Botanicle Gardens

Arisu could feel a throbbing pain in his arm as he woke, it hurt and sent a wave of nausea to his stomach. His head pounded as he tried to gauge his location, his eyes were still glued together and his thoughts were a mess. He seemed to be lying on a hard floor, judging from the way it was sticking rather uncomfortably into his back. The air smelt of plants and dirt, which was odd because he couldn’t feel an outside breeze.
The last thing he remembered was running from the King of Spades hand in hand with Chishiya, everything after that was a blur.

Had he been shot? That would explain the dull pain in his arm, but it didn't explain where he was. He seemed to be inside, away from the King and his guns. Did Chishiya bring him here? That seemed slightly out of character for the blonde, carrying someone through a mass shooting. He knew Chishiya well, and knew he would only help someone if it gained him an advantage.

Speaking of Chishiya, where was he? If it had been the blonde who saved him, then he should be around, right?Arisu had managed to sit up and open his eyes, the cramp in his muscles suggested that he had been out cold and lying for a while, and despite the circumstances, the rest was very much appreciated.

He didn't know how long he had been out, but it looked like it was night-time now, due to the heavy darkness in the area. He cringed slightly, knowing that Chishiya had seen him collapse like a young child after a slight wound. He would have to apologise when he found him.

Since their escape from the beach, Arisu had been plagued with nightmares of his friends, their cold faces staring at him from the abyss of the night, blaming him. This made sleep a very difficult activity for the gamer, and he often found himself staring up at the sky until morning, too afraid of the past to fall away into slumber.

He pushed down these unwelcome thoughts as he stood, his arm twinging painfully as he went. He saw that it had been bound tightly with a scrap of grey fabric, that was Chishiya's work. He smiled slightly, knowing Chishiya was safe brought him an immense amount of relief, and knowing he cared enough to treat his arm caused a warm fuzzy feeling to bubble in Arisu’s chest. He thought back to the previous events, running with Chishiya’s hand wrapped around him and wondered why the older man had bothered dragging him with him, he knew for a fact that Chishiya had had a much greater chance of survival if he left Arisu behind.

His eyes had finally adjusted to the gloom and he looked around, shivering slightly at the chill. He should have worn something warmer.

He was expecting an office building maybe, or a convenience store,but instated he was hit with the place of his nightmares. He was standing on the dusty path of the botanical gardens, the same place where he had murdered his best friends. Karube, Chota. Arisu stumbled backwards as this realization ploughed into him, hitting the stone wall behind him. The spidery fingers of plants reached out towards him, teasing him and laughing. Panic immediately took over his body, and tremors welled up through his limbs. He could feel his hands going cold and clammy, and all the hairs on his body sprung up.

Squeezing shut his eyes, he sunk to his knees and begged for it to be a dream. Dreams like this seemed to be a common occurrence, but it had never felt so real, it was usually just flashes.

“..Arisu?” a familiar voice whispered hoarsely, causing Arisu’s eyes to fly open, gazing at the figure in front of him with shock. It was...Karube? Karube, with his silly bleached hair and tropical shirt. With his dark eyes and knowing smile. He stood a few meters away from the gamer, a collar around his neck. He was here, he was here!

Arisu choked back a sob as he saw his friend, this couldn’t be real, could it? Maybe, just maybe, Karube had survived. And he had been waiting for Arisu to find him. Arisu froze, he couldn’t speak ,he couldn't breath. He stood by the curve in the path, looking at Arisu with his all too real smile. Arisu forced his legs to move, to go to his friend and he stumbled forward.

Before Arisu could reach him, Karube slowly turned and moved out of Arisu’s view around the corner, like a fleeing phantom. Why was he going? Did he not want to see Arisu? He must hate him.

“Wait!, Karube!”

Arisu followed the man, his legs hurling him around the corner with a speed born from desperation, and hope. He needed to touch Karube, to feel he was alive, to bring him back to Arisu. He needed to apologise.

He spotted his friend half hidden by the shadows, quite a far distance away. He ran to him again, the burning pain he had felt was ignored and replaced with a prayer. A prayer that he could bring his friend home.

But again, Karube seemed to have different plans as he vanished from sight the moment that Arisu got close, his body flowing into the trees like a wisp of smoke, before reappearing on the far end of the path.

Their game of cat and mouse continued for at least ten minutes, but to Arisu it felt like ten years. As soon as he got close to Karube, within a breaths distance, the man would disappear and reappear a far way away. Was this Karube’s way of punishing Arisu, was this funny to him?

Fat tears of grief rolled down the dark haired man’s cheeks as he chased this fleeting shadow, a reflection of the past.

Arisu skidded around another twist in the path ,his chest heaving with raspy breaths. Everything hurt, he clearly hadn’t recovered from his running earlier.

Where was he?

“I’m behind you”

Oh no.

Arisu had heard those words before..., he had seen this all before.

No, no this couldn’t be happening.
He couldn’t do it again.

Despite his whole body screaming for him not to, Arisu turned around slowly and saw Karube seated on the handrail. The handrail that had haunted him for so long. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him.

“Thank you”

NO!

Time turned in slow motion as Arisu rushed towards him. The timer went off, and the scene of his nightmares flashed before his eyes. He saw Karube’s body slump to the ground, his bleached hair stained red with betrayal and anguish. Warm rivets of blood were running down his face: his hands. It was everywhere and all he could smell was the sickening scent of metal.

He fell to his knees, as he had done once before when he had first witnessed this scene. A deafening scream tore through his body as he felt the grief pulling him apart. It shook him, and wrapped around his chest, causing his breaths to come out in wheezy puffs.
He was sobbing now, curled up on the floor, begging to wake up, for it to leave his mind and leave him in peace. He could feel Karube’s blood on his skin, he could taste it in his mouth.

It was all his fault Karube and Chota had died, and now he had been forced to relive it over and over, the guilt slowly driving him insane. He had not wanted to cry in front of his friends, especially not Chishiya, so he had bottled up his pain and let it swell dangerously. But now it had been punctured, and it was all flowing free.
Suddenly, a wave of darkness crashed over his thoughts, and Arisu slumped to the ground, for the second time today.

Chishiya jerked upwards as he heard a deafening scream rattle through the dense foliage.

Arisu.

A thick cloud of panic overwhelmed his sentences, a foreign feeling to Chishiya, but he ignored the confusion towards his reaction. Leaping up and sprinting towards the alcove where he had left the unconscious man.

When he had settled Arisu down towards the entrance of the building, earlier in the evening, he had tried to make the gamer as comfortable as possible before proceeding with his wound. Which was quite a hard task, considering all that he had on hand were rocks and leaves. It wasn't as deep as Chishiya had worried, it was true that the bullet had just grazed him, leaving a sluggish cut behind. However, it was still bleeding a fair amount so Chishiya had wrapped it tightly with a torn piece of his shirt. The crimson looked striking against the dark fabric.

His shirt was now missing a relatively large chunk, he would have to find a new one later. This was a shame,as Chishiya quite liked it.
He looked down at Arisu, who was settled on the ground. The younger man had looked peaceful as he slept, the usual tension and exhaustion carried in his features had relaxed.

Chishiya had felt himself tracing Arisu’s face gently with his fingers, without thinking about what he was doing.

He had snatched his hand back when it dawned on him that that wasn’t the most normal thing to do to your unconscious friend.

Chishiya had felt a slight blush warm his usually icey features. He had then convinced himself to leave Arisu for bit to look around the area, practically fleeing from the strange new emotions he was feeling.

No.

Walking sensibly, he never fled from anything, Chishiya told himself.

But still,as he walked further away he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander back to the smooth feel of Arisu’s skin. What it would feel like to touch him again.

Stop it Chishiya.

He had let his thoughts wander again, this new habit was going to get him killed.

He had made his way back to the entrance of the building. The king was nowhere to be seen, but that gave little comfort to Chishiya, they needed to regroup with their friends as soon as possible, and get away from the King’s area.

He sighed and massaged his temple, he hadn’t slept in a while and the exhaustion had began to catch up with him, making his bones feel like lead. Outside the sun was setting, and Chishiya allowed himself to settle in a small nook for a quick rest, he would return to Arisu afterwards.

But now he was sprinting through the looming plants, cursing himself for leaving Arisu alone. He was defenceless, anything could have happened. Did the King of Spades sneak in and find him? Chishiya felt sick to his stomach and pushed himself to run raster, and soon found that Arisu was nowhere near where he left him.

Frantically, he darted through the darkened garden shouting Arisu’s name with such ferocity it felt as though his heart would burst.

He weaved between dark shrubs, growing more and more desperate with each empty path. He continued, but skidded to a stop when he saw an Arisu shaped lump lying on the dusty path, in front of an old handrail. He was still breathing, and seemed physically fine, which ruled out the King option.

Chishiya hadn't heard a gun after all.

What did worry Chishiya ,was the fact that Arisu was out cold again, with tear tracks all over his puffy face. Chishiya had never seen Arisu cry, what on earth could have caused him to run off in such a state? And the scream he had heard, brimming with pain and anguish.

Maybe he had panicked when he woke up alone in a strange place? Chishiya felt a twinge of guilt at that thought, he really shouldn’t have left the unconscious boy alone. Stupid emotions, they got in the way of everything. He would have to apologise when he woke up. However, that explanation didn’t seem right to Chishiya. Arisu was very level headed person, he wouldn’t have run of panicking like this if he was confused about his location. He would have to ask him.

Chishiya decided to make camp in this area instead, it was more hidden and further from the entrance, meaning it was less likely for the pair to be detected.
Also, Arisu was quite heavy and Chishiya couldn’t drag him all the way back to the previous alcove without killing his back, which would be a disaster.
The shorter man sat cross legged next to Arisu, facing the handrail, deep in thought. It was probably best to wait for Arisu to wake up before he slept, should he try to run again.