Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Arisu wanted to scream but the sound got trapped in his throat. They had finally found their way back together, he was finally back with Chishiya, but then The King of Spades, the fucking cockroach, was about to shoot Usagi when Chishiya stepped in the way.

He didn’t care if the King was going to shoot him, he just needed to get to Chishiya. If he was completely honest Arisu had no idea how he and Chishiya ended up together but what he did know was that it felt right, felt like he finally found his own place when he was with Chishiya, and now he might lose him.

Hell, Arisu had thought he was asexual before meeting Chishiya and when he suddenly started feeling physical attraction to the other man Arisu had freaked out. Usagi had been the one to talk him through it and explain to him what was happening for which Arisu was very grateful.

“Hello Alice,” Chishiya said in English and gave a bloody smile as Arisu fell to his knees beside him.

“Hello Cheshire,” Arisu did his best to smile back. “So, how do I help you?”

Chishiya raised a hand to Arisu’s face, “You can't.”

“Of course I can,” Arisu protested. “You're the doctor so just tell me what to do.”

“Arisu,” Chishiya said calmly. “The bullet ricochet inside my body and hit my spine.”

Arisu looked at him with wide eyes, “What are you saying?”

“I can't feel my legs,” Chishiya, calm as ever (so fucking calm), told him. “And you know that being unable to move is a death sentence in this place.”

“No, no, no, no,” Arisu shook his head in denial. “I’ll just carry you through the games, I’ll build something to help, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll…”

“Arisu, my Alice,” Chishiya smiled once again before his eyes widened. “No!”

Arisu was about to turn around but there was a loud sound, a burning pain in his neck and then everything was fading. He thought he could hear Chishiya screaming but it was like Arisu was under water, he was so tired and he just wanted to sleep but he fought to stay awake, fought to focus on Chishiya, but the pull of the dark was too strong and the last thing he felt was a hand in his hair before everything faded completely.

---

---

---

Arisu sat up with a gasp. Something was holding him down and he started to fight, he needed to get loose, needed to get to Chishiya! With a grunt he managed to fight his way out of his binds only to hit the floor with a thump. The fall must have knocked something in his head because he could finally focus on his surroundings and he couldn’t really believe what he was seeing.

He was in a room he hadn't seen in God knows how long and the bindings he had been fighting were bedsheets. He just sat there, gaping at his bed and the wall of his room until there was a knock on the door and his father opened it to step inside.

“What's with the ruckus?” the man asked like Arisu had just seen him last night.

“I-I-I…” Arisu stuttered and couldn’t help but stare, he hadn't seen his father in such a long time.

“What are you doing on the floor?” his father asked with a frown. 

“I fell,” Arisu finally managed to get out.

“Hmm,” the man narrowed his eyes at him before sighing and turning around to leave.

Was this what death was like? 

Being stuck in his childhood room with his father’s constant disappointment aimed at him?

If this was the realm that you ended up in when you died, where was his mom?

Where was Chishiya? Or did him not being here mean he survived? God he hoped his Cheshire survived.

He knew he was spiraling but he couldn’t help it. Everything was just so confusing and Arisu had no idea what was going on and-

Every single thought in his head screeched to a halt as he looked at his tv where the screen suddenly lit up, he must have accidentally nudged his controller or something, and where the time and date was proudly displayed in the corner.

September 13 ^th 2020

That was almost four months before he ended up in the weird, twisted version of Tokyo!

Did this mean he… had a second chance? Could he avoid ending up in the parallel Tokyo? But if he did, would that mean he would never meet Chishiya? There was nothing in the entire world worth not meeting Chishiya, that was something Arisu was certain of.

But if he did get a second chance did that mean he could save Chota and Karube? Could he maybe even make sure they didn’t ever end up in the games at all?

---

Arisu spent the next two days in a daze, not daring to hope that this was actually real. On the third day he finally came to the conclusion that even if it was a death dream or something he would act like it was a second chance and do everything in his power to prepare for when he ended up in the games once again.

He started by getting money in several not so legal ways. Then he ordered a backpack that had several good reviews about being sturdy and able to hold a lot of things while still being somewhat small. He went on a shopping spree where he bought clothes more fitted for the twisted version of Tokyo, tight shirts, cargo pants, running shoes, basically clothes made for hiking and/or running.

He also went to a pharmacy to get things that could be useful, lying through his teeth about him and his friends going camping and hiking so the woman in the store wouldn’t look at him suspiciously when he asked for help.

He ran into a slight obstacle when he wanted to learn how to fight with a knife, guns freaked him out, and the man he found to teach him wouldn’t do so before Arisu told him the truth, the whole truth. In the end, when Arisu had told him everything he could remember, the man had looked at him and said ‘I’ll teach you everything I know as fast as I safely can as long as you tell me when I should be out of town to avoid ending up in this weird version of Tokyo. Deal?’.

Arisu had gladly agreed and then the torture… eh, training started. Each day he would come home with bruises on his body and aches everywhere but he continued to go back for more. He only had seven weeks left to prepare and he refused to waste it. 

In his free time he read up on anything and everything he thought could be useful. Some of the books he focused most on were mental strength and how to make yourself stronger mentally to help you physically. If you had enough mental power over your own body a lot was possible that seemed impossible before… mostly this was for any Spade or Heart Games, he needed to be able to handle both of them better than the last time around.

Sure, Chishiya had taught him to compartmentalize and during his time in the twisted version of Tokyo Arisu had gotten colder, more calculating, but he needed to be better, stronger. If he was going to keep Chishiya, Usagi, Kuina and Tatta alive this time he would need it.

Chota and Karube had asked him several times what was going on with him but they knew he sometimes hyper focused on things, what surprised them was that it wasn’t a videogame he was stuck on this time around.

“I'm just trying to find something I'm good at that I can do for work,” Arisu lied softly, looking down at his ramen.

“Arisu,” Karube placed a hand on Arisu’s shoulder. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but no matter what you do I don’t think your dad will suddenly be proud of you.”

Arisu felt a stab in his chest at that. Karube and Chota were the only ones who knew how his dad actually treated him, not even his brother knew. His father blamed him wholeheartedly for his mother’s death and behind closed doors and in private he never failed to let his son know that.

In the beginning Arisu had tried everything in his power to get his father’s love and respect but no matter how hard he tried he never succeeded and he knew Karube was right. Even after all this time some part of him still wanted his father’s love which Arisu admitted to himself was a bit fucked up.

“I know,” Arisu tried to smile. “But if I get a job, something I'm good at and enjoy doing, I’ll be able to move out.”

“You can come stay with me,” Karube offered as soon as Arisu stopped talking.

Arisu chuckled, “Thanks, Karube, but I think I want my own place.”

“Understandable,” Chota spoke for the first time. “I don’t think anyone would like to live with Karube in his tiny apartment. Hey, Karube, is it even legal to keep animals in such a small space, much less a whole ass human?”

“Hey!” Karube reached around Arisu to hit Chota who dodged with a laugh.

“Anyway, that’s not why I asked to meet up,” Arisu felt happy and calm around his friends whom he had missed so very much. “I come bearing gifts.”

“Isn't it a bit early for Christmas?” Chota looked at him. “I mean, it’s not even December yet.”

“December starts in two days,” Arisu pointed out… shit that meant he had less than two weeks before ending up in the games once again. “But anyway these gifts are more of a ‘thank you for always being there for me’ gifts than Christmas gifts.”

“Aww, you didn’t have too!” Karube mock wailed as he hugged Arisu and pretended to cry.

“I've changed my mind,” Arisu deadpanned. God he’s fucking missed this, missed them.

“No, no take backs!” Karube pulled back with humor shining in his eyes.

“You do know you didn’t have too, right?” Chota asked softly.

“I know,” Arisu smiled and pulled the gifts out of his bag. “Who wants to go first?”

“Give me, give me, give me,” Karube reached forward and chanted like a three year old.

“Thank you, Karube, for volunteering to go last,” Arisu smirked at him and handed Chota his gift.

“I hate you,” Karube sat down with a pout. All three knew that was a big lie.

The three friends looked at each other for a moment before all of them burst out laughing. It was freeing and something Arisu would treasure for a very long time. It was very true what they said about not missing something until it’s gone and for Arisu it had been such a long time since he had heard his friends laugh.

“Open it,” Arisu smiled at Chota after they had all calmed down.

Chota slowly opened the gift, eyes widening when he saw what it was, “Arisu, this is…”

“You’ve talked about going several times but have always backed out due to several reasons,” Arisu shrugged slightly. “Now you can't back out.”

“This is,” Chota almost tackled Arisu out of his chair as he hugged him. “Thank you!”

“You're very welcome,” Arisu hugged back. “I hope you have fun.”

“What is it?” Karube asked curiously.

“Tickets to the Osaka Comic Con,” Chota beamed and showed Karube everything that was in his gift. “Along with an all paid stay at the hotel for the week of said Con.”

“That’s amazing!” Karube smiled, happy for his friend.

“Yeah, I can't wait!” Chota exclaimed and once again hugged Arisu.

“You do know that according to this you have to leave in a week, right?” Karube said as he looked through everything.

“Yeah, but I promise to buy you a souvenir or something,” Chota laughed happily.

“You better!” Karube pointed at him with amusement dancing in his eyes.

“And now for your gift, Karube,” Arisu handed him an envelope.

Karube accepted it with excitement and opened it quickly before pulling out the contents of it and freezing with wide eyes.

“What is it?” Chota wanted to know, very curious thanks to the look on Karube’s face.

“Two tickets for a two week cruise,” Karube murmured softly, still staring at the tickets.

“I thought you could take Emi with you,” Arisu looked down. “You deserve to have some time with her away from all this.”

Suddenly Arisu was enveloped in a strong embrace, feeling more than hearing Karube speak, “Thank you, Arisu.”

---

Arisu was exhausted but he felt pretty good at all he had managed to learn from his sensei even if they had had very limited time. He collapsed on his bed, grunting slightly as his muscles ached, and looked up at the ceiling. Today had been his last lesson and his sensei was leaving Tokyo early tomorrow morning to get away from whatever was going to happen.

Now Arisu had three days left to prepare and he felt somewhat confident in what he had done so far. His bag was packed, he might have gone a bit overboard on the medical supplies and the Tylenol but whatever, he just had to remember to add the throwing knives his sensei had given him today and he would be all set.

“Dinner!” came the call from downstairs and Arisu got up with a groan, time to have dinner with his family, one of the last if Arisu remembered correctly. Before leaving he put the throwing knives in his bag and made sure they were secure and then he walked out of his room.

The look he gained from his father the moment he sat down made worry gnaw deep in Arisu’s stomach but his father was as pleasant as he always was, meaning not a lot, while his brother was present. The moment his brother left, he had been called in to work the last time around too if Arisu remembered correctly, everything changed.

“Go to your room,” his father ordered coldly.

“But I-” Arisu tried to protest, having not finished eating.

“Don’t talk back!” his father backhanded him across the face.

It didn’t happen often, his father hitting him or using physical violence against him, most of the time it was when something was going really badly for the man and he saw his ‘useless’ son as the one to blame.

With a calm that only came from having gone through games that had a high chance of killing him, Arisu stood up. Part of him wanted to talk back, really tell his father what he thought and felt but a bigger part decided against it, knowing he shouldn’t tempt fate and not wanting to end up in the twisted version of Tokyo injured.

“Thank you for the food, father,” Arisu bowed his head and hoped his father wouldn’t notice the sarcasm in both his voice and in his gesture.

His father narrowed his eyes at him before grunting, “Get out.”

A few moments later he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Karube had left for his cruise with Emi two days ago and Chota had left yesterday which meant that neither of them were going to be in Tokyo as the games started and Arisu couldn’t help but smile. He had saved his best friends and that was worth a whole lot even if Arisu had to do it all over again by himself. He was glad he still had Usagi and Kuina, his sisters in all but blood, Tatta, who he was determined to keep alive this time around and, of course, Chishiya, the love of his life, in the games… even if they didn’t know him yet.

Chapter Text

Knowing it was going to happen and experiencing it were two completely different things, Arisu discovered as he walked out of the bathroom and the station to find Tokyo abandoned. Some subconscious part of him had probably been convinced that this and everything that had happened in the games was some sort of twisted dream or something but now he had proof that it wasn’t.

Turning around he walked back into the bathroom to change. Pulling on a pair of black cargo pants that hugged his hips and thighs along with a long sleeved dark red shirt that molded after his chest and arms, he could admit he was pretty proud of his physical appearance and how it showed the work he had been doing. He wasn’t as jacked as Aguni was, not even close, or even as muscular as Niragi but he had a dancer’s build and softly defined muscles which he thought suited him… and if he thought it might help him impress Chishiya? Well, that was for him to know and for everyone else to ignore.

The last thing he did before leaving the bathroom was strap the throwing knives to his waist and stick a hidden knife into the sole of his shoe. His sensei had taught him how to do so safely and with minimal risk of the blade cutting his foot, which Arisu appreciated a lot.

Then he made his way out of the bathroom and the station once more. Seeing as the game wouldn’t start until later that evening he had decided to find somewhere to stay and since the mall and furniture store had worked last time he decided to go that route once again.

Honestly, Arisu thought it would feel like an age before he could enter the first game, the waiting had always been the worst to him, but before he knew it he was walking past the ‘border’ and picking up a phone.

He had left his backpack hidden where he had decided to sleep and only brought the clothes on his back and his knives of course. Not that knives would be needed in this game but he rather be over prepared than caught with his pants down, so to speak. That was something Chishiya had hammered into his head in the beginning of their relationship, better to be too prepared than not prepared enough and Arisu had learned that lesson the hard way after almost losing Kuina due to him not being prepared enough.

He leaned against the wall beside the elevator as he waited for more players to arrive. He wondered if more people would join this time around seeing as Karube and Chota weren’t there but it was more an absent thought than anything else. As he waited he looked at the map of the building for a while before he started to calculate which doors he should go through, seeing as he didn’t remember the specific doors since the last time.

Looking up as the border dinged Arisu was greeted by Shibuki who looked at him in slight interest but then turned her head away to not get caught staring. It wasn’t long before the girl Shibuki sacrificed the first time around found them and exclaimed about finding people.

“My condolences,” Shibuki said as the girl stepped past the border.

“Registration has closed. The game will now commence.”

“And so it begins,” Arisu murmured softly.

“Game: Dead or Alive. Rule: Select the correct door within the stipulated time. Clear condition: Leave the building within the time limit.”

Arisu walked into the elevator followed by Shibuki and the still unnamed woman. The moment they stepped into the first room Arisu had to take a deep breath, flashbacks of Karube and Chota being in this room played in his mind.

“The time limit for this room is two minutes. Game start.”

Arisu watched as Shibuki and the unknown woman tried to figure it out, scoffed when Shibuki tried to get the other woman to open the Live door only to have both women turn to him.

“What?” Shibuki sneered. “Like you have a better idea.”

“I do, actually,” Arisu said just as the voice told them there was one minute remaining and walked over to the Death door and walked through.

The two women quickly followed, Shibuki looked surprised while the other woman threw herself at Arisu, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Time limit for this room is: 1 minute and 50 seconds.”

“No problem,” Arisu patted her awkwardly on the back.

“I'm Hoga, by the way,” the woman, Hoga, pulled back. Arisu was glad that he now had a name for the woman.

“Arisu,” Arisu nodded at her.

“I'm Shibuki,” Shibuki said before looking at him with narrowed eyes. “How did you know which door to pick, Arisu?”

“It’s a clubs game,” Arisu shrugged as he pulled out some paper and a pen from his pocket. He couldn’t just ‘know’ which door to go through without ‘calculating’ it first. “It’s all about observation and intelligence.”

“I don’t understand,” Hoga murmured even as she looked at what Arisu was drawing.

Arisu did his best to give a quick explanation as he drew on the paper but he knew he wasn’t doing the best job of it. Though, honestly, it didn’t really matter as long as they got out of there before getting burned to death which Arisu wanted to avoid.

“Next door is death,” Arisu declared and walked through it, once again followed by the two women.

It went quicker this time around and before he knew it Arisu was standing outside holding the 3 of Clubs card in his hand. Shibuki looked at Arisu with a calculating look and he knew she was trying to decide how to approach him so he would be more inclined to protect her or something. That’s what she had done with Chota last time around, seduced him and made herself ‘important’ to him so she would have Chota, and thus Karube and Arisu at the same time, protect her and help her.

Arisu wouldn’t stand for that, he had never liked her and he still didn’t, and this time he wouldn’t let her hang around him. He already knew he was going to join the 7 of Hearts once again, seeing as that was one of the reasons he and Usagi were accepted on the Beach, and while he didn’t like Shibuki he didn’t want to kill her though he would if it came down to it.

So while Shibuki and Hoga were distracted by talking to each other and how they had survived, and Hoga got Shibuki to tell her everything she knew about this place, Arisu slipped away with the 3 of Clubs card safe in his pocket.

---

Getting ready for the Tag Game was nerve wracking on a whole new level for Arisu. He knows Chishiya would be there and he would have to fight every instinct and drive in his body not to rush over and hug the other man, to not bury his face in said man’s neck, where he knows he will be smelling softly of forest rain, lemon grass and something that is uniquely Chishiya, and not to call the man ‘Cheshire’…

Ever since they got together Arisu’s safe place had been Chishiya. With him Arisu didn’t need to be the strong one, didn’t need to be in charge or the smart one, with Chishiya Arisu could relax and just be, knowing that his love would take care of him and that was something Arisu had sorely missed in the last four months since he last saw his love.

And sure, Aguni will be there too but Arisu doesn’t really care about that. The older man would be good as an ally but Arisu knows he's hard to impress and if it’s between impressing him or surviving Arisu will definitely choose surviving. Looking at himself in the floor length mirror he sighed, he was wearing the same pants as the day before but he had chosen a tight t-shirt so he could wash the red long sleeved one he had worn, his knives were strapped to his waist and he had a short sword strapped to his back hidden under the dark blue button up he was wearing for just that purpose.

What he hadn't found the last time around was the hunting/camping store in the mall but he was happy he had explored more this time. True, he had no idea how to use a short sword except that the pointy end goes into the other man, or woman, but he had decided it was better to have it with him and not need it… though he would be a bit hesitant to use it seeing as he was just as likely to hurt himself as his opponent if he did choose to use it.

Grabbing a power bar as he walked out. He started munching on it as he made his way to the Game. He was the fourth to arrive at the Toei Sendagaya Apartment and quickly grabbed a phone before standing in a corner from where he could observe everyone walking in. The other three looked at him but none of them approached which Arisu appreciated, not feeling up to talking to anyone at just that moment.

Fifteen minutes later his heart did a weird thump-thu-thump as Chishiya walked in, moving like the Cheshire cat Arisu always likened him too. Oh, how he had missed him but he forced himself to stay back and not stare at the slightly older man. Chishiya was one of the most, if not the most observant people Arisu had ever met and if Arisu continued to stare Chishiya would definitely notice.

When Tatta arrived a few moment later Arisu felt pain squeeze his heart and he had to look away. This time he would do his best to keep the other alive and if they did end up in the King of Clubs game together he would dislocate Tatta’s thumb to remove the cuff instead of doing it Tatta’s way.

“Registration closed. There are a total of 13 participants.”

Wait a minute, thirteen? 

Arisu looked around and did a quick headcount, there were only eleven people in the lobby which meant… right, the Taggers were also players, he had forgotten about that. Hmm, but how to solve this?

“The Game will now commence.”

Chishiya had noticed the young man standing in the corner the moment he walked in, seen the looks he sent him before looking away and he could admit to being curious. That curiosity only grew when the number of participants were mentioned and how the man straightened and looked around. It wasn’t often Chishiya met people that were at his own level when it came to intelligence but this guy might come close if Chishiya was reading him correctly.

He was dressed in cargo pants, a tight t-shirt under a dark blue button up and several throwing knives strapped to his waist. All in all he looked like he was ready for whatever game this was and if Chishiya was honest, and he tried to be with himself at least, the guy was good looking.

Deciding to keep his eyes on the pretty boy Chishiya hid a smirk even as he pushed down the feeling of knowing him from somewhere. It was like the knowledge of who he was, was hidden just outside of Chishiya’s reach and he decided it was not something he could delve on right at this moment, he had a game to clear first.

“Difficulty: Five of Spades.”

“Oh, what fun,” Arisu muttered, not seeing the looks he got from the people around him.

“E-excuse me?” Tatta stuttered out as he walked over to Arisu. “Can you tell me what's going on? No one seems to want to tell me.”

“Quick and easy version,” Arisu smiled slightly even as he had flashbacks of Tatta slamming a cargo door on his arm. “You're in some twisted version of Tokyo, you need visas to live here, without visas you die. To gain visas you need to play games, the games can kill you. Once you’ve entered a game you can't leave until the game is won or you’ll die.”

“But-but- I don’t want to be here,” Tatta looked horrified.

“Most of the people here don’t,” Arisu shrugged slightly. 

“Game: A Game of Tag. Rule: Run away from the Tagger.”

“Tagger?!” Tatta sounded scared. “What tagger?”

“I have no idea,” Arisu lied softly.

“Clear condition. Discover the safezone hidden in one of the building rooms within the time limit. You clear the game when this objective is fulfilled. Time limit, 20 minutes. After 20 minutes has passed, the time bomb hidden in the building will explode.”

“Well then, there you have it,” Arisu patted Tatta on the shoulder before moving away, mentally preparing himself to go through this again.

He wondered how long he could wait before ‘finding’ the safezone. Knowing that he would not leave it with as little time as last time but also knowing he couldn’t just ‘find’ it within the first few minutes. With a sigh he decided to wait until either Tatta had been close and the tagger had shot at him from farther away and use that as an excuse for figuring it out or if Tatta took another route this time he would ‘figure’ it out with maybe 10 minutes left or something.

Moving up the same path he and Karube had taken the last time around, the man in the hat still followed him and babbled at him; which Arisu found somewhat amusing. He also knew that he would be setting it up so that the man in the hat, Nitobi if he remembered correctly, would die by the Tagger’s hand just as he had last time.

Once upon a time that thought and plan would have made Arisu feel guilty and sick to his stomach but after so long in this weird place he had broken in some ways. Though if you asked Chishiya, the one that held Arisu close as he cried the first time he had actively killed someone, he would say that Arisu wasn’t broken, just a bit bent and dinged.

“Why are you following me?” Arisu asked with a slight smirk.

“I'm trying to gauge if you could be an ally,” Nitobi beamed at him.

Arisu chuckled, “How generous of you.”

“Isn't it just,” Nitobi laughed. “So, how many games have you played?”

“A few,” Arisu shrugged, it wasn’t technically lying, he had played a lot of games just not this time around.

“I've played around five or so,” Nitobi told him.

“The Game will now commence. The time limit is 20 minutes. Game start. The Tagger is on the move.”

“Good for you,” Arisu hummed, mentally calculating all the pathways in this building. This time he had been smart enough to actually look at the building’s map.

It wasn’t long before the sound of gunshots went through the air and a body fell down the stairs in front of Arisu and Nitobi. That meant the Tagger was about to chase them and Arisu was so glad he had started running everyday back in the normal version of Tokyo.

“We should run,” Arisu said softly before turning around and taking off, leaving Nitobi behind.

The game went on, people died and finally, with eleven minutes left Tatta was getting shot at by the Tagger and Arisu wanted to cheer. He quickly helped Tatta away from the rain of bullets and decided to do the exact same thing he had done last time; Call out where the tagger was to the others.

This time Tatta stayed with him and Arisu didn’t mind. One thing this place had taught him was that while he didn’t really care about what happened to people he didn’t know or care about he would still fight to the death to protect his friends. And yes, pun very much intended.

“That thing isn’t human!” Tatta exclaimed as they took a breather in a stairwell.

“No, that's a human. The tagger is 190cm tall and weighs 90kg,” Aguni came around the corner, looking unbothered. “Their dominant hand is their right hand. His shooting is rudimentary. Most likely an ex-SDF officer or policeman.”

“Here, I got it,” another man came around the corner holding two fire extinguishers.

“You're going after the Tagger,” Arisu stepped forward.

“We are,” Aguni nodded as he looked at Arisu and just like last time Arisu felt tiny. “Wanna come with?”

“No, I've figured out where the safezone is and I'm pretty sure the second tagger is there,” Arisu explained.

“Second Tagger?” the man who had brought the fire extinguishers asked.

“There's a second tagger?!” Tatta sounded freaked out.

“How do you know?” Aguni looked at Arisu with narrowed eyes.

“At the beginning when registration closed the voice said that there were 13 participants but there were only 11 people in the lobby,” Arisu explained quickly. “And seeing as we haven't seen the last person yet it’s only logical that they're at the safezone to protect it.”

“You're smart,” Aguni nodded slowly.

“So, what should we do?” extinguisher man looked at Aguni for instructions.

“We shall continue with our plan while they get to the safezone and take care of the other Tagger,” Aguni decided with a nod.

“Oh, before you go,” Arisu stopped the other man before he could leave and pulled the short sword from his back to hand it to Aguni. “I think you have more use for this than I do.”

“You’ve been carrying that the whole time?!” Tatta exclaimed in shock.

“Well, yeah,” Arisu shrugged like it was no big deal, not seeing the slight respect in Aguni’s eyes.

“Thanks,” Aguni nodded and accepted the weapon.

“Good luck and don’t die,” Arisu smirked before grabbing Tatta. “Let’s go, we have a safezone to find and a Tagger to distract and/or kill.”

“I can't kill someone!” Tatta shouted at him.

“It’s either them or you,” Arisu pointed out as they ran.

“Eight minutes until the Game ends. Currently Seven survivors.”

“So, you figured it out too,” Chishiya met them outside the safezone door.

“And so did you,” Arisu smiled and tried not to look like a lovesick puppy.

“I'm impressed,” Chishiya smirked before turning to the door. “Shall we?”

“Wait, there is probably another tagger in there,” Arisu stopped Chishiya.

“I was right,” Chishiya nodded thoughtfully. “You also picked that up in the beginning.”

“Here Tatta,” Arisu handed over one of his throwing knives before holding one out to Chishiya.

“I don’t need one,” Chishiya showed them his homemade taser.

Arius nodded and grasped the handle to the door. The fight went better than last time except this time Arisu got grazed by a bullet, luckily the wound wasn’t big and he managed to stab the tagger in the hand in return.

“We need to be two to end this game!” Arisu called out to Chishiya who, after tasing the Tagger once more, moved over to the opposite wall from Arisu.

“On three?” Chishiya asked.

“Do you mean on three or after three?” Tatta who had also walked into the room mumbled frantically. “Like one, two, three, press, or more one, two, press?”

“On three,” Arisu nodded towards Chishiya, both of them ignoring Tatta.

“One, two, three!” Chishiya counted and they both hit the buttons at the same time.

“Game Clear. Congratulations!”

“YES!” Tatta threw his fist in the air with a shout. “We did it!”

“So we did,” Arisu nodded with a small smile before turning and nodding at Chishiya. “Thanks for the help.”

“Hmm,” Chishiya nodded back.

Suddenly there was a small explosion as the Tagger’s bomb collar blew up followed by Tatta’s horrified scream, “WHAT THE HELL?!”

“They were playing too,” Arisu said as he started to walk out the door.

“We just killed the Taggers!” Tatta sounded horrified.

“As I said earlier; It’s kill or be killed,” Arisu told him before leaving the room and then the building.

He needed a shower but seeing as that wasn’t possible he would do his best to scrub himself clean with wet wipes and a wet towel or something and then he would sleep for at least 8 hours. He had 6 or 7 days of visas left so he could sleep without worry but he already knew he would probably be playing another game either tomorrow evening or the day after.

Something that had become clear the last time around was that it was a good idea to collect visas when you had the chance so you could rest and recuperate if you got injured during a game. And honestly? The games from Ace to 10 were easy compared to the Face Cards so Arisu would spend his time before going to the beach playing games, collecting cards and getting visas.

Now he just had to make a plan on how to get Chishiya’s attention and keep it… Though, if he just let it play out without actively trying maybe it would just happen like last time? Oh well, only time would tell.

Chapter Text

Arisu stepped out of the Shinjuku Natural Botanical Garden with the 7 of Hearts card in his hand. The game had gone as he planned; he had become the wolf and then spent the rest of the game hiding and avoiding the others. 

There had been three others who had joined him, Arisu being the first to arrive, two women and an older man, and sure, Arisu felt a little bad about just letting them die and not even trying to save them but he had pushed that feeling down and kept hiding.

Though, most of the time he had been hiding he had been having flashbacks and did his very best to assure himself that both Chota and Karube were safe back in the normal version of the world. In the end he won and was mentally exhausted from it all but he knew he would continue to play, would save his friends and damn the rest if that was what was needed.

He now had nine or ten days on his visa, he needed to check, and that meant that the distance game with the bus and shit weren’t for another week or so. Part of him wondered if he should wait to play any more games until then but another part knew that was a stupid idea. Sure, he wouldn’t know anything about the games he would join until after the distance game but that didn’t really matter in the whole scheme of things, did it?

---

It had been two days since the 7 of Hearts game and Arisu was looking up at a school that was lit up. With a sigh he walked forward, passing the border of the game and entering the school to play whatever game it was on the other side. After he picked up a phone and registered he looked around and had to bite back a gasp of shock as he noticed Niragi standing casually by a wall.

He had not expected to meet or even see anyone from the Beach, except Aguni and Chishiya, before actually arriving at said place but in hindsight he really should have. Before he could be caught staring Arisu looked around and did a headcount, there were 23 people including Arisu himself in the school at the moment with 7 phones still on the table which meant that the game might not start until another 7 people joined.

Arisu tried to figure out what sort of game needed 30 participants but there were so many options that he gave up before giving himself a headache. One thing he did know was that the Game Area was huge and he was certain that the Game would be interesting… huh, he had really started to sound like Chishiya at this point. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Don't get him wrong, he loves his smart Cheshire Cat but also…the man can get scary with his analytical and genius thoughts.

To kill some time before the game started Arisu walked over to the map of the building. If his first game had taught him anything it was that knowing the buildings layout in a game could be the thing that stood between you and certain death. From the looks of it there were the main building and then two connected ones on each side; The main building had four stories along with a basement and most of the lockers and classrooms were in that building. The smaller building to the left had two stories and contained the lunchroom/cafeteria, the library and the school nurse along with the principal’s office. Finally the last building had three stories that contained playrooms for younger kids, coatrooms and, for some reason Arisu really couldn’t figure out, but assumed it had something to do with Home Economics or something, a big kitchen.

The sound of a chime made Arisu focus back on the rest of the players and saw that seven new people had arrived. With a sigh Arisu straightened up and looked at everyone around him to try and gauge who was a threat and who wasn’t.

He already knew that Niragi was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, threat there and he would hate to have to fight him, knowing that he would most likely lose. There were a few others that stood out as threats too, mostly men that were big, buff or just looked dangerous but there were also two women who Arisu’s gut feeling told him were dangerous.

“Registration closed. 30 participants. Please put on a collar and wait for instructions.”

“What collars?” an older woman asked in confusion just as a display case at the far wall lit up filled with collars.

Arisu couldn’t help but channel Karube as he answered, “I would assume those collars but I could be wrong.”

What shocked him was the laugh he gained from Niragi but he pushed that down as he walked over to the display case and grabbed a collar. They looked different from the ones he had worn before, this one being thicker and having a white line the size of two fingers in the middle which Arisu assumed would light up in some sort of color when the game began.

It took a few minutes for everyone to grab and put on a collar but once the last collar was on the voice spoke again.

“Difficulty; 8 of Clubs. Game: Thieves in the Night.”

“Huh,” Arisu hummed softly, not noticing Niragi standing slightly behind him. “Clubs means working together but we are too many for it to be one big team so that means we will most likely be split up and made to go against each other.”

“Sounds like fun,” Niragi spoke up, making Arisu turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I would say more interesting than fun but you might have a point,” Arisu smirked, once again channeling Karube, and maybe a teeny tiny bit of Chishiya.

“There will be two teams: Cops and Thieves. The Thieves will be red and the Cops will be blue.”

All around people’s collars flashed on, either in red or blue. Looking down Arisu could see that his collar was red and nodded to himself, now he just needed to stay alive.

“Looks like we’ll be on the same team,” Niragi laughed as he looked down at Arisu, who once again cursed his short height. “Doesn’t mean I won't kill you if I need to.”

For some reason, that comforted him. It comforted him to know that he knew at least one of his potential killers. It might also comfort him to know that Niragi was on his team and would potentially protect him if needed… but that was a thought he didn’t need nor want at that moment3.

“Likewise,” Arisu told him. “But how about we listen to the rules and then decide if we have to have a great big death match?”

This time Niragi’s laugh was a bit more genuine, “Sounds good to me.”

“Game Clear Conditions: For the Cops to win they need to either Capture or Kill the Thieves before the time runs out. For the Thieves to win they need to find and steal all seven treasure chests and bring it back to their base before the time runs out.”

“Aww, the cops get to kill?!” Niragi sounded very disappointed in that. “That’s not fair!”

“It never said anything about us thieves not being allowed to kill them in return,” Arisu pointed out softly.

Niragi thought about it before lighting up, “You're right!”

“The Thieves are not allowed firearms but melee weapons are allowed and can be found all over the Game Arena. Cops are allowed firearms and can be found at the Cop’s Base. Both Cops and Thieves are allowed to kill each other.”

“I'm liking this game more and more,” Niragi cheered before glaring at the ‘cops’. “Though I don’t like that they get guns and I don’t.”

Arisu had to smother his, slightly hysterical, laugh at that ‘ah never thought I would miss his gun obsession’ Arisu thought as he focused back onto the Game Voice.

“The Thieves can find clues to where the Treasure Chests are at random places all over the Game Arena. If the Cops manage to win, by either Capturing or Killing all the Thieves it’s Game Over for the Thieves and their Collars will blow. If the Thieves manage to win, by bringing back all the Treasure Chests to their Base, it’s Game Over for the Cops and their Collars will blow.”

“At least it would be quick,” Arisu muttered, remembering Chishiya telling him about the King of Clubs game and the acid. “Though I don’t plan on dying so it doesn’t really matter.”

“That’s the spirit!” Niragi slapped him hard on the shoulder, laughing loudly as Arisu stumbled forward with a grunt of pain.

“Time limit: 4 hours. Game will start in 15 minutes. Please follow the corresponding lights to your respective Bases.”

The Thieves followed the blue lights and ended up in the building were the kitchen was according to the map but in a classroom obviously meant for kids no older than 6. As soon as they entered a man who from the looks of his clothes was new to this fucked up world and was probably rich in the real world stepped forward.

“Alright, this is what we’ll do-” the man began.

“Who the fuck put you in charge?” Niragi demanded to know.

“Well, I'm obviously the smartest one here,” the man said arrogantly.

That attitude will get him killed, Arisu knows from seeing other people just like him go down because of their arrogance… Shibuki comes to mind for some reason.

“The smartest person wouldn’t have to announce it,” a teenage girl spoke up.

While they all broke out into a loud argument Arisu looked around the room hoping to find something useful. He was proven right when he found a piece of paper with the text Twelve Treasures for the Twelve Kings and a crudely drawn, like something a small child would make, map of the school with an X in what Arisu remembered to be the library… which was on the other side of the school.

He quickly stuffed the map in his pocket and continued looking around seeing as it was four minutes left before the game would start. In a drawer under a dead, potted plant on the other side of the room from where he found the map he found a tire iron and decided to try to make at least one ally.

Walking up to where Niragi was watching the argument escalate with amusement, he held out the tire iron towards him, “How about you and I team up and find the treasures and win this while the others argue themselves hoarse?”

Niragi’s whole face lit up as he grabbed the tire iron, “You’ve got a deal. I'm Niragi by the way.”

“Arisu,” Arisu nodded and started walking towards the door. “Come on, the Game started a minute or so ago.”

“And you're just going to leave them all arguing, probably leaving some of them to die?” Niragi cackled. “I like your style.”

Arisu didn’t know if he liked that or not.

---

Two hours had passed and it was down to seven Thieves and eleven Cops, some of which had been killed by Niragi. They had also found and brought five treasure chests back to the base, well Arisu and Niragi had found three of the five chests but Arisu still counted it as a ‘they’.

“Damn it!” Arisu hissed quietly as he saw a clue for a treasure chest but couldn’t reach it. “Niragi?”

Niragi, who had been looking at the other end of the room, looked over, “What?”

“I've found a clue,” Arisu told him.

“Great, what does it say?” Niragi stopped looking around.

“I don’t know,” Arisu huffed. “I can't reach it.”

Niragi was silent for a few moments before he started cackling, “Aww, do you want big, strong Niragi to help you reach it, sweetheart?”

“Don’t call me sweetheart,” Arisu growled and glared.

“You're adorable,” Niragi walked over and licked his lips as he looked at Arisu. “Makes me wanna do so many bad things to you.”

“Just get the clue,” Arisu groaned and pointed at where the paper was sticking out at the top of a lamp.

All throughout the game Niragi had been making innuendoes at Arisu, slapped his ass six times, caged him up against several walls and licked his neck/cheek thrice. What seemed to shock and intrigue Niragi was the way Arisu reacted to it all, with calm and some teasing back, flirting in a way that was more for fun than anything serious.

Arisu has a feeling that Niragi was using flirting as something other than to actually flirt, because despite being cornered by him and borderline harassed, Niragi still backed off when Arisu showed he really didn’t like it.

“And what do I get in return?” Niragi asked with a smirk.

“To survive?” Arisu raised an amused eyebrow.

“Well yeah,” Niragi shrugged before smirking even wider. “But I want a kiss too.”

“A kiss?” Arisu was both shocked and confused.

“A kiss,” Niragi confirmed.

Arisu sighed, “Fine, get the clue and I’ll give you a kiss.”

Niragi reached for the clue, even had to go on the tips of his toes to reach, before handing it to Arisu, “There you go. Now, for my kiss.”

Arisu accepted the clue before smirking and leaning forward to kiss Niragi on the cheek, “There, deal met.”

“Hey, that’s not what I meant!” Niragi protested.

“You just said a kiss and you got a kiss,” Arisu sent a bright smile at the other man before focusing on the clue. 

“When you need to cook some food, 

This appliance might be chosen, 

As it can bake some cookies, 

Or a pizza which is frozen.”

“So we need to find an oven?” Niragi asked after Arisu finished reading the riddle.

“Seems like it,” Arisu shrugged. “And the best place to look would be the Home Economics classroom.”

“There's one of those here?” Niragi turned to him.

“Yeah, it’s in the same building as our base, just two stories up,” Arisu nodded and walked out the door.

The minute he stepped out he was grabbed by a ‘Cop’ and thrown against the wall, head bouncing against said wall with a crack. He groaned in pain and looked up with blurry vision as the ‘Cop’ brought up his gun and aimed it at Arisu with a sadistic smile on his face. Before the man could pull the trigger Niragi had appeared behind the man and grabbed him around the throat to throw him to the floor.

“You chose the wrong people to attack, fucker,” Niragi laughed dementedly as he straddled the ‘Cop’ and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest and stomach.

Arisu let him continue as he checked the back of his head. Luckily he couldn’t feel any blood but he was pretty sure he was gonna have a pretty big bump in a few minutes. With a sigh Arisu rightened himself and turned to Niragi once more.

“Dude, I think he's dead by now,” Arisu pointed out to a blood splattered Niragi.

“Just to make sure,” Niragi smirked and slit the ‘Cop’s’ throat.

“Good work, Niragi,” Arisu patted him on the shoulder before he started to walk away, completely missing the shocked and proud smile that made its way onto Niragi’s face.

---

They had forty-two minutes left of the game when Arisu and Niragi brought back the last treasure chest to the ‘Thieves’ base, winning the game for the ‘Thieves’. Though, there were only three others beside Arisu and Niragi who were still alive of the ‘Thieves’, the rest had been killed by the ‘Cops’ or, in the case of two of them having really put their foot in their mouth, Niragi.

There were eight ‘Cops’ left that would die when the bomb collars went off and while Arisu felt slightly guilty and a little bad for that he comforted himself with the thought that at least it was quick. Chishiya had told him what had happened to the other players in the King of Diamonds game and Arisu shuddered just thinking about it, that was not a way he wanted to die.

“Game clear: Congratulations!”

“Whoo-hooo!!” Niragi cheered even as several explosions were heard.

“Nicely done,” Arisu smiled slightly at the celebrating man. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Niragi looked at him with wide eyes filled with shock before hiding it behind a smirking mask, “Of course not. You helped too, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Arisu chuckled softly.

Niragi’s smirk grew into a leering grin, eyes running up and down Arisu’s body, “You know, we should celebrate this win. The things I can do to you…”

“No thank you,” Arisu shook his head in amusement. “The only thing I want right now is a shower and sleep, maybe some food.”

“Aww, you're no fun,” Niragi mock pouted before slapping Arisu’s ass hard.

“Ouch!” Arisu jumped forward while placing his hands protectively on his ass as he sent a glare at the other man. “Rude.”

“God, your ass feels divine,” Niragi groaned quietly. “Like it was made to be fucked and slapped.”

“Thank you…?” Arisu said slowly before shaking his head and heading towards the exit, determined to get the 8 of Clubs card before anyone else. “I'm just gonna head out. It was nice meeting you, Niragi, stay alive and may we meet again.”

Arisu left before Niragi could say anything, quickly grabbing the card on his way out before making his way to his current home. His head hurt from the ‘Cop’ slamming him against a wall, he was tired both physically and mentally from the game and all he wanted was a shower and sleep, just as he had told Niragi. Though he knew he needed food too and planned on eating some ramen before showering, knowing that he would fall asleep once he was clean from said shower.

He had actually designed the shower himself, using pressure and gravity to make water travel up into a ‘shower head’… though the water was always cold, never over room temperature, sadly enough.

He hadn't even been in the twisted form of Tokyo for a week and he was already so tired of it. He missed the sisters he had found in Usagi and Kuina, the little brother he gained in Tatta, and of course the other, and better, half of his soul in Chishiya. 

Arisu felt a lone tear fall from his eye and make its way down his cheek. All he wanted was to curl up with Chishiya as they laughed, or rather Arisu laughed while Chishiya just smirked in amusement, at whatever shenanigans Kuina and Usagi had gotten up to and pulled Tatta in with them.

Although, Tatta wasn’t so much as ‘pulled’ into the mischief of the other two as he was following Kuina like a lovesick puppy. Arisu was pretty sure that if Tatta had more time he would have noticed that Kuina was not attracted to men at all and would have let go of his crush at some point.

Maybe Arisu should play matchmaker this time around, help the two get their happy ending (Kuina with Ann and Tatta with…?) seeing as both of them deserved to be happy even in this fucked up place… he could bring Chishiya in on it too and then it was almost guaranteed to work!

Chapter Text

Arisu stared at the other players with no expression on his face. It was a diamonds game, the 4^th of Diamond to be precise, and he had already figured out that only one would get out alive and was determined to be that person.

Chishiya had always been better at diamond games but he had thought Arisu as much as he could and now he felt somewhat confident in his ability to win. Today’s game was 2048, a game with sliding tiles with different numbers and the end goal was to combine them to reach the number 2048.

The other players had seemed confident and self-assured, assuming that it was an easy game, but their faces changed the moment the rules were told. The one to reach 2048 first would clear the game while the others would receive an electric shock powerful enough to kill them.

Another rule was that if you got stuck or thought for too long you would also receive an electric shock but this one would start low and grow more powerful the longer you thought about your next move.

Arisu could admit that it was genius in a sadistic sort of way because stressing out players made sure they would make mistakes and mistakes meant losing. Thanks to Chishiya he knew how to think when it came to diamond games, that along with his own photographic memory and IQ he knew how to think several steps ahead.

It wasn’t long before he moved his last tile and his screen flashed with the number 2048. The others looked up as their own screens turned black and their eyes locked onto Arisu who was released from the chair with the words “Game Clear. Congratulations!”

“What?!” one of the other players gasped out. “This can't be right! He must have cheated!”

Arisu ignored them all as he turned around and walked out of the room, not wanting to see them die. He made sure to grab the 4^th of Diamon card when he passed the table and forced himself to ignore the flickering lights and muffled screaming as he walked out of the building.

***

The last few days had been a roller-coaster of emotions. Arisu had not expected to meet Usagi in the middle of the woods when he was searching for herbs that was good for health and the immune system… yes, that was in one of the books he had been reading in preparation of going back to this place.

He had had to stop himself from just hugging his best(female) friend who at that moment had no idea who he was. It took a bit but he somehow managed to convince her that they should band together, help each other, and stick together, as it was safer than alone.

Usagi had been hesitant to agree but in the end she brough him back to the hanger she was staying in and over the next few days they got to know each other as he helped her with food and washing and stuff like that.

Now they were on the way to the Bus Game and Arisu tried to come up with a way to make sure he could ‘figure out’ that the bus was the safe zone without it being too suspicious. He knew they needed to reach the Goal, which just so happened to be the Bus, and that the game was called Distance…

What if he ran with them for a while before figuring it out thanks to his photographic memory?

Would they accept that?

Usagi already knew about his memory as he had told her when they met due to her confusion of him remembering all the herbs from the books so she could back him up on that…

It was the only plan he had so it was what he would go with. God, how he wished Chishiya was here, he would have had at least four different plans with two more in the works. At least he had remembered to bring some first-aid supplies, which Usagi had been a bit confused about but agreed was a good idea.

The moment they met the three men on the bus and saw one of them injured, something Arisu had only vaguely remembered, a new plan formed in his mind. Arisu only half listened to the rules of the game as he worked out the detail of his plan while the injured man’s friends argued with him about not leaving him behind.

“Shut up!” Arisu called out and everyone grew quiet in surprise. “No one is leaving anyone behind.”

“But,” the injured man, Takuma, said hesitantly. “I can't run.”

“True but we are surrounded by abandoned cars,” Arisu began only to be interrupted.

“Which doesn’t work and neither does the fucking bus!” Yamane exclaimed.

“If you would let me finish,” Arisu raised an unimpressed eyebrow and had to bite back a smile when the man acted like a scolded child. “As I was saying, we are surrounded by abandoned cars which means we could, if we work together, build something that we can pull Takuma-san on behind us.”

Everyone was quiet but Arisu could see the small smile on Usagi’s face before Seizan spoke softly, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Arisu nodded slightly before giving orders. “Yamane, I want you to find anything and everything that can be used as ropes. Safety belts from cars works in a pinch.”

“How do I get them lose?” Yaman asked even as he started towards the door.

“Here, use this,” Arisu handed him one of his knifes.

“Thanks,” Yamane grabbed it and walked out of the bus.

“Saizan, you and Usagi need to get tires, at least four of them but six would be preferable,” Arisu continued, feeling a bit bad for making them do all this work for nothing but knowing it was necessary. “They need to be approximately the same size so it will be easier to pull.”

“Come on,” Saizan patted Takuma on the shoulder before smiling as Usagi. “There are usually a carjack and tire iron in the boot of most cars.”

As the two left the bus Arisu turned to Takuma, “As for us, I’ll help you outside, check your wound and clean it and then you’ll help me by holding the framing for the… sled thing we’re gonna make.”

“Thank you,” Takuma smiled as Arisu helped him wobble outside. “For coming up with a plan for me to survive and for not making me feel useless.”

“Don’t mention it,” Arisu smiled back.

For the next forty minutes they worked together before Arisu decided it was time to ‘figure out’ that the bus was the goal. He moved towards the side of the bus before stopping and frowning in a way that would be visible to the others, then he pulled out his phone, checked the distance and moved both closer and farther away from the bus.

“Fuck it all with a cactus!” Arisu cursed loudly.

“Arisu?” Usagi called out in worry and everyone gathered by Takuma.

“It’s a Clubs Game!” Arisu said with a groan.

“So…?” Yamane asked in confusion.

“Club Games are about observation and team work,” Arisu sighed as he looked at them. “And yeah, we’ve been working together but we probably wouldn’t have, at least not to this degree, if Takuma wasn’t injured.”

“You're probably right about that,” Saizan agreed slowly.

“And has any of us actually observed anything?” Arisu looked at them with a shake of his head.

“I mean, we’ve looked for everything you said we’d need to build the sled thing,” Usagi sounded uncertain.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t so much observing as searching,” Arisu groaned once again, silently telling himself that he should go into acting once they got back to the real world… if they could get back to the real world. “What was the Clear Conditions of the Game?”

“To reach the Goal within the time limit,” Takuma answered as he titled his head to the side.

“What's graffitied on the side of the bus?” Arisu stepped aside and gestured to the bus.

“Eh, I'm not very good at English,” Saizan admitted with slight embarrassment while his two friends nodded in agreement.

“Goal,” Usagi whispered softly. “The word on the bus is Goal.”

“Exactly!” Arisu threw his hands in the air. “If I had just been a bit more observant we could have all just been chilling on the bus instead of rushing around like mad people trying to build a sled thing!”

“Arisu,” Usagi started but Arisu was on a flow.

“What if Takuma hadn't been injured, huh?” Arisu started to pace, doing his best to stay in character and not start smiling or chuckling. “Then we would have run as far as we could from the bus and most probably ended up dead!”

Suddenly Usagi wrapped her arms around him in a hug, “Breathe, Arisu, breathe. We are okay, you noticed in time. Now, calm down and just breathe.”

“She's right,” Yamane walked over and placed a hand on Arisu’s shoulder. “You noticed before we left and now we can just chill on the bus until the game is clear, okay?”

Arisu took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay, let’s chill on the bus for a while.”

As they all moved towards the bus, Saizan helping Takuma, the lights went out. They all stopped and looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.

“There's something out there,” Usagi whispered before a large, black shape leaped out of the shadows and landed on a car.

“Shit!” Arisu cursed, how could he have forgotten the big fucking panther stalking the shadows?!

“What the hell?!” Yamane screamed as he saw it.

“Saizan, get Takuma onto the bus!” Arisu ordered strongly. “The rest of us will distract it. When Saizan and Takuma is on the bus, it’s your turn Yamane and then you Usagi. Got it?”

“But what about you?” Usagi called out even as she ducked under a car to get away.

“I’ll be last but you guys will have to be ready to close the door!” Arisu ran around a car before jumping into another just as the panther tried to take a swipe at him.

Playing distract the panther while also doing his best to avoid the huge claws and glistening teeth wasn’t fun at all and Arisu would not recommend it to anyone and any point. He had no idea how long he played keep away with the panther but he finally hear Usagi call out to him to get on the bus.

He ran, the only time he had ever run faster was when Chishiya was shot and he did not want to remember that!, and just as he jumped into the bus he felt a burning pain along his back and collapsed against the floor.

For a moment he couldn’t hear or see anything. Then a cold hand was on his face and he managed to focus on Usagi’s concerned face, “Come on, we need to check your back.”

“My back?” Arisu asked in confusion.

“The panther managed to land a swipe at you before we could close the door,” Yamane explained as he helped Arisu up.

“…!” Arisu gave a wordless shout as his back flared bright with pain when he was moved.

His vision blurred as he was led over to the back of the bus, the only place he could somewhat lie down without being on the floor. He somewhat managed to focus his eyes on Usagi as she gripped his hands while one of the others cut his shirt off so they could see and clean the wound.

“You're going to be okay, Arisu,” Usagi assured even if she looked scared.

Arisu smiled slightly but it was probably more of a grimace, then he closed his eyes again as he started to breathe and meditate the way his sensei had taught him. It wasn’t a ‘fix-all’ but his sensei had said it helped with managing pain and sort of pushing it away.

“The wounds doesn’t look deep so I don’t think you’ll need stitches,” Takuma said as he used Arisu’s first-aid supplies to clean the wounds.

“There should be some wound closure strips or whatever they’re called in that bag,” Arisu told him.

“Oh, that works,” Takuma nodded and pulled them out. “And you’ve got some gauze and surgical tape too. This will work very well.”

It didn’t take too long for Takuma, with the help of Saizan, to tape the three claw marks on Arisu’s back closed and cover them with gauze. And then it was just waiting that remained and Arisu did his best to take a nap.

This time when the time ran out and the water came it was not as bad as it had been the last time around and the only reason Arisu was even aware of it was because Yamane had called out to the about the water and then the bus had been rocked and pushed to the side a little but nothing more than that.

Two hours later Arisu was listening to Usagi’s soft breathing inside their tent as he lay awake due to the pain and uncomfortable sleeping position he was in. He couldn’t lie on his back due to the wounds and he really couldn’t sleep while lying on his stomach so he was in a position of damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.

***

Part of Arisu was annoyed.

Why did he receive the tiniest fucking swim trunks in the world?

Last time around Arisu had been allowed to pick his own swimwear but not this time. For some reason the Hatter had decided to help him pick, more like ordered him to wear, a pair of swim trunks that were one or two sizes too small which made them frame his ass in a glorious way, Hatter’s words.

From what Arisu remembered the Hatter had been interested in Arisu’s skills at the games, especially Heart Games, but nothing else. So why was the Hatter acting like this? Looking at Arisu with dark eyes that roamed Arisu’s body every chance he had?

Fuck it all, Arisu was so confused!

“If I go on a killing spree, will you be my alibi?” Arisu muttered to Usagi as they watched all the people party like they didn’t have a single care in the world.

“Only if you're mine,” Usagi muttered right back.

“Deal!” Arisu held out his hand towards her with a smirk.

“You are such a dork,” Usagi giggled but grabbed his hand.

Arisu was about to answer with a ‘thank you’ but was interrupted by the sound informing everyone that the games were about to begin. He shared a long suffering look with Usagi as they made their way to the lobby to listen to the Hatter speak.

***

“Go with Ann’s team,” Chishiya told her in that calm, soft voice of his.

Kuina didn’t like being ordered around, she preferred to be asked, but it was a bit different with Chishiya. He was the first person to figure out that she was trans and just accept her for it with nothing but a shrug, like it wasn’t a big deal at all and for that Kuina would be forever grateful to him.

That she, at this point, saw him as an annoying older little brother, he might be older than her but she had declared him her little brother and that was that, was also a thing that made her just send him a look at the order before smirking, “Why? Can it have something to do with the pretty new arrival?”

“Kuina,” Chishiya just looked at her which made her laugh.

“Oh, this is too good,” Kuina was feeling ecstatic. “I've never seen you so much as look at someone, neither male nor female, but as soon as some tiny little messy haired twink walks in and oh, your eyes don’t stary far from him.”

“I just think he would be a good addition to our plan,” Chishiya sighed. “He was in the Tag game and from what I can tell, pretty smart.”

“Mhm,” Kuina smirked as she chewed slightly on her fake cigarette. “As you say. I’ll join Ann’s group then and keep an eye on your twinky boyfriend.”

She couldn’t help but cackle as he heard Chishiya sigh when she walked away. Annoying her older little brother was the most fun she had had in this fucked up place. And if she could get the twinky pretty boy and Chishiya together than maybe her older little brother would loosen up a little and not act like he had a stick full of calming drugs jammed up his ass.

Ann didn’t even seem surprised when Kuina joined them, just nodded at her with that cool look on her face. God, Kuina felt the butterflies in her stomach as she always did when she was close to Ann and did her best not to make it too obvious.

Kuina knew she liked women, sure some men were pretty to look at, but honestly?… Women!

And Ann was one of the most amazingly beautiful women Kuina had ever met, add her intelligence and slightly cold demeanor and Kuina was hooked. Hell, she wasn’t even surprised that she had a pretty sever crush on the other woman.

She did start regretting her choice to join Ann’s group when she found out just what the game was. There was a steady rise of water, cold water at that, and some pretty hanging decorations from the celling that contain fucking electricity!

She didn’t want to be electrocuted!

“At least we’re wearing swimwear,” Arisu smiled slightly.

Kuina looked at him in disbelief. No wonder Chishiya was intrigued by him, they were both fucking insane! If she got out of here alive she was definitely going to hit her older little brother over the head and tell him that he and Arisu deserved each other.

“I don’t want to die,” Tatta whispered softly.

“We won't die,” Arisu assured as he looked between the lightbulb and the switches. “So we can only turn one switch while the door is open, if the one we chose lights the bulb that’s great, if it doesn’t we have to decide between the other two switches.”

“So try a switch while the door is open and if that is the wrong one we have a 50-50 percent chance of guessing the right one!” Tatta suggested, slightly hysterical.

“66 precent chance,” Ann and Arisu said at the same time.

“We’ll start with testing one of the switches with the door open and then we’ll close the door and pull a switch and leave it on for as long as we can,” Arisu explained and Kuina was so confused.

“What does it matter if we leave the switch on?” Kuina asked loudly. “It’s not like we can see it with the door closed.”

Arisu pulled switch B and when nothing happened sighed, “So it’s either A or C then.”

“I repeat; what does it matter?” Kuina groaned as the door closed and Arisu flipped switch A.

“Because if we leave the switch on for a while and shut it off to open the door we can touch the bulb to see if it’s hot or not,” Arisu explained and Kuina felt like an idiot for not having figured it out earlier.

“If the bulb is hot the answer is A and if the bulb is cold the answer is C,” Kuina nodded in understanding.

“Exactly,” Arisu smiled at her.

“So now we just wait?” Tatta asked softly.

“Now we wait,” Arisu shrugged slightly looking unbothered.

Kuina looked over at Ann as everyone grew quiet, but let’s not kid ourselves here, Kuina’s eyes always strayed to Ann no matter what was going on, and she looked slightly impressed by the messy haired… boy? Man?

Kuina really needed to figure out how old he was.

Was he another older little brother or was he a younger little brother?

Not that it mattered, Kuina was going to treat him as a little brother either way.

Kuina was brought out of her thoughts by humming. She looked around only to find, surprise, surprise, Arisu humming something or the other.

“Are you seriously humming right now?” Kuina couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Huh?” Arisu focused on her before blushing with a little chuckle. “Yeah, sorry. I've had the song in my head since arriving at the Beach.”

“Which song is it?” Tatta wanted to know.

Arisu rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, “…”

“What was that?” Ann asked with a smirk.

“The song is called Mad Hatter, okay?” Arisu huffed, refusing to look at any of them.

“You’re humming a song called Mad Hatter?” Kuina burst out laughing, this was just too good.

“Oh, shut up,” Arisu whined with tinted cheeks.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Ann chuckled with a tiny but evil smirk. “You should definitely sing it back at the Beach in front of the executive members.”

“No,” Arisu deadpanned, a horrified look on his face making everyone else burst out laughing.

“I’d pay to see that,” Kuina said between laughing and trying to breathe.

“With what money?” Arisu sassed before sighing. “Whatever, let’s just shut the switch off and check the bulb.”

Forty minute later they were all back at the Beach and Kuina walked up to Chishiya and slapped him over the back of the head like she had promised herself she would, “You and Arisu were made for each other.”

“What?” Chishiya looked at her with his usual calm demeanor.

Kuina started to tell him everything, including the ‘at least we’re wearing swimwear’ comment and the song Arisu had hummed. When she was done she could see the interest in Chishiya’s eyes and groaned, “Ugh, little brothers.”

“I'm older than you,” Chishiya pointed out as Kuina walked away.

The only response Kuina gave was the middle finger and she hated that she could actually ‘feel’ Chishiya’s amusement following her as she left. One day she would manage to ruffle his feathers, mark her words!

Chapter Text

Arisu was sitting on a sunchair beside Kuina as the after game party raged around them. Usagi was sitting opposite him as they listened to Kuina talk about why she stopped smoking when suddenly a voice Arisu recognized, and had sort of missed but he refused to acknowledge that, called out for the music to stop.

He was more than ready to stop them from grabbing Usagi this time too but hopefully it would go a little better and Niragi wouldn’t want to kill him…

“That’s General Aguni, is an ex-SDF officer, and he is in charge of all the weapons at the Beach,” Kuina explained to him and Usagi as Aguni and his pose walked closer. “The ones currently in power at the Beach are the Number One, Hatter, and his devotees as well as the militants led by Aguni. We've only barely managed to maintain peace and order here, but a conflict between the two parties could happen anytime.”

“So you're alive,” Aguni smirked as he walked over to them. “I'm glad.”

“My pretty!” Niragi cheered and walked over to Arisu who stood up.

“Good to see you too,” Arisu nodded at Aguni before turning to Niragi. “And my knight with a shining tire iron… though, it looks like you’ve traded up.”

“I've missed you, pretty,” Niragi smirked and slapped his ass hard. “And I've especially missed that glorious ass.”

“Ouch!” Arisu hissed and glared at Niragi. “Stop doing that!”

“Make me,” Niragi cackled.

Arisu laughed, this time around he had started to realize that Niragi’s whole ‘bad boy, I don’t give a fuck, I hate people’ personality was a mask, a front to protect the vulnerable person hiding inside, and Arisu felt a connection to him for that seeing as it reminded him both of himself and Karube.

After the Thieves in the Night game, Arisu couldn’t help but reflect and analyze every interaction he had with Niragi, both last time and this time, and it wasn’t long before he realized the whole mask of protection thing and had wanted to bang his head against a wall.

“Oh, honey,” Arisu smirked right back. “You wouldn’t be able to handle me.”

The light that lit up in Niragi’s eyes made Arisu bite back a sad smile. All this time, Niragi was only trying to protect himself, hiding away his true self and having his heart crushed every time anyone and everyone believed the mask and refused to look deeper… all he wanted was a friend that liked him for him, mask or no mask.

“If you two are done flirting?” Aguni sounded amused.

“Hmm,” Niragi darted forward and licked Arisu’s cheek before stepping back into place beside Aguni. “Now I'm done… for now.”

***

Chishiya had watched the interaction between Arisu, Aguni and Niragi with clenched teeth. He could not for the life of him understand why he felt anger like never before as Niragi slapped Arisu’s ass and then licked his cheek. 

What the hell was going on with him?!

And on that point, had Arisu grown prettier since the tag game? Or was that just Chishiya’s mind playing tricks on him?

Something was going on, of that Chishiya was certain of, but what it was he didn’t know. Whatever it was, made something deep and dark in Chishiya’s chest, and mind for that matter, stand at attention and growl possessively when people got too close to Arisu. 

Arisu was Chishiya’s and Chishiya’s alone!

His Alice!

His and- 

Chishiya’s thoughts came to a grinding halt. What the actual fuck? Who was this twink that made Chishiya act and think in a way he never had before? In a way that he thought beneath him?

And seriously? Now he started to sound like Kuina, calling Arisu a twink of all things.

Ugh, he needed to focus on getting the deck from Hatter not on getting into Arisu’s pants and ass… but what a glorious ass that was. 

Chishiya sighed to himself as he sat down in the conference room that was used for meetings between all the executives of the beach. Time to listen to the Hatter blabber on for a while and trying not to use all the ways he knew how to kill someone and make it look like an accident. 

***

Arisu laughed brightly as his friend Usagi threw popcorn at Kuina and Niragi felt happy. He had never had a friend before but Arisu proved to be able to see past the douchebag mask Niragi put out and saw the weakling underneath but accepted him anyway which made Niragi both happy and confused.

And with Arisu came Usagi, who was wary of Niragi at first but trusted him because Arisu did and the more time she spent with him the more she seemed to like him and now Niragi had a girl friend too, note the space between the words girl and friend?, yeah, Niragi had no intention of ever trying to erase that space.

Somehow Kuina, the girl that seemed to be the only friend Chishiya had, started hanging with them too. At first she would just glare at Niragi and ignore him but when Arisu always made sure to include Niragi in their conversation she eased up… not that they would ever be friends but they were acquaintances and dare he think it?, allies.

Of course with Kuina came Chishiya and Niragi still couldn’t stand the ass. And he really, really, couldn’t stand the way the other man kept on looking at Arisu with intrigue, contemplation, curiosity and, worst of all, want. Arisu was his friend and Niragi was going to do everything in his power to protect him even if that meant acting like a jealous boyfriend.

Sure, he would love to have a tumble in the sheets with Arisu, nobody could blame him for that seeing as Arisu was gorgeous, but mostly he only saw Arisu as a friend that he liked to flirt with and who flirted back in good fun.

“You did not play keep away from a panther!” Kuina denied as Usagi told them about a game she and Arisu had been in together.

“We did!” Usagi declared. “Arisu has the still healing wounds from the claws of it!”

“Prove it!” Kuina turned to Arisu. 

“Take your shirt off, Arisu,” Usagi told him seriously.

“No thanks,” Arisu shook his head in amusement.

“Off with the shirt, twink!” Kuina smirked, eyes flicking to Chishiya teasingly. 

Chishiya on the other hand seemed to straighten in his chair and look at Arisu with calculating eyes, “Were you truly injured?”

“I was,” Arisu smiled softly. “But don’t worry, I had some butterfly strips to keep the wounds close and I had help cleaning them.”

“Show me,” Chishiya demanded as he stood up.

“You won't touch him without his permission,” Niragi growled out but didn’t reach for his rifle yet because, for some weird unnamed reason, Arisu actually seemed to enjoy Chishiya’s company.

Chishiya gave him an unimpressed look, “If anyone here tells anyone what I'm about to tell you I will know and I will make sure your death looks like an accident.”

Niragi will not admit this out loud but Chishiya truly scares him sometimes. Niragi can be dumb yes, evidenced by the fact that he still pushes the shorter man’s buttons from time to time but that's never ever in a game the two of them play together cause he knew that Chishiya would not hesitate in putting Niragi down.

“We promise not to tell,” Usagi assured, always the calm one.

“Before ending up in this place I was a doctor,” Chishiya told them as he stopped in front of Arisu. “Now, be a good boy and take off your shirt so I can check your wounds.”

Niragi had to bite back the laugh crawling up inside him as he watched Arisu swallow and turn around, blush darkening his cheeks and moving down his neck, oh Niragi is so going to tease him for this. That amusement died a quick and silent death as Arisu lifted his shirt and ripped it off his head, showing the three long claw marks that were healing along his back.

“You actually played fucking keep away with a panther,” Kuina cursed, her fake cigarette falling from the corner of her mouth in her shock.

Niragi stared at the mostly healed wounds on Arisu’s back. Three long lines from right shoulder down towards the left hip, puckered skin with older looking scabs all over though the one in the middle looked less healed then the others, the scabs being newer in some places.

“This is pretty well looked after,” Chishiya hummed thoughtfully as he inspected the wounds. “For being cleaned and taken care of as far from a hospital and professional help as you can get.”

“Good,” Arisu squirmed a little. “Can I put my shirt back on now?”

“Not yet,” Chishiya smirked before leaning closer to look at where the line in the middle of Arisu’s back looked the freshest. “I'm going to touch your back now okay?”

“Okay,” Arisu nodded slightly.

“Dose this hurt?” Chishiya wanted to know as he pressed at several different places.

“No,” Arisu denied softly. “It’s not even sore.”

“Good. Now, if anything starts hurting or if you feel it getting warm I want you to tell me,” Chishiya requested, more like an order dressed up as a request, as he stepped away from Arisu. “Now you can put your shirt back on.”

“Nah, keep it off,” Niragi leered with amusement. “I'm enjoying the show.”

Arisu turned around and swatted at him with his shirt even as he laughed brightly.

“How the fuck is this fair?!” Kuina exclaimed as she looked at Arisu.

“What?” Arisu had an adorable look of confusion on his face.

“Your waist is tiny!” Kuina gestured at him. “I bet I could wrap my hands around it and they'd meet!”

“And the abs,” Usagi smirked, joining in on the teasing. 

“And tiny nipples that are just begging to be nipped,” Niragi added, licking his lips.

“Shut up,” Arisu mumbled, pulling his shirt on with a bright blush.

Niragi joined in as they all laughed at Arisu and decided that yes, this was what having a friend(friends) are like and he was determined to protect his friend. It might be a bit hard in this fucked up world but he was going to do his best, after all Niragi was very good at killing threats, it didn’t matter if it was against himself or his Arisu.

***

How come so many things had changed from last time?

This time around he was friends with Niragi, and didn’t that just sound weird thinking about, Usagi was like a sister again but this time earlier, Kuina was hanging out with them and pulling Chishiya along…

Yeah, a lot of things were different but they were good differences.

Well, mostly. The one difference that made the hair at the back of Arisu’s neck stand up and a queasiness bubble in his stomach was the change in Hatter. Last time the man had only wanted Arisu to win games for him and mostly ignored him the rest of the time, this time he seemed to want to be close to Arisu for some reason, always smiling, always touching, always making Arisu uncomfortable.

At the moment he was making his way to his rooms to take a shower. He felt slimy after a meeting with the Hatter, who instead of sitting opposite him had sat as close as physically possible without pulling Arisu into his lap, about the next game.

Luckily they had been interrupted by Aguni just as the Hatter had placed a hand on the inside of Arisu’s thigh and slowly moved it upwards. The moment Aguni had distracted the Hatter Arisu was up and out of the room as if he had hellhounds chasing him.

“You okay?” Usagi asked from her place on the bed playing poker with Kuina and Niragi as Arisu walked in, bee-lining for the shower.

“Slimy,” Arisu muttered as he closed the door to the bathroom and stripped off his clothes.

Starting the shower as hot as it would go, which wasn’t hot at all, he scrubbed his inner thigh until it was red and a bit painful to the touch, let the water wash away the rest of the suds and then he shut the water off and stepped out.

As he stepped out of the bathroom and toweling his hair he stopped mid motion and just stared at the two beds in the room. On one bed there was Kuina, Chishiya and… Ann?, while the other bed contained Niragi, Usagi, Tatta and a guy Arisu didn’t recognize. 

What was Tatta, Ann and the unknown guy doing in his and Usagi’s room?

“Umm…Hi?” Arisu lowered his hands, towel falling to the floor. “What's going on?”

“This is an intervention!” Kuina declared while Usagi and Niragi nodded.

“An intervention?” Arisu asked slowly. “And what's with all the people?”

“Oh, Ann is here because she’s one of the smartest people I know,” Kuina beamed, cheeks slightly pink. “Chishiya because you’r-”

Chishiya had kicked her off the bed before she could finish, “I'm here because Kuina said you might need my help.”

“That hurt!” Kuina glared and sat down beside Ann, as far away from Chishiya as she could, before she continued. “Then there's Tatta, he's great.”

“We’ve met,” Arisu smiled at Tatta.

“Yeah, he saved my life in the tag game… and gave Aguni a sword,” Tatta chuckled slightly.

“Oh, so you're the one that gave Aguni his new favorite weapon,” Ann hummed thoughtfully.

“And last but certainly not least,” Kuina took over once again. “We have Ippei. He’s new to the Beach and Tatta took him under his wing.”

“Hi,” Ippei waved slightly with an embarrassed little smile.

“So…” Arisu looked at them. “An intervention? For what?”

“You’ve come back several times claiming to be slimy and having a shower,” Usagi pointed out then a worry made the crease between her eyebrows deeper. “Is someone pressuring you to drink? Do drugs?”

“No!” Arisu exclaimed before deflating because wasn’t that exactly what the Hatter was doing? “Or maybe.”

“Who?” Niragi growled and Arisu could see why people feared him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Arisu shrugged.

“The fuck it doesn’t!” Niragi exclaimed.

“It does matter, Arisu,” Chishiya spoked in his usual calm voice, a voice that always managed to calm Arisu down.

“Is that your professional opinion, Cheshire?” Arisu couldn’t help but tease.

“No, it’s my opinion as your friend, Alice,” Chishiya answered seriously.

“Oh,” Arisu felt shocked and then he had to push down the urge to cry at finally hearing that nickname from his Cheshire again.

“So tell us so we can help you,” Kuina coaxed kindly.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Arisu implored them with his eyes to listen to him.

“It definitely matters!” Niragi was up and pacing.

“It doesn’t!” Arisu raised his voice. “Because you can't do anything about it anyway!”

“What?” the sadness in Usagi’s voice made Arisu deflate.

“It’s the Hatter, isn’t it?” Ann spoke up.

“The Hatter?” Tatta asked in confusion even as Arisu nodded.

“Haven't any one of you noticed the weird obsession the Hatter has with Arisu?” Ann asked as she looked at them.

“You mean the way he always wants to be close to Arisu, always touching him, eyes locking on him as soon as he enters the room?” Chishiya sounded… angry? “I've noticed, but there isn’t a lot I've been able to do about it. Not yet at least.”

“I’ll kill him and make him into a hat-stand!” Niragi snarled and grabbed his rifle.

“You can't,” Arisu stepped into his path to prevent him from leaving.

“Watch me,” Niragi narrowed his eyes.

“No, Niragi, you seriously can't,” Arisu placed a hand on Niragi’s chest. “If you kill him there will be a power vacuum and chaos. We aren’t equipped to deal with that.”

“We aren’t equipped to deal with that yet,” Chishiya smirked. “We need to make sure we are before you kill him.”

“And when we are ready?” Niragi turned to look at the silver haired man.

“Then none of us will stop you from ending his wretched existence,” Chishiya shrugged.

“You know,” Niragi smirked, looking pleased. “You're not so bad after all.”

As the rest started discussing how to get ready for the fall out of killing Hatter Arisu felt dread in his chest. He just knew that Chishiya and Niragi being allies, if not friends, were a spell for chaos and destruction and from the looks of it they had both focused their protective instincts on Arisu.

Fuck, he was so screwed.

***

Usagi giggled quietly to herself. Watching Kuina trying to flirt with Ann was hilarious but watching Chishiya’s and Arisu’s weird flirting/mating dance was the most entertainment she had had in years!

Add Niragi being an overprotective, flirty ‘I'm gonna slap your ass, press you up against walls and make innuendoes all the time’ and ‘puppy-love’ ridden adorable fool around Arisu making Chishiya act like a jealous and protective boyfriend was gold. She would even say that being stuck here and playing all these games were almost worth it just to see that.

Almost.

She could admit that some good things came from this weird place. She had friends, which was new, and something close to a brother in Arisu. She had people that she knew would have her back if she needed it and whom she would protect in return.

The last time she had anything like that was with her dad…

“You okay?” Tatta sat down beside her followed by Ippei.

“Huh? Yeah, just memories,” Usagi smiled in assurance. “What's up?”

“Oh, we were gonna play some cards,” Tatta smiled back at her.

“Wanna join?” Ippei asked softly.

“Sure, what are we playing?” Usagi stretched slightly.

“Chicago,” Tatta pulled out a deck of cards from his swim trunks.

“Chicago?” Usagi had never heard of that game before.

“It’s a lot like poker,” Ippei explained quietly. “You get five cards on hand, there’s three switches and then you collect points either by winning the hand, which gives you 5 points, or collecting card combinations.”

“What are the points and what do you earn them on?” Usagi wanted to know.

“Pairs give one point, two pairs give two points, three of a kind gives 3 points,” Tatta started to deal the cards. “Ladders give four points and a fl-”

“Sorry, ladders?” Usagi frowned in confusion.

“Ladders are like 4,5,6,7,8,” Tatta smiled. “Basically five cards in numerical order.”

“Okay, I think I understand” Usagi nodded slowly.

“A flush, five of the same suit, gives 5 points, while a straight flush, basically a ladder flush, gives you 18 point and a Royal Straight Flush gives you 50 points and automatically wins you the game,” Ippei continued with a smile. “Finally you can ‘Take a Chicago’ which means that you have to be able to have a winning streak on one hand, like ace’s in spades, clubs and hearts along with two kings in one of the suits you have ace’s in so no one can cut you off so to speak.”

“If you win your ‘Take a Chicago’ you get 15 points but if you lose you, lose 15 points,” Tatta added when Ippei trialed off. “Oh, and if you get four of a kind you get 8 points but all the others lose all their points and have to start over at 0.”

“I'm pretty sure I get the gist of it,” Usagi nodded thoughtfully. “Let’s play.”

The first few rounds they didn’t play for anything and just let Usagi get used to the game and the rules but by the time they were going to start round 5 Niragi wanted to join in as well as Ann… okay, the other also wanted to join but the game was already at capacity at five players so they just got to watch.

Niragi, of course, demanded they play for something and that’s how they ended up playing for candy because no one wanted to play for clothes which had been Niragi’s suggestion. 

All in all it was a great evening, even if Usagi wished she had a camera so she could capture Arisu falling asleep on Chishiya’s shoulder, and they all agreed they needed to do this again sometime in the future.

After all, it was a great way to relax and just spend time with friends, and for once playing games without the death factor. And if Usagi decided that if Chishiya hadn't kissed Arisu in a week’s time she was going to find a way to lock them in a room together? Well, that was no one’s business but hers… and maybe Kuina and Ann’s seeing as she might need their help.