wash || alice in borderland

ii. four of spades

spinning around in a little circle, reiko looked around her with her head tilted upward. it seemed the rabbit led her into an alleyway between two buildings. the buildings were tall and dirty, blocking most of the sunlight from entering the narrow alley. despite it being a perfectly sunny day, the alley was dark and cold, almost as if it was entirely isolated from the rest of the city. suddenly, bright fluorescent lights illuminated the alleyway, drawing reiko's attention.

at the end of the alleyway was a bright sign that read "welcome, players. the game will commence in a moment" and right underneath was a metal door. reiko happily walked up to the door, pulling it open without a second thought. behind the door was an equally bright room with three people already in it. the first person she saw was a middle aged man in a business with a stern face. the second was a woman who couldn't have been much older than reiko, and the third was a man around the same age as the woman in casual clothing. behind them were five numbered doors much like the one she entered from.

reiko gave them a smile, "hello! i really thought everyone was gone, but i guess not!" closing the door behind her she made her way to the middle of the room where a white table with two phones was waiting. she turned to the woman with wide eyes, "do i take this?"

the man in the suit scoffed, "do you even understand what's happening right now?"

"not at all!" reiko grinned.

the woman looked at her with pity. "take one, i'll explain it."

happily taking a phone from the table, reiko went to stand next to the woman. "so, what is this?"

"it's a game."

reiko clasped her hands together, "a game, that's fun!"

"are you stupid or what?" it was the man with the suit who had interrupted again. "it's more than just a game, you could die during this."

"oh, well that's not very fun i suppose." reiko sighed.

"i just said you could die and that's your reaction?! is this some kind of joke to you?" the man glared.

"stop," the other male ordered. "it's clear she's new to this, she's probably just coping."

the three other members began to quarrel with each other, but reiko was not paying attention. instead she was sitting on the floor, taking the mallet out before fishing through her backpack.

"great, what's she doing now?"

ignoring the other players she kept shoving the objects around in her bag, smiling triumphantly when she managed to pull out her walkman. slipping the headphones on her neck and the cassette player into her hoodie pocket. grabbing the croquet mallet from next to her she stood back up, oblivious to the appalled stares of the other players.

"two minutes until registration closes."

immediately after the announcement another man walked in the room, he stood out a lot from the other players. the man had shoulder length blonde hair and wore a white sweater and baggy pants, but what stood out most to reiko was his eyes. his eyes were sharp and darted over the players almost condescendingly, as if he knew that he would do better than the rest of them. he looks like a cat, reiko admired.

the two made eye contact, and the blonde smirked lightly before grabbing a phone and standing in the corner of the room. their eye contact broke as everyone's phone let out a noise.

"registration is closed. the game will now commence. game: tunnel vision. difficulty: four of spades. rules: stand outside the correlating door. each person is to complete this alone. clear condition: make it to the other end of the hallway within the time limit. the time limit is five minutes."