four of hearts
The hooded man watched as the woman pulled a piece of paper out of the dead woman’s pocket and inspect it. He walked up and crouched down next to her.
“What’s that?” He asked her. He didn't get a response as she stood up and walked away. That's what he thought anyway. She looked back with a smirk on her face.
“Keep the taser, you look like you’ll need it,” She replied. “If we meet again, I’m Usagi.”
“Chishiya.” The hooded man nodded and picked up the taser putting it back into his pocket. He didn’t know what she meant by “you look like you’ll need it”. The 2 walked off together but Usagai walked away from Chishiya and looked around the apartment complex. He thought this was weird so he watched from afar.
Usagi walked to all the bodies and checked their pockets to check for cards. Chishiya quickly checked his pockets to make sure he still had his couple of cards. 5 of clubs, ace of spades. Chishiya pulled out a pad of paper and marked down how many days that would be added to his visa, 5 days. He had already been here for 6 days. He sighed as he walked off to his base. He sat down in his tent and thought for a moment. What was Usagi doing? Those cards are useless to her, they won't give her any more time on her visa. Maybe there was something that Chishiya was missing. He should see if he can find her in another game, and ask. Chishiya grabbed out his knife that he kept hidden in case someone came to raid, which is a dick thing to do in this world. He went out into the forest and went hunting for something to eat.
The next night, he went to another game to try and find Usagi. Sadly she wasn't there. The game venue seemed like it was on a roof, 20 storeys up. He grabbed a phone and looked at it as the phone spoke. Please head to one of the lifts. Chishiya took off his white hood where his long blonde hair fell covering his face, making me look feminine to someone who doesn't know him. 6 people were in this game he found out, including himself. He looked around to see if he could find anyone that looked new. Chishiya didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that there weren't any newbies. One person caught his attention, they were wearing a black hoodie and was hiding their face. Everyone felt the ground below them shake and the lifts falling down 10 floors. Chishiya held onto the railing for dear life.
The only thought going through his head was what kind of game this was. It wasn't a spade which he didn't like as spades are his strongest suit, didn't seem like a club. He narrowed it down to Diamonds or Hearts. Looking around him to see if he can notice anything important. A microphone was hidden in the corner and 2 buttons where the up and down arrows of the lift would be, they were attached to an empty screen. They read “Greater” and “Lesser”. The screen lit up.
Game: Survey.
Difficulty: 4 of hearts.
Rules: A question will appear
Time limit: 60 seconds
Clear conditions: reach the top floor
Chishiya got nervous, he wasn't the smartest and wasn't the best at heart games, luckily it wasn't a difficult one. The game started. The screen lit up with a question.
Asked 100 housewives from Asakusa. How many teaspoons go into 1 tablespoon?
17% said 3 tsp(teaspoon). 83% said 4tsp. You have 60 seconds.
Everyone looked down confused. “What kind of questions are these!” Chishiya heard someone ask.
Someone with a deep voice told the others, “Trust the survey, go for the majority, 3 teaspoons.” Chishiya looked around as everyone clicked greater. So he did too. The screen lights up. Correct Answer: Majority, 3tsp. The lifts all shook as they went up slightly. There were cheers all around him. Chishiya noticed that they were in the middle of the building, and they went up one flight of stairs. So if you go down to the ground floor, you die and if you get to the roof you live. Every correct answer is plus 1 floor, while incorrect seems to be minus 1. The screen lit up again for the next question.
Question 2, Asked Shinjuku Mahjong Parlour Workers. How many points is the following lineup?
21% said 2000. 79% said 2600.
Chishiya didn't know the answer and looked around and it looked like nobody did. He picked the majority as he put all his trust in the professionals. Looking around it seemed like everyone else did that too. Correct answer: Majority, 2600. Everyone went up to the 12th floor and started to cheer.
“These are so easy! We will easily win this!” Chishiya heard a feminine voice call out.
“How is this a heart game? More of a diamond?” A masculine voice asked.
Question 3, Asked 100 businessmen from Shinbashi, which government official introduced the consumption tax.
42% said, Takeshita Noboru. 58% said, Nakasone Yasuhiro.
You could sense the fear around the 6 players. Nobody knew this again.
“Is it just me, or did the questions just get a lot harder all of a sudden?” Someone asked. Chishiya looked down at the buttons puzzled, he knew nothing about politics. The businessmen should know their stuff, but why were the percentages so… similar? Everyone had clicked the majority. Correct Answer: Minority, Takeshita Noboru.
Everyone went down a floor back onto the 11th. Chishiya looked at the ground and his eyes widen seeing sparks appear around his feet. Electricity started to enter everyone’s body, freezing them in place, and making a strong tingling sensation flood them while making it feel like 20 million tiny needles stabbed them everywhere. Chishiya fell to the bottom hoping, praying that the electricity would stop, he doesn't know if he could last any longer if it continues. So if you get it wrong, you go down a floor and get shocked, he’s praying to whoever was listening, to let him get the next 9 correct.
Question 4. Asked 100 college music students from Ueno. Which composer was known for his romantic school of music with works like “Mazeppa” and “Will-o’-the-Wisp”?
45% said Felix Mendelssohn. 55% said Franz Liszt.
Chishiya’s hands were visibly shaking, he didn't want to be shocked anymore. Dieing would honestly be better for him than all this shock. He looked back and forward between Greater and Lesser before going with the majority. Correct Answer: Majority, Franz Liszt.
5 out of the 6 lifts went up to the 12th floor. The lady who looked like she didn't change out of her pyjamas at the very end looked worried, she was the only one to pick the minority. Everyone heard a snap and one of the cables broke and she fell down to her death, ending in an explosion. All of the people who were still alive looked down at where she fell too.
“If you go correct with a Majority. You go up one floor. But if you're incorrect with a Majority, it's one floor down and a shock. An incorrect minority is an instant game over.” The masculine voice spoke again. The game just got more and more intense.
“How is this a heart game? It’s knowledge! This should be a diamond game!” The only other alive woman shouted.
Question 5. Asked 100 hostesses in Ginza, who is the president of Tunisia.
37% said Moncef. 63% said Abdelaziz.
This made no sense to Chishiya. How does being a hostess mean you would know Tunisia’s president? He didn't know the answer, he was shaking. There was no service so using your phone was useless. He guessed the majority. Correct answer: Minority, Moncef.
4 out of the 5 people got it wrong. As they fell down 1 flight the shock was unbearable for Chishiya as tears flooded into his eyes. Let this be over. He went down to the 11th floor as the unknown other hooded man went to the 14th floor, going up 2 floors.
“So getting a minority correct you go up 2 floors?” The masculine voice spoke again.
Question 6. Asked 100 kindergarteners in Shinagawa. What does Coeur mean?
21% said, Soul. 79% said, Heart.
“Let's work together! That’s the only way we can win!” The masculine voice called out again.
“I know this! It’s French, I kind of studied it in college.” The female said in tears, “But I don't remember it, and there are 4 lives on the line!”
“Just shut up and concentrate!” The masculine voice shouted at her.
“The answer… is a minority with soul.” She said but not meeting anyone’s eyes who were all looking at her. The man picked lesser trusting the woman while everyone else picked the majority, not trusting her. Correct answer, Majority, heart.
She laughed a little “After thinking about it… I felt like it might be the majority but you had already put the minority so I didn’t want to say anything.” He screamed at her as he fell down to his death. Chishiya and the other man went up one flight, with him on the 12th and the mystery man on the 15th. The woman kept going. She went to floor 17 meaning she went up 6 floors from one question.
“It seems like there is a microphone listening to our conversation, if you trick someone into being incorrect you get a bonus 5 floors. Interesting, now I see why it’s a heart game.” The mystery man finally spoke up while Chishiya chose to stay quiet.
Question 7. Asked 100 foreigners in Shin-Okubo. Who wrote the work Keisei irojamisen?”
29% said Ejima Kiseki. 71% said Ihara Saikaku.
Chishiya believed that now the woman had tricked that man, they couldn’t work together as there was no way to know if she was trying to trick him or not.
“Hey! I really didn’t want to do that! But I truly know this! Its Ejima Kiseki, the minority!” She shouted down at them. There was no way Chishiya would fall for it so he picked the Majority. So did everyone else. Correct answer. Minority Ejima Kiseki. Everyone fell down 1 floor (woman on 16, man on 14 and Shiya on 11) and they had gotten used to the shock that went through their bodies.
Chishiya lied to the others making him go to the 18th floor and then go down to the 15th and 13th retrospectively. The next question the woman died, only leaving him and the other guy in a hoodie. Chishiya was on the 19th floor and he was on the 14th. On question 10, Chishiya go to the top and the man got to the 16th floor. Chishiya decided to help the last guy out giving him the answers to the questions from a booklet that was left at the top because it seemed important. He was so happy that he survive and that the other guy trusted him. After grabbing the 4 of Hearts card and walking down the building with the still mystery guy.
“Thank you. If you had left, I would have died there.” He said to Chishiya. Before he could walk off, Chishiya grabbed him by the arm, he didn’t know why.
“Who are you?” Chishiya asked him. “Im Chishiya Shuntaro!”
The man took off his hood and looked at him, “I'm Arisu… Arisu Ryouhei.”
Chishiya thought for a moment. Where did he remember him from? The tag game! He was the one who called out to everyone else.
“I remember your voice! You were in the 5 of spades! You called out about the tagger’s field of view!”
Arisu let out a laugh. “Yeah, you replied back to me. Thank you,” Arisu replied to him. Arisu then walked off and Chishiya headed back to his tent and went to sleep.
Days on left on their visas:
Arisu: 10
Usagi: 5
Chishiya: 8