Chapter Text
As sunset hit, the group of Players that had been on the move for a while finally came to a halt.
They stood before the nearest building with working electricity that they could find, as they always would. A previously abandoned ice skating hall, if the looks were to say anything. It was a night like any other, they thought, and the Players remained in front of the building for a while, contemplating whether or not they should enter the Game that would be hosted there.
"...We should go before registration closes," one of them said. It was a young woman, around her early 20s. "Suzuki and Tanaka are going to die if we don't find a Game tonight." She looked towards two other Players in the group, concern clear in her eyes.
"I appreciate your concern, Watanabe," one of those two, a man who appeared only slightly older than her, answered, "but I wouldn't recommend going with us this time around. For all we know, this is likely to be a Spades Game if we look at the location."
"But if it's a Spades Game... then we have to go to make sure Suzuki can make it!" The woman, Watanabe, pointed towards the bandaged arm of a younger girl in the group. "What if we need to fight or something? We have more of a chance together than alone."
"Watanabe..." A teenage boy approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We need to consider the risks first before making this decision."
"I know, Nakamura, but-"
"Watanabe has a point."
The group turns towards the last member of the group, a slightly older woman who had been silent until now. She took a cigarette out of her mouth, throwing it onto the floor and crushing it with her heel as she took a few steps closer to the rest. "Remind me again, which Game types do you all excel at?" Her question caused a bit of confusion among the rest of them, but one after another, they answered.
"C-clubs..." came from Watanabe.
"Diamonds, why?" came from Nakamura.
"Spades," came from Tanaka.
"...Clubs... I guess..." came from Suzuki after a few seconds of silence on her end.
"...And I excel at Hearts." The woman nodded, satisfied to have them confirm her thoughts. "See? Our group is as balanced as it gets. We decided to stick together for a reason, didn't we?" She raised a finger to accentuate her point. "Considering we have no way to truly know what the Game will be about, we have more chances to survive if we stick together. So as much as I hate to admit it... I agree with Watanabe."
"Jiro!" Watanabe crossed her arms, though more playful than actually annoyed.
"How is that woman not a Diamonds..." Nakamura said quietly, shaking his head slightly.
Jiro didn't give any answer, though, as she simply started to walk towards the building as if expecting the rest of the group to follow her without words. And well... after a few moments of hesitation, they all did. And soon enough, the group stood right in front of the Borderline, not too far from the building's entrance.
"Ready?" The oldest in the group shot a glance towards everyone else.
One after another, they all confirmed. The group crossed the border, heading inside.
In the entrance hall, all five of them were asked to grab a phone and a pair of skates their size and proceed to the main hall where the rink was. The group was surprised to find that one person was already there, sitting on one of the benches at the edge of the rink. They seemed to be waiting for something, likely other Players, their skates being beside them on the bench as they looked at their phone. They couldn't make out much about them at first as they were sitting with their back to the group and keeping their hood up, but Watanabe was quick to approach them as she came to the conclusion that they were a Player too.
"Hey, you!" She called out to them, causing them to jump a bit. "You a Player here too?"
"H-huh?" They looked over, seeming rather nervous about the sudden approach. "...Yeah, I... I am... I assume you too?" Their voice was quiet. It sounded more masculine than feminine, but neither Watanabe nor the rest of the group wanted to assume.
"You're scaring them, Watanabe..." Jiro approached the two, her demeanor a lot calmer than that of both of them. She shot the new person a glance, smiling for a moment. But as soon as they looked over at her, she froze in place, as if thrown off-guard by something. She didn't seem to say or act on it, though, placing her hand to her chest after a few seconds as her expression softened a bit.
"Call me Jiro. That's Watanabe." She pointed towards the other woman at the end of her sentence. Then, she pointed to the rest of the group. "And those three in the back are Tanaka, Nakamura and Suzuki. May I know your name?"
"I uhm..." They paused, seeming even more nervous now. "Sh-...Shiro... Yuki Shiro..." They looked to the floor, nodding. "Yuki Shiro, yes. You can... call me Yuki if you want... I don't mind." It was clear how awkward they were at the questions they were being asked, but Jiro only nodded, her arms now crossed.
"To avoid confusion with my name?"
"Y-yeah..."
Jiro kept looking at Yuki for a long while before sighing and waving the rest of the group over to them. Not long after, a monitor turned on, telling the Players to put on their skates and remain ready for further instructions. They all did so, sitting down on the benches at the edge of the rink once they were done. And after that, an announcement rang through the entire building.
"Registration Closed. The Game will now commence."
"The Game you will be playing is called 'Thin Ice'. Difficulty: Eight of Hearts."
"Ah- Hearts..."
Yuki's reaction caught the attention of the others, and they froze once they saw that the eyes were on them. "I- I was never good at those is all..." they quickly added. "I'm more of a Diamonds kind of person, you know?"
"So it's on me, then." Jiro nodded in response, raising an eyebrow as the rules were announced.
The Game would start once everyone was on the rink. There were nine marked fields. Above each of them was a revolver, as well as a light that would shine onto the field to mark it as either as green or as red. The red marked fields were referred to as 'thin ice'. Each round lasted five minutes, and whoever was on 'thin ice' or away from the fields by the end of a round would be shot by the revolver. To clear the Game, at least one Player would have to still be alive by the end of the tenth Round.
"Wait, this sounds like a Clubs Game, doesn't it?" Watanabe noted, visibly confused. "Or maybe Spades, but... why Hearts?"
"I wouldn't make any assumptions yet," Jiro simply stated, already on her way to the marked fields.
"We can't know the true nature of a Hearts Game until we see it."
...And oh, they would see it very soon.
The first three rounds went by fairly smoothly. There were exactly six fields marked green per round, enough for each of them to stand on. And although some people had difficulties moving around on ice skates, five minutes were more than enough for the group to work together and get everyone on a safe field.
However, that changed in Round Four, when there were suddenly only five fields marked green anymore.
"What? Five?!" There was a hint of shock in Nakamura's voice as he spoke, desperately trying to get himself to a safe field.
"Wait- this is some fucked up form of musical chairs, isn't it?" Watanabe, already standing on a safe field of her own, commented with a sense of despair in her expression. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go..."
"Does the Game want us to sacrifice someone every few round to be able to continue...?" Tanaka was thankfully still calm, but he too was most certainly worried underneath the surface as he tried to help Suzuki move around to get to a field.
Jiro flinched as she realized what the Game was trying to do. "Guys... Please stay calm, will you? This Game is trying to get us to-"
"Yeah, so what if it is?!" Nakamura spoke again, shock turning into frustration. "We just have to make sure we're the last one standing then, simple as that!" He pointed towards Suzuki, then towards Yuki. "I say we sacrifice the child and the stranger first! Tanaka, get over here! We need your strength for later rounds!"
A countdown started, reminding them that there were only a few seconds left. Suzuki and Tanaka were the only ones left on thin ice by now. Yuki was silent, only watching everything go down, which once again sparked Jiro's suspicion. Her attention was dragged away from him, though, when Tanaka suddenly spoke.
"If this is how it is, then..." He sighed. "I'm sorry, everyone."
The countdown reached zero, and only a few seconds later, a gunshot was fired.
...
"Tanaka...? Tanaka?!"
Suzuki's shouts echoed through the hall as she struggled to keep her balance. It seemed that right before the countdown reached zero, Tanaka had used up all his strength to push Suzuki onto a safe field, allowing her to survive while subsequently sacrificing himself. Watanabe and Suzuki could only look at his fallen corpse in shock, as Jiro and Yuki were still rather calm about everything. Nakamura, however...
"Tanaka, you idiot!" he shouted, getting everyone's attention. "You could have easily cleared that one on your own!"
Round 5 started, and the field Suzuki was on turned out to already be a safe field. She wouldn't have needed to do much. The others only needed to find fields of their own and then things would work out... however, this time, there were only four safe fields left. And of course, the first thing Nakamura had to do was to rush for the one the young girl was on and push her off, securing his own place while taking away hers. For a moment, Jiro contemplated trying to save her and pull her onto her own field, but before she could do much, it was too late. Suzuki had already died, and Watanabe looked at Nakamura with an expression of horror.
And what made it even worse was that in Round 6, there were still four safe fields left. As if the sacrifice had secured the remaining survivors one round of safety. Nakamura only laughed as he realized that.
"See? I told you this is what we need to do! This is just like any high Diamonds Game!"
"Oh, shut up already," Jiro whispered in response.
Everyone survived Round 6, and when there were only three fields left in Round 7, Nakamura was already on his way towards Yuki... but before he could reach them, Watanabe tackled him to the ground, keeping him in place. She yelled, tears in her eyes and pure rage in her voice.
"You didn't even think twice about taking her life to save yours, huh? Do you not feel any remorse at all?! She was 13, for fuck's sake! And you killed her, you... you monster!"
"...I'm not the monster here. All I'm doing is playing by the rules."
Jiro watched, unsure of how to react. She wanted to tell them both to stay calm again, but... she could understand where both of them were coming from. Diamonds Players like Nakamura must have been desensitized to the concept of sacrificing anyone for their own survival... whereas Clubs Players like Watanabe were conditioned to rely on group morale to survive. Being a Hearts Player, Jiro understood that they had both fallen for the trap this Game had provided them.
She shot a glance at Yuki, who was still suspiciously calm about it all. Despite having been so socially awkward earlier, they really did seem to not mind any of this... perhaps this was due to them being a Diamonds Player as well? She didn't know, but she had a feeling there was something more to them.
Shortly before Round 7 ended, Watanabe made sure to let go of Nakamura and roll herself onto the remaining safe field to ensure her own survival, Nakamura's death, and another 'safe Round' all at the same time. It didn't take her long to realize what she did, though... so despite this round having enough safe fields for everyone, she remained on thin ice, not moving at all.
"Watanabe?" Jiro called out. "Watanabe, what are you doing?"
"...I killed him..." She said quietly, shaking and tearing up at the thought. "I killed him by my own hands, didn't I...? I'm no better than him..."
"You did what you needed to do. So please, stop letting this Game mess with your mind and save yourself."
"...I can't... I can't do this!" she shouted, collapsing onto the ice.
Needless to say, Watanabe was the next person to fall.
This left only Jiro herself and Yuki on the ice. Jiro's mask of unawareness dropped as she realized she had nothing left to lose.
"Tell me, Yuki Shiro..." she spoke up as she made her way towards one of the safe fields. "Who are you really?" With two Players and two safe fields left, she knew she had about five minutes to interrogate the other person, to find out what was truly behind that nervous mask of theirs.
"M-me...?" Yuki was now acting nervous once more, likely trying to pass it off as them only being nervous in social interactions. "I told you, didn't I..."
"All you told us was your name. If 'Yuki Shiro' even is your real name, that is." She was still calm as ever, skating around a bit on her field. "I want to know more about you... and please, don't spare any details. I know you're not who you pretend to be."
They stayed silent for a while before speaking up once more, their voice now more calm. "You're quite perceptive, aren't you?"
"I'm a Hearts Player," she simply stated. "What is to expect?"
Eventually, Round 9 ended, both of them surviving. One more round, and whoever survived it would live. The final safe field was right at the center of the rink, but until the countdown announced the final minute, it was as if neither of the remaining Players cared. They continued their conversation, now skating in circles around the safe field.
"For being as perceptive as you are..." 'Yuki' spoke, and Jiro could swear she saw a smirk underneath their hood. "...it's surprising you still haven't found the solution to this Game, isn't it? Wasn't it obvious right from the start?"
Jiro raised an eyebrow in response, thinking for a moment before stopping in place. She made sure to keep her calm and not give into the temptation of the Game the whole time, yet she somehow managed to miss that one thing... and the one thing she missed was the solution to the Game. She looked at Yuki, her eyes still wide in shock at the realization that she could have saved everyone, she could have let everyone live, if only she had paid just a bit more attention to what was there... or rather, to what was missing.
"...I'm an idiot," she admitted, causing Yuki to let out a chuckle as they stopped as well. "Wait, but if you knew all along, then- then why didn't you tell us?"
"Oh?" They perked up, tilting their head. "You really think I would want to let you know the solution?"
Jiro kept looking at him in disbelief, stunned into silence as she still couldn't figure out just whom she was dealing with.
"...Just what are you...?"
"Do you really want to know, Itsuka Jiro?" they asked, taking something out of their pocket. "If you really do, then..."
They slid the thing over, and Jiro's eyes widened even further... as she realized not only what the object was, but what it represented. Yuki then took off their hood, staring at her with a cold gaze, a look that she could only describe as emptiness... as though she was staring into a dark void. It was as if whoever she was dealing with right now wasn't even remotely human.
"...You..."
...
"...You sick son of a bitch..."
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It was already late into the night, around 10pm, when the doors to the building opened once again, a single man walking out. One hand was in his pocket while the other was holding an Eight of Hearts card. He looked at it, a satisfied smirk on his face. If it wasn't as dark as it was, one would possibly even be able to identify a slight blush in his face as he seemed rather lost in thought despite his gaze being glued to the card.
"What an amazing Game... made by an even more amazing man..."
He let out a chuckle, holding the card close to his chest for a moment before snapping out of it, his expression quickly turning into a neutral one as he put the card into his pocket, pulling his hood back up and leaving the area for good.