Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

New Arrival - Part Two

Bedridden for a couple of days, Kurenai finally felt well enough to get out of bed.

She walked into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. God, she looked like shit. She gave herself a quick scrub down, careful not to get the bandages wet, and eventually she was looking like her old self.

Back in her room, she sat on the bed and took the bandages off, putting new ones on. Chishiya did a pretty good job sewing her up. Made her wonder what he did before coming to Borderland.

Once ready, she headed out.

The Beach was a place Kurenai still could not quite get used to. She did not understand how the members could party every day and night, rush off to their deaths, and come back to drown themselves in drugs and alcohol. Sure it was fun for perhaps two days, to forget the chaos they were in, but continuously?

Seeing Kuina and Chishiya across the pool on the sun loungers, Kurenai made her way over. She walked up behind Chishiya and placed her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who~"

He did not guess.

Chishiya simply grabbed her hand and pulled it down. He could be such a killjoy sometimes.

"Hey, you look much better," Kuina smiled. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, huh."

"What doesn't kill you, scars you." Sitting down on the sun lounger, Kurenai swung herself over before scooting in between Chishiya's legs. She looked up at him with a grin, holding the back of his neck with one hand. "Remember what you said last time? That you know of a way to get away from here? I want in."

It was about time Kurenai joined in on their plan.

With how hard Hatter was working her, it was a little baffling as to why she had put up with it for so long before deciding to join them.

"You okay with that?" Chishiya asked, looking at Kuina.

"I'm fine. I feel more confident if she joins."

"So what's the plan?"

Leaning down, Chishiya was whispering by her ear. Kurenai's eyes widened a little at the plan. Were they insane? Then again, if you were not a little insane, you would never survive in Borderland. She was the perfect example, after all.

"What are you kids talking about here?"

Out of nowhere, Hatter leaned in from behind Kuina, startling the three of them. He sat on the sun lounger with Kuina, looking straight at both Chishiya and Kurenai. Of everyone here, they were the two most troublesome that he had to look out for. Especially now that Kurenai had recovered, walking about showing off her battle scar.

Kuina tensed up, looking at the other two.

Did Hatter hear what they were talking about? Did he hear everything? Or did he just arrive? A million questions were running through her head, but the other two were too calm.

"It's a secret," Kurenai smiled.

"We don't keep secrets here, Miss Chuya."

Her smile dropped.

Hatter was no longer keeping it a secret, his dislike for her. Not that it mattered to Kurenai. She had plenty of days on her visa to be refusing to join another game. And from what she heard from Chishiya, it seemed like the other executive members were on her side.

"We were talking about what we like in the bedroom," Chishiya said. Kurenai frowned a little, looking up at him. "She wanted me to use blindfolds on her next time."

"You youngsters and your games in bed," Hatter smirked, though they could see in his eyes that he did not really believe what Chishiya said. "Well, who am I to judge you though? If not now, when would you get to have more fun, right?"

"Hatter!"

Running over, Tatta was out of breath by the time he got to them. He took a few seconds to recover before speaking.

"There's been an emergency. They caught two people snooping around the Beach."

"Time to go," Hatter said, standing up. "No no, you guys stay. Miss Chuya was out for a few days, I'm sure you are eager to try that blindfold out."

With that, Hatter left.

Only then did Kuina let out a sigh of relief.

"Really? Blindfolds?" she frowned at Chishiya.

"How did you know, Shuntarou?" Kurenai grinned. "That I like blindfolds."

--

That night, neither Kurenai nor Chishiya needed to participate in a game but they were down in the lobby, watching as the Beach members gathered for Hatter's speech before they were dismissed.

It was the same bullshit every night. Kurenai did not understand why the crowd was always so hyped up.

No doubt, Hatter had a certain charm about him.

Beach members were willing to follow him because they were attracted by his leadership and his charisma. Part of the reason why Kurenai decided to stay at the Beach was because she was intrigued by Hatter himself.

Then she realised he was just full of bullshit.

There was no doubt he possessed leadership skills, though it was not the type of skill that Kurenai admired nor envious of. After all, it seemed like the only kind of people he could lead were the mindless sheep.

"Oh, well that's interesting."

Both Chishiya and Kurenai spotted two particular people in the crowd tonight that stuck out.

They were new faces here at the Beach, but not new faces to them.

Players outside the Beach surviving the games were not unheard of, though their chances of survival were significantly lower than Beach members. Players that Kurenai bothered remembering however, now that was a rare.

"Someone you know?" Kuina asked.

"We played a game with those two," Chishiya said.

"I like the girl, she could be useful. The guy...not so much," Kurenai commented, leaning on Chishiya. "I only need one guy."

"Don't be so hasty to make judgements," Chishiya smiled. "He could be useful too."

--

Returning from the game with Arisu, Kuina was sitting by the pool though Arisu was looking around frantically, as if searching for someone. When he spotted the person he was looking for, he ran over.

Curious, Kuina watched from afar.

It was the girl he came to the Beach with.

Oddly enough, their interaction reminded her of another pair. How they were looking for each other in this sea of people. How they looked so relieved just to see the other alive and injury free. God, why was she surrounded by couples?

"Your girlfriend?" Kuina asked, joining the two.

"No!"

Both of them denied at the same time, and Kuina could not help but laugh.

"God, not another pair. If you have feelings for each other, you should just date. And if you want to fuck each other, just do it. Then again, those two do it and it's still awkward as hell around them..."