Chapter Text
Chota had always felt as if he was useless. Of course if this was school, or electronics—then it’d be a different story. Yet, Arisu and Karube were completely different people. Everything in real life was more suited towards them. Chota preferred textbooks, tech. Anything that already had a predetermined outcome.
He truly admired Arisu and Karube. Arisu was smart, funny, and knew so much about games that Chota could just never comprehend. Despite not putting much thought into school or work, he excelled in other things. Karube was tall, strong, smart, good looking, and had a beautiful fiancé; Emi. He was the “cute guy” at the mall people would talk about at dinner when they got home.
Chota was simply the “friend following them around”. He knew Karube and Arisu cared about him dearly. They didn’t hide it, but Chota never understood why. No matter how many times they told him he was a good friend.
It was in the men’s washroom at school. He was sitting in a stall to skip second period gym. It was a track and field day. He didn’t usually skip, but he wasn’t about to embarrass himself in front of his classmates.
Karube and Arisu entered, chatting about some new game that was released. Chota had heard about it, but apparently the graphics and such sucked, and Arisu seemed to be ranting about it.
Well, Chota may as well find somewhere else to hide out.
Arisu stood there on his phone, back leaned against the sink counter. He was what seemed to be playing an intense game, similar to how a rubix cube would work; but digital, and ten times more difficult.
“You’ve been on that level for a week, huh?” Karube teased.
“There’s a bug, but it’s beatable.” Arisu retorted.
“Are you just saying that because you don’t want to lose?” Karube smirked.
“No!” Replied Arisu, “It was confirmed by the creators that it was still beatable. It’s just rare!”
“Yeah? How come the creators hadn’t fixed this so-called “bug”?” Karube asked, “Wouldn’t they do something about it?”
“I genuinely just think they’re lazy,” Arisu sighed, “Their new game got popular so they kinda abandoned this one.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” Karube then silently surrendered from his argument.
Chota emerged from the stall, and the two were a bit surprised.
“Oh shit, my bad. Didn’t know someone was in here.” Karube scratched his head.
“It’s not a big deal.” Chota muttered, “I was heading out anyway.”
Chota took a few steps past them. The one in the orange flannel was a bit…intimidating. He seemed like he thought Chota was taking up their space, and the other boy, well he was too busy on his phone.
Suddenly the power went out, the only light coming from the cracked open window.
“What the hell?” Arisu spoke up surprised, “Of course they do this the day we decide to skip gym—now my wife is not working.”
“You’re in second period gym too?” Chota chimed in.
“Yeah, we both are.” Arisu smiled, “We didn’t want to do track today.”
“We might as well go back, they’ll come looking for everyone and eventually find us.” Karube groaned.
The two walked past Chota, though Chota took note of the window.
Maybe he could do these guys a favour. Get them to like him? Tolerate him? They hadn’t event done anything mean to Chota. He was just being…cautious. This school wasn’t known for their friendly students.
“Wait!” He called out.
The two turned around, and Karube raised his eyebrow, “Hm?”
“Well um,” Chota anxiously began, a lopsided grin on his face. “The power is out, so none of the alarms work. You’re on the first floor and there’s an open window right here. You could probably sneak out there.” He gestured to the window, “Not like they could mark you absent without working computers.”
A few seconds of silence passed, and the two boys were looking at each other, then back at Chota.
“You’re a genius!” Karube cheered, “Seriously!”
Karube made his way to the window, pushing it fully open. Arisu followed.
Karube put one foot on the window, and pushed himself up off the floor with the other—placing his hands on the sides for support. Then he jumped.
Arisu followed the same steps, but paused while still crouched on the window sill.
“You coming?” Arisu asked.
“Me?” Chota questioned, surprised. Was he really inviting him?
“Yeah, who else?” Arisu chuckled in reply.
“Uh, yeah! Coming!” Chota smiled, following after Arisu. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t almost tripped out of the window, but alas he managed to land.
“Now, where to?” Karube held his chin, resting his other hand on his hip.
“Could we hang out at the convenience store?” Arisu chimed in.
When Chota found a slot in the conversation to slip into, he spoke with a smile. “I’m Chota by the way. Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys.”
“What you did there was pretty badass Chota, we owe you.” Karube grinned, “I’m Karube.”
“And I’m Arisu.” The other boy spoke.
That’s where Chota found himself hanging out with these two boys, and eating snacks at a table in a convenience store.
Ever since then, the three were inseparable.
“Arisu!” A voice called out. A familiar one too.
Arisu was close to the finish line, but he whipped his head around at the voice.
It was Chota. He had seemed to trip over a body and couldn’t get up. His leg was positioned in a way that made Arisu’s leg muscles hurt by looking at it.
He ran towards Chota to try to help him up, but it was difficult. Chota couldn’t stand. “My leg!” He spoke in pain to Arisu, “I can’t walk. Go without me.”
“What makes you think I’m going to leave without you?” Arisu spoke back.
He gritted his teeth. His friend was too heavy—there was no way they’d make it in time for the buzzer. But suddenly half of Chota's weight disappeared.
Arisu looked; his eyes meeting Karubes.
“Stop staring and help me!” He shouted, and together they lifted their friend.
The light turned red and they froze—though Chota was struggling to stay upright.
All three of their hearts were pounding. They were scared—scared they’d die this way. They’d all come to the conclusion that if they were to die, it would be in a stupid way. Now that they were experiencing this, the little time they had came flashing in-front of their eyes.
Arisu’s body ran in sync with Karube when the light turned green. Each second going down on the clock fuelled his adrenaline.
Though, despite all of this, his mind was elsewhere.
He knew he was Impecunious. Even a fool could piece together that more people will die trying to get this money to experience the joy of wealth. They all had signed a contract either way, so would they really get a chance to leave?
Arisu couldn’t bear living without Chota. What kind of sick game was this? He couldn’t get the thought of not having his trio anymore out of his head.
He snapped out of it when he ran into 101 who was standing in front of him now. Shit! Was the light red? Why were they stopped? Was Arisu about to kill himself and these people?
“Yo, Aguni. Need some help there?” 212 sauntered over while smirking, and Arisu realized they had made it across the finish line.
“Sorry- I wasn’t thinking.” Arisu chuckles, a chuckle that means “please don’t kill me.”
101 just grunted, beginning to walk away. 212 followed after, shoving past Arisu. 212 had a sneer mixed with a hint of annoyance, but he seemed to follow the man who’s name Arisu now knew was Aguni around like a puppy. Interesting.
Now that they were across the finish line, he could see the dolls eyes up close. Mechanical eyes that were programmed to track any player motion. On the walls, slots with rifles poked out. That doll was signalling whatever was up there.
Arisu was snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden lack of weight around his left arm.
“Shit, that’s bad.” Karube groaned, looking at Chotas leg. Chotas was now sitting on the dusty ground with his pant leg rolled up just above his knee.
“It really hurts.” Winced Chota.
“Well, no shit Sherlock. You were basically crushed.” Karube shoots back. “Seriously, what the hell man. You can’t just go off mumbling “go without me” to Arisu!”
“I’m sorry, I thought I was dying.” Chota mumbles apologetically.
“Even then just scream “Arisu! Karube!” until we cross the damn finish line!” Karube huffs, and Arisu could tell he was worried. “Just- I can’t lose you Chota,” he continues. “It wouldn’t be the same. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Chota replies.
“You guys are alive!” Shibuki runs up, panting slightly. “Thank god.”
“Where the hell were you?” Karube says, practically seething.
“Don’t be rude,” she scoffs, then looks at Chota on the ground. “Holy shit, are you okay? That looks bad.”
“Well no shit Sherlock. Of course it’s bad.” Karube mutters his petty insult, with more annoyance than he had to Chota.
Shibuki glares at Karube and stops talking after Chota says "It'll be okay.”
The timer buzzed, and Arisu (as well as most of the other players) looked at the remaining players on the playing field. Piled towards the front were bodies, stacked upon each other; each who wanted to escape and had failed, not knowing that they'd die before it was too late.
The remaining players on the field were shot in seconds, screams cutting short.
It was sickening.
Around 20 minutes later, everyone—or the remaining players, sit quiet in the dorms.
It was a deafening silence. Eerie, uneasy, and a shared unsettlement about what had just happened. For everybody here—hope was a virtue.
Sitting on a bunk was Tatta. The mattress was hard, thin, and not intended for comfort.
What the hell had he just witnessed? Or more so the question; how the hell was he still alive? All he can remember is the anxiety he felt. Being too aware of his surroundings came in clutch for him.
Everyone had formed their own cliques, aside from a few strays. He recognized some, but not all.
Tatta sat with his knees up to his chest, and everything was a blur. The sound was muffled and everything was mixing together.
The guards came in, and that’s when the room erupted. People asking for doctors, for explanations. Tatta could only make out the words “You all signed a contract” from the guards due to the aftermath of his adrenaline.
He adjusted his legs, leaning back to lie on the bed. Tatta stared at the roof—blinding light making him squint his eyes.
“The games will commence tomorrow. You have 1 hour until lights out.” Says a masked guard, “Good luck.”
Chatter began when the guards left. Shouting, talking, rattling of the metal on the bunk beds. He wanted to drown it all out.
Tatta was scared. He wanted to go home, even if it meant going back to his shitty job at the auto repair shop. He’d rather see the look of disapproval on his coworkers faces, than the pure terror of a person before they died.
His life had flashed before his eyes, until a woman had instructed him to stop panicking. If it weren’t for her grounding him, he’d be dead. He remembered her number to be 218. Even in this mess, she seemed incredibly focused—even if she too was scared.
Despite how scary it was, Tatta wanted more time in this world. He was drained, but incredibly thankful he was alive. After he had calmed down, he wanted to thank the woman.
Behind the rows of bunk sat Aguni and Niragi. Niragi sat restlessly, fiddling with his tracksuit zipper, while Aguni had already discarded the tracksuit top.
Meanwhile, Chishiya wandered behind the bunks. Many people had formulated small groups; including Niragi.
When Chishiya walked by their group, he could tell whose place was whose. Aguni was their leader, perhaps not even by choice. He saw Niragi, whom always seemed to be two feet away from Aguni. Then there were a few he didn’t recognize, such as a man with tattoos all over his face, and another woman beside him.
“Hey you,” the woman called out. “Why are you creeping around you weirdo.”
Chishiya paused, looking at Saiko who was pointing behind Chishiya at the woman who was slipping past him. The woman had her hair up in multiple dreads with bands wrapped around a few.
“Saiko what are y—oh. It’s you.” Niragi turned his focus onto Chishiya, scoffing. It got the attention from the rest of the group. "Why are you hanging around here?".
“Stop.” Aguni demands in a low tone. Niragi follows up with, “Yeah seriously-“
“No. I meant you. Stop.” Aguni glares at Niragi who rolls his eyes and sits back on the bed. He gets a proper look at the woman’s face he wasn't overly caring about until now and pauses.
“Stop it!” a girl shouted at a couple of boys. “Buzz off or I’ll call the police.”
Niragi sat there against the cold brick wall. His glasses were in his hand, the lens cracked, and his other hand was holding his nose.
“Yeah whatever, freak.” Scoffed one of the boys, and they all walked away with each other.
“Hey, you okay?” The girl crouched down to Niragi's level. She brought her hand to his hand that was covering his nose and moved it. “Shit. That doesn’t look good.”
The girl took off her sweater, and she wiped his nose.
“Why are you helping me?” Niragi asked. Most people laughed, or just watched—too scared to do anything. He felt like shit whenever he came to school. He was looking forward to graduating in two years. “Seriously, they’ll just go after you too,” he whispered.
When she gently wiped his nose, he winced slightly and she stopped shortly after as the active blood flow stopped. Though, his nose had some bruising.
“There’s not much they can say or do that’ll hurt me.” She sighs, "I've heard it all before already.”
There was a tension in the air when she looked at him. A mutual connection of people who have been through bad experiences, even if they didn’t say it out loud.
“You’re very nice. Why don’t they like you?” He asks, confused. She went out of her way to help him, she was extremely kind and did something risky for him.
“Well,” she shifts awkwardly. “I wasn’t born a woman.” She looked a bit embarrassed. He was surprised, and it wasn’t just because she was born a guy—he was surprised because why did it matter to them? She was beautiful, brave, nice--how could somebody hate her?
“Why does it matter to them?” He asked.
Her eyes widened a fraction. “I-“ she paused and smiled, “I don’t know.”
It didn't matter to Niragi, and that warmed her heart. Niragi saw her as a pretty and friendly woman who had been there for him just now.
“Anyways, do you have a name?” She asked, shifting the topic.
“Huh? Uh yeah,” he muttered back. “It’s Niragi.”
“Well it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Kuina.” She smiled back.
“You.” Aguni continues, snapping Niragi out of his thoughts. Aguni was still talking to this guy? "You’d be a valuable asset to our team.”
Chishiya's eyes show a bit of surprise. He could practically hear Niragi's blood boiling at that sentence, so Chishiya smirked.
The woman–-well if Niragi had remembered her correctly; Kuina, was gone now. She had slipped herself out of the situation. He didn’t know if he wanted her to meet the new Niragi--let alone recognize him.
“Me?” Chishiya says with a drawn-out tone, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Now why would you of all people say such a thing?”
“Don’t piss me off.” Aguni groans.
“Well,” continues Chishiya with a playful tone. “If you keep yelling at me, why would I want to be a part of your team?”
“You’re smart. You didn’t seem fazed at all throughout that massacre, and you managed to scare Niragi.” Aguni glances at Niragi, saying “Yes, I saw that,” to him. Niragi rolls his eyes, still a tad distraught.
“I’ll have to think about it,” murmurs Chishiya. “I’ve got my eyes on someone else.”