Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It's dark in the subway. The map Chishiya’s referencing is hard to see in the harsh light of his flashlight as he attempts to traverse the labyrinthine tunnels. Kuina follows behind him as they make their way to the red dot at an intersection on the map.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Her voice echoes against the walls, the only sound besides foot falls.

“No. But the subway map matched so I think I have a good idea.” Chishiya’s voice is still too distant, he knows he doesn’t sound right but he doesn’t know how to fix it. The world is cut off from him by a layer of fuzz that he can’t quite penetrate no matter what he tries to do. It’s never gotten this bad before. Even when he was struggling alone without Alice playing in the background he had never been so absent. It hadn’t gotten to this point, where his body feels completely foreign, trapped in third person.

He can tell Kuina’s trying to get him to talk to her about it. The 10 of Hearts, sacrificing Alice, why there's a delay when he talks, everything. But he can’t. He refuses to acknowledge the mess in his head and what it might mean. So he disappears, like he always does. He fades into the dark corner of his mind and goes on autopilot.

They’re approaching the crossroads when he spots a door shaped hole in the wall. “That must be it.”

When Kuina shines her light into the dark space it shows stairs leaning far down under ground. “I’ll go first, stay behind me okay?” She gives his wrist a squeeze then takes the first step down.

Nothing happens as they descend, they stay as quiet as they can just in case but there's nothing when they reach the bottom. More dark hallway. Kuina looks to him, he nods, she continues forward.

Eventually the corridor opens wide into a large room full of screens. It's split up into multiple mini screening areas with the screens facing in towards circles of computers and desks. The screens are off, all the power’s connected too are the big overhead lights that spotlight the carnage in the rooms. There are bodies everywhere. Slouched back in their chairs in front of desks, on the floor, against a wall. Each one having the identical, distinct wound of a laser through the skull.

Chishiya moves to pat down one of the least bloody bodies on the floor. They all have phones similar to the ones players receive in games. “These aren’t the Game Masters.”

“Who are they then?” Kuina’s eyes narrow in confusion.

Before he can answer, there's footsteps coming down the stairs. Kuina acts quickly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him through another doorway at the back of the screen lined room out of sight. It's quiet as the footsteps draw near, Chishiya can see their flashlights break through the darkness when they enter the room. Revealing two familiar figures.

He really can never escape Alice can he. He's with Usagi, because of course he is, though no longer needing her help to stand straight. He looks awful even after the blood is washed off, there's a deep bruise that spreads across his cheek and dark bags under his eyes. Chishiya wants to check the rest of him, to see what's underneath his unbloodied shirt and jacket, prod for broken ribs and wounds that weren’t taken care of properly.

He has no right to want such a thing, he was the one who caused it. Kuina squeezes his wrist, the pressure’s a reassurance, it doesn’t help. Not when he's so stuck in his head.

Alice and Usagi are taking in the corpses when Kuina pushes them out of the dark doorway, nudging him expectantly. He supposes that's his cue to make their presence known. “I suppose I’m not surprised you found this place.”

Alice and Usagi whip their heads up to him in shock, Kuina is right behind him, “Long time no see.”

Usagi is immediately on guard, eyeing them as they walk further in to meet the two, "What's going on?”

Alice still hasn’t looked away from Chishiya, he can feel how the man's eyes trace his every step as he draws near, “How did you find this place?” Alice's voice is low and leaves no room for any trick Chishiya might pull.

He wouldn't. Not anymore, too tired to think of something witty to say, let alone try and trick Alice. If he could anymore. He can’t look up, scared of the hatred he might see in those usually far too patient eyes. He's only seen it twice and doesn’t think he could live through seeing that anger pointed at him. Instead he reaches into his pocket to pull out the small paper map he was following, unfolding it to present the image drawn to Alice. “I found this on one of the taggers. It took a while but I figured out it was a map that led here.” He turns away to look at the screens on the wall, away from Alice, “I hoped coming here would provide answers to when we collected all the numbered cards. But I still only know one thing.”

“These people aren’t the Game Masters.” Alice finishes for him.

Chishiya nods, “Right. They were killed after you won. They're just humans, and that still leaves someone above them.”

“So then,” Usagi pauses, “Who could they be?”

“I don't know.” Chishiya's voice is flat when he says it. He hates admitting when he doesn’t know something but it's true. He doubts he’ll be able to figure it out anytime soon either with how his mind is clouded.

The screens surrounding them light up in blinding white, then royal horns sound as Mira appears. Chishiya moves around some of the desks to get a better view of her towering form, Kuina settles beside him.

Her voice rings out around them, “Congratulations to all players. Except for the face cards, you’ve all completed the numbered games and emerged victoriously. The price of these sweet victories was the sacrifice of many lives. I wonder, just how many of your close friends have died. Do you remember," the screens glitch slightly then a subsection switches to a video of a past game, “The people who were shot in the head?” Another screen switches this time to a young girl on fire screaming for help, none was offered, “That girl you burned alive?” Another of a count down running out, “The ones who were struck down by lasers.” And another from underwater with too many bubbles to fully make out the man struggling to swim, “Or the ones who drowned.” A large chunk of screens glitch into what looks like a garden, there's a series of explosions then a single scream, “The ones whose heads were blown off.”

All the screens are slowly being filled with different games, yells of panic and screams of agony fill the room, too loud, too familiar. Kuina threads her fingers in his, holding tight as Mira walks across the screens, “All that despair you felt, those gruesome scenes you’ll never forget them. And that,” Mira wipes a fake tear for her wide manic eyes, “really touches me. To all surviving players, we just wanted to give you a present.” Her tone turns sinister as the games disappear.

“To go home?” Kuina pleads the screens.

Mira laughs, “There will be new games! Let's all play! And this time with all the face cards!”

More games, Chishiya's okay with that. Maybe they'll help clear his head. Make him focus on something other than Alice and blood and screaming.

“We have more wonderful and exciting games planned for you all, so be prepared.” Mira continues.

“So is she the Game Master?” Usagi questions.

“I think I would have preferred seeing an alien up there.” Kuina sounds unbelieving, Chishiya can’t really blame her.

Mira's large figure stands in the middle of the screens, “The next stage starts tomorrow when the clock strikes noon. Let's have some fun all together!”

“So we have to play once again?” Usagi's voice is exhausted.

“Yeah,” Alice's tone is steady, “Except this time, now we know what our target looks like.”

Chishiya can’t help it, the commanding, determined tone makes him look. Alice is staring at Mira, eyes dark and narrowed. He's glaring at the screens like he did that night, angry, frustrated, so close to figuring out the problem and unwilling to back down until it's solved. There's a pathetic attempt of a spark deep in his diaphragm before it fizzles out.

Chishiya forces his eyes away before he can get caught staring. The screens shut off all at once along with the overhead lights, they’re swallowed by the darkness and Chishiya’s thankful Kuina took his hand just minutes before.

A light flicks on, blinding Chishiya for just a moment until Alice comes back into focus, “Come on we should find a place to rest until tomorrow.” Usagi starts walking ahead with her own flash light and Alice turns to follow, only stopping when he notices Chishiya and Kuina not following. “That means you too, c’mon.”

What?

Usagi stops short of the stairs spinning back around to face them enraged, “You can’t be serious. He sacrificed us! They left us for dead!”

Alice looks at Usagi, “I know,” Then turns his far too knowing gaze back to Chishiya, “But he won't try anything. Not anymore.”

It's a punch to the gut. He distantly hears Usagi try to protest more as the two disappear ahead up the stairs. Chishiya doesn’t get it. Alice should want him dead. Instead he offers an alliance.

Chishiya's head is swimming again, everything getting filled with static. The only thing keeping him from fully going under is Kuina's hand in his as she guides them out of the room of screens then out the subway following Alice and Usagi at a distance.

They walk in silence to wherever Alice is leading them, Usagi's still trying to argue with him, but every attempt is shot down, calm and patient. Always patient. Chishiya doesn’t have anything to say, not within hearing distance of Alice and Usagi. Kuina lets him, just keeps holding his hand, keeping herself one step in front, a guard he didn’t know he needed.

The buildings pass in a blur until they come across an apartment building, Alice and Usagi mutter something to each other then head inside. The bottom floors are all wiped through, it's not until they reach the top where the rooms aren’t in shambles do they make camp. They're able to pry doors open to scavenge for food and supplies. Chishiya keeps his distance and Kuina stays close.

Every time Alice is in the same room with him he can feel the weight of Alice's eyes tracing his every move. It makes it infinitely more difficult to focus on the task at hand. He can't breathe with how suffocating the tension is. He needs space. Away from Alice and his watchful eye.

He said it was fine that Chishiya was here but he won't stop watching. Chishiya can’t handle it. They meet in one of the apartments to share what was found and Chishiya leaves.

He doesn’t care if Kuina is following as he enters a different one on the far side of the hall. He just needs to get away. He doesn’t know what Alice is seeing when he looks, doesn’t want to, just needs a break from it and hopes whatever he sees isn’t how hollow and broken Chishiya feels.

The 10 of Hearts is the top card when he takes the deck out. They're heavy and slip around in his hands like they're still slick with the blood he sacrificed for them. It was almost for nothing. He destroyed everything and it wasn’t even fucking worth it.

“So you did get them.” Chishiya thinks he gave himself whiplash with how quick he spins around to find Alice standing a few feet behind him. “That's good.”

What is he doing here? Why is he here and not Kuina? He can’t be here, alone with Chishiya.

Alice sighs, “Relax Kuina’s right outside. She's a good friend, took some convincing to let me talk to you.”

“What do you want?” Chishiya forces his voice to steady, knows it's not quite right, “Payback?”

He huffs amused, "I don't know if you noticed but I’m not in any condition to get in a fight right now. Because of Aguni,” he pauses, “and you.”

Neither is Chishiya, if Alice wanted to fight he’d win. Chishiya would let him and isn't that a thought. Rolling over, exposing soft belly for a dagger in the heart. What has Alice done to him.

He nods, choosing to ignore the tightening in his chest, “I saw, it was quite a speech."

Arisus’ eyes narrow, “So you were there.”

“Didn’t get the chance to leave,” Chishiya's eyes are trained on Alice waiting for his next move. He doesn't know what the man wants or what he's doing. Can only wait for the fallout and hope.

“Right,” Alice's stance shifts, some tension seeping in, “Look, I’m just making sure you're not going to disappear on me again.”

Chishiya doesn’t really know what to say to that. Why does Alice care where he curls up and dies? He shouldn’t want Chishiya anywhere near him, shouldn’t be able to get far enough away. All Chishiya can manage is a choked out, “Why?”

Silence stretches for a moment.

“Your eyes are different.” Alice starts closing the distance, each step a nail in Chishiya's coffin, to close. To close for anything good. Chishiya mirrors the movement, stepping back back back until his path is stopped by some piece of furniture. Alice looms over him, forcing his head to tilt back to look up at him, “They’re so hollow now.”

If he didn’t know what to say before what the fuck is Chishiya supposed to say to that? Chishiya can’t stand it, snaps his head away to look at the wall beside him. He can’t look anymore, at the eyes that hold too much concern for someone he should hate, the knowing layered underneath. How could Alice know? That since It happened it's like a rot that's spread within him, hollowing him out until there's nothing left.

There's a hand in his periphery, “Chishiya-” whatever Alice is about to say he doesn't get the chance to because Kuina's slamming the door in. The hand stills before it can reach him.

“Five minutes are up.” Her eyes narrow when she sees how they're positioned, takes in their posture and tension in the space. “Back up.”

Alice follows the command easily, hands raised in surrender. The distance allows Chishiya a chance to breathe, try and get his thoughts together. He feels like his brain was just scrambled. To close, far far to close. Whatever Alice has to say Chishiya doesn't want to know, doesn’t think he could handle it.

Alice lingers for just a moment before he fully backs away toward the door.

When Alice leaves Kuina trains her attention back to Chishiya. “What did he want?”

Chishiya takes in a shaky breath, “He wanted to make sure I didn't leave. Won't leave.”

“Okay,” she drags the vowels out, “and what was that?”

“What?” Chishiya doesn’t know what she's referring to, he's still trying to catch up to now. Processing the fact that Alice wants him to stay.

“The whole having you cornered thing?" She gives a flippant hand gesture.

Right, that. “I don't know.” 

“You don't know.” She raises a brow.

“I don't know.” Fuck, Chishiya really doesn’t know what happened. Alice was there, and he couldn’t think! Like he does every other time Alice is around.

Kuina sighs, “Shiya.” Her voice has gotten soft in that way when she wants Chishiya to talk, open up with what's going on but where does Chishiya even begin.

He can't just say: ‘I’ve known who Arisu was this whole time and despite the fact that I have a morbid obsession with him I sacrificed him to get the playing cards because for some stupid fucking reason I can’t think straight when he’s around and he makes me feel weird and I freaked out. Because what if we’re in a game and I can't think because he's there! So I thought it would be best to just get rid of the problem! And then instantly regretted it because all the sudden it felt like my heart was ripped out. So I guess I’m far more attached then I initially thought I was but now it's ruined, he hates me, so does it really matter how I feel anymore?’

No. Just no. Because he knows what she’ll do.

She'll get that sympathetic look in her eyes and say ‘Shiya’ in that same soft voice and insist on something that is totally, completely, inappropriately wrong.

Chishiya sighs, he's still holding onto those damned cards like a life line, he didn't notice how they started cutting into his fingers. He moves the cards back into his pocket, trying to come up with something to deflect with. When he reaches into his pocket it's wrong.

It's missing.

The charm’s not in his pocket, it was just there when he took the cards out. It must have fallen out when he did. He can't help the semi frantic search of the floor for it. It's not far away, just a little further in the room where he was once standing before Alice cornered him.

“Shiya?” Kuina calls after him when he darts across the room to snatch it off the floor.

Chishiya hasn't really looked at the charm since he followed Alice all that time ago. The grinning face of the Cheshire Cat stares back at him where it sits curled up in his palm. It's like he can feel it mocking him with its wide grin. Laughing that, he did it again.

“So that's what you’re always fiddling with in your pocket,” Kuina's hovering over his shoulder to get a better view of the charm half closed in his hand, “It’s cute, didn't take you for a trinket guy though.”

Chishiya sighs, “I’m not.”

Kuina's eyes pan to him again, questioning.

A heavier sigh leaves him as he sways back just enough so that he's now leaning on Kuina, “It’s a joke from my coworkers.”

She straightens, shifting closer to steady both of them. It’s silent acceptance, an encouragement.

His grip gets tighter, feeling the harsh edges of the charm indent his palm, “One of my patients started calling me it before he…” Chishiya pauses. For some reason the word can't come out. Hayato died. But he can't get himself to say it. “Someone heard it, it spread, and now it's a joke.”

Kuina hums and fully wraps her arms around him tightly, “You kept it.”

He nods, "I kept it.”

“Okay,” she nuzzles slightly into his hair, squeezing him for a moment before she's backing off, “You ran off before you ate, so I brought you something. Eat, then we'll head to bed, we have a long day tomorrow.”

Chishiya’s thankful that she let the previous topic go, maybe she can tell that he won’t be able to talk about it yet, maybe the charm distracted her. Either way he's grateful. takes a second to make sure the charm is securely tucked away and eats quickly as Kuina moves to the bedroom to set it up for them to sleep in. He meets her there after he's finished, they're both laying there silently. Kuina pulls him close, tucking his head under her chin and wrapping firm arms around his waist.

There's still so much left out, things Chishiya still can't get himself to say out loud. But for now Kuina’s still here and the charm is safely back in the pocket of his hoodie.

Chishiya doesn't sleep, but at least he isn’t disappearing.

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The sun rises slowly through the window until finally the room is too bright to ignore the morning.

Kuina's shifted in her sleep to be fully laid over Chishiya, her hair tangled around them and there's a loc in his mouth he’s trying to get out without being able to move his hands from where they’re trapped. Fuck shes heavy.

They should get up soon so that they can get ready and wait for the games. Mira said the face card games will start at noon. So they should be in a central location to scout what will happen at the start. Who knows what the new games will be like, the same randomized system. Worse? If that's even a thing.

Chishiya’s trying to get out from under Kuina when the front door opens. He stills his attempts to maneuver from under the woman, waiting for some kind of distinct sound to tell him who just walked in, foe, or maybe ally.

He has a partial view of the living room from his half freed position hanging off the bed. The footsteps get closer and messy black hair comes into view holding two mugs that smell like, god coffee, then passes to set them on the coffee table.

Good news it's just Alice, bad news it's Alice.

Chishiya goes back to struggling out of Kuina's hold on him this time cursing her with every attempt to push her off. She groans rolling off of him.

Chishiya is suddenly aware of the fact that the only reason he hasn’t fully fallen off the bed is because Kuina's weight trapping his legs, which is now gone. He yelps when he hits the floor. Ow.

“Elegant.” Chishiya’s head snaps up to find a grinning Alice leaning in the doorway.

Chishiya looks away as warmth starts spreading up the back of his neck, “How long have you been standing there?”

There's a low chuckle that has something coiling in his gut, “You don't want me to answer that.”

He's right, Chishiya really doesn’t, and he hates that Alice knows that too. He starts pulling himself up off the floor using the bed as leverage. Kuina’s still softly snoring on the bed now curled around the pillow Chishiya was laying on, Puce. He swears she could sleep through a meteor. 

“Usagi found some coffee,” Alice nods back to the living room. “We’re planning on moving to Shibuya Crossing to see what happens during the next stage.”

Chishiya nods, “Sounds like a plan.”

There's a low groan and a dull thud, “Just be ready in thirty okay?”

“I will make sure Kuina is awake.” It’s a poor excuse for a joke and Chishiya knows it but he's tired and can't really think of anything better. The smell of coffee wafts in from the living room. “Thanks, for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome.” Footsteps fade behind the door.

Now how is Chishiya supposed to wake up Kuina in thirty minutes?

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There are fireworks when the clock strikes twelve, but nothing else happens. The four of them have been standing around Shibuya Crossing for nearly an hour before the ”celebration”. Honestly Chishiya was expecting more.

Alice sighs, “None of the games have started yet.”

“Maybe we still have time?” Usagi turns to look at him then back at the giant screen with the words ‘Next Stage Start’.

“Maybe they forgot to press the big red ‘start’ button.” Chishiya can feel Usagi's glare.

Kuina yawns, “They didn’t even tell us the rules.”

When have they ever.

There’s rumbling in the distance getting louder. Usagi's head starts swiveling trying to pick up exactly where it's coming from. “I hear something.” She moves to face one of the streets.

It doesn’t take long for cars to start flooding into the intersection. Kuina comes to stand by Chishiya, “Beach people?”

He nods as the cars start surrounding where they're huddled. Alice steps forward to greet the people stepping out of one of the cars, “What is this?”

One of the men speaks up, “We saw blimps.”

A woman speaks next, voice trembling, “The rumor is the next stage is starting.”

Alice’s hand comes up to mess with his hair, “Right, the thing is-” A gun shot launches the man to the ground, cutting Alice off. A chunk of his side’s obliterated and the blood spray goes everywhere. The woman goes next in similar fashion. That's not a normal gun.

For far too long the only thing everyone can do is stare in shock of what just happened. Then another shot punches a gaping hole in someone else's chest. The bullet is shot from too far away to make such a wound.

“A rifle. Get moving,” Chishiya shouts it more for his allies but it spurs the rest of the crowd into action as well. Kuina’s still beside him now pulling him along, “It’s an anti-tank rifle, it can shoot through cars.” His point is made immediately when a hole is shot though the car next to them then through the body on the other side.

A man is shot in front of them as they swerve to avoid the next shot. Chishiya tries to look behind them to get a glimpse of where the sniper could be, all he sees is blood spray and bodies.

Usagi’s sprinting ahead of them to hide behind a wall, “Where is it coming from!”

Kuina pulls them to follow crouching low when they make it, “Does this mean the games started?”

Chishiya can’t keep his voice as steady as he wants it to be when he just barely dodges another round, “I don't know.”

“Did they give us any rules?" Kuina's panicking beside Chishiya.

Alice moves to the other side of the wall to see what's happening, “There are no rules, this is just a massacre."

“That rifle can kill from a kilometer away,” Chishiya’s starting to panic. They’re hiding from a sniper with a rifle that can shoot through reinforced steel and still rip through a person's skull with a single shot. Sooner or later the sniper will realize where they are and they’ll be splatters on the ground just like everyone else. They need to get out of here and fast.

The shot pattern changes to something rapid fire, Kuina swears, "Damn it, I recognize that sound.”

“Now we’ve got an assault rifle.” Chishiya’s trying to split his attention between where the shooter is and a plan to get away without being seen. It's not working very well because he can't pinpoint where the shots are coming from, but at least they're not at risk of getting bisected.

Usagi is peering over the top of the wall, “We have no idea how many there are.”

Alice spares a glance back to them then goes back to watching the chaos, “could be more than one shooter.” He flinches back behind the wall as gravel starts kicking up, "They're getting closer, we have to go.” Alice starts back in the same direction they were running before.

Kuina helps Chishiya up from behind the cover, “Come on.”

She doesn’t let go as they start running from the heavy fire. They're getting trapped in the crowd and there's another spray of bullets that land between the two groups cutting them off from each other. Chishiya starts pulling Kuina away from where the bullets just landed, “We need to split up!”

Alice didn’t want Chishiya to leave, but he can’t worry about that right now when staying together is more likely to get them killed. They can regroup later somehow, now they need to survive.

He doesn’t see where Alice and Usagi head off to because Kuina’s taking the lead again doing her best not to drag Chishiya too hard through alleys and crowds. He's trying his best to keep pace while also tracking bullets through the sound of chaos around them. The noise of gun shots quiets slightly as they veer on a side street, then back to full force on the main road. Kuina uses her grip on his wrist to pull them behind a car right before bullets land where they were running.

It's a chance to breathe as others continue to run past them and subsequently gun down. The second they step out from cover they'll be shot, this really is a blood bath.

“It’s Usagi and Arisu,” Kuina peaks around the car, “What is he doing? Are you trying to get killed out there!” She moves back behind cover when her shouting attracts gun fire. “Where are they shooting from anyway?”

This is really bad, they're cornered again with still no clue where the shooter is. A loud werr-ing and large shadow draws near. Chishiya takes in the sight of the blimp coming into view. It has a banner hanging from its belly with a single picture on it, “The King of Spades.”

Of course Chishiya just had to be forced into the highest ranking Spade immediately as the next stage started. No warning, no rules, nothing. Chishiya retracts his statement from yesterday. This is not okay.

Oh, he almost forgot. “Here, take this.” He pulls out a can to hand to Kuina. She should have one just in case with how this stage is going.

She stares confused. “An explosive? When did you have time to make this?”

Chishiya smirks, "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to. Just use it if you have to.”

Kuina gives a disbelieving laugh. There's more gun fire and a new wave of people start running though. Alice and Usagi collapse behind a car next to them.

“You two okay? You hurt?” Kuina yells to the two. Chishiya leans forward to give them a wave as well. All back together again. There's more shots getting closer and gravel spraying up. “We’re pinned down here!”

“If we step out we’ll be shot!” Usagi replies.

She's right, there's nowhere to run and they can’t hide here much longer, but Chishiya doesn’t see a way out yet. There's a roar of an engine and a skidding sound of tires stopping too suddenly beside them.

Tatta's voice shouts, “Get in!”

Followed by Ann’s familiar command, "Don't just stand there!” When there was no movement.

Chishiya can hear the joy in Kuina's voice when she yells out a responding, “Ann!”

Usagi is the first to move followed by Alice, piling into the back of the car. Kuina’s yanking Chishiya up by the arm to follow close behind. She lets go just for a moment so she can climb in, Chishiya would follow but something he’d only seen in boring movies and TV shows taps his foot: a grenade. Oh shit.

Before he can back away a warm unfamiliar hand grabs him and pulls. He tumbles in with a yelp landing half on someone's lap and half on the floor board. The door slams behind him, there's a yell, and then he's jerked into that same someone's legs as the car speeds forward.

The hands that grabbed him are firm when they reach around his shoulders to steady him from the sudden motion, “You okay?”

No. Chishiya tries his best to jerk back away from their grip when he realizes who's holding him. Nope. 

He doesn’t get far, there's no room in the back seat and even less on the floor where he's kneeling between Alice's legs. The hands don’t let go when he tries to move away towards where Kuina’s sitting, only holding him there as the car continues to swerve. One arm leaves to brace above his head somewhere. A particularly sharp turn causes Chishiya to reach out on instinct and hold onto Alice in turn, one hand on the seat behind Alice and one on his side.

He smells like blood and sweat and somehow the scent of coffee that was brewed earlier that morning lingers on him. His hands are strong, too strong for what Chishiya assumed someone like Alice did all day, and so warm they burn through Chishiya’s jacket.

Eventually the ride slows and Alice’s grip relaxes enough for Chishiya to back away as far as he can. Kuina helps him climb up to sit on her lap, leaning his back against the door. 

Tatta looks back at them then at the window, “Okay, we're safe for now.”

“Shiya you okay?” Kuina's staring at him with a smug look on her face, no doubt going to grill him about the heat rising to his cheeks later.

He trains his eyes out the back window so he doesn't have to look at Alice or Kuina, “Fine.”

“You were going to leave.” There's an edge to Alice's statement that demands an answer, Chishiya can feel his eyes burning into the side of his skull.

“There was a grenade,” Chishiya bites back still staring out the back window, “I would’ve taken too long to get in and didn't feel like getting blown up, did you?”

Alice huffs and leans back in his seat. Chishiya can tell he wants to keep pressuring but Kuina doesn’t let him. “What kinda game is this guys? No rules! I mean we didn’t even register!”

Usagi turns to her, “We just take the bad guys down right?”

“And how many are there?” Kuina questions.

“There's just the one,” Alice cuts in, Chishiya glances at him from the corner of his eye, he's staring straight ahead, hand clenching the seats in front of him until his knuckles turn white. “There’s only one King of Spades. He's like the final boss of all physical challenges.”

Chishiya almost laughs at the analogy, he almost forgot how much of a gamer nerd Alice was. There's a slow flutter waking back up in his chest.

Ann looks back at them through the mirror, “Before the chaos started, the King of Spades was flying around, maybe the game spans the whole city this time.”

“How are we supposed to fight him without any weapons?” Tattas voices all the panic the rest of them are feeling. It’s not a very fair fight is it.

“So who is Mira then, is she even human?” Usagi is looking at Alice for some kind of answer, Chishiya goes back to looking out the window.

“I think she's one of the Game Masters.” Alice sounds so certain. Of course he would figure that out too.

A car's been following not far behind them for a while now, Chishiya can just make out the faces of some of the Beach people that showed up earlier inside. A hooded figure climbs up the back of the car until he's on top of it. Oh shit.

He places a gun above where one of the backseat passengers is, the next second there's a spray of blood. He moves to the next seat in the back. Another spray, the boys in the font start screaming. Fuck.

Chishiya whips around to where Tatta’s driving, cutting off the conversation everyone is having, “Tatta! He's still here.”

Tatta stutters, “What?”

“The King of Spades is still following us. Floor it!” Chishiya is pushed back in his seat when the car speeds up and swerves again. Just in time too. Gun shots are heard from behind them and the glass of the back window splinters when a bullet flies through it.

They’re thrown against the sides of the car as Tatta swerves through frozen traffic.

Alice shouts, “Tatta drive better!” as the four of them are slammed against the side of the cabin again.

The side panel digs into Chishiya's spine with every turn of the wheel, “Second-ed!”

Tattas ducked beneath the steering wheel barely looking at where he’s going, “I can't!"

“Let me drive.” Ann’s already climbing over to take the wheel, “Move!”

Tatta scrambles over to where Ann was just seated. She shifts gears, the engine roars and they're going even faster switching between lanes and maneuvering around cars like Ann does with every she does, with smooth efficiency. She barely blinks as more gun fire clips the side mirrors, fully focused on the road and planning escape routes. She shifts up once more and turns hard causing the back to drift wide to make a u-turn.

For a moment it sounds like the King stopped pursuing, until he rounds the corner and matches their pace again. The King is now right beside them ramming their car until it lifts on two wheels, riding tilted half on the road and half on the line on cars on the other side of them. Chishiya falls for just a moment before an arm pulls him against a hard chest. Blood, sweat, and old coffee.

The car rights itself again and Chishiya squished between Kuina and Alice with one of Alice's arms wrapped tight around Chishiya lower back to keep him pressed against the gamers side.

Too close, way way too close. Chishiya’s brain is short circuiting a bit, his skin burns from under his jacket where Alice is holding him. Alice isn’t even looking at him, staring straight ahead yelling something at Ann that Chishiya can’t hear over the blood rushing through his ears. His heart is pounding and that fluttering has kicked into full gear. Oh god, oh god.

Chishiya gives Alice's chest a push trying to create distance again, but the arm snakes tighter around his waist. Alice still isn’t paying attention to him, does he even realize what he's doing?

The car continues to jerk and rock as they race down the pavement, there's a moment of smooth riding when Ann’s able to pull ahead. Alice takes in a sharp breath, his grip bruises, and then they’re floating. Chishiya sees the world outside the window flip.

He groans when his back crashes into the ceiling of the cabin, “Fuck.” There's movement around him as everyone else starts crawling out of the car through the shattered windows. Chishiya hisses at the shooting pain along his spine when he moves to follow.

A hand’s offered to him when he's about halfway through one of the windows, he takes it, not caring who it is at this point, just needs to get out of the car. The other hand comes around his back to steady him on two feet. Chishiya can’t choke back the gasp he makes when pain blooms from where the warm palm presses.

The hand relocates to his upper arm immediately, still keeping him steady as he breathes through the pain. Shit, that really hurts.

“Chishiya, can you hear me?” Alice's voice cuts through the pain induced fog in his head, he's still the one holding Chishiya, keeping him steady.

Chishiya pulls away, “‘M fine.” He’s not, it hurts to stand straight, hurts to breathe, but Alice's touch burns and he's still far too close.

Alice finally lets him go begrudgingly. Chishiya can tell by the tense phantom grip he still has that he doesn’t want to let go; can probably tell that Chishiya is lying through gritted teeth, but lets him slip away anyways. There's no reason for Alice to keep holding on, there was no reason for him to hold on to begin with.

Somewhere in the interim the King of Spades car was crashed into, he steps out from the wreckage looking no worse for wear and starts firing again into the accumulated crowd. Chishiya follows Alice away from the shooting, sparing a glance behind to see Kuina, Usagi, and Tatta following closely. It doesn’t matter where they run as long as it's away.

They move through more alleys and side streets until the chaos starts to clear. When the ring of gun shots finally fade they move into a building to catch their breath. It's a lobby to an office building as far as Chishiya can tell and as soon as he sees the couch in the dimly lit hallway he's making his way toward it, Kuina on his heels.

They both collapse onto it, Chishiya leaning into Kuina’s side. He doesn’t care how Tatta side-eyes them, he's tired, in pain, and crashing from the hour long adrenaline high they were just on and he knows Kuina’s feeling the same. They need this, Tatta and his thoughts can fuck off.

Alice and Usagi enter the hallways a bit later, “We’ll be safe here for now.”

Kuina lays an arm around Chishiya's shoulder, “I hope Ann’s okay.”

Chishiya smirks, shifting to nudge her a little, “She’ll be fine. She's the best Diamond I know.” Kuina nudges him back in playful annoyance.

“For now we need to focus on getting supplies. Food. Water.” Usagi cuts in.

Kuina sinks further down into the couch dragging Chishiya with her, “Man that sucks, do we have to though?”

“The longer we wait, the more likely it is that the King will show up.” Usagi replies.

Alice hums in agreement, “We’ll go out to find some food.”

Chishiya sighs, “I’ll come with. We're going to need some basic medical supplies to keep around." He doesn’t necessarily want to go with the two of them but he rather not be caught unprepared, they were lucky that no one got seriously hurt during the King of Spades chase, who knows how long that’ll last. So he's going, besides he can still keep his distance from the two while they scavenge.

“Then I'll find us a ride,” Tatta hesitantly turns to Kuina, “You wanna come with?”

She sighs, “Sure.” She stands and loops her arm around Tattas then heads to the door.

Tatta stutters as he's dragged along, “What are you doing?”

Kuina stares at him amused, “What? You never had a hot girl on your arm before?”

Tatta continues stuttering out nonsense taking a few frightened glances behind at Chishiya. He just raises a questioning eyebrow. He chuckles when they're out of view. Tatta really does have the wrong idea, oh well.

Chishiya bites back a whimper when he stands to follow Usagi out the door to start their own search. Alice doesn’t move to follow until he passes, eyes following each movement Chishiya makes. Each step shoots lightning up his spine and across his neck and shoulders but he refuses to show it as he walks away.

A few blocks away they find a corner store that doesn't look too ransacked yet. Chishiya grabs a bag from the front kiosk and bee lines it to the pharmacy area.

The front area was still relatively well stocked but there's not much back here, many shelves are empty and what little is left aren’t what Chishiya was hoping for. Still he walks back and forth through the aisles searching for anything useful.

“Tatta seems to think you and Kuina are dating.” Chishiya didn’t realize Alice was still following him. He’s leaned against one of the aisles looking distinctly anywhere but at Chishiya, which is a first.

Tatta probably believes a lot of things about Chishiya and he doesn’t have the energy or the care to verify or falsify them. He hums in response, unsure where this line of thought is going.

“Are you?” Alice's eyes flicker to where Chishiya’s standing, then away just as fast.

Chishiya pauses when he reaches for a box of alcohol pads, “Why do you want to know?”

“Just wanna know about the two of you. You’re always together.” Alice is doing that spinning motion with his fingers, twirling an invisible pen.

“No.” The answer is simple. As much as Chishiya will deny it, they are inseparable, but they could never see each other in that way. And they both prefer it.

Alice nods, “Cool. Cool cool cool.”

Chishiya nods and goes back to scanning the shelves. This is weird, why is Alice following him around all the sudden? Making sure he doesn’t run away is one thing (that Chishiya still can’t wrap his mind around) but this feels like a one-eighty shift.

Alice was worried about Chishiya’s answer. Why does it matter? Alice said it himself yesterday, Kuina's a friend, why does he need confirmation now? Chishiya doesn’t think he'll ever be able to understand Alice.

The man's still following him through the shelves.

He needs Alice to shift his focus off of him, needs him to leave, “Shouldn’t you be with Usagi?” She's still on the other side of the store dropping non perishables and bottled water into a bag she procured, Alice's attention stays on him. He feels like a specimen under a microscope.

He finds a bottle of antiseptic on the top shelf, he tries for it but it remains just out of reach even on his toes. A hand reaches it from behind Chishiya and lowers the bottle as an offering, “Thought you might need some help.” What is with him and personal space?

Alice is almost pressed against Chishiya's back, so close he can feel the heat radiating off the man. It doesn’t help that he's also leaning down to Chishiya's level to look at him in the small distance he created. Chishiya snatches the bottle without looking at Alice, turning away to continue down the aisle as his heart pounds. God why does Alice make him so nervous?

He doesn’t turn around at the frustrated huff behind him, just pushes forward in his search for supplies. Alice continues to follow, but Chishiya refuses to acknowledge  him. His assistance isn't needed again because the rest of the pharmacy is picked clean save for a few bottles of pain medications that are well within Chishiya’s reach.

This is not nearly enough, they’re still missing bandages and potentially some kind of suture. He almost misses the Beach with their large supply of, well, everything. This will have to do for now though.

They meet Usagi back at the front of the store, she has four large bags of food ready by the door. Alice helps her with them and starts heading back to their camp. They’re muttering to each other ahead of him, Usagi looks unamused and displeased with whatever Alice is saying.

Chishiya trains his sight on the darkened sky, keeping a look out for any signs of the King of Spades blimp. His heart still hasn’t slowed. What is wrong with him? This was manageable before the Beach and even mostly during. He could pull on his apathetic facade like a second skin, pushing aside all the sensations fluttering up in his gut for the sake of survival.

But now, it's almost impossible to ignore. The grief he felt, how he immediately fell apart during the 10 of Hearts has rearranged his being into something unrecognizable. And it's all because of Alice.

Chishiya’s holding onto the shards of himself so tight their jagged edges are making him bleed. He doesn’t know how to put the broken pieces back together again. Maybe he can’t.

A bright red convertible pulls up with Tatta and Kuina bickering in the front seats. Tatta slows to a stop grinning, “Yo, get in!”

Kuina rolls her eyes, “We’re exposed in this thing.”

Tatta laughs, “It was the only one I could get started.”

Chishiya rolls his eyes as well, rounding the car to hop in the back seat. Kuina’s still going on about stupid the car is and Chishiya would have to agree. It reminds him of the cars that Alice would use in the few racing games he would stream, sleek, eye-catching, and worst of all loud. They’d be sitting ducks with it if they ever needed a quick escape, but there's no point making Tatta turn around for a new one now.

Alice and Usagi slot in next to him. Chishiya stays as close to the door as possible without looking weird to avoid any other strange contact with Alice. Once situated, Tatta heads back to the office building.

They aren’t going all that fast, however the wind still chills where it whips against Chishiya’s exposed neck and face spreading to the rest of him. He does his best to pull the hoodie closer to him, pulling the hood up to try and protect the small amount of skin. Despite his best efforts he still shivers. The drive should be short, he can deal with the mild chill until they get to camp.

Tatta drives over some kind of bump in the road that jostles the whole car. It shifts Chishiya's position just enough for Alice to bump into him. Alice doesn't seem to care as he banters with Tatta about driving better, his leg presses into Chishiya's more. Chishiya doesn’t shift away from the heat it brings.

They reach the building moments later. They move higher in the building looking for an actual room to rest in settling on a few offices. The break room on the floor has a battery powered kettle they use to heat up some of the food. While they wait for the kettle, Kuina's roaming gathering anything they can use as blankets now that it's getting dark.

Alice winces when he finally relaxes into one of the office chairs. He could barely stand a couple days ago and now with the chase and car crash he’s probably aggravated his wounds or worse.

Chishiya reaches for one of the pill bottles and measures out a dose for Alice. He grabs one of the water bottles on his way over to Alice.

He's seated slouched, head resting in one of his hands perched on the armrest. The hands covering his eyes as he takes in deep and controlled breaths.

The hand falls when Chishiya stops in front of him, “Chishiya?”

“Here,” He offers the bottle and painkillers to Alice. “You’re in pain, the crash made it worse again, right?”

Maybe this was a mistake, because Alice is staring at him again and he feels pinned when Alice doesn’t look away to take the offerings. Chishiya doesn’t need to see his eyes to know that they’re picking him apart.

“Thank you.” Alice's voice is soft and low in the calm twilight, “Take some too.”

“Of course.” Chishiya lowers his hands and turns to where he was sitting. Whether the response was to the gratitude or the command he can’t say, maybe both if the spark in his gut and fluttering in his chest are anything to go by. He measures out a second dose and takes them with his own bottle of water. He was going to do it anyway.

The kettles beeping by the time Kuina gets back with a surprising amount of blankets that she raises in victory, “Ta Da!”

Tatta gives a whoop and Usagi laughs as she hands Kuina a bowl of instant ramen as a reward. They eat with quiet conversation that Chishiya doesn’t follow. Kuina’s by his side with his legs pulled over her lap as she talks to Usagi. A reassurance that even if Ann is missing, he's still here. In turn the hand she has on his shin reminds him the same: she’s still here too.

Even if Chishiya can’t quite fall asleep, he's comforted by the steady pressure of her tangled around him.

-----------------------------------------

Chishiya glaring through the sun to map the blimps flying overhead for the most part all the blimps are in seeing distance around the city. The King of Spades is nowhere to be found which only confirms Ann’s theory that his arena is the entirety of Tokyo. It also buys them time to choose what to do next.

The safest bet is join a game, find out what the new stage entails outside of the gun wielding maniac stalking the streets. They can’t hide forever and the games are sacred in a way, they’ll be “safe” in them. Chishiya marks the last blimp above the docking yard, then heads back down from the roof to the camp.

“There you are.” Alice is waiting for him in the stairway, voice still rough from sleep, “I was worried for a moment.”

“No need, still here.” Chishiya tries to brush past him.

Alice steps in his way, handing him a palm face down and a bottle of water, “Here.”

Chishiya stares for a moment, “Who's to say I didn't take some already?”

“You didn’t.” It's simple and without room for disagreement. It’s also the truth.

Chishiya hadn’t taken any painkillers since last night and was regretting that lapse in judgment with every floor when his back continues to ache. But how does Alice know that? He still looked asleep when he woke up far too early and decided to occupy himself by mapping the face cards.

He offers a palm and takes the water, the pills are deposited into his hand. Alice continues to block the way until Chishiya swallows them with a few sips of water. “Happy?”

Alice smiles, voice too soft to be directed at Chishiya, “Very.”

It's too early for this shit. Chishiya rushes the rest of the way down the stairs. At least when he makes it to the bottom he has the excuse of traversing several flights of stairs when Kuina sends him a knowing look about his reddened face.

He unfolds the map he made on a center table for everyone to see, “The King of Spades is out of view as of now, but we shouldn’t get too comfortable.”

Tatta nods, “Who knows when he’ll come back, should we keep moving?”

Alice comes up behind Chishiya to look at the map still trailing from the stairwell, "Maybe, but, there's another way to stay off his radar.”

Kuina joins the circle around the table, “How?”

“We join a different game.” Chishiya finishes Alice’s thought. Chishiya should hate how they’re always on the same page now, instead something soft stirs where that claw has hibernated.

The answer receives a mix of confusion and disapproval.

Alice sighs and straightens his posture, “Think about it for a sec. I wouldn’t want my game interfered with. Each game we’ve played has had incredibly strict rules, if they interfered the game would be ruined.”

“So they have some kind of agreement?” Usagi starts pacing, "Don't interfere with each other."

“But what if I don't want to play anymore?” Tatta looks down to fidget with his hands. 

“We were forced into the King of Spades game like it or not. We can keep running and hiding, sure. But eventually he'll find us and kill us. Or our visas will run out. And when that happens?” Kuina makes a shooting sound imitating the laser.

“If we keep playing though we’ll be able to get more information, figure out what this place is or why we’re here.” Alice is looking at the map again, no longer leaning over Chishiya. “We need more answers.”

“Why don’t we vote on it?” Kuina looks at Chishiya, “I’m with Arisu on this one.”

Chishiya returns the look with a smirk, “Fine by me, I was planning on joining one anyways.” Alice looks back at him at the admission. Chishiya shrugs, “I would’ve told you before I did.” Alice still doesn’t seem too convinced.

“Ah, shit,” Tatta takes a breath, centering himself. “Alright count me in.”

“Usagi?” Alice looks at her, still pacing away from the table.

She stops when he calls her. She looks uncomfortable, unsure with what's happening. A silent conversation passes between them, something happened that they’re still trying to work out but fully trusting in one another despite it. Usagi nods, some of the uncertainty falling off her.

“Okay, what game?” Chishiya draws their attention back to the map, “I refuse Spades.”

Alice laughs, “Don’t worry, I wasn't planning on one.” He points to the where the shipping yard is on the harbor, “The King of Clubs.”

Kuina lets out a surprised, “What? A King?”

“A King would probably have more key information.” Alice shrugs, like picking the hardest difficulty of the face cards wasn’t a big deal.

“Ambitious.” Chishiya can’t help but comment. It’s crazy, Chishiya would’ve started at a Jack to test the waters.

Alice nods, “Yeah, but besides, Club games are about teamwork, so we’ll have an easier time.”

“With this group for sure!” Kuina’s grinning now, Alice's confidence is definitely infectious.

Chishiya’s still a bit unsure with the choice though. The fact that it's a Club isn’t the main concern. Sure he doesn’t like club games — never been a fan of having to rely on others — but they're better than a Spade and the wisest choice given they will be joining as a group.

It's the fact that it's a King that worries him. Chishiya doesn’t like falling head first into the unknown, all they have to gauge how the games will be is by the King of Spades and it doesn’t bode well. Sure they’ll be working together, but how much trust is actually there for them to be an efficient team in one of the hardest games. Chishiya can tell Usagi’s still cautious of him, not that he can blame her, and Alice-

Don’t get him started on Alice. Following him around, watching with such intensity like if he looks away for even a moment Chishiya will vanish.

Maybe he would have if Alice didn’t find them underground. Maybe Chishiya would’ve ceased to exist a long time ago if it wasn’t for Alice.

The drive to the shipping yard takes longer than Chishiya would’ve liked. They left early on in the morning but didn't make it in front of the arena until it's almost noon. The building’s massive, built out of shipping containers stacked high and multiple across, the word ‘Osmosis’ is spray painted on one side of the entrance above a table with four wrist bands and instructions to take one and wait until all five players are present.

“We need five players, but there's only four,” Usagi states, confused as the rest of them.

“Five actually.” Stupide cul putain de cafard. Fils de pute! Chishiya recognized that burnt voice. How and why is Niragi here. “It’s been a while.”

“How are you still alive?” Tatta stares at Niragi’s horribly bandaged frame.

Kuina steps closer to Chishiya, “Team up with him I don't think so.”

Niragi releases a crazed laugh, “But you would with him?” He motions to Chishiya. “He set me on fire, ya'know.”

Chishiya can feel everyone's eyes turn to him at that moment, oops.

“J'aurais dû m'assurer que tu étais mort.” Chishiya mutters under his breath. “At least I didn't start the massacre."

“Because that makes you so much better,” Niragi snarls. It doesn't, because he did so much worse than set Niragi on fire, he destroyed everything. Niragi raises the arm with the cuff, “Look, the cuff’s not coming off now. All I wanna do is enjoy the game, maybe have some extra fun. Leave if you’re not interested.”

Time passes for a moment, everyone considering odds and risks, until Usagi turns to grab a cuff. “I don't care what he wants.” The wrist band closes no going back, “If we don't join the game, we’ll be gunned down. I’d rather fight here than die like prey.”

Alice hesitates for a moment then nods, “Okay, let's do this.” He puts on a cuff too, “But who’s staying?”

Tatta reaches for one and snaps it closed before he can psych himself out of it.

Chishiya starts to follow. He’s done this before, waiting outside a game where both Kuina and Alice are, stewing in confusing worry. That was a low level Diamond with Ann there to help, this is a King, Clubs but still a King. He’s already picking up pieces, he can’t lose her too. He can help in the arena and Kuina will be safe outside.

Besides, he wants to know what these games entail too.

Kuina snatches it before he even gets close.

“Uh uh, no way you're joining this with him on our team. He’ll kill you even if it means losing.” Kuina clicks the wrist band on before Chishiya can even argue. “Besides, look at this place, you hate running. You're welcome.” She gives him a cheeky grin.

Chishiya doesn't deserve her. He rolls his eyes, “Fine. Just be careful.”

Kuina hugs him and dips low so only he can hear, "Don't worry, your boys got us. And I got him, we'll be back.” She winks and runs off to the arena entrance, leaving Chishiya standing frozen in confusion. His boy? What is Kuina on about now?

“Hey,” Chishiya spins around to find Alice stepping closer, “She’ll be okay.”

“I know.” Chishiya does, she’s helped him through many Club games. It doesn’t stop the tightening in his chest or how his stomach churns.

Alice takes a breath, “Don’t go running off. Please.”

Chishiya can see his fingers spinning again, “I won’t go far if I do.”

“Okay.” Alice isn’t pleased by that answer, but it’ll have to do.

“Registration is now closed. The game will now commence. Please enter to the Player Teams base.”

The gate blocking the entrance opens.

“Good luck.” Chishiya means it.

“See you on the other side.” Alice is the last to pass through the gate, then it closes, and Chishiya is alone.

There's a large screen in the middle of the arena he can just see over the walls and speakers litter the walls. 

“Difficulty: King of Clubs. Game: Osmosis”

After a few moments the screen sparks to life with a score board, two teams, Players and the Kings each with the number 10000 underneath. The scores change, first 500 are taken from the Players and given to the Kings, then back to the Players. Then 10000 points are given to the Kings without being taken from the players and once again taken for the Players.

“Game Start.”

A countdown is added to the screen, two hours.

Two hours alone, out here in the open.

Chishiya hasn’t been alone with nothing to do for the past three days. As mildly annoying constantly being around company may be, he’d much prefer it to his thoughts slowly creep back in. What is he doing? Here. With Alice. After everything he did, Alice is still keeping him around.

And that just doesn’t make sense! Why?

Why does Alice care?

Why does he care if Chishiya leaves or what his eyes look like now?

Or holding him close, making sure he's okay after the crash. And making sure he took medication because he was in pain when all Alice should care about is himself because Chishiya sure he was in much worse pain after it all. But he did, twice!

Speaking of the car, what is with Alice and getting so close huh? All concept of personal space disappears around him, maybe not fully touching like in the car but so close that Chishiya hair stands on end.

It's so much different from when Kuina does. She's comfort, steady, something he’s never seemed to mind. It's different from how he feels when other people brush past by or give him unwelcome pats on the back. That makes his skin crawl even through the layers of protection of his clothes.

But Alice is electric. His touch burns and lingers on Chishiya's skin like a brand. Each brush pushes some of the cold from his body for just a moment, making his head spin and heart speed up.

Medically speaking it shouldn’t be possible for someone to have so much sway on a person's physical being like this. For Arisu to have so much effect on Chishiya.

Why is Chishiya staying? Just because Alice asked? Because Arisu told him to?

If it was anyone else he’d tell them to fuck off and leave, scratching and biting if need be. The leash would feel like a noose tightening until he can’t stand it anymore. Instead, he's willingly offering his neck, letting Alice collar him like a feral cat begging to be domesticated.

Chishiya could leave right now, find a way to meet up with Kuina after the game and go off to play more without the constant weight of Arisu’s gaze whenever he enters a room.

He should.

He doesn’t.

Chishiya sits and waits as the timer ticks down, unable to know what's happening. The announcer updates the scores. 500 points to the Player Team every few minutes with a few larger amounts he did see a rule about. They’re in the lead.

Until the one hour mark. Something happens because one second they have a leading margin of 5000 then the next the King gains 20000.

No no no.

They were doing so well. A cold claw wraps around his lungs and constricts his breathing.

It's not over yet. Deep breaths.

They still have an hour. Arisu can figure it out.

It’s like a domino effect. The points update, each time adding to the Kings total. 23000 vs 35000. The King leads by 12000 points and there's only forty minutes left.

Chishiya can’t watch any more of this.

He can’t watch and wait until the timer runs out leaving him totally alone or not. He needs something to do.

He said he wouldn’t go far, and he won't within forty minutes, but he can’t stay here with that cheerful voice announcing every time they get further from winning. From surviving.

There was a shop not far from the harbor. Everything seems more in place out here, it might be worth it.

The trek is slow but short, Chishiya tries to keep his thoughts at bay by going through a list of supplies the store would hopefully still have. Food, water, bandages, newish clothes, maybe he can find a new fake cigarette for Kuina. He's noticed how she bites and picks at her lip now that she lost it.

He repeats.

Food, water, bandages, clothes, fake cigarette.

Over and over until he makes it there. The doors pushed ajar slightly but everything else still looks like it hasn’t been touched.

Chishiya grabs some bags from the front and starts pursuing the shelves. There's not much of a selection that is still viable but there's plenty of what is. He barely makes it through the first aisle when he hears a whimper from the back of the store.

It sounded small, not from an animal but definitely not what he typically hears for the other players during a game or afterwards at the Beach from the injured. This was familiar in a way Chishiya wasn’t expecting in the Borderlands.

It sounded like a child.

Chishiya sets down his bags and steps around the aisles towards where the sound came from, making sure to make some noise as he walks. “Hello? Is someone there?” His voice is pitched in a way he hasn’t used in months, maybe more. Lighter, soft.

There's a gasp to his left when he rounds one of the shelves. It's a boy, god he can't be older than 10. He's covered in dried and fresh blood and dirt, huddled against a shelf with an open box of band-aids by his feet.

Call it habit, perhaps it's whatever lingering instinct he has left to help. But this boy is scared and hurt, and Chishiya doesn't have it in him to abandon the child. He can't.

It's easy to tap into who he was before the Borderlands, before the lists. Chishiya kneels, keeping plenty of distance and places on a soft smile in hopes to seem more open, the way he used to when the children were particularly scared of going under. 

Chishiya tilts his head in concern, “Are you alright?”

The boy still scoots back pulling his knees to his chest, hands gripping the fabric on his shins, eyeing him in suspicion.

“It’s okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Perhaps an introduction is in order hm?” Chishiya brings his hand to his chest, “My name's Chishiya, Chishiya Shuntarou. And you are?”

“Kouta.” The boy, Kouta, still hasn’t uncurled but some of the tension leaves. Progress.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kouta. Are you hurt?” There's blood caked into the ripped fabric of Kouta’s pants. He can’t find the source of it if the boy’s still bleeding but he can make out the small scrapes and cuts on his arms and cheek, still red and bruising.

Kouta nods.

“Can I help? It looks like you’ve done such a good job already but I can help with the rest.” Chishiya slowly starts to move closer, using telegraphed movements to not scare the boy more.

Kouta doesn’t stop him just watches until Chishiya gets close enough. “How?”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Chishiya can see the moment the word registers, kids love secrets. They make them feel important and special, a little something they can hold above others. Kouta is no different, his eyes shine with interest as he nods excitedly. Chishiya leans in a bit to stage whisper, “I’m a doctor. A pediatrician specifically. I studied just so I could help boys and girls like you when you’re sick or hurt.”

Kouta's eyes shine in awe when Chishiya pulls away. The rest of the tension leaves as he uncurls himself.

Chishiya can finally get a better look at him. His arms have plenty of bruises and barely healed cuts, some covered by bandages already, there's cuts and holes in the front of his stained pants and a scrape on his cheek that's bruising. “One moment.”

A quick scan of the shelves and Chishiya grabs rubbing alcohol, some towels that are in decent condition, and a few bottles of water then settles back down beside Kouta. He starts with the boy's face and neck, wiping off dirt and grime with a damp towel to get a better look at the scrape and to see if there's anything else hidden. Then dabs over the wound with alcohol.

He repeats the process with Kouta's arms and legs, asking him to lift up sleeves and pant legs to get a better view, the whole time talking through exactly what he’s doing. Every so often Kouta will hiss and whimper when Chishiya makes contact with a cut or bruise, he'd pause, whisper praise of how strong and brave Kouta is being, then continue.

Once everything is cleaned and skin dried he starts placing bandages, a small one on the cheek, a few bigger ones for the elbows and knees where he must have fallen to scrape them so badly. He wraps gauze around Kouta's leg where a long but luckily shallow cut is and then he's done.

Chishiya smiles and raises his hands in completion, “Voilà! All done. You did great.”

Kouta just stares at him with stars in his eyes. “Thank you.”

He chuckles, “You’re very welcome.” Chishiya doesn't really know how to describe how he's feeling right now, happy? Maybe proud? He feels like he did those first years, when he was helping. Not letting kids die because of some higher ups check. When he still had hope. It’s nice.

There's a chime in the distance. It's like a bucket of ice splashes on him. The game. How long has he been here?

He starts quickly packing up bandages and towels and the alcohol he was just using. They can come back later for more now that he knows this is here. But now he needs to get back, make sure that they aren’t-

Chishiya turns to Kouta still sitting on the ground. “Can you walk?”

The boy scrambles up to meet where Chishiya is now standing, “Mhm!”

“Come on then. I have to get back to my friends.” Chishiya offers a hand out, picking up bags with the other.

Kouta takes it, “I can come with you?”

“Of course.” He starts leading them back to where the game arena is, walking faster than on the trek here while keeping in mind the smaller legs trailing behind him. Is this how Kuina feels?

There’s another chime a few minutes before they make it back.

“The scores have been updated. The Player Team is leading by 500 points.”

There's still three minutes left on the timer but Chishiya breathes in relief anyways when the score board comes into view. They’re in the lead again, thank god. They're almost done, hold on a little longer.

Kouta grips Chishiya’s hand tighter, “They’re in there?”

Chishiya nods, “Yes, but they’re going to win. They’re very good players, and we got back just in time to congratulate them when they come out.”

One minute.

There's screaming echoing through the entrance hallway.

“Stay in the car.” Chishiya has just enough time to tell Kouta before the entrance gate opens once again and the announcer speaks through the speakers again.

“The game is over. The King of Clubs Team loses.”

Something still doesn’t sit right as Chishiya makes his way through the now deactivated entrance. He's halfway through when Kuina's sprinting at him, “Chishiya! It's Tatta!”

And now Chishiya’s running, thankful that he had the awareness to keep the medical bag he just made in hand, “What happened?”

Kuina doesn’t need to answer, because they exit the tunnel and Chishiya can see it. Tatta’s sitting in a puddle of blood that keeps growing, Arisu by his side trying to keep him awake.

The closer Chishiya gets the worse it is, his wrist looks crushed and there's a steady stream of blood coming from it even with the belt cinched tight on his upper arm.

“What the fuck happened?” Chishiya crashes to the ground by the bleeding wrist, uncaring about the blood now soaking into his pants, that's a problem for later. He reaches for Tattas other wrist for a pulse. It’s there but weakening, he needs to stop the bleeding before it's as bad as the amount looks. He checks the makeshift tourniquet, too loose, and tightens it, “How long was this on for?”

“A few minutes, four maybe?” Alice is on the other side of a barely conscious Tatta keeping him sitting up, Chishiya should fix that, “He broke his hand to get the bracelet off, I did what I could but I had to leave before we ran out of time.” His voice is filled with panic.

“We need to lay him down. Gravity will help with slowing the bleeding.” Arisu helps maneuver Tatta until he's laying down, Chishiya keeps his arm as straight as he can while keeping it elevated. Now to figure out why he's bleeding.

Chishiya carefully rotates Tatta’s arm until he can see the inside of his wrist where a bone is poking out. It looks like the only source of the bleeding which is good, if it didn’t cut the radial artery. His thumb is also dislocated which is probably the actual reason the bracelet came off in the first place.

“I need to reset the bone, then I can try to stop the bleeding.” He looks back up at Tatta and Arisu, “This is going to hurt, keep him from thrashing.”

Chishiya sprays around the wound with alcohol then positions his hands on Tattas palm and forearm. He tries to be swift but can only do so much without risking another major artery or vein. He pulls and Tatta screams now fully awake, his legs kick out as he tries to roll away from Chishiya's grip. Kuina and Usagi join Alice in holding him down as Chishiya slots the bone back in place under the skin, aligning the bone as best he can.

With that done he moves on to stopping the bleeding, he fishes a roll of gauze from the bag and feels for the artery in the wound, Tatta sobs. Once found he starts packing gauze in until he can’t fit any more and uses the rest to wrap around the wound.

He sets Tatta’s thumb next, a quick motion realigning the joint that has Tatta crying out again. He takes another roll of gauze and starts wrapping his entire forearm and up his palm securing the joint, bone, and packed area the best he can without a splint.

Chishiya finally sits back on his feet with a sigh laying Tattas arm over his stomach, “Try not to move your arm too much until I can find a splint. But you shouldn’t be bleeding out anymore.” He lifts a hand to move some bangs that have fallen into his face but stops short, his hands are covered in blood. It stains the sleeves of his jacket and all down his front too. Damn. “We’re definitely going to need new clothes.”

Tatta’s looking at him teary eyed and in awe, “Dude, you just saved my life.” It's choked out between sobs as Arisu helps sit him back up.

He rolls his eyes, “You’re lucky I decided to look around for more supplies while I waited and got back when I did. Don’t be stupid like that again.”

“Still, thank you!” Tatta throws himself over Chishiya in a failed attempt at a hug.

“Off before I undo it.” Tatta jerks back with a stuttered apology. Chishiya sighs at the nudge Kuina gives him, “You’re welcome.”

Usagi stands first, “Alright we should find another shelter and get a change of clothes.”

Kuina and Arisu help Tatta up from the puddle the same time Chishiya stands, “The store I got this at is close by, we should stop back there for supplies. It was still pretty full.”

Usagi nods and starts heading back to the car after a glance at Tatta, making sure he's being taken care of. The rest follow behind to the car.

Chishiya’s trying not to freak out over the god awful feeling of drying blood on his hands when a shocked and then a scared gasp catches his attention. 

Usagi is standing frozen looking at Kouta and Kouta is staring frightened at Tatta then Chishiya then back at Tatta’s arm.

Chishiya looks down at himself, then Tatta. “Oh, ya, that's scary.” Chishiya wipes his hands on his jacket, it's ruined anyways, then quickly moves the cards and his charm into his pants pocket. In one smooth motion his jacket comes off and he's wiping the remaining blood off Tatta’s arm where Kouta keeps staring to present unmarred skin. “We’re fine, see?” Rule one: Never let the kids see the scary things unless absolutely necessary.

Kouta gives a shocked nod at the reassurance.

“Who’s this?” Alice draws both their attention and Kouta’s frightened expression turns to awe.

“Right, this is-”

“I’m Kouta!” Kouta cuts Chishiya off in his sudden excitement, “You’re Alice right?”

Alice is stunned for a moment, staring at the boy leaning so far out the car that he’s about to flip over the door. “Yes, yes I am. Nice to meet you Kouta. Will you be joining us?”

Kouta nods so hard Chishiya worries he’ll lose balance, “Chishiya said I could!”

Arisu’s gaze settles on him, “Did he?” The tone’s curious, with a subtle layer to tease. “Well then, you can call me Arisu or Ryouhei.”

Kouta actually almost tips over at that with a happy squeak.

“We should get moving.” Usagi, always a voice of reason, has finally shaken herself out of her shock.

Arisu deposits Tatta in the back seat, then moves to the driver's side. Usagi joins him in the front seat where Kouta climbs onto her lap after a pleading stare. Kuina and Chishiya file into the back seat. She stares at Chishiya with a knowing grin again. He huffs in response.

A short drive and they arrive at the store again to scavenge for more supplies, Tatta stays behind in the car with Kouta, both to rest and keep an eye out for the King of Spades blimp.

Chishiya finally fills up on medical supplies, Arisu and Usagi pack food, and Kuina’s in the store next door gathering them all a couple changes of clothes. Then they go looking for a place to stay for the rest of the evening.

Throughout the drive Kouta is babbling on and on to Alice, asking questions, talking about the games he’s played. Alice with his infinite patience answers every question and entertains the boy while splitting his attention to drive. Every so often Tatta will join in the conversation, also a fan of the streamer and happy to talk about him. Sometimes Kuina will butt in with a teasing comment about how much of a nerd they are as Usagi giggles at them. It’s sweet.

Chishiya can’t help the small smile that pulls at his lips as he hangs his head over the car door to rest on his folded arms, watching the sky. The wind whips through his hair, chilling his exposed arms and rouging his cheeks, but it doesn’t bother him as much as it did yesterday.

-----------------------------------------

They find a town home on the outskirts of the city in the opposite direction of where the King of Spades blimp is heading.

Once inside everyone splits off into their individual tasks. Arisu and Usagi start making food with a still bouncing around Kouta and Chishiya re-wraps Tatta’s arm now with a splint to keep the break secure. Kuina sets new clothes for them.

Chishiya grabs the stack Kuina hands him and heads to a bedroom, “I’m getting changed.”

Kuina follows him into the room and flops down on the bed. “Shiya?”

He hums as he starts to undress, finally relieving himself of the stiff texture of dried blood.

“I think,” She sighs, “I think I need to go find Ann.”

“Okay?” That's not as surprising of a statement as Chishiya was semi expecting, if anything he's surprised it took this long for her to suggest it.

Kuina groans, “Look, I can’t stop thinking about her. She's all alone out there. Not to say she can't handle herself, I know she can, she's amazing, it's just,” Kuina trails off, she doesn't have to say what is left unsaid. Chishiya knows, he's seen the way they look at each other, like the world revolves around them.

“Then we should go. Look for her.” He finishes pulling on his clean clothes and sits beside her on the bed.

She sits up and shakes her head, “Not ‘we’ Chishiya, ‘me’. He's not going to let you leave.”

Chishiya frowns at that, who the ‘He’ is, is left unsaid, but Chishiya knows. “Yes he will. He has Usagi and Tatta, and now there's potentially Kouta, why would it matter if we go?”

“You still can't see it can you?” Kuina looks at him like he's an idiot, maybe he is if Kuina can see something that Chishiya can’t.

“See what?”

“Chishiya, Arisu will let me go. He cares if I leave, because he cares about me. But he will. I haven't left because I didn't want to leave you alone. But now I can. Because he can't let you go.” She pulls his hands into her laps and holds tight.

Now he's the one shaking his head to disagree, “That doesn't make sense, if there's anyone he would prefer here it'd be you. I left him to die, there's no reason for him to.”

Kuina sighs, “You are the most important thing to him right now, how you, the smartest person I know, can’t see that is,” An unbelieving laugh forces its way out of her chest, “frankly crazy!”

“No I’m not,” Chishiya continues to deny, “He has Usagi.”

“Shun,” Oh, she's pulling out the big guns for this, “They’re not together, they said it themselves they aren’t interested in that.”

He huffs at that, “You don't have to be together to be important.” Chishiya can think of an example right now, him and Kuina. They’re inseparable but they’re not together.

Kuina’s voice gets serious, “Shun, look me in the eyes and tell me you feel the same way about me and him, and then everyone else you’ve met.”

He stares at her for a long moment. Chishiya doesn’t know how he feels about Alice, annoyance, confusion, fascination; some other thing that makes him warm and fluttery that he can’t figure out. It’s a swirl of feelings he can’t navigate, he just knows it's so much more than anyone else he's met. He folds into Kuina, “No.”

She chuckles and brings a hand to pet through his hair, “It’s the same with them. You don’t see the way he looks at you Shiya. He-”

“Don’t say that.” He lifts his head off her shoulder to look at her, desperate, crazed, mad, “I don’t want to know how he looks at me.”

“Shiya-” Kuina tries.

“I mean it.” Chishiya doesn’t let her. “I can’t.”

She bites her lip with a sigh, “Okay,” She nods, “Okay. Just please promise me you won’t push him away while I'm gone?”

He leans back into her, “As long as you promise to bring the two of you back in one piece.”

“No sweat.” It's followed by a giggle.

-----------------------------------------

It’s late and Kuina’s talking to the rest of the group about her leaving downstairs. Chishiya’s said his goodbye and they both know that if Kuina comes back to talk it’ll be even harder to leave, so he sits in the room, waiting, hoping for sleep, knowing it won't come.

There's a rush of footsteps until Kouta slams through the bedroom door. He’s staring at Chishiya, face scrunched with unshed tears, “Why did Kuina leave?”

To say the sudden intrusion was a shock is an understatement. Chishiya’s dealt with plenty of crying children in the hospital before, fear, pain, sadness, name it. He’s calmed them down on the way to the operating room when their parents have to leave their side. Chishiya doesn’t know exactly what's causing this outburst but it's not hard to assume it’s from a similar experience, after all there was no one around when he found Kouta, and the boy didn’t mention waiting for someone either. Kuina leaving even after such a short meeting must terrify him.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.” Chishiya reaches for a tissue from the nightstand, drops to the boy's level, and starts dabbing just fallen tears off the boy's face, “Hey why don't we sit on the bed and we can talk about this.”

Kouta hiccups but nods anyway, accepting Chishiya’s help to climb up. They situate themselves against the head board and Chishiya moves the tissue box onto the bed for easy reach.

Chishiya starts, keeping his voice soft, “You’re worried about Kuina?”

The boy nods, “Why did she leave? The man's out there!”

The man? Chishiya tilts his head in confusion, “Do you mean the King of Spades? The one with the big ship flying around?”

“Uh huh! Mom and I were running from him. She left and now she's gone!” Kouta’s hiccups turn into sobs, “Now Kuina’s left and he's going to get her too!”

So Chishiya was right, his parents are gone and now he's losing someone else, “Kouta, Kuina will be just fine, I promise.” He grabs another tissue, “She needs to find someone very important to her.”

“But- But she's alone!” Kouta gasps, his breathing is too shallow and irregular. 

Oh.

“Kouta? Can you breathe mon loir?” Chishiya moves to pull the boy into a hug.

Kouta shakes his head, breathing worse.

“It’s okay. I know it feels scary but I need you to try and take a deep breath for me okay?” He keeps his voice soft but firm and starts applying pressure around the boy's shoulders, not to constrict but present.

The breath in is shaky and stutters until Kouta lets it out in one forceful exhale.

“Very good, can you do another for me?” Chishiya holds him a little tighter and rubs the boy’s back to try and comfort him.

Kouta repeats the shaky breath, this time able to let it out slower. 

“You’re doing so well mon loir, just one more.” Kouta nods as he inhales, he’s still trembling in Chishiya's arms, but the breath is significantly smoother than before. Chishiya moves some of the boy's bangs out of his eyes to get a better view of his face. “There you go, better?”

“Uh huh,” Kouta’s still sniffling but the majority of the tears have stopped only leaving him with a red face and a stuffy nose.

Chishiya reaches for some more tissues to wipe off the remaining tears and have him blow his nose, “I’m worried about her too. But I know she’ll be fine, because she's the strongest person I know. And once she finds who she’s looking for she’ll be back. I promise.” He doesn't know if he's saying that to convince himself or Kouta or both. But he has to believe it, because he knows Kuina. Knows she'll do everything in her power to make sure they’re all together again.

Kouta fully crawls into Chishiya’s side and holds tight to the new shirt Kuina brought, “Okay.” His voice is exhausted and all energy he once had has left the small boy's body.

They’ll be fine. As long as Kuina sticks to games she's good at, Spade and Clubs. Ann will have to join a game eventually and she will likely prefer Clubs too along with Diamonds. The odds are in their favor, kind of.

Having to join a game. Shit.

“Kouta,” Chishiya gets the boy's attention one last time before he can let him sleep. “Do you know how many days you have left before you need to join another game?”

Kouta mumbles something into Chishiya's side.

“I’m sorry but this is really important.” He rubs the boy's shoulder to try and get him to respond, “Then I promise you can go to sleep.”

Kouta whines but looks up, “Two.” Then buries his head back against Chishiya.

It doesn’t take long for Kouta to fall asleep after that, his tight grip loosening on Chishiya.

Two days. One now probably. They’ll have to get him to one tomorrow, and so soon after Tatta's injury. He won't be able to play anything for a few days and someone will have to be with him so he doesn’t strain his arm. Alice shouldn’t be playing much either, even with the help of medication all this running is definitely making his recovery slow. He’d say Usagi and him could join a game, but she also just got out of a one and that's not very fair to her.

Which leaves Chishiya. Diamonds are a no, higher difficulties typically allow one victor, and Chishiya would like to avoid that. He sighs, Heart it is.

There's a soft knock on the door then Arisu pokes his head in. “Hey, we uhm, we heard crying.”

“We’re alright,” Chishiya looks down at Kouta, eyes still red and puffy but soundly sleeping against him, “Kouta had a panic attack about Kuina leaving. But he's okay now.”

“Poor thing.” Arisu keeps his movements quiet as he fully enters the room. “He’s been through a lot, huh.”

Chishiya nods. “Everyone has.”

Alice hums and kneels down to the side of the bed, crossing his arms beside Chishiya's thigh to rest his head. “So, you a doctor or something? You were so quick with Tatta, it was cool. I’m sure Kouta was your work too.”

Chishiya can see Alice looking up at him from the corner of his eye, “Or something. The tourniquet was smart, you probably saved his life.” 

A flush crosses Alice's face, “I- No way, you saved him. I was the idiot who let him do it.” He stumbles over his words a bit and lowers his head a bit. Cute.

“You bought him time and won the game. I’d call that saving.” It’s an honest compliment, something Chishiya doesn’t give out easily, but it's true, and Alice has always exceeded expectations.

“High praise coming from you.” Alice turns to look at him again, a soft blush still coloring his cheeks.

Chishiya huffs, “Don’t let it go to your head.” Arisu continues to stare, piecing something together. He needs that to stop immediately. “He only has two days left.”

That breaks Alice out of his weird one sided staring contest, straightening at the news, “What?”

Chishiya hums, “Kouta, he has two days left on his visa. It’ll be one tomorrow.”

Alice turns to the boy whose attached himself to Chishiya side in sleep, “Okay-”

Chishiya cuts him off, “I’ll join a game with him, don’t worry you won't have to play another so soon.”

“What game?” There's an edge to Arisu’s tone.

“Well we can’t do Diamonds, too risky, and I refuse to join a Spade. I’m not very good at Clubs. So,” He gives a shrug.

“No.” Arisu’s tone makes Chishiya flinch, it's dark and low, he’d almost say angry if he hadn’t heard the man angry before. It's a command that forces him to actually look at Arisu for the first time in days. “You are not joining a Heart.”

It takes Chishiya a moment to catch up with the shift. “I can handle a Heart, I’ve done it before.” He has, not many, but the 10 wasn’t his first, and he did it alone. “It’ll be a Jack too, the lowest one we can.”

“I don’t care if you’ve done it before, you aren’t doing it now.” Arisu looks at Kouta again, still fast asleep, “Not alone with him.”

Chishiya scoffs, “And what do you suggest? Tatta can’t play another Club and we can’t leave him alone outside a game. You shouldn’t be running around either, you’re still too hurt to be doing this. Kuina left to find Ann. And Usagi and I, we’re not a team.”

“I was going to suggest I come with you.” Arisu’s eyes stare into him, intense in a way that makes him feel warm.

“What?” Chishiya doesn’t understand why Arisu would want to join a Heart game with him. He’s already betrayed him once and Hearts are games of betrayal.

Arisu smirks, “I’m a Heart specialist, remember? It’d be irresponsible of me to let you play one alone.”

Chishiya didn’t forget, necessarily. How could he forget the sight of Arisu standing bloody in a smoky room, the only person who could solve the 10 of Hearts and talk Aguni down. He just doesn’t like to remember the gore, the screams, the smell of Arisu’s blood. He doesn't know how to feel about this, joining a Heart with Arisu. But Alice doesn't look like he’ll back down. All he can say is, “Okay.”

“Good.” Arisu softens and smiles, like the first time Chishiya responded during a stream or joined that stupid game he was terrible at. “Get some rest.”

Chishiya relaxes back, head resting on a shitty pillows the home owner uses for their guest bedrooms. Kouta grips Chishiya tighter, pushing himself to rest his head on Chishiya’s chest.

Alice leaves with a soft click of the door.

Chishiya sleeps fitfully in anticipation.