CHAPTER 46

SLIDE.

Everyone was dead or about to be dead. Red crimson blood was everywhere, and it was just sick.

You held your gun tightly, carefully walking closer to the railing, hoping to catch the King of Spades off guard. And you did. You were able to successfully inflict some damage. A bullet grazed his neck.

He now had his gun pointed directly at you, as he stepped out of the shadows.

You shot one more bullet before running back into the building. There was no need for exchanges of words, you were sure he was going to be after you.

Rushed, you opened the door and quickly closed it again.

Arisu was waiting for you as you rushed back upstairs. You threw the explosion to him, so he would be able to detonate it whenever the king stepped foot into the store.

He held the bomb while you held your gun, alert.

You waited, seconds and seconds. He never came.

Crash!

The door was pushed open and the king fell into the store with Aguni on top of him.

"Do it Arisu!" Aguni ordered.

"Aguni!" Arisu handed you the explosive and ran to help Aguni instead.

"Are you crazy!?" Aguni growled, struggling to get up.

As they approached, you took steps back towards the window and accidentally opened the explosive.

You stared at the bottle. "What the fuck?"

Aguni pulled you away and took the gun out of your other hand

He then sprinted to the window. "Throw it!"

And so you did, right before you fell through the window. Not a second later, Aguni used your gun to shoot at the can. The shot hit the can perfectly and caused the explosive to detonate.

You, Arisu, and Aguni flew even further back with the blast-wave pushing you three back.

The hard landing you had with the ground was better than expected.

Aguni was the first to get up after the blast, and he helped Arisu before finding you and helping you get up as well.

"Thanks." You winced as you got up, the impact worsening your bullet wound.

The three of you looked at each other before looking back at the ruined building.

"If that motherfucker is still alive.." Your breath was ragged.

You looked beside you and noticed Aguni was losing his footing, and he fell.

Arisu panicked. "Aguni!"

"No, please." You leaned against the car, looking at Aguni's vulnerable state.

"Go." He panted, handing you the gun.

You and Arisu stayed beside him.

"Where are they?" You took the gun that he handed you.

"They're all okay. You two gotta go on to the last game."

You scoffed and pushed yourself off the rusted automobile. "And you gotta live."

As the two of you left Aguni leaning on the car, you noticed Usagi approaching. She was limping and her condition didn't seem to be great, not that anyone's condition was at this point.

Arisu rushed towards her and fell beside her, holding her in his arms.

You stood by, not wanting to interrupt.

"This is the final game. Participating players should register immediately."

You turned to look back at Arisu and Usagi. Usagi definitely wasn't in the state to partake in a game. Out of everyone left, you and Arisu were the only two that weren't too injured to join a game.

"I think Usagi should rest."

Arisu turned to you and hesitantly nodded. He didn't want to leave her behind, it was obvious.

The two of you laid Usagi down to a place where she would be able to sit up and rest her leg. Her breaths were shallow, and the tourniquet on her leg was soaked in blood.

You walked ahead to the game arena while Arisu spent another minute with Usagi.

While walking to the arena, you found Chishiya, still laying against the car, his expression was much calmer.

"Hey.." you crouched beside him, trying to get his attention.

He turned to you and tiredly smirked. "You did it.. Good job Y/n."

"Please just.. Just don't die." Your voice cracked.

Chishiya took his hand and placed it onto your cheek, wiping away a stray tear that fell. "Win the last game, okay?"

He took out the remote controlled tech band. With a press of a button, the band fell off.

"Go Y/n."

It took all the strength in your body for you to get up and advance towards the game location.

Arisu was quick to catch up behind you.

"One last game." You looked at him as you walked through the tall building.

He held tightly onto the rifle in his hand. "We're facing the Queen of Hearts."

"It's going to be Mira." You said as you walked up the fleet of stairs onto the rooftop.

Arisu didn't question it. He only followed your lead as you half mindedly made your way to the top.

"And here we are." You mumbled.

In front of the 2 of you was another set of stairs. This time it led to an enclosed space though. The entrance was an archway that was carefully decorated with flowers. As you two walked up the stairs and through the archway, you found Mira sitting in a white lawn chair, arms in front of her on the table. The grass was perfectly trimmed and the whole arena was decorated like a garden. All the flowers were white though.There were also several other things that stuck out of the ground, you weren't quite familiar with what they were.

Mira got up from her seat and walked over to you two. "Welcome to your final game venue! Allow me to introduce my game to you. This game, the one that we're about to play, is called.. The Queen of Croquet!"

You looked at her blankly. "Wait what..?"

"Lawn billiards is what they used to call it in the 19th-century England, at the height of its popularity. I don't believe that it was ever quite so popular in Japan." Mira explained.

Arisu looked just about as confused as you. "We don't know the rules."

"That's all right. You don't really need to. Don't worry. It doesn't matter which one of us wins!"

"What do you mean?" You wanted clarification, but she kept giving you the bare minimum.

She smiled. "Clearing Croquet is simple. You just have to complete three little sets of croquet games without withdrawing. If you decide to give up, game over. Weapons are also allowed here. It's so simple. Just 3 little rounds of croquet."

After hearing that weapons were allowed, you immediately raised your gun and aimed it at her. "So it won't violate the game rules if I shoot?"

Mira didn't give you an answer, but Arisu didn't like the raised gun. He was quick to pull your arm back down.

"So it's just 3 rounds of croquet games? And we don't even have to win?" Arisu asked, taking the gun from your hand.

'What the fuck. If it isn't against the game rules then we could win and get this over with. There's no way that there isn't a trick behind this game anyways.'

"Exactly! Simple, huh?" Mira clasped her hands together in excitement. "Now, why don't we begin?"

You followed her over to the corner of the arena. Arisu and you sat down on the bench as she explained.

"Each side has 3 balls; one blue and black, the other red and yellow. To win, you need to pass your balls through the six hoops in a certain order, then hit the final finishing peg before your opponent does." She hit the blue ball through a peg with her mallet. "Arisu, you can go first."

He tilted his club back and hit the ball, but missed the space in the peg. The ball hit the metal and moved in the opposite direction, causing a giggle to escape from Mira.

You watched from the sideline as Mira hit her ball again, and she made it through the peg again.

It continued, and in the end, Mira won the first set. Arisu had lost not too badly.

"What is she thinking?" Arisu whispered to you as Mira reset the game.

You've spent enough time around Mira to know a bit about her at least. "Don't take anything that she gives you; absolutely nothing."

A silence swept over the two of you as Mira walked over with her club in her hand.

"I'll play the second set." You took the club from Arisu's hand and warmed up your arms.

Mira turned to you and picked up a blue ball. "All right, round 2 now."

The game wasn't as hard as it seemed. You were able to strike the balls through the pegs rather quickly. However, the more you calmed down, the more your wound from earlier started to hurt. You also noticed that your wound was suddenly bleeding a lot more.

Mira seemed to have noticed because she tried harder to make the set last, but it still ended up with you winning in a rather timely manner.

"It looks like I lost the second set." Mira walked past behind you. "You are really talented!"

"Let's just get to round 3." You gave the queen a side eye.

She stopped in her steps but didn't turn around. "That was just exhausting. How about a cup of tea first?"

"Tea?" Arisu echoed from his bench.

"Yep! How does it sound?" Mira gave the male her usual wicked smile.

Before he could agree, you quickly shut it down. "We're good actually. You can get your own tea if you'd like."

"You're so boring Y/n." Mira complained, setting up the balls one last time.

You had decided to play again this round, since you would assume that it would take a shorter amount of time. And in the conditions that everyone was in when you left them, you knew that they could die any moment.

You were quick to make the first ball.

"Y/n." Mira called your name.

You looked up at her, expression monotone. "What is it?"

Her face had softened over all. "I saw what happened before you came over here. I saw you with Chishiya."

She pushed her ball through the peg. "It was beautiful."

Your brows furrowed. "What..?"

"Perhaps the two of you were truly meant to be.. You've changed him in so many ways, and you act as the part of him that he lacks."

Not sure how to reply, you pushed another ball. "Why are we talking about this?"

"I'm being genuine. You're great for him, and it was just so pure. How you cared for him even though he's put you through pain."

Mira hit her ball, and it barely missed the opening. "It's something that I've never seen before."

It's been at least a few hours since the 3rd round has started. Your side has been hurting continuously, and Arisu has been constantly giving you worried looks.

The sky was dark, and you had one last pole to hit, but you just barely missed it. "Fuck this."

Then Mira hit it.

"Yes!" She laughed. "Hmm! I won!"

Arisu walked up behind you and stood in front of Mira.

"Well done. You finished 3 sets. You didn't quit or forfeit the match." She smiled. "Congratulations Y/n and Arisu."

"The game has ended."

"Is it over?" Arisu asked no one in particular.

You dropped the mallet and faced Mira again. "Well? What is this place? Can you tell me now? Before.."

"Y/n.." The Queen of Hearts took a few steps forward. "You'll find out soon enough. You will be given 2 choices. No matter which one you pick, you will learn the answer. And you'll learn who you really are when you choose. You'll soon find out. Life is just.. A game we play together. So try to enjoy it."

She gave you a sincere smile before a laser shot down.

"Congratulations. All of the games have now been cleared."

You turned to Arisu and held your hand up for him to high five. He returned it.

The both of you were still dumbfounded and surprised by what had just happened. You watched as the blimp above you burst into flames.

RIght after, fireworks were shot into the sky, celebrating your win and survival.

You and Arisu both knew what the other wanted to do. The two of you gave each other a farewell smile and a wave before heading off.

The only thing you had in mind was finding Chishiya. You needed to know that he was safe and alright.

You forced yourself to push through the pain you felt as you ran to where Chishiya was before the game.

"Chishiya!"

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Nvm this is the longest chapter

SHIT DAY AT SCHOOL TODAY SORRY FOR ANY "UN-ME" REPLIES

ONE CHAPTER LEFT THO

I LOVE YOU ALL SMM ❤️