Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Dealer's Choice - Part One (Side Story)

Her name was Nakamura Aimi.

When she came to this world, she had no idea where she was and how she ended up here. Everywhere she went, it was empty as if Tokyo had been abandoned for a decade. Then she was approached by someone.

She did not understand initially, what being a dealer entailed.

In order for her to survive in this world, she had to make sure those participating in games died. It sounded cruel at first, but then it made sense. It was either her or them, and she chose them to die.

It was not long before she adjusted herself in this new world. As crooked as it sounded, she looked forward to every night. Even when she was not setting up a game or participating in one as a fake player, she sat in front of the monitors, laughing whenever a player would fail at their task.

"Hey, I have a game tonight, Eight of Clubs. It's going to be escape rooms. We need someone to set up and possibly take part as a fake player. Who's up for it?"

Aimi's hand was in the air almost immediately.

Her visa did not expire for another three days, but it did not matter to her. She just wanted to have some fun tonight.

"Alright, here you go," the man smiled, handing over a folder. "Orders from above, although the rules don't say how many survivors are allowed, you gotta make sure only one of them survives. You get an extra day visa if all of them die."

Looking through the folder, Aimi grinned to herself.

This could not have been easier for her. And with nine participants allowed in the game, she could earn ten days on her visa without so much as lifting her finger.

For the next few hours, Aimi set the game up, humming to herself the entire time.

--

Game time.

Arriving at the arena (an abandoned factory), Aimi was quick to adopt a facade, looking as fragile and scared as possible. There were already two other people waiting, and she walked up to one of them, asking in a croaking voice if they knew what was going on, and why did everyone in Tokyo disappear.

Her acting was immaculate as they took pity on them, explaining that they too had no idea what happened but they did know that they had to play games to survive. It was hard to try and keep a laugh in, but somehow she managed. Perhaps she would let them live, just for the little kindness they showed her.

Players were arriving one by one, and the last two were a man and a woman. They seemed to be partners. It was always a challenge to separate groups, but Aimi liked a challenge. Friendships meant nothing in Borderland. She had seen even couples fighting to be the one who survived.

As soon as all players arrived, they entered the arena together and were locked in the first escape room.

Aimi took her time, wanting to let them relax before she started her plan. Once they started to solve the puzzles and earned a sense of achievement, that would be her turn to shine.

She kept quiet, continuing her act while she observed the group. There were a total of five women and four men. Among them, the only person she was a little worried about would be the big man with the muscles. He had a scary look on his face, and scars all over his body. He was the survivor type. Even if he did not have the intelligence, he would be fighting to get out of here purely physically.

The other three men were nothing much to look at. There was the kind one who answered her questions. He looked young, and perhaps already participated in a few games before. Then, there was an older man, perhaps in his fifties. He had the word 'arrogant' practically written on his forehead. He would be the one causing trouble for the group, she could use him. The last guy was probably the youngest of them, and with his glasses, he looked fresh out of high school. Perhaps a smart guy, a gamer.

Looking over to the women, Aimi could not help the small grin on her face. Three of them had grouped together, and they looked no older than twenty-five. The confused look told Aimi that they were probably first night participants. How unlucky for them. There was an older woman, who seemed calm on the outside but the tapping of her foot was telling another story.

That was when Aimi locked eyes with the last woman.

Wearing denim shorts with a hoodie, she looked as if she had just come back from a vacation. But it was her eyes that bothered Aimi. She had been observing the group too, keeping quiet as everyone began discussing clues and puzzles. And she was looking at Aimi like she knew what she was doing.

The game masters would not be sending another dealer in here without telling her, would they?

That was when the woman looked away, walking through the arguing group and up to the bookshelf. She picked a book off the shelf, flipping through until she got to a page, pulling out the next clue. Reading the clue, she then moved on to the next. She was solving the puzzles one after another as if the answers were all written down for her.

"Anyone here know what the Fibonacci sequence is?" the woman asked, walking up to the safe where the key was.

"Fibo-what?" One of the three women asked.

"The Fibonacci sequence. It's a string of numbers where each number is the sum of the previous two."

"Oh, we have a smarty pants in the house," the woman smiled, turning the knob on the safe.

With the safe opened and the key obtained, they easily got out of the first room in just ten minutes. All the players were starting to trust that woman, and Aimi was not liking it one bit. As much as she liked a challenge, it would be a lot harder now to get people to believe in her words if she wanted to point them the wrong way. She needed to form a plan, and quickly. Perhaps it was time to use that older man.

Sliding next to the man, Aimi could see the dislike on his face.

"She's so smart, isn't she? She even knows what the Fibonacci sequence is. I didn't know that until today."

"Smart? You call that smart? The Fibonacci sequence isn't obscure information, any idiot knows what it is. She just got lucky."

"But she solved all the puzzles and got us out."

"Don't be so naive, kid. In these situations, the first room or puzzle is always the easiest. That's how they get you to let your guard down. Don't go worshipping someone just because they showed a little intelligence."

Oh, but you're the naive one, Aimi thought.

Having planted the seed of doubt in his mind, Aimi walked away and looked around the room, pretending to be looking for clues.

Everyone else was doing the same, and anything they thought could point to their escape, they brought straight to the woman. Humans were fascinating in a way, how quickly they always looked to one person to lead was amusing. Why could they not just rely on themselves for their own survival?

"Oi! Why are you all bringing her the puzzles?" the old man asked. "There are nine other people in this room, don't you think someone else might know the answer? Why are you all relying on one person? You don't even know who she is. She might just kill you, and you are letting her with a big stupid smile on your faces."

Here we go.