Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Jack of Hearts - Part Three

Fear was settling in almost everyone, and doubt followed. It was then the group got rid of their first member, because he made a mistake and was now not trustworthy. When they moved on to the next round, Kurenai was standing just outside where the group was gathered, leaning on the way as she was eavesdropping on their discussion.

There was a particular girl, Urumi, who was the initiator.

She went around telling other members of the group who to get rid of. Her reasonings were sound: they were acting strange, or they seemed to have a problem with how they were working, therefore they were suspicious and must be gotten rid of. In a school of small fishes, she certainly did stand out as the intelligent one. Though, it would soon backfire on her.

Fourteen to twelve.

Twelve to eight.

Within two rounds of instigation, Urumi was disposed of. Along with a handful of others. As they began the eighth round, they were finally down to less than half the number they started with initially. Still, no sign of the Jack of Hearts at work.

Remaining players: Kurenai, Oki, Banda, the woman, Banda's partner, bald man, blonde man, and the sole survivor of the group.

With less players to be wary of, it seemed as if everyone's alertness had heightened instead. One wrong move now, and they could very well be the last thing they ever did.

"Yaba-sama...who do you think the Jack of Hearts is?" the woman asked.

"Me?" Oki's eyes automatically landed on Kurenai, though he looked away before the woman noticed. "Well, I don't know for sure. If the person is good at psychological warfare, they wouldn't be slipping up now. But I do know for sure, that there are two people here we need to be wary of."

"Is she one of them?" she whispered, pointing to Kurenai.

"I knew her from the real world, and she's certainly an expert. Everyone knows her as the obedient and filial daughter, the perfect Chuya princess. But underneath lies a predator who would pounce on you the second you let your guard down. Even her own father does not know who she really is."

That was when Kurenai started walking up to Banda.

With a smile, she crouched down to the ground in front of him, ignoring the man he had been partnered up with the entire time. Banda stared right back at her, a smile on his face too, though his expression was unreadable.

"Entertain me, will you?" she asked.

"How?"

"You know what curious little cat I am," Kurenai smiled. "So tell me, did you give the knife to the man who attacked the big man?"

"If he did not want to hurt anyone, no one could convince him otherwise. I simply placed a tool in his hand that enabled him. Whatever he did next, I had no control of."

As he looked into her eyes, Banda could not help but feel intrigued. This woman had not done much since she arrived, yet she had survived up to now. She refused to join the group, and she did not partner up with anyone, still she was able to get her mark round after round.

Oh, how thrilling would it be to kill someone like her.

"Fair enough," she said, standing up. "Try to stay alive. It'd be real boring around here if you died."

Watching as she walked away, Banda could not help but smile genuinely. What an interesting person she was. A man on death row, all he had heard was how he should die. His life should be taken away because he took someone else's. They did not understand him, nor did he understand them. It was the first time in a while did someone want him around. Perhaps she was just as psychotic as he was.

"H-how did she know?" his partner asked. "Do you think she'd tell the others? We'll be good as dead if she tells."

"Don't worry, she won't tell," Banda said. "She's enjoying this as much as I am."

With less players than before, the prison was suddenly a lot quieter. But things were taking an interesting turn rather quickly.

Returning from the bathroom, three men were standing together. It seemed as if they had formed a group, despite witnessing what happened to the previous group. They were pretty adamant about this group of theirs, stating that they were not killing each other nor the rest of them, simply wanting to live peacefully for the rest of their lives in this prison. They did not care who the Jack of Hearts was either, essentially dropping out of the game.

This was not a development that Kurenai expected.

"If we continue this peaceful approach, it's going to get boring," Banda said.

Kurenai agreed, though with different reasons. Half a year of supplies were provided for them, which meant if they were to go with this approach, they would be here for at least half a year. She was not about to spend half a year in a prison without getting to see Chishiya.

The eighth round concluded, and no one else died.

Oki stood right outside of the cell of the blonde man as soon as they were allowed out. He slammed the door shut, leaning on the door to stop him from getting out. "I do not intend to spend half a year in this hole. If you spend the next hour in your cell alone, there's no way you'll know your mark."

"If you're willing to resort to strength to stop Mitsurugi, I can do the same!" the bald man argued, looking like he was ready to fight Oki.

"I won't let you get in the way of my Yaba-sama!" the woman said, joining the confrontation while holding a knife in her hands.

What a turn of events..., Kurenai thought.

"The rules! The rules state that players cannot stop others from entering a cell!" the bald man pointed out. "I want to get into that cell!"

After some thought, Oki stepped aside, opening the door to the cell. Instead of letting the blonde man out, however, he threw the bald man into the cell and once again, blocked their exit with his body. The rules were clear: players could not obstruct someone from entering the cell, but there was nothing against stopping them from coming out.

In addition, there was a rule against having two players in the same cell. They were done for this round. As was the sole survivor of the group, who seemed distraught and defeated, and had given up completely. His will of survival was completely destroyed.

"A little too barbaric for my taste, but I don't want to spend half a year in here either," Kurenai commented. "I have someone I'd like to see again, after all."

And so, in one round, three players were killed, leaving five.

By now, Kurenai was starting to have an idea of who the Jack of Hearts was. She bumped into Oki and Banda coming back from the bathroom just before the eighth round. They did not say a word to each other though she could see that the two men had somehow formed an alliance. And although her grounds were different to theirs, both of them seemed to trust her too.

Especially since she held an important piece of information.

Entering what should be the last round of the game, the Jack of Hearts was pretty sure of themselves. Confidently announcing their own mark, they were shocked to find that three others had survived. This was not a part of their plan. Only one of them was supposed to survive, and they would have won the game being the Jack.

"Come out, come out, Matsushita Enji~" Kurenai sung.