Botanicle Gardens

Their day had started off as you would expect, with a cacophony of groans and sore muscles involved. Chishiya had grumpily unwound himself from Arisu, under the first rays of the morning sun, and Kuina’s gleeful gaze.

The younger man had been firmly nestled in his arms, and Chishiya wished he could let him sleep, but they had to get going within the hour, as they needed some time to have breakfast and prepare themselves. Arisu would only be mad at him if he allowed them to waste anytime sleeping. Also, the groups giggles at his expense were getting annoying, and slightly embarrassing.

Not that Chishiya got embarrassed.

Ever.

Arisu had woken rather quickly after Chishiya had risen, and leap up with surprising vigour, for someone who had spent the night on a cold concrete floor. He stretched and beamed, before bounding over to the discarded remnants of their dinner. The dinner that he had hardly touched the night before.

Weird.

There was something different brewing his dark eyes today, not the usual fear and self loathing that had made their seemingly permanent home there. It was peculiar.

Chishiya had noticed a large change in Arisu’s mood after he had left to go to the bathroom in the night a few hours ago, which had taken an amazingly long time. He hadn’t questioned it at first, because it had been some ungodly hour in the morning, and Chishiya really couldn’t be bothered to deal with it. He had just wanted the dark hair man back at his side, to savour their possibly limited time left together. The borderlands were full of risks after all.

But now Chishiya’s head had cleared, he began to worry slightly. What if something else had happened to him? He was grateful that the boy didn’t seem any worse, there had been a rather vast improvement to his mood. But what if it was just a mask, a cover? The blonde knew of Arisu’s hatred for his own weakness, he felt the deluded need to be a constant positive machine, for the good of the group.

What if he had convinced himself that their group needed their strong leader back for the king’s game.

It could all be an act.

A horrible, sick act, that would just twist Arisu’s heart even further into it's grief stricken state. Chishiya knew Arisu’s mind well, better than the others, and maybe better than he should, so it was fairly justified for him to be concerned about such matters.

But the sunny smile on Arisu’s face, it just seemed so genuine. No one was supposed to look that happy whilst eating left over, freezing cold demon soup. Which had been left overnight, slowly coagulating in it’s pot.  Arisu was certainly a curious figure.

Perhaps he had truly had an epiphany,  and stopped blaming himself for Karube and Chota? That would be unlikely, as he had suffered such a harsh hallucination hours beforehand. But who knows. The human mind works in mysterious ways.

He couldn't help but hope that Arisu had truly come to terms with himself, as it almost felt like a physical pain watching him suffer. Although, would Arisu still come to him, if he was better? Would he still seek him out for comfort, and contact? What if the dark haired boy had truly gotten over his fears, and he decided he didn't need Chishiya any more. That thought jump started a wave of anxiety, which began to ripple across his body.

He shouldn't be upset that Arisu was improving, he should be happy for him. It was certainly a lot better than the gamer being too afraid of his past to sleep. He was proud. Despite him attempts to re assure him self, the worry kept coming, he might have just been a disposable object to Arisu, and now he wasn't needed any more.

Arisu wouldn't do that too him right?
Chishiya was snapped out of his anxious pondering by a gentle  jab in the arm, Ann sidled up to him where he stood, whilst Usagi and Tatta had joined Arisu by the remnants of the fire, bravely attempting to sample the now rather gelatinized concoction laying in the pot.

He watched in amusement as their faces screwed up in disgust, and he knew nothing they tried would get him anywhere near that demonic substance for the second time. Even though he was quite hungry, it wasn't worth stomaching that. Ann began to talk quietly to him, as to not disturb the rest of the group.

“You know Chishiya, you should probably try and eat at least a little food. Horrible as it is, you will need your strength.”

“The same could be said for you. You haven’t touched that vile slop yet either.” Chishiya said, slightly annoyed that she would even suggest Chishiya eat that monstrosity.

She laughed slightly at the venom directed towards the soup in his voice, and an air of smugness began to radiate off of her. A sly grin had slowly spread across her face, and she dug around in her pocket for a moment.

“Oh Chishiya dear, that is where you are wrong. I have a secret stash.”

...what did she mean by that?

With a dramatic flourish, she pulled out a slightly battered looking cereal bar, carefully hiding it from the others so that only Chishiya could see. In the real world, he would have avoided such sustenance at all costs, due to it’s uncanny resemblance with cardboard, but compared to the ‘soup’ it looked like absolute heaven.

“I was planning on giving the last one to Kuina, but...”

Ann looked over to where Kuina was miserably downing the soup, and smiled evilly.

“It’s more fun to watch her suffer. Enjoy, you will need it”

She pressed the bar into Chishiya’s hand, and gracefully walked to sit by Kuina’s side, patting her back sympathetically, as if nothing had happened. Those two had a strange relationship, that was for sure. But still, Chishiya had gained an edible breakfast from it, so it was a win for him. He debated giving it to Arisu for a moment, to see his smile, but decided against it when he saw the boy practically wolfing the mixture down, without a care in the world.

There was definitely something wrong with him today.

Chishiya moved around to gather their scattered supplies, inhaling the cereal bar in two bites while he had his back turned. It was truly delicious, and Chishiya decided he would sell Ann his soul the next time she needed anything. She was literally an angel.

After he had finished, he carefully slunk to where the rest of the group were sitting. He noticed that all their eyes were fixed on Arisu, whose head was facing the ground.

Ah, he must be trying to explain yesterday's events. Team games required complete and utter trust, which means the abolishment of any secrets that may plant seeds of doubt in their fellow player’s brains. Despite the gamer's obvious efforts, he seemed frozen, and no words were coming out of his mouth.

It must be extremely difficult, telling the people who look up to you your deepest secrets. Arisu was nearly there, he just needed a small slither of support.

As quietly as he could, Chishiya claimed the space beside the trembling man, and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, uncaring if the others saw. He was warm, and Chishiya could feel the shaky breaths moving his chest. The sudden touch made Arisu jump, and snapped him out of his trance, which was good. The words began to flow, and everybody listened intently.

“So er guys, I want to apologise about yesterday. You see, I’ve recently developed some, erm,  problems? after we got separated from you all by the King of Spades.”

He took a deep breath and looked around guiltily, hoping his vague explanation was satisfactory.

Which it wasn’t.

“Wait, Arisu, what do you mean by problems!? You were screaming your head off!” Tatta jumped into, forcing Arisu to meet his eyes.

“Well...Chishiya should I just start from the beginning?”

Arisu turned his head to look at him, worry painted through his features. Chishiya nodded slightly, and squeezed his shoulder in comfort. Arisu began to speak again, his voice wobbling slightly. He looked vulnerable, and small whist covering this unfamiliar territory with their friends.

“So, after we got split up from you by a grenade, we ran to hide together and I ended up getting grazed by a stray bullet. It wasn’t a massive wound so don’t worry, but I ended up passing out, and Chishiya carried he to the closest building he could so we could hide. That building was the botanical gardens.”

Arisu stopped with a slight sniffle, and Usagi clasped and hand over her mouth.

“Don’t tell me...” She whispered, shock covering her features. She was the only person in the group other than Chishiya who knew what events had taken place there. Tatta, Kuina and Anna looked confused and Chishiya rubbed small circles in the boys back, urging him to continue.

"The botanical gardens were where I played my third game, where my two best friends were killed In front of me. And it was my fault they died-."

"No."

Chishiya felt the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could even think, as if they had a mind of their own. Arisu paused, and the group turned their curious eyes towards him.

"You didn't kill them Arisu, and you know it. You need to accept that."

Arisu looked for a moment as though he would fight back, or start crying again, but he managed to compose himself, and carry on with his story.

" Right. Anyway, where I woke up in the gardens I freaked out and had a panic attack, because I hallucinated Karube In front of me. The same thing happened yesterday at dinner, only with Chota."

"...It was so horrible. They were blaming me, saying I should have died instead of them. And the blood, it was everywhere. I could feel it all over me, I could taste it-"

Arisu's voice broke into a small sob as he stopped talking, and looked away from the group.

"Sorry" he apologized, in a small voice.

"Oh Arisu..." Kuina whispered, slight tears shining in her eyes from Arisu's tale.

She leaned over from her place, and pulled the gamer into a tight hug. Chishiya could see small shudders coming from him as he clung to her, trying to compose him self. Kuina really was a god send. After a moment he pulled himself together, and Kuina let go, allowing the man to speak more.

" But last night, when I felt to go to the bathroom, I saw them again. But it was a different version, a happy version. They told me that they loved me, and that I needed to live properly again."

" I know- I know it's just my mind, coming up with solutions, but God, it felt so real."

The team had a moment of amazed and slightly depressed silence, before Tatta spoke up, in a cheery tone.

" Wow Arisu! I think it's great that you saw them again!" He grinned at the gamer, and Arisu smiled back, breaking the slightly awkward spell that had been resting on them moments before.

Chishiya himself was also pleasantly surprised by the information, as he hadn't expected his initial guess of the cause of Arisu's good mood to be correct.

Go Chishiya.

"As lovely as this moment is, we need to get going." stated Chishiya, pulling everyone away from their thoughts.

With that, they grabbed all they could and loaded themselves into the car, with the seating arrangement altered slightly this time. Tatta had insisted on driving, and Usagi had quickly claimed the driver's seat, leaving Arisu,Chishiya,Ann and Kuina to squeeze themselves into the back.

Well, at least Arisu wasn't a raging ball of fury like he had been during the last interesting car adventure. Chishiya ducked into the car first, followed by Arisu, which he was quite happy about, then Kuina and Ann. The air smelt a bit musty and it was uncomfortably warm after being baked in the morning sun. It was also quite cramped, and Chishiya was very aware of Arisu next to him. Their sides were pushed together, and Chishiya was occasionally prodded by a strand of the boys hair, which was quite wild today. Not the worst feeling in the world, but Chishiya would definitely have preferred to be asleep right now.

The car started with a roar, and skidded along the road, Tatta laughing happily at the speed they had achieved. Chishiya decided it would be best to roll down a window, so the fresh breeze flowed through the car's interior, flushing out the unwelcome heat and mustiness. It was actually quite nice, and the blonde man found himself smiling a little as they cruised along the road, despite knowing the danger that awaited them. 

He wished he could remain in this peaceful quiet forever, with his friends by his side. As cringe as that was, it was the truth.

After a few minutes, Kuina spoke up from her place in the front of the car, a small slither of concern laced into her voice.

"Hey Tatta, are you alright? You haven't said anything in a while."

Chishiya saw the boy in front of him wait a moment before shrugging slightly, and answered in a slightly nervous tone.

" Sorry Kuina, I'm just a bit worried." he admitted, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

" About the game?"

" Yea. I mean, he haven't actually played a proper face card yet. If it's harder than the ten cards..."

" We won the King of Spades game" stated Ann.

" No we didn't, that was a fluke. And his game wasn't really a game anyway. It was just murder."

Tatta's voice sounded slightly angry, the King taken many lives before they could stop him. Maybe Tatta blamed himself slightly, for not getting there faster? That was stupid, but very likely for him. He was just like Arisu, in that sense.

With Tatta's worrying released, a curtain of gloom fell over the car, ruining the perfect feeling that Chishiya was feeling. Dammit Tatta.

They drove for around ten minutes, until the games entrance came into view. There was a gate covering  a vast labyrinth of shipping containers, stretching as far as Chishiya could see.

" Are those, bracelets?" Kuina asked curiously. As she said, there was a small table holding seven identical bracelets, or cuffs. There was a sign stating that seven players were needed to enter the King's game. Seven?

" There are only six of them though?" Arisu spoke up, confusion on his features.

Hm. Could there be another player involved, who had gotten there before the group? That was likely, but where were they, if they were there? There had been no obvious signs of other humans in the area when they drove in. Although, he must admit, he was more focused on the man next to him during the car ride instead of the scenery.

A chilling voice rang out from behind the group, stunning them to silence. Chishiya knew that voice, and he knew that it’s owner should be dead.

Niragi.

”