Chapter Text
“I can’t save you anymore.”
Tatta woke up in a harsh, cold sweat. It was pretty muggy in his hospital room, so he stood up to open a window–almost failing twice due to the aches in his body.
What time was it?
He checked his phone on his bedside table, glancing at his sleeping roommate. He’d been placed with a woman who had been in a coma (which kinda freaked him out at times). He’d learned her name was “Ann Rizuna” from the doctors who had come in to check on her.
4:25 am.
He’d woken from a horrific dream. It was more of a recurring nightmare he’s had over the last couple of weeks. It was about the meteor that had hit Shibuya a couple of months ago, and he always woke up with a far off dwelling within his wrist.
In the dream he felt horrible. He sat against a really large pole thinking about how useless he’d been with his team, though he wasn’t sure where the idea of a team came from. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought that before in his dream, but after someone–this someone who had a rifle spoke to him, and the thoughts became more upfront.
He remembers thinking of his mother in those long moments he sat there. The woman had passed away when he was in high school, and despite his working, the costs weren’t helping their situation. She wouldn't be proud about him sitting here, moping. “You have to help your friends,” he imagined her saying.
He had gone and sat beside a large shipping crate–similar to the ones he’d handle at work.
The dream would fast forward to a point where he felt tired, and sat with his back against the crate with the inability to move, and someone came into view.
His vision would be blurry, and he couldn’t make out the person standing before him. Simply a gruff silhouette, looking down on him.
But that crate was relevant to Tatta.
He just didn’t know why.
Kuina woke up the next morning. It was around 8:00 am, meaning she was going to explore the hospital (hopefully without getting banished back to her hospital room), and a therapist wanted to meet with her at some point this week.
Her roommate was still asleep past the curtain Kuina snuck a peak through. She felt like she knew this woman, and she looked pretty athletic–like Kuina.
She’d gotten dressed, but looked at herself in the reflection of the machine before leaving.
Her shirt was loose, meaning it didn’t emphasize any curves she had–but she felt as if her face wasn’t enough, and she had sweats along with it. She took a long look at her face, pinpointing every feature she didn’t believe as feminine.
Kuina grabbed her makeup which she convinced the nurse to let her have when they sent someone to go buy her “neccesities”–very swiftly putting a face on that only she knew wasn’t her real one. She’d put on a light amount of mascara, blush, and eyeliner.
Then she put on red lipstick–topping it with her own touch of lipgloss. It was odd, since she never often wore bolder lip color. It filled her with a sense of comfort now–releif.
She’d also switched her shirt out for a fitted t-shirt, matched with a pair of low flares. Of course you could see the grooves of the bandage around her stomach under the top, but she accepted it was a requirement for her to heal.
Kuina sighed looking at her reflection.
She’d rather put all this effort on a new face, then feel how she still sees herself.
Niragi looked at the clock resting above his hospital bed. It was the worst spot for a clock because he had to look up behind him, truly. It was around 11:00am. He mentally slapped himself, and didn’t bother changing out of his t-shirt and sweats. He was in so much pain, but he’d get up before a nurse could get him. He had stupid meetings with a psychology guy or whatever in about an hour, so that gave him time dilly dall-
“I hope I helped. I’m not worth saving.”
He doesn’t know where he’s been getting that thought. A familiar feeling of pent up aggression arose in him. He wanted to hit something–anything. He felt small, vulnerable, like he did in high school.
He hated this stupid hospital, with their stupid bossy nurses, and stupid uncomfortable beds.
He forced himself upright with a groan, and a wheezy cough. He was so externally fucked with all his burns, bruises, and bandages, he didn’t even want to think about his insides. The nurse had told him he’d gone through cardiac arrest, and the burns were due to the flames of the meteor. He’d been considered dead for exactly 1 minute.
After his coughing fit was done, he felt eyes on him. He turned his head to see a man looking at him through the slit of the shitty curtain separating them.
When Niragi made eye contact, more of that rage enveloped within him. Something about his eyes, and blonde hair, and his calmness, pissed him off. That eye contact also made Niragi wince at his burns, which suddenly spiked in the pain factor.
Niragi threw him a scowl, before the man calmly averted his gaze to the roof and spoke. “You’re Niragi right? Suguru?” A smirk played on the man's lips. “I almost didn’t recognize you without those glasses.” Though that was a lie. Blondie felt a strange familiarity to Niragi.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” He barked at the blonde man. How did he even know Niragi used to wear glasses? He switched to contacts years ago. Come to think of it, he had a headache–one he would get from not wearing his glasses or contacts.
The nurses didn’t provide him with fucking contacts.
“I saw you at the hospital lots when I interned there. Why could that have been, hm?” The man hummed.
“Shuntaro Chishiya” Niragi read the others whiteboard. Hm, Niragi hated that name for some reason. It also said the patient had gone under cardiac arrest, and was presumed dead for exactly one minute as well. Niragi found that weird.
“Well, Chishiya,” Niragi exasperated “If you don't shut your damn mouth, you’ll be dead longer than a minute.”
“If you can get over here.” Chishiya spoke with a hint of tease in his now not so subtle smirk.
Before Niragi could bark back a reply, a nurse came in.
“Suguru Niragi,” she spoke, turning to face him. He probably shouldn’t be sitting up, but he’d deal with those repercussions later. “Mr. Matsuyama will see you now.”.
Arisu had just walked out of the large room. He’d just finished meeting with Mr. Matsuyama, and now his head was stirring with questions. It was hard to focus in that room with the knowledge of a camera watching you, and simply being so alone–but he was out now.
Mr. Matsuyama, or what he asked Arisu to call him–Ryuji, filled Arisu with a bit of unease. Others would find him odd, but Arisu found his questions familiar and unsettling. He was so sick of his answers being “I’m not sure, sorry”, because he knew he was sure–or he used to be sure at least. He just didn’t know why.
The question that lingered in his head was “Do you feel like you’ve been on a long journey you can’t quite explain.”
That was the only question Arisu could for sure say yes too. He felt like he was missing people. A lot of them. He often had cars, rabbits, and rifles appearing in his head. Maybe it was some game he played before the meteor struck? He had the distinct memory of a cat. It appeared in any dreams he had, and any of the memories following those things–but the cat would always run away when Arisu tried touching it.
It was odd. His only friends had only ever really been Karube and Chota. They were in the same spot when the meteor hit, so why did they have to die? He felt like a wolf in sheep's clothing, like he had a choice to save them. All three of them were in the same place when the meteor hit, so why did it have to be him to survive?
Usagi could barely walk, but she managed to snag a pair of crutches. She got used to the pain after a while, but managed to make it to the small convenience store on the first floor in the hospital. She used to love the grocery store because she admired how fast the clerks could work–and speed was important to Usagi.
She looked through an aisle that had an assortment of snacks. Out of everything, she settled on a birthday cake ramen. It was an odd choice, yes, and she never remembered having tried it–but she knew she liked it.
Usagi went up to the register to pay, and she saw a man order the same thing. She felt as if maybe she’d recognized the man. It was until he spoke, she realized she was staring.
“Uh hello?” The man had tilted his head slightly.
“Oh I’m sorry. I just- have we met?” Usagi asked. She felt connected to this man in a way–a friendship she’d unveiled. She was so certain she had met this man before.
“Maybe we went to high school together?” He smiled, and placed out his hand, shaking Usagis. “I’m Arisu.”.
“Arisu.” Usagi repeated. The name felt familiar on her lips. “I’m Usagi.”
“Like a rabbit?” Arisu teased lightly, the thought of the recurring rabbit appearing in his head. Though when he tried to think of any memory involving that rabbit, his mind went to Usagi.
“Are you two paying together?” The clerk spoke, startling Arisu a bit. It made Usagi silently chuckle.
“I got it.” The man said, also paying for Usagis.
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that, thank you so much.” She thanked him, holding it in her free hand.
“I mean it’s not everyday you see someone with the same weird taste in ramen." He chuckled lightly.
Usagi had talked with Arisu then gone to her therapy session with Ryuji. She left with the knowledge behind her nightmares–or how to stop them. There was this place faraway, and she felt she needed to go.
Chishiya was in more pain than he wanted to admit. Normally, he would’ve been back on his feet and be the one helping the patients in this hospital, but this had hit him harder than he’d thought. He hated being stuck in the hospital–or more so his bed.
As childish as it sounds, he’s tried escaping his room to go on walks, or test his mind to see what it found to be familiar–because Chishiya tried to remember important things, and these felt like it.
Once Niragi was practically dragged to see Mr. Matsuyama, Chishiya sat up with a groan. His side hurt like hell, like he’d been shot in the stomach or something.
He couldn’t deny that teasing Niragi felt so easy to do, as if he’d done it before.
Everything about this felt weird.
Chishiya wasn’t one to ever choose feelings over facts, but he’s found himself doing that more since he’s been hospitalized.
He’d already found it weird that he was feeling familiarity within small things like numbers, and symbols–but it intrigued him when he felt connected to Niragi (even if it was a shitty way). When he spoke to Niragi, his side and stomach hurt. It felt like the non vital organ that was in pain was because whatever happened missed the first time.
Niragi was pissed off after his “therapy session” because he couldn’t fully uncover what was going through his mind.
It was only until he was interrupted by his thoughts, a man came yelling outside from his room.
“SHE’S AWAKE! SHE’S AWAKE!” The man waved around his good arm, yelling to alert a nurse, who came running past him, and into his room with a crew.
“You know there's a call button, right?” Niragi huffed at the man.
“Oh.” He replied, looking embarrassed.
When the two looked at each other, recognition flashed across both their faces, and Niragi could comfortably say "Don't look at me like that you freak.”--and Tatta was completely unfazed, simply apologized.
“I hope I helped. I’m not worth saving.” That thought rang in Niragi's ears.
So the two decided to hang out until the commotion was done in his room. It’s not like Niragi wanted to go back to that hellspawn that is Chishiya either.
Tatta was finally let back into his room, and the woman was sat up in her bed. Her eyes widened slightly, and he paused in his tracks.
“Tatta?” She spoke calmly, but was obviously surprised.
“How do you know my name?” He spoke startled, only to earn a sigh from her.
“You don’t remember.” she stated.
“Remember what?” he asked, gaining a reply from her.
“The Borderlands.”
An Alarm was going off in the hospital, and Arisu watched the doctors run in with a stretcher. Usagi lied on that stretcher, a breathing machine hooked over her mouth. Arisy's eyes widened, and he caught up with the pace of a doctor following behind.
“What happened? Is she okay?” He questioned.
“Do you know this woman?” The doctor asked.
With no hesitation, Arisu answered, “Yes. What happened?”
With a sigh the doctor explained. “She was caught with a man jumping off the roof of the lower building. That man was the nutso therapist interviewing the Shibuya meteor survivors.”
Chishiya heard the alarm, and was curious. He knew that alarm meant a patient was in danger, so he was curious as to who.
So he forced himself up.
He walked down the halls, watching a stretcher go by. He recognized the therapist, but really took a good look when the second stretcher with a woman sped by. He raised an eyebrow, and continued walking–before again, coming to a halt.
A few feet away he saw a man talking with a doctor. The man turned and noticed his gaze on the blonde individual, and he paused. That cat in his memory, was replaced by that blonde.
Unfortunately, he went back to talking with that doctor.
Chishiya found himself wandering into a random room since it was open.
Two people stared at him when he entered, and he recognized them. “God, I’m so sick of this.” he muttered, walking into the room anyways.
“Chishiya.” Ann exhaled, and then turned her gaze to behind Chishiya at he door way, a light smile on her lips.
“Arisu.”
Niragi found himself bored out of his fucking skull while sitting on a bench in the hospital, and that alarm was started to piss him off. He managed to bother a nurse into getting him contacts, so his headache was pretty much gone (aside from that booming alarm). He didn’t want to go back to his room (assuming Chishiya was there), so he decided to go bother his new aquantence.
He glanced at the nurses who sped past him, noticing one of the stretchers. He got a quick glimpse of a woman, and he just accepted the incoming unanswered familiarity.
He walked down the halls, finally making it to the person's room who he spoke with earlier. Niragi looked at the sign which read “Tatta Kodai and An Rizuna” on it before abruptly making an entrance into his room.
“Im coming in he-” he notices the amount of people in the room, especially Chishiya. “Of course you’re friends with this fucking prick!” He complained about Chishiya who shot him a smirk.
“Niragi?” Ann spoke lightly.
Niragi shot her an unimpressed look–crossing his arms. He didn’t make his groan of annoyance subtle when he sat on Tattas hospital bed.
Kuina was getting a bit worried since her roommate hadn’t come back yet, and that alarm wasn’t filling her with hope. Alarms and hospitals didn’t sound like a good mix.
She got up deciding to look for her roommate.
That search didn’t last long, as she found her on a stretcher being sped through the halls. What the hell had happened?!
Kuina needed a break from her stuffy room, and she needed to find the supply people. She needed more clothes that didn’t send her into a spiral of dysphoria.
She walked down the stairs, and through the halls of the second floor. Obviously she didn’t read signs, and found her way in someone's hospital room.
“I’ve never had this many people in my room before.” Tatta anxiously sighed through the psalm of his hands, sitting next to Niragu (who kept scooting away).
“I went to the wrong room, I'm sorry.” She trailed off when she made eye contact with the one sitting on the other bed.
“Kuina?” Ann spoke quietly.
Thirty seconds of awkward silence was enough to get Chishiya to speak. “I think we can all agree we know each other–especially that woman.” He pointed to Ann.
The alarm finally stopped.
“God- what the hell even do they need to play an alarm for that long just because some woman is on a stretcher.” Niragu complained, earning a glare and lecture from Arisu. “She’s gonna die first of all, and second–she has a name.”
“Arisu, what's her name?” Ann asked with a twinge of concern.
“Usagi.”
“It’s really creepy you know all our names.” Tatta shuddered. Kuina glared at him, which stopped him from continuing further.
“She’s back in that place.” Ann confessed. “The Borderlands.”
That created an uncomfortable shift in the room's atmosphere.
“We need to get her before they shift me off to a psych ward. They think I’m insane.” She continued, and Niragi interrupted her, “I’m not going to indulge in some ladies batshit crazy fantasies about dead women.”
“Hear her out.” Chishiya hummed.
“All your hearts stopped for one minute, no?” Silence was the only answer Ann needed. “You may not remember now, but you will–I need you all to remember soon, but we need to go back to get her. We have to win all the games and make it back alive.”
“You’re saying we have to basically kill ourselves for a whole minute, to go to some land where we can live or die playing games, to save some women we barely know?” Kuina questioned, and Ann gave her a pleading look. “We won the games before, we can do it again, there's a drug so we don't have–”
“So you wanna drug us too?” Niragi had a scoff of disbelief in his smile. He got up, and towered over Ann. “Why don’t we just call those doctors on you now?” He smirked, going to reach for something above his shoulder that wasn’t there. It made him pause and stand confused.
“You don’t have your rifle to threaten me with.” Ann had a light smirk.
“I want to save her.” Arisu continued, “And I’ll take all your guys' help if I can.” He looks at Chishiya, a look in his eyes that is desperate, yet determined. The cars–Tatta, the rabbit–Usagi, The rifle–Niragi–and so much more that began to click when talking to these people.
Chishiya–the cat.
Niragi sat back next to Tatta, embarrassed. It was obvious he was starting to believe Ann, which really convinced the rest of the room.
So Ann spoke, pulling out a card–a joker.
“Tatta, Kuina, Niragi, Chishiya, and Arisu.”
She paused.
“Are you ready to go back to The Borderlands?”.