Chapter Text
Ever since agreeing to join the waterside community on the outskirts of Tokyo, set up in a flashy luxury resort they called the Beach, you had kept your guards up.
They had approached you after a particularly tough Spades Game you’d cleared spectacularly. You had been lucky, but they were impressed nevertheless.
”If you liked this one, you should’ve seen me in Seven of Hearts. Now that was brutal. A literal bloodbath.”
You were half joking, but your morbid humor seemed to get lost in translation. Or they simply didn’t care.
”You’ve got Seven of Hearts? You´ll get a good ranking with that one. You really should come.”
You didn’t trust the man with bleached blond hair and unnervingly calm demeanor introducing himself as Chishiya. Or Kuina, the tall, lean woman in a bikini top and flip-flops, a wildly unusual choice of attire for a deadly game. But it wasn’t like you had somewhere else to be. Or offers from people with more practical fashion sense.
You had kept mostly to yourself. After losing the three close friends you’d entered this world with, you didn’t want to get attached to anyone. In any game your survival might depend on the death of others, and you didn’t want anyone holding you back. Or making you feel the way you did after the death of your friends. Guilty, worthless and heartbroken. But very much alive.
You were well aware their invitation could be a trap. Sure, they seemed friendly, but anyone could be out to get you. You had long stopped trying to guess people’s motives. The logic of the civilized world didn’t apply here.
Promise of unlimited food, shelter and comfort had an irresistible allure after a month in this barren, distorted version of Tokyo that had so far offered you only terror, pain and heartache. Most of all, you were desperate for answers. Some explanation for what was happening and why. And most importantly, how to get everything back to normal. Or whatever normal would be after this.
Even if you’d end up fighting for your life in a back alley somewhere, you reasoned that leaving with Chishaya and Kuina was still worth the shot. Fighting for your life was pretty much all you did anyway.