She kept her voice down, afraid that it’d be another game turning people against each other. “How could you know?”

“I can’t”, I lied. “But I have a good feeling about this. It helped with my last games as well.”

I knew, of course, that this would be a Six of Spades. Four doors leading to four different trials, ranging from easy-peasy to impossible. Within the last day, I had made sure to memorize every one of them, so I’d be able to choose the easiest door for me and recommend it to Yukinari. Although this was designed to be a single-player game with no restriction for the amount of people joining, I wouldn’t let her do this alone. It was a silent promise I had made to myself three days prior, when we’d first met in the Camp.

Yukinari just shrugged, not at all convinced. “Why didn’t you bring your boyfriend here? The blonde, haughty one?”

Her description of Chishiya made me laugh, a sound so foreign to this atmosphere that several people turned their heads. Not that I cared. “We try not to enter games together”, I explained, trying to stick as close to the truth as possible. In fact, Chishiya had found much more interest in a Ten of Diamonds than this game here, and I would bet anything that he actually enjoyed himself a lot there. Reading the rules on the board had been so confusing to me already, I barely had understood the game at all. It would be heaven for him. “You know better than anyone… There might always be a game leaving only one winner. We don’t want to risk that.”

She nodded, understanding immediately. Did she regret getting into her first game together with her son? If so, she didn’t say. “Clever. It would make me scared, to be honest, not knowing what happens to my love… But I get why you’d do that. Although…”

Pausing for a moment, she ran her hand through her hazel curls, unsure if she should continue. In the end, she decided against it, and I turned around and left her with her own thoughts, while I examined the people around us. It felt so wrong that most of them would probably run into their death, and I’d walk through the door, jump over a few obstacles and continue to live. Then again, I tried to remind myself again and again that I had been there, just like them. I had managed to survive games without knowing the solutions either, and I earned this. Maybe it wasn’t exactly allowed to help someone else through, but if it was true what Myoka had told me, than no one would punish us for manipulating a bit here and there.

I glanced at the phone in my hands, stating that the face recognition had been finished and that the game would start in less than a minute.

One more person hurried through the entrance and quickly grabbed a phone, before the familiar jingle stopped all the hushed conversations around the hallway. Every pair of eyes moved to the phones, and the computer voice begun to explain our challenge for tonight.

GAME: PARCOUR.

DIFFICULTY: SIX OF SPADES.

RULES: CHOOSE A DOOR AND MASTER THE TRIAL TO REACH THE FINISH LINE. IF YOU SUCCEED, IT’LL BE GAME CLEAR.

That was all we were told. Nothing hinted at the fact that the blue door would reveal a challenge that was just impossible, no matter how skilled you were, and that the green door was basically nothing but an empty corridor, easy to walk through.

My wrists begun to itch and I scratched them thoughtfully, remembering the King of Hearts just too well. No matter what, it seemed that this game would haunt me until I took my last breath. But the four doors seemed so familiar, and for a moment I felt as if I was sitting on that electric chair again.

“Breathe”, Yukinari whispered to me, as if I’d be the one who needed the reassurance. “It’s a Six… That’ll be doable, right?”

Her voice was trembling, and I nodded, unable to find my own voice for the moment. I took a deep breath, then another. This was not the King of Hearts. I would not be responsible for other people’s lives, and no one would rely on another person. I would not be punished again for helping my team to win. My heart wouldn’t stop again.

“It will definitely be doable”, I finally answered after clearing my throat. People around us were still discussing which door might be the best, and I watched how the first one, a dark-haired man with dirty clothes, hurried through the red door. Not the empty corridor, but the easy trial. He’d make it if he wasn’t utterly stupid.

Someone else tried to open the same door, but it was locked, most likely because the first player was still in there. Unwilling to wait, he chose the blue door instead. I knew he’d be dead within seconds.

Five more people went through the doors, and I didn’t bother to pay attention to most of them. Instead I focused on Yukinari, the wrinkles in her face more and more noticeable as anxiety around us rose. We didn’t know what happened on the other side of the doors, and we didn’t know who would wait behind the finish line. We did hear screams of horror through the closed doors, though.

Even with my knowledge, it was easy to get more nervous with every person leaving.

Yukinari reached for my hand, and I took it. She was far older than me, she could actually have been my mother, and I assumed that she wanted to see me as some kind of replacement for her son, Masaru. Was this the reason I had the urge to get her through to the end? As some kind of apology to my own family, which I’d never see again?

I shook it off and squeezed her hand, turning her focus to me. “We should go now”, I suggested as only a handful of players remained around us. “What do you think? Green or red, I’d say.”

My statement was met with a questioned look. “Why?”

Shrugging, I took a step towards the doors and tried to sound as casual as possible. “It’s a feeling in my guts. Something I can’t explain… But it helped me through the last games as well. I can’t ask you to trust me, but if I had to bet…”

“Okay. I trust you. So…” Yukinari took a deep breath before letting go of my hand, “I’ll take green and you take red?”

I nodded, glad that she chose the easiest door on her own. Simultaneously, we headed for the doors, giving a last nod to each other before we entered.

The handle of the red door felt slightly wet, probably from sweaty hands that had touched them before, and I wiped my hands on my pants as soon as I was alone in the next room. There had been no images on the board back in the hotel, but clear descriptions of the trials, so it almost felt familiar to look at what stretched out in front of me.

Similar to a children’s playground, a chain bridge was hovering not more than thirty centimeters over the ground, which was filled with only a few centimeters of water. After the bridge, a dozen wide stone slaps leaded to the other side of the room. Easy enough even for small children, with only one little detail to make it harder: the water was charged and would immediately kill me.

I couldn’t prevent a grin from appearing on my face when someone called my name. My face snapped to the right, only to see Yukinari waving to me. Just now I realized that the doors didn’t lead to different hallways but one huge room, and the four trials were parted by nothing but the deadly water.

“Your guts were absolutely right!” Yukinari called to me, and I could see the obvious relief on her face when she hurried to the other side, where all four paths connected to one big platform. A handful of people lingered there already, either sitting on the ground or leaning to the walls. And as my face turned to the left, I found the other players.

Since the water was so shallow, their corpses were easy to make out. Some swam in there, face turned up with horrified expressions, others had fallen into the water face-down. Those were much easier to look at.

The trial to my left was still manageable, but incredibly hard. Almost everything was hanging in the air, forcing the players to use their arms to haul themselves across the distances. The last obstacle was a long balancing pole, and this was where most people had died.

But the hardest trial was nothing but unfair. Over a span of what must have been ten meters, just a single pole reached out of the water. No one of us would have been able to jump that far.

The bridge of my trial swayed from side to side as I stepped on to it, but the railway was made from solid wood and it only took a few seconds to cross it. I was a bit more careful on the slabs, but there was plenty of space to place both my feet on them, and within mere minutes, I made it to the end.

On the very last slab, just as I was about to jump onto the end platform, I heard a frustrated cry from the other side of the room. The next player had opened the blue door and was facing the single pole out of reach. It must have been easy for him to assess the whole situation with so many corpses lying in the water, and a single glance was enough to see his eyes flicker through the room, trying to search for some kind of loop hole.

“Come here”, Yukinari whispered, reaching her hand out for me to take. She pulled me towards her and half-hugged me, her eyes following mine. “We don’t have to watch”, she added, but we both knew that was a lie. Neither of us could look away, and I couldn’t tell if it was the hope for that guy to survive or the morbid fascination of death that forced us to stare.

On the other side, frustration turned into anger. “Don’t look at me like that! Help me!” he shouted, but what could we have done? I knew the doors were locked from this side of the room, so we couldn’t go back and open his. And waiting for another player would be fruitless – the blue door was now locked until he got to the finish line. Hopeless.

Yukinari squeezed my shoulders harder when the guy turned back to his door, took a last breath, ran to the edge of the platform as fast as he could, and jumped. We all held our breaths and time seemed to slow down while he aimed for the pole, crossing a distance I never thought anyone would be able to jump. And then, he actually made it.

Squatting down to balance himself, he landed on the pole, breathing hard and face pulled into a grimace of concentration. I wanted to cheer for him, but he was not finished yet. Instead, he was now facing a much bigger problem: our platform was the same distance, although he had no chance to take a run this time. He frantically searched the air for anything he could hold on to, a loose wire or a piece of wood, but there was nothing. Only the corpses around him in the water, and touching them would be as lethal as touching the water.

While Yukinari finally averted her eyes, I continued to watch as he crouched down even more, pressed his heels into the pole to get as much pressure as possible, and jumped again.

It was clear from the very first second that he wouldn’t make it. Another woman from our side reached out a hand to help him while his eyes widened in panic, knowing he was about to fail, and it was the worst she could have done. In the same moment he took the offered the hand, the guy’s feet touched the surface of the water and his body twisted in shock. The electricity was conducted to the woman’s body as well, and they both fell into the water, dead within seconds.

“Stupid…” someone behind me muttered, and finally, I was able to look away.

We waited for the remaining four players to cross the trials, and none of them chose blue. Only one decided to take the yellow door, and she died at the very first obstacle. The other tree made it, and the exit opened with a feint click.

Half of the players were dead, and not a single word was spoken as we left the elementary school through a back door. I barely noticed how one of the others grabbed the single Six of Spades card that had been placed on a metal table and ran away with it. It didn’t matter who owned the cards; I knew that. The first stage would end as soon as every game type had been cleared at least once. So let him have his little trophy if it made him feel better. Right now, I wasn’t too eager for the face card games to start anyway. I wasn’t ready to lose Chishiya yet.

Yukinari breathed out heavily next to me and pulled me into a tight hug. “We made it! We’re still alive! I can almost believe it. Six more days to live in this rotten apocalypse.” She gave me a wink, adding: “I should always follow your guts. They seem to know what’s best to survive.”

I snorted. Maybe it wasn’t the best choice according to survival to accept Citizenship, but that was something I would never speak out loud in front of a normal player.

“Wanna return to the Camp?” Yukinari asked, but I shook my head. I had done enough to save her life for now.

Kicking away a stone that lay in front of me, I muttered: “I’ll look for Chishiya. He must have finished his game, too.”

“Keeping my fingers crossed that he’s made it through!”

Waving as a goodbye, we parted at the next corner. Yukinari headed for the Camp, where beer and weed would await her, and I tried to remember where I’d find the Arisugawa-no-miya Park, the location of Chishiya’s Diamonds game.

He had told me that the game would take place on a boat, since the park had a quite beautiful lake, and even though it must have took me half an hour to get there – after I’d taken the wrong turn twice – I could see the lights from the boat reflecting on the water surface. It was a beautiful sight with only the stars and moon as the other light sources and the rest of the park being completely dark. I found a bench close to the lake and sat down, kneels pulled to my chest to fight away the chilly night air, and waited.

Once in a while, I’d see shadows walking past the lit windows, but I couldn’t make out any details. It surprised me that the game took that long, and I couldn’t help but wonder if everything went alright. It was a Ten of Diamonds after all, probably the most mentally challenging game of the first stage. And most people were still new to this, so how likely was it for them to succeed?

Then again, Chishiya knew the rules and how to clear it, and he wouldn’t have chosen a game he couldn’t survive. Not if he could work towards becoming the King of Hearts in the new future.

“Oh, Shuntarou…” I muttered, “where have we gotten ourselves into?”

Inevitably I thought about the conversation we’d had with Rikki almost a week prior. She had suggested that I’d lead one of the Clubs games, since the balanced ones seemed to suit me best. I tried to imagine being one of the Face Cards. People would fear me. They would be fascinated by me, like I had been viewing the Face Cards as some kind of alien creatures. Not one of them. A monster, maybe.

I understood why Rikki felt so appealed by becoming the Queen of Spades. Having so much power over others probably felt like a drug, an addiction that made you want it more and more. And most Citizens weren’t afraid of death, at least not any longer. They knew that it’d await them eventually, and they were ready for it. Rikki was ready to be slaughtered like the King of Spades had been killed, but she planned to take hundreds of others down before that happened. The thought repelled me, but I had to acknowledge the strength that came with such a mindset.

And the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that I was not ready yet.

Before I could think about this any longer, I noticed the boat had started to move towards the shore. Finally, the game must have come to an end, and I got up as a ramp was led down and the first players started to exit.

Their faces were mostly hidden in the darkness, but the air around them was tense. Spending hours in such a hard game must have been exhausting, and it was easy to imagine the relief of having ten days of rest now.

And then, being the last person to leave the boat, Chishiya strolled towards me with his hands tucked in his pockets, a sly smirk on his face. As soon as he was close enough, I threw myself into his arms and buried my face in the fabric of his hoodie. Chishiya’s hand moved to my hair, ruffling it softly with a chuckle.

“Missed me?”

“You have no idea.”

I took a few seconds to simply stay there before I felt ready to step back, looking into his moonlit face, smug as always. “That must have been hours! What did you do, stall the game to torture the other players?”

“Got me there. Whoops.” His grin grew even wider, and it was still there after I pulled his face to me for a quick kiss.

Reaching for his hand, we both started to walk, and I let Chishiya direct the way since he’d know better where to go. “You’re an asshole, do you know that?”

He squeezed my hand, muttering: “Oh, I’m perfectly aware.”

I almost asked about his game, but somehow the silence felt too comfortable and it would have probably caused me a headache anyway. And I knew that Chishiya wouldn’t be interested in the Six of Spades, since he had briefly scanned the layout back in the hotel and knew everything that was of interest for him.

Instead I listened to the sounds around us, of animals scurrying through the bushes and the shadows of bats hiding the moon for split seconds. The moon was just bright enough to light the path in front of our feet, and when the lasers appeared on the sky this night, I didn’t even flinch. Chishiya noticed, giving me a quick glance with a raised eyebrow, but he remained silent.

He didn’t pull away his hand when we entered the hotel, where I had to blink several times to adjust to the bright lights. Many people were still awake, lots of them just coming back from games, others still eating or talking together, recalling the games of the day.

It made me proud that Chishiya didn’t bother all those people seeing us holding hands as we walked to his room, and no comment came from him when I slipped out of my shoes and jeans and into one of his shirts. No reminder that snoring and excessive cuddling were forbidden here, or that I shouldn’t steal all of his clothes.

I crawled under the blanket, waiting for it to get warm, while I watched Chishiya put off anything but his shirt and boxers. He eventually joined me, and it immediately became much more comfortable, so I couldn’t resist snuggling up to him.

“You didn’t brush your teeth”, he muttered dryly, and his unfazed voice made me laugh.

I kissed his skin and closed my eyes with a smile. “Neither did you.”

#chishiya #alice in borderland #chishiya shuntaro #aib chishiya #shuntaro chishiya #king of diamonds

[szallejhscorner]

Plans for September: write the next chapter of King of Diamonds.

Oh please, someone pressure me to finish this story.

[szallejhscorner]

Reasons I love wattpad :D

[szallejhscorner]

This might be a silly question but is a messy thing called love complete? 😅

Not silly at all!

And no, it's far from being complete... Honestly, I just have so little time that I can't continue any of my stories currently. Maybe one day, I'll find time and motivation again!

[szallejhscorner]

Turns out I never shared any pictures of the hardcover of "The Human Heart".

The cover is an artwork of the talented Kieng Phong Tran, who kindly gave me the permission to use this as a cover for my private copy.

#chishiya #alice in borderland #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x reader #aib chishiya #aib #shuntaro chishiya #The Human Heart

[szallejhscorner]

Hi! Silent reader here :)) first discovered u through ao3 when I read HLIF and I loved it a lot! Wanted to message u bc I wanted to say that I'm proud of u for pursuing your passion. Although I (and no doubt a chunk of the fandom) am sad to see you go, we're grateful for the amazing fics you've written for us. Good luck with the next stages !! Can't wait to read the shadows book :))

Oh my, thank you for this lovely message! I'll of course give updates to the Shadows book whenever anything happens, but it might take a while, haha ~

[szallejhscorner]

Reading "The Human Heart" now that I've got a printed version from it. And oh my... Oh my... How could I forget that I wrote such painfully embarrassing chapters for the beginning? 😂

My mind was so filled with the last chapters, who have much improved, but the beginning... I can totally understand people stooping because it's too much. Haha

[szallejhscorner]

Since I didn't like the design of the first printed book of CiaD and HLiF, I decided to order new prints of all my AiB works including the oneshots.

They turned out so good!

[szallejhscorner]

Ich werde die Tage wieder Exemplare meiner Gw2-Fanfiction bestellen. Hat jemand Interesse?

- - -

I'm going to order new prints of my Gw2 Fanfiction. Is anyone interested in getting one?

[szallejhscorner]

Hello there ~

New profile picture, you wonder?

Yeah! I've decided to close requests for the oneshots and move on to work on my next book, the one I had a dream about and wanted to turn it into a whole story (: And once I finish King of Diamonds, this Blog might turn away from Alice in Borderland and turn into something more personal, since I love talking about the projects I'm working on.

It is on you to decide if you want to stay here or move on as well. But please know that I had a SPLENDID time with you all and your support. Nothing has ever gained so much attention and love as my aib writings, and it was a blast 💚

I hope you all have a fantastic time!

Sza ~

[szallejhscorner]

I don’t like AIs too much, but today I tried out ChatGTP and I’m honestly impressed (and scared). What this computer program can do is surprisingly good... For example, I told it to write a poem about Chishiya and this was the result.

#chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #chatgpt #ai

[szallejhscorner]

It's set now: I'll turn that dream about the Shadows into a book. Already scribbled down some notes about plot and characters :D

And I want to talk about it so badly! Isn't there anyone to shoot me some questions that I could answer? :3

[szallejhscorner]

Had a cool dreamast night that I tried to put together after waking up. Now and then I dream things that could be turned into actual books... And I'm honestly thinking about working on this idea more.

[szallejhscorner]

Goodbye, my Friend

This one is for @vesta-ro. They requested a scenario based on the CiaD-Y/N, where they and Kyuuma had been really close in the real life and they get a chance to say goodbye before the end of the King of Clubs game. Which doesn’t please Chishiya at all :D

It was really fun to work on something a bit different this time!

Leaving the camp and all your friends still feels wrong somehow. The Witch Hunt has caused so many deaths and the survivors just found together again, only for you to scoot away with Chishiya early in the morning. Has Kuina been mad when waking up and noticing you weren’t there anymore, or wasn’t she surprised at all? Will they be fine? What games will they choose to play, and who will survive till the end?

What games will you play?

Everything about the second stage is uncertain. It is obviously much more dangerous and difficult than what you went through these last weeks, and it scares you. Having Chishiya on your side is only a mild comfort in that, since he will most likely chase every single Diamonds game he can find and you can’t tell what feels worse – knowing he could die in one of them or being left alone since you definitely won’t accompany him into one. 

On top of that, what if Chishiya decides your presence has been enough? That man really has a talent to leave unnoticed at every occasion, and there’s always a chance of waking up one morning without him next to you. It is a frightening thought, that he might leave you and die in a game, and you’d never know what happened to him, but this is the way games are played in this world. 

So many deaths. Quick ones, slow ones. The trauma it caused the survivors is never to be forgotten. And still… up to this day, none of the deceased ones has been close to you. There have been a couple of faces you recognized from real life; people you had sometimes passed in stores and cafés or something, but none you’d call an acquaintance or even friend.

The more you think about it, the less you want to see an old friend here. The chance of them dying is far too big, and you’re not sure that’s a pain you would be able to handle. 

The fear of losing Chishiya is already enough, and the same goes for the new friends you have made since arriving here – the ones that are still alive after all.

You gulp when the image of Ichika’s lifeless body emerges from your memories, shot dead by Niragi who has mercilessly hunted down anyone in the Beach to find the Witch. Just another reminder that Death never makes fair choices but ones a simple human will never comprehend.

The dark thoughts make you completely unobservant to your surroundings, and only the sound of a loud Gong! causes you to flinch and finally look up from the splintered concrete beneath your feet. You frantically look around to find its source, until Chishiya nods towards a clock tower in the distance, announcing the time as 12AM. Right above the clock face you notice two stag heads bumping their antlers against each other, twelve times in total. 

“Twelve times…” you mutter, and Chishiya hums, understanding your thoughts. “…twelve games. The start signal.”

Further away, the echo of shots bounces off the walls around you, making you shiver. A sniper, most likely, and you suppose they belong to one of the games. The second stage has begun and already people are dying. 

“Chishiya…” you begin, your voice merely more than a whisper, “I know you’ll want to participate in one of the Diamonds games. But… can we keep on walking, for just a bit longer? The fresh air helps to clear my mind, and I don’t think all three Diamonds games will be cleared that fast.”

His grunt is more than enough proof that he doesn’t like that idea too much, but he doesn’t keep you from heading towards the river. You reach for his hand, glad that he accompanies you anyway. A bit more of peace is all you want before diving head first into new games, and you have a feeling that the water will be the perfect place to provide that to you. 

The buildings around you get smaller and the river comes in sight, its water so clear and unpolluted that life has found its way back into the flowing cold. Fish scales are glinting under the surface, uncaring for your presence as you let your hand slide into the river. 

Humans aren’t a threat anymore here in this world. It should make you happy for nature, but somehow it’s more a sad thought; a reminder that humans aren’t really important and humanity isn’t meant to last. 

Lost in thought, you merely keep track of time passing. It must have been at least an hour since Chishiya or you both spoke a word, with the sound of your footsteps on the ground being the only thing that fills the silence, and you’re not entirely sure if it’s comfortable or not. 

You follow the river until it meets the ocean, the never-ending blue that is both so fascinating and incredibly dangerous. 

“I wonder what’s on the other side”, you ponder while watching the waves, “if there is a world outside of Tokyo.”

Chishiya follows your glance and hums, his lips curled up into the tiniest smirk. “Hatter tried to send out players using sailboats. They never came back, but red lasers were seen somewhere out there.”

“So if you try to run away, you’ll die?”

He nods, continuing to walk further along the harbor site. Not far in the distance, hundreds if not thousands of containers are stacked upon each other, creating a labyrinth of metal that will never sail the seven seas again. A sad yet fascinating thought, and something pulls you towards the containers, an unexplainable urge to go there and read the signs that you won’t understand anyway. Numbers and letters representing countries and companies, and yet you’ll never know what contents they carried – from yellow bath ducks to the most expensive luxury furniture. 

Chishiya doesn’t question why you’re heading towards that part of the harbor despite the King of Clubs blimp hovering in the air just above the metal labyrinth. This is a game venue, but you don’t want to participate. Now that you’re almost there, you spot a narrow path next to the containers, only a few inches of concrete between metal and the sea; a pathway that doesn’t seem to belong to the game. 

“Are you sure-“ Chishiya starts, but you don’t let him finish. 

Without a word, you squeeze past the first container, the sound of untamable shores right next to your feet. The noise of the blimp isn’t as loud as you’d expect being so close to it, and the huge banner with the King of Clubs on it moves gently with the wind. No noise comes from the other side of the metal wall, and you wonder if something happened there already. The second stage has just started, so maybe the game hasn’t even begun. 

The blonde huffs behind you, not exactly happy with the way you chose for your walk. You must be careful not to lose your footing, otherwise you’ll end up soaked in salt water, and the same goes for Chishiya. Although the thought of the blonde tumbling into the ocean makes you giggle. It would be cute seeing him helpless and out of control just for once, as long as it’s a benign situation. 

“Someone’s there”, you hear his muttering voice, and it makes you look up from the floor. Immediately, you spot an opening in the container wall, and a lone man is standing there, hands stretched out and face lifted towards the sky.

While being completely naked.

But that is not what makes you halt in an instant. It’s not the fact that you can see the bare and amazingly well-built man in all his glory. It’s not his shoulder-long hair waving in the wind, not the thoughtful look on his face. Not the metal bracelet around his wrist. 

It is the fact that you know exactly who this man is that causes you to inhale sharply. 

“Ginji…?” you whisper, not sure if you can believe what your eyes are showing you. 

The man turns as soon as he hears your voice, his expression as startled as yours. Once you can see his face, there is not a single doubt left: this is Kyuuma Ginji. Nudist, band leader, first love of your life. 

He’s here, in the Borderlands. And if there is one thing you know, then that this can never be a good thing. 

The way Kyuuma mutters your name makes you feel things you never thought you’d ever feel again. A familiarity is in his voice, a kindness that has been the center of your life for a long time until your ways had parted. Both of you had been young, and life moved on, with either of you choosing different directions to follow. Years had passed where you barely thought about him, but now, everything returns. 

Before you realize, you find yourself in a tight hug, not at all embarrassed by the fact that Kyuuma is still entirely nude. A lot more muscles than you remember move under his sun-warmed skin, and he’s taller than when you last met. But his eyes, the soulfulness and kindness in them, haven’t changed a bit. 

Kyuuma grabs your shoulder with one hand, pushing you away just a bit so he can see your face. With the other hand, he grabs your wrist, scanning it for something. Probably a bracelet of the kind he is wearing. “How?” he wonders, “how did you enter the game?”

You swallow. That Kyuuma is participating in such a high game doesn’t feel right. Until now you hadn’t even known that he’s here in the Borderlands, but you don’t want anything bad to happen to him. “I didn’t”, you answer honestly. “We were taking a walk, and I must have found some kind of loophole. But… what about you? How come you’re here, too? And why are you participating in this game? The King of Clubs, on top of that!”

A shadow covers his eyes, a sadness that feels heavy on your shoulder where his hand still remains. “Because I am the King.”

“That’s… no way. Stop kidding, Ginji! This isn’t the place for jokes right now.”

Sometimes, silence gives away more about the truth than a thousand words, and when he doesn’t answer, you take a few steps back while shaking your head. “No. No, no, no!” 

You’re no fool. If Kyuuma is truly a citizen – and you know him well enough to tell when he’s lying and when not – then it’s obvious that one of you won’t survive the end of this stage. Either the players will win, or the citizens. The Borderlands leave no space for something in between. 

Tears well up in your eyes, blurring the image of your dear friend and the wonderful sight of the ocean to your right. “That can’t be. It’s not fair, I-… I just found you!”

Kyuuma laughs, and the sound of it breaks your heart. He is always so gentle and genuine, despite the circumstances. “Would it have been any different if you’d found me earlier?” He asks, not expecting you to answer at all. His hand finds the way back to your shoulder and squeezes tightly, a familiar gesture of comfort. “We are winning the game. It is impossible for the player team to collect any more points now, so all that’s left is wait. Which means for now I’m not dead, and neither are you.”

“You’re… winning?” you whisper, not sure if that’s a good thing. On one hand, it’d mean Kyuuma’s survival for the moment, but on the other… 

Shaking your head, you place your hand on top of Kyuuma’s. The act is caused by a lack of words, although your old friend understands anyway. “Don’t worry too much. You always do that.”

“And you never worry at all.”

Kyuuma spreads his arms out again, as if he wants to hug the entire world. “Why should I? Life is wonderful. It’ll still be once we die. Death is nothing that could scare me, I’m ready to accept whatever outcome there will be for me. Shitara saw that too, and the rest of the band are on my side no matter what happens.”

The image of Kyuuma’s band fills your mind, and you remember the many evenings you had spent listening to their songs in garages and cellars. “They’re all here with you”, you conclude, not even a question. 

“They are, and no matter what, we’ll live or die together. You, though…” He tilts his head, a sad grin on his lips. 

Whatever happens to them, it’ll most likely be the opposite for you. And since you somehow managed to sneak into the area of a running game, this might be the last time to see Kyuuma alive. “We… should say farewell, then.”

The good-looking nudist wipes a single tear from your cheek before he pulls you into one last hug. Right here, right now, you could forget the dark world around you and pretend that you both’d be teenagers again, desperately in love and blind for the mystery around them. 

“Farewell, my friend”, Kyuuma breathes into your hair. 

You don’t want to let go. You don’t want to leave your friend behind, knowing that you will never meet again. Once you step back, everything will be said and done, and you are not ready for that to happen. But when Chishiya clears his throat behind you, you accept that there’s no use prolonging the inevitable. 

Taking a deep breath, you look Kyuuma deep in the eyes, feeling only a little bit of remorse that you entirely forgot about Chishiya’s presence for a while. 

“The game is about to end”, says the blonde in a stone-cold voice, “and we shouldn’t be in the area when that happens.” The icy tone is enough to tell you how much he despises seeing you and Kyuuma like this.

With a nod, you both agree to Chishiya and tell Kyuuma everything that words could never truly describe. That you won’t forget him if you’re the one to survive this, and that Kyuuma Ginji will always be dear to your heart, no matter what. He nods back, signaling that the same goes for him. The connection between the both of you has always been special, no matter for how long you’d lost contact in the past. Kyuuma might not be the love of your life any longer - that spot is likely to be replaced by a certain blonde and very arrogant surgeon - but he’ll always be the first you ever loved, your first kiss and your first heartbreak. 

The more you think about it, the more it feels like a gift that you were allowed to see Kyuuma one last time. Not as an enemy in a game, but as a friend. 

You take one last deep breath before turning around and walking away side by side with Chishiya. He doesn’t react when you reach out to hold his hand, since he’s probably sour about the scene he just witnessed. Not that you could blame him, although you won’t apologize, either. 

Together, you leave the containers behind and with them the game area. As you dare to throw a look over your shoulders, you notice just in time how a red laser cuts through the sky, crashing right into the spot where Kyuuma has been. Only seconds after, the blimp hovering high above the metal labyrinth explodes into thousands of burning pieces falling to the ground. You don’t watch it long enough to see the banner burn to ashes. 

Kyuuma has been sure that this game would count for the citizens, but somehow, the players have found a way to win in the end. But knowing your friend, it is clear that he didn’t regret a single thing before he died. Kyuuma left in peace with the world and with himself, and surprisingly you feel part of that peace too, despite new tears running down your cheeks. 

What comes even more surprising is that Chishiya eventually gives in and wraps his fingers around yours. He’ll never talk about what just happened, and you don’t want him to. It is enough to know that he’s still here. Maybe, just maybe, there’s even a tiny bit of satisfaction that he did feel something while watching you hug a naked, very good looking man. 

Love doesn’t come without a bit of teasing, after all. 

#oneshot #aib #alice in borderland #chishiya x reader #kyuuma ginji #kyuma ginji #kyuuma #kyuma #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #kyuuma x reader #kyuma x reader

[szallejhscorner]

King of Diamonds - Part VI

•♦•♦• When Chishiya Shuntarou accepted to remain in the Borderlands as a citizen, I knew there was nothing I could do but to accept as well. •♦•♦•

AN: In case anyone wants to be added to the taglist, just say so in the comments (:

@beewolfwrites​ @dripoftheseus​

“Can someone please explain what the heck happened here?”

As we walked through Tokyo, I could barely stop shaking my head with disbelief. Chishiya next to me answered with nothing but a snort, although I noticed that he too was eyeing our surroundings with interest.

At the end of stage two, the city had been a jungle covered in corpses. Not only had nature taken back almost every part of the city, with trees splitting concrete and entire building walls, but the King of Spades had decorated the remaining streets with dead people. Chishiya and I had stayed inside the hotel for less than a week, and with the tempo of decay I had experienced until then, I’d been sure to find an even thicker jungle with hundreds of skeletons.

Obviously, that wasn’t the case.

Not only the games had been relaunched – the Borderlands had gone through an entire reset, as if going back to an earlier safe point when playing a game. Tokyo looked more like Japan’s capital city again, and there was not a single corpse. Not even bones scattered around here and there. Nothing hinted at the terror we all had been going through just two weeks ago, and it was something my mind couldn’t really grasp.

Letting go of the blonde’s hand, I pushed against the door of a grocery store and it opened with just a bit of force. A foul smell greeted me and I glanced to the produce section with disgust, not even daring to search for the meat or fish section, but the store was still full of cans and packages, drinks and all the stuff us players had been roaming for.

“I remember this store”, I muttered, assuming that Chishiya had followed me inside since I heard footsteps behind me, “and it was definitely both empty and completely demolished. This… I….”

There were no words to describe the chaos in my mind. I could somehow accept the fact that hundreds of people disappeared into a parallel Tokyo. But this? An entire city rebuilding and restocking itself within just three days?

Chishiya reached for a pack of cookies and hummed with interest. “It makes sense though”, he mused, “Tokyo has been ripped off anything useful once we finished the second stage. New players would starve to death rather than die in games if there was no restock. I guess this is the starting position for each relaunch.”

My eyes flew to him in bewilderment. Pink glittering unicorns could dance around us and Chishiya would watch and analyze them without losing his poker face. “Don’t take too many cookies, then”, I scoffed, “leave them for the players. We have plenty of them in the hotel.”

He held my gaze with a raised brow and took the cookies anyway. I knew he hardly cared about anyone else but him, less the new players that would try to kill him eventually. “You accepted your role as a Citizen, then”, he stated.

I shrugged, feeling a bit of unease. “What else could I do.”

We left the store and continued to stroll through Tokyo, through streets that were now recognizable again. Barely a single root had yet to make it through the concrete, and most of the windows were still intact. Looking around, it was hard to believe that the city would turn into a jungle within mere weeks.

The crunching of cookies was the only sound accompanying us for a while. When I had asked Chishiya to go for a walk with me earlier this morning, there hadn’t been a certain goal in my mind. I’d just been longing for some fresh air and quietness, and Chishiya obviously didn’t mind to go along with me. His wounds were healing extraordinarily quickly, which wasn’t surprising to me anymore. Everything seemed to be possible in the Borderlands, and there were still so many things I didn’t know.

At one point, the blonde next to me just came to a stand, and I turned around to see him staring at one of the buildings to the left. It was something I wouldn’t have noticed in passing, but now I immediately recognized the double doors.

“The King of Hearts”, I whispered. At once, I felt out of breath, and I remembered the pain in every single muscle as Chishiya and I had tried to escape the King of Spades. This door that we were facing now, the former King of Hearts venue, had been our only chance to survive for the moment. No blimp was hovering above our heads now, and no wreckage lay around. I was sure that if I went inside now, I’d find no table with poisoned sweets, no blood on the carpets of the four symbol rooms. No electric chair.

Out of all games I had played, this one had been the hardest for me. One of my hands moved to the opposite wrist to rub the scar caused by the chair, like I always did when something made me nervous.

But that belonged to the past now. The game had been cleared, the King was long dead. Feeling the urge to move on, I tucked the sleeve of Chishiya’s hoodie, but he didn’t move.

A slight frown darkened his beautiful features, and his lips parted seconds before he spoke. “You were dead”, was all he muttered eventually.

“Huh?”

“You had stopped breathing. It was unlikely for the rest of us to make it out alive.”

Despite the circumstances, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d never forget the warm and comfortable place that had been calling for me, luring me into its embrace. Chishiya’s voice on the other side, surrounded by pain and darkness. “But you told me to stay.”

“And you listened, for once.” His eyes met mine, and I knew he wouldn’t say more. It was enough for me to understand, though.

I cupped my hand around his cheek, caressing his skin with my thumb as I moved closer to him. Chishiya didn’t complain when I kissed him, just a few heartbeats long before I let our foreheads touch. It was hard at times to keep in mind why I had chosen Chishiya as the man I wanted to be with, but in secret moments like this, he made me remember.

The feint sound of voices made me lift my head and end this tender moment. Chishiya had noticed it as well, and with a nod, indicated me to start walking. I didn’t spare the game venue one more look as we finally left the huge and windowless building behind, and the feeling of unease had made way for excitement since the voices could mean only one thing: we were about to meet some of the players.

We followed the voices and an intensifying trail of weed smoke through side streets until we reached a wide plaza with a dozen caravans, obviously the source of the talking. A total of eleven people had gathered around a campfire in the middle of the plaza, some of them sitting on logs or barrels, others standing together, drinking beer and laughing.

They quickly noticed our appearance and called us over, not at all hesitant or wary to meet us.

“New players!” One of them, a corpulent yet small man wearing a dirty bright yellow shirt and green cap on his head cheered, “thank God, we’re really not the only ones out here.”

A woman with a flower dress and curly hair, probably in her late forties, raised a canned beer with one hand while turning a joint around in the other. “More people to celebrate Armageddon with!”

I looked at Chishiya questioningly, unsure if it’d be a good idea to mingle with the new players so early through the first stage, but he just shrugged and sat down on one of the makeshift benches. Someone walked up to me and led me to one of the logs sooner than I realized, and I found myself sitting next to the dress-wearing woman.

“Hi”, I croaked out, clearing my throat as I felt the rest of the words getting stuck half-way out. We were allowed to mix with the players, play games and all that as long as we didn’t tell anyone who we really were. Just like Asahi had been instantly killed after announcing her identity as a Dealer, a red laser would crash through my skull once I dared to tell one of the players about us Citizens. Could I pretend to be someone I was not? Could I look these people in the eyes, knowing full well they had to fight for their lives while I could watch them on one of the plenty monitors inside the hotel?

A can of beer found its way into my hand, and I took a sip, hoping that some alcohol would ease the pressure I felt. The beer tasted terrible, it was hot and stale, but it was alcohol nonetheless. After emptying half of the can within a few seconds, I introduced Chishiya and me, smiling when there were comments about the blonde’s quite special last name.

Chishiya was also holding a beer, but he didn’t drink any of it. Instead, he examined every one of the players around us, listening to the stories they told us about how long they’d been here already. The maximum seemed to be four days.

Four days. What shouldn’t sound like a short time could feel longer than an eternity here in the Borderlands, I knew that too well myself. If one was unlucky, four days could mean three or four games, thus three or four chances to die or lose people one knew and liked. The constant terror of not knowing how long I’d survive and how my end would come had always caused me nightmares, and the few days in between the games couldn’t give much ease.

Now, at least this kind of nightmares was kept away from my dreams. It was a soothing thought – knowing that there was no visa running out for me, that no Roamer would chase me to death.

Chishiya and I, we belonged to this world now. I felt alien along the people sitting here around that campfire, like the traitor I probably was. Yet I sat here and drank beer out of metal cans and ate snacks out of plastic bags with people who wondered if they’d still sit here tomorrow while I, on the other hand, could go back to the hotel tonight and order something crazy like Argentinean rump steak with mashed sweet potatoes and watch the games from a comfy sofa.

“I know that look”, the woman next to me said, grinding the joint remains under her heel, “try not to worry and instead live for the present. The games are much less frightening if you don’t think about them all the time.”

I swallowed and was unable to get out an answer. She seemed so kind and yet was so completely wrong about what bothered me. Her face showed first signs of wrinkles, but her hazel hair was still full and falling down her shoulders in shiny waves. A beautiful woman for sure despite the circumstances.

Once more misinterpreting my silence, she continued: “you know, my son always had that look when he was about to write a test. It gets better, I promise.”

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

One of the men caught her attention by calling her Yukinari, throwing another beer towards her once she turned to him.

“Do you miss him?” I asked, trying to change the topic. It didn’t work out too well, though, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Her voice was only a whisper when she answered. “Every second I’m awake, and even in my dreams. It wasn’t fair that it had to happen to him.”

Several dark imaginations filled my mind about what happened. A lethal illness, maybe – cancer, heart failure; a car incident?

“I’m…. sorry. I didn’t intend to-”

“It’s fine”, Yukinari interrupted me. “Whenever I talk about him, it keeps him alive. Would… would you mind listening to his story?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.” A side glance towards Chishiya told me that he had started a conversation with someone else, but his eyes wandered to me now and then, observing my behavior and probably trying to make sure I wouldn’t say something forbidden.

Yukinari’s voice was shaking at first when she started to talk about Masaru, her only son who had been seventeen years old. They had come to the Borderlands together, and of course they’d decided to enter their first game together as well. What they couldn’t have known though, was that the game would be an Eight of Hearts. I remembered some of the details since I had read the note after Myoka had shown me the pin boards, but Yukinari couldn’t bring herself to amplify. Masaru had been one of the first to die when the players had started to kill each other, leaving his mother not only lost and confused, but utterly heart-broken an in a pain only a mother could comprehend. At least she’d have a couple of days more to mourn until her next game.

“Masaru loved to play basketball”, Yukinari continued, her voice much more solid now, and I could even catch a smile on her face. “He was best of his class, with a bright future lying ahead of him…”

More stories followed about his basketball career and how Masuru had disliked nothing as much as maths, but I listened only half-heartedly. I felt so incredibly sorry for this woman and it made me think about my parents and how they had lost me as their child. How did I disappear in the real world? And how did they mourn me?

What if Yukinari had other relatives waiting for her to come back?

I couldn’t bring back Yukinari’s son, but I could make sure at least the mother returned to the real world. I had insight into the games and their rules, which meant I could lure Yukinari into the ones granting a high chance of survival. This way, she would easily make it through the first stage, and then I’d find a similar way to get her to the finish line.

Chishiya’s piercing glance made me lift my head, and his eyes were serious. He knew I plotted something I probably shouldn’t do, but as far as I knew, it wasn’t against the rules if I maintained a low profile. I shrugged, trying to tell the blonde that he didn’t need to worry about me.

“…Masuru would have loved the Camp”, the woman finished, and I nodded.

“I’m sure he would have.” Taking another sip from the terrible beer, I looked around the makeshift hideout. The caravans brought back wonderful memories from the days I had spent in one together with Chishiya, until one heavy argument had caused us to part. “You really call this place just that? The Camp?”

The scratching sound of wood against concrete right next to me made me flinch, and a pretty young guy, probably in his late teens, took a seat on the log he had just shoved next to mine. He smelled after alcohol and weed, but the glance in his eyes seemed still sober. “Short and fitting. It’s a good name, if you ask me. And catchy enough for more people to join – on top of the fact that you guys have drugs here.”

“I don’t mind the Camp growing”, a man next to Chishiya added, “the more we are, the easier it gets to gather supplies and have fun. Maybe someone will be able to hunt and get us fresh meat, eh!”

Kuina’s face immediately came to my mind. The tall woman had been able to do just that, and with her help, meals had always been way better than just tasteless noodles and stale beer. I missed her.

The youngster, who introduced himself as Honma, gave me a lopsided sneer. “And more people will mean more girls.”

His wink made me snort and I rolled my eyes. “I’m taken, thank you very much.”

Honma didn’t press on further, too occupied with rolling a joint. His lower arms were covered in tattoos, and I could also see a very nasty scar on the right one. Whatever had happened there didn’t heal very well, and it still looked painful although it had to be old already.

The wind blew the joint’s sickeningly sweet smell directly into my face, and I used that as an excuse to switch logs so I could be next to Chishiya and further away from that weird guy. The blonde had started a conversation with two others and was currently briefly telling them about his very first game, the Six of Diamonds. He of course let out the detail that the game had taken place weeks prior instead of just four days, letting the others believe he was a newbie just like them.

“Six of Diamonds?” One of them asked, “mine was a Five of Clubs. I wonder what the symbols stand for, or if they have a meaning at all.”

“Of course there’s a meaning. The four types stand for different categories – Diamonds, for example, are games about intelligence. And your Clubs game included teamwork, didn’t it?”

“It… It did, yes! You must be pretty clever then. How did you figure it out so quickly?”

Chishiya gave him a smirk that didn’t even try to hide his arrogance. “Oh, I am clever. It is all about observing. Yukinari’s game was Hearts, and she said that most of the players turned against each other. A game that plays with people’s hearts, standing to reason. Diamonds not only has the sharp edges, but it also represents the sharpness of the mind. Clubs, with its multiple blades, stands for multiple players that need to work together.”

Everyone else had stopped talking, and even I was speechless. This was the first time someone made me think about why each symbol stood for a certain ability, and what Chishiya said made so much sense! He could have definitely figured that out on his fourth day in the Borderlands.

Honma hummed impressed. “And Spades, what about that?”

With a nod towards me, Chishiya gave him a slight shrug. “Their first game had been a Spades one, and I know it was about physical activity. So that’s the last one.”

Taken aback, I tried not to show my surprise too openly. I had never told him about my very first game in these lands, so how did he know?

His eyes glinted with a hidden satisfaction when he noticed my confusion, and his lips silently formed the word “Beach”. As a former executive of the Beach, he must have known because of the playing card I had brought with me when joining Hatter’s utopia. His cleverness surprised me every day anew, it was almost scary.

Many of the people sitting around the fire started to talk about the games they had played already, confirming Chishiya’s statement about the symbols. The topic smoothly transitioned from games to our previous lives to escape plans and whatnot, how the Camp had been formed and if Chishiya and I didn’t want to join. Luckily for me, the blonde reacted quickly enough and played out the boyfriend-card, telling the others that we had found a nice abandoned suite and preferred to stay there. For privacy reasons, they probably assumed judging by their sly smiles, but I didn’t mind as long as they didn’t press further. I couldn’t possibly tell them that I had no need of staying in one of their caravans since a nice warm dinner and a hot shower would be waiting for me.

Maybe I could bring Chishiya to spend a few nights here in the future, though. I somehow missed our time in the caravan.

But sooner than I realized, the sky above our heads turned from a flawless blue into several hues of red and purple, indicating that night would fall soon. With the promise to return the next day, Chishiya and I waved goodbye and left the Camp, when Honma did the same and jogged through the street to catch up with us.

“Let me accompany you”, he grinned, and my mind immediately begun to spin around, searching for an argument to send him away so he wouldn’t find the Citizen base.

“I… well, you know…” I stuttered, but Chishiya patted my shoulder in reassurance.

“It’s alright”, he said, “Honma is one of us.”

Once more I was bewildered, but of course Chishiya knew that as well. He had probably seen the youngster during the last days or something, although at that point I was too tired to ask.

Instead I let out a sigh and put up with the fact that my private time with Chishiya would have to wait. Honma adjusted his pace to ours, carrying such a content grin on his face it made me shudder. He had been quite talented in playing the role of the innocent young man still learning about this world, and as we walked, the ugly scar on his arm caught my eyes again and again.

Honma eventually noticed, and his smile grew even wilder. “You want to know what happened, right?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, since my curiosity was obvious enough for him to continue. “You probably think it was a game injury. It wasn’t. In fact, I cut it out myself.”

“And why would you do that?”

He scratched the scar, a gesture so familiar that it caused me to look at my own wrists. “To escape the King of Spades. Once I realized he could track every single one of us via GPS, I did everything to locate the sender - and remove it.”

Chishiya lifted his head, now listening with open interest. We both had known the King’s ability to track us, but I had never considered a sender inside our bodies. One of the very few things the blonde probably hadn’t thought of, either. “You knew where to cut. But you obviously didn’t know how to do it properly.”

Honma shrugged. “I don’t care about one more scar. But yes, I did my homework. It would have been suicidal to cut my whole body open and play a guessing game.”

The more he said, the less I wanted him to continue, having a feeling in my guts that the answer wouldn’t be to my liking.

“Since the King of Spades left more than enough corpses in my way, I had plenty of chances to search for other people’s senders. And surprise, surprise! They’re all located in the very same spot. What a shame though that I’m usually right-handed; it made the operation a lot more difficult.”

I huffed. Back in the real world, the mere thought of doing that – noodling around with dead people’s bodies – would have disgusted, even terrified me to no end. Now I caught myself calling it brilliant in my mind – since until this point I had been sure it was impossible to escape the Roamer’s radar.

“Chishiya and I, we still have those senders, right?” I concluded, scanning my right arm for something under my skin that didn’t belong there. Of course I found nothing.

Honma nodded, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I guess so. But they’re probably shut off now that they’re not needed anymore.”

“I doubt that”, Chishiya threw in, causing both Honma and I to turn around to him. “You were not part of the Beach, but during the Witch Hunt, one of the Dealers revealed her identity and was killed immediately. If they didn’t remove the senders during the relaunch, which I doubt they have, they will use it to control our movements in case we infringe the rules. Or to kill us if we die in our own games.”

This was a theory that yet needed to be tested, but if it really was true, this could change a lot. I assumed that whoever ruled the Borderlands was aware that one of their Citizens was running around without a sender, and Honma was probably under observation or had another sender implanted during the relaunch without knowing.

For me, it could be a true game changer, though. Maybe I’d be able to leave Tokyo at some point, find out what else was hidden beyond the city’s borders. The risk of being killed remained, but for once, it didn’t scare me. And it wouldn’t scare me once Chishiya would be gone, leaving me all alone and hollow.

Oh, how this land had changed me.

#king of diamonds #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #aib chishiya #alice in borderland #aib