hearts formed by solicitude and desolation

⌈ 27 ⌋

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ . . . . .

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ ᏟᎾᎷᏢᏞᎬᎢᎬ !

with the abundance of information provided to you by the game master, it took you a total of 5 minutes to gather all your thoughts and piece together a plan.

by then accusations and arguments erupted amongst the other players, sure to already be trying to pinpoint who was suspicious and who had a worthy alibi. no one came to bother you, keeping the chatter in that room located within the solitary cells. you were able to breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of being able to think in peace.

a game revolving around the idea of trust. there was no doubt that it was the perfect hearts game, especially with a room full of strangers who've been weary of one another since the moment they appeared. how did one decide who was reliable within only an hour? enough to put their life into someone else's hand? you were sure that most, if not all, were here willingly, and entered the venue with the mentality that they'd be playing puppet with whoever they could. how could they expect, and practically depend, on someone else to be pulling the strings?

another thought, one that stood out to you, was the fact that once again the mastermind was hidden amongst the other players, similar to your king of hearts one. although both were not and would not be easy games, you could breathe easy knowing you had at least some sort of experience. not to
mention with your previous knowledge of reading into people's words and actions, you wouldn't be rendered completely useless amongst the chaos sure to erupt.

a small throb ebbed in your side when you shifted, wincing at the pain and reminder of your restrictions for this game. it was a predicament you wished hadn't happened, but in a way you'd believe your injury to be a blessing. who would take notice of you, clearly hanging onto deaths tight rope, secretly observing from afar? you could even easily give yourself an alibi by pointing out the irregularities.

as for the rules, each round you'd only be provided one hour to convince someone to tell you your symbol and five minutes before you'd need to be in your cell to recite it. you had no worries for this, for you still had yasushi to aid you not only in movement but in the drawing embedded into your collar.

violations. you doubted anyone would actually do any of these things, not with the surveillance and death penalty as a result. not to mention doing these actions may make you suspicious in everyone's eyes, so you decided you wouldn't worry too much about these predicaments as well.

however, you weren't sure how long this game would last, not with the room of medical supplies chishiya previously described and the food you heard another mention. if the game master believed you had enough time to stitch up your wounds, clearly he assumed this game would take longer than most. but what of your visas? yours wouldn't end for another couple days, but what if it stretched on longer than that?

you let out a sigh, weary as your eyes began to grow heavy from the spur of thoughts. you had exhausted yourself earlier when screaming from the pain, and now that it had numbed down to a dull ache, you wanted nothing more than to close your eyes and sleep the rest of the discomfort away.

"you shouldn't do that." a low voice filled your ears, and you glanced to your side to see the same blond male seated there, expression just a dull and blank as ever.

you scoffed, but still listened nonetheless. only an hour to think, and you'd much rather use as many minutes as you could.

your hands reached up to push your hair out of your face, still damp due to the rain. strangely enough you could hear no indication of it outside, quiet, save for the chatter still happening within the other room. so, in order to keep yourself awake, you decided to recount the events that had happened previously. one you still had mixed feelings for.