Alice in Borderland ~ Chishiya

25

It comes as a surprise that Raiden's in the room when I return. I ignored the piercing looks of some Beachers, who probably got a report of our game, and walked straight to the room. Raiden's sitting on his bed, playing with some mechanical puzzle, which he drops immediately when he sees me.

'Kimora,' he says, relieved. 'Hey,' I say, closing the door and entering the room. Other than that, I don't really know what to say and to be honest I feel pretty dirty, so I add: 'I'm going to wash myself.' I walk into the bathroom and close the door. Then, I start to freshen up. Although I get rid of all the sweat and replace it with a sweet scent, I still feel dirty. I also know exactly why that is.

I move myself back to the bedroom and sit on my own bed. Raiden looks at me, but says nothing. 'I shot someone,' I mumble. Judging by his reaction, he has been sitting here the whole time, because he seems to be surprised. 'You have..' he begins, but he says nothing more. I nod. 'Seven of clubs,' I tell him, 'laser tag. The lasers turned out to be real lasers that shot right through you.' I explain how the game worked and tell everything, from the beginning to the end.

'Wow, Kimora, that's..' He shakes his head. Then, a small smile forms on his face. 'So far not standing out.' I cringe. 'I know. I'm sorry..' I mumble, but he waves it away. 'I'm glad you're back,' he says. I wish I could say the same. Now I've taken someone's life myself, instead of letting it happen. I thought it wouldn't be any different, but it is. The boy wouldn't have had to die if I'd thought of it earlier. But who says they would've listened to me then?

I feel my inside pocket and breathe a sigh of relief when I can still feel the picture of Hikaru. I have always taken the picture with me. In the meantime it has already crumpled, but she's still there. I don't want to think about what she would think of me if she would be able to see me right now, so I don't.

'Will you please tell me why you're angry?' Raiden breaks the silence. 'I mean, I understand that I've been selfish and went to parties without thinking about our plan, but otherwise..' I sigh. 'I don't know,' I reply. 'I'm sorry.. I guess I'm not really mad at you, but that I projected my despair on you. Everything fell apart when we got here and I tried to cling to something, to make sure there was something left. And I think.. I don't know, I just think I was questioning our friendship. It suddenly didn't seem to mean much to you anymore when there was a bar with drinks and a large group of people.'

'I'm so sorry,' he sighs. 'I understand exactly what you mean by trying to cling to something. Indeed everything fell apart and I couldn't have that. That's why I had started drinking and surrounding myself with people who were meaningless, just so I could paint the illusion that I would be someone, but I just didn't feel like anybody when I was with them. I was afraid that I had realized too late that you're the only one who I care about, the only one who does see me like I am someone.' He sighs again. 'Those people are okay. We can have fun and spend meaningless time together, but.. it's nothing like being with you. They're nothing like you.'

'I'm glad you said that,' I sigh in relief. 'Of course you can hang out with whoever you want. I was afraid that I was only good for the games and that you would ignore me now that we're here.' He immediately shakes his head. 'That's absolutely not the case. I'll always be grateful to you for what you've done for me and I still hope that one day, I can do it back for you.'

I smile at him. 'Thanks to you, we're here now, Raiden. Because you were able to speak to Aki in the perfect way, after which he made sure we could come here. Your social skills can bring us a lot. Through your contact with a lot of people, you get to know information and gossip, which we can do something with.'

'And in the meantime, you're getting closer to the executives.' I start to laugh. 'Well, I just don't know,' I reply. 'I don't think I'll suddenly be worshiped by Kazuo or any other executive member, and I prefer to stay as far away from Niragi as possible.' Raiden grins. 'I get that, that guy's really creepy.' I agree with him. 'Exactly.' He gives a relieving sigh. 'I'm glad this has been done away with.'

'So we can continue with our plan now,' I say. 'Kuina has told me that Aguni is in charge of the weapons and that members of his group are using them. Niragi's one of them. She told me that peace seemed to be there for now, but it could just escalate quickly. Apparently, there are many tensions among the two groups.' Raiden nods. 'I heard the others say something like that.'

'Let's keep our ears and eyes open and get information from different people.' He nods again. 'So,' I say with a slight smile, 'shouldn't you go to a party or something?' He shrugs. 'I want to go to bed early tonight. A party from time to time is fun, but I have to stay in good shape for the games. I still have a lot of days to catch up.' I look at him with a grin. 'So we'll be in the gym at ten tomorrow morning?'

'Hm.. How about eleven?' he tries. 'Fine,' I admit too quickly, feeling how tired I am. Sleeping an hour longer doesn't hurt. 'Very well,' he says.

I don't know if it's just because I'm really tired or because we've finished talking, but my head has only just touched the pillow when I immediately fall asleep.